Jorcus

Interesting being that they have Quinn Hughes. Any specific reasons why he is a target for Vancouver? What are they missing that points to Byram?

I went to the game last night, here are a few random thoughts. When JJP is on his game this team plays a whole lot better. He seemed a little off in the last few games but the speedy, tricky winger was back last night. There is no way he should be removed from the top line to help anyone else. With Thompson and Tuch it is a top line that is very difficult to stop. UPL had his best game. He was tight against the posts and stopped some good chances from the wing sides. Not to mention on the 2 on 0. The goal against was a strange sequence Dahlin was fighting his way out of the zone and was scrumming in the neutral zone for 20 or more seconds with a linesman trying to get the players to stop roughing each other. It really should have been whistled with both guys going to the box but play goes on which seemed good for the Sabres at first but then the play goes the other way. Byram was out of gas chasing the play but you would have hoped for a little more effort to stop the rebound attempt. The second Byram goal was cool in the sense he got the shot off while not looking like he was going to shoot. It did not look like that on TV but his snapper was so quick it handcuffed Ulmark and ended up going in all the way from the blue line. Once they got the 4 to 1 lead in the 3rd the shut down game was not quite as good as against Dallas but Sabres are getting better about dumping pucks in the corners and chasing into it to slow the game down. Gilbert had some good hits and certainly will play against the Rangers because they may need someone to go up against Rempe. Quinn plays with no determination to do something. A lot of players on the Sabres are determined to do something and sometimes it's the wrong thing but it's something. Not that Quinn was ever fast end to end, (his metrics are pretty low) but he used to at least skate well in the O zone and get open for shots. That is not happening so I just don't know what they are going to do but he is holding the ream back. Good game over all, hope it continues.

Thank you for your interpretation of this.

For being an older team they are still pretty fast right now. Watching them bum rush the Rangers the other night was pretty impressive. On the other side of the coin you have Nashville who went all in on good old guys. They are trying to sort it out but it did not start well. I thought they were one of the most interesting teams in the off season. Stamkos is still great on the power play but can he get up and down against the quick teams? Some of the other guys seem to be on the slower side now too.

I was fooling around with money puck and found it interesting that The relative expected goal percentage 5 on 5 was used to disparage Bowen Byram. If so are Casey Mittelstadt's numbers any better? not looking good at 5 on 5, I guess the guy that replaced him is in the same boat. This was sorted by all NHL forwards and they end up near the bottom of the pile. For what it's worth I can't see how this relative expected goal number is useful as there good players scattered all over the list. I think Casey is pretty much the same guy he was when he left, A mediocre player who is hooked up with 2 hall of famers helping his numbers. If he was still here I doubt the Sabres would be any different than they are right now given McLeod took is place and our guys don't resemble Makar and MacKinnon or Rantanen. The Avalanche are in a world of hurt. The goaltending sucks, They have lots of injuries, no defensive depth, so the trio of supermen are having a hard time beating even the bad teams. The end of November schedule looks like a nightmare. I don't hate on Casey, He has a certain skill set but lacks on other areas. I like Byram's skills and see way more upside to his game. Most see his redundant skill as a problem but if you structure your team right waves of offensive D men can break other teams down. I am still hopeful this trade was a win.

I don't know how long it will last but I am happy for the guy. A lot of injuries while with the Sabres but he seemed like a really good person though the whole time he was here. The jets are on a roll.

Even last year they were able to score in bunches. On the D side not as good but Elvis is on a roll and covering up the mistakes so they can go winging down the ice. They are a lot like the Sabres team 2 years ago but with better goaltending at the moment.

I think they are stashing Benson on the IR. If he was that hurt that bad why was he not on IR a week before? My guess is unless there is an injury Benson stays on IR as long as there are no injuries or terrible play by one of the established wingers. If that does not happen then at some point he will come off IR and do a 2 week conditioning stint in Rochester. If all is the same when he comes back he trades places with Juri who goes back down be it on the bench or in the lineup. Odds are there will be an injury and that will open a spot for the return to the bench at least. As far as where he goes it would depend on what you need the most. He does seem more suited to a 3rd line defensive type who you can use on the PK rather than the hope he is going to be top 2 line point producer at the moment.

The only reason we have not seen more of Levi is the early season schedule has allowed us to play our number one goal tender more. Starting this weekend we are going to see a lot more of Levi because there are plenty of back to backs, 3 in 5, and even a 5 games in 9 days to start December. This is the stretch that will determine what we are.

Man what are the sharks doing? It sounds to me like Lilegren was headed for the waiver wire. They had to give picks with the player?

Certainly the goaltending could be better. Listening to UPL during a postgame after one of the wins he did indicate that the more he plays the better he feels. I hope that is true. There is not much we can do about goaltending at this point and there are a number of teams around that wish they were in our position in net. He is adjusting to a different style of defense. It will be interesting to see if he adjusts to the Ruff system as he thrived in the post New Years Granato system. At least were not dealing with the 3 headed mess that we started with last year. I think we are in a better place.

You have to look at who he is replacing. That would be Ryan Johnson or Jacob Bryson. I am going to think at the end of the day that is an upgrade. Highly mobile defensemen are coveted in todays NHL and there is no mercy on the teams that don't have them. It's 10 games with a new coach and a new system with a skilled developing defenseman. The Ruff system is get the puck out of the D zone as fast as you can vs the Granato system which was to box in gain control and work your way out. I am not sure why he is paired with Power but that may change. I would like to see the three puck movers spread out.

Thanks for the clarification.

When did you take this snapshot? I went over to money puck and see the following for Byram? On ice expected goals 48.5% Off ice expected goals 51.3% Relative expected goals -2.8% This is third on the team behind Dahlin and Joki at the moment. I can't say I have noticed terrible play out of Byram and like his speed getting pucks out of the zone.

It's the lack of aggression that bothers me the most. He is not hard on pucks or opposing players. That is not a system problem that is a Quinn problem. He seems to be waiting for others to do the work and feed him a puck. To some extent I have always felt he was a little bit like that but not to this degree.

From what I have seen Casey has played pretty well. I can't see him getting a 100 points but I guess anything is possible. As far as the plus/minus goes he is getting a lot of power play points so you would have to dive into to the 5 on 5 to see what is really going on. I will say this though who has had an easier schedule than Colorado in the last few weeks? Ducks, Sharks, Seattle, Utah, Sens, then they lose to the Chicago last night. It really does not get tough for them until after Thanksgiving so they better figure out what they are doing. I have also noticed Casey seems to get a lot of open ice. I think teams will start to stick on him some more. He is what he is at this point a decent 2nd line center in the right situation.

Lindy had some good post game comments last night. He was mad about the 1st period 2 on 1 breakaways. He sat NAK because of one. He admired FLA for not giving any to us. The impression I get is that he is not going to sit on his hands and hope that things get better. On the positive side say what you want about Byram but the guy can skate and he uses his speed to get the puck out of the D zone. In general we have become a faster team and that is good.

He can't without going though waivers. You would be giving him away for free because with his current salary 12 teams would be all over trying to get him even though he sucks right now.

Sabres crush the Panthers tonight. I can dig it can you?

I am on the edges. I saw them 11 or 12 times starting 1976. I saw the Garcia band once and liked that concert a lot. I have never seen another band as often. Still play the albums.

You do know the actor who played Cochise died this week. https://variety.com/2024/film/news/david-harris-dead-the-warriors-1236192055/ Warriors was the first movie I watched on VCR.

The question is do they put Benson on IR, Send Juri to the Amerks or try to get one of the D men through waivers to make the space they need for NAK? We will know very soon.

Saturdays game seemed to be a step back for Cozens. When a guy is in a slump like he is you have to limit some of his responsibilities. You have either take him off the power play or the the PK. I don't like him in that bumper spot. I am not even sure how I feel about playing a bumper on the PP in general. In the past he often played the 2nd D man spot. I don't like him their either. So it's pretty much off the PP for now. If he were back on get back over to the wing down low or behind the net where he can fight for possession. I think less could equal more with him right now.

How many other centers can do this? Tage Thompson (2-1—3) starred in the Sabres' afternoon win with three points and a 104.69 mph slap shot 4:01 into the first period which was the fastest shot ever recorded by NHL EDGE (since 2021-22) That bumps him up some.

Sammy was out on the ice for a long time at the end of the game. It's nice that we have gone 3 games without wondering if he should be on the ice at all.