SabreFinn

Chicago up next. Take a look at the highlights from their games and especially their powerplay. Bedard and Teräväinen are having one H of a show. Teräväinen was available this summer and he needs no fu ing Matt Ellis to tell him how a powerplay should be played. But they got us Zucker instead.

As I wrote in another thread, Kraken are playing Yanni Gourde on their fourth line. I have not seen him play in a while, so can't tell if he has regressed, he has been reliable defensively before. But he isn't a 1C. Maybe they take Krebs? And bring Östlund from Rochester for the PP. Don't care who they send down.

It seems like every GM in the league are betting big money on their goaltender, so putting UPL there doesn't feel right. The other contracts are not looking good. Samuelssons contract is long but if he can stay healthy I think he will improve. Cozens has been one of my favourites on the team, but even my patience is running out. He is working hard, but he should do more working with his head instead of his skates. I honestly think he want to help the team more than anyone on the roster, but he tries too much. IMO There are three options to get him going. First, move Peterka to play with him and Quinn, it might get both going. Second, move him to the wing, first with Krebs at C, later hopefully a trade for a C. Third, if that is not working, then he has to be traded. I have not looked at what kind of trade that would be, and I really hope I do not have to either.

One thing that has been on my mind since I watched the goals, was Penguins 5-5 goal. The game is in the last minute and they have pulled their goalie. The thing is, sooner or later they will try to get the puck on goal and go for a rebound or redirection. But it seems like our players on ice never have heard of such thing. Imo priority is to help the goalie keep the goals clean.

Lehkonen and Toews. And there is also the Nishuskin-case. And of course Landeskog.

Injuries and bad goaltending.

I would also make a call to the West coast, but to Seattle. Haven't watched them play, but it seems like they use Yanni Gourde on their fourth line. Based on previous seasons I think he could balance up a second line, and push Cozens to wing.

Lucas Raymond was in a minor fight in practice last season, can't remember against who. Lovely swedes.

And both Barkov and Matt Tkachuk out. We might even have a chance.

I did that the other night, I looked thrue daily faceoffs projected line-ups and puckpedia, and I have to say I got a little bit depressed. Finding players that would give us a decent top line was hard to find. Players either seemed like part of teams long time plans, or has horrible contracts, or NTC. Ehlers was the only one I found, and he was well known already.

Yep, just try to keep the D-men busy enough to give the rest of the unit a quarter of a second more time to create chances.

What I saw, they played well enough last night to give it a game or two before I would make any big changes. On the other hand, the powerplay has not been good for a long time, and there has not been acquired players that help to fix it. As I see it, the only player in the organisation, except from some of them we already try, that has skills that might get our PP going, is Östlund. So why not put him on the team? Keep him in a role that minimize mistakes. Cozens is good enough on faceoffs to stay on the first pp unit. But he should be used more for net presence than shooting and puckmoving.

My hometowns Joel Blomqvist plays his first NHL game and get a win!

Thank you for asking! I am fine. I will wait until Thanksgiving before I get disappointed.

This is not a problem as long as Luukkonen and Levi stays healthy.

Flyers goaltending is a mess, I don't know if claiming Bussi would change that, but I am not surprised if they do.

I thought it was a pretty intence hockey game. Have seen a lot worse in global series. I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't a Sabres fan. I do not think they outplayed us, but they outscored us. And we lost Peterka early. And a prediction I had before the season started yesterday was Devils winning Presidents trophy, but never posted in this forum. The Sabres powerplay must be fixed however, it is a disaster. A powerplay like that might bring Östlund from Rochester faster than he should. The difference in speed between Devils and Sabres came from better timing in opening passes, and passes on the blade. We usually lost speed trying to pick up the puck imo.

A dissapointing start. But not that unexpected. With a preseason like this, a brutal wake up call could happen, and it sure did. The only thing that did not work for Devils last season was goaltending, while it was the only thing for us. So much easier to get going for them.

And even with all those great players mentioned, you left out the last cathegory, the ones with potential, with players like Ratzlaff, Ziemer, Strbak and Kleber. Players that are 3-4 years away.

I can live with that

A podcaster and long time NHL journalist here in Finland, who usually is reasonable and up to date and on track with what is going on in NHL, predicted Sabres as third in Atlantic. Same man predicted Luukkonen break thru and Devils goalie problems last year.

It is Lindy Ruffs first games as a Sabre coach in a NHL game this era. And it is against his former team. I don't think he cares about anything but winning those games. My answer is No on Krebs and Rousek. If there are changes in the line-up for the second game, Kulich gets his chance. And I think/hope Ruff doesn't make changes on a winning team.

I have a good feeling this season. Better than last year. I go with that feeling. So, hell yeah! They will make it to playoff!

I think both. We needed a third line center and other teams, especially canadian, might have valued him higher than Sabres did. They had more trust in Helenius and Östlund.

PP and PK might be a huge difference maker in a tight Atlantic, and unfortunately that might be what puts Bruins ahead of us, Detroit and Ottawa. Bruins players are excellent in those situations imo. (Haven't checked the stats)