pi2000

Really? Rip Simonick? Are you sure? He's been around forever, how could he screw that up? He's personally stitched on those names for years.

Exactly this. They shoulda picked a player who could name only 1 or 2. I get the sense the Sabres organization is wrought with cronyism. I'll bet dollars to donuts the vast majority of folks running marketing, public relations, etc are family friends of Terry and Kim, friends of their daughters, etc... The standard needs to be higher, DO BETTER

I wasn't telling you to do better, I was talking about Dahlin. While his current point production is nice, by saying "do better" I fully expect his point totals to continue to increase based on his play. I'm not content with where he's at, the standard, for him, and the organization as whole, should be higher.

This team needs depth scoring. You can't have that with a guy like Okposo getting $6m. He's eating up 2 middle six contracts and contributing only $1-2m in value filling a 4th line role. Ok so now we're keeping guys around because the core players are so mentally weak they'll need therapay if a teammate is traded? That's a huge problem with this team. The priority should be to win, not to make the players happy.

do better

You don't know that. $6m + Sam's $3m = $9m in cap space vs $6m + $7m = $13m against the cap to keep the status quo. That's a net gain of of $22m/yr to use on filling out your middle 6, re-signing Dahlin down the road, shoring up the goaltender position. That's significant. But no. Things are going so well with Sam and Kyle on the roster, why try something different?

Do. Better.

, I want to spend the $6m/yr Okposo is getting for the next 3 years on somebody who deserves it.

Dahlin has looked really good the last few weeks, you can tell the game is slowing down for him. We're seeing more and more "wow" plays with the puck on his stick. The points will come.

I'd trade Reinhart and Okposo for a pick, a prospect, and a middle 6 winger.

I, for one, would rather watch an emotionally charged physical game instead of a skills contest. And those two types of hockey are not mutually exclusive... unless you're the Sabres where both are prohibited.

an acute case of antigamelovitis

I like Montour's game, but he needs to be paired with the right guy.

The way hockey was meant to be played.

They can't afford to upgrade the forwards because they have no cap room... Okposo, Bogosian, Ristolainen are making a combined $16.5m/yr. Find a way to get them off the books, and with Frolik and Sheary expiring contracts, you have +23m to help rebuild the middle 6 forwards. Problem is nobody wants to come to Buffalo so they'll need to overpay. The only reasonable way out of this mess is to draft well and find creative ways to shed bad contracts without sacrificing picks or prospects.

I blame lack of boobs in the GDT. We really were on quite a roll there until the cops showed up.

I know it sounds like an excuse, because it is, but it's really really really tough to jump right back in after 10 days off and be able to play at top speed. I don't know what the guys did over the break, saw some went to tropical areas to spend time golfing, hanging out at the beach, etc... it takes a while to get your legs, hands, eyes, mind moving at elite NHL speed after taking that much time off. They'll be better on Thursday. So now that's 2 major injuries where guys injured themselves, unprovoked by a teammate or opponent. LIke Olofsson screwing his leg into the ground. I have an issue with that. It's freak injuries, but if you're locked in playing on your toes, 100% focused, those things aren't going to happen to you. It's when you get lackadaisical, careless, lose focus, that you end up hurting yourself in those ways. These are young inexperienced players... tough lessons to learn, but they'll learn from it.

this is silly, he doesn't need a nickname

keeping an eye on #23 U of M

Their top picks the last 4 of 5 or 6 seasons are already playing on the team, counting Casey... So yeah the pipeline looks dry because they already graduated for the most part.

So what? I'm not allowed to make the argument that his point production alongside Eichel is mediocre AND his effort is questionable? I can understand (sort of) paying 7.5/yr to a guy in his point range, but that guy needs to bring something else to the table besides just average first line point production. I'm still waiting to hear what else he brings, what is it that makes him a better asset than the myriad of other 50th ranked point producers.

That sucks, he was probably looking forward to the California trip.

Elite passing and seeing the ice very well.... yet he's only 64th in the league in assists. Do better. As someone who has played the game at a high level, I can tell you that simply watching a guy dangle doesn't inspire the team. What DOES inspire the team is going above and beyond what is expected effort wise. Not giving up on plays, 2nd, 3rd, 4th effort, never say die compete level, sacrificing for the team... THAT gets the bench fired up. Not having good eye hand co-ordination or seeing the ice well... all that does is make guys on the bench ohhh and ahhh... and wish they had those skills. Skinner shows much more tenacity on the puck than Reinhart.. eg, that goal against Columbus where he chased down the defenseman from behind the play, picked his pocket and buried. Skinner is notorious for hounding the puck on the forecheck and creating turnovers... that takes EFFORT. Have we ever seen that effort from Sam? When has he ever made a play where you thought to yourself.. "boy what a fantastic effort, he never quit on that play"... give me one example.

It's interesting that when asked about Sam, the head coach chooses to praise the work he puts into himself off the ice. I, for one, don't see that killer instinct, or exceptionally high compete level from Sam on a consistent enough basis. He can get away with it because he has above average hands and sees the ice well... He could be so much more if he cared deeply about the team, but his style of play suggests that he cares about himself and his own stats, more than team results. That said, I do see him compete in spurts, at end of games if the score is close for example. But he doesn't bring IT every game, every shift... not many players do, but you'd like to it see it more often than not and for same it's more often lacking. Also noteworthy that all the Reinhart apologists can do is point at his numbers, because that's all he his. He doesn't bring any of the intangibles which make a team successful. His play on the ice doesn't inspire his teammates to be better. It's not necessarily a bad thing, there is a role for that type of player, but when investing in long term deal, you need to evaluate the entire package. Is this peak Sam? Is he going to be consistently around 50th in points playing alongside a top five +100pt player? Would you give similarly productive players like Jaden Schwartz, Dadanov, Vrana, Killorn that same kind of money to play with Eichel?