pi2000

616.5 months

lucky. They had no business winning that Pitt game. 2 reversed goals, a few goal posts, they gave up 45 shots. UPL son that gane for then, but collectively they played like they have all season.... little attention to detail, egregious defensive lapses, unorganized.

so..... how much do they lose by on Saturday?

Savoie played against Germany? Respectfully, he's missed significant time due to injury twice and most recently, 1 WJC game. If that doesn't raise a flag then fine, but IMO it's a bit of a concern moving forward and needs to be taken into consideration when forecasting where he'll fit into the lineup next season.

Agreed... but there's about a half-dozen guys in front of him in the "shoulda been a healthy scratch" line. Have a good few seasons, earn a long term contract and never have to worry about being a healthy scratch or missing a shift again no matter how bad you play. Ryan Johnson gets healthied for that reason alone.... on an ELC, not waiver eligible, so he suffers for no other reason other than there's other guys getting paid more so they must play. For this franchise it's more about playing they guys they've paid vs winning.

both fraudulent prove me wrong

I'm fine with the patient approach, but at some point these youngsters need to learn how to play a winning brand of hockey. There's no structure to their game and no accountability. This is shaping up to be a wasted year... if anything they've regressed. That said there's still time to turn jt around, but I don't believe KA and TP are shrewed enough to take the necessary steps.

It feels like Savoie is a guy that's not gonna pan out. The only thing he's proven is that he can't stay healthy, hope he proves me wrong.

Agreed about Power and Cozens. I believe there's untapped potential with Krebs. He's largely been pigeoned holed into a defensive role. I'd like to see what he can do away from Okposo and Girgensons. Seems like he's just running around trying to create chaos instead of relying on his instincts.

It's like watching beer league.... passive defense, lots of puck watching, countless one-and-dones on zone entries with the vast majority of shots coming from the perimeter trying to snipe instead of just getting pucks and bodies to the net. It's easy to defend against and easy to play against with the puck.

He's a fraud in the sense of what he was brought here for.

There's no trade or set of trades that will fix how they defend as a team while not sacrificing too much offensively.

EJ is a fraud

He was what they needed 2 years ago. It's time to move on, they're ready to take that next step.

They're currently on pace for 73 points. If Dan Bylsma can squeeze 81 points out of the 2015-16 Sabres, imagine what he could do with this squad 👀

pack up the banner

He turned 21 less than 2 months ago. He's a young prospect and will continue to improve over the next 3-4 seasons or more. He does many things well for his age some exceptionally well. Are there more than a few things he needs to get better at? Absolutely.

Is it normal now to miss games due to paternity leave?

welp

coaching

Kudos to KA for not sending R. Johnson down to Roch, he deserves to play. Comrie might be begging for his release soon.

It's about resources. Pegula is currently all in on the Bills and will be for the next 2-3 years until they need to do some rebuilding... maybe sooner, idk. That said, I don't believe the Sabres will contend (be taken seriously by Pegula) until that time.

...and hence a coaching problem. Good coaches don't let their players get away with the stick waving and fly-bys. Granato lets it happen by not holding them accountable. Don't get me wrong, he certainly knows the game well enough to identify these things and provide corrective instruction.... however that's not enough. And now he's at a point where he just like "***** it, go play how you guys want to go play and let the chips fall where they may". He's essentially saying he's lost control of the group and it's up to them to decide how they want to play. What value does he provide other than "the players like me and want to win for me because I'm nice to them". That's loser talk.

If it's one or 2 or a small group of players who are not listening, then he needs to hold them accountable and limit their ice time until they fall in line. That said, I won't completely absolve the players... however, if the entire team is faltering, then that's either a system problem or a coaching problem, or both. This first third of the season seemed like a discovery process... can they reduce goals against by playing a more defensively responsible system? The answer was yes, but they sacrificed too much offense in the process. That, combined with some poor goaltending (thanks Kevyn!) and you're gonna be on the wrong end of it most nights... and Granato's answer is just "let's go back to firewagon hockey!". I don't see this as progress, it's regression. IMO the solution is two-fold... solidify the goaltending position and find a coach who can teach this young impressionable group how to play a winning brand of pro hockey.

So we're back to firewagon hockey which is fun, but isn't a sustainable winning brand of hockey. IMO, thi is an indictment of Granato and his staff... namely, their inability to implement a defensively responsible system while not completely neutralizing their ability to generate offense. This failed attempt has likely cost them a playoff birth.