That Aud Smell

Great timing. It sounds like an announcement on the new stadium is days away at this point.

The idea of Jemal putting a group together to buy the Sabres is simultaneously laughable and terrifying. That guy is of a piece with the Simpsons’ “monorail!” charlatan.

This is a good take and these are fair points. I didn't get to watch the game yesterday, but ran the math on SV%. I feel like we've been seeing sub .900 efforts for a while now. A difference maker in the cage would help a lot, but there must be, as you say, other issues afoot. With that said, it occurs to me: Some of the porous team defence here likely owes to Granato's refusal to play "low incident, small ice" hockey. The details of this are beyond my capabilities (or free time constraints), but I would bet dollars to donuts that if you were to compare the D-zone structure (or even neutral zone spacing) of, say, a Bylsma Sabres team or even a Housley Sabres team, you'd see Sabres teams that are much more compact (even packed in) and essentially playing not to surrender chances (or at least high quality chances), and, in so doing, were surrendering the ability to transition quickly for a chance the other way.

I got to watch a whole game for the first time in an age. I’d been scratching my head over the love for Samuelsson. But last night, he showed why he should have a future in the NHL. It was smart, physical play in the D zone (long stick too), and then a whole lot of calm, simple transition passes (head always up on that big frame). He even made a couple of smart (pinch) plays in STL’s zone. Excellent game for him, imo.

4 GA on 22 SOG. That’s something.

Bad result. Excellent effort.

***** Mittlestadt.

Tuch is such a direct player - love it.

Deservedly so

And they’ve been the better team while having to play the corpse of Cody Eakin as the 4th line centre.

This has been a good hockey game, and the Sabres have been the better team, imo.

Did Thompson double shift with the 4th line wingers?

This is the first time I’ve liked Samuelsson’s game.

An infuriating but unsurprising stat from the OP. When I watch Eakin play, I sometimes marvel at how feckless he is.

Poetry. (Was thinking of the Lindy SC ring fan fic the other day.)

A WHAT?!

Such a flex.

JAG. An active member of Sabres Twitter is all. And it’s just a take - not a sourced rumor. But it’s also of a piece with the undercurrent of the Pegulas’ looking for an off ramp from owning the Sabres. Appreciated. I might have missed it since Bone has me blocked on Twitter (for reasons unknown).

I’d pay $38 for that picture of Cliffy lurking as the children of the residents were enjoying story time with … some Pegula Sports muckity muck (?) or another local dignitary. (It’s been scrubbed from the relevant photo shoot, AFAICT.) That guy gave off the bad vibes. Finally: The reason I bumped this thread and fwiw:

Whatever happened to ol’ Uncle Cliff and his shelter for military-vets-single-moms? May he virtually rest in peace. There was smoke there. How much? I can’t now recall.

Psshh. They are both designed to send a message, build a reputation of a player not to be trifled with. The Cozens’ cross check - the Sabrespace Rorshach test no one saw coming.

I didn’t stay up to watch, especially after the game got delayed by a broadcast conflict. I noticed that Eichel got 87% O-zone starts. It makes sense that he’ll be eased in.

Maybe. I wish I could find the interview that Donald Audette once gave about how he learned subtle stick work (some from Rob Ray?) that gave him space on the ice and discouraged opposing players from funking with him. What Cozens did here is different. But the idea seems the same.