IKnowPhysics

I'll *****in do it again.jpg

Who else wants to hop in the toaster tub before the fuse blows?

Edit: If he's right, we're *****. There's no way out. And it's only a steeper uphill climb with Ullmark out.

RK postgame: Blames the busy schedule for preventing the players from matching Flyers energy (Sabres had played eight games, Flyers had played four in the same time period). Says this, along with lack of practices, has caused a lack of sharpness and confidence. Points out that defensive zone puck management was bad. It seemed to be a tendency today to over-complicate and over-pass on offense too. "There's no easy magic here. It's grind, it's character, it's grit and bite that we need to find."

Yep. Ullmark's out a month. We're ***** dead in the water.

Jesus, I'm sorry, chz.

He's answered this before by not answering. He's said more than once that the decision is more about the group of 12 skaters that's on the ice and how they accomplish what the coaches are looking for and not about what individuals aren't doing. In short, they see it as more of what they like the group that doesn't include Jeff more than what they don't like about Jeff. What does he mean by this? Who knows, maybe it could be something like, "we like our bottom six and how they've improved the PK, and we know adding Jeff doesn't make our PK better" or some *****.

2020-21 goalie stats so far, btw: Ullmark - NHL - 5-4-2 - 2.44GAA - 0.919 SV% Hutton - NHL - 1-4-1 - 3.24GAA - 0.889 SV% Johansson - NHL - 0-0-0 - 3.15GAA - 0.889 SV% (stepped in for 19 minutes against the Flyers when Hutton got elbowed in the head; allowed 1G on 9S) Tokarski - AHL - 1-1-0 - 2.51GAA - 0.932 SV% UPL - Liiga - 6-3-4 - 2.52GAA - 0.908 SV% UPL - AHL - 3-0-0 - 2.90GAA - 0.916 SV% Portillo - NCAA - 3-1-0 - 1.80GAA - 0.933 (3rd round pick in 2019. As a freshman, Portillo has taken about 1/3 of Michigan's starts from undrafted goalie (and captain(!)) Strauss Mann, who's posting 1.94GAA 0.929SV% in his junior year) For funsies, here are highlights from Portillo's USHL Goalie-of-the-Year campaign last year:

For the record, I didn't forget he walked on Kahun and Larsson. Time will tell. Larsson is playing heavily defensive minutes in ARI (OZstart% 23!) but is struggling corsi-wise. Kahun is playing with Draisaitl and has 4G, 4A in 22GP, with corsi so-so.

Pros: He landed Hall. Highest profile UFA signing in Buffalo since at least the salary cap era started, likely longer, I'm not looking it up. He landed Staal, and while not the player he was and probably frustrating to watch, he is still a functioning upgrade at middle-six center. He held a steady hand on Ristolainen, the Sabres' best defenseman, who's showing signs of improvement under Krueger. Cons: He made the wrong call on Hutton, likely because he was told Hutton's faliures would be fixed with his vision recovery. He was likely thinking that Ullmark and Hutton could hold the fort until UPL was ready, but this won't be enough. Many predicted this outcome. He brought in Matt Irwin. Everyone saw how bad he was going to be. Time will tell / work in progress: He drafted Quinn over Rossi and Perfetti, which most people thought was a minor reach, especially Rossi lovers (myself included). We'll see. Quinn is still an outstanding prospect. I'm open minded about it. He made the call to keep Ullmark, who is showing signs that he may be evolving to the next level: NHL competence. He reworked a very ***** bottom six into something that might evolve into something less *****...? He's found some value roleplayer UFAs, but has also found some *****. More to do here next trade deadline and UFA cycle. He's chosen to keep Ralph Krueger, likely the most polarizing figure in Buffalo sports right now. Krueger is either a buffoon or he's going to make us all look like buffoons. He could theoretically manage to re-sign Hall while managing other core re-signings. I like Hall so far, so this'd be a win to me. Seattle expansion. It's a pretty big test for a new GM to masterfully handle their assets so as not to get ***** in a VGK-style expansion. If all of the latter is a push, then it's basically Hall/Staal vs Hutton/Irwin with a sprinkling of an improving Ullmark. Hutton and Irwin are back up and supposedly third-pair plugs. Hall is a Hart Trophy elite 1LW still in his prime and Staal's a 2.5C we didn't have. It washes out significantly better than average at the moment and only gets better as Hall signs, goalies get fixed, bottom six improves, and Quinn shows up. Kevyn Adams has put the Buffalo Sabres in position for marked improvement despite its current frustrations. B+.

Good data point, if true. GM knows not to dictate to the Head Coach what to do on the lineup, regardless of agent phone calls.

I give him credit. He's in a tough spot, maybe the toughest spot he's been in during his career. His veteran professionalism helps him out here. Also, good question, @john wawrow. It's a nuanced interviewing ability to ask a useful question that gets the answerer out of their comfort zone without stepping over the line into assholishness. Everyone knows that Skinner wants to play, so he naturally wouldn't see eye-to-eye with the coach that benches him, but his response is interesting nonetheless.

Quality examination of higher fidelity gamelog data. Certainly worthy of consideration. In my mind, however, it still leaves open the problem of chicken vs egg. Is Skinner's down production forcing Krueger to demote Skinner's usage and ice time, or is Krueger's demotion of Skinner's ice time and usage forcing Skinner's down production? Despite not scoring and despite worse linemates and usage, he's still generating high danger chances at an impressive rate, implying Skinner's still a good player. But if tallying goals is the start-and-end of this discussion, those high danger chance stats don't solve this Robert Stack mystery. Where are Skinner's high danger shots going? (cue the hot beat)

Sabres have big PP at 34.8%, biggest in league. They dangle it in your face. Devils have micro-PK at 58.3%. No team has ever finished a regular season with such a tiny PK. Closest was '79-'80 LA Kings with tiny 68.2% PK.

Short term outlook: At 5-4-2 2.44GAA and 0.919SV, he is by far the best goalie in the system right now and maybe the only NHL-caliber goalie we currently have. But... Sabres' accelerated schedule doesn't slow down, with six games in the next ten days. At 1-4 3.24GAA and 0.889SV%, Hutton simply can't hang. If Ullmark is out for even ten days, and they decide to ride Hutton, you might as well put a bullet in the season now. JJ doesn't look ready, but hasn't gotten enough time. Tokarski and UPL have good enough numbers to get look in Buffalo, however, but they're unproven and likely not ready for long term action... yet. All three combine for only six games of NHL or AHL action under their belts in 2021. Not a lot of prep means bigger risk. If Ullmark is out, get ready for the AHL goalie rotating showcase and expect it to be better than Hutton but worse than Ullmark.

Narrator: He was that bad.

But if you would have told me we gathered a point with no Eichel, Skinner, Risto, McCabe, Rieder, Borgen, and 2/3 of Ullmark, I'd say lol wtf ok

Hutton is a ***** sieve.

Sheahan-Reinhart-Dahlin to take the draw. Immediately switched to Olofsson-Reinhart-Dahlin.

AND THE CARDBOARD CUTOUTS ROAR BACK TO LIFE THIS PLACE IS GOING ABSOLUTELY CORRIGATED

RAINHORN TIPPY TAPS