Doohickie

Kozak is a Sabre now.

He's just more poised. Power is still trying to catch up to the game; Byram is up to speed. Maybe Power gets there, but right now I like Byram better.

Watching them last night reminded me of the Sabres after Ryan O'Reilly was traded. They've got McD and Draisaitl, similar to Eichel/Reinhart and then.... nothing. It's just not sustainable. I said upthread: all you need to do is hit McD every opportunity. Because of their lack of quality forwards, if EDM gets behind they play him more and more and if he's beat up he's not gonna have anything left in the tank at the end of the game. There were only two or three moments where he looked dangerous; the rest of the time he looked tired.

I noticed that on the Amerks roster they list Dunne as a center, and Östlund as a LW.

He also had probably his best game as a Sabre last night, and arguably outplayed McLeod. It's weird: This team seems to have new talent bubbling up and figuring out who to jettison will probably determine the Sabres' success this season.

And really, the fact that both are on the roster and one of them not on IR might be the exception rather than the rule.

We have 6 centers (when Norris can play) of varying abilities. Tage and Krebs also play wing regularly and I can see any of the others also moving to wing when expedient. I have my worries about the durability of Norris (as many of us do), but I kind of like our center corps and depth right now. And duh: I forgot all about Kulich. And don't we have another C or 2 in Rochester that are approaching NHL readiness? Wahlberg, Helenius? I like Kozak but I think he might still be in the honeymoon phase. I'm not sure I take him over Krebs. Possibly, but I'm not there yet.

Right but you need 7 Dmen on the roster. When Kesselring returns, that will prompt Metsa's move back to Rochester. If Dunne is waiver exempt then yeah, demote him. He's fine but nothing more than a 4th liner. He's a little slow but seems to think the game well and is hard to move off the puck along the boards.

Eh. Not sure I agree. One or more of them may have to go, but Malenstyn played probably his best game as a Sabre last night while Greenway was just kind of okay.

One last thought: This is why teams want centers over wingers. Centers can shift over to the wing and shift back to center; it seems like this is the way Tage operates best- moving back and forth. I think the change in responsibilities sharpens his focus. And having Norris (maybe eventually) and McCleod, and Kozak and Krebs and Östlund all ready to play C, but filling in at wing if need be, makes the team stronger. If one of the center spine has a rough game, you and push him out to the wing and take the pressure off; there are other centers that can step in.

They're kind of where Kozak was last year: You know they're gonna be roster regulars, but right now they're tweeners. I as especially impressed by the work Östlund put in last night on a checking line that chipped in offensively. And Kozak looked great at 3C. He's really starting to control play out there.

But they're gonna need several rosters spots soon.

On the other hand, do you want Östlund and Rosén riding the pine if everyone else is healthy and they have to be scratched? Would it be better to give them reps in Rochester? I'm not making any implications either way, just asking the question. Thought the same. Can they maintain that level of fight every game? I hope. Wasn't that the game where Dahlin said, "This is the way we play every night from now on" or words to that effect?

Davis seemed like he was pivotal when he was in. His connection with Josh gave me Cole Beasley vibes- the reliable guy who ran the route predictably and caught the ball when targeted. Previously he was the Deep Threat Guy. Possibly he's in a new role now?

If no takers with retention, waive UPL and send him to Rochester when the roster gets tight. If he there's no interest with retention, no one is going to snap him up off waivers. And if they do, waive bye bye to his whole salary for this year and the next three years. I want to say "What was Kevyn thinking???" But we all know what he was thinking. He was looking back at losing Ullmark and didn't want that to happen again.

Lose him. Don't care.

Kozak is never going down again. Mark it. The other two, as long as they're waiver exempt, will have to out of necessity. Doesn't mean they haven't earned it. Their day is coming though. Deal UPL to open up a spot for one of them.

Also interesting that comparing GAA, he is just behind our friend Eric Comrie, and he's also played virtually the same amount of minutes. Rank Name Team GP W L SA Sv GA Sv% GAA TOI 30 Eric Comrie WPG 4 3 1 119 108 11 .908 2.75 239:56 31 Colten Ellis BUF 4 3 1 128 117 11 .914 2.76 238:46

Interesting: He's played almost exactly the same amount of time as UPL. Compare their stats:

He's 3-1 in his short career, with a .914 Sv%. Sounds good, but he also has a 2.76 GAA which tells me that the Sabres are still giving up too many shots, but are mostly able to overcome that with him in net (more confident with him, leading to more goals?) His one loss against Utah was a game that the Sabres totally played like doo-doo.

Intelligent too. Makes smart hockey plays, especially when handling the puck. UPL typically rims it around the boards to the opposing team while Ellis actually passes it to a teammate more often than not.

Okay @Spoonman, let's get you back to bed.

They are all about offense. Their defense is not very good. If you stymie their offense by hitting McJesus and his buddies at every opportunity, you can shut down that offense. And after taking a pounding all game, they Eulers' star didn't have anything left in the tank at the end. Realistically, they're what the Sabres were when Eichel carried the team. They haven't managed to build a complete team behind him.

Actually yeah.