Doohickie

Actually, before things got too far down the trade road (and it must have been prior to being stripped of the C), Granato said he looked forward to having Jack play on the team. I think it's likely he was just being politically correct in the event that Jack did, in fact, remain with the team, but he did have some praise for Jack and his ability as a player.

I can't tell what you're saying without some beer.

Well because we're right, innit?

I'm just not seeing a crosscheck. I'm seeing a push by the right arm but not the left. He's not moving Eichel, Eichel's momentum and poor balance while he reaches back to the puck is doing that. Eichel's positioning, which at first was good because he was between Hughes and the net, backfires on him when he overskates the puck. When he reaches back for it, he's put off balance and his own stopping action and the push by Hughes causes him to fall. That is just a normal hockey play.

Yeah, better to be the underdog. But I seriously can't understand how we beat the Laffs three times in just over a month, playing virtually the same game each time, and the Laffs made no effective adjustments. Really.... just about every game played out the same- early in the game was tight, Sabres go ahead in the second and pull away in the third despite feeble attempts by the Laffs to rally.

Let's see how the rest of the season plays out. Joki might be that vet.

Our D in general: Our Top 4 from last night are 19, 22, 22 and 22. And they were pretty damned good against one of the most potent NHL offenses.

Can't talk about Leopold without posting this goal. As I recall, this goal was meaningful in that it kept the Sabres in the playoff race a little longer before they eventually dropped out. Perhaps the last time the Sabres were relevant with respect to the playoffs.

He basically overskated the puck but still tried to make a play. The rebound came out at a bad angle for him to be able to play it. Not necessarily a bad play by Eichel, just a bad bounce of the puck which meant the Canuck had superior position and took advantage of it.

I think I only became aware of this in the last year or so.

No he wasn't. He was boxed out as he attempted to play the puck. He fell over because of a nudge and his own poor balance because of how we swiped at the puck. Clearly not a penalty to my eyes.

Here's a pic of Samuelsson's solo skate https://buffalonews.com/sports/sabres/samuelsson-skate/image_644598b0-a098-11eb-9e98-5b76e4992889.html and an article from that same day: https://buffalonews.com/sports/sabres/mike-harrington-mattias-samuelssons-solo-lap-a-start-of-big-day-for-sabres-prospect/article_54b67170-a076-11eb-90ae-a3d9873bf67b.html

It's tradition for an NHL rookie's first game, no matter what their draft position was. Power got more coverage of it since he is a #1 OA.

To be honest, I expected more rookie Dahlin that mature prospect Samuelsson. But he was almost a carbon copy of Muel with smoother skating and likely more upside.

Yes, and not pushing to win right away this past season looks like it will reap benefits in future seasons. DG developed a culture and identity for this team that has every player believing in their own contributions to the team's success.

For a defensive defenseman, this is the goal. I think there are differences between Dahlin and Power developmentally: Dahlin came into the NHL directly from Sweden and spent his time learning the North American game and ice surface at the top level. Power grew up here and had a year of college, the World Championships and the Olympics to play against top talent, so he comes in a year older and having played against better competition. Dahlin is not small, but Power looks like he already knows the advantage size gives him and uses it well. Power, thus far, does not seem tempted to try to stickhandle in a phone booth. He is aware of poke checks and generally seemed to make the smart, simple play instead of the flashy high risk, high reward play that Dahlin tends toward. Perhaps a byproduct of growing up with the North American game, he seems to read the play better than rookie Dahlin did. I'm sure Power will have his struggles but I think he came into the league a bit better prepared than Dahlin.

Spot on. This is a lesson Toronto and Edmonton have not yet learned. It's a lesson VGK is just starting to experience.

There are a few Olofsson thread out there; seemed like it would be good to post in this one. The beginning and the end of the season pretty much falls under the first bullet I think, with a long period of injury/recovery in between. But surprisingly he's much more than a goal scorer. Just prior to his injury he was arguably the Sabres' best forward, not just scoring but driving play. He's been a big part of the March resurgence as he's found his game again. The surprising thing has been his passing/set up ability. Since he's gotten his lethal shot back, teams expect him to be a shoot-first winger and he usually is, but he also has the vision to know who's around him and dishes when the shot isn't there. He's recently created goals with sick feeds to other Sabres such as Dahlin's goal in the last Toronto game. It brings up an interesting question: Is he part of the core? Can the Sabres afford to keep him along with all the upcoming young talent? If Adams decides to move him, does his injury history discount his value on the market? Does it allow Kevyn to sign him to an affordable contract?

I know there was more to the A TEAM than Mr. T. and George Peppard but really... who the heck are those other guys?

He's a Wonder

Yep. Already covered that in the first post:

Give Power some credit FFS. I thought that's what I did. I said in his first NHL game he shut down the league's top scorer. How is that not giving credit? And please, stop throwing FFS around. It's just uncouth. Media decides. They are impartial. Suuuuurrrrre they are. Especially the Toronto media.

Dude. Whatever. If you did see this, it was no more than any other D man in any other game. I've watched/read several recaps of this game from various people and @PerreaultForever is the only one seeing these flaws. I would say that on top of Power's excellent performance, Joki played what might have been his best game in a Sabres uniform. Perhaps the challenge to mentor/protect Power will elevate his game going forward.

I was thinking about this. One might consider this a trap game for the Leafs. But here's the thing: The Sabres showed them the exact same game on March 2 (5-1 Buffalo) and March 13 (5-2 Buffalo). A trap game is when a lesser team catches a better team unawares. Toronto knew who the Sabres were and simply don't have an answer.

So we put a guy in his first NHL game up against the top scorer in the league and the top scorer in the league was stoned.