Doohickie

I'm honestly surprised the Sabres aren't 32nd in goals saved above expected.

The second goal was an absolute tap-in that no goalie would have stopped. The third was a well-executed clean 2-on-1 that, while you would hope a goalie would save it, you can't fault him for that one either. Few shots, sure, but 2 instances of his team abandoning him.

Y'all are making up drama with storylines you know nothing about. For all you know Lyon won't be back for weeks still (he just started skating yesterday) and by the time he's back one of the other goalies could tweak something. I think the Sabres will hang onto all three goalies for the full season again, unless a trade brings Hellebuyck to Buffalo.

Lyon hasn't seen regular season yet. We don't know what Lyon will look like.

Assuming no change to the goalie room, the Sabres are likely to need all three goalies as the season wears on. As others have said, you want to pump up UPL. But also consider that Ellis hasn't handled a huge workload thus far, so Lindy doesn't want to give him too many games too fast. Could he play Thursday? Sure. But what's best for his long term development? What's best for UPL's confidence? We're heading into Game 4 of an 84 game season and y'all are trying to manage the goalies like the Sabres have their backs to the wall in a late season playoff run. The season is not a sprint, it's a marathon, and Lindy has to maximize the return of his goalies.

Funny about that: He won his last outing.

He plays the kind of game that requires maintenance days.

I honestly think Lindy's been giving Kulich sheltered minutes thus far to make sure he's truly back. I think the governor will be removed going forward.

That's the problem with so much media; hard to pin down exact statements when you hear something referred to several times. Hard to pin down the source..... was it Lindy himself or just a reliable blogger claiming he said it? Or just some rando on Sabrespace? I have a lot of Sabres "facts" in my head that I'd be hard pressed to validate. I think with regard to Helenius, he have have suffered from a bit of youthful hubris after last season's NHL experience. He looked great and might have taken his performance for granted. Now is where the hard work becomes important in his development.

It really depends on how Lyon is coming off injury. Dude's approaching Craig Anderson status at almost 34. (Okay, not really *that* old, but injuries start to be harder to recover from.) Unless the Sabres somehow land Hellebuyck, I really expect the Sabres to manage the three headed goalie monster again. I haven't checked lately but last I hear the Sabres aren't the only team doing that. With today's game putting stress on the goalies' side-to-side bursts, injuries are becoming more common.

Not in this day and age it isn't. Inexcusable and potentially troubling are more what come to mind. If Helenius came to camp not fully prepared, I'm sure the rest of the team will correct it. He wants to run with the big dogs, he gon' have to work. /culture

The beauty of it is that all of those guys can play center, so even within the line there's some shuffling that can be done. Tage is doing fine at the moment, but shifting him over to wing if he stagnates seems to pull him out of the funk.

Oh this has been obvious for some time, back before Lindy's tenure even. But in making Krebs a fourth liner I think it rounded out his game more fully than if he'd have just come into the top six. For where his game was early on that evolution- taking his game down to the studs and then rebuilding it with a focus on fourth line priorities including speed, checking, being a pest, etc., and then playing up as the spare part up and down the lineup has made him Lindy's most versatile player. Now as a veteran the playmaking that made him a first round pick is emerging. I think there's always been chemistry there but because Krebs was a fourth liner and Tage has been top liner for a while, they just seem mutually exclusive on a line.

The choice was made by the Skinner buyout.

If that happens, trading UPL may turn out to be the best thing for his career tbh. A change of scenery, something to prove, a team that makes a clearer commitment to him than the Sabres have. If he fails then, it gets harder to say it was something the Sabres did with him. If he succeeds have a another st00pid rivalry to worry about.

My theory on Helenius is he was brought up in the thick of the playoff race while he was flying high in the AHL, then again in the playoffs. Kid was running on adrenalin and things were moving so fast he could barely think and was just going on instinct. Now he came in through training camp as an incumbent and is kind of overwhelmed a bit with being a full time NHLer. Over the long haul he'll be fine. In the short term, it's probably unrealistic to expect there to be no stagnation/regression from time to time. Norris..... I got nuthin'. I hope he's just still shaking off the rust. This is a competitive forward group and eventually they will sort themselves out.

I think this is what you get after several games playing at NHL speed.... the first game or two, no one was even attempting that pass because it would be such a low probability. But as the players are getting accustomed to game speed again, you're seeing that "firewagon" style with high risk/high reward passing creeping back into their game.

Lindy said as much in the postgame. To be honest, I don't think the pass was great, which is why Tage's shot looked awkward; that was him adjusting to it. Still, high grade play from both players.

It's time to start looking at more recent history only. This is a new Sabres team.

I'm not worried. It seems the team wakes up a bit more with each game played. I think there's a lot of competition for spots, and all of it is good. I kind of like Lindy playing with lines during the games to see what works; it's like instant feedback. I kind of feel like the lines will remain fluid for several more games before they settle in, and if the team stagnates Lindy will shuffle them up some more. The improvement from one game to the next (and even within games) so far is pretty impressive.

So... Doan and Norris on the fourth line Thursday?????

And @Wyldnwoody44, why are you timing it? Which Sabre took a Little Blue Pill before the game????

That's the kind of play that Tuch made routinely. It seems like most of Tuch's void may be filled by Quinn, and the incoming youth will have to backfill Quinn's old role. You can lose a top player and not miss a bit, as long as someone else is ready to step up, and there are others behind them. Kevyn built the team right; Lindy gave it an edge, and Jarmo is polishing it. This is the maturation of a rebuild we've deserved for over a decade. I think Helenius and Kulich will put forth vigorous cases to the contrary, which is a win-win situation for the Sabres and their fans.

I think this is exactly the case. Short training camp, 2-preseason-game veteran limit. With the game the Sabres play, it's bound to take a few games for the timing to come back. That's why Quinn didn't sign. Quinn will get 10+ after this season.

Sabrespace post of the year candidate.