Doohickie

And there have been other instances where other lines covered for the Tage line when they were stymied by the opposition. When the Tuch trade (see what I did there?) was in the works there was discussion about whether it's better to have the very best top end talent or have the talent spread throughout the lineup. That trade represented a transition from the former to the latter (although most of the talent was already in the system prior to the trade). The team that gets more "very good" pieces may, over the long term, be the team that wins the trade, as opposed to the team who got the best player. The Lindros deal between Quebec (/Colorado) and Philadelphia is a case where the team getting the best player lost the trade, which was a strong contributing factor to the Avs Cup wins and overall success in the 1990s.

I really think it's the unified plan between Adams and Granato that makes the Sabres approach different. And specifically, Adams promoting an assistant coach focused on player development into the head coach role and giving him the charter to develop all the youth on the team to their NHL potential. It's actually a pretty bold vision and if it works (playoffs this year or next, contending for the Cup shortly after) you may see other teams jumping on that model. We as a fan base have been frustrated by the lack of progress, especially when it appears that better defensive depth and goaltending would put the Sabres into solid playoff position, but I think it's a fine balance they're trying to achieve and where they lean too far they've decided to lean toward the youth movement. We're not sure yet if that's the correct balance but like I said if it works it could be revolutionary in terms of how teams rebuild going forward.

I think the Sabres are taking the right approach, as painful as it is at times. But also... I think the Sabres "got lucky" with the emergence of Tage and how his line maximizes the talents of Tuch and Skinner. Maybe if Mitts wasn't injured he would have been "that guy" last year and had a 30 goal season but I'm not seeing it. The fact that Tage got 1C minutes with the most talented guys on the team, but really only due to the injury to Mitts, was a stroke of luck and an opportunity that Tage was ready to maximize. For the Sabres that was like winning a lottery- something you don't expect and can't bank on. The Sabres have a decent center spine for a young team: Cozens is having a break out year, Krebs seems to be improving, Jost was a nice find, and only Mitts seems to be stagnating. But as you say, a lot of this is the philosophy of letting the kids go through their growing pains together and grow together as a team. As a development coach Granato is perfect for that assignment. I think Yzerman doesn't have the same appreciation that Adams does for stocking the system and giving the youth a chance to grow. He wants to start winning and it almost seems like he's making the same mistakes as XGMTM in terms of trading assets for good, not great, players to accelerate the build.

I miss that bloke.

No argument, but in their last game, when it was a tense 2-2 draw in the third, who scored the game winner that loosened up the Yotes and made them pull their goalie? I will say though that I don't see this Sabres team as necessarily having a specific "go to" guy like Drury and Briere were. I could see anyone from the top two lines being "that guy", mostly because those two lines work so well as lines. They can all pass, they can all finish. You don't see it as much on the bottom two lines but the way Jost and Krebs are working out I think there may be a bump up on bottom six scoring as well.

Unless, of course, a team is playing the Sabres and then they target Lyubushkin's and Jokiharju's ankles.

But they won't be, not with an arena deal in place.

The modest 3-game win streak they are currently on has been with a hodge-podge defense. The team may be maturing to the point that as long as they have a couple Top D to work with, they're learning how to win even with some depth level replacements. That may be more important than getting everyone healthy.

I was going to post it but I thought there was an error in the start time. It really is a 10 PM ET start, eh? Yikes. I will still watch the whole thing tonight. It's a 9 PM start for me and I am working from home in the morning so I can sleep in a bit longer.

You misunderstand. You *were* on my naughty list but I'm used to your style and stuff now so you're off. I don't see you getting back on.

You're not on it. This time.

I just want the team to win. If they win more than all the teams between them and the playoffs to a great enough extent, they're in. I'm not going to worry (as much) about the other teams; I just want the Sabres to win. If they do enough of that, the rest of the league will take care of itself.

To me he's only worth the schadenfreude. I love to see him cry.

fify. It's not just the defensemen.

He's fun to watch for his meltdowns when the Pats ***** up.

I expect that, as well as the maturation of the Cozens line, to happen this season which is why I'm still bullish on playoffs this year. You don't like dressing in suits made from curtains from cheap bordellos?

Yeah. Also Barstool Sports founder. Last year he was the one who held "Emergency Press Conferences" on Twitter to lament Pats losses to the Bills. Lament is too kind: They were meltdowns.

Hit it!

Talking about scoring when you really need it, not just number of goals.

And if you liked that, here's a longer version.

This guy 😄

Their footing was a lot worse than the Bills' was once the snow started. Right, but when it counted it affected them.

It just occurred to me that the Bills scored 10 points with 0:00 on the clock at the end of a half.

Mitts does appear to be on the upswing but Skinner is still a huge upgrade over Casey.

Best scrum goal since