The 6K discussion thread: Can he lead us to the playoffs? Keeping the crease warm for Levi?

[LGR4GM]

3 hours ago, inkman said:

It’s cringe worthy but whatever makes his pp hard. 

I should gloat about Reinhart. Dude is fine af.

[Pimlach]

52 minutes ago, Taro T said:

True.  But don't agree that since coming back from injury that Comrie has been better than Levi.

And this is where/why yours truly disagrees with the "send Levi to Ra-cha-cha" crowd.  The Sabres need to win hockey games and make the playoffs.  They should be playing their 2 best goalies.  100% agree that UPL is the best of the 3 right now.  Do not agree at all that Comrie is the 2nd best of the 3.  And if Levi is the 2nd best, he should be staying in Buffalo getting 30-40% or so of the starts (UPL should get 50-55%; with Comrie getting a game here or there).

The team is 0-2-0 in Comrie's starts since coming back from injury.  They're 2-1-1 in Levi's starts since HE came back from injury and the 1 regulation loss was against the B's before their bubble burst.

There is no pressing need at present to move away from the 3 headed monster.  IF Levi costs them games, fine, send him down.  But would like to see how he does against St. Louis 1st (and they likely will give that game and Carolina to UPL); so see how he does vs Nashville.  See where he's at for a couple of weeks as the #2; if he can't hack it, absolutely send him down.  But don't just send him down because he's a hothouse orchid that needs to be getting #1 usage RIGHT NOW or his entire NHL journey will be irreparably harmed.  Because his isn't and it won't.  (It won't ruin him to get sent down either; but the decision HAS TO BE will they win more games with Levi as the 2 or Comrie as the 2.  And that needs to be the ONLY criterion at THIS point.  If they make a trade for a F or a true tp 4 D and now can no longer afford to keep the 3 headed monster going; well make a decision at that time.  Or if Comrie is clearly the 2, make a decision.  But right now, they aren't going 11-7 because of the 3 headed monster and Comrie hasn't come close to locking up the backup role since coming back.)

Edit:  Welp, nevermind.  (Still not convinced Comrie is better right now than Levi is.)

I am not convinced Comrie is better right now either, their stats are about the same, Comrie is good enough to be the back up.   

Levi needs to get reps, he needs to excel in the AHL and feel the day to day grind of being the #1 in Rochester.  

[Hank]

12 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I should gloat about Reinhart. Dude is fine af.

If you remember, I was right there with you on reinhardt. 

[Pimlach]

6 hours ago, LTS said:

I think if he used a little tenderizer on his glove it might improve even more.  No analytics but it seems a lot of pucks go in and out of that glove before he gets it closed.

I think he's been playing well so I'm not trying to refute anything.

Oil the glove, but a softball in it and use rope to tie it closed tightly.  Put it under your mattress and sleep on it for a few days.  That helps to break in the glove. 

 

 

 

 

[Thorny]

2 hours ago, K-9 said:

Absolutely. And as I said in an earlier post up thread, he gets all my praise for his emerging improvement and we all hope it continues.

But for anyone to insist that those of us who rightfully criticized his piss poor play previously owe him an apology for that criticism is absurd. These twitter X zealots posting their apology forms have short memories and should better acquaint themselves with the facts of Oopie’s entire body of work to date. 

No, the apology form is stupid if it’s meant as anything other than a joke. I’m not apologizing for sh*t all to a franchise that hasn’t made the playoffs in 13 years lol come on now.

He was poor so we said he was poor. If anyone said “he’ll absolutely be bad for….ev…..er…for….ev…..er….for….ev…..er”

then ya that would be a bad take 

[Thorny]

1 hour ago, Hank said:

As his biggest and longest supporter, I've never asked anyone to apologize or said they were wrong to doubt him, just respectfully disagreed. I wanted to trade him, Savoie, Benson(the pick, didnt know it would be Benson), + for Saros in the summer. 

You should ABSOLUTELY take a victory lap even if it’s early. I try to do it whenever I can lmao 

As of now, you have the conn

I post to GA about him having Mittelstadt all the time

no one posts about me having skinner Dahlin and Eichel so I do it myself 

It’s just that there’s a certain segment of fans who’s bread and butter is to “Steph Curry” any time anything good ever happens to Buffalo, as if they are the better fans because we, wrongly, had gotten upset at points along the way about things not going well when they, you can be sure, never doubted a solitary thing 

Edited November 28, 2023 by Thorny

[Hank]

2 minutes ago, Thorny said:

You should ABSOLUTELY take a victory lap even if it’s early. I try to do it whenever I can lmao 

It’s just that there’s a certain segment of fans who’s bread and butter is to “Steph Curry” any time anything good ever happens to Buffalo, as if they are the better fans because we, wrongly, had gotten upset at points along the way about things not going well when they, you can be sure, never doubted a solitary thing 

I don't think I could live with myself if I acted like that. I'm a big enough ***** as it is, I'd be positively unbearable 😀

[Thorny]

Just now, Hank said:

I don't think I could live with myself if I acted like that. I'm a big enough ***** as it is, I'd be positively unbearable 😀

Join the club 🤝

[Buffalonill]

The only thing I'm worried about now is that he feels. No pressure is on him now and he goes back to his old self 

[French Collection]

42 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Oil the glove, but a softball in it and use rope to tie it closed tightly.  Put it under your mattress and sleep on it for a few days.  That helps to break in the glove. 

 

 

 

 

Neats foot oil.

[Thorny]

2 hours ago, Hank said:

YMMV on that. You know what's much more common on here? Young player struggles, majority say, "this player sucks! Get him off my team! I don't care what you get for him I just want him gone!"  A little time goes by and depending on if he's turned it around its either, "SEE! I WAS RIGHT, HE SUCKS!! FIRE EVERYBODY!!!, or, "I've never been so happy to be wrong about a player".  To me that's a miserable way to go through life and kind of pathetic. Again, YMMV, it's a message board, to each their own and all that. 

In fairness, I've updated his stats/numbers, I haven't come on here proclaiming how smart I am or that others are stupid for doubting him, so don't make it out to be something it's not. 

Also, he's been a different goalie since I've started calling him 6K, get on board. 

Also also, my calves are better than yours! 😝

Honestly….. I’d still kick all the young guys off my team if it meant we could make the playoffs this year. I forgive any fan for lacking the “patience” to wait on the one prospect among every 5 or so that actually lives up to expectations..why hold it against the fans? You can’t understand why they’d be more inclined to favour results in the now? The way young players develop, or don’t, hasn’t changed in 13 years. Some have, some haven’t. We still haven’t won.

Fans are a product of the experience, when compelled to remain loyal to a product when in almost every other consumer case they’d simply move on. But sports are a cruel animal. I’m sure you’d get more patience with development once we ever actually develop into a winning team. The lack of happiness with developing players is merely a reflection to the actual results team wide never arriving - it’s not hard to understand that 

Edited November 28, 2023 by Thorny

[French Collection]

8 x $6M?

[JohninMinn.]

46 minutes ago, Buffalonill said:

The only thing I'm worried about now is that he feels. No pressure is on him now and he goes back to his old self 

Good point. It could go either way. He has a little eeyore in him.

Edited November 28, 2023 by JohninMinn.
Misspelling eeyore. Two e's got me.

[JohninMinn.]

10 hours ago, Doohickie said:

This is the worry with every goalie.  Even established goalies sometimes fall off the table, you never know what you're going to get.  I think we all felt the same about Ullmark until we didn't, if you know what I mean.

But I also think there's a weird chemistry kind of thing where the team feeds off the goalie's ability to make the big save and his ability to make the big save is boosted by the team's play in front of him.  For the Sabres right now, UPL is HIM.

Goalies can be like franchise QB's where the whole team feeds off them.

[Hank]

47 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Honestly….. I’d still kick all the young guys off my team if it meant we could make the playoffs this year. I forgive any fan for lacking the “patience” to wait on the one prospect among every 5 or so that actually lives up to expectations..why hold it against the fans? You can’t understand why they’d be more inclined to favour results in the now? The way young players develop, or don’t, hasn’t changed in 13 years. Some have, some haven’t. We still haven’t won.

Fans are a product of the experience, when compelled to remain loyal to a product when in almost every other consumer case they’d simply move on. But sports are a cruel animal. I’m sure you’d get more patience with development once we ever actually develop into a winning team. The lack of happiness with developing players is merely a reflection to the actual results team wide never arriving - it’s not hard to understand that 

I do understand that. I don't think there's a right or wrong way to be a fan. I don't insist that people feel as I feel, say as I say, do as I do. As I said, to each their own. 

[shrader]

4 hours ago, pi2000 said:

I'm honestly beginning to wonder if KA has some kind of gentleman's agreement with Levi that he won't send him down to Roch.   

It just makes no sense to keep him in up if he's not going to play enough to properly develop.

I’m pretty sure they had the same agreement with Mittelstadt a few years back too. They worked it out back then and I guess they just did again now. 
 

And yes, I agree with you that they probably made that agreement with Levi. 

[Dr. Who]

54 minutes ago, Hank said:

I do understand that. I don't think there's a right or wrong way to be a fan. I don't insist that people feel as I feel, say as I say, do as I do. As I said, to each their own. 

I'd like to agree, but I still think the folks who agree with me are smarter.

[shrader]

23 hours ago, DarthEbriate said:

I don't think either UPL or Levi has anything to fear from Comrie after the trade deadline this season.

The only thing that has to fear Comrie is the netting directly behind him. Pucks sting. 

[Hank]

15 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Ppl were calling him 6k years ago. 

Ottawa, New Jersey, Philly, and Carolina. 

You looked at his game log and plucked the four that had the lowest save %. That's lazy and ignorant. He was good in Ottawa.  Watch the games. 

[LGR4GM]

35 minutes ago, Hank said:

You looked at his game log and plucked the four that had the lowest save %. That's lazy and ignorant. He was good in Ottawa.  Watch the games. 

The first goal Ottawa scored, UPL was very slow in both puck tracking and recovery after a huge rebound. He left the net wide open and didn't slide in time. This is still one of my main concerns with UPL, although I think he is much better this year than last. I will say, his recovery time, is still slow. If you get him out of his base stance, it takes awhile for him to reset. 

Second goal is a soft pass/shot into the high slot, again UPL doesn't it track it well but you can argue his defense should clear it away, instead Tarasenko collects it and fires it through UPL. Should I blame him for it, I do but I would understand someone else being like, no. 

Third is a pp goal where the puck comes from low across the blue paint and is shot in off of UPL. Again, he doesn't slide in time and even though he is big, doesn't manage to cover the bottom of the net for the shot. It is pp goal, so I could see and would agree we can't really blame him, I would like a save here but meh, not really his fault. 

Fourth the puck is slid out from behind the net to the slot and a quick shot beats UPL. Again, I would like a save but I don't have an issue with the goal from the goalie perspective. 

Is this his worst game? No, he was okay and thankfully Buffalo scored 6 goals and we won. Compared to what he has given us the last 2 weeks though it is one of the 4 weak games I think he has played this year. I don't care for the first and second goals because I think UPL can save those. Third and Fourth I have no issue with him allowing. Asking him to save the first two is really a function of a higher belief in his abilities now. 

I am one of the least lazy and ignorant posters here. What's truly lazy is someone beating their chest that they were right about a goalie but it honestly is how most of this board acts now and I don't really have an issue with it. I think ppl should claim their victories so to speak. I was wrong on UPL and I hope I am wrong on Krebs too. However, can I claim being right for coming around on Quinn faster than most or for saying everyone needs to calm down about Rosen? What about defending Dahlin and Reinhart for years, should I mention that every time someone else does? My issue isn't that you are right, it is that you are tossing it in others faces that they are wrong. This produces the effect that ppl who are wrong will try to back that wrongness to the point of absurdity because they simply aren't allowed to say "I was wrong then, moving on" and instead feel the need to defend themselves. This happens a lot in politics where a stance will be shown as bad/wrong but because someone isn't allowed to use new info and reevaluate their position they progress away from the right answer and instead go further and further towards defending the wrong one. I am sure there is a psychological name for this but I don't know it. 

Anyways, I went back and looked at all of his goals from this game. UPL isn't as bad as I remembered. The next game against the NJD though he was rough but also came in to relieve an injured Comrie. It doesn't matter though, out of 11 starts, UPL is at least average or better in 8/9 of them? He is really good in 7 of them including coming in for relief in the Boston game (14sh/14sv) so honestly I just am happy to be wrong, truly. That isn't a cop-out, I didn't think he could do this consistently and I didn't think his past work showed that he would do this consistently and here we are. I was straight up wrong on UPL, but at the end of the day idc as long as the Sabres win. 

[Drag0nDan]

On 11/27/2023 at 10:39 PM, Flashsabre said:

Best case scenario is UPL keeps going and settles in as the #1, Comrie is healthy and settles in as the capable backup and Levi goes to Rochester and they give him the net for the remainder of the year.

I mean - if the team is in a playoff race with 20 games left - I don't see how you can give Comrie starts.  He's just not very good.  

[Norcal]

My Man! Let's GO Upie!!

[SwampD]

I wrote about UPL (even called him 6K3U) in March.

Then again in the goalie expectations series of threads.

Just sayin’.

😂

But, a quarter of a season is, well, a quarter of a season. It would be awesome if he kept this up.

[mjd1001]

We all know goalies are strange guys how they develop.

UPL could turn back into an inconsistent guy and be a borderline AHL/NHL guy with no further development.  He also could turn into one of the best in the NHL over the next couple years.  Or he could get slightly better and be a decent-but-not-great #1 but a solid #2 (Marty Biron comes to mind).  You never know with goalies.

[Taro T]

28 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

We all know goalies are strange guys how they develop.

UPL could turn back into an inconsistent guy and be a borderline AHL/NHL guy with no further development.  He also could turn into one of the best in the NHL over the next couple years.  Or he could get slightly better and be a decent-but-not-great #1 but a solid #2 (Marty Biron comes to mind).  You never know with goalies.

And his is a very unusual situation.  He was playing great in Juniors and then the Sabres convinced him to preemptively get double hip surgery.  He never was the same goalie because the hips didn't feel right.  Last year he corrected one of the major issues he had in hunching down some in the butterfly leaving the top of the net wide open.  But his movement was still very slow.

He's said he really worked on nutrition and conditioning this past summer, but he did not look good in the preseason and was 3rd on the depth chart.  His movement was still subpar.  But in the past few games, his movement within the crease has been significantly better, and in the last game against the Rags he had that paddle save where he dove across the crease but before that, he had one where he did the splits and got completely across the crease in position and made a huge save.  Maybe he has finally gotten to a point that even though that movement still feels weird/wrong (or even better, maybe it finally doesn't feel weird), he trusts his doctors, trainers, and coaches that it really isn't going to #### up his hips/knees to push that hard across the crease.  IF he has, this elevated play could be sustainable.  Don't know that it is, but it could be.

Will also be interesting to see if teams alter their tactics now that they'll actually be trying to get a book on him since he's the Sabres starter.  And if they do, will he and the rest of the team be able to counteract those changing tactics.

If he keeps playing like he did the last 2 games, Adams insisting that he trusts all 3 goalies and that he didn't see anyone available that was as significantly better than them for what the price would be be, might for the 1st time in 4 years have actually been a good call.  (Way too early to say that is is, but it might actually work out.)