thewookie1 Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 2 hours ago, Pimlach said: OK, I wrote this last night after the game. I missed the game. Were was Tage? TOI - 14:46 Skinner TOI - 12:50 Kyle TOI - 10:56 Looks like that line became the 4th line. Tage must have got a few extra minutes for the PP? Any comments? Thompson is fighting through both physical and mental issues it seems. However he does continue to shoot which is a good thing. Skinner, besides one early opportunity has looked awful since the All-Star break. He's thrown the puck around like a drunken sailor and has lost the puck a myriad of time after Thompson and Okposo had worked hard to retain possession. Kyle's old lol 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnC Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 3 hours ago, Believer said: Agree… We had a strong second half last year… and have to think our players were full of confidence coming into this season… Unfortunately, Adams and Granato used the last few weeks of the preseason to extend training camp tryouts for prospects… instead of sending out our first team regulars to establish the new defense and winning games for a fast start to the season… All on Adams, imo… What are the chances he doesn’t make the same bonehead move next preseason? It's a challenging balancing act between seeing what the young prospects are capable of and getting your veterans ready. As it turned out, Benson earned the roster spot he got. It also became apparent that Savoie wasn't quite ready for the higher league. Will Kulich be ready for the NHL next year? I'm not sure. How many additional players will be brought in from the market or trades next year? Maybe a couple? In my opinion, we desperately need another younger Okposo type of player added to the roster. It seems to me that this roster is mostly set with a couple of additions coming from the outside. A couple of Greenway and Clifton type players would be good additions. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bob_sauve28 Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 16 minutes ago, JohnC said: Compared to last year, the additions of Clifton, Ryan and Eric Johnson have substantially upgraded the unit from the previous year. I'm not sure if Eric wants to play another year or not? I would like to see another Clifton caliber of player added to the unit. It took Clifton a little time to get comfortable but now he is a solid defenseman. The player who has surprised me the most with his play is Ryan Johnson. I didn't think he would be this good so soon. We need to add a younger Okposo type player to the roster. A rugged player who can score at a moderate level. When they first signed him (EJ) he said he wants to keep playing after this season. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thorny Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 Can’t see KA not sending EJ to a cup/playoff contender at deadline 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OverPowerYou Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 (edited) 29 minutes ago, Thorny said: Can’t see KA not sending EJ to a cup/playoff contender at deadline Wouldnt that be funny if he went back to Colorado Edited February 14 by OverPowerYou 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weave Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 30 minutes ago, Thorny said: Can’t see KA not sending EJ to a cup/playoff contender at deadline I have to assume that was part of the bargain, if we aren’t going to be in the show, we’ll send you somewhere that will. Sucks. I do NOT want this team to be sellers, playoffs or no. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doohickie Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 5 hours ago, JohnC said: 6 hours ago, inkman said: Bryson looked the part. Maybe he can put together something his next team will get excited about. He can have a role as a utility player who is brought up when needed. I agree with you that he played well in this game. Jacob Bryson has played in 6 games this season: 10/29/2023 vs COL, Sabres win 4-0 11/1/2023 @ PHI, Sabres win 5-2 11/4/2023 @ TOR, Sabres win 6-4 1/24/2024 @ LAK, Sabres win 5-3 1/27/2024 @SJS, Sabres win 5-2 2/13/2024 vs LAK, Sabres win 7-0 Is Bryson the best defenseman we have? Of course not. But has the team lost any games with him on the roster? No. Bryson on the roster is not to be feared. I'm not sure why. Maybe he plays with a little more desperation than Power. There was talk in the preseason that Bryson had beefed up so he could play with some more jam. Maybe at 26 he's hitting his stride as a defenseman. We're always talking about how it takes several years for young defense prospect to mature. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
inkman Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 2 minutes ago, Doohickie said: Jacob Bryson has played in 6 games this season: 10/29/2023 vs COL, Sabres win 4-0 11/1/2023 @ PHI, Sabres win 5-2 11/4/2023 @ TOR, Sabres win 6-4 1/24/2024 @ LAK, Sabres win 5-3 1/27/2024 @SJS, Sabres win 5-2 2/13/2024 vs LAK, Sabres win 7-0 Is Bryson the best defenseman we have? Of course not. But has the team lost any games with him on the roster? No. Bryson on the roster is not to be feared. I'm not sure why. Maybe he plays with a little more desperation than Power. There was talk in the preseason that Bryson had beefed up so he could play with some more jam. Maybe at 26 he's hitting his stride as a defenseman. We're always talking about how it takes several years for young defense prospect to mature. How much beef do you want on a 5’9” frame! We don’t need him looking like cee lo green. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doohickie Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 9 minutes ago, inkman said: How much beef do you want on a 5’9” frame! We don’t need him looking like cee lo green. But ol' Cee Lo has a great voice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnC Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 23 minutes ago, Doohickie said: Jacob Bryson has played in 6 games this season: 10/29/2023 vs COL, Sabres win 4-0 11/1/2023 @ PHI, Sabres win 5-2 11/4/2023 @ TOR, Sabres win 6-4 1/24/2024 @ LAK, Sabres win 5-3 1/27/2024 @SJS, Sabres win 5-2 2/13/2024 vs LAK, Sabres win 7-0 Is Bryson the best defenseman we have? Of course not. But has the team lost any games with him on the roster? No. Bryson on the roster is not to be feared. I'm not sure why. Maybe he plays with a little more desperation than Power. There was talk in the preseason that Bryson had beefed up so he could play with some more jam. Maybe at 26 he's hitting his stride as a defenseman. We're always talking about how it takes several years for young defense prospect to mature. I doubt most people would consider him to be a major factor in those wins you list. However, I have not been a member of the bash Bryson club. The hostility toward this player, who I consider to be a marginal/utility defenseman, is out of proportion to his standing and role on this roster. Our blueline unit when healthy is currently made up of Dahlin, Samuelsson, Power, Joki, Ryan Johnson, Eric Johnson and Clifton. He's not better than any of them. That makes him our 8th best player on that unit. As a player on that lower rung, he is what most people would consider to be a utility or marginal player. As I said in a prior post, he has a role as a player you can bring up and have him fill a need when called upon. That's not a bad thing to have. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DarthEbriate Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 35 minutes ago, inkman said: How much beef do you want on a 5’9” frame! We don’t need him looking like cee lo green. How about Zhitnik-stocky? 5'11 225#. Jeepers, Zhitnik's hockey-reference page has him at the same playing weight as Erik Johnson. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SHAAAUGHT!!! Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 56 minutes ago, Doohickie said: Jacob Bryson has played in 6 games this season: 10/29/2023 vs COL, Sabres win 4-0 11/1/2023 @ PHI, Sabres win 5-2 11/4/2023 @ TOR, Sabres win 6-4 1/24/2024 @ LAK, Sabres win 5-3 1/27/2024 @SJS, Sabres win 5-2 2/13/2024 vs LAK, Sabres win 7-0 Is Bryson the best defenseman we have? Of course not. But has the team lost any games with him on the roster? No. Bryson on the roster is not to be feared. I'm not sure why. Maybe he plays with a little more desperation than Power. There was talk in the preseason that Bryson had beefed up so he could play with some more jam. Maybe at 26 he's hitting his stride as a defenseman. We're always talking about how it takes several years for young defense prospect to mature. This might be a correlation vs causation type situation with Bryson. Even in games they won earlier this season I remember Bryson looking pretty bad in a few of them. I didn’t see the last two games he played though. Looks like he is getting significantly more minutes which means the coaches are trusting him more, or just needed him to eat up more minutes with Powers out… 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doohickie Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 I think perhaps the benefit of having Bryson in the lineup is that he, at this point, just goes about his business. He will join the rush, sure, but I don't think he's trying to impress with his offensive upside, freeing him up to actually concentrate on defense. So if he's in the lineup, it's in place of one of these guys: Dahlin: Okay, Bryson is clearly a downgrade Samuelsson: Who seems to be perpetually injured this season and doesn't have last year's edge Power: Who's clearly in a sophomore slump and is still learning Joki: Who just seems to be intermittently out of sync with the rest of the team (my own observation) but generally better than Bryson Ryan Johnson: who will be an upgrade on Bryson, but is still learning Eric Johnson: provides experience but is slipping out of NHL caliber Clifton: Who is more physical as Bryson and a good stretch passer, but otherwise isn't much better than Bryson imo So when you insert Bryson into the lineup, he's going to be an improvement over most of the players he's filling in for. He's basically in his prime, so putting him on the roster in place of a player who's still learning, or in decline, or is trying to play while injured, isn't much of a downgrade and he in fact may be a steadying influence. Not great, but no drama. I think if he played regularly, though, he might wear down, so it's good to keep him as a 7/8 D. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pimlach Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 (edited) 1 hour ago, Doohickie said: Jacob Bryson has played in 6 games this season: 10/29/2023 vs COL, Sabres win 4-0 11/1/2023 @ PHI, Sabres win 5-2 11/4/2023 @ TOR, Sabres win 6-4 1/24/2024 @ LAK, Sabres win 5-3 1/27/2024 @SJS, Sabres win 5-2 2/13/2024 vs LAK, Sabres win 7-0 Is Bryson the best defenseman we have? Of course not. But has the team lost any games with him on the roster? No. Bryson on the roster is not to be feared. I'm not sure why. Maybe he plays with a little more desperation than Power. There was talk in the preseason that Bryson had beefed up so he could play with some more jam. Maybe at 26 he's hitting his stride as a defenseman. We're always talking about how it takes several years for young defense prospect to mature. This is a good luck statistical anomaly. We are a low scoring team that happens to luckily average over 5+ goals per game when he plays. Bryson has 2 assists and his +/- is 0. I call this a coincidence. Edited February 14 by Pimlach 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pimlach Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 2 hours ago, thewookie1 said: Thompson is fighting through both physical and mental issues it seems. However he does continue to shoot which is a good thing. Skinner, besides one early opportunity has looked awful since the All-Star break. He's thrown the puck around like a drunken sailor and has lost the puck a myriad of time after Thompson and Okposo had worked hard to retain possession. Kyle's old lol Not aware of any mental issues. He seems to play hard some of the time. He seems to do to much quite often. He seems to be playing alone a lot. Playing with Skinner might be a problem. Skinner is lost since the all Star break. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doohickie Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 24 minutes ago, SHAAAUGHT!!! said: Looks like he is getting significantly more minutes He basically played second pair minutes with Clifton as his partner. Johnson and Johnson got third pair minutes which I'm okay with. I don't think EJ has the gas in the tank to play above third pair and I like Lil J learning from him. As a second pairing Clifton and Bryson were playing shutdown hockey and not trying to generate offense from the D, even though Clifton and Bryson led the D at +3 and +4 respectively, and Bryson had 2 assists (secondary assist on the JJP goal and the nifty primary on Benson's goal). 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-9 Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 14 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said: With a name so long you could…..;. Barely unTuch it … 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doohickie Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 7 minutes ago, Pimlach said: This is a good luck statistical anomaly. We are a low scoring team that happens to average over 5+ goals per game when he plays. Bryson has 2 assists and his +/- is 0. I call this a coincidence. I can't disagree; I attributed it to him being a "good luck charm" a game or two back. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weave Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 1 hour ago, Doohickie said: Jacob Bryson has played in 6 games this season: 10/29/2023 vs COL, Sabres win 4-0 11/1/2023 @ PHI, Sabres win 5-2 11/4/2023 @ TOR, Sabres win 6-4 1/24/2024 @ LAK, Sabres win 5-3 1/27/2024 @SJS, Sabres win 5-2 2/13/2024 vs LAK, Sabres win 7-0 Is Bryson the best defenseman we have? Of course not. But has the team lost any games with him on the roster? No. Bryson on the roster is not to be feared. I'm not sure why. Maybe he plays with a little more desperation than Power. There was talk in the preseason that Bryson had beefed up so he could play with some more jam. Maybe at 26 he's hitting his stride as a defenseman. We're always talking about how it takes several years for young defense prospect to mature. Mule had a pretty similar run for awhile. I don’t know that this is any different. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doohickie Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 1 minute ago, Pimlach said: Not aware of any mental issues. I suspect by "mental issues" @thewookie1 doesn't mean literal mental illness; more like Tage is in his own head too much/gripping his stick too tight/pressing too hard. 1 minute ago, Weave said: Mule had a pretty similar run for awhile. I don’t know that this is any different. And we all attributed it to Muel being a good defenseman. But now we're saying it's happening with Bryson in spite of Bryson. Seems like a double standard. 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doohickie Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 11 minutes ago, Pimlach said: This is a good luck statistical anomaly. We are a low scoring team that happens to luckily average over 5+ goals per game when he plays. Bryson has 2 assists and his +/- is 0. I call this a coincidence. Perhaps the shifting around when Bryson is playing helps to somehow foster offensive output? Maybe Joki + Rasmus > Muel + Rasmus for generating offense from the D? It could be just luck, but it could also be a subtle difference in how the whole team plays when the Dmen are shuffled around. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pimlach Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 Just now, Doohickie said: I suspect by "mental issues" @thewookie1 doesn't mean literal mental illness; more like Tage is in his own head too much/gripping his stick too tight/pressing too hard. Yes. He could be frustrated and pressing. I’m still not sure he would not be better off at wing and playing with a nifty playmaking center (Mitts). He gets more room at center but with skinner and KO who feeds him? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doohickie Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 But when it was Skinner/Thompson/Tuch they were all feeding each other. Skinner had a career high in assists last season. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GASabresIUFAN Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 11 minutes ago, K-9 said: Barely unTuch it … It is a little ironic that the google translator of his name (If I’m reading earlier posts correctly) would fit in so well with the limerick. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MISabresFan Posted February 14 Report Share Posted February 14 (edited) 3 hours ago, JohnC said: It's a challenging balancing act between seeing what the young prospects are capable of and getting your veterans ready. As it turned out, Benson earned the roster spot he got. It also became apparent that Savoie wasn't quite ready for the higher league. Will Kulich be ready for the NHL next year? I'm not sure. How many additional players will be brought in from the market or trades next year? Maybe a couple? In my opinion, we desperately need another younger Okposo type of player added to the roster. It seems to me that this roster is mostly set with a couple of additions coming from the outside. A couple of Greenway and Clifton type players would be good additions. Need to add "winners", stanley cup pedigree, not just any veteran. Ones that have been thru the war and know what it takes... Edited February 14 by MISabresFan spelling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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