GDT: Sabres @ Wild November 29 2025 @ 8PM EST on MSG and ESPN+

[Sidc3000]

20 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

I don't want Rosen on the 4th line but if you put Kozak in the 4th line center spot instead of Krebs or Replace Kozak in the top 9.   Then you have room for Rosen

 

 

 

 

I do like getting rid of Krebs. Either he is a bust or he’s pulling a Cozens to get traded. 
 

[ExWNYer]

15 hours ago, inkman said:

In theory and in my brain it could be infinite.  In some pseudo Canadian way of thinking, I guess we are to assume day to day is less than a week so 7 days or less.  I hate these injury designations.  It’s like injuries for dummies. 

I can't stand the 'upper body injury' and 'lower body injury' word games. So stupid. Why bother? Just say, 'hurt and out'. At this point, I vote that they change Norris' injury designation from 'day-to-day' to 'year-to-year'.

[Pimlach]

36 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

I'm not there yet but maybe the message Tuch needs is a stint in the press box? 

What did Tuch do to you? 

[Eleven]

2 hours ago, PickaPecaPickles said:

When I saw the projected lineups yesterday, I wondered if Lindy was sending a message to Tuch and Tage in this respect? He puts Tage with Benson and Kozak, and Tuch with Doan and Östlund.  I don't think the Zucker line needed it, as Zuck and McLeod tend to raise Quinn's effort. 

I really don't like splitting up the Tuch/Doan/Thompson line, but a Benson/Kozak/Östlund line is a little too inexperienced.  It makes sense to put Thompson with a couple of new guys and Tuch with a couple of them.

[Taro T]

Just now, Eleven said:

I really don't like splitting up the Tuch/Doan/Thompson line, but a Benson/Kozak/Östlund line is a little too inexperienced.  It makes sense to put Thompson with a couple of new guys and Tuch with a couple of them.

Especially on the road.  The Wild is a team that plays really solid team D and has a sniper in Kaprisov and a couple of other offensive guys that can give you fits.  Tough to keep the kids sheltered if they're altogether and you're only playing the 4th line about 10 minutes.

And, letting Östlund play on the "top" line and giving him a look in the SO lets him know that should he be the guy going down when Norris gets activated, it ISN'T him, it's just numbers and until the 3 headed goalie monster gets one head lopped off they're going to have to have a couple/few guys in Ra-cha-cha that have earned time in Buffalo.  Didn't ruin Pominville's development; won't ruin his either.

[Big Guava]

1 hour ago, shrader said:

Kotalik used to shelf backhands all the time. I don’t see the connection. 

More the backhand forehand move, but you are right, that was the single most unstoppable move in shootout history

[Doohickie]

1 hour ago, Brawndo said:

This was sarcasm BTW 

1 hour ago, Sidc3000 said:

Östlind

Can we get an autocorrect on this spelling of Östlund please?

[Doohickie]

I will say this:  Östlund isn't exactly soft.  He battles pretty good, especially along the walls.

[Doohickie]

1 hour ago, Crusader1969 said:

I would say, we don't know.  How many games has he played in his career? 

we do know that UPL and Lyon aren't "it" 

so play Ellis and see how he does over a long stretch of the season 

According to the numbers, we don't know that UPL and Lyon aren't "it".

I think Ellis still represents the Shiny New Toy so everyone is flocking to him.  I feel the same way emotionally; I like him.  He was a good pickup.  But a year from now will he be the new whipping boy?  Who knows?

On the completely other hand, it does show that the both Lyon and UPL could be the help a team with weak goltending needs.  They're not as awful as Sabrespace likes to think.

But really, that's the problem:  based on those numbers, we've got three pretty good, not great, goalies.  Out of 78 goalies in the NHL stats, our goalies are ranked 36, 39, and 47 in terms of Sv%.  As a team, we're ranked 21 in Sv%.   

Maybe it's time to move one of these guys and get something that will improve the team in front of them, now.

Edited 2 hours ago by Doohickie
Somehow I read the chart wrong and said we were 7th in Sv% in original post. That is now corrected.

[North Buffalo]

Watched the first period... Sabres skated well couple bad break downs and no puck luck... glad to see they pulled it out... but couldnt keep my eyes open because of long day... their inconsistencies drive me up the wall

[Pimlach]

9 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

I will say this:  Östlund isn't exactly soft.  He battles pretty good, especially along the walls.

His first 3 games were totally different than what he is right now.  It seemed like he was cautious and just trying to not make mistakes, he was very reluctant. 

Once Rosen came up he seemed to get a spark, maybe he had someone to connect with?   It is very refreshing to see him contribute, he seems to understand the 2 way game.   There is much room for improvement and that will come with more experience in the NHL.  At 21 he is still physically growing and can add more weight and strength.  

What I like is that he looks like a playmaking center.  We need one.  

[Doohickie]

15 hours ago, Doohickie said:

 

hooray we won

1 minute ago, Pimlach said:

What I like is that he looks like a playmaking center. 

And one who seems okay with mucking it up along the boards.

[Flashsabre]

I see a pattern

[shrader]

31 minutes ago, Big Guava said:

More the backhand forehand move, but you are right, that was the single most unstoppable move in shootout history

Predictably unstoppable. You wouldn’t think those two words should go together, yet there was every single Kotalik shootout attempt. 

13 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

According to the numbers, we don't know that UPL and Lyon aren't "it".

I think Ellis still represents the Shiny New Toy so everyone is flocking to him.  I feel the same way emotionally; I like him.  He was a good pickup.  But a year from now will he be the new whipping boy?  Who knows?

On the completely other hand, it does show that the both Lyon and UPL could be the help a team with weak goltending needs.  They're not as awful as Sabrespace likes to think.

But really, that's the problem:  based on those numbers, we've got three pretty good, not great, goalies.  Out of 78 goalies in the NHL stats, our goalies are ranked 36, 39, and 47 in terms of Sv%.  As a team, we're ranked 7 in Sv%.  I guess that means that from one goalie to another, there isn't much drop off.  Most other teams must have a clear Number 1 and then a backup who's not very good. 

Maybe mediocrity isn't that bad? 

Maybe goaltending isn't the issue?

Maybe it's time to move one of these guys and get something that will improve the team in front of them, now.

People are throwing around the idea that the team wants to play better in front of Ellis and not UPL. I feel like the numbers say the exact opposite. UPL has the worse save percentage but the best goals against average. I’m. It going to dive much deeper, but that to me says he’s facing the least amount of shots of the 3. 
 

But yeah, as you’re suggesting here, it’s mostly a wash across the board. We have 3 of the same guy, at least statistically. 

[inkman]

47 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

What did Tuch do to you? 

He Tuch’d him in a funny place. Personally, I’d let him Tuch me anywhere.  

8 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

I see a pattern

Also, never start UPL on the road 

[PickaPecaPickles]

34 minutes ago, Eleven said:

I really don't like splitting up the Tuch/Doan/Thompson line, but a Benson/Kozak/Östlund line is a little too inexperienced.  It makes sense to put Thompson with a couple of new guys and Tuch with a couple of them.

Who knows If the lineup change was a way to send his two “leaders” a message, but when asked about it post-game, he mentioned the usual things like balance the lines, something about face offs, and ended with “get more energy”.  

[Jorcus]

11 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

According to the numbers, we don't know that UPL and Lyon aren't "it".

I think Ellis still represents the Shiny New Toy so everyone is flocking to him.  I feel the same way emotionally; I like him.  He was a good pickup.  But a year from now will he be the new whipping boy?  Who knows?

On the completely other hand, it does show that the both Lyon and UPL could be the help a team with weak goltending needs.  They're not as awful as Sabrespace likes to think.

But really, that's the problem:  based on those numbers, we've got three pretty good, not great, goalies.  Out of 78 goalies in the NHL stats, our goalies are ranked 36, 39, and 47 in terms of Sv%.  As a team, we're ranked 7 in Sv%.  I guess that means that from one goalie to another, there isn't much drop off.  Most other teams must have a clear Number 1 and then a backup who's not very good. 

Maybe mediocrity isn't that bad? 

Maybe goaltending isn't the issue?

Maybe it's time to move one of these guys and get something that will improve the team in front of them, now.

 

I don't think they are going to move any of them. The January schedule comes into play here. They have back to back weeks with 4 games. They have 15 games in 30 days. I think they expect one of the goaltenders to get hurt which is not unrealistic given how many goalies do end up on IR at some point in the season. I agree the goalies are mediocre. I do think it's up to the offense to score more than they have been to win games. We are not going to win many like we did last night but we got a little bit of luck. We were due. 

[Doohickie]

9 minutes ago, shrader said:

Predictably unstoppable. You wouldn’t think those two words should go together, yet there was every single Kotalik shootout attempt. 

People are throwing around the idea that the team wants to play better in front of Ellis and not UPL. I feel like the numbers say the exact opposite. UPL has the worse save percentage but the best goals against average. I’m. It going to dive much deeper, but that to me says he’s facing the least amount of shots of the 3. 
 

But yeah, as you’re suggesting here, it’s mostly a wash across the board. We have 3 of the same guy, at least statistically. 

I had an error in the post you quoted and corrected it, FYI.  

[Big Guava]

13 minutes ago, shrader said:

Predictably unstoppable. You wouldn’t think those two words should go together, yet there was every single Kotalik shootout attempt. 

People are throwing around the idea that the team wants to play better in front of Ellis and not UPL. I feel like the numbers say the exact opposite. UPL has the worse save percentage but the best goals against average. I’m. It going to dive much deeper, but that to me says he’s facing the least amount of shots of the 3. 
 

But yeah, as you’re suggesting here, it’s mostly a wash across the board. We have 3 of the same guy, at least statistically. 

Perhaps Ellis doesn't give up big rebounds like UPL is so prone to do so he faces less shots because of that?

UPL has had one of the worst rebounds over expected metrics for years now. Like we are talking 120th or higher out of 133 goalies.

Edited 2 hours ago by Big Guava

[Doohickie]

2 minutes ago, Big Guava said:

Perhaps Ellis doesn't give up big rebounds like UPL is so prone to do so he faces less shots because of that?

No, it's the other way around:  UPL has the lower GAA with a similar Sv% so UPL is facing fewer shots.

Edited 2 hours ago by Doohickie

[Big Guava]

5 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

No, it's the other way around:  UPL has the lower GAA with a similar Sv% so UPL is facing fewer shots.

Could that suggest the team has no confidence in UPL so they feel they need to play a much tighter defensive game to limit scoring opportunities because they feel they are going to end up in the back of the net more often?

[shrader]

23 minutes ago, inkman said:

He Tuch’d him in a funny place. Personally, I’d let him Tuch me anywhere.  

Also, never start UPL on the road 

Never start anyone on the road. 

[DarthEbriate]

1 hour ago, Eleven said:

I really don't like splitting up the Tuch/Doan/Thompson line, but a Benson/Kozak/Östlund line is a little too inexperienced.  It makes sense to put Thompson with a couple of new guys and Tuch with a couple of them.

Everyone loves a kid line. But when they debuted together in 2005-06 their ages were Vanek-22, Roy-22, Afinogenov-26.

Benson-21, Kozak-23, Östlund-22 are babies by comparison. (And they don't have the support of 3 other good lines, an excellent balanced D-corps, and Miller -- and a good coaching staff with Ruff in his prime and still with the fire within.)

[Broken Ankles]

1 hour ago, PickaPecaPickles said:

Who knows If the lineup change was a way to send his two “leaders” a message, but when asked about it post-game, he mentioned the usual things like balance the lines, something about face offs, and ended with “get more energy”.  

Balance may have been the deciding factor.  For all the floating Tuch did, his line had the highest xGF and their XGA suffered only bc of the egregious giveaway by Tuch leading to a goal by Boldy.  The First line with two kids and Tage got dominated when playing against Kaprizov/Yurov/Zuccarella, and their XGF/XGA and Corsi bears that out.  But the newly constructed Third line with Doan/Östlund/Tuch seemed to pick up the slack. It seems Minnesotas scouting saw the McLeod line has been high scoring as of late, so they tried to match up defensively to shut them down, and they did for the most part. That lines Corsi was 21%.  Abysmal.  Curious if Ruff tweaks it with two games of subpar performance and the possibility of Norris coming back into the mix next week. I think this confirms that Östlund can play center at this level, especially if he has two veteran wingers to support him.  He probably goes back to Roch when Norris comes back as Taro noted earlier but his play and those silky mitts on the game winner makes me think his development is going well. 

[Doohickie]

Yeah, Östlund is gonna be a good one.  He is definitely in the Sabres' future plans.