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It's hard to believe it's been one week.

Some random comments about the locker cleanout pressers last week. The newer players seemed much more open, upbeat, and analytical about the season than many of the existing Sabres. I guess the team has not beat it out of them yet. Zucker, Byram, and McCloud all gave open dialog. Tuch and Thompson were some what depressed but made insightful comments. You never really get much out of Dahlin. Power was miserable just did not want to answer questions. Quinn was not a lot better. Peterka spent most of the interview hydrating himself and watching the clock for a flight out of town. Greenway is always spacey in interviews, not a whole lot to say. Sammy was pretty dour but at least he was reflective about his season and where he was during certain periods of it. Maybe I am reading too much into this but I wonder if the Byram trade was as much about offloading Mitts than wanting Byram. I could see that they might not have wanted to pay Casey the money it was going to take to keep him around so when shopping the Byram trade was the best value they came up with. Well they put off the problem until this year and I just think push come to shove if Adams has to chose between Byram and Power he going to choose Power. Another thing that struck me is that they still think Ryan Johnson is the best defensive prospect they have in Rochester, or at least the most NHL ready. The Rochester coaches talk that way as well so maybe he is. The problem is he is just another version of a mobile puck moving defenseman who probably is going to have trouble clearing the front of the net. So what are we going to do with him? I hope they don't see him as a replacement for Byram or Power.

Agree here... I wonder if building consistency with linemates doesn't help him define a focus... question gonna be who are the best ones...

Beane presser explains it. He's a interior strong 3 tech rather than massive NG type everyone projected Bills to take . Blowback. Ourlads scouting service had him as #5 at DT with a late 1st and 2nd round grade. 4 guys rated ahead of him went high in the 1st round. The #6 guy ranked behind him was Williams of Ohio St. who went #29 overall right before we took our CB. 3rd round pick had a 2nd -3rd round grade. IIRC correctly, Beane realizes he still needs to find a Jones backup in that NG mold. The highest ranked ones were all selected early. Day 3 coming up.

Was at the game last night and man it was a tooth and nail battle the entire way. Very physical, refs let them play and very low scoring. Bandits took a 5-2 lead into the half with an amazing set piece behind the net goal with 0.1 second left on the clock. Then they never scored again. But they also limited San Diego to only 1 goal in the second half before they scored their final goal with 1 second left to make it a 5-4 final. Matt Vinc has 48 saves and was looking like prime Dominik Hasek out there with several unbelievable saves. Bandits even managed to kill off a 5-3 power play(thanks in part to San Diego taking their own penalty about 40 seconds into it). Definitely one of the more stressful and low scoring games I have ever been at for the Bandits. Goals were at a premium and it never seemed like either team could to truly ever gain any real momentum. Even moreso because the first round is a single elimination game before the next two series are best of 3. But the usual sell out crowd saw them pull off the win and advance to the next round... Let's Go Bandits!!

I agree so much with the bolded. My view is that if something like this happened in a Panthers game, as an example, and the Panthers did not immediately respond and then after the game the narrative was "It was a one goal game and we didn't want to risk a penalty", they would have credibility because everyone knows there are no shortage of players on the Panthers who are willing to respond, plus they win a lot. When you are a team like the Sabres and you lose a lot and you have a reputation for being soft, then "it was a one goal game...", doesn't really hold water as an excuse. I found, by my observation, that most of the "improved responses" that we saw after the Noesen hit, were half-hearted and performative.

I think it has more to do with sample size. I mean in a lot of these case you are talking about 3 goals or 2 over a span of 70 minutes. I was shocked to see how little time lines actually spend together.

It was interesting that they (I think to a man) believe that Samuelsson is done as a Sabre due to the Noesen hit. It reminded me very much of how Gaustad wore the response on Miller. Stuff like this always fascinates me in terms of group psychology: why do certain things take hold the way they do? Dozens of big hits happen without response throughout the season and throughout the league every year. Dozens of guys are guilty of not responding. A year later, most people would struggle to recall 3 of them, but a decade later everybody remembers Lucic on Miller. I bet a lot of you might say something like "teams just don't overcome that". I think that's probably because we don't remember the ones they did overcome. I mean I've seen people blaming Lucic on Miller for the 14 years of no playoffs. I mean seriously? There's one player left from that team in the entire league. The actual hit and the response literally had no tangible impact on goals for and against — then or since. But the impact of the story that grew up around it is immense. Why that particular one and not others? I'm sure there's reasons but it's crazy, and seems kinda capricious how things can take hold in our minds. Sorry, just random musings. (Personally I think Mule is done as a Sabre too, but because of his ***** play)

Isn’t that what a director of hockey operations does? Whether you want to give him the title or not, that’s what he is. Lindy answers directly to him.

Don't know for sure why that is. Would guess it's due in large part to lesser competition.

Here are some wingers, who are currently playing "top-six" roles for Eastern Conference playoff teams: Carolina: Jackson Blake, age 20. He had 34 points in 80 games this season. Florida: Mackie Samoskevich, age 21. He had 31 points in 72 games this season. Tampa: Gage Goncalves. 20 points in 60 games. Washington: Anthony Beauvillier. 25 points in 81 games. Toronto: Pointus Holmberg: 19 points in 68 games. NJ: Erik Haula. 21 points in 69 games. I think Benson is more than capable of playing a top 6 role on a playoff team. Thinking you can make the playoffs with Benson and Kulich both in your top 6, and on the same line no less, is likely very flawed and is repeating this year's mistakes.

Because Benson works better with more puck touches. Those get sucked away when he's tasked with funneling pucks to three goal scorers, 2 of which aren't great defensively. I think that's why McLeod works with Benson, McLeod doesn't need a bunch of handles.

When using the advanced analytics, you can look at it other ways also....that he performs BEST with middle-of-the Roster players or below (he 'brings their game up), and with Top of the roster players, those guys defensive production/goals allowed get worse (sometimes considerably) with Benson. -Tage with Benson on his line was a +1 goal differential (goal allowed every 18.38 minutes). Tage without Benson was a +9. (goal allowed every 20.58 minutes) -Tuch (in only a bit over 100 minutes with Benson) was a -1 differential (goal allowed every 14.79). Tuch without Benson was a +13. (goal allowed every 27.36 minutes, HUGE difference) -Peterka was a -4 in only 63 minutes with Benson (goal allowed every 7.35 minutes). Without Benson he was a +15 (goal allowed every 19.42 minutes) On the other hand: -Krebs with Benson was a +4 (goal allowed every 31.33 minutes, those numbers are great), without Benson was a +1 in more minutes. (goal allowed every 25.89 minutes) -Jack Quinn was a +3 with Benson (goal allowed every 43.4 minutes, great numbers again), without Benson he was a -10 without him (goal allowed every 16.87 minutes) When digging into that part of the analytics....Benson defensively works best with middle-to-bottom forwards, not the top line guys. Why? I don't know, it could be a statistical garbage...but that numbers are the numbers. https://www.naturalstattrick.com/linestats.php?fromseason=20242025&thruseason=20242025&stype=2&sit=5v5&score=all&rate=n&team=BUF&vteam=ALL&view=wowy&loc=B&gpfilt=none&fd=2024-10-04&td=2025-04-17&tgp=2000&strict=incl&p1=8484145&p2=8482097&p3=0&p4=0&p5=0

Oh yea, lots of free speech coming from these fascists. Best way to have free speech is to threaten lawfare against anyone who doesn't support your racist view on certain topics.

Bingo to the bold

Peters and Rivet aren't my "cup of tea" when it comes to hockey podcasting. But, they do have good insights into the mindsets of NHL players, particularly players who played similar roles to theirs. I listened to this particular episode of After the Whistle last night. I find Harrington and Hamilton very hard to listen to, and I typically disagree with most of their opinions. I think though, they are probably correct that Ruff will have increasing influence. What is a bit disappointing is how there is no interest in looking at Ruff's record since he left Buffalo, with a critical eye. They both clearly hold Ruff in very high esteem. I've seen a lot of head coaches over the years who did not need half a season to diagnose and repair what was wrong with a team. Ruff's status in the community, is just going to get him the benefit of the doubt in some circles. The cynic in me thinks that was part of the reason for bringing him back; his presence buys time. To bring it back to my 1st paragraph. I thought the one insightful portion of this episode came from Rivet. At one point Hamilton and Harrington, and to a lesser extent Peters, were going on about the Noesen hit on Thompson. They were in an uproar about the incident and about how in the following days Lindy Ruff had to teach these "NHL players" how to be good teammates*. Rivet, was having none of it and, I think correctly, spoke up for the players on the ice and said that they are likely good teammates and that they are players who just don't have it in their make-up or skill-set to respond to such incidents. He then pointed out that years ago if something like that happened when Pominville, Roy, and Vanek, were on the ice, none of them would have done anything. Rivet's view was that this falls on bad roster construction and that you need multiple players dotted through your line-up who are willing and able to respond either in the moment or in the aftermath. * Perhaps interesting that the two big "the players don't stick up for their teammates" incidents (Lucic/Miller, Thompson/Noesen), came with Ruff as head coach.

Sanders is a 3tech.

Here's an interesting Aug 22 bday guy: If, and it's a big if, he slides into the 2nd he's got those Ziemer vibes going.

I don’t disagree. I believe you need to uncover some gems to be successful and sustainable. I also don’t put much stock in pro bowl selection. I just thought the stat was interesting and maybe a foretell that NFL scouting has gotten better in large part because of the information available. Of course, I could be reading way too much into it.🤷‍♂️

My opinion is that it is time to move on from Liiga. Next step should be SHL or Rochester, and I think it is time to fight for a spot in Rochester. But with all the prospects in the system I can also see Sabres trading his rights as a part of a trade for a defensive RHD.

He'd be interesting in Rochester. Curious to see if the Liiga production would translate.

Viljami Marjala has been playing for The Finnish national team in games pre to world championship. He scored a goal against Sweden two days ago. He was dropped of the roster today when other players join instead. Unfortunately I havn't had time to watch any games but playing for the national team this close to WC shows he is developing well.

2 goals in 10 seconds wow

Must be nice to actually have a number one goalie on your team.

Guess they wanted him 🙂