Taro T

Didn't notice this mentioned elsewhere, feel free to merge it with another thread. Depending upon how close he is to 100% this'll help stop the bleeding. https://www.wivb.com/sports/buffalo-sabres/sabres-injuries-d-rasmus-dahlin-set-to-return-f-jordan-greenway-to-have-surgery/

Have said for a long time that Adams (after the obligatory single kick at the can while Eichel was still here flamed out) has been building a team on Dahlin's timeline. They expect the team to be a true contender in ~2 years. Personally, do believe they thought they'd put together a team that could make the playoffs this year; it wasn't going to do anything should it get there, but simply getting there would've been a victory in itself. And this team was, on a points %age basis IN a playoff spot on Thanksgiving. And that was with Dahlin being at only ~75% the 1st 2-1/2 - 3 weeks. This team without the guy they are building around is NOT good enough as we have been watching since the 2nd minute of the 3rd period of the Avs game. Stinks that Cozens, Quinn, and to a lesser degree Samuelsson have all been disappointments this year. Had they not all underperformed significantly, maybe the team would've been in a less tenuous spot when Dahlin went out &/or maybe they could've kept from falling off the face of the hockey map when Dahlin went out. Am quite frustrated, because do not expect them to make any major moves this year (the season still MIGHT be saved with 1 more top 4 D-man and 1 more top 6 F (ideally a C, but even a W would help)) unless Adams can make a deal that doesn't take away from that squad 2 years from now. The other frustrating thing is depending upon just exactly what the back injury Dahlin has, we may never see him give the Sabres more than 60 games of the Norris caliber D-man he can be when he's on his game. Which kind of blows up that whole "build a team to support Dahlin at his very best through his very best years" plan. Am fairly well resigned to Adams surviving the debacle this season is turning into. Though have a modicum of hope that Ruff will be able to assemble a legit non "developmental" coaching staff for next season. The other modicum of hope is that the PP is so truly horrific still that Seth Appert will be history after this season rather than the heir apparent. It isn't a coincidence that this team has been terrible since Dahlin went out. The "grizzled veterans" available to step up to help fill his shoes are 3rd pairing guys. The 2 guys that are here that will be good top 4 D-men are both too darn young to pick up the slack of being the #1 when there's only 1 other legit top 4 D-man on the roster. Won't accept that this team has absolutely no chance of making the playoffs this year, but they need a minor miracle now and definitely need the 95%+ Dahlin back to even make that minor miracle possible. (Of course, they were one of the worst teams in the league and dead last in their division in the '97 portion of the '97-'98 season but they they turned on the afterburners and didn't look back for a full calendar year. So, in the season of miracles, maybe they can happen.)

Sadly, this is turning into a "December to (at all costs) NOT remember." Doesn't seem like this PC did anything to remove the bad taste of the past 2 games from anybody's memory. But on a different note: what a December to Remember Hasek had. Man, was that great run of 6 shut outs in a single month by Hasek REALLY 27 years ago? Interestingly, they went 7-7-1 that month with the only other W coming in OT. So, if Dom didn't get a SO that month there was a real good chance they were going to lose. They'd been horrible in the fall of '97 but then the calendar flipped to January and they were on a tear all of '98. (Both seasons) Not expecting that sort of a lightbulb switching on moment for this squad.

For a single game or 2, quite possibly. The rest of the D group (and the F's too) know that he won't be available and they'll have to be at the tops of their games to make up for him being out. That extra push is possible for short stints, but if he ends up out 10 or 20 games, they're forked. They aren't good enough to collectively play at a high enough level to make up for his absence when they don't have the adrenaline of the immediacy of his absence.

Personally expect this issue goes back to the hits he took on the FLA trip right around the ASG that Thompson bowed out of. But regardless of what hits caused the issue in the 1st place, not sure how much can be fixed in the off-season. It started this season literally within 5 minutes of being on the ice skating in a non-contact passing drill. Fearing that we're getting post-back issues Lemieux here. Can still be truly magical with the puck on a good day, but can't even put on his own skates on a bad day. (There were games where Lemieux literally had somebody else lace his skates because he couldn't bend over that far to do it himself.) And he'll end up missing anywhere from 10 - 30 games each year because of them. Hoping training and rehab methods have improved significantly in the last 30 years, but would be very pleasantly surprised if this isn't an issue going forward.

@Thorner already pointed it out, but Regier WAS fired for the team's performance (or lack thereof) on the ice. The owners wanted the worst team in hockey, which Regier gave them. But they also wanted the team to be watchable, which Regier did not give them.

It was said on WGR that night, that he left the game because of back spasms and that is the same injury that held him out of training camp/preseason games. It also would explain why his play was very limited the 1st 3 or so weeks of the season. And it also could very likely cause him to be very limited for the next 3 or so weeks when he does come back. We're friggin' cursed.

The 1 minute PP is when/where he went out. Hoping he's only out a couple of games, because am not convinced they can cover for his absence any longer than that. BUT if he's going to play like he did the 1st 3 weeks of the season coming back in 2 games would rather they hold him out longer to actually get him back at 90%+. Sucks that the issue is back spasms as that'll be something that could flare up at pretty much anytime.

Can't be the bolded. No cheerleaders on any of his teams to be "thinking" about during alone time in the badezimmer.

Had seats in a different location last night, so had a different view of the game. Between them, at the "shoot twice" end, Cozens and Quinn had at least 5 passes that missed their mark by a good 10' and ended up back (harmlessly, thankfully) by UPL. How much different would this season look if Adams had been able to land Kane or one other top 6 veteran so that even with Greenway and Lafferty out of the lineup they'd be able to bench Quinn &/or Cozens without force feeding ice time to Kulich, Kozak, & Rosen? Still believe they MAY be able to recover from that loss. But this is a true low point. Hoping it's THE low point but wouldn't have money on it, especially if Dahlin is either out or playing like he did the 1st 2 weeks of the season.

At 3-0 kept looking over at the Avs bench to see if Wedgewood was gearing up. Nope; good. At 4-0 saw Wedgewood getting ready. Said to the people around us, hope that 4 goals is enough. Wedgewood is usually kryptonite for the Sabres and they seem to rarely score after chasing a starter. Shades of the Pittsburgh game. Unfortunately, along with Dahlin's back spasms, they needed Giorgiev to stay between the pipes for at least 1 more. Maybe if they could've gotten more than a minute beyond the ineffective PP to start the 3rd before giving up goal 2 they could've withstood Dahlin being out. But boy did the mood in that building change wtih that 2nd goal. Sad that we're hoping for OT with only 18 minutes to go and a 2 goal lead.

Russ Brandon was Rex Ryan's biggest supporter. HE was the one that told Pegula to sign him before he left. Russ was 100% about the sizzle and not the steak and couldn't care less about anyone not named Russ Brandon.

Less than a week ago he predicted playoffs for them. If you saw that, you'd likely have found that a fun read.

Was wondering who would post that 1st. Knew this kid wasn't the only one who thought of that after that truly touching saga. 🍺

Yeah, am with @Pimlach on this one. Expect it isn't the injury because it really didn't manifest itself as an issue when he came back last year. Expect the issue started out him thinking way too much about what he was supposed to be doing in the new coach's system and now that he's starting to figure out where he's supposed to be he's gripping the stick too tight. He'd probably be a great choice to sit in the press box a couple of games with a coach sitting next to him, but with Greenway and Lafferty out they aren't likely to sit him as well to give Kozak some ice time. Heck, expect that Kulich could use a brief spell in the press box or back in Ra-cha-cha briefly but they can't do that move either right now.