Taro T

Personally, am hoping Benson stays on the Thompson line when Peterka comes back because Peterka and Quinn have killer chemistry and Cozens absolute best production came from being in the "toe" spot off of tic-tac-toe plays. Cozens, as a Sabre, has not been an effective scorer EXCEPT when he was with Frick & Frack. Especially with a defensively sound 3rd line and a legit energy line as the 4th line; would 100% be willing to put that line together and deploy it the way the RAV line was back in the day. Maybe he'd be able to then sustain what he does with that line after he's gotten some confidence back in his shot or maybe they'd have to keep it together; but either way, THAT is IMHO how you get Cozens back on track.

Surprised nobody mentioned the choice of the goal song being another example of "Pegula is cheap." Not sure exactly at what point the royalty rates shift, but after so many years artist's performances royalty prices reduce (couldn't find it on line when that occurs) and Kickstart My Heart almost certainly is in that realm of reduced royalties.

Mentioned to wifey she may not have a great voice but she has a nice set of lungs. The look back said we are not impressed. (Well, at least not both of us. This kid was impressed.)

Weird thing is, Kickstart came on the radio this afternoon and listening to it thought the Sabres probably wouldn't even pick something that good for the goal song; so yea us. Apparently the B&R goal song will be Song 2. Can get behind both if we get to hear them more than 2x per game.

Probably shouldn't have. At least they figured out entries and that the drop pass is imbecilic.

No data. Just know he played for them in the preseason against the Sabres.

THAT was the right call. Zucker for roughing was absolute bull squat.

Seriously P-Ham, 3rd & 4th string goalies are beating them? Markstrom, Sabre killer Jake Allen, & Darcy Kuemper are 3rd & 4th string goalies? Go #### yourself.

Benson on the ice and Bryson nowhere to be found. Guess that "game time decision" has been made. But Gilbert is there, so maybe it IS a GTD.

Already found our seats.

Over by the Labatt's Blue Zone or up in the 300's near the 50-50 stand. Taro's in!

That's good too. Noticed that nobody has suggested going to Southern Tier. (Personally, believe there's good reason for that. 😉 )

In Buffalo? Rarely. Though they were very good 2 years ago against the Sabres. Not so much last season.

Just go to Union Pub. Good food. Good service. Decent beer selection. Just on the other side of the ballfield so pretty much as close as Pearl St.

Houser is on an AHL deal with the Amerks. Tokarski is in Otterland.

There likely is - Hamilton f'n with people. He also bumped Dahlin to the 2nd pairing. (And yes, Power-Byram technically started the game on Saturday. But the 4th line started the game on Friday. Don't mean much.)

So in SportsNet's eyes, the Eulers are the new Loafs? That's a LOT of faith in Jeff Skinner. 😉

Umm, Bryson was filling in on the 4th line because there are 3 injured F's in the top 12 and the 2 spare F's (1 of whom is Kulich) were inserted into the top 2 lines at this practice. But, yes. Before too long into the season they are likely going to need to either break up Power - Byram or move Samuelsson up a couple of pairings. Jokiharju has only ever looked like he might be a 2 when he was paired with Scandella and the rest of the D were playing like hot garbage. No matter how great a guy Henri might be nor how good he may look in practice going up against the Sabres top 2 lines; he simply isn't a 2 and isn't strong enough in his own end to make him a passable fill in at that role. If Power and Byram continue to look like they're gaining chemistry with each other am expecting they'll be pretty much forced to flip Muel and Henri and drive @Thorner to distraction with a L-L top pair, a L-L 2nd pair, and a R-R 3rd pair. Just fear that they'll give up too many scoring chances with Henri on the ice against other teams' top lines unless they significantly shuffle the F's around to make sure they have defensively responsible F's going against the other teams' top lines and they likely don't have a deep enough roster right now to make that happen.

Well, this is pretty much the same Devils team (plus Pesce and the 2nd Hughes and Markstrom) that finished with 112 points 2 years ago. And Florida is the defending Champion. They're not a SC contender right now. But can they beat out 6 of Tampa, Detroit, Ottawa, Washington, Filly, Pittsburgh, and the Aisles? Can they? Yes. Will they? Remains to be seen but if they get their heads out of their bippies at home and wake the #### up when on the power play they have a legit chance to do so.

Great job, Goober. Had a 2-0 lead. Blew it in the 2nd and did absolute jack squat in the 3rd. Have seen this movie before.

We're comfortable. 😉

It would be nice if Hambone or somebody that watches practice would say if they're still working on that atrocious drop pass to start EVERY entry that ends up with everybody but the puck carrier stationary at the blue line. Honestly thought with getting rid of Ellis that would be a thing of the past. Apparently because it can work against AHLers, Appert hasn't come up with an actually plan to gain the zone. Wasn't thrilled with Appert being the only addition to the coaching staff besides Ruff. If they're still running that God awful drop pass against the Kings, will have my new whipping boy.

Presumably that would be their initial ask. And because teams would now be dividing the player's share across 24 contracts rather than 23 (plus however many injury/suspension callups) for each team, they'd presumably want that spread over 54% or so of HRR rather than just 50% of it. They'll also want a piece of expansion fees, so, though this should be a fairly uncontentious negotiation; will believe it's easy and smooth when it's actually signed and ratified and not a moment sooner.

That potential CBA modification would be a great thing for Sabres for the short term until one of the real young prospects is ready for prime time. Wonder how much of a change to the split the players would want for it?

Umm, no, in that scenario if they're bringing Levi up, it's because UPL needs a rest. You don't have a "hurt goalie" to put on IR in all likelihood. Or are you cool with them losing games by starting Reimer when Levi would've given them better goaltending? The team has a window to make the playoffs this year; but they need several things going right for it to happen. Getting very good goaltending is one of those items they'll need to do so. Reimer will not consistently give the team very good goaltending. It's possible UPL and Levi will have issues there as well; but of the 3, the one least likely to consistently give high quality starts is Reimer. They don't have the luxury of playing their 3rd best goalie in place of their 2nd best goalie. Said 2nd best goalie possibly being their best goalie when all is said and done.