Taro T

That "best in the league" PP had Peterka and Quinn blowing through the AHL with nearly unprecedented for teens stats. When those 2 moved up, the PP regressed SIGNIFICANTLY. And that's even with adding Kulich to the mix. And, btw, until that last year in Ra-cha-cha, he had this guy, you might've heard of, named Peca who was helping him. He MIGHT've made a bit of a difference there.

Not with these players they haven't. But, you knew that. Bob Woods never should've been allowed to leave the building.

Many? Ellis and Appert. Neither of which should be coaching an NHL PP.

Would be perfectly fine with them trading UPL. Give him and the team both a fresh start. Can't see Adams doing that though. BUT should Kevyn get canned, could see that being one of a new GM's 1st moves.

Disagree to an extent. The PLAYERS understand that stuff. The coaching staff are full on idjits. The reason the players were in non-usual spots was the Otters got a clear and then kept pressure on the Sabres outside the zone but the puck got over to Dahlin and HE will actually carry the puck in when it is there. He carried it in and he and McLeod ended up deep with Thompson and Zucker higher and Benson as the last man back. (He'd passed the puck to Dahlin on a SHORT drop pass to start the entry and then was hanging deep (actually outside outside the zone) and pinched to keep the puck in at the zone. Dahlin came into the zone with speed and they had 4 guys all moving with speed entering the zone because when the drop pass happened they were all near the red line not the opposing team's blue iine.) But THAT entry was completely against what Appert coaches and exactly what teams that are good on the PP do.

FLA is Saturday early. But get the sentiment. That'll be a great test. Yes, they're missing Barkov and Tkachuk but they have a lot of other talent on that roster. Do to them what Detroit did last night and maybe people start getting hope back.

Ellis right now is a victim of the schedule, much like the backups were in October of last year. No back to back nights and the starter is playing well and is still fresh as the season has just begun. Had they not been 0-3, Eliis MIGHT've gotten the start last night. But the team was desperate, Lyon is looking ilke the Lyon that came in when Bobrovsky was unavailable, and he's not being asked to play on btb nights, and with it being the very beginning of the season, he's well rested. Would run Lyon for the most part through October unless the horseshoe falls out of his pants before then. Am in no rush to activate UPL, at best he gives us the goaltending Lyon is providing, and activating him forces a roster move to either 3 headed monster or Ellis back to the Blues organization. Will take November as it comes. Expecting even when UPL is back for Lyon to get 2 of every 3 or 3 of every 5 starts. It would be foolish to go away from him while he's hot. But won't expect him to stay hot into December. Would love to see it; but don't believe he's ever stayed hot for more than 2 months. Try to get Ellis a game before activating UPL, but don't believe they have a btb for at least another week and a half, so that may not be doable. It would be good to be able to keep him long enough to force St. Louis to keep him on their roster should they make a claim on him.

OR the Sabres got stupidly lucky on the PP against a team that's now given up 8 PP goals on 17 chances. Only the BJs have sucked worse giving up 7 of 14. 18 teams have given up 2 or fewer PP goals. The Otters have given up 8. Only 2 others have given up more than 4. Sometimes it's good to play a bad team. The Sabres 3 PP goals: Goal 1, Quinn misses the net by about 3 feet and the rebound off the glass hits the goalie in the back and goes in. Quite likely EXACTLY how Appert drew it up. Goal 2, Dahlin ends up below the goal line, Thompson literally against the RW boards, and Benson at the point. Benson saves the puck from getting out of the zone, sends puck low to Dahlin who sets up Zucker almost where he normally sets up but on the opposite side of the net. 2 for 2. Goal 3, point shot hits a defenseman's stick then bounces against Zucker's chest and has enough momentum to get into the net. 3 for 3. The 1st goal isn't going to happen again this year in all realistic likelihood. The 2nd goal SHOULD happen again, but what are the odds that Appert will intentionally have them out of position? Not very likely. And the 3rd goal should also happen again, and with Zucker being the guy at the netfront will happen again, but how long will it take for puckluck to give us a bounce like that again. Would absolulte love to see them start scoring 1-2 PP goals / game regularly. It would go a long way towards making this season successful. But have absolutely 0 belief in Appert.

Your argument was that you don't beiieve McDermott necessarily favors small LBs. This kid adds the support to your argument that they brought in Edmonds as a 1st round pick. Edmonds is a monster by LB standards. Your reply, well, they got rid of him (because he wasn't good; which is why this kid called him the anti-Milano (Edmonds has world class size and speed but has the football instincts of Alan Alda; Milano is undersized as a LB but has incredible instincts.)). Soooo, what exactly is your point?

He also had Tremaine Edmonds (the anti-Milano). So, it's not like he won't try to use larger LBs if they have speed, he just seems to really want LBs that are fast. (Or Beane has a thing for fast LBs; but pretty sure he gets the ingredients the cook (coach) asks for.)

Well, if not for dressing Geertsen, the Rags probably don't score in the 1st against the Sabres either. And if they don't score in the 1st, do they get those late ones in the 3rd? Not necessarily. Score effects are real and a team that hasn't scored in 4 periods likely isn't going to break out in period 5 and if they don't in period 5, well, they're gripping their sticks pretty tightly come period 6.

They SHOULD be able to get themselves ready to play the Otters. Then again they should've been able to get themselves ready to play opening night and in Beantown. The one game they didn't have any built in animosity for the opponent (unless the embarrassment of blowing 4 and 3 goal leads last year built animosity) is the one game they came out ready to play (at least for the 1st 30 or so minutes). Beat the d*mn Otters and then worry about the next one.

Ed Kilgore and Wes Goforth were Channel 2's top 2 sports guys back then. Wes is the one next to Ed shortly after the video starts. Know someone who still has the 45. The B-side is Sabres highlights from those 1st 5 seasons.

Logically, there is no reason to bring him back. BUT there was logically no reason to bring him back this season, and it still happened. Logically, there was no way Granato's entire staff should've been employed after he was out of a job. BUT none of them got canned. Dropped the word "logically" from that 1st sentence. Thought it was implied. Guess not. (Though it was unwritten, it seems you didn't read it. 😉 )

To be TRUE contenders without having locked in goaltending would take 3-4 years from here. Lock in GTing and you can accelerate that timeline. But to just get back to relevance. It could actually happen THIS season, if somebody that knew what they were doing was in charge. (Not likely, but it's possible.) And they definitely should be able to be relevant next season in an absolute worst case. This roster ISN'T bad. But, it isn't coached well at all. Get a legit GM and get a legit coaching staff and go from there.

Can't see Adams being brought back, but prior to the start of last season couldn't see any way a year as bad as last year would have him back this year. Sooo ... And couldn't see a way that when Granato got canned, he'd be the only one losing a job with only Ellis getting a demotion out of the entire rest of the coaching staff. Sooooo ... Until Adams is gone, am not expecting it. Will hope for it, but won't expect it. The one thing we have going for us this time versus the past 2 seasons is Kevyn isn't under contract for next year (at present). MAYBE that's the thing Pegula was waiting for prior to making a significant move?

Did the US Olympic team run any workouts this summer with the expanded roster they released a couple of months back that had Thompson and Tuch both on that list? The reason for the Q is: do they already know they AREN'T making the US squad? Asking that because Thompson especially, but Tuch too, seem to be "off" this year. If they knew/ know they aren't going to be going to the Olympics, could that be part of their problem? Or flip side, are they so concerned about making that team that they're gripping their sticks too tight and playing quite poorly for what they'd been expected to bring? Hadn't heard anything at all about the Olympic rosters, but thought maybe some here have heard something.

Needed that to land Bernard-Docker; Gilbert wasn't enough. Oh ...

No, it is not a good list. Said he has not done a good job at making moves to improve the top of the roster. Merely stating that, though nobody acknowledges it, he has actually TRIED to improve the top end of roster as well as the bottom of it. And, btw, it is SPINE, not SPLINE.

Just saw this today. Sorry for delayed response. At least your son and his family hopefully can take consolation in knowing that dog that obviously had had a rough life got to know what it's like to be loved for the last 2 months of its life. My condolences to him and his family.

Realize we like to point out Adams obsession with tinkering at the edges, but he has actually made changes higher up the ladder. Mittelstadt (top 6) out for Byram (top pair); Cozens (top 6) out for Norris (top line); Peterka (top line) out for Kesselring (top 4). Zucker brought in as a FA (top 9 many teams, top 6 here). Savoie (prospect) out for McLeod (top 9 on many teams, top 6 here). It's not that he doesn't address needs higher up in the lineup; it's that he's not good at addressing them and the whole is less than the sum of the parts. He also never is the one sending out multiple parts for the best player in the deal. They have prospects that could be NHLers that will never get legit looks in Buffalo because there isn't room for that many kids getting brought in at the same time making the team even younger. Murray also missed on many of his swings; but at least he was pretty much looking to land the best player in any particular deal. Don't know if it's because Pegula won't let him bring in salary or he simply doesn't know how to put together a package a rival GM would accept for a top player or an offer a top FA would accept; but he never looks for that deal that brings the Sabres the clearly best player in the deal. Yes, Norris is clearly better than Cozens; and he demonstrated that in 2 of the 4 games he's played for the Sabres. Sadly, getting 4 games when the other guy is playing in 30+ skews that one the wrong way too. Am ready for this entire crew making decisions to get sent packing (still expect Karmonos and the guy he brought in could be good, but we don't really get to see it) and a new crew brought in. But they need to be allowed to take an occassional swing for the fences or we'll be stuck where we are again. This team isn't too far off if the coaching and a few spots are upgraded. Make this current nightmare end and don't take an intentional step back while doing so.

Don't know about that. But in the Bills bye week, they play FLA, Detroit, and TO. Blow those 3 games convincingly and our long national, er, neighborhood, er SABREhood nightmare might mercifully start to end. Not rooting for any losses, but expecting there's a reasonable chance this might work out. 😉

Sadly, doubt anyone even told Pegula the Sabres were playing today. He is certainly down in ATL getting ready for "a Monday night party." They need to stop playing the same day the Bills play if we're ever going to get any traction.

Pleasantly surprised by Bryson today. He was in the right spot often today and broke up several plays; he still had issues getting the puck to a teammate, but he was not an issue today from the eye test. Thought Johnson played pretty well too. Really liking the effort Doan brings. And was absolutely shocked, but Quinn tangled with an Av near the Avs net in the 2nd and actually got the better of the Av. Heck, the Av's helmet got knocked off somehow. Really disliked the call on Dahlin for the 1st interference call on him. Htf do you "interfere" with the puck carrier? Pretty sure that's officially known as a "check" which, last we checked, was still legal. Also, not surprised Tuch got called for embellishment. Live it looked like he took a serious dive; but watching on replay it looked like the Av didn't just get his stick in his legs but also got his hip into him and the combination of both seemed to be why he got knocked down so "easily." But they still are wasting some incredible goaltending by Lyon. We got the version that Detroit THOGUHT they were getting when they signed him to that multiyear contract. Maybe they can start scoring more than just one on Wednesday. The Otters are another bad team like Buffalo. Should be a good game. (Of course, expected that to be the case against the Rags too.)

Don't know what's up with Thompson, but it LOOKS like he's intentionally trying to get somebody fired. Didn't get back to the car in time to hear his interview and GR's discussing it made it sound like he still is trying and expects things can get turned around. But just everything he does just seems off. Even that goal he scored was simply throwing it towards the net; it wasn't a shot he expected to have work. Most all his shots are going into the goalie's crest, unless he's shooting at an open net and then it's going wide or over the net. His passes are off, he's taking an extra half second to get shots off. Tuch doesn't seem right either. Realize the 2 of them combined with Dahlin to score the goal, but Dahlin's the only 1 of the 3 that has looked pretty much like himself so far. And he had that horrific pass to Nikushin that set Makar up for the winner which totally changed the flow of the game. Until that play, the Sabres were getting the best of the play and seemed like they'd actually get a lead sometime in that 2nd period if they could just keep it up.