Taro T

Presuming the info on the Sabres website is correct, yes, they are.

Eh, good for him. Really thought they'd go co-captains the way they've been rolling Tuch and Dahlin around together. (Guess not.)

Good. Maybe it'll put a chip on their shoulders.

It's a high risk, high reward start to the season. Of course, on the flip side, they most likely get a 1 game look at Levi in a league game before deciding on whether to keep him up (which seems to be the plan) or keep Reimer up and not risk losing him via waivers.

And the Bills were going to be trash because they traded Diggs, lost Davis, lost Morse, lost Poyer, lost Hyde, lost Floyd; didn't bring in any big names to replace them and would absolutely 100% take a step back. And it's early in the season, so those predictions can still prove to be true; but through ~18% of the year even with the entire starting middle 3 out on injury and the duo expected to be starting at safety all out with injury they've flat out destroyed 3 opponents. So, personally, don't expect those predictions of Bills doom to come to fruition. Just because something is "consensus" doesn't mean it's correct.

Considering 1/2 of the Sabres D are former #1, #1, and #4 overalls, and about 1/3 - 1/2 of the F's are 23 or younger, and both goalies are 25 (26?) or younger it seems we generally are used to really young guys being in really major roles. But a guy from literally the end of the 1st round not being a full time NHLer in only his 2nd pro season (and he had ~1/2 a season up on the big club last year) on a team that's already too young starting the year in the AHL doesn't make him a bust. Have said it's interesting (and mildly surprising) that they chose Clague instead of Johnson, but when you figure that if Clague is a game they're down 3 D-men, can see where Ruff would rather have a veteran tweener than a comparable (at this time) to slightly better kid getting thrown into the fire.

Until it's proven otherwise (and it either will or won't in about 10 days) am still expecting there to be co-captains with Thompson and Cozens rotating the extra letter. Fwiw, the 3 guys of the 4 guys mentioned above that have played in the preseason have all worn an A so far in the preseason. Samuelsson did not even when Tuch skipped the 1 game.

Eh, they're getting a 3rd preseason game. And pretty sure the league is mandating some PR junkets out of the whole thing. Presonally would prefer they weren't going on this trip; but the league in its "infinite wisdom" 😒 decided they'd go over the pond.

When the game wasn't coming on over at the Sabres website tried to watch it on ESPN+ just because. The game was there (1 of only 3 NHL games yesterday on ESPN+) but couldn't watch it because it was blacked out in the Sabres market.

Well, there are 3 more opportunities to evaluate the kids. Might it not be better to get them used to the system they're expected to be playing in for 1 period rather than having them follow last season's protocol of "do what you've been doing all game, just maybe a little more (or a little less as the case may be)" in the 3rd. Practice doesn't make perfect, it makes permanent. And for those that were in the system in year's past, there is a lot of stuff to unlearn along with learning the new.

They are sooooooo bad at things that should be so easy. Have the link to the game ready to go when the broadcast is supposed to start AT THE LATEST. Can't get a feed on sabres.com and can't use the Pens feed due to blackout. Argh.

Haven't seen anything official either. Am presuming their cut down date is the same as the rest of the league. And, as we're still after the trade deadline and ahead of the "official" schedule start date which is Tuesday October 8; am presuming as long as they're below 110% of the cap and they stay at or below the agreed to 27 man rosters all is copacetic as far as the league is concerned. Would be really interested in seeing how guys get paid for these games as they're technically outside the window of the regular season; but presumably that's all been agreed to by the players involved.

Recency bias on 1. Head of the Alumni Association for the other, so politics on the other. Meh.

Pretty sure their official cut down day is Monday Oct 7 like the rest of the league. So, technically even the guys staying stateside and playing the Pens, BJs, and Detroit are "Sabres" and not Amerks or ECHLers or Juniors. At least for another week and a half.

Not a fan of Jokiharju on the top pairing. Yes, he looked great against AHLers, which he should do as he typically looks great against 3rd & 4th liners but not so much against top 6 opponents. Hopefully getting him into Ruff's system he can look like he did back when Scandella was his partner when he 1st came to Buffalo. But expecting we'll see either Power or Samuelsson paired with Dahlin by the time October ends. (Or possibly even he ends up w/ Adams plan and Byram is Ras' partner.) Still consider him a rich man's 5 or a poor man's 3/4. Definitely don't want him as a 2.

Heck, the Sabres don't even need to get good to get him into the Norris conversation. Until he was playing through the back injury 2 seasons ago he was in the conversation and the Sabres were merely relevant. If the Sabres get actually good, he's a finalist at minimum.

Don't see it as being all that surprising. He definitely is in the mix but personally expect he needs an injury in the top 6 to get that opportunity. Rousek is next in line if there's an injury on the 4th line. (Not sure which one gets brought up w/ an injury to the McLeod line.) The only mildly surprising thing IMHO is Clague got the call to be the 9 over Johnson. But with those 3 and Reimer, there is a spare for top 6, bottom 6, D, & G on the Euro trip.

You're late to the conversation. The OP had said that having all 3 of Dahlin, Power, and Byram on the same team would cause all of them to have lesser scoring because they'd each be taking time away from the other 2 and keeping them all from being true #1's. So, this discussion wasn't so much about who would play with Ras but rather how them all being on the same team affect each of them relative to being on different teams. You're late to the conversation. The OP had said that having all 3 of Dahlin, Power, and Byram on the same team would cause all of them to have lesser scoring because they'd each be taking time away from the other 2 and keeping them all from being true #1's. So, this discussion wasn't so much about who would play with Ras but rather how them all being on the same team affect each of them relative to being on different teams.

Agreed that having Dahlin around will shave points from the other 2. But do not agree that either will materially reduce what Dahlin does. If anything, they will help him be even better because once they develop (in theory) they should allow Dahlin to get some breaks from ALWAYS having the toughest matchups.

Having Power and Byram around will not shave anything off Dahlin's stats. Having Dahlin around will likely shave points off the other 2 as he'll get the top PP ice time. But, at least 1 of them might get a bit of a boost from having him around as the one(s) that don't end up partnered with Dahlin will be facing softer competition than the guy that ends up his partner.

There was almost no way that Johnson wasn't going to be an Amerk to start the year. Just found it interesting that they're giving Clague the reward for being the good soldier by letting him go over to Europe rather than the young RJ. It makes sense that Clague is 9 on the depth chart because if you've suffered 3 D-men out, you probably want a more veteran presence stepping in. But it is mildly surprising as IMHO Johnson is the better player at present.

Heard somewhere yesterday that the Pens weren't going to play their top top guys but they will be putting an NHL lineup out there. Also, looks like Clague is the 27th guy going over to Europe as both Rosen and Johnson are playing tonight. Interesting that they'd rather have the vet should things go kerplewy on the back end rather than Johnson.

Those sweaters were literally made in the same factory. They should be quite similar. The Breakaway jerseys are trash and it remains to be seen how the quality of the good jerseys hold up when Fanatics starts making them themselves in a season or 2.

Uber is your friend.

Only focused on Cozens on the PK on the Benson penalty. He was out there with Thompson and he did a very good job of staying where he was supposed to be. Extremely small sample size (~30 seconds) but he was doing what he was supposed to for at least that segment.