Taro T

He-Man (I have the POWER!!!!!)

Frog. (Which tastes like chicken. 😉 )

The real rub is that about the time he's faltering from that there are 2 potential replacements for him on that list already in house and getting significant playing time. They're soon to be like a hydra; chop off 1 head & 2 more replace it. 😉 PS. Yes, they have 2 top 10 players but only 1 representative in the AS weekend festivities. This bites.

We aren't going to see eye to eye on this, which is perfectly fine, so this is likely the last thing said to you about it. Do you HONESTLY think Smart would've thrown his QB under the bus if OSU had made the field goal? Not a chance IMHO. McDermott was critical of his team in game vs Cincy, but not so much afterwards. Why? Because leaders don't blame people under them publicly for losses especially not in the heat of the moment.

It's a good question and a substatial part of why Adams job gets difficult 1 year from now & in that following offseason. The Sabres should be at a point where they not only have NHL talent through all 23 slots but also have some buried in Ra-cha-cha or Juniors, or Europe as well. And Adams & his team need to figure out how to keep the team playing at a high level but also not slamming the window shut prematurely on them playing at a high level There will be a lot of hard choices to be made. But this team could very well be on the verge of having a Tampa Bay style window opening (though likely with not that much success, they've been ridiculously successful for most all the time the Sabres have been bottom feeders) IF Adams makes the right moves to keep converting guys that are about to drop off talent wise into prospects & bottom 6 guys while the right middle 6 guys step up & the right prospects step up. And one of those right moves is figuring out how to keep Olofsson w/out letting something else that's necessary walk out the door or how to replace his production and what to exchange him for or to just let him walk out the door. The good thing is the coaches have a real good feel for what guys they're working with can actually be, and that's a huge piece of data that neither Murray nor Botterill had to work with.

No, they send the cap dump(s) down. They'd only be getting brought in for futures. If they're not going to play the futures (and you can't play a 2024 4th round pick in 2023), no need to play the trash. And if somebody grabs them off the waiver wire, awesome. The team isn't even out the cash for the picks.

Yes, it looks like it should be Yoest not Joest. But, pretty sure you weren't the only one wanting Mittelstadt moved to W. (Yours truly was one of the few that wanted him to stay at C. D'oh! Well at least until he was having issues there this season. Did eventually hop on board that bandwagon, but never got onboard the punt him into the sun bandwagon.)

He plays C. Hinostroza doesn't. Asplund doesn't well enough. And Krebs didn't well enough early in the year. His playing C effectively allowed Mittestadt to move to W. And that is why he's been a fixture in the lineup. His being younger than Hinostroza allows him to stay in the team's plans beyond this season, though likely not in the LLT plans.

Will go back & double check, but thought that one was right after a penalty kill.

Because the league got tired of centers trying to win faceoffs by tying up their opponent's stick and then gloving the puck to a teammate behind him essentially making faceoffs look like rugby scrums. That rule was probably put in a year or 2 before covid.

What if Anderson only brought that energy he had vs Dallas because it was a milestone game for him? He lost his 3 previous starts against other also rans and only had 1 decent outing out of those 3. They can not rely on Anderson being back next year. They need to know what they have in Comrie before it becomes time to set next season's roster.

By flip, meant move Krebs to center Jost's line & vice versa. Agree management is comfortable with both on the roster. Can't see them moving on from either at this point. After 23-24 something has to give, but not now. And wouldn't speculate on what goes out as it really will depend to a certain degree on what anybody would bring back.

Arbitration eligible RFA.

And only 1 team will win with that view. Only ~3% of teams win by your standard. It's fine that you view it that way. But it's a tough slog if only the destination but not the journey matters.

How many teams have been in the playoffs 5 of the last 6 years? In the AFC, pretty sure it's just KC, the Cheats, & the Bills. Don't pay that much attention to the NFC, but it's likely just the 9ers & the Pack. Can a team be in a club that exclusive and NOT be "one of the best run?" Maybe the Ravens OR Stealers are thetr too?

Yep. And hopefully that team & Filly sink like stones so those 2 bonus 2nd rounders end up good enough to grab some more top round talent. This coming offseason will still be relatively easy for Adams as he isn't in a position where he absolutely HAS to make moves to keep from losing assets (though still want him to add a 2nd pairing D-man). The following offseason that will no longer be the case and hard decisions will become a semiannual thing at the trade deadline & the offseason.

Yep. If you can only consider a season successful with a championship then 31 teams are unsuccessful every year and at minimum there is 1 team in the league that needs to wait 31 more years & 3 weeks before they have a successful season. If you need to be in the championship game for it, then at least 2 teams will have a 15 year wait & change before they see success. Allen played most of the year w/ a screwed up elbow (which occurred on a play he stayed in the pocket rather than one of his mad scrambles) and even with all the everything going on, the team finished 14-4 and was one of the last 8 with an opportunity to move on. They beat, in that team's building, 1 of the 4 teams left standing. Stealing a hockey phrase, a bit of "puck luck" in either of 2 games would've given them the opportunity to only have to play 1 of the other 2 "Big 3" in the AFC to compete against the NFC rep & would've given them a bye week to rest up & strategize as well heading into a game vs the Jags. As long as Allen plays, their window will be open. Want to see changes, the reality of FA & the "cap" will force some, & would like to see some others like the departure of Frazier. Doubt it happens, but we can hope. And, between rules protecting QBs & medical advances to fix them up when they get hurt anyway, we really could have Allen playing at a high kevel for 10+ years.

Hoping somebody would see it as a trick question? Or, the intern in charge of putting the daily fact/trivia/whatever lost 1 earlier in the month & now everything is a day off?

What Jost did, as you mention, was allow Mittelstadt to move to the position both he and Granato expected him to play this year. Asplund was unable to force him to W as he's become a W himself and Krebs wasn't ready for middle 6 C duty either at the beginning of the year. So Mittelstadt ended up in a role above what he should've been out of necessity- the story of his career pre-December of this year & Olofsson couldn't di what he does best as there was typically nobody to get him the puck. Not sure what Jost's ceiling is. It very well could be 3C as he doesn't seem to have the passing nor shot of the rest of the players in the top 9 but he does have a reasonable 200' game. Have wondered if the plan for next year is to flip Krebs & Jost or if it is to keep the lines the way they are and let all 4 continue to jell. Really expect the answer to that will come down to whether Okposo comes back. If he's back, don't #### with a good thing. If not, expect we'll see them experiment w/ moving Krebs tenaciousness & playmaking between Mitts & Victor to see if they can be a true 2nd line to go along w/ what will hopefully be another true 2nd line in the Kid Line. Then Jost & Girgensons would make up 2/3's of the "checking line" likely w/ Asplund, Kulich, or a veteran FA. But would disagree w/ you about having 2 - 2nd lines. At present the Sabres have 2 GOOD 3rd lines. Neither has demonstrated an extended stretch of successfully playing as the 2nd line. Though expect Granato is close to using the Jost line as the 2nd line to get the Kids Line rolling again. And would put the Sabres 4th line up against the old Aisles 4th line or any other 4th line. They are near the top in the league in that role. So, would agree they could/should be considered more than just a 4th line.

Or, as Frank Drebbin would say "the foot's on the other hand now." 😉

Lydman wasn't the 6th best D. That was Campbell. He realistically was either the 4th or 5th but he put Tallinder into a comfort zone & Hank became the Sabres best D-man after getting paired w/ him. So, while he was in the lower 1/2 of their regular D corp, he was on the top pairing.

At least when he's ogling the other teams' puck bunnies he isn't hyperventilating over a Sabre possibly being injured or dead from taking a hard but typical check.

Depends on if both Okposo & Girgensons are both back next year. Really expect as @tom webster says often that there's a very real possibility that Kyle retires or goes back to Minnesota next season. If that happens, Savoie likely gets his 9 games & either he or Kulich take that spot after the 9 game look. If he doesn't leave, there aren't any obvious holes where kids will be penciled in. They'll have to beat out actual NHLers to move up. Kulich, Rousek, & Rosen will all be available as injury callups but don't know if any stick this coming season. The next offseason is when we'll likely see another influx of young talent as the team gets close to the cap.

They'll definitely be stronger & acclimatized to the NHL. The question becomes will that overcome their ikely being 2nd line all season (in Quinn & Peterka's case) and the checking line C or possibly bumping up & supplanting Jost on the 3rd line in Krebs case. Normally kids slump in their 2nd season getting tougher usage and having the expectation they won't just get to play simple games anymore. But those 3, Power, & UPL have already been given the "tough" usage that they normally wouldn't see until their 2nd year so there is a very real possibility they won't have a sophomore slump. Though they all could run out of some gas at the end of this year & next as playing a full 82 plus playoffs (expected next year & possible this year) is even tougher than the full AHL year. Don't know that the team will have a runaway best O. But would be disappointed if they aren't top 5. Next year will be fun.

Not his rookie year. He slumped some at the end of the year as he ran out of gas but he was VERY solid in both ends. He was historically good offensively but was nowhere close to a disaster most of the season.