Taro T

My guess is that Jost is seen more as the checking C longish term rather than key cog in the offense. There's a reason Krebs is no longer the C sitting when the bench is shortened to 3 lines.

One thing to remember w/ Mittelstadt is heading into the season both he & Granato were talking about him very likely moving to wing. That did not happen. Not sure if it was because Krebs wasn't ready for 3C, Sheahan not being able to take the 4C role, or Asplund not stepping up there either. But he didn't expect to be a C, much less the 2C when the season began. Preparing for 1 role & then being given a different one MIGHT have been a small part of his issues.

Hasn't he been there since he got back in the lineup, or were there 1-2 games played before Jost became the 3rd line C? Some of these milestone points are blending together. (It's late. Working on little sleep & have to get up early again tomorrow.) Don't know if Krebs will become the 3C or if Savoie/Kulich/ other will be there & the Sabres will have 4 lines that can all score. We really seem to be on the verge of having a F lineup from top to bottom that we haven't seen since the mid-70's.

The Kid Line was promoted against Joisey. Mittelstadt & Olofsson did not initially play better at that switch. They actually dropped off slightly IMHO. And it took a handful of games to adjust to Jost. But, again IMHO, Mittelstadt's play had a dramatic shift in style ~7 games ago though not results. The past 4 he's actually had an increase in effectiveness to go w/ that shift in style. And Granato is recognizing & rewarding that w/ stuff like getting to play in OT the last 2 games. That line is not ready to bump back up to 2nd line duty. Maybe they never will be. But, if he can stay on this present trajectory the way other underachievers (an unfair term, but basically young guys that haven't had the light bulb go on yet, though the talent is there) that Granato believed in have done; about the time the team comes back from the AS break they'll get another crack at it. Which would also work wonders for reignighting the Kid Line again. Could honestly see that line being effective at 2nd line duty in a month or 2, though not necessarily good. If it does get there, other teams won't be able to exploit either it or the other middle 6 line in the MMArena; and trust that Granato will adjust their deployments on the road to minimize it there too. And the Kid Line was on fire those 1st few games after the switch. But you can only run on adrenaline so far.

Where are you getting to the point of 2 F's get injured? If Girgensons gets hurt, then Asplund plays & Hinostroza returns to his current role. If a player that has a more offensive role gets hurt & they don't see Asplund as filling his role nor as filling in for an active player that bumps up higher, then they're calling up Rousek or somebody else to step in. But should somebody else get hurt after the hypothetical Girgensons injury, they aren't going to send Vinny down to make other moves. He's the 14 when all are healthy, & if he bumps to 13 he isn't bumping back to 14 except due to players getting healthy. (And he does bump to 14 when players are healthy.) And don't see any scenario where we see Bjork back on the Sabres roster, pressbox or not, during the RS. The ONLY way he's back is if the Sabres are in the layoffs & Ra-cha-cha is done.

Granato's been deploying his line as the 3rd scoring line. Considering all the other 3 lines do have chemistry, there isn't much more he can do without benching Olofsson, and we've seen he isn't benching VO. He seems to play well w/ Jost. The 1st few games they didn't seem in sync, but it has been better the last 6 or so games. Even to the point where in the last game they were able to set up Olofsson for a couple of chances & the goal they scored. They weren't getting chances earlier. Will it continue? Granato seems to think so. Personally hope so. We get another chance to watch the experiment unfold at 7PM tonight. Looking forward to it.

To the bolded, exactly. And the 13th F is injury insurance at home too. If e.g. Girgensons goes down, Asplund is going in. The player coming up is coming up to sit in the pressbox. There isn't any AHLer filling that role better than Rasmus. Why would Bjork suddenly be a better option to sit in the pressbox than Hinostroza? If somebody gets hurt in warm-ups, does ANYBODY (other than Bjork's mom) want to see him stepping in over Vinny?

Which, oddly enough would happen at the exact moment they're on an NHL 0.600 pace. 😉

Not ALL he does, but yeah when not scoring empty netters, it is far and away the way he pots the bulk of his goals. He's at his best on a line w/ a true digger & a true setup man. With both, he's a poor man's 1st liner. Without 1, he's a 3rd liner. Without both, well, let's just leave it at he's not a driver. In that case, if he's with a couple of defensively responsible teammates, he can be good enough defensively but he won't be scoring. Agree that Quinn's ceiling is far higher & the smart play is to be doing w/ Quinn what they already are doing. Giving him sheltered minutes at 5v5 when possible. (And it hasn't been possible much since demoting the Mittelstadt line to line 3. If they continue to pick up their play, then the Kid Line can get easier minutes again & do their full on RAV Line impersonation.) But also getting him PP & PK time on 2 PP & 3PK. As he & Peterka show they might be able to handle tougher assignments, they get them. But they aren't put in situations where they'd be likely to fail. Thus them playing in all situations the 1st 2 periods, but losing some shifts in the 3rd when good teams are desperate to come back. And growing that Kid Line into a true 2nd line behind the Thompson line will be tremendous for the long term success of this team. Which is what THIS year is all about. We're watching what the Carolina fans missed in '04-'05.

Well, those that are going to the game might like to see the very deserving Rasmus Dahlin there too.

Imagine seeing him standing next to Krebs fiancee.

Nah, that was Kessel. Wheeler gave up his right one. 😉

He very well might not, & said he likely wouldn't be back upthread. But if the hole they want/need to fill is say Girgensons, then Asplund steps into the lineup. Doubt they'd bring Rousek up to sit in the pressbox. Maybe they would, but expect they'd rather have Vinny sitting while Rousek continues to get solid minutes on the A.

When it rains it pours. Get better, Murphy. Prayers going out. Kim Pegula pethaps?

Depends on whether they need to plug an offensive or defensive F into the lineup. Defensive, Asplund plays & Vinny is 13th. Offensive, Rousek gets a shot & Asplund stays 13. Either way, Vinny doesn't play but he might be back up. They aren't benching the kids, and they aren't taking a 4 for Asplund. A 5 for Hinostroza, maybe. (Probably?)

Really doubt they trade anyone that has been dressing regularly for a prospect or a pick at this point. They still say & act like they believe in them as part of the future (or at least potentially part of the future). They don't send that away in the 1st year they've been good in the last 12. That isn't how these guys operate.

Yep. They have 13 games in 22 days coming up. Could see Anderson getting 1 game in that stretch, 2 tops. UPL gets 7, maybe 8 and Comrie the rest. The schedule gets back to that same compactness after the AS break through close to the end of March. Having a 3rd goalie up to take 1 every 8-10 games could be the smart play. Vinny, we hardly knew ye.

Which is why they're limiting the fan voting to ~10 days and have several other hurdles for allowing a vote to count. The NHL ALWAYS does the expedient thing rather than the right one & could screw up a 1 car parade.

The only 2 D on the Sabres that don't have to clear waivers to be sent down are logging close to 30 minutes per game. Whomever goes down will need to clear waivers. Just don't see that being too difficult for the D-man that eventually goes down nor the F who's demotion is imminent. And if either or both do get claimed, like you said, it's nice to finally be the sort of team again where that's an issue.

Doubt it, but maybe. Could more likely see (as stated above) him preferring to get traded to a team that would let him play than getting waived. They traded Hagg for, what, a 6th rounder. Could see that or a "future considerations" trade as well. He's been a good soldier for them and he is very well liked in the room. Would hope he'd be OK w/ the demotion. (He'd at least be playing.) But could see how he might not be.

Yep. Jost pushed Asplund, Hinostroza, & Sheahan all 1 block down the food chain. Considering Rousek has earned a look, Sheahan's departure isn't a huge loss & could see them trying get a trade for Vinny (similar to how they traded Hagg) to allow him to not have to go through waivers. Because once he goes down, between Rousek & Kulich getting a chance at some point if there are injuries, he may not get back up again.

We normally park at Mike's Lot @Swan & Oak. (Across the street from the pool & 1 block from the ballpark.) You've walked the distance from the rink to UP before. It's right around the corner from Washington Square. Looking forward to seeing everybody there.

Have been saying for a long time (well since UPL started to earn his spot) that the best move is to have Anderson "suffer" a soft tissue injury in practice and be put on IR. (The team isn't anywhere close to the cap, so BF-LTIR isn't in play & possible cap circumvention isn't a league concern.) That way, all 3 goalies remain Sabres & no skater is at risk of a waiver claim. And there's no way a 41 year old professional athlete playing a contact sport like hockey DOESN'T already have aches he daily works through, so it wouldn't even be fibbing. But also believe that Adams & Anderson are too honorable & straight up to go for that solution. So, the next best choice is waiving Hinostroza & hoping he clears. Considering how little he's played, & the cap situation of most of the teams at the top of the standings, & the tacit desire of teams at the bottom to continue losing, there's not much likelihood of him getting claimed. Better players than him have cleared. And, no hand wringing over Jokiharju coming back. The 8th D-man goes down. At present, that's clearly Fitzgerald. Same rationale for why he'll likely clear too. They can't send a guy who's playing as well as UPL is back down when he's come so far in a relatively short time frame. They talk about giving players the ability to earn their spot in the lineup. And also how much doing things the right way matters. Well, this is one where the rubber meets the road.

It does kind of have that 2001 "Patriots" inevitability in hindsight vibe, doesn't it?

So basically, if playing the Bills Cincy game might've altered who had the #1 seed or won the north & the teams that might've been effected by that decision meet, then if the game is 2 of Buffalo, Cincy, & KC it would be played at a neutral site and if the game is Concy- Ravens a coin flip would decide who hosts the game. That's the proposal they'll be voting on tomorrow. If it carries (expect it will), then Buffalo will need to beat the Pats & have KC lose to get the bye. (Not sure if one team tying & the other doing what else needed to happen would give the Bills the bye. Didn't feel like doing the calcs.) So, at least this 1 week, we're all Raider fans because Buffalo needs a better winning percentage than KC to get 1st. That would also give them the home game vs KC as KC couldn't have taken the 1 seed from Buffalo even w/ a Buffalo loss in Cincy. An AFC Championship game between Buffalo & Cincy in that case would be in Buffalo w/ a Raven win Sunday & at a neutral site w/ a Cincy win Sunday.