Taro T

The plan had to be Comrie getting 2 or 3 starts to every one of Anderson's to have any prayer of getting a full year out of Anderson. They also, smartly, are giving Anderson the easier games (either due to opponent, travel, or both) relative to Comrie when he does play.

That trade is the ONLY example of "FAs" moving from that era that comes to mind.

Well, considering that technically it wasn't even a trade. They were both somehow FAs and just happened to sign w/ the other guy's former team on the same day. Had really liked McNab when he was a Sabre and was really sad he got traded away. One of many head scratches through the years.

How sad that it took him more than half a year to come back with that response. At least it's better than the old 'I'm rubber and you're glue ...' schoolyard comeback.

Seems fair.

Pretty sure that pairing becomes Power - Jokiharju if Henri is ready to go and then we see Pilut - Lyubushkin as the 3rd pairing.

W/ the exception of Hinostroza, those lines are what Granato has been leaning towards the past 2 weeks. He loves the Mittelstadt line, has gone to that Krebs lines several times, & has been kind of mix & matching the RW on the 1st line but has been having Tuch w/ Cozens quite a bit lately. Will be interesting to see who comes out against Vancouver when Quinn's 2 game press box pass expires. Will also be interested to see who ends up w/ Power: Lyubushkin or Jokiharju when both are healthy enough to play. Also interesting that Granato seems to be seeing if Clague can keep from getting blown up playing with another bottom of the lineup guy. Either that, or they're the 7-8 until Samuelsson comes back.

Since the last time the Sabres were in the post-season tourney, ZERO teams at an NHL 0.600 missed the playoffs. The # of teams missing the dance w/ a DeLuca 0.500 over that same period: 2, 0, 3, 1, 2, 3, 1, 4*, 0, & 1. And the number of teams making the dance but not reaching the DeLuca 0.500: 1, 0, 2, 0, 1, 1, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0. So, 13 teams in 10 years made the DeLuca 0.500 and were on the outside looking in and 7 teams missed the cut but still were good enough to be there. (Ignoring the 70ish game season. It bolsters the case when included.) Well in each season having 1.3 teams reaching that threshold and not getting in & 0.7 missing it but getting in doesn't sound like a lot. Isn't that close enough? No. Because that averages out to essentially 1 of the 4 most mediocre teams by record getting in the playoffs but missing the threshold and 1 of those 4 flipping that script. That's lousy as a predictive indicator amongst the teams that are actually fighting for a playoff spot IMHO. (But it gets it right for 1/2 of them. And that's good. Huh, huh, huh. /s) But EVERY SINGLE TEAM since the Habs missed the dance in '70 that has reached an NHL 0.600 has gotten in. No exceptions (to date), no rationalizations. It just works. As for 0.600 being too hard to calculate, go to NHL.com & the winning %age is right next to the Pts column. Easy peazy. And, every time you've played 10 games multiply the 10's column by 12 to see what the pace you need is: 12, 24, 36, etc. Again, easy. W/ DeLuca's arbitrary target, you need to either divide games played by 2 and compare it to wins or add up the other 2-3 columns (depending upon whether OTL's & SOL's are separate or combined) and compare that to the W column. No easier, & probably tougher than figuring out the NHL 0.600. * - the number of teams below 8th place in each conference when the season was interrupted that had a DeLuca 0.500 or better pace. (Aka, the teams on the outside looking in in a normal year.)

Nor did he get into a game with it. During his brief time in R&B & 00 he was essentially Vinz.

Define close. 300's are at least 90% sold. 100's still only ~75% sold.

So Jokiharju coming off IR?

Very good call. Without that fluke to start the game there's a very good chance this doesn't become that trap you predicted. But that goal happened & it did. So frustrating. They needed to be better. Hoping you're right about Thursday as well. Because of the history of the past 4 seasons, Thursday really feels like a must win.

Lyubushkin's played a lot of hockey on a bad leg. It's been affecting him for a significant portion of his small sample size to date. Fully expect that to improve when he finally gets a chance to heal up.

Will be interesting to see if Clague gets bumped or Pilut when Jokiharju comes back. Granato loves him some Henri. Doubt Clague looks as good next to Busch as he does next to Power.

What about 12 minutes w/ Okposo and Asplund?

If he had Samuelsson's brains and instincts he'd've been drafted about 7 slots ahead of Darnell Nurse.

The well coached ones don't.

Don't know about that. His biggest problem IMHO is that he still tries to make passes that NHLers will intercept 9 times out of 10. He also makes passes that not many others can make that actually do get through. Playing against AHLers won't teach him what he can & can't get away with. His getting pushed around at times is a distant 2nd (again IMHO) in issues plaguing his game. Playing a handful of games & then watching a couple is probably the best way to develop him. That seems to be the plan, though no idea when he might get another chance to watch rather than do/try.

Teams that are on a 2 game skid don't have trap games. This team isn't good enough to eliminate all 2 game losing streaks, but they should be good enough to have a goal of no 3 game L streaks and maybe even attain it.

Yep. They're both strong as ox and nearly as smart.

Could be small sample size. Could also be he's working on other aspects of his game to be ready for the NHL next year. His team is 15-1 outscoring the opposition 69-39. Could even be they're letting other guys play at the end of the game because they seem to be destroying everyone. Really not worried about him. He should be real good at the next level once he's old enough to legally buy a beer after a home game w/out 1st taking a trip over the river.

The interesting thing about the lines is there are 2 predominantly offensive lines & 2 predominantly defensive lines. (Realizing Okposo could be considered an offensive guy & w/ Quinn there could see where somebody might call that one offensive too, but Okposo is so good in his own end, that seems to be his niche & the offense is gravy.) Granato really hasn't rolled out that sort of an alignment yet. Wouldn't be surprised to see another 40+ shot night for the good guys.

He's a good player but won't be worth anything close to what somebody'll give him in FA. And, when Milano is out, Edmunds is not just not a huge run defender, he's actually bad at it. For whatever reason, he doesn't pay any attention to where the gaps are but gets himself directly in line w/ the runner. When he shoots through a gap, Edmunds inevitably gets caught in the traffic and the hole he should've been filling is where the RB gashes them through the middle for a big gain. Milano covers for a lot of his deficiencies. And as you say, it it tough to pass through the middle w/ Edmunds waiting there. He isn't bad; he just isn't nearly as good as he's hyped to be.

Seriously?

Power's been on his offhand every game w/ Clague. Lessens the 'they HAVE to have more RHD' vibe when 2 of the top 4 D shoot LH but can play either side. The 6 is also able to roll to his offhand. And pretty sure their 2nd best D-man could play either side as well. But, yes, it definitely will be good to have all 4 that have missed time in the lineup at the same time.