Taro T

And that's the example of where it blew up in his face in that instant, but likely will be better in the long run as Skinner actually believes his coach has faith in him & won't be sulking or overthinking a 1 shift demotion.

That, Cozens having his coming out party last Friday night, & Eakin actually settling in this year gives the spine a bit of resiliency. None of which were givens, but all of which reflect well on the coach. Speaking of Eakin, it's amazing how many guys don't settle into a new roster until their 2nd season.

We'll see when Jokiharju comes back whether Granato gets it or not. But at least for now, Dahlin is playing w/ 1 of the 2 kind of defensive D-men on the roster. (Hagg is an actual defensive D-man, but at this stage of his career, Pysyk pretty much is too.) It's not like there are many options at present.

So, 2 more years. 😉

True. Especially when them reaching their potential can allow them to be more than just a cog in the system. More than a few coaches miss that nuance. Granato doesn't. This is absolutely a development year as evidenced by letting pretty much everybody get time in all situations. Though he isn't an idiot about it, certain lines & pairings get more opportu items in high pressure situations than others, e.g. when their protecting a lead late Miller & Bryson will get 75% of the ice time as in his view they're the best pair he has for that role. But it will be interesting to watch for how & how much that mindset changes when winning is the clear #1 goal & there isn't a 1B goal next season or very late in this season (please let that last 1 not just be wishful thinking).

Don't believe he's young enough that he never needs waivers (& didn't look up his age & when he 1st signed to verify that), so it would be because he'd already gone through waivers and hasn't been back up for 30 days nor enough games. Eventually, if he keeps bouncing back & forth, he'll have to clear them again.

Actually, he showed signs of the sophomore slump in year 2 (pretty sure @Thorny will disagree). And disagree about the continual regression. Since the coaching change, the trajectory has been upwards though there have been fits & starts to it. Still believe being away from Jokiharju helps and Pysyk is his best fit as a partner since at least very early on. Get him a true top 4 that he gels with & watch him take off. Maybe it's Samuelsson, maybe Power, but that guy is out there and once he gains the MOJO back, they'll be able to pair him with whomever. Still expect him to come around & make the 3 year deal look like a poor decision.

Pretty sure the bout w/ cancer is what derailed his HCing train. When others here were calling on him to stay on as HC for this year during last season, wasn't particularly on board mainly because w/ his pedigree & contacts he should've been a HC much sooner & the fact he hadn't aced THAT job interview anywhere in the NHL ever was off putting. But the cancer explains a lot and it's looking more & more that we lucked into a good one. And the same goes for Tokarski. (Lucking in to one that appears to be a Tim Thomas late bloomer that is.) IF Tokarski really is the next Tim Thomas (and it's too early to say he is, but not to hope it isn't just smoke & mirrors) this team should be in the 80's and actually COULD challenge for a playoff spot. Really wish the other goalie were more durable than a 40 yo is expected to be.

Correct on both counts. But find a way to sneak a 7th point the next 5 & again that following stretch and they're right where they'd need to be. (They have a legit shot at 6 in each, but a 7th or 8th point is asking for a lot.) Darn shame they couldn't last 12 more seconds vs the Loafs. That extra point would've been quite helpful. (Thanks, Captain Obvious.)

On the PP, they've typically had him on 1 of the boards which isn't where he belongs. He should be in Reinhart's old spot & where Asplund is now. That's where he'll excel. And excelling there might help with his 5v5 play as his confidence should grow. At 5v5 he has been a JAG. Not sure if that's because that's all he is or if at this point he needs linemates driving play. How long did people around here suggest that Olofsson is strictly a PP goal scoring 1 hit wonder & a JAG elsewhere? But they both came up at fairly comparable stages in their careers. Won't write him off just yet, but his future is murkier than we'd've hoped.

Regardless of the final outcome, Tokarski has to be the 1st 2 stars of the game. 😉

You haven't watched many road games this year, have you? Nor apparently the 1st 14 minutes of 2nd period of the Bolts game.

Sabre PP. 43 calling it fair. (Doubt Pens fans would agree.) 37's Crosby underoos are peaking out of his pants.

NOT the guy that should be getting involved. Wince every time he toys w/ joining a tussle.

Another road game where they get 1 or 2 good periods then run out of gas in the 3rd. Expecting that's from guys having to go harder than they should have to go to battle through not having the matchups they want/need. When they get a bit more talent, they likely won't run out of gas like this.

Guess not.

Kicking motion?

Oh, Tokarski! We're not worthy!

That Miller goal shift to start the 2nd explained WHY Sullivan was trying so hard to keep Crosby away from Cozens. IF the Sabres end up in playoff hunt we can directly look back to the moment they headed there. The moment that Granato had finished studying Cozens' body language upon hearing he might line up against McDavid all night.

We drove in for that game not knowing the game had been postponed. Stopped at Mighty on the way into town & a couple of kids at the next table were joking around about no game tonight because LaFontaine had died. Huh? What? Ignored that. But when there was no traffic as we were walking to the rink we started wondering if it was true? Asked the cop near the rink what was going on & he gave us the actual story. Was quite a while before we didn't at least catch a few minutes of the pre-game on the drive in after that. 😉

For 2 shifts. Since then Sullivan has been trying to get Crosby out vs R2 Rou2. Punk.

Not that odd for '80's, though they would typically paint over the old uni for guys that got traded in the off-season. The very odd card was the Buffalo Sabres Jacques Lemaire card. Al McAdam & Bernie Wolfe ending up on each other's card was also weirder.

@nfreeman, after 10 games do you have 12 points, if yes, you're on a playoff pace. If, no, get cracking. Same logic, after 20 games, do you have 24 points? And you can break the season down into 5 or 10 game segments to see how you're doing. In the last 5 games, do you have 6 points or more? Yep. You're currently playing on a playoff pace. If you only got 5 points, you need 7 in the next 5 games. Easy, peazy. 😉 And, if you look at the NHL's website, that mysterious column to the right of total points actually tells you the point percentage. So, you can actually tell how the team you're interested is doing without worrying about whether they've played the same # of games as their division & conference rivals and without even needing to be able to add. (Which is necessary to determine the DeLuca one. 😉 )

So, it's actually autoincorrect, right? 😉

What the matchups are will be very interesting to watch. Don't have a good feel what what Sullivan will try to run with. Will also be interested to see which pairings get which lines. It seemed Granato was trying to keep Miller-Bryson out against the top lines and give Boucher-Hagg the easiest ones. Wonder how well he'll be able to make that happen on the road.