nfreeman

Yessss!! dudacek is back and he's using bold print (which is his polite Canadian way of saying GFY) in defense of Reinhart, who has undeniably made some very sweet plays in the past few games! Watch your step, @pi2000.

Ugh.

Calle Jarnkrok Rating: 72.5#94 LW Ryan Johansen Rating: 72.5#92 C Craig Smith Rating: 73.7#60 RW FL1 Rating Rating: 72.90#30 FL1 Filip Forsberg Rating: 75.7#22 LW Matt Duchene Rating: 76.1#28 C Mikael Granlund Rating: 71.9#73 RW FL2 Rating Rating: 74.60#15 FL2 Rocco Grimaldi Rating: 72.4#74 LW Nick Bonino Rating: 74.1#57 C Viktor Arvidsson Rating: 75.0#29 RW FL3 Rating Rating: 73.85#1 FL3 Yakov Trenin Rating: 73.3#51 LW Kyle Turris Rating: 71.3#123 C Colin Blackwell Rating: 73.6#46 RW FL4 Rating Rating: 72.73#1 FL4 Defensive Pairings Defense Roman Josi Rating: 79.1#2 LD Dante Fabbro Rating: 72.0#67 RD DL1 Rating Rating: 75.57#8 DL1 Dan Hamhuis Rating: 71.1#96 LD Mattias Ekholm Rating: 75.0#15 RD DL2 Rating Rating: 73.09#23 DL2 Yannick Weber Rating: 70.4#108 LD Jarred Tinordi Rating: 72.8#53 RD DL3 Rating Rating: 71.57#24 DL3

I have reservations about Reino’s next contract too, but his effort and attitude are not among them. He’s a good player, not a great player, who is probably going to get a bit overpaid on his next deal. I don’t think he’ll become an albatross before the contract ends, and I think he’ll be consistently productive and a good team guy. I also think that when the Sabres start making the playoffs regularly, after a bit of adjustment, he’ll be an effective playoff player too. Trading him for anything less than a real star player would be an ill-advised instance of making the perfect the enemy of the good IMHO.

Am I crazy or did he kinda big-time his teammates on the high five row at the bench after his goal?

I agree that they lost talent (although not sure how much above AHL average — since all NHL teams call their best AHL guys up periodically), but the bolded is a bit strong unless you’ve watched their games pre and post mitts’ arrival IMHO.

No question he would be a great get, but others will offer more than just the equivalent of Miller.

I'd be very happy with this, but I think the Sabres would have to considerably sweeten the offer.

I agree with most of this -- especially the mood swings! -- but it's also worth noting IMHO that they showed some mental toughness in winning a tight game on the road against a very good team, and in winning 3 in a row after 2 bad losses had dropped them to a spot where the season was very close to being over at the halfway mark. I also thought the Mojo-Sheary line was quite good last night and Mojo in particular created quite a few chances. I'm fairly optimistic that once Skinner returns, he and Mojo will make that 2nd line a productive one again. As for Ullmark -- he's certainly flawed, and if JB doesn't bring in another goalie this summer, it will be close to a firing offense. The positive take is that Ullmark hasn't fallen off the table the way Hutton has, and the way Ullmark did in the 2nd half last year, and that he's providing at least decent goaltending.

That was an excellent win. A few game notes: - probably Lazar’s best game as a Sabre. I think his upside is limited, but he plays a fast, physical game and is taking advantage of the ice time that injuries have made available to him. - solid game by Linus, although I agree that he misplayed the Dallas goal. - I’d rather play Miller than Pilut. - Mojo’s line was very good and created more offense than Jack’s line did. - I also liked Risto’s game. He seems more in control lately and always very tough. - They’ve improved from 7 under DeLuca .500 to 4 under. If they can beat Nashville they will be 3 under at the break. That is a doable playoff scenario. RaKruuuuuuuu!!

I’m about to start hour 3 waiting in line at the DMV.

A cold beer after a long drive.

He's not going to take an assistant position. Someone will offer him a HC job by the end of May. Barry Trotz has made a huge difference for the Islanders.

@pi2000 can certainly speak for himself, but I interpreted him to mean that he would trade Reino (not let him leave in FA for nothing) rather than give him a big contract.

Well, I think YMMV on the last sentence, but the bolded is absolutely right. No more jiggly GIFs please.

...or maybe it's just that those who say he's a lousy skater believe, based on their watching of hockey over the years, that relative to most other NHL forwards, Reino is in fact a lousy skater. Not average or above average, but well below average. That isn't to say that he's a lousy player, but just that this facet of his game is lousy. YMMV on the underlying issue, and I'm not aware of any hard data that's available on this, but denigrating others who disagree with you isn't good or interesting hockey talk.

For the record: - No one is taking KO unless the Sabres either give up a #1 pick or take back a contract that is worse than KO's. - Therefore, the Sabres are stuck with KO until his contract expires -- which is 3 more seasons after this one.

This is great IMHO: https://www.theplayerstribune.com/en-us/articles/dion-dawkins-buffalo-bills-mafia

^^^^ I like it, but I don't think Pitt, NJ or Nashville would agree to the proposed deals. I think Pitt will want more for Galchie, NJ would rather trade Simmonds for picks/prospects, and Nashville will require more than Larsson and McCabe for Bonino (Turris and KO are pretty close to a wash).

For fans of the TV show "Fargo" -- it looks like season 4 comes out in April, and one of the stars is... Chris Rock!

Nowhere. That's why I said it was a guess.

I would guess that Pittsburgh wants a bottom-6 forward who is not a FA after this season -- so that rules out most of the Sabres' bottom 6.

If you are saying that 1 point per game is "average," I don't think that is correct. Last year, 17 teams had 90 or more pts and the remaining 15 had 86 or fewer. The prior year, 19 teams had 92 pts or more and the remaining 13 had 84 or fewer. Now, I'm not going to bother calculating "average" point totals, but the median (which is more relevant here IMHO) is well above 88 (last year -- 93; prior year -- 95). (This is a somewhat interesting facet of the DeLuca .500 issue discussion IMHO.) Bottom line: even with Ullmark, the Sabres are below the median.

It's about time Zemgus got a shot. Unleash the Kraken!

Even if someone points out that he's ... y'know ... slow?