nfreeman

I agree with all of this, but I think he needs quite a bit more than confidence and chemistry with linemates (not that you said otherwise). He does not have sufficient NHL tools at this point to be an effective NHL forward IMHO. In particular, he does not have a good enough sense of time and space between him and his defender to stay clear of the defender, or any strength on the puck whatsoever to keep control of the puck once the defender engages him. He needs to significantly improve both of those items or he can't be a scoring forward in the NHL. Yes, although it took much longer with Mitts than with the others, which kinda supports the speculation that they had made promises to Mitts on this. I agree with @TrueBlueGED, you and others -- he needs to stay in the AHL until he makes it very GD clear that he's too good for that level and can be a real NHL forward. Well, I have to believe that JB sees it too at this point. Maybe JB did make promises to Mitts and had to play the "then new coach can't be bound by prior commitments" card, or maybe RK used his Jedi mind positivity witchcraft on Mitts and got him to agree to it, or maybe MItts' parents or agent agreed that he needed it and convinced him, or maybe a bunch of things.

Good. I wonder if RK had to convince JB on this, and if so, how long and how much arguing it took, and if, as some have speculated, JB promised Mitts he wouldn't have to go to Rochester and they therefore had to convince Mitts. In any case, as I've said previously, I don't want to see him here again until he lights up the AHL for at least 25-30 games. He's not close to being ready.

Dude.

Very good game IMHO. The Isles are really good and the Sabres played them very well -- much better than the previous game this season vs the Isles in Buffalo. A few game notes: - In addition to being quite stupid and almost costing his team a win, Barzal's hit on Dahlin was really dirty and suspension-worthy IMHO. - As others have noted, Dahlin looked great and made a big difference on the PP. - I also really liked Montour's game in particular and thought the D overall was quite solid. - Great GTG by Jack and great one-timer by VO. - That's the 2nd game in a row with an early misplay by Linus to surrender a goal. - Worst game by Skinner in a while. 11:29 of ice time and zero shots. In fairness to him, I don't think MoJo has been the same since his injury, and Skinner also had a bunch of his shifts with ERod and Sheary (both of whom were also invisible). - I was hoping we'd see Eichel-VO-Dahlin to start OT, then Skinner-Reino-Risto.

Good call. The Isles are #1 in the NHL in scoring defense, giving up 2.33 goals per game. (The Sabres are tied for #16 at 3.00 per game.) The Sabres are #13 in scoring, at 3.15 goals per game. The Isles are #18, with 2.90 per game.

Company Xmas party tonight with spouses/significant others at a really good restaurant...

Do we know whether the trade request was made before the first healthy scratch? Based on Bogo's quotes upthread, plus Eichel's reaction, it seems like it might've been an emotional knee-jerk response from Bogo to being scratched. Which still kinda stinks, but might not be as damaging (or as crappy a thing to do) as if he had requested it a few weeks ago and then intentionally leaked it yesterday as a strategic move to force JB's hand.

It's certainly fair to say that JB hasn't yet earned the benefit of the doubt. He's whiffed on a number of moves, large and small. But if they make the playoffs this year, JB will deserve credit for: - RK -- this is the big one, as it was a pretty risky and outside-the-box hire and is probably the most important factor in the hypothetical turnaround - Ullmark & Olofsson -- JB didn't draft them, but he should get credit for their development - Skinner - Johansson - major overhaul of D group -- Joker, Montour, Miller, plus not panicking and trading Risto for a crappy return - smaller moves like signing Vesey and re-signing Larsson We'll see.

The bolded is the assumption that underlies this entire argument, and it doesn't hold water IMHO. Skinner was the 2nd-best FA last year. The #1 was Panarin, also a high-scoring LW. Panarin, who is 1.5 years older than Skinner, got $11.6MM x 7 years and a full NMC from the Rangers. That's 29% more per year than Skinner. Panarin's last 4 years pre-contract: 30 goals, 31 goals, 27 goals, 28 goals (total goals: 116; total assists: 204) Skinner's last 4 years pre-contract: 28 goals, 37 goals, 24 goals, 40 goals (total goals: 129; total assists: 97). Panarin is better than Skinner, but is he 29% better? I don't think Skinner got more than market value. And the Sabres certainly didn't have to pay a "terrible franchise" premium. You're suggesting that JB should've relied on Skinner wanting to be close to home and dared him to go farther away. That's easy to say from behind a computer, but it would've been a stupid risk to take IMHO -- and for what? To save how much, exactly? If JB refused to go above, say, $7.5MM, I think Skinner would've told him to jump in a lake, and then the Sabres would've been screwed.

I don't think most here are PO'd about the trade request itself. The problematic part is making it public.

That pass was a beautiful hockey play.

Well, I agree that Skinner is overpaid if you look at it in a vacuum, but I think at the time they extended Skinner, their FA desirability was so low that they would've had to overpay any FA. More importantly, although I agree that Skinner's #s would be better if he were on Jack's line, IMHO Skinner is still a major force with lesser linemates and is largely worth his contract. He is relentless -- always buzzing around the net and creating scoring chances. He plays a tough game, he's a great skater and is surprisingly good on the backcheck. I think he'll be a good playoff player too.

I think RK's got that European Dr. Frankenstein black magic working and the positive vibes, combined with Jack seeing the resulting wins and the light at the end of the tunnel, have turned Jack into a freaking monster. I don't remember a Sabre being this dangerous since Bert (although I missed the PLF-Mogilny era).

Well, I don't want to give Reino that much, but I want even less (by quite a bit) to hurt the team's chances of escaping the desert by playing a lineup that departs from RK's preferences in an attempt to save $$. That's a Ralph Wilson/OSP move right there.

Constructing lines based on contract status would be the essence of the tail wagging the dog, IMHO. This team needs to emerge from the basement. Eichel's line is highly effective and Olofsson is being cultivated into a really good player. Busting that up in order to try to save money on his next contract (or Reino's) would be nuts.

So with Mitts healthy-scratched in 2 out of the last 3 games, and benched for a good chunk of the 3rd, and the Sabres winning without him -- does JB finally heed our advice and send him down to Rochester?

I agree with all this, but I think they need more scoring throughout the lineup and Zemgus provides close to zero, with close to zero possibility for improvement. As I've said previously, possession and Corsi are nice, but at some point they need to translate into production. I also think someone else with more offensive upside could play with Larsson and KO (whom they are stuck with) could take Zemgus' spot without much of a dropoff in possession/forecheck. I'd rather that roster spot go to TT, Cozens or an offseason pickup.

Howie's "like" on Twitter is certainly interesting for us, but it's not a good look for him.

I would not expect Pittsburgh to trade Galchie for just Bogo. The Sabres will have to add a pick or mid-level prospect at least.

I would keep Larsson but not Zemgus.

yeah baby! Yeah! And that was a great freaking pass by Reino on the GWG.

No one is saying that wins are more important than total points. The point is that if you are happy with a record of, say, 18-18-9, even though it gives you 45 pts in 45 games, you are missing the forest for the trees. With that record you are almost certainly going to miss the playoffs. You need to average well above one point per game if you want to make the playoffs, and by far the most likely way to achieve that is wins -- not an absurd albeit theoretically possible number of OTLs. That is why, as noted upthread:

That's a bummer about TT. It must've been a pretty serious shoulder injury -- and likely the kind of thing that will bother him all year.

On the one hand, Galchy's numbers are pretty decent, as are his position, size and age. OTOH, it's hard to get excited about JB bringing in another Pittsburgh salary dump. I could certainly live with Bogo for him, or probably Scandy, but not one of the younger Dmen.

I agree with this, but I also think he is extremely weak on the puck — which requires leverage and anticipation and is different from a general lack of physical strength. As @Weave notes, the lack of any improvement over last year is a major red flag.