nfreeman

I don't agree with this at all. There was plenty of speculation about whether the Sabres would go for Reino, Bennett or Draisaitl.

IMHO, Pokey's entitled to his pessimism and to post it in conversation. He's perhaps done so a bit too often, but not that much, and I haven't found his tone to be off-putting. I don't agree with Pokey's "new poster-old poster" reasoning. I would also say that, for any poster -- if a lot of other posters take issue with your tone, then the problem isn't with everyone else -- it's with you. I wouldn't say that Pokey's reached that point, but I don't think he should just automatically dismiss the feedback he's gotten either. I don't think this situation calls for much if any drama.

Well, it looks like Howie is pretty committed to keeping Kaner and Eichel together. Maybe: Kane-Jack-Bailey Zemgus-ROR-Pommer Pouliot-Reino-KO Griffith-Larsson-Nolan Moulson

A strong defensive showing vs the Raiders, after 2 consecutive lousy ones, would be great. Dareus acting like he gives a crap would certainly be helpful in that regard. I'll tell ya what else is different about this version of the Bills: they have a real QB. Yeah, I said it.

Quite fair, as long as you do indeed talk seriously about turning a corner if they deliver a few good ones in a row. Yes indeedly. The ROR resurrection is a very important development for the franchise. Now he just needs to awaken KO.

Did anyone hear JBott with Schopp and Bulldog on Friday? They asked him about Kane and whether there is a plan to try to sign him. He was quite complimentary of Kane but mostly dodged the question IMHO. I can see this going either way.

Troof. If ROR has turned the corner and brings it every night like he did last night, that will go a long way in this crucial aspect.

To overhaul the D, JBott brought in: Scandella Antipin Tennyson (whom Howie called “Tenner” last night, btw) Beaulieu Right now, Scandella looks like either the best or 2nd-best defenseman on the team, depending on whether Risto is bringing it on a given night. That may be a tallest-dwarf distinction, but even in a vacuum he has delivered quality top-3 defenseman minutes IMHO. Tenner is a new SabreSpace whipping boy, a bit unfairly IMHO, but in any case has seized a spot in the lineup, including reasonably good 2nd PP time. Antipin and Beaulieu have been up and down but each has shown promise. If Scandella continues to play at this level — and I see no reason why he wouldn’t— and if they can get the equivalent of 2 #4-#6 defensemen out of Antipin, Tenner and Bloo, which I think Howie can deliver, that is a very nice job by JBott.

BTW: I’m nominating LTS as SabreSpace MVP for the first 9 games. Like ROR working the boards last night, he’s been relentlessly bringing the optimism while the rest of us fragile little children have been hiding under the bed from the big bad crappy start to the season. Well done sir.

BTW: is anyone else having a weird glitch with this thread? Every time I click on the star to the left of the thread title (i.e. the "new post" indicator), I get a "cannot open this page" screen. It only happens for this thread, and I'm able to click on the last page of the thread and scroll down, but it's pretty weird.

dudacek -- I am worried about you my friend. I sense despair in your posts. I think they are finally doing it the right way. This season will have plenty of stinkers, but they have the right people in charge, committed, deep-pocketed ownership, excellent facilities and a great fan base that is dying for a team to justify its love. Don't take the losses this season too hard, and don't give up. (... he said bravely.)

Beaulieu out tonight per SabresBuzz. Not stated whether healthy scratch or injury.

Of course, but I think he would’ve been fired if the payroll had been $20MM lower too. It was the train wreck, not the price tag IMHO.

This is simply wrong as a factual matter. It's not troubling that many fans think this (although at long last, and well after the horse has left the barn, I think most here have realized that tanking is a terrible strategy). It's deeply troubling that GMTM thought this, and deeply disappointing that he was able to convince TP. As I've said before -- Pittsburgh and Toronto are the exceptions, not the rule. When Toronto won the lottery, they had a 1-in-5 chance. When Pittsburgh won, they had a 1-in-16 chance. When Chicago won, they had a 1-in-12 chance. If you are OK with being terrible for a decade, AND you can win a lottery, AND it's in a year in which a generational player is the prize, AND you already have other very-good-to-great players, AND (in Toronto's case) the best coach in a generation -- yes, it can work. But that is not a plan. It's a prayer. Here are the #1 overall picks since 2000: 2000-New York Islanders-Rick DiPietro 2001-Atlanta Thrashers-Ilya Kovalchuk 2002-Columbus Blue Jackets-Rick Nash 2003-Pittsburgh Penguins-Marc-Andre Fleury 2004-Washington Capitals-Alexander Ovechkin ^ 2005-Pittsburgh Penguins-Sidney Crosby 2006-St. Louis Blues-Erik Johnson 2007-Chicago Blackhawks-Patrick Kane 2008-Tampa Bay Lightning-Steven Stamkos 2009-New York Islanders-John Tavares 2010-Edmonton Oilers-Taylor Hall 2011-Edmonton Oilers-Ryan Nugent-Hopkins 2012-Edmonton Oilers-Nail Yakupov 2013-Colorado Avalanche-Nathan MacKinnon ^ 2014-Florida Panthers-Aaron Ekblad ^ 2015-Edmonton Oilers-Connor McDavid 2016-Toronto Maple Leafs-Auston Matthews 2017-New Jersey Devils-Nico Hischier Notice anything about these guys, and the teams that drafted them? Most of them didn't lift their teams to a Cup, or even bring them out of sustained suckitude. I agree with most of this, but not the bolded. I think GMTM was fired for presiding over a train wreck.

I'm not sure, but I thought Risto was reunited with Scandella shortly after that 1st shift in the 2nd period -- that's why I thought it was a message to Risto.

I don't think Tennyson was at fault on the shortie. He was playing the pass across, which he was supposed to do, not the rebound. I think the next man to hustle back is supposed to get there for the rebound. Here's something else about Tennyson: he started the 2nd period, with Scandella. It had to have been a message from Howie to Risto. I thought to myself at that moment: "Ladies and gentlemen: your new #1 defenseman, Matt Tennyson!"

OK, so while everyone wants to burn this thing to the ground right now, I think patience and a deliberate approach is called for. Playoffs aren’t happening this year. We as fans need to accept that and understand that the team needs to use this season to figure out who is going to be part of the solution next year and beyond. For those who aren’t, the team needs to maximize the return they get for them. That means no knee-jerk trade of Risto or Reino out of a desperate desire to light a fire under these guys. And no firing Howie or bringing in Lindy or Tippet as an assistant or consultant. Between now and the deadline, Howie and JBott are going to figure out who can be coached up and who can’t, who burns to win and who doesn’t, and who can make a difference. In the meantime, there are going to be plenty of losses.

It doesn't matter that tanking gives you "the best chance" of winning the lottery. It's still only a 20% chance! It doesn't matter that everyone else has less than 20% -- it only matters that you are 80% likely to lose. The Leafs getting Babcock has everything to do with the Leafs being a good team now, which is why you cited them as an example of a successful tank. Fixed.

Toronto was in the wilderness for 11 freaking years AND they won the lottery AND it was in a year in which a great player was available AND they landed the best coach in the last generation. That is not a #blueprint.

How do you know this? (Hint: you don't.) And where is the big surprise you promised us?

Again: this is why you don't tank. When you bottom out, you usually stay at the bottom. Now we're looking at yet another year in the wilderness. I still think it's fairly likely that as the season progresses there will be real reasons for hope, but there's also a real likelihood that we're looking at another bottom-3 finish. What a freaking debacle.

No she didn't you hoser.

Very good article, and it reinforces what I think most here think: he's not delivered as much as you'd like from someone drafted #2 overall, but he's shown plenty of flashes, with respectable overall production, in a terrible environment, and it would be foolish to give up on him at this point unless there is a major return coming back.

I did hear it, and yes, it was #lazyHammy. However, there was IMHO a disconcerting grain of truth: just because a young defenseman has a nice start to his career, it doesn't mean that he will improve every year and become a bona fide star. Sometimes they just don't have it between the ears, and the physical tools aren't guided by a hockey brain that knows what to do (hello Bogo). I dearly hope this isn't the case with Risto, but we should all appreciate that it's quite possible.

I saw aggressive Risto only in the opener, and mostly zombie Risto since then.