nfreeman

This is pretty optimistic, since they are 1-6 and were publicly lambasted by their coach for poor effort in a loss to an expansion team.

So Gorges and Fedun are both scratched? Why call up Fedun just to sit him out? And whassup with Lehner?

I'm going to predict that Gorges is not the one who gets scratched.

I agree that JBott will be methodical and deliberate and we won't see a GMTM burn-it-to-the-ground approach. But I also think that he isn't going to feel married to guys like Risto or Reino if he thinks he can improve the team by moving them. (However, I think the most likely outcome is that Howie coaxes enough out of each of them, and that there wouldn't be enough value coming back in trade, so that the Sabres keep both of them.)

You make it sound like those 4 are locks to be high-end NHL forwards. It's at least 50/50 that NONE of them ever scores 25 goals in a season, let alone 28 or 30 (both of which Kane has done, and it's pretty likely that he hits that level again this year). It's almost certain that at least 1 of them is a complete washout, and that another 1 is never more than a 3rd-line, 10-goal guy. There are valid reasons not to re-sign Kane, as there are valid reasons to re-sign him -- but those 4 guys have nothing to do with it.

No one is trading for Moulson unless the sweetener is pretty GD sweet -- i.e. at least a 2nd-rounder (or unless the Sabres take back a bad contract in return -- but that defeats the purpose).

I'd like to see Ducks game Bailey, who I thought was pretty effective, and not Vegas game Bailey, who I thought was mostly invisible. But if Ducks game Bailey is back, I'm definitely interested to see him on a line with ROR and KO.

Outstanding.

We don't know yet, but will know by the end of this season for everyone except Casey.

Yes indeed. This too. No one is going to trade for ROR's contract, but I can see some or all of these other guys getting shipped out. But not until the end of the season. Dudacek is right, IMHO, about JBott being methodical. He'll evaluate everything, not panic, and take the steady progress approach.

I suppose I should be more precise: no one is going to give them a top-10 pick or top-pairing defenseman for either of them.

At this point, no one is going to give them anything good for Reino or Nylander.

I think I read that McNabb was healthy-scratched last game (and that Vegas generally has a surfeit of defensemen).

The ceaseless Mittlestadt jokes are really getting tiresome. Separately: with all the complaints about Tennyson: does anyone have any #fancystats on him? I'm curious as to how he and Beaulieu have done in that regard over the past couple of games.

Well, you don’t mess with a man’s SabreSpace account.

Welcome!

Both Lehner and CJ might be closer to Marty Biron "really good backup" ceilings than "true #1 guy" status. I wasn't terribly impressed with Ullmark a couple of years ago, but maybe. In the meantime, CJ should start tomorrow night and, if the Sabres win, he should start again on Friday. Lehner just hasn't earned the automatic reclaim of the #1 slot.

Cool.

Wow. Awesome story. Thanks.

Just looked at Prudhoe Bay on the map. That is impressive. Did they see any White Walkers?

I'll disagree with this (easy to say, of course, based on the results). I thought the Kings were the somewhat better team vs the Sabres, but I thought the Sabres were the somewhat better team vs the Ducks. The Kings almost ran the Sabres out of the building in the 2nd period. I also think the Sabres have been getting a bit better every game since the NJD/NYI debacles. And maybe I'm kidding myself, but I think it's because Howie knows how to coach them.

I'm curious: has anyone here ever seen Hudson Bay in person? What's the furthest North anyone has been? For me, it's Mont-Tremblant in Quebec. (Or Ireland, I suppose.)

So, after a couple of creditable efforts vs LA and Anaheim, it looks like: - Howie still likes Kane on with Eichel and Pommer. - Pommer has been able to keep up with Eichel -- and has been making one smart veteran play after another. - Zemgus has played well as a top-6 winger. - ROR has struggled mightily in producing offense but may be coming around. - When KO returns, we'll likely see Zemgus-ROR-KO as the #2 line. - Larsson has seized the #3C slot from Reino and while he doesn't really create many chances, Bailey-Larsson-Reino looks like it has potential. - The move back to wing seems to have agreed with Reino -- he's created chances with both Larsson on the #3 line with Bailey and with ROR and Zemgus on the #2 line. - Bringing in whipping boy Gorges has undeniably stabilized the D, leaving Antipin as odd man out for now. - Scandella looks terrific and like an ideal partner for Risto -- who looks OK but not much better than that. - Beaulieu has great hands and feet and after a couple of trainwreck games has stabilized. - His partner, Tennyson, has come out of nowhere and is now a 16-18 min per night defenseman who gets 2nd-unit PP time. - As many of us suspected in the preseason, Scandella-Risto is the clear top pairing, with the minutes being allocated among the other 2 pairs on a game-to-game basis depending on how the game is going.

I thought Zemgus was also pretty effective tonight.

Completely agree. I expect to see Ocho. Other notes: - that was by far the best 200-foot game I’ve seen Eichel play. - Scandella is officially the Sabres’ best defenseman. - Another solid game by Beaulieu — not even one awful TO, I don’t think — and, yes, Gorges. - Reino made a number of crappy plays with the puck but he didn’t quit and created a number of chances too. - Good for Bailey. He’s got another opportunity, probably earlier than expected due to KO’s injury and general team suckitude. If he keeps bringing it like that he won’t get sent down again. - Signs of life from ROR, although not so much in the offensive zone. Still, it feels like it’s coming. - I liked the psychology move by Howie in having the new leader Jack and the struggling vet leader ROR on at the end, plus the ornery earned-his-spot Larsson. - Vegas baby Vegas.