nfreeman

So this is how you celebrate that win? By digging up a year-old post so you can mock the poster? Why don't you do this with your own posts?

Holy mackerel this is a tense, exciting game. UPL has shown up big time so far.

For those who attended: how was the crowd? It sure seemed loud and festive on TV.

Actually Clague was a 2nd-rounder -- #51 overall, chosen by LA in the 2016 draft. He was drafted by LA out of the WHL, spent 2 more years in juniors after being drafted, then 1 full year in the AHL, then most of the following year (2019-20) in the AHL until that season was truncated due to Covid, then 18 games in LA and 23 games in the AHL in 2020-21, then he played 5 games in the AHL and 11 in LA in the fall of 2021. LA waived him in December of 2021 and the Habs claimed him. He was a frequent healthy scratch in Montreal but played 25 games there in the 2nd half of 2021-2022. After the end of that season, the Habs decided not to qualify him, and KA signed him. He's played 14 games in Rochester so far this year and 13 in Buffalo. In his first 3 professional seasons, the Kings were lousy, and in the 2nd and 3rd of those seasons, when he was at the point of competing for callups to LA, everything was upended by Covid. Then, in his 4th pro season, the Kings waived him because they had 9 healthy defensemen and were in a roster crunch. He then went to the Habs, who were terrible last year. So it's not like he's had the opportunity to develop under normal, stable circumstances with a good team. He could be the kind of guy that really needs a positive environment in order to develop. He won't turn 25 until next June, so he's still pretty young for a defenseman. And he's already better than Fitzie and Pilut, and maybe Bryson too. He could be another Beaulieu or Fedun and never develop an NHL game. But he might just be a real find and develop into a decent 3rd-pair NHL defenseman. We'll see.

Well, he's on a 2-way contract, so cost won't be an issue if anyone is thinking about claiming him. He was clearly the weakest of the fringe D-men, and is a less valuable piece than Asplund or Vinnie, so this was the logical move.

Every now and then, Buffalo's sports teams lift up their community when we've taken some body blows and could use a spiritual boost. I've read that ticket sales for this game have been quite strong. Here's an opportunity for this young Sabres team to show the fans a good time, bond with the community and inspire them to come back for more. Go Sabres.

Merry Christmas all! It’s presents in the AM tomorrow followed by a midday feast of shrimp cocktail and cheese and crackers to start, then bone-in rib roast, mashed potatoes and green beans with the in-laws tomorrow, plus champagne, red wine, my MIL’s surprisingly good cheesecake (she’s a lousy cook) and the world’s best chocolate cake for dessert. IMHO it’s the Skinner-TT-Tuch of family meals. Wishing everyone here a great holiday.

Some good hockey talk in here boys.

I am so sorry for your loss. God bless you and your family.

Long term house guests.

I’ll add this: when the Sabres make the playoffs, I think Skinner will be a good playoff performer. His game and attitude are well suited for it.

OK, Mr. fancy theories. How about a gentlemen’s charity bet over whether, if they finish 5 over DeLuca .500, they make the playoffs?

IMHO it's way too early in the season to worry about what other teams are doing. The Sabres just need to keep winning and climb as many games over Deluca .500 as possible, and the rest will take care of itself. As I've said a few times now, the Sabres have a great opportunity to go into Boston on 12/31 with a chance to be 2 games over Deluca .500 on New Year's day. If they can pull that off, they can absolutely get to 5 games over by the end of the season, and if they do that, dear reader, I guaran-dam-tee that they will make the playoffs, regardless of what Florida, the Rangers or anyone else does.

I sure hope you're right, but Savoie is 42nd in the WHL in scoring and wasn't invited to Canada's WJC tryouts. That doesn't sound like a guy who's going to force his way into the NHL next year (and I think you're right that it's either the NHL or back to juniors for him next year). As for Kulich, I haven't seen him play, but he's 5th on the Amerks in scoring, which is really good for an 18-year-old, but also doesn't sound like a guy who is too good not to be in the NHL next year at age 19 (he doesn't turn 20 until April 2024).

Yes — Savoie and Kulich (and Rosen and maybe Cedarqvist) definitely factor into this analysis, along with VO and Mitts. If none of the kids is ready for the NHL next year, and if one or both of Mitts and VO are gone at the deadline or this summer, there will definitely be room on the Sabres for Kane and/or Toews. I think it’s something like 65% likely that none of the kids will be ready next year, and 50% likely that one of Mitts or VO will be gone (and 80% likely that KO will be gone, as he looks out of gas). So it’s pretty likely that there will be some room for one or two additions. I’d be happy with either of them, but not at any longer than a 2-year deal.

The only way a Kane trade happens this year is if Kane pulls a Taylor Hall and insists on being traded only to the Sabres, allowing KA to lowball the Hawks. That seems highly unlikely. Among other reasons, Kane has spent his entire career with Chicago, won multiple Cups and made a zillion dollars. He's almost certainly not going to screw them on the way out the door.

And what a clever, funny joke it was. Do you ever make jokes like this at your own expense, instead of at others'?

Similarly: why post this? Why take small-minded, mean-spirited, boring shots at other posters? Why not just enjoy the win and talk hockey? Why do you keep doing this? What is the point?

My rule of thumb on this — kinda the cousin to DeLuca .500 — is that you need 2 straight wins to make up 1 point in the standings. So if you’re 4 points behind, if you win 2 straight, you’re likely then going to be 3 points behind. Separately: good win for the Sabres and a great win for UPL. He was calm, in control and just fantastic. Having said that, they’ll need to play better than that to beat Tampa and Boston. Other game notes: - very dirty play by the VGK player (Kolesar?) on the boarding hit on Loobie in the 1st. - As others have noted, the kid line was ineffective and the Mitts/VO line was lousy. DG saw it and shuffled the bottom 3 lines in the 3rd, although I kinda expect him to revert to the regular lines next game. - Thank heavens for the top line. - Pilut wasn’t by any means strong but I saw him make a number of nice plays at both ends in addition to his goal. - Hopefully we’ll see Power back on Friday. Go Sabres.

Mitts’ line just got caved in on that shift. I really don’t like DG putting them out after a Sabres goal. Total momentum-killer. I agree that Cozens’ line hasn’t done anything tonight.

I think his effort is good. The problem IMHO is that his instincts about where to go are just terrible — both when he has the puck and when he doesn’t.

When I see Mitts leading the breaktout like that and unaccountably just skate into his teammates and produce an offsides, I despair for his future. He has no hockey IQ.

I love TT, but if we fast forward 6 years, I'd guess that Mathews will have more goals over this season plus the next five than TT will. But @Crusader1969 is right that due to the contracts, TT is the more valuable asset right now.

The bolded statements are all BS. JB does not get credit for drafting Dahlin. Just the opposite -- he was trying to ice a competitive team that year and they ended up DFL, won the lottery and drafted the consensus #1 prospect. As for Mitts vs Necas -- yes, hindsight matters and Mitts wasn't a reach, but that's not the point. The GM gets paid millions to get these decisions right and to ice a winning team. The Mitts selection at this point looks like a major mistake, and learning that JB overruled his scouting staff to make it is just the cherry on the poop sundae. Of course not every decision JB made was a complete train wreck. But the sum total of his decisions was exactly that. As I've said previously, an executive board of Sabrespacers would've done a much better job of running the Sabres than JB did. What grade would you give to JB for his tenure here?