ska-T Palmtown

I considered it and my tired brain responded "Well, that sounds like a tough nickname ... he has not shown to be tough"

lol - i felt shame doing - but the caffeine had not kicked in and there was no way in ferk I was gonna be able to spell his last name. 🤷‍♂️

So, uh ... is the the GDT?

But it is the exact thing we all know the Sabres have done too often in the past. Kulich is playing fine, sure. But he has been just as invisible as some of the other players on most nights. If he was lighting things on fire, I'd agree - but he is not. He has two whole goals. Once the endorphins of an OT game winner wear off, unless he has another great game - the correct move is to send him back down. Replacing an NHL vet JAG with a rookie JAG (I think Kulich will be awesome, but unless this game was his "ah-ha!" moment, he is still at 'replacement level') is just not something successful teams do. I could be wrong ... happens a lot - but it seems like shiny new toy syndrome and I feel it is the wrong thing to do.

This is great or whatever - and maybe true for the short term if they only keep 7 Dmen until (if) Sammy comes back ... but the roster math just won't work beyond that point - he and Rosen are the only players who can be sent down without being exposed. For a team with the marginal talent level we have, exposing any of the rostered players to waivers is insanity. Kulich has played fine - but not so well that we can jettison other NHL talent willy-nilly over one OT goal.

You are right ... I was over-simplifying. I disagree with some of the criticism, though. Most of the time he uses his reach to pinch an opposing player off and direct them to less dangerous areas of the ice without taking himself out of position. Sorta like the anti-Risto. I have also seen him using his big frame to shield the puck more often this year in the corners and behind his own net. It is a work in progress, but it is there. Net front? Oy .. they boy has some work to do there, but if we are being honest - who are the good examples on the Sabres for him to follow?

The tangible issue would be "who do we send down?" The answer is no one - it has to be Kulich unless we want to chance waivers. No one else is waiver eligible. Greenway + Tage = Kulich and Rosen back to the AHL, simple. Unless Sammy being on IR helps us with the numbers? Gotta admit, I forgot about that one. *If we want to be a good team, we should at least try to start acting like one. The only reason the top teams have players on ELCs in the lineup is for the cap ... we have $8M free. On the good teams, their stud prospect comes up, does their job, and leaves everyone with a half-chub over how well they played. Then they go back to the AHL, now with the sweet taste of NHL coffee in their mouth and fire in their brain. If they are that good, the remainder of their AHL season plus their stellar camp the next year is what gets them that slot.

Most people dump on Power b/c he does not hit people enough. I think his biggest "flaw" is that he does not maintain possession often enough on 50/50 pucks, but I think he is learning and getting better. I think a lot of turnovers that are attributed to him are actually teammates on the wall fumbling his passes and turning it over. BTW (not at you, just at the larger "you" of the board) - getting the puck out of your zone effective, whether via his super snappy stretch passes or carrying it out, IS effective play in his own zone.

Tage back should help?

I would, but the spelling mistakes make me doubt his story ... just kidding: After 10 years in the @nhl 164 fights and 7 diagnosed concussions, I was a shell of myself when I retired in 2015 at the age of 30 I was being told by doctors that I had mild dementia symptoms that needed to be managed and were incurable I would not accept that diagnosis and in 2019, mushrooms found me and I began to heal my brain, body and spirit 6 months into a specific regimen of natural medicine, exercise and diet, I received clears brain scans and blood work If your a concussion survivor who would like to learn more about a routine that has helped hundreds of individuals, please visit my website and join the mail list for upcoming weekly webinars http://danielcarcillo.com There is a photo montage too. The fact that he directs you to HIS website feels a bit suss, but I am happy for the guy getting his life back.

All this "keep Kulich up!" talk is kinda amazing. We. Don't. Need. More. Rookies. He is doing exactly what he is supposed to do - come up for 2-10 games and keep things afloat while someone heals. He had a good game, for sure ... against a mediocre opponent after several "meh" games. When we are healthy, he is practically the only player we CAN send down to get back to the roster limit. We worry about "what to do with Kulich?" if he lights it up in the AHL for the rest of the year and dominates in camp next year. This is already the youngest roster in the league, swapping out a mid-20's (whom we will likely lose on waivers if we try to send them down) for a 20-yr old is madness. Madness, I say!!

lol - i was so focused on win % ... good thing I am not doing any important work today ... my brain is off!

ugh. If we are going to lose, can we at least get the loser point??? As "bad" as the Broons have been, we have lost ground to them over the last 10 😢 And I think NHL.com has them ahead of us due to alphabetical order?

i *thought* that was what he meant, but my social cue meter was on empty when I saw it. And honestly, it can be an away game, I just got a halfie over the idea of a sick jersey. Hell, part of me wants to get that 'Hawks jersey 👀

I am missing something here ... too early, the caffeine has not kicked in ...

OMG - can the Sabres please do another winter classic?? The 'Hawks jerseys are siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiick!! 😍 https://shop.nhl.com/chicago-blackhawks/mens-chicago-blackhawks-fanatics-red-2025-nhl-winter-classic-premium-jersey/

Not sure how this is not here yet: https://www.nhl.com/news/capitals-alex-ovechkin-out-4-6-weeks-with-broken-leg Shame, it would be cool watch him break the record.

I was just thinking - it is a really great thing that so many folks a) noticed he was not around anymore and b) cared. Kinda heartwarming. Off to the Big Barn in the Sky!

JFC ... you actually got me to google that like "huh? what team did he play fo ... omg he got me!"

It was a sad and lonely time around here without your snark, wit, and insight while you were off on a walk about (or masquerading as Idemo!!) Because of you, I would lobby pretty hard to allow a single user to react multiple ways to a single post.

Like ... Patrick Ewing? Crossing sports here, eh? I just remember the Knicks as the team Jordan beat all the time, lol.

No science here, but the "loaves do better without Matthews" because they are a more balanced team without him? If their general strategy is "get the puck to 34", they may pass up otherwise good opportunities for themselves? Perhaps, in their enthusiasm for Matthews, they pass up better chances believing his superior skills are more likely to score. Without him, they perhaps take their own shots and cash in at a slightly better rate? It could be that other players are more "locked in" knowing they don't have St. Matthews to carry them? As someone pointed out, he has more goals than assists (Ovie, anyone?) - so perhaps his supreme confidence in his high-end talents cause him to shoot a little more often when he should actually pass, so when he is out of the lineup that pass is made and maybe they are better chances and convert at better rates? I'd be really interested in their GPG/for and GPG/against with him in vs out of the lineup ... but not enough to actually try to google it myself, lol

They might not "believe" in it the way some don't believe [redacted to avoid being accused of political discussions] - but there are actual statistics that show it is is a thing. The absoluteness of which varies a little from year to year. ESPN did a whole thing on it last around "American Thanksgiving". Dreams' point is well taken that if there is a just a blob of teams all within a point or two of that last spot, statistical significance really blurs, but if you are NOT near it, and there is a glob of mediocrity hovering around the last spot, I'd wager your odds of being one of the 2-3 teams that overcomes goes down by quite a bit.

Yeah, some terrible possession and clearing all around on that.

Doth mine eyes deceive me or dist Owen Power just absolutely paste someone into the boards?? Nope - Dahlin ... lol. False alarm.