dudacek

Not all of us define a player's worth simply by the amount of shots taken while he's on the ice at even strength. Rasmus Ristolainen is the 20th highest scoring defenceman in the entire league over the past 6 years. Those are excellent numbers. He is 15th in assists He is 23rd in penalties drawn He is 4th in hits He is 37th in blocked shots He is 9th in minutes played I know these things don't matter to you, but they aren't irrelevant. He's a flawed but useful player. Trade him if you can make the team better, but don't think the team is going to automatically be better just because he's gone.

So what I saw was that softy Dahlin crosscheck Pastrnak into the boards on a dirty hit, then crosscheck Marchand into the net, and get set to engage with Pastrnak before the courageous role model Marchand jumped on his back. Then I saw cowardly Sam Reinhart grab Marchand as the scrum developed, Marchand eventually circle back to Dahlin, and pansy-ass Dahlin throw them down and charge at Marchand as the refs kept them separated. Just another case of the big bad Bruins playing the right way, while the Sabres tucked their tails between their legs, right?

The Calgary Flames is certainly the first that comes to mind. Flyers?

Do you really think the numbers Risto accrued as a baby as the most heavily used defenseman on some of the worst teams ever are relevant as to whether or not he should be protected?

Speaking of Skinner, he had another typical Skinner game where he contributed about as much as he usually does 4 out of every 5 outings.

Who? Who had cap space? And a need for 1st line LW? And lived in the small window Skinner wanted to be? And the willingness to make a 65-point one-trick pony among the top 10 highest paid players in the league? The Sabres bid against themselves and got played

Do you think anyone else would have signed Skinner for $9 million? Or even $8?

Ugliest period in a while. Bruins clearly more engaged.

Haven't you noticed how every time McCabe and Borgen are on the ice they are doing so much to create dangerous scoring chances? And people laugh at +/-

It's more of an ellipse

No one in my circle has reported any significant side effects.

Ruhwedel, Pysyk, Borgen, and Renouf, them Kraken is gonna be loaded!

Agreed, yet weirdly catchy.

I think it is a bit ridiculous that someone could be arguing that a player who hasn't even been a 30-point player over the past 2.5 seasons, doesn't play special teams, and is regularly hidden from tough defensive situations is more than just a guy. He used to be, but we have not seen that player in a long time.

I don't know how anyone can imply Skinner's defence is making up for his lack of offence with a straight face. When 8 points in 17 games on the first line is the high point of a 126-game stretch? When the offence that he creates is so infrequent? His assist last night amounted to him being bumped off the puck and Olofsson beating the Bruin to it.

I think Granato has been exactly the right coach to finish this season. He's found a way to let the fans and the players enjoy hockey again. He's erased the doubts that were creeping in about Dahlin, resurrected Casey Mittelstadt's career, uncovered startling things about Sam Reinhart and kindled hope for a half-dozen youngsters. He's also won about as many games as one could reasonably expect given the situation and the talent he was handed. None of these things mean he is the right coach to take this team into next season. Or the wrong one.

He's spent the past month playing on the first line with Sam Reinhart, who is good and recently has been on fire. Jeff has scored 3 goals in 17 games. I think that if a player can only rise above JAG status if he is nailed to the hip of one of the best players in the world, he's still a JAG. Here's an interesting frame of reference: Casey Mittelstadt put up 17 goals and 22 assists in his first 114 NHL games and was sent to the minors. Jeff has 24 goals and 17 assists in his past 126 games.

Granato took over a broken team after 12 straight losses, then the team lost 6 more. When did this team stop being Krueger's and start being Granato's? He is playing three rookie defencemen, two of his three 'veterans' are 21 and 20. All three of his captains and both his goalies are injured His starting goalie hadn't won an NHL game in five years and his backup hasn't established himself as a starter in the AHL yet His 1st line centre hasn't played centre in years. His 2nd line centre played in the minors last year and entered the year with 17 career goals. He's regularly dressing 4-6 players (Sheahan, Rieder, Bjork, Caggiula, Eakin, and Irwin) who have been healthy scratches this year and could be classified as borderline NHLers He's also leaning on 8 more who weren't in the NHL at all last year. Even after dropping three straight, he's 7/8/2 in the past month. How much better do you think another coach could have done? (This is an honest question, not an endorsement of Granato.)

He does, and I like him. It's very early.

I think many Sabres needed to discover they are capable of making risky plays at this level. How do you reach your limits without being able to explore them? I do agree the risk will have to be dialed back at some point, but what I'm increasingly seeing is that the Sabres don't have enough horses up front to maintain this style. Casey and Sam have combined for 20 goals in the past month. The other 10 forwards have 21. Jack should make a difference. But Bjork, Skinner, Caggiula, Rieder and Sheahan are JAGs and Thompson, Asplund and R2 might be too. That's too many.

Good catch on Cozens. I multiplied by 10, rather than 8 for some reason. Fixed in the original post. For the other, I went back a month, so the March 31 game is included.

So 3 points with the goalie pulled? I have him with 4G and 2A on the PP, 15 points overall, in the past 16 games. https://www.espn.com/nhl/player/gamelog/_/id/3114722/sam-reinhart

Great post. The bolded is the crux of the debate and we won't know until we see it play out. Another one to chew on: what if playing Cozens on Jack's wing accelerates Dylan's offensive development in such a way that he becomes Reinhart's equal as Jack's sidekick almost immediately? It's pretty well acknowledged wing is an easier position to play and I find it easier to see Dylan jumping from a 30-point 3C to a 60-point 1RW than I do to a 50-point 2C. By the overthinking comment, I meant not paying enough attention to how well Sam is actually playing centre; it's not like he's been pretty good, it's that he's producing like a legit 1C. We carry the baggage of the Sam-to-centre history, and the 'Dylan needs to become our 2C' projections. Sam's play should be changing that. If we had flipped RW Sam Reinhart for C Tom Ranheim a month back and Ranheim had played like Reinhart is, moving Ranheim to the wing when Eichel returns would not have been a consideration. I expect Cozens to become a top 6 forward. I do not expect Cozens to be a 2C on a playoff team next year. How much of that is projecting for Cozens, and how much is thinking Mittelstadt's past month is a mirage? Generally speaking how many points do you expect from each of them next year?

Expect, no. I think there is a chance and I hope it happens. It depends on a lot of factors: Dahlin's contract, what happens with Reinhart and Risto, who ends up with Seattle in the expansion draft, and how his injury affects his market value. Also his mindset: does he have unfinished business here, or is he ready for a reset? Cap space isn't infinite and the Sabres may see Borgen and/or Samuelsson as ready to take over his role at a cheaper price and choose to spend money elsewhere.

You won't find many players who combined his level of excellence on the ice with his commitment to the franchise and to Buffalo. A true all-time Sabre, whose number needs to be retired.