LGR4GM

Benson gets called for hooking.

3-2 cbj with 430 left in the 2nd

Wow, back to back nice shifts! In this economy!?

Hey! A good shift and Power scores

They look like trash. Hot,stanky,trash.

Idk what you're arguing here. Mitts coasted back, I didn't like it.

Mitts was at center ice and just disconnected controller back. Tuch was bad too because he didn't front his man.

I've seen zombies skate harder than Buffalo is right now. Lots of puck watching.

Benson looks like Benson

Holy ***** does Mitts look bad on that replay, just coasting back

That was due to laziness

Make sure the url is Twitter. And not X.

2-1 cbj 1 min left in the first

Omfg these drop passes are trash

Cozens fine, just soreness according to Sabres Twitter

Marchenko-Laine-Gaudreau Texier-Jenner-Bemstrom Danforth-Fantilli-Johnson Robinson-Kuraly-Sillinger Werenski-Peeke Provorov-Severson Bean-Gudbranson Merzlikins/Cajan

I see Benson's most likely outcome in this game as elevating the two linemates he has and considering I think highly already of Rousek's game, I bet this line produces tonight. Krebs is the wildcard IMPO. Can he do more than breakup plays and make some nice passes? Does he have a shot and a better understanding of time and space?

I think you are vastly overplaying what happened when we played more physical teams while also vastly underrated how effective the Sabres were in their last stretch of 12-15 games of playing a 2 way game. I saw very few of the important forwards fail to hold up to physical play. I did see guys like Olofsson wilt though. JJP and Quinn seemed to be just fine by the end of the season. Tuch never cared, Skinner loves it, Tage sometimes gets thrown off. Cozens is constantly developing his physicality. I don't worry about it much. Clifton and Big Johnson will be better on defense and more physical than Bryson.

I could be wrong, they could toss Benson out there with Rousek and Biro to see what he does.

Victor Olofsson has only ever scored above 20 goals once in his life. So I personally do not think it is reasonable to project to 25-30 goals unless as I said, his sh% stays artificially high (possible) or he ups the number of shots he takes (unlikely). His goals per 60mins was 1.6 last year, well up from his typical 1.1-1.2 g60 numbers that he had. The interesting part is well that may be true, his pts 60 plummeted. He went from 2.7 down to 2.2 pts/60. The reason for this is mainly tied to the fact he is not a particularly efficient passer or skater. So he is not leading a rush or manipulating a D to open a passing lane. He is a very straight forward player. But I've said all I can on the matter. Time will tell.

I like this lineup and think it makes sense. I will add that I think it more likely Benson gets scratched than Olofsson. My guess is they want to see how the JJP - Cozens - Olofsson works in a game. Rousek - Jost - Biro makes sense to send too, as they will be the first callups or 13th forward once the final roster is done. Donny G talked about how he talks to his veterans to find out what they need to get ready for a season. Do they want 4 games, 2 games, all the games. Sounded like Johnson and Clifton wanted more practice reps to learn the new system over games. Smart IMPO.

A few thoughts here. Mitts has shown multiple times in the last 3 years short stretches of great play. Injuries have often derailed that, so there was evidence that he could be better. I still do have a small question if he can really and truly be that over a full season but I hope so. Mitts was also 22-24 during the timeframe you are talking about and Olofsson is now 28. A 22 year old player getting better, makes perfect sense to me. A 28 year old better getting better, less likely. If VO was new to the league or had some injury that precluded him from playing better, sure, we could argue we haven't seen him at 100%. However, I think we have seen his best and I also think he is not well suited for Granato's system. VO is not particularly fast or agile on his skates. His entire game severely lacks deception or manipulative elements. The higher end hockey IQ needed that we see in Benson is not present. VO does not possess great hands. He is not particularly big, in fact, VO is a whopping 1 inch and 12lbs bigger than Zach Benson and yet this board never seems to question his size. His defensive game is similarly bland in comparison to his offensive game. I think what VO is, is well established. He is a 22g, 15a floatey player with deficiencies that might contribute lower in the lineup and on the PP. If you need goals as a team, he might be an option. The one thing he has is a great shot, but teams know that so they make sure they shadow into his shooting lane because he is not a threat passing wise and he isn't going to make a move to get into a better position to shoot.

"So childish" hrrumph

To the first question, yes. Environment matters. If I take a tray of flowers and give some more and and some less water, some will flourish while others wilt. To the second, idk. Jury is still out.