LTS

I decided that since I needed a Pizza Plant fix I was going to drive to Buffalo and get one. Then I decided that since I will be there I might as well walk a block and attend the game. That's not really what happened but I tell myself that because it makes me feel better. I'll be there with my kid tonight.... who knows what will happen.

+/- isn't all that.. but being better at it than worse at it still matters. That's a really good stat.

Just a reminder... the Oilers are the team that decided Jeff Skinner was going to help them get over the top and then allowed two players to walk in RFA that would have helped them as well. I believe their decision making is highly flawed. Kulich is playing with better scoring teammates than McLeod as well. The whole idea of Malenstyn, NAK, Lafferty being the "improvement" to the 4th line is really not appropriate. They were the replacement of the 4th line. I'm not sure it was ever stated they were improving the 4th line, they just wanted speed. At least in that regard, they have it. But comparison's to last years 4th line should not be done with the idea that the Sabres could have retained last year's 4th line. Okposo was retiring. Girgensons was a UFA and walked. Robinson was also free to walk I believe. So... none of them were necessarily going to be here (and why would we expect them to be if they had a choice?) But.. it doesn't change the fact they don't produce points. Then again, this team doesn't produce points either.

A shame I missed this one. Well, that's not entirely true. I was watching USA v CZE, then flipped over. I watched until the first Vagas goal and went to bed. I also had forgotten that listening to a game against Vagas would subject me to Rob Ray's pronunciations of the word Vegas. So I feel like a triple winner this morning. I got lots of sleep, I did not subject myself to Rob Ray, and I can't comment one bit on the game itself because I really didn't watch it. It's a great Sunday so far.

Someone had to do it... If you want to see some competitive hockey before hand: SWE vs. FIN - 2:30ET USA vs. CZE - 7:30ET SWE and FIN get rough when playing each other, serious national pride will be shown. Then you can watch the Sabres and Knights. Have a great Saturday!

Good stuff. I think McLeod is a bit higher grade at C or C+. They'll re-sign him and they should. As they hopefully filter some of the top 9 and compress it I think McLeod will slot back up. He's also versatile enough to move up and down the lines with this speed and that helps cover any injuries to the C's above him. Aube-Kubel is basically the back-up for Malenstyn at this point. Zucker is probably one of the best, if not THE best UFA signings this team has ever had. If his energy and attitude are not rubbing off on this team at all then there's literally no hope. I think it is but the inertia it has to overcome cannot be understated. While I like to be a realist there is a big part of me that hopes like hell he says "F it" and tells Adams he's on for another year, don't trade me. A decision such as that could spark the beginning of some players considering signing with this team in the future.

Holy cow what a reaction here. First and foremost let's acknowledge the most obvious thing, nothing is working for the Sabres. Now, if the organization burns Zucker by not trading him then there will be zero hope of any meaningul vet wanting to be here as well as all existing players not wanting to be here. So you tell me how retaining Zucker against his desires helps this team? You didn't address that, you just went for the attack. So I will wait. As I said, piss off Zucker and not only will he corrupt your locker room but it'll piss off every other player in there and every player around the league. So you tell me how that's a better outcome than trading him. Now, as to your second paragraph. Teams do go to players and ask them if they have a preference on where they want to go. They aren't going to present the details of the trade but if there were two trade options that the Sabres were willing to make and the weighted them the same there is zero harm in accommodating the players preferred location. It builds good will with the club. You mentioned elsewhere that you could run the team better but if you engaged in the actions you are proposing I doubt you'd have anyone who wanted to work with you, management or players. Good luck.

Well.. yep. I'm just going to blame that on the fact that today is my 4th day at the new job after not working for 7 weeks and it was the first day where I was loaded with meetings.. so my brain is toast. Appreciate the callout... 🙂

My understanding is that the play should not be blown dead until Colorado has the puck or if the Sabres were not in the offensive zone. They would blow the play dead if the injury was one that needed immediate attention (ie. puck in the face) or presented a safety concern (loose strap/mask). It's not much different than a player who blocks a shot and is down on the ice and players just skate around him.

My hope on this has to be that they expect Ryan Johnson to be pulled up because they are moving Jokiharju out.. or someone... I'm not deleting this, but acknowledging that wookie already called out my blatant ignorance and inability to read a post properly. 🙂 No need to pile on.

Good god, that's brutal. I think the NHL needs to pick another day and time of the year entirely.

I disagree, what happened in OT is very mental. Tage Thompson made the one play he's not good at. He tried to initiate a board battle. For all the size Tage Thompson has what he has not learned how to do is lower his mid-point when battling on the boards. As such, Toews is able to get lower and bump him causing the turnover. This is something Thompson does repeatedly. Thompson's mentality leads to better solutions, in the immediate situation of the game the prudent choice is to skate it back over the blue line like most players would do. All the Sabres players were covered, including Power coming into the zone. Thompson does get overwhelmed physically, but it's a mental situation. Do you think Toews should be able to out muscle and out work Thompson? It starts with a mentality that "I will not lose this puck." Thompson clearly didn't have that versus Toews mentality which was "I will take this puck." They didn't have them. That's just rationalization. What the Sabres had was a lead and then the Sabres forced Colorado to play a harder game. Colorado did and they won. Saying they had them is like saying you have a pool shark just before they take all your money. If they didn't come together after giving up a 4-0 lead versus Colorado earlier this year why would you think it would be different now? If it were "unimaginable" for them then they would not lose. Unimaginable is wanting to win as bad as you want to breathe. I am sure they are disappointed. I am sure they don't like the outcome but they've been doing this for over a season now. Nothing has changed. I don't think this one is the one that changes anything. I appreciate your optimism but at some point you have to recognize that they are who they are. Rationalizing their continued failures is only hurting yourself, much like someone facing an abuse issue saying "It will be different this time." I would agree here. The positive of this was the Sabres ability to score 5 goals against the Avs. They played well until they couldn't handle what the other team was putting up. Of course, if Colorado had played the whole game like they did the last 5 minutes then perhaps the score is different. We don't know. Overall this game was one team wanting it more and the Sabres failing to make the smart play in OT. I don't blame Power for driving the net in OT. In 3 on 3 the defense needs to flow into the forward spot. As Power comes in the zone, if the Avs player doesn't cover him well then Tage can give him the feed. However, Power is blanketed and Tage makes the decision to try and turn back against Toews. This was the mistake as I said earlier. Thompson cannot doesn't out leverage people and Toews bumped him. Tage also should have realized at that point, he's the last man back and can't make that play. He has to carry it out of the zone and retain possession, let the team regroup and attack again.

It's not a good look for the Sabres, certainly. It's probably not a good look for Pegula, but what is he going to do about it? He's not going to Fire McDermott. The Sabres deserve all the chiding they can get. They are a joke and we cover it that ad nauseum on this forum. The palm tree comment from Adams was never funny, no. It was a perfect demonstration of a person who is out of touch. But, chirping him for saying it? Full speed ahead. If Pegula doesn't want his GM of his professional hockey franchise being chirped he should probably deal with the problem, not the symptom. Get a real GM.

So, if he wanted to be traded you're suggestion is to ignore that and keep him for the whole season? IF I am interpreting that correctly, then what kind of player does Zucker become when he's told "To Bad, So Sad" and forcefully kept on the roster? I don't think he becomes the leader and vet presence the locker room needs. I think he becomes the poster child for how this organization treats players and it sows even more discontent into the locker room. He's certainly not going to re-sign after that. The absolute most likely solution is this that they ask Zucker his preference. If it's a trade then they will ask if he's open to re-signing next year if they move him. They will then review potential teams who are interested with him and let him choose from a list of trades the Sabres find acceptable. This puts the player where he wants to go (within a subset of trades that are beneficial for the Sabres) and then hopefully he'll come back next year.

No Georgiev so let in 4 quick goals tonight and that was not enough the last time. Sooooo... yeah. World Juniors.. I'll watch Czechia and Canada play.

I'm just going to assume the palm tree comment was a jab. It was great.

They moved it this year and yes, it was done specifically because of the NCAA football playoff changes. What likely did not help is that in the Sabres first TNT game this season they kept saying New Year's Eve for the game but the graphic they put up said it was on January 1. So imagine a bunch of people watching games on TNT and seeing Jan. 1. I did watch part of it, but at 5pm I am busy eating or planning food if I were going to a party. It's a serious miss and they'd be better off moving it to a weekend game. Also, it was raining during the first part of the game at least. The performances were cringe worthy. Find videos of Smashing Pumpkins and Chance the Rapper from that game... it's not good. The game itself was boring because Chicago sucks. Seriously 0-5 in outdoor games.. let's not have them in it any more.

But what I said before holds true. Zucker has to want to stay here, even just this season. If he wants to be traded and Adams retains him then this organization loses the last respectable thing it has going for it. If there is one thing that is true, Buffalo has moved players to playoff teams or those who don't want to be part of the organization. At the very least this allows some lower in demand vets to sign UFA deals on a 1 year basis with the mindset of "If this is their year, I am in and if not, I'm going to a playoff team." You take that away and no vet except the most desperate to stay in the NHL will sign with Buffalo.

My assumption is that Adams will do whatever Zucker wants. While Adams could refuse to move Zucker it would only add to the stigma of players not wanting to be in Buffalo. It seems like it can't get worse, but it can. Buffalo at least is known to move the veterans for playoff opportunities. This at least helps some vets sign a 1 year deal here. This game went the way I would expect. This continues to be a poorly coached team and their inexperience needs much better coaching to improve. They continue to be let down by every player who was given an "A" in the leadership group. I'm glad USA vs. Canada was on. That was far more entertaining and about midway through the Sabres game I was predominantly watching USA and then flipping back to the Sabres during breaks.

Bummer. I think one year I did a 7 day trial of Sling just so I could get it and watch the WJC.

This must be what celebrities feel like when their statements are quoted out of context. 🙂

NHL network? At least in the US all the games are on there.

I kinda look like Brad Pitt. It never helped me Also, I don't even kinda look like him. 8pm start.. same time as USA vs. Canada. Decisions...

Kept flipping between games so I missed quite a bit. They got a win, so that's good. They didn't collapse, that's good. Binnington still sucks as a goaltender, so that's good. They still have lots of issues to fix, so that's bad. But.. a dub is a dub. Now to start a truly terrifying stretch of games.

That collision was terrible. Not a surprise that he broke the collarbone. A really strange play that I think could have been so much worse. No one can doubt how hard he was going to the net, including the net itself.