DarthEbriate

They'd have had to trade him to unblock Levi and Portillo?

Good game. Took awhile to get warmed up, which would've been a disaster without Anderson, but then from the midpoint on the Sabres outskated them and earned the victory.

Up by 2, late in the 3rd... give up a 2-on-0. That's reverse-thinking defense, right there. Thank you, Mr. Anderson.

You see, you can do it.

Nice. Now get the PP for that first bit of insurance.

Cozens -- I'll try spinning, deflecting, and then burying it. That's a good trick.

Dang. Close for TNT. And now the lead!

Phew. Thanks, Bryson.

Lovely pass by Tage.

Good period, that.

Quinn passed to a fallen JJP, but thankfully redeems himself. Just shoot, kids!

Nice to see Tuch and Greenway out on different PK pairs.

The Sabres are super-talented. It's the a matter of their players getting to NHL speed up and down the lineup, especially defensively. The passes are still a split second slow, the dump-ins and clears a bit too soft, the removal of time and space not as crisp as Toronto's. As an example, someday Krebs will make Kampf look sluggish, but Krebs isn't there yet.

Leafs still winning every footrace to a puck against any line not featuring Tuch.

As much as I want Levi to sign quickly, I don't want him to abandon his team to do it. The Frozen Four selection show is Sunday. I want him ready with pen to paper the instant Northeastern is not selected. However, it should be fairly easy to suss out whether they're an actual bubble team beforehand or not. Is ESPN going to list you on the bubble and ask for a camera feed to your team gathered in room? No? Then I want Levi signing immediately.

Good point. Down the stretch last season Bryson played several solid (and high-profile games like TOR and VGK) with Dahlin and Samuelsson as his partner. It likely looks quite a bit different if he's playing solely with Hagg or Pysyk or Butcher during the March-to-end stretch.

Won’t see this one, but I hope the Sabres find their game again. Possession, skating fast, and aggressive forecheck. And maybe show up for all 3 periods and not get outshot 2:1.

I’d have liked to see Montour say “I can be a top 4 guy on this Granato-style team” and keep Joker on the third pair. But at the same time, Montour is not the defensive defenseman this team needed last season or this or next season. He had been in Buffalo through the worst and he was right to say “I don’t want to be here.” It’s worked out for him the past 2 seasons. But it goes back to the spending of draft capital on D. They traded a 1st and Guhle (who was gone anyway) for Montour and got only 2 seasons out of him. That’s not good spending of D draft capital.

And the result is: trade him for a 3rd. Next up: use that 3rd on a goalie. 😇

Yup. Hasek would have this team in the playoffs… but he wouldn’t have his gaudy numbers with the defensive structure and awareness they play with. And even back in the day Hasek got shelled on occasion.

Unfortunately, it appears Portillo was going to be scared off by either Wallstedt or then-WJC-hero (to silver anyway) Levi. The question could’ve been: does Wallstedt scare away Levi? Which is a fascinating question and a fantastic looking duo if both were signed. Addendum: and then in the 2022 draft it frees you up to take a D in round two instead of Leinonen because Wallstedt is already slotted for the AHL. (And you can use one of the last picks on a college or European goalie as a long-term developmental flier).

Agreed. If they plummet from here I’ll be disappointed. But they’re so streaky I don’t see it happening. One day this year they’re going to wake up and not feel any pressure and rattle off 6 of 7 again, even against this schedule of tough matchups. Granted, it’d be a lot easier with Tuch in the lineup and the forwards playing well in their own end.

I don’t know that you need a goalie every draft, but I am staunchly in the camp that you can never go two drafts in a row without drafting one. The Sabres did just that in 2020 and 2021. I thought for sure Rosen was going to be Wallstedt (or Cossa I guess but I’d have taken Wallstedt). But it can easily be argued that Levi was the goalie taken during that 2021 draft as the trade took place on day 2 of the draft.

Whenever Anderson isn’t in the lineup, this is by far the youngest team in the league. This season has been excellent. I’ve seen growth from all the players I need to see growth in. Entertaining and proving that they have talent and scoring capabilities. They won’t forget those skills. Next up is the maturation of defense and strength to win those battles. I’d love for them to get a playoff series and have to work through that level of aggression but games against the Isles are showing them how suffocating it will be when it matters of win or you’re done games. I wanted the Sabres to be where they are now 5 years ago but alas they changed GMs a couple times and every time you do that you reset the franchise. I look at Toronto. They can score. But in three of the last 4 years they’re top 10 in defense. These Sabres have that same potential. And once you’re there (playoffs every year) then it’s just a matter of goaltending, staying healthy, puck luck, getting someone or something hot for a series, or getting the breaks when an opponent has a critical injury. Get to the dance and enjoy the crapshoot. This team is learning how to dance quite well. And go back to any preseason prognostications… the Sabres are on track. They’re young and getting better and better. And that’s good.

"Not out!" yells RJ, but now you can hear the alarmed strain in his voice. You can see the hand gripping the mic and the eyes starting to just bulge ever so slightly. This time it was a wimp backhand on a rolling puck that just sent the puck dribbling up past the dots right to the pinching D-man who has whipped it 'cross-ice to his partner who has an open lane to move in toward the goal -- primed to shoot again or pass. The defense is collapsing back toward the net as the shift surpasses 70 seconds.