DarthEbriate

Lock S(abre)-foils in attack position! Give another strong effort like in STL and see where the chips fall. Oettinger has been playing great for them lately.

An Okposo Deep Dive: Okposo hasn't lived up to $6M/year, but he was going to get good money as the top UFA RW. He's been more than serviceable and his contract hasn't limited the team. In fact, this year and next, they really need him to make as much as he's making until they start signing some of the kids' second deals. I'd love him on a veteran 3rd/4th-line comparable deal to wind up his career. Really make him into the next core's Grier like @woods-racer says. 2016-2017: 65gp 19-26-45, -7, 18:58 HC DDB Primary line: Reinhart-ROR-Okposo Okposo's line is the best line while Eichel learns to be a 2C. Okposo misses most of March, returns for 2 games and then has the ICU scare. Otherwise, he'd be a 20-30-50 guy. Not good enough for 1RW, but it's an offensively challenged squad with no scoring depth. Ennis suffers a 2nd consecutive injury-riddled and unproductive season that removes a key scorer from the lineup. The result: GMTM/HC DDB fired! although not necessarily from on-ice performance. 2017-2018: 76gp 15-29-44 -34 17:02 HC Housley Primary line: Not really. Housley cycles Pominville, Reino, and Okposo with every center on the roster: Eichel, ROR, ERod, Larry, even Mitts Okposo looks a bit off/slower from the injury/ICU. Pommer's arrival and hot start moves Okposo down the lineup, Reinhart goes to top-6 RW instead of moving to C. This is maybe for the best because Eichel is still only a 2C and is a defensive liability...nothing surprising or alarming about that as Eichel is still a kid with top 1C potential. Defensive injuries abound and the goaltending craters the season (team sv% of .896). 2018-2019: 78gp 14-15-29 -9 13:47 HC Housley Primary lines: Sheary-Mitts-Okposo; Girgs-Larsson-Okposo At season's start, Okposo is veteran presence for Mitts (who should be in AHL). In reality, this should be Reinhart-Okposo (or ROR-Okposo). Eichel is now a 1C and has Skinner, but the team has no 2C because ROR. It doesn't work. Goaltending and now 2C are a mess. Housley fired. Krueger hired. 2019-20: 52gp 9-10-19 -3 12:51 HC Krueger Primary line: Girgs-Larsson-Okposo Krueger goes all-in on the GLO line as a checking line. They are great together, but they play limited minutes. Okposo should be in the top 6 instead of... SOBOTKA! Right wingers who average more ice-time than Okposo: Sobotka! Sheary (also skated LW)! Frolik! Okposo misses 17 games with injuries. Eichel is fantastic and is a full 1C with some MVP chatter, but Skinner is shuffled endlessly until he disappears. Hutton sucks and Ullmark gets hurt. COVID ends the season. Breaking this season in two parts: 2020-21: 23gp 0-4-4 -6 13:04 HC Krueger Primary line: Rieder-Eakin-Okposo Girgs is hurt in preseason and Okposo misses the start of the season. Larry is angry in Arizona. HC Krueger creates a checking line with Eakin and Rieder and Okposo. Okposo lifts the other two up but Rieder isn't much more than a PKer and Eakin is where offense goes to sleep. It's garbage. Injuries and COVID crush the team. Krueger fired! 2020-21: 12gp 2-7-9 +5 15:27 HC Granato Primary line: None, really. Granato is experimenting. Ruotsalainen, Sheahen, Cozens, some Eakin. VO moves to RW for Skinner-Reinhart-Olofsson and the Asplund-Mitts-Thompson is formed. Okposo is fantastic and regains his offense with more balanced minutes. Unfortunately, injury (Irwin shoots a dump-in into Okposo's head) ends his season at 35 out of 56 games played. 2021-22 so far: 33gp 13-17-30 -10 16:47 HC Granato Primary line: Mostly LW-Cozens-Okposo. Some Krebs. Started the season as Girgs-Eakin-Okposo Still way-below-average goaltending, constant injuries/COVID, and no 1C. Okposo looks great in bursts and looks steady on most nights. Solid on PP2.

Okposo and his contract aren't the problem. He was the top UFA RW in 2016 and was paid accordingly. He did look slower after the ICU scare (occurred at end of 1st season), but he came back and was still consistent. His issue overall has been his usage and the constant shuffling of coaches. And Coach Krueger. What Krueger did to this team was criminal. If you were playing the Sabres in a game-sim, Okposo would be a skilled player with a low Injury rating. He'd never leave your top 6 in the years he's been here. You wouldn't have traded ROR. If you acquired Pommer, then you would have moved Reino to center (or just kept Foligno at LW and Reinhart at RW). But Okposo is a lock on RW (probably with ROR) that entire time.

It's not just the actual experience. That invasion in 1968 is a flashpoint and part of the national identity of then-Czechoslovakia. That informs his entire childhood and adolescence. Jagr wasn't even born yet but he wears 68. The Czech Republic gold medal in Nagano (over Russia) has a very special meaning to that nation and its people.

Hasek is angry and rightfully so. His earliest childhood memories would have been of the USSR invasion of Czechoslovakia to reassert control after they'd started instituting liberal/Western reforms. He's seeing history repeat itself and in a much grander/vicious scale this time around. However, you don't suspend/ban individuals based on their place of birth (or their religion, political views, sexual orientation, etc.) because none of those should impact their play or camaraderie with their teammates or opponents. You would suspend them as individuals if their words/actions caused conduct detrimental to their team or league. So --- as a hypothetical example, if a Russian player were to make a throat-slashing gesture toward a Ukrainian player --- absolutely, tear up the contract and give him a multiyear ban from the NHL. And yes, Russia should be banned from all global competitions for multiple years. No more changing of names, outright bans for several cycles of Olympics, World Cups, etc. There's a reason Putin waited until after the Olympics to start the invasion.

My overconfidence is my weakness. But if you think this roster becomes playoff-worthy next season without a Hasek-level goalie (.930%+), you'll be disappointed. Next season ('22-'23) is a step in the right direction. '23-'24 is when this team begins to be competitive on a night-in, night-out basis and starts to begin thinking that playoffs are an outcome.

Entertaining game against a very good club. An NHL-level goalie at least steals a point. Good effort after the MTL garbage. I (would've) hoped that a lot more of our losses would have looked like this this season.

Perron is such a useful player.

You just can't shoot yourself in the foot in this league. And Mitts has missed so much time this year he's playing like it's practice instead of a February grind game.

It's good drafting.

Parayko. Pretty. And... people thought that they could trade for him (and that STL would be willing to move him) a couple years ago.

Shoot. Panger is such a good color guy. He called out the Sabres backcheck. He's been keeping tabs on Thompson. And... he's also covering the Blues, too.

WOOOOOOO!

Need this PP to get a goal. Especially with a sloppy/lazy penalty instead of skating hard.

I'm not sure you're watching the hockey of other teams. The Sabres are featuring a backup goalie as their 1, an AHL goalie as their 2, a 22-21-year-old top D pair, and Mitts and VO have been hurt basically all season. Hockey is so dependent on goaltending and puck luck... the Flames won 10 in a row and then lost to the Canucks (in black skates!) 7-1. The Habs have been garbage all year and change their coach and go on a streak. STL is a really good team, playing at home, against a team of kids. The Sabres are going to show bursts but overall be up and down. Mostly down with the goaltending.

My pup learned a new trick (spin. "Spinning... that's a good trick!") at age 5 in about 10 attempts. And my cats own me. So... pets are smart.

In my dreamy noggin... I can't help but wish that VO never got hurt this season. Early season Victor (legitimate top-6 wing) would change this entire roster once Tuch arrived.

Indeed. STL leading after two periods: 20-2 BUF trailing after two periods: 1-20-2

It's OK if Bryson is one of 6. But Bryson, Joker, Fitz (plays big, but look at the weight)... you're getting pushed around and run by forecheckers and wear down. Look no further than STL. Krug is excellent. He's the small guy. The rest of them are big. And ESPN --- what the hell! Casey Nelson is NO LONGER ON THE SABRES ROSTER!

Well, yes. But he's also an AHL goalie. He makes the first one and there's no backcheck to support, and Okposo skates behind the net. If it's Hasek and Ward or Zinger or Brown is there to clean up, we all drool over it, floppiness or not.

Bryson's good when he's in front of the one-on-one. But when he's to the side and a big guy like Saad decides he's going to the net... Bryson is basically a forward playing D at that point.

Wow. What a great initial save. Shame... especially in the final minute.

Very young, very inconsistent team. But this level of effort will win a fair share of games. Including games like against MTL earlier this week.

Dang. Great save.

Some day... Skinner is going to go in on a breakaway, fake the shot, and then skate in and deposit the goal in an empty net with the goalie 10 feet out from the crease still waiting for the shot. But today is not that day!