DarthEbriate

Playoff births? 😇 A wave of new Buffalonian girls named Quinn, boys named Tage, some Lindys, and many, many Zemguses (out of respect for the name). Zemguses or Zemgi?

I really don't understand the defense of Rodgers at this point. That Jets team was lost until Will Anderson got injured. Once he was gone, the Jets offense had a chance. Throw in no Nico Collins and no Diggs (and granted, he's a me-first prima donna, but he's still a good possession receiver at this point) and that the Vikings and Packers laid out the blueprint on how to defend a young QB in Stroud and... great, the Jets got one on a home game on a short week against a struggling and very-injured team. They're still garbage with poor washed-up QB play. Hope the Bills win today: avenge Beebe, Kenneth Davis, Paup, and Lofton!

On average, I've bowled once every other year in the last 20 years which includes 2-3 times in the 2003-04 era. So, considering that... I did great! We had a 2-hour time limit and I broke 100 in each game, including hitting a strike to get to 101 in the 8th frame just before time expired. I also restrained myself to a single Lebowski quote. "Over the line!" on myself. Am I the only one who gives a ###### about the rules? It's so bizarre. Rodrigues is a first line winger on the defending Stanley Cup champion Panthers. Now, Barkov and Reino... it's the Kunitz on the wing. But still. You could even add Ristolainen. He's not great and never will be. But he's learned to be a structured bottom pair defenseman. And that could've been here if he'd been properly blocked instead of rushed onto a team designed to finish last. Every playoffs we take a look around the league of ex-Sabres in the playoffs and it's maddening. There was a darn good team here, potentially, but it was an impossibility. You know who's going to look good in the playoffs this year? Jokiharju

With Adams, it starts even in 2022-23 at the trade deadline. The Sabres had the best winning percentage a few weeks before the deadline of the wildcard teams. They had the best chance to make it, and Adams basically stayed pat. Why? Because it was a young team and it wasn't their window yet. They hadn't made the playoffs in 11 years and he didn't had a veteran D. He added Greenway, which, great. Not enough. His defensive move at that deadline was this: D Chase Priskie to ANH for D Austin Strand. The rumored defensive move? Chychrun. But GM Sheevyn wasn't willing move a prospect like Savoie. Here's the issue. Who is Chychrun? He's Dahlin/Power/Byram. He's not overly physical; and he's not a defensive defenseman. He was just a pre-Byram Byram with a first-round draft pedigree.

Just remember... since GM Sheevyn was given the job because JBott wasn't willing to axe his AHL and other staff.

Went bowling and then to drinks/dinner with some friends tonight. Had lots of fun. I checked the score twice during the dinner portion, once when up 1-0, once when down 2-1. I should do more activities during Sabres games; maybe I'll even hide my phone. Thanks, Darth Pegulas the Wise! He did allow himself to be convinced to take the job. Just think who we'd have as coach if the extensive search had gotten past Ruff. Probably it'd just be Appert. Maybe Matt Ellis.

Second of the back-to-back. This time, get in the shuttle and cruise through space to Detroit.

Certainly a dip, but he'd be a sweetener anyway. What it changes is the teams you would target with him included in a deal. It's now teams that are into their rebuild and will need someone to fill out a roster once some big paydays come due. Chicago could be one, with Bedard on a 10M+ by then, and Korchinski as a PP1 contract. Alternately, a perennial contender who would need a ELC ready to go for their bottom six. Poltapov with Florida's projected lineup? Sign them up. --- That said, this move means that Poltapov wants to come over to the NHL and play immediately. That's excellent and there's nothing preventing him from doing that with the Sabres. Heck, we saw that player last night in Maxim Tsyplakov: first season in the NHL, already 26 and mature. 1-1-2, 8 hits!, and one pretty ticky-tack penalty.

The lowest common denominator is the highest position.

All this with 3 full days of rest against a non-playoff team missing two top-6 forwards in Barzal and Duclair, and down two defensemen for most of the game and a third defenseman who missed ice time and returned. Edit: And in the goatheads at home. Zucker and a veteran Zucker-caliber defenseman needed to be acquired 2 years ago when the current "leaders" were still hungry.

Zucker's a veteran. That's something Girgs wouldn't do and Okposo (rightfully so, because of the concussion history) couldn't do. The question is: will it wake up the team at all?

Did they call the major just so they could review it and cancel it? Because if anything, Greenway let up on a clean check. He's simply a 240# guy and there's no give to the ice.

From a GM Sheevyn perspective, does this mean Poltapov does not want to be here and is now a fully-on-the-table trade chip? Or, alternately, from a GM Sheevyn perspective, is this a boon as they'll get an in-his-prime, aggressive, (probably middle-six capable), ELC forward to add to the lineup the season Skinner's buyout drops back to an easily managed $2M, after they've settled on the core costs/decisions of Quinn, Peterka, Byram, Benson, and Levi?

Philp Gogulla?

Is it short for anything? Brockolomew? Brockington? Brocklesbury?

Last night, the Pens snapped a 6-game losing streak with both goals from Crosby in a 2-1 OT win. They've looked pretty poor all year. Prior to that game, their last win was the Crosby/Malkin Dual Milestone game against the Sabres that they probably weren't going to lose regardless of the opponent. History may show that was one of their last hurrahs.

After some workshopping... ++ The dyLando Center? -- dyLando's not a center; he's a wing. DyLando Cozrissian. Workhorse. Gambler. Goal-less. You'd like him. ++ Thanks.

Here goes nothing.

Quinn Solo: Well, look at you! A winger, huh? Cozensrissian: Someone must've told them about my little maneuver at the Battle of Prague (2024 World Championship where I led Team Canada in scoring).

The Reimer signing was a perfect offseason signing to pair with UPL. Proven, veteran NHL-caliber backup who can give you .900 sv% and 20-40 games every year depending on the season. His numbers are solid and steady -- except for one tank season in SJ. It also allowed them to get Levi all the playing time in Rochester can continue to hone and mature his game (get him up to 100 professional games played; he was at 56 entering this season). Instead, Levi won the competition for the Sabres lineup. (And I use the term competition in a GM Sheevyn voice -- "competition" "Now witness the firepower of this fully armed and operational competition.") That's fine if he won the competition, but it's at the expense of him getting into a daily groove or growing his game. Instead of playing 2 of 3, he'll get 1 of 3. Right now, the bigger issue is UPL. He's made some great saves, he's moved and read the play fine. But there have been at least 4 soft ones this season already. And the defense can't abandon him... like Dahlin leaving last season's PP-goals leader (27) Reinhart unmarked on the doorstep.

It always seemed to work on The Flintstones.

It's an alternate reality, but those can be fun (or sad, if you're a Sabres fan). What's disconcerting is that the once-future Sabres roster below is about $86M, or $2M under the cap with everyone playing on their current contract. To get here, the only thing they couldn't have done is sign Skinner to the long-term deal. Peterka - Eichel - Reinhart Cozens - Mittelstadt - Thompson Benson - McLeod - Quinn Malenstyn - Lafferty - Aube-Kubel Dahlin - Jokiharju Samuelsson - Power Gilbert/Bryson - Clifton UPL Reimer

Yup. For me, TNT remains in that mushy 13-17 range where he can be dominant against teams that don't have an elite center or an elite checking line. (Note: You should be able to win a bunch of games this way, because not too many teams have one, let alone both.) However, if you're a one-line team, which the Sabres appear to be this season until a 2nd scoring line appears, then TNT needs to be elite and the top line needs to be the cliche "you can't stop them, you can only hope to contain them; they're going to get theirs" level night-in and night-out.

What Quinn's poor play is doing is making financial decisions easier. If this continues, he's a trade chip or a bridge contract. If he had hit the season rolling, he'd be with JJP at the top of the list for GM Sheevyn to lock up with all that future cap space (he needed to save cap space for?...because, you know, how the NFL cap can rollover and...yeah penny-pinching winning isn't important internal EEE cap.) on another 7x7.25 deal.

Sad, but true. In the past, he's looked dynamic and he's made the JJP-Cozens line go. This season, he's lost. Now that Aube-Kubel is back, give Quinn this weekend's back-to-back games off. And if Benson is healthy, then get Kulich back to Rochester's top line. Kulich needs playing time.