mjd1001

I agree its too early to be looking at any numbers that fluctuate as the season goes on. If his lower shooting percentage was a continuation of a trend that included all of last year..then maybe. I'd start to be concerned about the number if it stays this low another 20+ games into the season, but even then I'd evaluate it in terms of his overall game.

I see the opposite...when Sam is on the ice...UNLESS he is with Jack and Skinner, I see the puck with less time in the offensive zone than it is in the Neutral zone or the Sabres end. When the puck is in the Sabres own zone..I don't see him as someone who helps the D get the puck out as well as some of the other forwards. Stats aren't everything, but the reason I bring them up is I SEE him not being a player that does well in a lot of areas, and the stats back up what I see with my own eyes. And as far as facilitating zone entires? That is one thing I think is one of his major areas where is is NOT good.

Scandella I think it OK. A top pairing D-man on a cup winning team? No, but I don't think he is a weakness. I am beginning to agree with you on Reinhart. He HAS to put up goals and points to be productive..he doesn't add much else. He's not a good penalty killer....not a faceoff specialist (you can't even rely on him to take draws...his career percentage is just above 30%). He lacks the speed to help the transition game through the neutral zone...doesn't drive possession...not physical. Even his scoring is usually on the powerplay, he doesn't give you much even strength. (for his career, he averages only 12 even strength goals per 82 games.) Basically, if he isn't scoring...he isn't of much use at all. Right now through the middle of November, he is on pace for 9 goals and 50 assists. Not enough goals. The 50 assist pace is nice, but almost half of them are on the Power Play. The kid has offensive talent, but that is the only way he helps you. I need to see him on a 20-25 goal pace to see his value to this team.

Maybe Housley want to see more combinations...and it is best to try things out early in the season. Move things around...so he can get an idea as to what he thinks will work or won't work...for later in the year especially if injuries hit.

With Rasmus Dahlin coming into the NHL, and with the Sabres playing Elias Petterson today, I got to thinking about how strong of a hockey nation Sweden usually is, and it may be getting stronger in the next few years..with that said, does anyone think they may unseat Canada as having the best national/Olympic/world cup program in the near future? With Karlson, Hedmund, Ekman-Larson, Klingberg, Ekholm, and eventually Dahlin on the D-unit, anyone might have a tough time matching that. No matter what, I am looking forward to the next round of international competition tournaments.

I agree on this. Also, I have defended Reinhart on these boards for most of the last 2-3 years. I'm starting to turn on him. From what we see of him, at best he is a 'streaky' scorer that you can rely on for 25 goals per year. If I am going to pay a 'streaky' scorer, he better be putting up 30+ and have a lot more game than just basically a power play specialist.

I think we know what he is now.....he is a guy who is going to give you about 10 goals and 30 assists in a full season...playing 3rd and 4th line minutes...with the OCCASIONAL bump up to a higher line when the coach wants to shake things up or when a bunch of injuries hit. Good Skater, hard worker. I just would like to see him get a little better (or get used more) penalty killing.

I'm happy so far this year obviously. I want to see him take another step though. So far in his career, I see Eichel as an all-star caliber player..not an elite player. He needs to take a step up for me to consider him Elite. If he continues at this pace and finishes in the top 5 or 6 in the league in scoring, then I'll start to entertain that 'elite' status again. I do like that he has shown the ability to be able to seemingly "switch on-off" between a scorer and a playmaker.

In that case, the poll would probably be 7 years at $58 or 8 at $66.

You are right, I forgot the Sabres were able to offer 8 years now..I still thought 7 was the max.

I'm OK with Dunleavy. Is he great? No. Is he good, Yep, I've come around to liking him doing a game. Is Dunleavy as good to listen to as RJ was a decade ago? No...but to be honest, I'd rather have Dunleavy doing all the games at this point.

How much will it take to get him signed, or are the Sabres not interested in what it will cost?

Maybe he has some kind of very minor, but lingering injury? Something that you COULD play thought but it would have a small impact on the quality of play. The fact he is not one of your top 6 forwards, you aren't going to have him play though it, but just give it time to 100% heal? I don't know...you would think they would say he had an injury if that was the case...but I can't come up with any other reasons as to why they are handling him like they are. Maybe its a numbers thing in Rochester? If they send him down...either he won't get quality minutes down there on a top line..., or he would push someone else off of a top line and they don't want that to happen either?

Well, hes from Vancouver, he lives in the offseason in Vancouver....and in the past there were some rumors (nothing too credible, but I know I read stuff online) about a trade to Vancouver....so that might be something to watch for.

Better than last year, but I don't know if I'd say good...YET. Right now, they are middle of the pack. Entertaining? More than last year..but still not exciting to watch on a regular basis. I'd say average at best there. The important thing is they are better and more entertaining than last year..and hopefully further trending upward.

He's really not looking that good. His shooting percentage is only 3.7% now...even if you think he will get closer to his career average (11%), that would still only give him 3 goals in 13 games. Not only does he only have 6 points...but only 2 of his points are at even strength, in 13 games. And he is getting the ice time...ice time per game so far this season is at a career high for him. Among forwards, only Eichel has more ice time than Reinhart..he is second on the team. He just doesn't look good and isn't producing...I'm not sure what needs to be done to change that.

I think a lot of it has to do with someone expectations for what they are getting and what they pay for it. When we go to a game..or a concert....or basically anything where prices are very high and quality is questionable, my wife and I look at it in opposite ways. She won't say a thing about dropping $4 or $5 on a tiny bottle of water...$7 on a small pizza slice, $6 or $7 on a pretzel, or over $10 for a sandwich. She just decides that is what she wants and gets it. On the other hand, no matter how thirsty I am, I have a full blown mental crisis on whether I want to pay those prices for a small soda, and on the rare occasions where I do, it bothers me the rest of the night. Our solution....I let her buy everything, don't ask how much it cost..and just eat and drink off of what she buys.

I agree. I like Pominville, but by next year I'm wanting his slot to be filled by a young guy. Nylander, CJ Smith, Olofson, among others are who I want to see there. Last year Pominville got off to an "OK" start but faded as the season went on. ANY money that would be spent on Pominville (even if just $1.5 -$2.5 million) is money I want thrown at Skinner.

Because of how the road trip ended, Thursday nights game against Montreal is huge. Not so much for the long-term success of the team, but for the fanbase and Sabres marketing dept: -This is the first time in a LONG time the team has been over .500 even a few weeks into the season. -A lot of fans know they won the last couple games, but many did not see all of the games on the west coast -This will be the first home game in a while...the first game in a LONG time (years) where fans are going into it thinking this team is truly different, BETTER than what they have seen in the past few years. If the Sabres come out and play well and win, you are going to see some momentum with the fanbase finally unlike anything during the season in years. If they play poorly and lose...it'll be "same old Sabres" to many fans.

It is REALLY early in the NHL season to be making strong opinions about teams, but for now..I think we can settle down on the 'Leafs are the clear favorite for the cup" stuff that I have been hearing out of Toronto for the last 2-4 weeks. They are good. Are they great? I'm not sure. They went to OT to beat the Habs and Black hawks...and they won pretty convincingly against a bad Kings team. They had a good come from behind win against the caps...and beat what looks like an average Stars team. Lost to a good Pittsburgh team and what looks like a Blues team still trying to find itself. So right now..the Leafs look to me like they are just the same as they were last year. Fun to watch, high scoring...good but not great. Their next 8 games in the next 3 weeks look like a GREAT test to see how they come out of it. By then, we should have a great idea for sure if they are good or great.

I know the season is still early, but this team is losing already. I am not into the deep strategy stuff of hockey...I watch for pure entertainment...so there are really only 2 things I care about 1.) Wins for the Sabres. 2.) Goals for the Sabres. (BTW, the same thing applies to the Bills..wins and Points) I'll admit I am not a die-hard fan. I'm slightly more than casual. I WILL devote time to watching this team, but wow...how many years has it been since this team had a winning record and/or top 10 offense? It is getting really hard to keep watching. 3.6 goals per game right now would give you the 10th best offense in the league. The Sabres are about half of that. 3.3 goals gives you an 'average' offense this year. The Sabres would have to score 17 goals in the next 2 games just to get to 'average' this year. It is way too early in the season for numbers like that.

I not a huge suit guy, but I have bought 4 of them in the past 10 years or so. I wanted something very "light weight" for a wedding last summer, and of all the places I went to (including some you asked about) the most comfortable one I tried on was from a place at the Outlet mall in Niagara Falls called "Sarar" They don't do custom tayloring on site, but they can give you a list of some local places they would suggest. If you really can't find anything else you like, its just another thought.

Feel the same for Mittlestadt and Nylander. Honestly, of the 3, I thought Nylander was the one that deserved the start with the big club.

Our family was 'cord cutters' for the past few years. Both my wife and myself work 50-60+ hours a week and don't watch TV much...we got most of our entertainment from Hulu and Netflix. This year, we decided to subscribe back to cable JUST so I could watch the Sabres games. I said I don't care if they miss the playoff, i just want to see some GOALS and some good chances everygame. I'm going to give them a few more games, but things don't look good right now as far as us keeping the cable package for long.

I'm picturing Reinhart, a short 5-6 foot shot flipped into the net, a chip or a backhand.