JoeSchmoe

I think it was Joe DiBiasi that said Tuch had the best stick in the league. I don't watch enough games outside of the Sabres to know for sure, but he's gotta be one of the best.

Hey guys... You gotta give em credit. That OT was pretty awesome!

I was going to say the same thing.

My son's friend is coming back from BC to the O now too. Tier 2 Junior will never be the same again. USHL will probably take a huge hit as well.

Maybe we can reunite the Stutzle-Peterka line from the world Juniors.

Here's what I see on sabres.com Tage Thompson has missed the past three games with a lower-body injury but has been practicing with the team since Monday. Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said Wednesday morning that Thompson had not been ruled out to play on the road trip. “We’re just taking this a day at a time,” Ruff said. “Hopeful for Friday. If not Friday, you’re looking at Saturday.” Ruff will update the media following the team’s morning skate, which is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. EST.

The BCHL exodus has started... as predicted. https://www.theprogress.com/sports/chilliwack-chiefs-hit-with-player-departures-following-new-ncaa-rules-7659248

He's had a couple bad games of late, but was definitely a capable NHL goalie last year and the year before (when he almost took the team into the playoffs). The kinks in his game right now might just be from lack of playing time. His saves above expected last year were definitely NHL starting goalie level.

I currently have a boycott where I'm not going to games unless they're in a playoff spot, or the tickets were given to me. My friend actually bought some seats last week without telling me. I insisted on giving him the $$$ for it, so if I do it today, I can do so and stick to the terms of my boycott. Sort of. If they fall out by Dec 3, then maybe I've cheated my protest.

Back in the playoffs. Legitimately.

Anyone else find the game dark and a little too far out?

I know this is going to be an unpopular opinion, but Skinner is just being miscast. If you put Skinner on a line with good players, he's going to score. He'll clean up the garbage and knock home bad angle one-timers that not a lot of other players can. He absolutely can not drive a line, so if you put him with 3rd liners that don't generate chances, he's going to suck just like he did with Krueger. If he were here playing on our 1st line, he'd for sure be a downgrade from Peterka. BUT, if Peterka were on our 2nd line, I think that line would actually be good and we'd be stronger as a team. Unpopular, I know... But we've seen Skinner play lower in the lineup to the exact same result.

I was still mad until I looked at the standings today. Everybody sucks.

It really is crazy how tight and mediocre things are.

I'm only interested in the game and being in the worst seat in the arena is still better than sitting at home. I don't need a shiny new toy. Just improve what's on the central 85x200 part of the the arena and I'll be happily fork over my $$$ for tickets.

My brother is 6'4 and has never mentioned it being an issue. Would a new arena actually fix this?

The arena is fine by me. If you can't enjoy a good hockey game at Key Bank, maybe you just don't really like hockey. Still, it's the hockey team we gotta worry about.

Really encouraging seeing the coaching play to win instead of not to lose.

They have to be able to play hockey too. Gilbert "plays the right way" but has one shot attempt in 6 games. It's only a matter of luck when we win with him in the lineup.

We need scoring... Who'd have thought?!?!?! On that note, can we end the Dennis Gilbert experiment now?!??

True, but they're getting better. With the eye test, it's easy to see who's really good and who's really bad. What the eye test isn't as good at is seeing which players consistently make the seemingly innocuous plays that lead to scoring chances either for or against. That said, as the sample size increases.... actual GF% is much more important.

Update and some thoughts... Tage is far and away the class of the team. Keep in mind a player with his shooting skill is going to far outperform his expected goals, which is the best on the team by a good amount. After some good games Cozens, Byram, and Quinn are improving greatly. They are still at the bottom, but their relative numbers have improved closer to the mean. Byram was -15% when I started this. I kept the minimum minutes at 50min so he's not on here, but Gilbert is -24.9% relative to the team. I know people like that he plays tough but we can do better with other guys on the roster.

I'd still rather have Mitts, but you can't deny he's gotten better. We've all seen what he can do on offence, and he's starting to bring his high danger chances against numbers down. More on him (and others) in the advanced stats thread later today.

No

I just tuned in. Are they saying boo or boo-urns?