GoPuckYourself

We're all praying that at least 1 of UPL, Portillo or Levi turn into a legit #1 for us, here's to hoping!

I'm trying hard not to laugh at this whole thing because these are your opinions and just because they differ from mine I won't do that but I will argue the bolded parts. This is false, totally false at least on the "fans never embraced him". Again...I went to the blue & gold Sabres scrimmage game and the house was packed, there were Eichel jerseys literally everywhere, check jersey sales for him in the first 3 years. I have no clue if his teammates embraced him but you don't know that either and there is no way to know that. How can anyone think we gave him no chance to succeed here? How? We added O'reilly, Craig Rivet, Kane, Moulson, Okposo, Skinner, Gionta, Bogosian, Taylor Hall, Lehner, Reinhart, Staal and brought back Pominville. Tell me how those additions shouldn't have helped Jack Eichel, I want a legitimate answer other than Kane was toxic. What a giant excuse blaming Terry Pegula for Jack Eichel's failures.... He had Matt Moulson, Craig Rivet and Brian freaking Gionta as role models, if Jack Eichel wanted to rather hang with Kane and his insane thinking you blame Pegula for that? How was Ryan O'Reilly a bad role model? The dude leaves here and helps the Blues win a cup.

Every time he scores he gives us more value.

Very wrong..... I went to the Sabres blue & gold game when Eichel was drafted and the scrimmage game was almost like a real game, it was packed! Fans came out for quite some time.

Great atmosphere, I almost forgot what it was like to have fans in the stands and it was a blast. Craig Anderson was not being denied his 300th win, you could see that mid 1st period. It must feel great to be in that class and he definitely deserves it. I don't get the tributes for old players, I know he was a former player but he and Reinhart never got us anywhere, if they won us a Stanley Cup I could see it but just because you're a long time player doesn't mean we should be giving players tributes imo. Anyone who believed this didn't matter to the players were mistaken. You could tell this game had plenty of meaning to all involved and you can tell by Jacks comments after the game that how much it meant oh and he's still not a leader of men but I thought he played hard. How awesome was it that Krebs scores the first goal of the game and Tuch steals the puck from Eichel to win the game? I can't wait until this guy is the Captain next year!

We already have vets in place.... Okposo, Girgensons, who are these top 6 free agents or trades you are looking to add, they better be top notch if it means we're burying part of our core next year. Who are you proposing will come here?

I still think we should try and trade Victor Olofsson to the Vegas Golden Knights for RHD Zach Whitecloud, retain 50% of Olofsson's term which isn't much, also throw in a defensemen like Hagg or Miller and retain 50% of his salary also. Hagg will add toughness, Olofsson will give them another scoring option and we get a solid 2 way defensemen signed for 4 more years at 2.78M per season.

This is a super young team with the oldest goaltender in the league. I expected HC DG would have his hands full this year and next as well but it still makes my blood boil when I see games like yesterday even though I know full well I should expect it. I want to see Granato with a legit goalie+UPL and more vet defensemen to go along with the kids.

If those 3 aren't in the lineup next season I probably won't even watch a game. No top 6 forward veterans are coming here to play on a bottom team.

I understand that Florida is a much better hockey team, like I stated above I figured we would lose, Being gassed is an excuse imo. We weren't even competitive in this one.

If these guys ever learn to hit the net they may be dangerous, how m,any times a game do you here the announcer saying.... hit the post, went wide of the net? I never expected them to win but they really left Anderson out to dry. I wonder why they didn't use the trap against Florida like LA did to us.

Gotchya, still at 50% retain it can be workable for sure for both players.

Couldn't we also trade a guy like Colin Miller, retain all of his salary if we get a 1st round pick for him in return? Also do the same thing for Victor Olofsson? Who I think are our best trading chips at the deadline.

I get what you mean now, my bad. yeah I really hope this continues!

Who are the others?

What a great team win! Some takes from the game: Man I have to start mentioning more players who havent been playing well. Mittlestadt played lights out tonight, best game I've seen him play as a Buffalo Sabre. Dylan Cozens is turning into my favorite player, he didn't score but got robbed by the goalie, Tch, Cozens, Samuelsson and Fitzgerald are really bringing the boom to this team and I'm loving every second of it, I NEED MORE! How can anyone not love the resurgence of Jeff Skinner? He's on fire and his passion is contagious. Tell me that the Casey Fitzgerald fight didn't hype everyone up? I'll argue until I'm blue in the face that it sparked the comeback.

Why wouldn't he be? He's scrappy, will stick up for teammates, he isn't great at any 1 particular think but might get there some day. I want toughness on this team in any shape or form and he's tough imo. I'm hoping we get the big LW in the draft who hits, I'm hoping all our draft picks are tough as nails. I for once want to be the team that nobody wants to play because when you do you'll come out black and blue afterwards, I've wanted that for such a long time.

I haven't been to a Sabres game since Jack Eichel played in the blue/gold scrimmage game as a rookie. I'm not even sure if that would be considered a game.

Well that blows, it showed him as an UFA in sportrac.

I hope RHD Connor Murphy in FA.

Thompson, Tuch, Skinner (by default), Okposso (by default), Krebs, Cozens, Asplund, Girgensons, Dahlin, Samuelsson, Jokiharju, Fitzgerald. Again, Middlestadt hasn't shown anything to me at least (I know I'm just a nobody) that he should be given a roster spot, normally at 23 years old you can at least tell he has a place on this roster whether it be on a bottom line or a top line and I don't even think he deserves a bottom line spot right now but that could easily change down the stretch. I know people are going to think I'm nuts for stating this but that's what my eyeballs are telling me and no I'm not blind (20/20 vision). Victor Olofsson could probably net us a RHD but in reality it will probably be a draft pick, I don't see a spot for him on this roster.

No not at all, I'm sure it comes off that way on here. I value everyone's opinions even if it differs from mine. Point away, I'm more of a football stats nerd than Hockey, I love Hockey but when it comes to prospects it's tough to follow since i have no clue where to watch them other than just highlight videos on youtube or going to a Rochester Americans game. That would be awesome if Power won the Championship with Michigan then joins the Sabres and helps them win, man that would be some season!

Ok he looks like the 40 goal scorer ...Better? I really haven't been a fan of Bryson either but I give players props who deserve it and he had an overall excellent game imo. I disagree on Dahlin but it doesn't matter either way because if this is going to be who he turns into then it doesn't matter when it started, as long as it continues. Again, I don't follow college hockey so I have no clue when that will be but I imagine it's soon. I agree i think Samuelsson will be special. I have no choice but to give Middlestadt time because he's on the team that I watch, right now and even last season it seems like the only time he does his scoring is when there is nothing on the line for the season. He came on late last year when we already were out of the playoff picture, He got hurt again this year and rinse repeat. He's 23 years old and the time is ticking on him for sure.

I hope so.

Great win there, anytime we beat the Leafs it's good times! A few takes from the game: This was definitely the best games in a long while for Skinner and Jacob Bryson. I have been down on Bryson who is looked very average at times but this was a very solid game. Skinner looked like the 50 goal scorer from a few years ago on this night and he was having fun out there which was great to see. Rasmus Dahlin- Again I don't know what happened at the all star break but he is night and day better, showing his toughness not letting anyone get away with cheao shots to our goalie or teammates, playing a much better defensive game also. I see a few comments about him not being tough enough blah blah blah but this is a totally different Dahlin from before the all star break, nobody is going to tell me otherwise. I'm really getting excited for the arrival of Owen Power joining the team soon, I'm not going to act like i know the exact date but more announcers from other teams are acknowledging it so I'm guessing soon. Mattias Samuelsson is really turning into a solid defensemen, I liked him when we drafted him and he was a bit out of position on that goal we gave up tonight but I love the diving for blocked shots and getting the puck out of our zone quickly and calmly. If we can add a few RHD and a solid veteran goalie in FA I think this defense is going to be a bitch to play against soon. I know Casey Middlestadt has been injured but even from last year I'm not really seeing much more than an average player. The announcer for the Leafs stated Middlestadt might be playing wing because he's getting his legs back but I just don't think he's good enough at C imo. He has time to turn it around but he doesn't hit, doesn't go to the boards to try to get pucks, doesn't go in front of the net, I'm not a fan...Yet!