msw2112

While that's true, I have two points. 1. Ruff is trying to win hockey games, not showcase a goalie for a trade. He's going to play who he thinks gives the team the best chance to win (whether he's correct or not is another story). 2. The Sabres are not fooling anyone. NHL GM's have seen UPL play, they've seen his stats, they know the size of his contract, etc. He is who he is and there are no secrets. Could another team overvalue UPL because he's 6'5", had a high draft position, and plays for a terrible defensive team? Sure. But I don't think that would have much to do with how the Sabres are acting. GM's also know Lyon's history and know that Ellis was a waiver-wire acquisition. So the Sabres aren't getting much back in a trade for any of them.

I have no idea, and sadly, neither does the coaching staff. Ellis is the guy we know the least about, as he's only played a handful of NHL games. Outside of getting shelled in one or two games (which all of them have) Ellis seems to be demonstrating the most upside. He seems to have quicker reflexes and is more capable of making a clutch save. Lyon appears to be the most technically sound, but has the least upside and the least physical ability. UPL - very hard to get my head around his game. All I can say is that he rarely make the save that he isn't supposed to. If it's a breakaway, 2 on 1, guy alone in the slot, etc., the puck is as good as in the back of the net. These goals are not really the goalie's fault, as the defense allowed a bad situation, but he never rises above it and steals one. That said, based on draft status (which all of the "experts" agreed on at the time - he was not a reach by the Sabres), and one great 1/2 season at the NHL level, he SHOULD be the best of the three. He just isn't.

Chemistry is very important for the success of any organization, and that certainly applies to the on-field/court/ice product of a professional sports team. Every team needs high skill guys, physical gritty guys, intellectual guys, leadership guys, younger guys, veteran guys, etc. It's getting the right mix of each that the great GMs can do. Then it's on the coach to get the best of out each individual and also out of the group. I thought Granato did very well getting the most out of individuals (lots of guys having "career years" while playing for him), but not necessarily out of the team as a whole. Ruff in the 90's got the most out of the team. Guys like Drury, Briere, Dumont, Pomminstein, etc. were not first team All-Stars, but were clutch players who worked well together as a team. Having Dominick Hasek and prime Ryan Miller certainly helped a lot, but all of those guys mentioned (and others) made a lot of clutch plays to win hockey games. Not sure I can put my finger on what's happening right now, but whatever it is, it's certainly not working.

I watch very little NHL hockey outside of the Sabres, so I have a hard time gauging the talent on other teams. I can say that most nights, when the Sabres play with heart, effort, and grit, they are successful and they are capable of competing with, and beating, most teams. I've said this in other posts - I believe that the Sabres are mentally fragile. They can't get that 3rd win in a row, even if playing the worst teams in the league. They can't overcome a lost challenge or a soft goal let in by UPL. I suppose you could argue that giving up a 3-0 lead in the third period is the DEFINITION of being mentally fragile, but I do give kudos to them last night for facing adversity (bad officiating, goalie concussion, last-second goal against) and still coming out with the win. I tried to watch the game very late and slept through most of it, so most of my observations about the game are from this board and not from the little that I actually saw. I have always been a Lindy Ruff fan (both as a player and as a coach and just a person - I have never met him, but I understand he's a great guy), but I think the game may have passed him by and it's possible that a different coach may be able to get more consistent play out of this roster. Granato squeezed a little bit more out of it than Lindy has, and Lindy has some new pieces that Granato didn't have; plus, the younger core guys are more experienced now than they were under Granato. I wonder if a top flight coach could do a lot more with this team. Somewhat in Lindy's defense is the fact that he's been saddled with a poor assistant coaching staff that was not of his choosing...but why in the world did he agree to that? Bottom line, I DO think the talent is sufficient to be a playoff team, although not to contend for the Stanley Cup.

I assume that Lindy didn't challenge the last Oilers' goal for one of two reasons: 1) Coaches challenges are not allowed in the final minute, per league rules (thought I saw that above in this thread); OR 2) Even if he could challenge it, if he challenges and loses, which, given the track record and the Sabres' luck, and, well, the NHL, the challenge would have been lost. Then, the Sabres would have had to kill a 4-3 PP for two minutes of OT against the league's top PP, almost certainly giving up the OT goal. By not challenging, they still got the 1 point and the realistic opportunity for the 2nd point, which they earned. Edmonton is in the Western Conference, so them getting a point was inconsequential to the Sabres. I gave up watching Monday Night Football (a matchup of 2 good teams that ended up being a very good game) to watch the debacle in Calgary, then chose to not watch most of this game, that they actually won...I guess I need to make better decisions in the future.

The take is that the owner doesn't need to change, the management below him does. Many feel differently and think the owner needs to change. I can be verbose at times, but that's the gist of the post. I believe that they opinion is fairly central to the discussion in this thread (whether people agree with it or not). I also believe that a new owner could move the team to a larger market and make a lot more money. Cities are falling all over themselves for professional sports franchises and there's plenty of money out there outside of Buffalo.

Some people think Pegula meddles too much. Others think he's not involved enough and is invisible. Some people think he's handed out too many big contracts to undeserving players, others think he doesn't spend enough. I don't know what's true. I do know that the team has failed to achieve success in a very long time. I believe that if and when the right management team is in place (GM and coaching staff, and maybe a POHO who hires the GM or both), the team will be fine. Whether Pegula is the owner or not, that's what's needed. While the Bills are having a slightly "off" season, they are viewed as one of the top organizations in the NFL. Terry Pegula is the owner. I believe that the same can be achieved with the Sabres if proper management in place, whether Pegula is the owner or someone else. I prefer to stay with Pegula, as we know he'll keep the team in Buffalo. A new owner might not. In addition, Pegula could make a lot more money with the Bills and/or Sabres in a larger market, but has stayed loyal to Buffalo. While the long run of bad hockey is really difficult to live with, the loyalty to a small market is very meaningful, in my opinion.

I'm thinking the same thing. I hope you and I are wrong.

Obviously Ellis let in a lot of goals last night. I had the game on in the background on a smaller TV, so I wasn't able to really assess his play or see the nature of the goals closely. Did Ellis let in any softies? I'm sure there were some that got in that might have been stopped with an elite save, but overall, was he simply hung out to dry and played fine, or did he play poorly? With UPL, often the team plays great in front of him, then he lets in a softie and the team deflates. From what I saw last night, after the first goal that the Sabres scored on the PP, they were terrible for the remainder of the game and no specific poor play by Ellis had anything to do with deflating them. That said, the failed challenge of the goalie interference may have deflated them. The wheels seemed to come off right then and there. Perhaps Lindy saw the wheels coming off and felt that the challenge was worth it to try and salvage momentum by: a) the small chance that the goal would be taken off the board; b) standing behind his guys who thought it was interference; and/or c) the Sabres PK has been good, so if they lost the challenge and killed off the PP, it would fire the team up. Obviously, it didn't work and instead backfired in a big way.

It is fun and almost a guilty pleasure. It's probably not the best or fairest way to hand out a valuable extra point, but I agree that it's very fast and dramatic to watch. Gets the heart pumping a little bit faster. And after a string of OT losses, maybe it's starting to swing in the Sabres' favor. They do have the speed and offensive skill to succeed in OT and shootouts, and with mobile defensemen like Dahlin, Power, and Byrum, it should give them an advantage, as these guys can (theoretically....) defend, but also have speed and offensive skill to jump into the play in the offensive zone. Most teams have a guy or two of that ilk, but the Sabres have 3. Kesselring may also fall into that category when he returns. It's ironic that the guy with the recent OT game winner is Samuelsson, who is NOT that type of player.

From what I've seen, Ellis has the most upside. He had one bad game which has skewed his numbers in the wrong direction, but he has otherwise played quite well, and the entire team was a disaster in that one game. It's possible that his back injury is a factor in him playing less than he otherwise would be playing, as Lindy alluded to in an interview. Lyon was terrific to start the season, but he's come back down to earth. UPL seems to be the same UPL that we know. I have not seen him steal a game or be THE difference in a game this season. He gives up the goals he's supposed to give up, and on occasion a goal that he shouldn't, which is often a backbreaker for the team. Ellis gives up the goals he's supposed to give up, but also makes a couple key stops a game that maybe he's not expected to (like stopping multiple breakaways against Detroit). I'd like to see more of that upside. A big save in a key moment can really inspire a team, whereas letting in a bad goal can deflate a team.

To answer my own question, I just read an article on WGR where Ruff said that they played UPL because the team got back from Minnesota at 4:30 AM and that UPL was the "freshest" of the 3 goalies given the travel-weariness of the team; PLUS, Ellis has the ongoing back stiffness issue and they want to do some "maintenance" on it.

Unfortunately, I don't see any of the 3 goalies seizing the crease anytime soon, so they may be stuck there. Östlund is deserving to stay, but may need to go down for now so that they don't lose a contributing player. If it's not Östlund, it's probably Dunne. All of the early season injuries aside, which has been abnormal and crazy, it's normal for teams to have injuries here and there during the course of the season and it's likely that a Sabre player will be injured sometime soon, clearing the way for Östlund's return. I do agree with the post above saying that Dunne is the most replaceable and would likely clear, so I wouldn't be shocked if he were the one sent down. I don't have time to get into a Greenway discussion/debate right now, but I do believe that Dunne is adding more value than a less than 100% Greenway at this point. Greenway to IR might not be a terrible decision, as he clearly can't play every night, so he's wasting a roster spot on nights he can't play (and others may argue that he's wasting a roster spot on nights that he DOES play, but, again, not looking to get into that debate here). I assume it's going to be quite some time before Kulich comes back, but things could get a lot more challenging/interesting then. I assume that Kesserling takes the spot on the ice from Bryson, but I don't know what that does in terms of a roster spot. I'm not as down on Bryson as some here, but I do believe he's the most expendable of the defense corps.

One thing that I believe is overlooked about Norris is that he's only 26. If he can somehow find a way to get past the injuries (not likely, but you never know), he's a not only a really talented player, but he has a lot of years ahead of him. He was certainly a difference maker on the ice last night and a huge addition to the power play.

No, he (John Muckler) was at the bar. Drake Hotel in Chicago. We talked about the 4 OT win against the Devils in the 1994 playoffs, when Muckler was behind the bench. I'm sure some of the more senior members of Sabrespace remember that one.