msw2112

Dallas is a tough opponent, but in an 82-game regular season, it's not a major upset for any team to beat any other team on a given night. If UPL plays a strong game, the Sabres should be in it and have a chance. The Sabres of the last couple of seasons often would beat a top team, and then lay an egg and lose to a team like Columbus. Considering they already laid that egg last week, I think there's a chance tonight.

I agree with the fact that Dahlin has had a very slow start to the season and that he doesn't look right. I'm going to go with injury. It's a fact that he missed some of camp and preseason with an injury. Perhaps that injury has lingered. I don't think it's mental strain due to being named captain. If he was trying to prove himself and prove his worth, he'd be flying all over the ice, hitting with reckless abandon, and making defensive mistakes by trying to do too much and getting out of position. That's definitely not the way he's been playing. He just seems slow and tentative. I don't think it's Ruff's system. Ruff is a pretty smart coach who has been around the block. He knows how to adapt. He's not Ralph Krueger. I don't think Ruff will try to shoehorn Dahlin into a system that handcuffs him and takes away what makes him great. I have no idea what the preseason injury was, but if it's a sports hernia, as someone hinted at above, that's a tough one. I've had one. You can play through it, but it's very painful, particularly after you've played and you're no longer warmed up. Sometimes this injury is treated like a groin strain that will heal itself, as the symptoms are the same, but the recovery is not the same. To truly fix it, it takes surgery and a couple of months rest/rehab to come back 100%. Assuming it is an injury with Dahlin, I hope it's not a sports hernia, as the best bet would be to shut him down, have the surgery, and work his way back around the first of the year.

I'm typically an optimist and a glass-half-full kind of guy. I've been patient with Adams and the slow and deliberate rebuild. I liked Granato, but agreed, by last season's end that it was time for him to go. Ruff wasn't my first choice, but I was OK with the hire. He was my favorite Sabre as a kid and I was a huge fan of when he coached the team the first time. He did some good things as a coach in Dallas and NJ. While not the ideal hire, I thought he was good enough to fix the bad habits that plagued the team the last couple of seasons - slow starts to games, lack of defensive discipline, terrible power play, etc. Slow starts to the season are what doomed the last couple of teams, who played much better later on, but they had fallen too many points behind to recover and make the playoffs. That was supposed to be a major focus this season. So far, none of the issues have been fixed and they actually look worse. The best lines have been the 3rd and 4th lines, particularly the 3rd line. It's probably not a coincidence that the 3rd line consists of Greenway, McCleod, and Zucker all of whom are veteran players who grew up in OTHER NHL ORGANIZATIONS. We've also seen the likes of Ryan O'Reilly, Eichel, and Reinhart (and others) succeed and win Stanley Cups with OTHER ORGANIZATIONS. It's hard to believe that these 3 were all Sabres at the same time. I agree that it's early, anything can happen, hockey is a game of streaks, etc. Edmonton had a terrible start last year and went to Game 7 of the finals. That said, Connor McDavid isn't walking through that door anytime soon.... One more point that folks make is that it takes time for the team to adjust to the new coaching staff/new system. New Jersey has a new coach and is 5-2. Toronto has a new coach and is 3-1. And New Jersey had the same European trip that the Sabres had, so that excuse can be thrown out too. And Columbus, who arguably has less talent than the Sabres and also has a new coach, greatly outplayed the Sabres last night. It wasn't puck luck or bounces, they simply outplayed the Sabres. So in sum, despite my past positive thoughts about the potential of this team, I'm just not seeing it. I guess you have to give Lindy and the current roster until the trade deadline, but if they're not in the hunt by then, it's probably time to blow it up. I'm sure many here would not even be that patient, but the Sabres are currently not in a position of strength when it comes to the trade market, so I don't think a major deal at this point is realistic.

My approach is somewhat similar. I live in a western time zone, so the games start at 4 PM when I'm at work. I watch the games several hours later, usually after they've ended. When watching, if they are down 2 or more goals, I fast forward until I see them cut it to 1, then I watch and see if they can tie it up or take the lead. Last night, it was typically only a few seconds before I was back on the fast forward button. If the Sabres could play a complete, competitive game, or even dominate a game, I'm willing to invest the time to watch it, but I just can't afford the time for lousy hockey. Watching the game is typically the last thing I do before going to bed, so it sucks going to bed angry and frustrated and could negatively impact my sleep. Sadly, I've gotten to the acceptance phase, so I slept OK last night.

For what it's worth, I DO recall Cozens being projected as an all around player and potential future captain. Coming in, he had a good mix of size (thin but tall and potentially able to fill out as he grew into a man from a teenager), speed, talent, and grit. A skill guy that wasn't afraid to mix it up - which was true until he got his face broken fighting a goon. Good teammate, etc. Cozens still has those qualities, but he obviously needs to gain a lot of discipline and properly learn to apply his talents consistently in a NHL system.

I never thought of it that way, but it's a good theory. Thanks for posting!

Whenever Cozens plays for Team Canada, he's a star. Why can't he bring that to his play with the Sabres? By all accounts, he's a hard-working kid with speed, skill and a willingness to be a team player. Why can't the Sabres coaches get the most out of him? There's still time, but it's definitely frustrating. And Quinn has been invisible so far this season, from what I've seen. Also, I agree with the above post about UPL. He has not played particularly well so far this season, but it's a bit early to judge whether he's lived up to the contract after 3 starts. Although he was certainly not a difference maker last night, he was hung out to dry by his defense on multiple occasions last night. On the late goal to tie the game, Power had 2 Pens in the crease area who had a chance to make a play and score the goal and he took out NEITHER of them. I'm a big Lindy Ruff fan, but so far, nothing appears to have changed from last season. I'm typically patient, but a poor early season record is exactly what cost them the playoffs the last two seasons, so if they don't fix things soon, the streak will extend to 14 years. I think the Sabres should have gone beyond releasing Granato (who I like, but it was time) and they should have cleaned house on all of the assistant coaches too, letting Ruff pick his own guys. Even if Ruff realizes that the assistant coaches are a problem and wants to make a change, who is going to be available mid-season?

It's truly perplexing. Despite what many on this board like to think, the Sabres do have several offensively talented players on the roster. Certainly more than enough to fill a power play unit (and really enough for 2). High school, junior, and college teams have power plays. Even bottom-tier NHL teams pose some kind of threat on the power play. What's up with the Sabres? I figured that Ruff would get it figured out (perhaps with Appert's help), and maybe he will, but so far, it's absolutely terrible and worse than even last season. I've only seen a couple of games, but in my limited sample size, I have not even seen them establish any semblance of a power play where they a) enter the offensive zone and b) pass the puck around the perimeter, forcing the other team into a defensive position. I'm not even talking about guys moving around, creating chances, getting a guy in front of the next, creating rebounds, etc. Those things are important and were missing last season, but at the very least, they need to start by establishing themselves in the offensive zone with control of the puck. How a professional hockey club can't even do that is mind boggling.

The FLA game was the only one I've seen so far and Greenway definitely looked good in that game, aside from the goal he scored. If he's played that way all season, that's great. He also had some great games under Granato where he was very effective on the PK and forecheck, but, as stated here, his performance was inconsistent - pretty much like the rest of the team the last couple of seasons. Word beaters some nights, lethargic on others. All teams in all sports have some level of inconsistency, but the Sabres under Granato took it to the extreme. Let's hope that Ruff can coach that out of them. Having only seen one game, I'm not in a good position to assess.

This is a very clever hack that I might use for some of the NHLN games. It's risky, as I could forget to cancel and end up with a large bill, so I might wait to use it until late in the season when there are (hopefully) critical games being played.

ESPN+ is a great value for out of market games. I'm already paying for YouTubeTV for NFL purposes, and they don't have NHL Network, so I'm out of luck for those handful of games that NHLN broadcasts. Already paying for YTTV, it's not worth it to me to pay for FUBO for a few additional games. I agree that restricting NHLN to a few cable or streaming services is a bad idea for a league that's trying to increase viewership! Obviously, they're asking too much in rights fees for services to add the channel and that's just silly, as they are competing for viewers' attention. Even leagues like the WNBA are getting very popular these days, so the NHL should fight for turf. This sort of poor decision making for the NHL is anything but new.

Obviously, Florida has a great team, as they just won the Stanley Cup, but I see a guy like Matthew Tkachuk being able to put a team on his back and will it to victory. Not only does he have offensive talent, but he has grit, determination, and leadership skills. The guy would put his shoulder through a brick wall to win and the rest of the guys would follow along. (The Sabres once had a player drive a truck into a brick wall at Tim Horton's, but I digress.) I'd see Tkachuk having the quality more than Matthews, but your point is taken. A prolific scorer like Matthews can make up for the loss of other scorers. Gabriel Landeskog may be a better all around player than anyone the Sabres have and was his team's captain, but guys like McKinnon and Makar kept Colorado in the mix even when Landeskog was out for an entire season. I just don't see anyone on the Sabres able to do that. Dahlin would be the closest they have (very talented, can score goals, has ability at both ends, plays with grit and determination), but he's not quite to that level of veteran leadership. Perhaps he'll take the next step with Ruff behind the bench, another year of seasoning, and the C on his chest. I can't speak a lot to the bottom 6 of Toronto, Boston, or even Tampa, but I think that Tampa has done reasonably well with injuries to guys like Stamkos, Kucherov and others in recent seasons because they have other guys who have stepped up. They have a lot of really good players on the roster (Stamkos, Kucherov, Point, Hedman, Vasilevskiy, Hagel, etc.) so that if one or two of them are out, the others can step up. Their top guys are aging and their window may be closing, but the point remains the same (and they made the playoffs last year). I don't think the Sabres have enough of those players on the current roster. I hope a) that we don't have to find out; and b) that if we do have to find out, that I'm proven wrong.

I'm saying that for THIS team, they need to stay healthy to make the playoffs. I don't think the Sabres have the organizational depth to overcome significant injuries. A team like Colorado or Tampa might be able to do that, but not this Sabres team. I don't think there are enough veteran players of the kind to "carry the team on their back" and while there's a lot of talent in the pipeline, but they're kids that are not physically and mentally ready for the NHL. I'm not saying that staying healthy is an option they can elect, it's not, so I agree with you 100% on that. It's mostly luck and to an extent training (training might help prevent frequent soft-tissue injuries, but can't prevent broken broken bones from a slash or crash into the boards). If they have good luck on injuries and buy what Lindy is selling (consistent effort, no days off, attention to detail), I believe they make the playoffs.

I merely believe that Pegula is choosing to save some money on an off-the-ice expense, and to me, it's not a big deal if he does that, as long as it doesn't impact the product on the ice. I can see why someone would disagree with my perspective or opinion, but I'm not sure why it would be perplexing to you or why I would need to "have my head examined" for having that opinion. I understand that comment was a joke and hyperbole, but I don't see it as appropriate, given the tone of the conversation. I can tell from your writing that you are a well-educated guy (I'm making an assumption that you are, in fact, a guy), so I can't see why you'd find it that perplexing that someone would have the perspective that I have on this topic. It's not that complex. While it may be different from your perspective, it's not an extreme or outlandish opinion to have. All this said, I'm not big into message board wars. We can agree to disagree on this one topic and I'd suspect we probably agree on most others. Go Sabres.

Two things have to happen for the Sabres to make the playoffs: 1. Buy into Ruff 2. Stay relatively healthy They've been very close to the playoffs the last 2 seasons, and only missed by 1 point two years ago. And that's with Granato's "no accountability" leadership. With even a middling power play, and good goaltending in October, November, and December, last year's team would have made the playoffs. Both of those things are within reach. They have plenty of talent on the power play and I've got to think Ruff will use it better than Granato did last year. As to the goaltending, no Comrie this year. UPL appears to be for real and Levi has a lot more professional experience under his belt and should be better (and won't be relied on to be the savior).

In my opinion, my way of thinking is ... logical. And some of your responses are ... condescending. But to each his own. Have a great weekend and go Sabres.

I'm honestly not sure what you mean by this. Have you ever run a business? Worked in one? Managed a budget? Pegula has lots of money outside of the Sabres. If he sells the Sabres, he'll make a fortune based on what he paid for it versus his present value. But if you look at the year over year balance sheet of the business, it is losing money on an annual basis. People who run businesses often don't like to pump more money into those businesses that are losing money. It's like throwing good money after bad. Some people look at it this way: if I invest in the business now, it will be better, and it will ultimately be more profitable. (Put the chicken before the egg.) This appears to be what some/most Sabres fans want. It's what I want. I think it's what you want. Other people look at it this way: I'm going to wait and see if the business turns around before I throw more money at it. (Put the egg before the chicken.) This is what Pegula is doing (at least it appears so). Spending money on sending Rayzor and Dunleavy to Europe has absolutely nothing to do with the success of the on-ice product, so why spend the money if your business is losing money year over year. Again, I really don't care how Pegula spends his money (send them or don't send them) on things that don't impact the product on the ice. I honestly can't believe I'm spending so much time on something I really don't care that much about, but as I stated a couple of posts above, I don't shy away from a good debate. I should quit while I'm ahead, as "we must study your brain" is anything but a good debate. Can we talk about the 2nd line center? If we think Dahlin was the right choice to be captain? Whether Gritty could take Sabretooth in a cage match?

I appreciate the response. To me, that's an awful lot of thought devoted to explaining away a cheap owner doing things on the cheap. Terry is not getting any benefit of the doubt from me. He's operating the Sabres as a poverty franchise. I really don't care about taking the broadcast team to Europe one way or another, but I do enjoy a good debate. Terry spends plenty of money on the Bills and he also spent plenty of money on the Sabres in the early days of his ownership, for very little return. I think he's being more cautious about his spending now, and given the economics of the team, it makes sense. If the team starts winning again and filling the building every night, he'll have more cash to play with and may increase spending. I realize that it's a chicken and egg sort of thing - maybe if he spent more, the team would be better, and they'd fill the building. You want the chicken first and they're putting the egg first. I don't see the relevance of this. The relevance of the broadcast team being average is this - spending money on things that are unnecessary but nice things for employees (like a free trip to Europe) contributes to employee retention. If your employees are the best of the best, you spend to keep them happy and retain them. Dunleavy and Ray are average at their jobs, at best, so it's not necessary to spend a lot of money on extras to retain them. They're not in demand and they're not going anywhere. They're not going to leave the Sabres to go to another NHL franchise because they're upset they didn't get a free trip to Europe. I'd fathom a guess that if RJ was still alive and WANTED to go to Europe with the team, that they would have paid for it. He had a gravitas that these guys don't have. He was an all-time great and these guys are nowhere close. Well-run, deeply-supported franchises do, anyway. The Sabres were once a very well-run, deeply-supported franchise. They are certainly not that today. I just watched Monday Night Football where the national announcers gushed over the Buffalo Bills, saying they're a model franchise, from the top down. They're owned by Terry Pegula. They have an excellent coach, a great GM and an MVP-caliber Quarterback. The Sabres have a fairly unproven GM, a new proven solid Head Coach and some talented players, but none at Josh Allen level. Dahlin could be a future Norris Trophy candidate (not likely MVP, as defensemen rarely win it). UPL could be a future Vezina candidate and UPL and Levi could be future Jennings candidates. I suppose Tage Thomson could win a goal scoring title, but they don't have any Hall of Fame candidates at forward. If the Sabres are able to turn it around with Ruff, Adams will be regarded as successful GM (the team he drafted and patiently developed came to fruition), the fans will return, revenue will return, and Pegula will be a great owner once again. Lots of ifs there. This may or may not happen. Sending the broadcast team to Europe will have nothing to do with whether this happens or not. The fact that some teams send the broadcast guys over and some don't doesn't indicate much of anything. I thought I read that Detroit sent their broadcast team over to Europe. They have not made the playoffs in 8 years. Yzerman was a huge success in Tampa, but not so much in Detroit. Detroit was once THE model NHL franchise. Are they now? Again, I really don't care about the underlying issue, but I enjoy a healthy debate. It's also a great way to procrastinate when I have a ton of important things that I have to do and don't feel like doing! Have a great evening.

I see where you're coming from, but there's not necessarily a correlation. I fully agree that I care about spending on hockey operations, such as players and coaching staff. I'd love to see the money saved on Skinner allocated to a top-6 winger. I do think that the team's comment that they're saving that money to pay some of their ascending players is more than lip service, as it would be difficult to get a top player to come on a 1-year deal, so large multi-year contracts truly could impact future signings, but that aside, I still agree that I'd like to see more spending there. Maybe hire some top-flight assistant coaches instead of bringing back the guys who were not successful last season.... I just don't think that spending unnecessary money to send a broadcast crew overseas has anything to do with the product on the ice. I understand the concept of corporate culture and how skimping on "nice things" for employees can have an impact on the overall culture and the "feel" around the building, but I just don't think that this particular situation has that much of an impact. The Sabres broadcast team is average, and that's being generous. They have great jobs that they should be thankful to have....they're not going anywhere and spending thousands as a feel-good gesture to them just isn't necessary. If it was the norm that all teams sent their broadcasters over and the Sabres didn't, making the Sabres an outlier, I'd understand, but that's not the case here. If what I read about the situation is accurate, some teams have sent their broadcasters over, but most don't. If Pegula is losing money on the Sabres, which appears to be the case (talking about cash in and out, not increase in value, which he'd need to sell to realize), it's appropriate to save on certain expenses. This seems like a reasonable place to do that. They ARE taking several extra players, who are not likely to play, but that could be insurance against injuries AND some culture building for the roster, which is important.

I have to be honest. The Sabres are not sending their broadcasting team and I really don't care. Apparently, some teams send them and others don't. Even if the reason is simply to save on budget, who cares?

This is very accurate. For those of us on this board who are also Bills fans, it's not that hard to remember the Bills having to overpay for free agents during their long playoff drought. And while more desirable for hockey players (most of whom come from colder climates and many come from Southern Ontario, near Buffalo) than for football players (many of whom come from warm climates in the South, not near Buffalo), Buffalo is still a bit of a sell. There's a lot more to for a young, single millionaire athlete to do in a major market than there is in Buffalo, so not only do the Sabres have to pay a premium for being a bad, dysfunctional hockey club, they also have to lure guys to a smaller, cold-weather market. If and when the team is a contender, it's a lot more attractive of a place to come and play. Some free agents have taken less money to play for the Bills in recent years, given the success of the team and the reputation of the coach and front office for being fair and honest with the players and treating them with respect. So in short, the Sabres overpay for guys because they have no choice. Hopefully, they can get the franchise turned around and won't have to overpay as much in the future.

Krebs has shown flashes of offensive talent, but has never put it all together in the NHL. He's a feisty player and isn't afraid to mix it up and get under the other teams' skin, so he may be the type of player that Ruff likes. A lot of us gave up on guys like Tage Thompson and Casey Mittlestadt and they eventually developed and broke through. Will Krebs? I don't know, but this contract is low enough that he'll be a bargain if he does and not too much of a liability if he doesn't.

I don't disagree with what you're saying, but I still find it a bit odd that a guy with 41 games of NHL experience is on a roster where the other 21 players have 8 games of NHL experience COMBINED. Something can be odd, but still have a reasonable justification behind it. An article in the Buffalo News implied that having Rosen and Kulich play in the tournament was an anamoly, given their previous participation and NHL experience, but circumstances this season led the Sabres to make this decision: "Kulich and Rosen may have been given the weekend off in a normal year because they’ve previously appeared in the showcase and both are important depth pieces for the Sabres, but the unusual training camp – headlined by the club’s trip to Europe – caused general manager Kevyn Adams to add Kulich and Rosen to the roster.’" All this said, I don't want to waste anyone's time further arguing an insignificant point that is really just a matter of opinion. What I see as odd, you might not. No big deal. Let's just hope the Sabres improve and make the damn playoffs.

odd /äd/ adjective 1. different from what is usual or expected; strange. As I mentioned in the initial post is that it's odd (to me) that a guy who played 41 NHL games last year (half of an NHL season) is playing in a game that is usually a roster of guys who have not played in the NHL at all or have played only a couple of games. If I'm not mistaken, some of the guys in this tournament may not have even played in the AHL or played professional hockey at all. I took a quick look at the roster and only 12 of the 22 played in Rochester last year and other than Ryan Johnson who played 41 NHL games, the only other players on the roster who played in an NHL game were Rosen (7 games) and Kulich (1 game). So Johnson alone, has played more than 5 times the number of NHL games than the other 21 players combined. I'd call that an outlier, or in other words, "odd." Someone else pointed out, however, that Ruff might want to get a look at him and that makes sense to me. He's a new coach and Johnson is a young player who is borderline to make the roster and may well end up in the AHL, so, although odd, there is some logic behind it. Also, Leone, the new Rochester coach, is coaching the team, so a good opportunity for him to also get a look at Johnson.

It seems odd to me for Ryan Johnson to be on this roster. He played 41 NHL games last season, and at that, played pretty well. What do they need to evaluate of him in this tournament? Rosen and Kulich should excel too, as they've now had a couple seasons of professional hockey in Rochester. The rest all make sense to me and I'm most interested to see how the young goalies play.