Marvin

Is it just me, or, for once, do we actually have 18 skaters who look like they they belong in the NHL?

Oh, you are harsh.

I'll have what you're having.

Unfortunately, the time for more veterans was last year. Then the guys coming up would have started to displace them this year. Granted, that takes away the fun of JJP, but it would have helped overall with Peterka, Quinn, Cozens, Benson, and Krebs. JMO.

He was hurt in the game before and gutted out the San Diego game. If he is even remotely functional, the Bills win that game.

No. I like the way he plays hockey. He is a solid 4th liner in this league. On a more personal note... He came out of the USHL as a scorer and was the top Centre on a horrible tank team. After he and Larsson got waylaid by Bylsma for trying to lead in training camp instead of one of the big names and getting unceremoniously shunted aside by the coach, they both reinvented themselves as grinders. Under Housley, they with Okposo became a very good 4th line and regularly tilted the ice in the Sabres favour in spite of historically difficult usage. Instead of quitting the league, he took pride in doing something else to help the team. He plays the game with the attitude that you want a player to have. I myself was an intellectual ultra-talent who turned down the Ivy League for Case Western Reserve (better monetary deal). The guys that invented chaos theory, a former head of the EU's version of the CDC in Strasbourg, the top mathematical theorists in neural networks, and 5 Nobel Prize winners considered me to be an intellectual equal. But I take an anti-depressant, among other things, to stop me from crashing and burning by checking my mental illnesses -- most of which made me that smart. So I have had to reinvent myself as a grinder and have been grinding for over 30 years after starting 25 years largely getting by on raw talent and only needing grit on occasion. That is very humbling to do when you are used to being the cream that always rises to the top and then accepting that as your fate. Hence, even though I am advocating moving him for the good of the team, I will still root for him. Same with Okposo.

IMHO, the problems in the coaching staff are below HCDG. On the numerous bad days, the forwards in the defencive zone are borderline clueless. On the far too few good days, this team can beat anyone. We have griped about the PP ad nauseam. Both of those are assistants' jobs nowadays. These two need to be replaced if nobody else is. Another problem is the age distribution of the team. The youngsters just don't have enough older players for guidance on the ice. 5/7 D and 7/14 F are too young to truly be savvy veterans. And in the forwards, the ice time with many of the youngsters is with other youngsters rather than veterans to show them the ropes. This needs to be done via UFA or trades.

I am with you. I am attached to Girgensons. I also think that he is one they could reasonably move in a shake-up deal.

An old Doctor Who gif of a companion screaming at a threat seems appropriate.

I find it more exasperating that they will execute the system to near perfection one game and be completely brain-dead the next. Some of that is on the players and some is on the coaches. With the age distribution of this team, I am afraid that we may have to ride it out.

I believe you are correct on Granato wanting the players to have success in the league on offence and then teaching defence. Many, probably most, rebuilding teams over the years has this pattern. I point you to the 1972-3 Buffalo Sabres as being one of the most successful ever to use this model. I think the lack of mid-career players is being underestimated here and at 1 Seymour H. Knox III Plaza. For instance, the young defencemen should have older guides to help them learn how to play more effectively. More experienced forwards could reinforce the lessons on defence for the youngsters. That does not even count how much more competitive the team would be through injuries.

Welcome to the board! There is an old hockey saw that I would pull out every time that someone belittled Hasek for being "lucky" on some of his most outrageous saves. "You have to be good to be lucky and lucky to be good.". Good players have habits that make them luckier than lesser players because their leverage is just right, or their shot "has eyes", and so on. This team's gawd-awful defencive zone positioning, awareness, play reads, and play in general gives them numerous times to be unlucky every game. Why are there often multiple Sabres screening the goalies? Why are players slipping to the side of the net without anyone noticing? Why don't the defencemen have at least 1 outlet forward all the time? Why do the opposition routinely get someone open in the slot in our defencive zone? These gaffes allow the opposition to get more chances to score which are also on average of a higher quality than normal.

We have a winner.

The root cause is the lack of competent veterans that we have had here over the last few years in the name of "not blocking the kids." Samuelsson, Power, and Jokiharu could have used a senior partner for the last few years.

You forgot 11th, just to make sure.

That was as useful as quoting the rules to Fizzbin.

The only places where a fair trade might be made would be with teams in a similar situations as we are: seemingly under-achieving, young, or otherwise having problems. Who are some realistic candidates that we can target with a trade for a comparably valued player on our roster?

Same here. I plan on living a long time, but not that long.

The one guy who is a mix of team impact, is unlikely to require taking something too bad back, and whom losing a trade with him being a minimal loss, is Girgensons. In fact, he is close to ideal.

Give your username, are you suggesting that the time this ends is 2066?

That is an awesome gif. I can't believe that HCDG is not shaking up the defence pairs. Note that when Girgensons returns, probably either Jost or Olofsson needs to go to Rochester unless a trade is made.

As I live in an unfortunately real world, the Sabres need 2 coaches: 1 for the power play and 1 for team defence. Whomever they have now are not working. They can reassign the other guys as NHL scouts for all I care. They really, really need a guy who can teach defencive zone awareness to the forwards in the worst way. I am sick and tired of the forwards routine screw-ups on everything to do with defencive zone play, including on the backcheck. I don't care about how much Jokiharu wants to be with Power; that pair must be split. Indeed, I would look at moving Jokiharu for a more boring, less offensively gifted veteran RHD to a team that needs someone like him. Heck, I would consider a pending UFA. I think the idea of trading someone popular might really wake these guys up and, although my sentimental side is upset that I will say it, I think a sideways trade of Girgensons to a contender would be a real wake-up call.

You forgot the part about smelling their B.O.

The Sabres have come back from 5 down to win and to tie. Would 6 be a franchise record?

Sorry. I was sleeping.