JohnC

We disagree on Joki's performance. That's okay.

Just some quick thoughts on this game. Tuck gets the first star. UPL gets the second star. He made a lot of good saves. Mitts played well. He got three assists in this game. He made a number of high-end passes. The drop pass to Tuch for a score was impressive. Krebs made a precise pass to Okposo for his score. And Quinn made another nice pass along the boards to Tuch for the SH goal. For a big man Tuch can be nifty. He also has a quick shot. I liked Joki in this game. Power's game is so efficient that sometimes you don't appreciate how well he is playing. Considering this was a back to back game I liked the Sabres effort. Sometimes they had difficulty getting the puck out of their zone but they kept pushing. I was surprised that Granato went with UPL in net. The coach has a pulse of the team and his players. Maybe the addition of Levi elevates this big goalie's game. In the past 5 games the Sabres have earned 9 out of 10 points. The Sabres have played with Tage out of the lineup and when he was hurting. Collectively, the players are stepping up. Attached is a link of the standings from NHL.com. I didn't think that the Sabres could get to 90 points. I may be wrong. That would be a 15 point improvement from the previous year. That's progress. https://www.nhl.com/standings/2022/wildcard

Do you really believe that Comrie deliberately quit trying to stop pucks? The team let him down in that game and it responded well in his next game where they won. Apparently, I did miss the joke.

I disagree with you that size necessarily does matter. Levi isn't a big goalie. So what. He may not cover more net when he is stationary but he is able to cover plenty of the net by being more quick than a bigger goalie. Tage is big. Skinner is not. Quinn isn't very big. Big freaking deal! What ultimately matters is how you play. That's the point. I'm not bothered by any player that doesn't fit the standard profile of any player at any position. What counts is performance. It's not a difficult concept to grasp.

Comrie gave up 10 goals when his team in front of him quit playing defense. In his next outing against the Islanders the goalie played a sterling game. And it shouldn't be surprising that the team played exceptional defense in front of him in that game.

I thought the first sequence in the beginning of the game when Skinner got 4 shots off (didn't score a goal) was one of his most impressive sequences.

No one is penciling anyone in. He will come to next year's camp and compete for a roster spot. Then a decision will be made by the staff. Nothing will be given to any prospect. You earn your spot or not. That's how it should be.

Don't count out Levi making the Sabre roster when training camp is concluded. He possesses maturity traits that indicate him being able to handle the jump up. Last night was an indication of that. The season is winding down. If he plays as he did against the Rangers in his upcoming games, it will increase the odds that he makes the roster when the season starts. It's a very credible claim right now to say that he is our best goalie.

Attached is a link from Sabres.com with Granato's postgame comments. There is a segment at around the 5 min point where the coach talks about Greenway. He made a comment indicating that he is still playing impaired and that he expects that he will be better next year. https://www.nhl.com/sabres/video/don-granato-postgame-33123/t-277822760/c-16305474

It doesn't hurt to have the religious community rooting for you.

The team play for Comrie in his recent games has also been good. This has been a whirlwind week for Levi. I would let him decompress. We'll see who the coach decides to put in. I trust his judgment and am fine with whatever he decides.

How did this picture get by the moderators? It looks like a penis with a severe curve at the top. 😬

With this caliber of goaltending we would be talking about playoff matchups and not about longshot qualifying odds. The Sabres would be at least 10 pts better in the standing that where they are now. And I'm being conservative in my estimation.

I don't know who is going to start in Philly. In my opinion, Comrie should start. I'm confident that it is a minority opinion.

His size and physical are irrelevant as demonstrated by the fact that there are goalies with dramatically different body types that do succeed. You are too invested in the notion of prototypical size for a position. It's an outdated concept that some scouts are too enamored with. There are slower players that are better than faster players. There are weaker players that are better than stronger players. etc. etc. There is a fundamental issue that circumscribes the evaluation of a player: How does the player play!

Pegula has made a lot of mistakes during his tenure. However, the hiring of KA has turned out to be his best decision that has consequentially reverberated throughout the organization. The new GM got permission to fire Krueger whose team quit on him. The best decision the new GM made was elevating Granato to temporary HC, and then giving him a permanent designation. That's when the turnaround started.

Attached is a link from NHL.com that has the standings. https://www.nhl.com/standings/2022/wildcard

If Krueger were still here Levi would be sitting on the end of the bench with Skinner.

Was this a full house? It looked like it on TV.

He was a Tasmanian Devil out there. He plays with passion. And he curses a lot on the ice. ☠️

Some quick thoughts about this game: Levi gets the first star. Needless to say he was impressive. What an exciting prospect! Skinner gets my second star. I thought JJ played one of his best games. The Quinn/Cozens/JJ is playing with a lot of confidence. There were a couple of sequences where JJ put on the jets and got ahead of the defenders. The niftiest pass in the game was Mitts pass to Greenway for a score. The prettiest sequence was the Quinn to Cozens to JJ for a score. Cozens is emerging as a player and driver of that line. Getting Samuelsson back makes a difference. The Sabres had few penalties but more importantly no stupid penalties that put the team in a vulnerable position in a tight game. Both teams deserved accolades because each of the teams had the maturity to stay with their game throughout. Buffalo has had a tendency to play more individually when they got behind. Each team stuck with it. The Rangers are a good team. We matched them in both of our last two games with them. Over the last four games the Sabres have earned seven points. I want to see Tage get back real soon. There's a big cascading difference along the lines when he is out. Tomorrow's game against Philly is a big game for us. I'm fond of this team.

That's a great observation. There were a number of plays where there was action on one side of him, and then he responded quickly/instinctly when the threat went to the other side of him. There was little scrambling to his game even when the action in front of him was chaotic. You can tell that he is a student of the position.

I thought what distinguished his play was his good rebound control. His anticipation and positioning were superb. As far as size goes it is irrelevant because his other attributes such quickness, positioning and glove work compensate for his lack of standard size for the position. He may not be big but you can see that he stoutly plays, especially when there is traffic in front of him. He's an exciting prospect who is likely to contribute right away.

You are being fair in your evaluation. I see Joki getting better and solidifying a #4 ranking.

I'm more positive about Joki and his play than most people are on this site. There seems to be a "Mitts Syndrome" here where a player gets negatively labeled and then it sticks even if the play indicates otherwise. It's like a bad first date where the bad impression becomes irretrievable. What I have noticed about Joki is that he is becoming more aggressive on offense. He is getting more confident in pursuing offensive opportunities than he previously did. Another reason why Joki hasn't won enough plaudits from a large segment of the critics is that he is not a banger. He is a smooth skater and a fast skater who is one of our best defenders in chasing the opposition down when it is coming back ahead of us. I still see some upside with him. If Johnson is somewhat similar to Joki in style and caliber of play I would be more than happy.