JohnC

The analytics experts who would scoff need to look up from their stat sheet and watch the games. Stats are a tool---not religious tenets that devotees feel an obligation to adhere to.

Absolutely not! I'm receptive to moving UPL down. I'm more inclined to making Anderson and Comrie the working pair for the rest of the season.

The Jesuits beat the freaking vocabulary into me! I remember one English teacher yelling at me: Don't tell me what you think it says, tell me what the words on the page say. Then he preceded to beat with a thick stick to imprint the point on my stupid arse! That is corporal punishment in the pursuit of edification. 🤡

You make a keen observation about Miller not only as a player but also as a person. He is thoughtful and cerebral to an extreme point. He's the type of guy that when interviewing you have to be careful with your words because he is going to thoroughly parse your words and cogitate before rendering a response. If you are looking for a post-game robotic cliche riddled comments at the podium, you don't want him to be standing at the podium. He's a unique and thoughtful fellow. If you are in a hurry he will drive you crazy.

I don't want to get into a look back "what if" skirmish here but how many more points do you think the Sabres would have had if Ullmark was our primary goalie? My guess would be 8-10 points. Would the "what if" salary and extra term cost have been worth it? I say yes. KA has made a lot of good decisions. In my opinion this was not one of them.

A functional NHL player with experience is going to help more than a young and more talented AHL player with limited or no NHL experience. It's not so much as being a positive factor than it is as not being a negative factor in these remaining games. Too much is at stake at this point of the season to bring up players who are not ready for these pressurized games. Vinny can play on a lower line moving up someone else to a higher line. This was the right move.

Are you sure that there is much difference with your cognitive function when you are sleep deprived compared to when you are not?

I'm sure they are asking for a first plus a high end prospect and player who can play now.

These "Panickers" you refer to were in a state of despair after the Toronto game. They wanted to tear the team and organization to shreds and start over. Check-out the posts after that game! After this successful two game Florida trip many of these same Casandras are now in a state of ecstasy extolling the virtue of the team and its staff. It's so silly. There is still a lot of games left where there will be a number of additional successes to enjoy and failures to lament. The pendulum is swinging back and forth at a furious pace. This playoff scenario is going down to the end of the season. You got no choice but to ride the wave and see where it takes you. No one knows for sure what the outcome will be. That's why this season has been so enjoyable.

No. The length of the contract makes him unappealing. I would rather give up less costly assets for a third pairing defenseman who is in the Lyubushkin strata.

Based on usage the coach seems to believe so. My preference would be for Anderson and Comrie to split time. There's no question that UPL has improved. But for me he is too erratic manning the pipes when the team is vying for a playoff spot. How Comrie is handled is even more intriguing to me than how Anderson is handled.

Every once in a while, he will give an inside scoop. For the most part his responses are so general that they are meaningless.

It's not out of the realm of possibility that Tage could get 50 goals or more this season.

I agree with you that multiple GMs were involved in trades to rework the roster. My basic point is that if you are judicious, you can parlay some of your asset to reshape your roster to make it better. Another point should be made. When players want out, such as Jack and ROR, that doesn't mean that you can't use that disgruntlement situation to reconstitute the roster with players who want to be part of the future. I'm not criticizing the players who want out. The organization simply has to adjust to the situation. It happens everywhere, and in all sports. Especially with the Jack trade I feel the GM rebounded very well, if not to the betterment.

It's difficult to summarize because there were so many potential trades commented on. One interesting comment dealt with Arizona and the trading of Chychrun. There was the thought that Arizona overplayed its hand by waiting to trade him. It was felt that the trading of other defensemen for more reasonable prices devalued the return on Chychrun. The Shayna Goldman segment was worth listening to. The Dreger segment wasn't.

Are you mostly doing the work by yourself? If so, I'm impressed. I'm incapable of hammering in a nail without mangling my fingers. When it comes to manual labor I'm an incompetent smuck!

That's an excellent summary of Power as a player. Dahlin is more dazzling as a player. So it's easy to notice him when he is on the ice. But there is an efficiency to Power's game that sometimes results in his contribution being overlooked.

Anderson is at his best when playing sparingly. If you overwork him, he falters. The old bones simply can't handle the workload that he used to easily handle when he was younger. The coach knows what he is doing in handling his netminders.

Our first line composed of Skinner/Tage/Tuch is one of the better first lines in the league. Members of that line scored all our goals against Floridia. The Tuch goal was scored on a PP. An interesting aspect of that line brought up by Harrington of the Buff News is that none of the players were home grown. They all were traded for. The point is that teams have a variety of tools to improve a team. It took a little time to witness the benefit of the trading of ROR and getting Tage in that packaged deal. Also, it is evident now when watching the play of Tuch and Krebs that the Jack trade is looking even better. And the previously howling about the crippling long-term effect of the Skinner contract has noticeably subsided. What's evident is that by trading/parlaying some assets to get back other assets a rebuild can be accelerated. When an organization makes a lot of decisions it's likely that not all of them will work out as expected. But when the preponderance of decisions do work out then the GM and his staff should be given credit.

As @dudacekpreviously pointed out the Winnepeg game is arguably our best game of the season.

Attached link is the standings: https://www.nhl.com/standings/2022/division

The Sabres won this game because of Anderson. He easily earns the first star. Our first line is one of the better first lines in the league. Yesterday, Skinner was the set-up man and Tage converted. Today, Tage was the set-up man and Skinner converted. I was surprised that Florida got 50 shots off. I still thought that collectively, defensemen and forwards, were on top of the Florida shooters all game long. Anderson didn't allow many tantalizing rebounds after the initial shots. This is a very unified team. They don't allow the opposition to take liberties without responding back in an appropriate fashion. When Florida played Buffalo in Buffalo I thought they were the better team. Tonight, I thought Buffalo was the better team. As the season winds down there will be up and down periods. You can't get too up or get too down after each game. There still a long way to go that will cause a lot of tension and anxiety. We got to play better at home! I like this team and the staff.

It's amazing how people jump to a dire response after a bad game. The tandem of Adams and Granato have done an exceptional job in a relatively short period of time. Sometimes it is difficult to put things in perspective when caught up in the emotion of the present. I didn't think that the Sabres would win both games in Florida. So I'm ecstatic about the two wins. What this team needs to do is play better at home. If they do, that will solidify their playoff position. The Washington game at home is a big game.

Within this link there are two segments on Sabres Live that discuss potential trades. The segment with Shayna Goldman is 21 minutes long. She is very knowledgeable about the league. The second segment dedicated to trade talks is with Darren Dreger is 11 minutes long. Good hockey talk. https://www.audacy.com/wgr550/podcasts/sabres-live-20259

That's it. It was the Winnipeg game. As you point out it was one of the best games that they played under Donnie. The flow and pace of the game that lasted all game long was impressive. That type of game would be difficult to duplicate.