JohnC

As you point out he has been more physical the past few games. He's playing with less finesse and playing a harder and more physical game. More edge to his recent games

I don't know why you have such a jaundiced eye. Robinson's a hard-nosed and straight line player. He's exactly what this team needs. He's a good fit for the Krebs/Okposo line. He's a fourth line player who also gives you some net presence. That's something this team desperately lacks.

I'm not going to comment on the game because it was simply the better team beating the inferior team. Ryan Johnson is impressive. He's just so smooth and efficient. Clifford's recent games have been better. You can see him getting more comfortable. As others have said Robinson played really well. He's a hard-nosed player who gives this team some net presence. Something that it sorely lacks. He's a straight-line player who plays hard. He has a no-frills game. His line with Okposo and Krebs played really well today. I thought that Tage passed the puck too much. Levi was good. I would give him the first star. Cozens has had some tough luck with a couple of his shots hitting the bar. But you can see him playing better. Over the past three games (Boston, Montreal and Phoenix) the Sabres have played a better two-way game and have been more consistent from start to finish.

What was the judgment on this team last year after 2/3 of the season transpired? And then what happened? The team over the last third of the season made a serious playoff run. I encourage you to wait until the half-way point before throwing in the towel.

At this point, making a declaration that this team is toast for this season is way too premature to come to such a negative conclusion. If we arrive at the half-season mark and this team is still in the doldrums, then your judgment would be considered to be more than fair. A third of the season has gone by. I'm just as disappointed as others are about how this season has transpired. But it's too soon to draw any definite conclusions, positive or negative, about how this season will turn out. As I told @Pimlach I'm going to wait to at least half the season has gone by before I make a definitive judgment about this team. I encourage you to be a little more patient before coming to any conclusion about this season.

With respect to the injury factor contributing to our struggles I don't accept that as an excuse. The reason why I'm not accepting injuries as an excuse is that although we have sustained injuries, it is at a level that most other teams have to contend with. There are three games that have stuck out for me that give me some hope. We beat the Rangers and Boston on the road and defeated Colorado at home. These are upper echelon teams. In all three games, we played a tight, disciplined game and played consistently hard for 60 minutes. That demonstrates what this team is capable of. At this point, I'm not making a declared judgment about this team and staff. By the time we reach the half-season point, we should be in a good position to draw fair conclusions about this team. As you are well aware of the margin of error between success and failure, winning games and losing games, is very small. As the season advances and too many games are squandered in the first half of the season, the opportunity to make up games in the second half of the season becomes a futile chase to a frustrating end. As with many fans here, my patience is running out.

I think you are too fixated on the owner to come up for the reasons why the Sabres are struggling. KA proposed a strategy to the owner for the best pathway to rebuild a team that was in a state of stagnation. It was a strategy that emphasized drafting and development. The owner agreed with the rebuilding strategy that KA proposed to him. That's why he was hired! For the most part, the strategy has worked. It wasn't a quick fix because that mostly rebuild from within strategy is not a quick fix strategy. When the novice owner first took over the stewardship of the franchise, he looked for the quick fix that relied on throwing money and extended term contracts to free agents. It was a disaster. Not only was that strategy poorly executed but it set this franchise back. KA has had more than enough time to allow his approach to work. In general, it has worked. The roster has been substantially reworked, and the system is robustly restocked. Most hockey people acknowledge that our system is one of the better systems in the NHL. What has gone wrong? The difference between success and failure in hockey is miniscule. Go back and review the games this season. It's not an exaggeration that we could have had at least three more wins. If that would have happened, our outlook would be so much better than it is now. There is no question that Yzerman is one of the best GMs in the game. He was instrumental in building a cup team in Detroit when he was first there, and was a major factor in Tampa's cup runs. What's frustrating is that most hockey people believed that Buffalo was ahead of Detroit with their respective rebuilds. Why do they appear to have jumped ahead of us this season? The answer is that the more astute and experienced GM brought in some experienced players to undergird a roster to support the young players on the roster. Our GM didn't adequately do so. I'm not panicking right now. The season isn't lost quite yet. My timeline will be at the halfway point before I make a more conclusive judgment about this season and rating of the GM. The road is currently bumpy but don't panic just yet and jump into the turbulent waters. The best approach right now is to be patient and ride it out, at least to midseason.

No one is touting .500 being good enough. What some of the calmer responders are saying is that this record is not a reason to get into a state of frenzy before 20 games have been played. Let's give it more time to see how things play out.

Why are so many people in a state of panic? The Sabres have played less than 20 games; they are currently playing at a .500 rate. It's somewhat disappointing but it's not catastrophic. Why not wait to get halfway through the season before making a firmer judgment on this team and its staff? In a way, people getting apoplectic when its team is at .500 is a good sign in that the expectations are now higher than it has previously been. (And they should be.) Let's just be more patient before going crazy in a long and grinding season with its typical up and downs that all teams experience.

Your point is well taken regarding adding a veteran player or two for a playoff push. But based on the way KA has approached building this roster, I'm not sure that KA will do that. Our roster now has some depth, and Rochester has a number of prospects that are not too far away. My sense is that our GM is more inclined to stay within the system than to go outside of it for help. I don't know what Quinn's rehab timetable is. But if he can come back some time this season and return to form, the roster will be bolstered even more.

I agree with your point that physical maturity simply takes time to achieve. Rob Ray talked about the turnaround in play for Mitts in a game last year. He said exactly what you said in your previous response regarding getting stronger. It wasn't until he became stronger that he was able to handle the rigors of the NHL. Kulich and Rosen are excellent prospects. By allowing them more time to play and to physically develop in the AHL, they will be in a better position to succeed when they move up to the higher league. You can see this same maturing process evident with Peterka. Believe in the process and don't try to short-circuit it.

Clifton seemed out of sync in his first few games. It seems to me that he is getting more comfortable and more effective. Playing on the third pair with the older Johnson is the right role for him. I liked his play in this game. It appears that our eyes are watching the same game and seeing different things. On the other hand, I do like the play of Eric Johnson. He is a stabilizer.

I agree with you that two exquisite passes set up the Minnesota goals. That doesn't mean that getting shots off when players are in front of the net isn't another way of scoring on the power play. There will be more opportunities to score with numerous shots when there is a congestion in front of the goalie. The Joki shot from the point is an example of that. When in doubt: Shoot the dam puck!

No. Tage needs to keep shooting. A tip in can occur off of a shot.

Attached are the standings: https://www.nhl.com/standings/2023-11-10/division

Clifton, Ryan Johnson and Eric Johnson were added to the blueline this year. Instead of going out and bringing in an upper tier defenseman, who would in the near future put a squeeze on the cap, we added solid players and created depth on the unit. This is good cap management and solid GM work.

Levi is the first star by far. What he does exceptionally well is keep his pads down so the puck won't go underneath him. He reacts so quickly. I can't fault him for either of the goals. As others have also observed, Mitts was terrific. Tage made a nice pass to JJ for the score. Tage is also playing a hard two-way game. Greenway isn't flashy and won't score many goals for you. I thought he played really well. He is well worth the second-round pick that it cost us. Cozens wasn't much of a factor in this game. I thought Girgs was very active in this game. The penalty on Greenway was an odd call. If the ref is going to make that call, he should have included Bogo on the call. JJ is getting better and better. I'm so glad that the Sabres gave a good effort and got a win for the home crowd.

You bring up an interesting point about having an extra day's rest against an opponent that played the previous day. On the surface, one would think that the rested team would have the advantage. It doesn't always work out that way. The Philly home loss, and then on the next day trip to Toronto, we played one of our better and more energetic games. Predicting based on scheduling can be so perplexing! As you noted the extra day in-between games should help some of our battered players heal. This team has to play well in front of the home fans. They deserve it.

You make a great point about the necessity to move the puck more quickly. I listened to Marty Biron commenting on the ineffectiveness of our PP: His comment mirrored exactly what you said: that they need to move the puck more quickly.

Tage, Tuch and Greenway are three big guys who utilizing their size in their defensive responsibilities.

What your post demonstrates is that the Pegula era was noted for its lurching back and forth with its approach toward managing the franchise. The staff was in a constant state of turning over. With the installation of KA as the GM there was a plan to follow, and a willingness to adhere to it. The core of the plan was identifying players who wanted to be here and emphasizing building from within. KA should be given high marks for trading the old core, that included Jack, and getting fair value in return for the dispatched players. In my mind, the return in players was the impetus in accelerating the rebuild. And maybe the most consequential deal could be trading Reinhart to get Levi and a first round pick that resulted in a high value prospect. As you point out with your list, patience is a virtue that will be rewarded if allowed to play out.

I don't know if you watched the game last night. Any person who is fair-minded would have to acknowledge that Carolina outperformed Buffalo. Not by a lot, but on balance you would have to give them the edge. My point is with respect to this game take the point and be happy. In general, I'm pleased with how we played, especially our goaltender. We earned the point that we got. I'll take that point and not complain about.

Yes, UPL should have covered the puck. That was a mistake by a young goalie that was made in the heat of the battle. The bigger and more encouraging takeaway in this game was that UPL played well. If we get this caliber of netminding by our goaltenders this season, I will be very happy.

The issue of making a change or not is a delicate balancing act made in the heat of the action. In hindsight, not making the change proved costly. Our players on the ice were gassed and lost control. The countering argument is that it wasn't unreasonable to go for the score when the ice was open when we were on the attack. @Pimlach understandably expressed a different view that two points, instead of one, were there for the taking. I'll gladly, although not fully satisfied, take the one point and move on. My general takeaway from this game is that we played the hard style of two way hockey against a tough opponent that we need to consistently play. And in this game, we got quality netminding. If we can maintain the style of play and current caliber of netminding, we should be in a good position when we head toward the end of the season. It was disappointing that Cozens couldn't play in this game. He needlessly got in a senseless fight of his own making that sidelined him. It hurt the team.

I agree with your general sentiment that Levi is not going to be a workhorse goalie. At least not yet. However, I believe that Levi is our #1 goalie while the other two goalies will be vying with one another to be the backup. It shouldn't be forgotten that at the end of the season when Levi signed, he did play in the majority of games at the end of the season when we were competing for a playoff spot. It's still early in the season. The goalies on our roster will determine how much they play based on their performances. If one of them standouts, then that goalie will move to the head of the pack. As it stands now, Levi is our #1.