Porous Five Hole

The normal guy’s dad died so he missed the game and this is how the broadcast overcame that.

It’s not another sport, but nice to see RIT hockey ranked nationally and with a weekend sweep

I think you’re onto something with roster approach, but to me that’s the GM. KA appears to not have made one good offseason acquisition (re-sign Girgs and KO, sign Cliffy and EJ, rely on Levi and possibly luck into UPL being NHL average). Some might say EJ has had a positive impact. I don’t dive too deeply into advanced stats, but they’re saying he hasn’t been good. With all of that said, if Granato cannot get this team’s “compete level” consistently better by Christmas, I agree with you that it is curtains for Meatballs.

The thing I keep coming back to is it wasn’t his call to ice the youngest team in hockey (again) and not have an NHL goaltender on the roster.

Cozens sounded emotional and upset. He’s right, the Sabres need more “eff you” in their game. https://www.nhl.com/sabres/video/dylan-cozens-postgame-at-car-6342273792112 I like Granato and I want him to be the head coach. But this sounds like a guy who doesn’t have any answers right now. https://www.nhl.com/sabres/video/don-granato-postgame-at-car-6342273713112 I would have been okay if he lit his team up to the media tonight. Not that I would want that at my job if I had a few bad days, but I’m not working in professional sports. That’s not his style and I’m an emotional fan…he’s a professional head coach. He knows better than me. But I’m sick of hearing about how the team’s compete level needs to be better. In a way, perhaps it isn’t a bad thing that they’ve got another game tomorrow.

I haven’t been to a Bandits game in Buff since before the pandemic, but I know they sold out a couple of playoff games last year on their championship run.

This is a live look at the tickets available for the Rochester Knighthawks home opener in less than four hours. While lax has a history here and had more support than larger cities at a time…it is no longer the case. I can’t imagine Pegula would continue to own this, even as a goodwill gesture to Rochester and WNY.

second goalie goal this year!

I’m nervous to event comment on this, but my reaction to the gf report and recant is why it is so important for the professional leagues to have a DV policy in place. The financial repercussions of the individuals in an incident like this is enormous. This makes it so important for the league to be proactive. In 24 hours, the complainant went from fear for her safety to fear for her financial future. That is not a level playing field for victims and it puts them in a fearful situation.

I’m not saying the Sabres have Grant Fuhr waiting in the wings and they are going to be just fine, but my takeaway here is the Sabres commitment to playing better defense is cucking their offense. It’s not working. It isn’t balancing out. This might sound crazy, but I wonder if Buffalo should go back to trying to outscore their problems again like they did last year? Sure, they’re down some important offensive horses right now, but this trying to play better defense at the expense of a scary offense isn’t working. Maybe the Sabres go back to high event hockey/offense-first like last year and hope for the best? I don’t think this is the long term solution, but they don’t have the pedigree to be better defensively right now and still score. They just don’t.

I think you’re right. And it isn’t even because Cooley sucks and Toker was hurt. There’s something systematically wrong with the organization’s commitment to team defense. All eyes should be on it.

I’ve seen some stuff. I was at the good end of the arena when Derek Plante beat Tugnutt in game seven OT. I was a teenager and it was like heaven seeing that. Euphoria walking out of the MMA with my Sabres brethren. The rest aren’t Sabres. I saw Wade Boggs 3000th hit at the Trop, and he was the first one to have that hit be a HR. He got on all fours and kissed the plate. I saw Randy Johnson’s 300th win. But tops for me is the Red Sox reverse the curse ticker tape parade on the duck boats in 2004. A deep breath 86 years in the making. Best day of my life…and I’ve had two wedding days (the second might slightly edge this out).

I know this is a game thread, but the Amerks have too many vets on D to have given up the second most goals against in the AHL. ROC is now 11-5-2, and have a winning percentage of .667. The teams sandwiched around them in the GA category have a win percentage of .389 & .412. This organization needs to figure out how to systematically improve team defense. The Amerks are giving up more than four goals a game on average.

Guys, I figured out the problem. Matty Ellis hasn’t told the team that they’re allowed to win more than one in a row. Someone get with Rob to have the conversation.

@Buffalonill Here we Gooooooooo -your boy Dak

Weave helped me out. The poster I quoted lamented that the Sabres didn’t draft Leon. Leon was solidly the consensus #3 at the time.

Homeboy was fired and the NHLPA didn’t contest it. That speaks volumes about whatever happened.

This is hard to argue. Mitts is earning it. I’m just looking at five years from now and I also expect the majority of the fanbase to hate my opinion. I just think his production can be equaled with a combination of Benson, Savoie, Kulich, Rosen, and maybe others…within two years. And at a deep discount to buying out Mitts upcoming UFA years.

Yea I feel that. The outlook for me is locking up Mitts for five years and getting his solid 70 pt production at a substantial UFA cost isn’t the best long term plan. It’s best for the next two years, but is it the best for the next five? That’s really murky. He might be blocking guys who can replicate that production. I’ll reiterate that no doubt investing in Mitts is for sure the best plan to make the playoffs asap. That might be the goal for some. But getting Mitts to re-sign past his last RFA year is going to be very expensive and the internal pool is deep. I’m looking much more long term than playoffs asap when I consider Mitts next deal.

Hey, I’m not a super poster, but I’m around a lot. You and I didn’t agree on UPL, but you were never disrespectful to me. No angst, and you’re looking like you were correct. I also was happy to follow along your home improvement upgrades. I’m glad to hear you’re reflecting, but you good, fam.

I understand both points. Only want to add that GMKA is very close to his team. He will reward his own if it’s warranted…it is his preference to build from within. So what I say next might be irrelevant. With all of that said, I lean toward Freeman’s thought. Casey just turned 25. Buying out a bunch of his prime UFA years will be very expensive. Can’t that production be replaced with spreading it out with the touted prospects making their way to the show in the next couple of years? I think so. With Tage healthy and Cozens going and the commitment that has already made to each, putting Casey on a top six wing role or 3C isn’t a good use of cap dollars. Yes, 60-70 points is a lot and spreading out the production of 60-70 points to guys on their ELC is a risk. But there’s a lot of high end talent coming here soon. I’ll take that risk along with the corresponding cap flexibility (to also help cover said production…with a lot of extra dollars to improve the team offensively & elsewhere at the same time). Yes I realize this won’t be popular right now.

Reino was the consensus #2 by all accounts and draft resources. Hindsight is the only reason to lament the pick because Drai has dramatically outperformed his draft status.

Something to note: Patrick Kane relocated to Detroit to play for Honeybaked during the 2003–04 season (and lived with Pat Verbeek). From there, Kane rebuked the OHL and instead played for the United States National Team Development Program(NTDP), which was based in Michigan until 2006. So he could have been in the OHL for two years, but instead chose USDP in Michigan. He went to the OHL in 2006 and was drafted in 2007. Michigan is/was a home for him and he chose that again. It’s reasonable.

I’m not trying to take this personally because I live in Rochester, but have you been to Grand Rapids lol

SabreSpace meetup at the Blue Cross Arena? Friday Dec 8 is their next home game.