Jorcus

I guess the odd thing about Ruff's statement is that Tage was the number one center when Ruff got here and for a long time after. Ruff is the one who put him back on wing and now acts like Tage is earning his way back to where he was and wanted to play in the first place. Tage has been a team player having to leave center and play with under developed players which certainly affects his output. Please Ruff don't make it about Tage's performance. I know injuries play into this but if he does not get to play with mature players he is just going to explode in frustration.

Then there is Beck Malenstyn who is in the 99th percentile. https://www.nhl.com/nhl-edge/skaters/beck-malenstyn-8479359/20252026/2

The thing about McDavid is you have to be able to catch him to hit him. Not many can. One reason why Kozak is good is he is very fast up and down the ice. Had a speed burst last night that put him in the 98th percentile. https://www.nhl.com/nhl-edge/skaters/tyson-kozak-8482896/20252026/2/skating-speed

I like Malenstyn better than greenway. He is faster and has more endurance. Greenway seems to last about 35 seconds on a shift then he is standing straight up. You can always tell when he is gassed by that vertical posture.

On last nights game. Nice to see more than 3 goals again. Sabres seemed to have good control of the game. You have to like the beginning of the third period when you expected an Oilers push the Sabres seemed to still control play and when they got the 4th goal it was pretty much over. Ellis played his best game and sent Leon D back to the bench snarling after that chance in the third. Ellis is quick side to side to side, seems to absorb the puck well and has a good glove. Sure looks promising. We can dump on Adams for a lot of things but claiming this guy when he had 4 other goalies on 1 way contracts might be one of his best moves. Certainly if our forwards return to health Östlund and Rosen are going back. Kind of wonder about the order of things. You would think Dunn goes back first then Rosen as Östlund can play on the bottom lines to replace Dunn. People were quick to write these guys off based on limited reps in the NHL but go back and look at Thompson or Mitt's path to the NHL. Both were almost written off as busts until they were sent down. One's a lot better than the other but they are both NHL players. The Oilers have no forward depth at all. You have to wonder in 2 years when McDavid hit's the eject button how Leon D. is going to deal with the pressure of having to deal with this all by himself. This team is not going back to the finals this year.

As far as style of play it's like many of the others on the team. His best asset is that he is a pretty good skater and can carry the puck out of the zone. It's similar to Byram and Power but not as good. His biggest weakness is scoring. For the type of player he is he should have way more points than he does in the AHL. He is supposed to be Rochester's number 1 D man yet only has 31 points in 106 games. It's not like he is a stay at home defenseman. So that is the problem, you can play like Byram and Power but you have to be able to produce like Byram and Power. He is doing better this year so maybe there is still hope that part of his game will improve but it's no where near the standard it needs to be for the NHL.

I don't really think Ryan Johnson is much of a difference maker over Metsa or Bryson. It should be noted though he has been playing with a full face shield so so there could be a limiting factor on the call up. He had every chance to stick around the Sabres for awhile early this season. He just never seems to be able to take that next step.

Rangers and Detroit got in a fight after the game for an after buzzer shot into the net. Didn't Detroit shoot at the net late after the period ended with us and Thompson went after somebody? Is this a thing with them?

I guess i am not sure why 95 points has to be the number. It has been 91 the past 2 years and 92 the year before that. The East is more balanced than ever. The number this year could be 89. Still they are not in a good place and getting to that number is going to be difficult.

Forgot to say interference was what the bench was looking or hoping for.

The replay on the NHL app has the Detroit broadcast. They first pointed out that the bench was calling for a penalty but it seemed after watching the replay they kind of shrugged that off and complimented Thompson on a good play.

On the downside our defensemen took turns giving away the puck that lead to goals against. Timmons first, Byram second, Dahlin third, then Sammy directed one into the net. Amends were made and they came out with the win. They got 4 goals in regulation for the 1st time in 11 games and only the third time this year. In this version of the NHL you are going to need 4 or more on most nights to win. Let's see if they can start ripping twine. On the too many men penalty it was not perfectly clear on the replay but it seemed like one guy was going off and 3 jumped on. Lindy was talking about a dump in and that should not be called but at the end of the day it was on the bench for it happening in the first place. If nothing else the PK keeps coming though though. Still have not seen enough of Ellis but his side to side movement and play down low seems pretty good so far. The comfort level with him seems to be increasing. This is going to be a strange season in the standings. No reason to waive the white flag just yet. I could see a lot of teams fighting for 90 points this year.

I guess it's where you are drawing the line. If it's for a season you're looking at season ending injuries. We have not lost anyone for 82 games like Florida. For this time in the season we have lost a lot. The Avalanche had a ton of injuries to start last year. Probably on par with what we are going through. I don't know the answer but they came to mind and it's probably happened to most teams at one time or another.

20 minutes to fill between periods but they decide it would be better to use the first 10 of the second to not call hockey. That works great for radio broadcast.

I first saw it on the sidebar thing they show on Sabres Live.