Jorcus

One has to keep in mind that it may take Samuelsson time to get back to where he was. It can take players time to get back up to speed after a long time off. This team has also gone 2 defensive transitions since he last played. Remember how Clifton sucked the first 20 games of last year? Once he got comfortable his play improved. 2 years ago we could not win a game without Sammy in the lineup. That shut down D man is in there someplace waiting to come back out. He will get better I am pretty certain of that. Quinn has had periods in his past where his production has gone to almost zero. It happened when he was an Amerk. Maybe there is something wrong but he has been the most disappointing player so far. Cozens gets his chances it sucks that he does not score on them. Quinn does not even seem to get many good looks.

I think if both those guys came back Benson is going to get the hook. What can he do that Aube Kubel can not? They are just not going to take Cozens out. Quinn and Kulick may trade off depending how things are going.

It looks to me like Thompson skated better last night than any game since his back injury. He was up and down the ice. The first line was hard to handle again last night.

The Amerks deserved better last night. They totally controlled play in the 1st. They had speed the won battles and even though the power play did not score it got in the zone had good movement and number of shots that the goalie made good saves on. They kind of lapsed a little in the second after they got the 2-0 lead then when the Sandstrom give away goal happened they got a little sloppy after. Going into the third down 3-2 does not stop another in close shot. The difference was goaltending. Rosen blew a breakaway attempt, Rousek raced to get a get a puck, Toronto's D man can't keep up so he does the slide, and somehow Rousek jumps over him with the puck to get a shot off. Akhtyamaov was good for Toronto and that was how they won. As far as the prospects they all had moments. I would not say anyone looked dominant. Helenius is the youngest player in the AHL and he looked comfortable. Rathbone was an interesting pick up. He has good shot. He is an undersized D man but should be a good Amerk and emergency call up.

Total gaff by Sandstrom. He came out to play the puck with plenty of time. I think he wanted to shoot it out of the zone then when pressure came he tries to wrap it around behind the goal. Instead of going behind the goal it banks to the front of the crease which he is 15 feet away from where Nylander gets the easy tap in. That sucked.

I think Tuch has been ok. Maybe not his very best. Pittsburg had a very hard time against that line in general. They did not play very well last night but when Peterka is on the line in general they are pretty good. They are not as productive with Benson on the line.

At this point I would lean to other factors. He thrived in the all out early Granato system. Offence first, gambling defense. He scored a lot of goals playing that way. When it came to playing clamp down hockey post injury is when things started going south. The thing is he is still getting a lot of good chances but he is going to have to play more of a system game. Ruff alluded in post game comments, too much one on one hockey. Whatever happens to that line they have to get better established in the O zone. I don't every remember Benson playing well with Cozens. Quinn drifting around does not help. That is odd because they have played well together before. For now I would go back to Quinn and Juri with Cozens. I don't know what you do with Benson right now. He is not taking JJ's spot. I know people are going to freak out but he may be the odd player out for a few games.

I don't think you want to throw a 20 year old kid with a left handed shot on the right wing and tell him to go figure it out. I would like to see him back in the line up but replacing Quinn with Juri is not a good option.

Sure does look like Krebs went low on him.

One thing I noticed during the second half of last year when the D men got the puck they were good about protecting it behind the net and would support each other until possession was established and they could find a way out of the zone. It was more transitional than rush plays. The first 2 games were kind of bad overall in the structure. There were a lot of players running into each other. In the last 2 games it has gotten much better, they do seem to want to move the puck up ice quicker which is fine but they have to be wary of the giveaways. So it looks a bit different in structure to me. They did a great job when they had the lead breaking up the Panthers attack.

Thompson is playing much better than he was at the start of last year. He is skating much better now than he was then. He is also passing more rather than trying to stick handle his way out of a jam. There is hope he will get back to what he was.

The problem is they are going to get back to normal in one game. They will hang 9 on the Jackets or the Blackhawks but at the end of the day it will only be 2 points, then it's back to fighting hard to get 2 in the net. Well I hope it doesn't go that way but they are going to have to win or at least get loser points in the tough ones. They do seem a bit snake bit to start.

I will say this about the Power play at least they are trying different things with different players. They are not going to sit on the same 5 guys passing the puck around the outside like last year. They still need more net front presence. They need to set up the screens better. I saw Benson setting a screen on a 5 on 5 but the trouble is the goalie could see over the top of him. Greenway is probably the answer for that.

Please bring the young sisters back. When they sing I expect Mothra to come crashing through the roof.

New Jersey is far from being an under the radar contender for the cup. In betting pools they are just behind the Oilers and Panthers in wagering, tied with the Avalanche and the Stars on Fan duel. On some sites they are tied for second with the Panthers. They are a very good team.

Ivan Ivan scores in the loss for the Avalanche. I don't know if he is any good but you have to like his name.

I was just in Athens among other places as well. Athens is a bit gritty in places but I liked it a lot. Easy to get in and get around to the good spots. Not to expensive and a lot to see.

Naples is not in Tuscany, Did you mean Florence? World of difference between the 2.

Quinn has the most scoring upside of any player we have. He very good at finding open ice to shoot from in front of the net, he also has the shot to make it count. He does seem to cheat up ice from the D zone too often and he has an annoying habit of rapping his stick on the ice when he is open. It's not juniors anymore the other guys will find you, no sense in telling the other team where you are. Lindy will make adjustments.

The thing I like about Kulich's game is his ability to get a shot off while under duress. I noticed that about him last year and he got a few off last night. He is the most sure thing we have as a functional NHL forward right now in the prospect pool. What kind of NHL player he becomes I am not sure. What an AHL player must do to make it to the NHL is play sound defense. I don't think I would assume he would not play on the 4th line to start his NHL journey but He could end up anywhere in the lineup depending on circumstances.

It is a scenario, but my point is that Chad DeDominicis is making projections on next years salary cap and states he is not removing any players when in fact he is removing 4 of them who are UFA's adding in Abue-Kubel that accounts for 12.5 million in salary. Even with 4 entry level contracts that's 4 million dollars out of the 7 million he thinks he has left over. We also do not know what the salary cap will be. I doubt all the replacements for those guys will be Amerks. There is a lot of work to do at the end of the season roster wise and that cap money can get used up fast.

"I love this game. Let’s say the ceiling is $92 million. As of now they’d have $32.54 million. I’ll go high: JJP - 7.5m Byram - 6m McLeod - 4m Quinn - 5m Levi - 3m That equates to $25.5 million. Leaving $7 million BEFORE ANYONE IS REMOVED FROM THE ROSTER & I went high on proj." I think he is removing any UFA from the roster Joker Zucker and Greenway in this scenario. which is 11 million. They could go but they also need to be replaced. with something.

As far as the cap goes don't we have to be forward looking? Sure there is 8-9 Million under the cap at the moment but without movement there will be Peterka, Quinn, McLeod, and Byrum to sign under RFA contracts. Any of the those guys can get an offer sheet for anything under 4.5 million for a second round pick. Add in the Skinner penalty and maybe a preemptive bump for Tuch plus whatever might happen with LevI and one might argue that spending to the cap now would cost us a lot at the end of the season. Now that St Louis has opened the gates with offer sheets It could be war next off season and second round picks for some of these guys are a poor return.

As recently as last year the Sabres thought Krebs could be a top 2 line forward. I know I heard that on WGR but I can't remember who said it. Was Granato his Champion? Maybe it was and his best hope went out the door with him. Having said that playing as defensive minded 4th liner never hurts a players development, but after Casey was shipped out Krebs did not deliver too much in a modified roll. I think they would rather keep him on the cheap and hope he finally produces some points but he is becoming a non factor.

I hate the idea of obtaining Kadri. He is a selfish POS. If it were up to me he would not be allowed to play in the NHL for some of the crap he has pulled in the past. It's one thing to play tough. It's another to be a cheap shot a wipe. He got run out of Toronto for his selfish acts, He started a war in Saint Louis with his BS on the Colorado. He has been less problematic with the Flames but almost every team in the NHL wants to take a shot at him. He does not want to be a Sabre he wants to be closer to Toronto. If this team was more mature where he had to respect the high end talent he might not go off but he could wreck whatever the Sabres are trying to build. Hard no.