pi2000

Get rid of the lottery, hockey was fine for 100 years without it. If teams decide to tank and risk alienating their fanbase then so be it.

That's what beer league is for. He's a pro getting paid a large sum to be his best for Buffalo. Well I hope and pray he comes out healthy. That's fine, but if gets hurt they'll be lots of questions. He's a key piece.

Everybody gets an award!

It's too early to rank them. Both players, imo, have some runway to improve... especially Power. Ask again in 5 years.

I'm kinda surprised Tuch is going, considering his injuries this season, you'd think he'd take a break and let his body heal up completely.... he's battled injuries practically his entire career thus far.

The Norris has devolved into "whichever defenseman scores the most points". It is what it is. Dahlin's a great defenseman no matter how many votes he gets. That said, maybe they should have a separate award for "most points by a defenseman" like the Art Ross.. call it the Coffey Trophy or something.

Power outage?

To me a team core is a combination of ability, locker room presence, and how bad they want to be here. These are the heart and soul guys who create the team culture and younger players look up to. 5 most core guys: Dahlin, Thompson, Cozens, Tuch, Samuelsson I'm not counting Okposo because he's not under contract. Power, Quinn, Krebs, Peterka are still too young.

I've never seen a goalie, at the NHL level, struggle to catch the puck as much as UPL. Pucks not only bounce out of his glove like it's spring loaded, he also struggles at covering his high glove side. As the season wore on teams began to exploit this weakness and it showed. He's still relatively young for a goalie, but he's got lots and lots of work to do... rebound control, recovery, awareness, tracking pucks, anticipation, etc...

I'd expect to hear something soon about him deciding to test free agency this summer.... then immediately sign with the Ducks.

I'd rather see UPL traded.

Comrie played well his last two games, a shutty on the Island then a .927 sv% in an OTL vs Montreal... then he hasn't seen the ice for well over 2 weeks. Odd.

Why rush into signing him now? He'd be an RFA after next season with no arbitration rights. If you think you can get him cheaper now, then by all means let's make a deal, but we really don't know how good he's going to be. Maybe you want to let that carrot hang in front of him a little bit while he's developing.

season ain't over yet

no need to extend Power this offseason

I could understand if it was a shot heading toward the net and Giroux redirected in, but it was a pass heading to the corner which required a distinct kick to the net for it to hit the goal.

The issue with Johnson is that he hasn't really developed much the past 2 seasons. What's his cieling? Is this it? Bottom line is I trust the Sabres judgement here... which isn't something I could confidentily say a few seasons ago.

do better

Trade Olofsson, acquire 2 defensemen and a proven goalie.

He's trained only to shoot if he has a clear shot lane AND there's traffic in front of the goalie. Watch next time he hesitates... he's waiting for his teammates to get a net front presence. That said, once he has time to work on his shot, he'll be more willing to shoot without traffic in front... if he gets his velocity up, the goalie will be less able to control the rebound, creating scoring chances for teammates on the perimeter of the net front.

Jokiharju, who IMO gets pushed off the puck too easily, is 30lbs heavier than Johnson. He'll need to bulk up and get stronger before he sees a single shift in the NHL.

He's not physical, on the smaller side and doesn't produce offensively. He skates well and is a good first pass guy, but that's about it.

It appeared that the puck moved backwards when he pulled it from his backhand to his forehand.