Doohickie

I will say this: I've noticed both Clifton and Bryson being flat out beat by an opposing forward in one-on-ones, but both tend pursue just enough to get the forward out away from the slot and to the boards. Even thought the opponent gets past them, they both seem to get just enough of them to disrupt and delay until help can arrive. The other night it worked because the Sabres forwards were actively skating hard to get back in the play and not coasting back. I don't think either one of those guys is particularly fleet of foot; it's more about using the speed you have effectively. Sometimes I see power skating back in defensive coverage and everything looks under control and then suddenly the forward finds another gear and leaves Owen behind, apparently surprised by the speed of the NHL. He may not get faster, but he needs to work on his recognition of that situation, and know that the other player is going to try to blow by him and either direct him to the outside, get a good piece of him, or disrupt the puck enough to throw him off. I think waving a stick at the puck should be the last resort; better to play sound positionally and play the body.

TMI.

Maybe weary.

...and that was a serious miscalculation.

I see Kevyn bridging Reino as the first sign he was about to blow it up. It was a signal more than a year before the Eichel trade that Eichel was gone as well as his inner circle. I can.

Dangit. Another one that got away.

Like.... Clifton and EJ?

But when it was Skinner/Thompson/Tuch they were all feeding each other. Skinner had a career high in assists last season.

Perhaps the shifting around when Bryson is playing helps to somehow foster offensive output? Maybe Joki + Rasmus > Muel + Rasmus for generating offense from the D? It could be just luck, but it could also be a subtle difference in how the whole team plays when the Dmen are shuffled around.

I suspect by "mental issues" @thewookie1 doesn't mean literal mental illness; more like Tage is in his own head too much/gripping his stick too tight/pressing too hard. And we all attributed it to Muel being a good defenseman. But now we're saying it's happening with Bryson in spite of Bryson. Seems like a double standard.

I can't disagree; I attributed it to him being a "good luck charm" a game or two back.

He basically played second pair minutes with Clifton as his partner. Johnson and Johnson got third pair minutes which I'm okay with. I don't think EJ has the gas in the tank to play above third pair and I like Lil J learning from him. As a second pairing Clifton and Bryson were playing shutdown hockey and not trying to generate offense from the D, even though Clifton and Bryson led the D at +3 and +4 respectively, and Bryson had 2 assists (secondary assist on the JJP goal and the nifty primary on Benson's goal).

Right. I think he put all his eggs in the Levi basket and arrogantly thought losing Ullmark would be no big deal.

I think perhaps the benefit of having Bryson in the lineup is that he, at this point, just goes about his business. He will join the rush, sure, but I don't think he's trying to impress with his offensive upside, freeing him up to actually concentrate on defense. So if he's in the lineup, it's in place of one of these guys: Dahlin: Okay, Bryson is clearly a downgrade Samuelsson: Who seems to be perpetually injured this season and doesn't have last year's edge Power: Who's clearly in a sophomore slump and is still learning Joki: Who just seems to be intermittently out of sync with the rest of the team (my own observation) but generally better than Bryson Ryan Johnson: who will be an upgrade on Bryson, but is still learning Eric Johnson: provides experience but is slipping out of NHL caliber Clifton: Who is more physical as Bryson and a good stretch passer, but otherwise isn't much better than Bryson imo So when you insert Bryson into the lineup, he's going to be an improvement over most of the players he's filling in for. He's basically in his prime, so putting him on the roster in place of a player who's still learning, or in decline, or is trying to play while injured, isn't much of a downgrade and he in fact may be a steadying influence. Not great, but no drama. I think if he played regularly, though, he might wear down, so it's good to keep him as a 7/8 D.

Someone needs to talk to Kevyn about a bird in the hand being worth two in the bush. UPL is here now... in the hand.

But ol' Cee Lo has a great voice!

He can have a role as a utility player who is brought up when needed. I agree with you that he played well in this game. Jacob Bryson has played in 6 games this season: 10/29/2023 vs COL, Sabres win 4-0 11/1/2023 @ PHI, Sabres win 5-2 11/4/2023 @ TOR, Sabres win 6-4 1/24/2024 @ LAK, Sabres win 5-3 1/27/2024 @SJS, Sabres win 5-2 2/13/2024 vs LAK, Sabres win 7-0 Is Bryson the best defenseman we have? Of course not. But has the team lost any games with him on the roster? No. Bryson on the roster is not to be feared. I'm not sure why. Maybe he plays with a little more desperation than Power. There was talk in the preseason that Bryson had beefed up so he could play with some more jam. Maybe at 26 he's hitting his stride as a defenseman. We're always talking about how it takes several years for young defense prospect to mature.

But he was that stupid once... with Ullmark. I understand that. But don't Reinhart him by giving him a minimal bridge deal to free agency, sending the message he's not part of the long term.

I hope Kevyn has learned from the Ullmark situation: Don't let a good goalie get away. Looking at Boston: Just because you have a good goalie doesn't mean you shouldn't have another good goalie.

Eh. Doesn't seem to bother him. At this point he's probably thinking about waiting until his career is over. Yeah he wears a mask but things still happen.

Johnson & Johnson is a pretty decent D pair.