Doohicksie

Posting this in the thread was both necessary and inevitable.

Eh, I kind of like to know when it's an "off-nominal" situation so I can jump right to TNT or NHLN or whatever when tuning in the game. Not necessary but convenient (if done right). Because they wanted Savoie in his roster spot but wanted to pay him NHL wage between now and the next Amerks game for being such a good soldier. So banana peels in the weight room it is.

It's TRADITION.

I really think you need to throw out the first four games, both from a team perspective and from a goaltending perspective. As I said upthread, the team was terrible out of the gate.... the whole team. So it's kind of harsh to pin all of that on Levi. Let's see what happens going forward. If Granato has "fixed" the team and they are playing better as a unit, you very well may see an improvement in Levi's play as well. If you take those first few games out of the mix the Sabres are playing decent hockey. Forget the past, just play better going forward, and they will be fine.

Also: I generally don't trust the thread starter to get it right; some people just copy-paste a previous title and rework it and occasionally the broadcast info is bad. I try to look at the NHL site and see what it says, understanding that some people are viewing everything from the home market or from overseas or whatever and just don't "get" the Buffalo diaspora experience.

We all hated Krueger's "motivational speak" gobbledygook but every coach does that to an extent. Part of Granato's lexicon (which I tend to agree with) is that he doesn't dwell in past recriminations and pinning the blame on individuals (including himself); rather, he talks in terms of the "we" that is the entire team and frames mistakes as growth or learning opportunities. I think that helps especially for a team that's been down, to try to get them to look forward and not wallow in the past. All that said, I think we're getting to an inflection point of accountability, where the team feeling good about themselves and "playing the right way" is no longer enough. They need to turn all the positive vibes into results and start winning.

I think they did, yeah, but they didn't stop operating. I asked one of the Texas Rangers Bally Sports broadcasters on Twitter (who's usually pretty good about answering questions) about the situation and he didn't answer; maybe it's still unsettled... maybe he isn't even getting paid.

Some of us expats live in the enemy TV markets so it's relevant info... but then again we know to expect the MSG blackout.

If it's NHLN or TNT or ESPN+ exclusive, that should be in the thread title. But if it's just a normal MSG-B game and no other network, those are on ESPN+. The NHL website denotes them as follows. If it's on one of the "special" networks then that should be in the title (as shown on the NHL website). But if it's just a normal local sports net broadcast, the assumption is it will be on ESPN+. Normal game (on MSG in home market, ESPN+ out of market, unless viewer lives in opponent's local market, then have to watch on enemy's market sports net): TNT Exclusive game (on TNT/Max only, both in home market and out of market): ESPN+ Exclusive game (on ESPN+ only, both in home market and out of market): NHL Network game (on MSG in home market, NHLN out of market):

While I won't disagree, the whole team played like ass during that period so I wouldn't put the losses on Levi as such. One would hope by midseason he's putting up numbers better than the other two but we'll see. ...which is the smart thing to do.

Bally Sports SOuth I'd wager. Bally uses 4-letter designations for their various markets. I'm in the BSSW (southwest) market.

Molly Waddle.

I know people are impatient to make the playoffs but one thing I noticed during the Texas Rangers run to the World Series: During a season with a lot of games, you have to learn how to use them all (even the losses) to improve the team. That may mean putting RyJo or Savoie out on the ice late in a one-goal game. Maybe they will succeed and then it's something to build on. Maybe they won't and it's something to learn from. But especially with a team that doesn't have a recent history of winning, you have to work on getting the most out of the pieces you have, and getting the players to believe not only that they can win but that dammit, they deserve to win. I think Donny is a good coach for everything except perhaps convincing these guys that they deserve to win and they need to put in the work it takes. I like to think he can climb that hill with the team but so far we haven't seen that yet. But as long as the Sabres are hanging around in playoff contention, they have a shot at literally running the table if they can just steadily improve (and I think they can).

Have you considered a career in diplomacy? Public relations?

If it happens I guess I'll have to accept it, like Christmas songs in November, but... man...

I could see it as once he hits the milestone he's given maintenance days here and there, and if he did have a nagging injury they wouldn't hurry him back. But I think both the organization and KO want him to get to 1,000 and I think the rules might change a bit after that milestone.

You're one of my favoritest posters and I kind of regretted disagreeing with you. I like to think I wasn't so much disagreeing as I was clarifying.... maybe too pedantically. Peace, my friend.

It won't happen unless KO gets hurt or until he reaches 1,000 games played.

Pretty sure even if that's true, it could be a paper transaction (he didn't have to actually play for the Sabres before going down).

He didn't really have a choice, with Savoie coming out of camp injured.

We've already kicked his tires, I can't see Kevyn bringing him back.

Or he could be returned to the WHL. They didn't *have* to call him back to the NHL. But we all know it's what they want.