Doohicksie

Remember, he started 2021-22 as the 1C before getting hurt in the first game and opening the door for Tage. Less that injury, he might still be 1C and we would have all be raging about him.

Yep, we're quibbling. You're spot on there though.

And now he's trying to break into the NHL?

I'm not sure I agree. I think he still carries into traffic, but he does it now to positive effect: in drawing defenders to him he's setting up a feed to an open man. I think it took a while for him to put it all together and realize it wasn't enough just to push into offensive zone, that it was useless unless he was able to feed the puck back to an open Sabre.

I heard Lance Lysowski's take on VO this morning on NHL Radio and it's similar to yours. He basically sees VO as not necessarily a piece of the future, but someone who is stinging from getting benched during the late run last year and will be motivated to improve the areas of his game needed to earn more ice time.

I think Mitts was always trying to do what he does now. The difference is that he sees it through to conclusion. Earlier in his career his rushes and attempts at possession more frequently ended with him turning the puck over. Now he might struggle to maintain possession as the opposing defense closes in, but more often than not draws the defense in to him before moving the puck to an open Sabre.

Isn't this what NHL On the Fly is on NHL Network?

His winning goal the other night was a decent example of that- He passed to the goal mouth but then knew that the defense would be goal-facing and snuck behind the D-man to the slot where he buried the rebound.

Two answers: He's a team-first guy and will play wherever they ask him to. Granato has a master plan (don't worry, Benson goes back after 9 games) and has sat Alex down and explained it to him.

After his first 20 goal season under Krueger when he was -1, VO's been pretty consistently about -20 in the +/-. In that season (when the Sabres really sucked, incidentally), our worst +/- players were Skinner and Reino. Best was Mountour. I wonder what a deeper dive comparing 2019-20 Jeff Skinner to 2022-23 Victor Olofsson would yield? Is VO's issue deployment? The system versus his skill set?

Maybe not, but I like the concept of Greenway-Mittelstadt-Tuch. They could turn out to be a punishing line that scores a lot of goals.

Kinda like, but not anything like, Kozak. Asplund was basically a marshmallow.

Same.

It's what we all said about Sampson's shot early on. He scores his share of goals.

The real story of this year's offense is that Josh doesn't have to do it all. We have three capable running backs and much improved run blocking that take the pressure off the passing game and save Josh from short yardage QB sneaks.

I can. It's ingrained in the Bills Mafia psyche. You could hear it on the telecast, and it was constant, especially when the defense was out on the field.

And they almost pulled it off. Take away a marginal penalty on a Jets interception and it could have gone the other way.

We have a running game again. Cook looked great but Murray and Harris pitched in too at key moments. We didn't have that last year; short yardage always meant sneaking Josh. We don't have to do that anymore. Also the Bills were able to run out the clock by running the ball. Having a legit running game only makes Josh more dangerous to other teams.

This. The Bills already had a solid tight end in Knox; now they have two, to go along with a pretty solid receiver corps. They have the luxury of being able to work him in slowly. As it is, he had a couple of crucial catches yesterday. I think that workload will increase as time goes on.

Turns out you were being pessimistic. 🙂

I think we all were. Luckily the Dolphins blinked first and McDaniel lost his composure and got desperate early.

Gotta shake the rust off.