Doohickie

Good point; forgot about Rochester. I don't recall though: Did Savoie actually play?

I'm so used to having JAG placeholders on the team it seems weird to actually have real competition for roles on the team.

This sounds very similar to things Granato said when he took over. He basically said defense be damned we need to develop the chemistry to score; offense is harder to create than defense, and he was focusing on offense. Bringing in Johnson may signal it's time to bring the defense up a few notches. Team defense. I wouldn't be surprised if he's the frequently 7D but spends a lot of time off the ice developing that Team Defense mindset. Hockey's a tough business. Would have have been surprised if the Sabres moved on from Girgs?

I hope he does. He's got pretty good hockey attributes; his biggest detriments are between his ears- either he doesn't know the right thing to do or chooses not to do the right thing. And it's not all the time. Before his injury he was actually playing some good two-way hockey but once he lost his ice time didn't really fight to get it back. He should talk to Peyton Krebs who would tell him, "You have the ability, Victor, but you can't just do what you want to do; you have to do what the team needs."

I'm trying to decide if that means he's humble and what will it mean in the dressing room if he's 4D and Joki's been demoted. I get it, that's hockey, but it's also as awkward as it came across in the interview.

I kind of hope that's the plan- have him fill a 4/5 role, and be the snarling shutdown guy at the end. But that means Kevyn has more work to do this summer because Joki is not the answer.

I actually think the first month or so will be somewhat developmental in nature, especially for defensive pairings, not worrying about winning but about "playing the right way" as a team. I also think he Donny will try to use his entire roster (including the extra skaters). Eventually he will settle in and focus more on winning at any cost.

The presser sounded like a very awkward job interview. I got the impression that he knows he's like the #4C but he's trying to talk himself into thinking he's up to the challenge. I think he might be, but after playing on a much older Bruins team he's going to have adjust to being one of the veterans.

Giving some a break Benson played just as late as Savoie.

At some point I became a Cat Dad

I'll just leave this here.

Sure, but if you're not familiar with the team and its lore, it doesn't say "Panthers". I have the same problem with the NLL team here in Fort Worth. One of the city's nicknames is Panther City (kind of like Buffalo is Nickel City). The team's official name is Panther City Lacrosse Club, and no one knows it's from Fort Worth. Sometimes people get too clever with naming.

It's the Twitter handle for the Panthers. They think it's cool I suppose but I think it's just dumb.

It feels like the Sabres when they were trying desperately to make it work with Eichel. And Larkin isn't even as good as Eich. They showed last season that what Yzerman is doing just doesn't work. It's like patching the Titanic with duct tape.

It's going to work as well as Buffalo bringing in Hall and Stall and Eakin and stuff.

There was a time when signing Klingberg would have been something. That time is past.

I think even with Cerberus in goal, the Sabres will make the playoffs. If they are in good position in the standings, maybe Kevyn does a deadline deal to get playoff experience in goal.

Yep, saw that and already deleted my post.

I ordered something yesterday afternoon and it hit my front porch 15 minutes ago.

Hall way worse than Eakin, if for no other reason than this.

Not for me it isn't.

Strbak is clearly #1.

Whatever are you talking about?

There is no way AI could be that perfectly terrible.

No qualifying offers for Asplund, Bjork.