Doohicksie

I've been reading the thread on HFBoards Avs forum about the trade. Basically both teams are benefiting because both players were playing about a line below their capabilities but are now able to play in the right spot on their new teams. They desperately needed a 2C to get serious about the playoffs and they've filled that void pretty well. Their comments about Mittsy's play mirrors what we saw in Buffalo, and he's the undisputed 2C there. They know Byram is very good, but he's not about to break into Makar - Toews. The Sabres know Mitts is good, but he's not going to leap over Tage and Dylan (at least in the long term). Both teams benefit.

Why? I think you're connecting too many dots there.

The problem with VO is that he had a good year as a goal scorer in a season when the Sabres sucked (he was one of the bright spots under RK). They paid him to score goals, and he has, but he's also one of the worst +/- players we've had. I think if he'd been used differently, and had tried to be more defensively responsible, he'd be considered a solid NHLer instead of a liability. With the emergence of other scorers he was pushed off to the side. He's a .6 PPG player; he's scored 20, 13, 20 & 28 goals over the last 4 seasons before dropping to only 5 (over 39 games) this year. Those are outstanding numbers for a 7th round pick.

I would word that as "this new duo could recognized as one of the best pairings in the league in the not too distant future." ...because I think they already are, people just haven't realized it yet. Even on the Avs forum on HFBoards they're saying that.

Momentum waxing!

I'm not especially enthralled with the Sabres chances against the Kraken or Canucks this week.

But he will help in the playoffs. 😉

...or unless the Sabres stumble and drop back in the pack.

TWICE. They relocated to Calgary and to Winnipeg. Way ahead of ya, pal.

Jost definitely has some wheels. Does Olofsson? He's never stood out as s speedy guy. But perhaps Jost is faster than Mitts and Ollie is faster than Okposo so overally, yes there's a positive impact on team speed. I noticed yesterday that speed-wise, Kane is washed. Done. Kaput. He had a chance at a break and the D... I think it was Joki?... just skated past him and took the puck away. The frustrating thing is teams that take time and space away by disrupting passes. I think the teams that can stop the Sabres' passing game are the once who give them fits.

I'm not that epic or subtle.

Depending on how things go between Dahlin and Byram, I wouldn't be surprised to see Byram get the C next year. (If they think Dahlin would see that as a snub then Dahlin will get it; the other candidate I think is Tuch.)

Eh, one of the best to play the game, Nick Lidstrom, wasn't especially physical. What made him exceptional was his positioning.

He doesn't need to be a bruiser to be effective. Thinking that he does is a fallacy.

On the contrary, I think Power is starting to follow suit. He was trying emulate Dahlin I think who frequently will carry the puck deep into the zone to create offense. Power doesn't look comfortable doing that, imo, but swooping into the slot for an opportunity without the puck, then swooping back to the point seems more in his wheelhouse. Bringing Byram in brings in another toolbox of creating offense from defense.

So.... I guess I'm Barney Miller and @SDS is the English prof, eh?

Check my math, but as I recall, with 6 weeks to go in the NFL season, the Bills had a 1-in-1,000 chance to be the 2 seed in the AFC, but they did it. There were fewer moving pieces in that scenario... mostly just whether they could catch Miami, but they did it. Come Sabres: If the Bills could do it, so can you.

Reposted from another thread, but sees relevant in this one: I think Cale Makar was kind of a unicorn when he came up and they let him run with it. Byram came up in that environment, into a mature system, and their tone on D was set by Makar- defensemen that freely activate into the offense, and with forwards that know to backfill. When Rasmus got here we just didn't have good coaching and the rapid coaching changes meant that the system was never settled. Then Byram got here and I think he said, "Guys, you're making this harder than it needs to be. Just go with the flow." And suddenly the team feels.... different. To expand on that a little, I think perhaps this year's early season struggles were necessary in terms of getting forwards, and the whole team really, to focus on defense, even though they sucked at it (and the early season goaltending situation made it worse). I think the team better understands what team defense means now, and injecting Byram into the situation kind of reset the team to start pushing offensively again, to be more like last year's team, only with (hopefully) more defensive awareness going forward. Or it's all fool's gold again and we'll suck the first half of next season too.

Regardless of etymology, language use is descriptive, not prescriptive. In other words, the language that is commonly used becomes the proper usage. Language rules describe how the words are used. Prescriptive tends to mean based on etymology, the right way to say should be... But just like ain't is now considered acceptable usage because it is common usage, so is both offside and offsides. I used to get more wrapped around the axle about using words correctly but at this point as long as the meaning is clear, who cares? Well, besides you? (or should that be "beside you?")

I think Cale Makar was kind of a unicorn when he came up and they let him run with it. Byram came up in that environment, into a mature system, and their tone on D was set by Makar- defensemen that freely activate into the offense, and with forwards that know to backfill. When Rasmus got here we just didn't have good coaching and the rapid coaching changes meant that the system was never settled. Then Byram got here and I think he said, "Guys, you're making this harder than it needs to be. Just go with the flow." And suddenly the team feels.... different.

I think bringing in Byram will help in that regard.

The hype machine is bigger than the Sabres org. I watched the second two periods on the Red Wings coverage last night and they had nothing but praise for the guy. They see his potential, and he's a pretty good player already. His Corsi For is 51.9%; that's pretty good. I think the negative view of Power is fueled by the fact that people want to see the finished product now but Power is still on the development curve.