2019-2020 Lineup

[sabresparaavida]

50 minutes ago, WildCard said:

 

That definitely matches what I was seeing... I was pleased with how Gilmour did though 

[Brawndo]

There’s no way that Gilmour passes through waivers.

[shrader]

6 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Interesting. I think we have a smart head coach and one of the best gt coaches working with him. I forgot the gt coaches name but wherever he goes, they do well. See Carolina last year. 

What about the year before, when he was also with Carolina?

[Doohicksie]

56 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

There’s no way that Gilmour passes through waivers.

Yeah, there seem to be a lot of Dmen getting picked off the waiver wire these days and seeing him in one game makes me not want to expose him.

[Curt]

12 hours ago, shrader said:

What about the year before, when he was also with Carolina?

I think the answer to this may just be that Cam Ward and Scott Darling are terrible.  That’s what Bales had to work with in 17-18.  Neither one is in the NHL any longer.

[LGR4GM]

On 10/26/2019 at 6:42 PM, shrader said:

What about the year before, when he was also with Carolina?

Cam Ward was slightly better and Darling went downhill so maybe that wasn't a good fit or Bales wasn't able to do his thing, or wasn't good, a lot of variables. Last year in Carolina his GT was good. Which was my comment. He also was good in Pittsburgh for most of his time there. He seems like a good fit for Buffalo. Ullmark looks different IMPO compared to last year. I would attribute that to Bales. Either way it takes a good coach and good players. 

[shrader]

49 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Cam Ward was slightly better and Darling went downhill so maybe that wasn't a good fit or Bales wasn't able to do his thing, or wasn't good, a lot of variables. Last year in Carolina his GT was good. Which was my comment. He also was good in Pittsburgh for most of his time there. He seems like a good fit for Buffalo. Ullmark looks different IMPO compared to last year. I would attribute that to Bales. Either way it takes a good coach and good players. 

 

That's really my point with the comment.  Bales is probably a big help, but it's one of many things that has sparked the fast start.  I hope he is in fact the real deal because I'm still not convinced we have a starting goalie on this team.  A 60/40 split can take them places in the regular season, but it can also catch up to you during crunch time.

[WildCard]

 

[Eleven]

They're back to not getting any secondary scoring from the forwards again.  It's been over 5 games since a forward other than 9, 23, and 53 has scored a goal.

[Randall Flagg]

2 hours ago, Eleven said:

They're back to not getting any secondary scoring from the forwards again.  It's been over 5 games since a forward other than 9, 23, and 53 has scored a goal.

I'm already on Sheary watch. I know he missed three games in that span, but he has one point since October 7th. 

Last year he went 43 games with only one or two non-empty-net goals, as we collapsed. 

There was a stretch of about 4 games recently where the only thing he did with the puck was lose it, which was his defining trait during that bad stretch last season. I'm talking like, maybe completed a couple passes, and literally lost the puck every single other time he touched it 

Edited November 9, 2019 by Randall Flagg

[freester]

Acquiring Vesey was a garbage move. He’s a 4th line player and we have plenty of those. We still only have 4 top 6 forwards. Until that changes we aren’t making the playoffs. 

[darksabre]

This team is going nowhere fast if it doesn't find some more talent somewhere. I'm not watching this lineup for 65 more games. 

[Taro T]

11 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

I'm already on Sheary watch. I know he missed three games in that span, but he has one point since October 7th. 

Last year he went 43 games with only one or two non-empty-net goals, as we collapsed. 

There was a stretch of about 4 games recently where the only thing he did with the puck was lose it, which was his defining trait during that bad stretch last season. I'm talking like, maybe completed a couple passes, and literally lost the puck every single other time he touched it 

Yeah.  So, bring up Thompson to play with Skinner and Johansson and convert Ristolainen into Ehlers (moving whatever spare parts even that out).  Then slide Olofsson onto Mittelstadt's line and play Vesey there when not playing the Pens and Sheary there against the Pens.  Rodrigues is finally the 14th forward which many here considered a seminal moment for roster integrity.

Keep Dahlin with Montour and slide Jokiharju up with McCabe.  Then Miller pairs with either Pilut or Scandella (once healthy).  And suddenly an 88 point team is on pace for 96 and the last playoff spot.  (Jokiharju probably didn't make this roster had Montour not injured his hand but he's arguably been their best D-man to date.)

Botterill, it's so simple a Murray could do it. ?

[Stoner]

 

[GASabresIUFAN]

So which forwards are healthy?

Lazar, Tage and Asplund recalled.

MoJo, Larsson, Sobotka and KO hurt

How does RK allocate the recalls?

 

[LGR4GM]

Fun fact. Joonas Donskoi who many of us wanted as a UFA over the summer to help stabilize the RW, he has 9g, 5a in 20 games for Colorado. Oh and he makes about 1.5mil more than Vesey so if we had not gotten Vesey and made almost any other move, Donskoi fits under the cap... you know like if we had traded a defender. But hey, I sure am glad we got a guy who never wanted to come to Buffalo to come to Buffalo and sorta kinda try every once in a shift. 

[Brawndo]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Fun fact. Joonas Donskoi who many of us wanted as a UFA over the summer to help stabilize the RW, he has 9g, 5a in 20 games for Colorado. Oh and he makes about 1.5mil more than Vesey so if we had not gotten Vesey and made almost any other move, Donskoi fits under the cap... you know like if we had traded a defender. But hey, I sure am glad we got a guy who never wanted to come to Buffalo to come to Buffalo and sorta kinda try every once in a shift. 

I believe that Donskoi, Nyquist and Palevski were all approached by the Sabres during the UFA Courting Period, they all declined and that was when the trade for Vesey was finalized. The NHLPA had a poll on the best and worse places to play, Buffalo was Number 2 on one of those lists. 

[LGR4GM]

27 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

I believe that Donskoi, Nyquist and Palevski were all approached by the Sabres during the UFA Courting Period, they all declined and that was when the trade for Vesey was finalized. The NHLPA had a poll on the best and worse places to play, Buffalo was Number 2 on one of those lists. 

Seems about right. Who would want to play for a team that quits every November? 

[nfreeman]

Here's something positive:  I think last night was ERod's best game of the season.  He skated well and created a number of chances.  Getting him back to the 50-pt pace (or thereabouts) that he had in the 2nd half of last season would be a big help.

[Doohicksie]

I think ERod has been playing fine at center.  One can argue he's not shooting enough (and people around here do), but that's a teamwide issue if you ask me.  In his case you can at least blame it on timing since he hasn't played the full season here.

[Randall Flagg]

19 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

I think ERod has been playing fine at center.  One can argue he's not shooting enough (and people around here do), but that's a teamwide issue if you ask me.  In his case you can at least blame it on timing since he hasn't played the full season here.

He very clearly struggled more with consistency than anything else early on, which was forgivable since he's demonstrably been a player that needs a regular niche to do well, like Larry and Zemgus. The minutes have helped him play back to where he was last year, and it helps the team. It'll help the team a lot more from the 3rd line than from 2C when Mojo gets back

[sabresparaavida]

Didn't know where to put this, so I stuck it here. I happened to look at +/- earlier today. Jack and Scandella lead the team with +13. I was surprised at who was in 3rd- Jimmy Vesey with a +10. Vesey has been quietly playing a very solid game since mid-November.

 

Unsurprisingly, Mitts is worst on the team with a -5 currently

[Mustache of God]

I really hope they don't do with Mitts what they did with Tage....have him up when he's not ready and then stick in him Rochester to start the next season. He needs to go down and rebuild his confidence.

Speaking of Tage, any update on his timeline to be back? I imagine they'd re-assign him when he's healthy so he can get a few games in. I would like to see him come back up at some point and see if he can help the 2nd or 3rd line. 

[WildCard]

I completely forgot Tage Thompson existed. How's he been in Rochester?

[dudacek]

1 minute ago, WildCard said:

I completely forgot Tage Thompson existed. How's he been in Rochester?

He was leading them in scoring.

He got called up around when Okie got hurt and immediately got hurt himself. Should be back in action around Christmas, if I remember the timeline correctly.