GDT: 1/30/21 1pm ET, NJ Devils at Buffalo, MSG & WGR

[GASabresIUFAN]

...and we had 2, count them 2, 5 on 5 goals.  It's a miracle.  🙂

[jad1]

2 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

This is where I disagree. As GMTM showed us, it's easy to fill up cap (Meszaros). There's a UFA player every year who's worth a flier for a good salary -- last year Kovalchuk, this year Hall that you can overpay a bit if you need to. Seattle won't just take Skinner. Especially when they're going to have options from us like: Hall, Borgen, and Ullmark (if we don't re-sign in-season).

The cap is flat for 2 more seasons, then will rise but probably not too much. So that's 3 more seasons at 9M for a guy who really hasn't done anything in the last three seasons when he wasn't skating with Eichel/Reino in a contract year. That's not eating cap, that's crippling cap. The back half of the contract the cap will go up, but the contract will be even worse. It's as Lando said, the deal that is getting worse all the time.

Seattle is an expansion team that will have to hit the cap floor. 

That's difficult to do when you're not signing your own RFAs.

An expansion team will take a vet with a high cap number to hit the floor while loading the roster with inexpensive young guys (Vegas did this with Fluery).

The length of Skinner's deal, however, could put the kabosh on this idea.  Seattle won't like the contract when the RFA deals come up for their young players in 3 years.

 

[Taro T]

2 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Seems like Wedgewood had time to retrieve that stick five or six times.

 

Expecting he thought he'd be worse off holding the broken stick & having his positioning off holding it differently than he would a good stick than he was without the stick.

The broken stick was actually giving Thompson fits off in the corner.

[fiftyone]

18 minutes ago, MODO Hockey said:

And what does that tell you ? if you actually think outside the box.

It tells me that your comment earlier about our "trash coach" never moving Skinner up was completely wrong..

[MODO Hockey]

2 minutes ago, fiftyone said:

It tells me that your comment earlier about our "trash coach" never moving Skinner up was completely wrong..

And that is the difference with a good coach and a bad coach, a good coach would have seen this ages ago. 
You dont put Tage Thompson on the first line, you just dont, unless your a trash coach. Period

[Huckleberry]

was so busy at work , I forgot about this game completely 🙂

[jsb]

1 hour ago, tom webster said:

Wow. Nothing from their obviously injured captain. Nothing from their 9 million winger, Their generational defenseman is still struggling. Apparently their coach sucks. They have played six games against two of the top five teams. And yet?

The underlying numbers say dumb coach’s system leads the league in quality shot suppression, possession numbers are good and:

Their record is 4-3-2 and would be 6-2-1 with better goaltending.

Sounds to me like process is working.

My heart agrees with you, my brain tells me that we just played a team with their 3rd GK with their #1 not here and the 1st line and 2nd line Centers didn't play. We went to a shootout with these guys?? I don't see Modo-disaster here but they still look like crap. The Sabres team defense and PK are lightyears better than anything we've seen around here lately though. 

[DarthEbriate]

19 minutes ago, jad1 said:

Seattle won't like the contract when the RFA deals come up for their young players in 3 years.

Great point on this. In the short-term, everyone else has to lock up their RFAs this year and next on cheap deals (TBL just got everybody on the cheap) which is going to leave a slew of those $4M and $5M players for the expansion draft. Seattle will easily get their cap hits on those shorter contracts and build a much better roster without spending the cash on Skinner. They could also just sign Hall for a shorter contract at less $ than Skinner.

The other big note (and now we really should be discussing this in another thread) is that the NHL just borrowed $1B. I can't imaging the cap doesn't drop again next season, because there's likely no way they can play in full stadiums leaguewide even in 2021-22.

[Taro T]

Not really his fault, as he doesn't choose what line he's going to play on, but Thompson is quickly becoming my least favorite Sabre.

If Reinhart can't go tomorrow, put Skinner in his place w/ Eichel & bump Thompson to the 4th line or watching from the box for Asplund or Mittelstadt.  If Reinhart can go, Thompson can go back to watching.

Am OK w/ giving Okposo 1 more game w/ the Eakin line, but that line has been spending a lot more time in its own end since he was swapped in for Cozens.  Would consider putting Cozens back on that line & moving Skinner into the top 6 (assuming Reinhart can play) for that late 2ndvperiod shakeup with Okposo sliding to the 4th line or out of the lineup as well. Not looking to demote Cozens, but that Eakin line was a true positive when Cozens was there & it's been hemmed in a few times since the line was broken up.

And, as disappointing as their play has been during this homestand, they're in 4th (pending the result of the Pens - Rags tonight) & a win tomorrow has them on pace for playoffs as well.

[French Collection]

Something that no one mentions when talking about Seattle taking Skinner, their GM is Ron Francis.

He would know him better than any executive in the league. If he likes him it is a possibility but you won’t pull the wool over his eyes.

If they are friends he might see him as the scoring centrepiece of the franchise.

That salary though...

[Brawndo]

5 hours ago, Doohickie said:

Good singin' voice.

That’s Kevyn Adams Daughter 

[fiftyone]

1 hour ago, MODO Hockey said:

And that is the difference with a good coach and a bad coach, a good coach would have seen this ages ago. 
You dont put Tage Thompson on the first line, you just dont, unless your a trash coach. Period

I mean, you're moving the goal posts. Going from saying "Ralph will never move Skinner up" to "well, he should have done it ages ago" when he moves him up.

I get it, you don't like him. But you were wrong on this one. He did exactly what you said he wouldn't.

Good to get the W. Go Sabres. 

[JohnC]

2 hours ago, jsb said:

My heart agrees with you, my brain tells me that we just played a team with their 3rd GK with their #1 not here and the 1st line and 2nd line Centers didn't play. We went to a shootout with these guys?? I don't see Modo-disaster here but they still look like crap. The Sabres team defense and PK are lightyears better than anything we've seen around here lately though. 

You just listed two deficiencies that have plagued this team and now appear to be upgraded. Improving team defense isn't easy to attain. It takes a collective belief and buy in that it is a priority. Last year, we had one of the worst PK units in the league. How many points did this team lose because of its ineptness on that unit? It was an issue that was addressed in the offseason. And so far the people who were brought in have fulfilled their roles.  

As far as opponents playing with substitute players I'm not sympathetic to that argument. Injuries are an inescapable part of the game. You just deal with it as best you can. Whether you win or lose with a full or depleted roster a win is a win and a loss is a loss. In the end the points get tabulated with no excuses attached the the end number.  

[repster]

Thank-you for delivering the front end of the four points on my weekend request.

Why must the Sabres continue to do it in such an underwhelming to put it mildly and non-regulation fashion though?

The narrative was that this team finally had the missing skaters to come together and make a bigger impact, but 5 on 5, they look disorganized.  The biggest hole was supposed to be the goaltending.  What Ullmark has done since getting back in net while still mourning his Dad is preserve those extra points after regulation for the most part.  He’s been the strength of the team along with special teams.   It’s still early and they still have lots of time to find that cohesion, but they are getting results.

The wins are what count but we need more of them in regulation when it comes down the tiebreakers at the end of the season.  We are already behind the eight ball being tied for the fewest ROW wins in the division.

[Hawerchuk]

Ok. I love him and you all love him but you have to admit, Rick Jeanneret was awful today. He missed two devils goals and called Eric Stall , Marc Stall when he scored. I understand he’s up there in age and all that but he’s missing lots of things on the ice. The broadcast today was a capital B... as in BORING!

[Broken Ankles]

36 minutes ago, Hawerchuk said:

Ok. I love him and you all love him but you have to admit, Rick Jeanneret was awful today. He missed two devils goals and called Eric Stall , Marc Stall when he scored. I understand he’s up there in age and all that but he’s missing lots of things on the ice. The broadcast today was a capital B... as in BORING!

A living legend.  One of the best there ever was, but I stopped watching the Sabres broadcast years ago.  So inferior to so many other teams with the exception of Marty in between periods.  I watched the Rangers broadcast of Rosen and Micheletti who are no spring chickens themselves but outclass the duo in Buffalo by having researched the team and actually watching multiple games of their opponents before they face off.  Micheletti was hip to all the topics discussed on this forum (Skinner on the 4th, slow start for Dahlin, improved play of Risto, etc) and he referenced plays observed in both games the Sabres played in Washington.  I fail to see the same effort by Ray, so it makes my choice easy.  

[dudacek]

5 hours ago, JohnC said:

He did give up two soft goals. The goal off his arm when he was tight on the net was a fluke. However,  his sterling stops more than make up for the bad goals. Right now he may be the best shoot out goalie in the league. I'm more than happy with his overall performances. 

He’s let in two from behind the net and a few straight in from the point. 
But he’s also battled so hard, put the bad goals behind him and made some fantastic saves with the game on the line.

He’s coming on and putting us in a position to win games.

4 hours ago, nucci said:

I don't understand Dahlin over Skinner or Hall in the shootout

Shootout is a specialty. Before tonight, career success rate:

Skinner 18%

Hall 25%

Dahlin 100%

And it’s not like Skinner has been riding a hot streak lately. Or even the past season and a half.

Edited January 31, 2021 by dudacek

[SwampD]

On another note, the sound of the Sabres games this year has to be addressed. I thought it was just my system, but I watched it at my buddy's house and it was the same.

The audio is at least 1 to 2 frames earlier than the video. It's just not that hard to delay the audio to match.. WTF?

Does nobody hear the the puck slamming off the boards when Jack shoots it wide before we even see Jack shoot the puck.

It's really ***** annoying.

[Taro T]

1 minute ago, SwampD said:

On another note, the sound of the Sabres games this year has to be addressed. I thought it was just my system, but I watched it at my buddy's house and it was the same.

The audio is at least 1 to 2 frames earlier than the video. It's just not that hard to delay the audio to match.. WTF?

Does nobody hear the the puck slamming off the boards when Jack shoots it wide before we even see Jack shoot the puck.

It's really ***** annoying.

PA's been railing on that issue for at least 4 or 5 games now.  And, yes, it is annoying.

[dudacek]

Was anyone else impressed by the four goals we scored tonight?

Staal, Eichel, Reider, Eichel - every one of those perfect shots. That’s something that hasn’t been happening for us earlier this year, and most Sabre teams of the past decade couldn’t do.

[SwampD]

1 minute ago, Taro T said:

PA's been railing on that issue for at least 4 or 5 games now.  And, yes, it is annoying.

Any time you add a piece of video gear into the path, you are adding at least one frame of delay (about 33.4 ms). I guarantee that that stupid squeeze back effect that gives us all vertigo is giving us yet another reason to hate it.

[bob_sauve28]

1 hour ago, Hawerchuk said:

Ok. I love him and you all love him but you have to admit, Rick Jeanneret was awful today. He missed two devils goals and called Eric Stall , Marc Stall when he scored. I understand he’s up there in age and all that but he’s missing lots of things on the ice. The broadcast today was a capital B... as in BORING!

Yup, he’s shot. But who’s gonna tell him to leave?  Probably no one. He might get worse and still try and broadcast games. Oh well, it’s still nice to listen to him. 

[KC Scouts]

3 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Yup, he’s shot. But who’s gonna tell him to leave?  Probably no one. He might get worse and still try and broadcast games. Oh well, it’s still nice to listen to him. 

Agreed....Its the end of his run. Love him no matter what.  Didn't he say this was the last year for him?

[Zamboni]

25 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Yup, he’s shot. But who’s gonna tell him to leave?  Probably no one. He might get worse and still try and broadcast games. Oh well, it’s still nice to listen to him. 

And yet, last game he did, I thought he sounded fine. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

Didn’t people here say that TT was going to score 20 this year and make KA look like a genius for signing him for 3 years at 1.4?  Early returns are worrisome.