GDT 2/25/21: 7pm ET, NJ Devils @ Sabres, local TV and Radio

[Norcal]

41 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Risto on the ice, will not play though

Good news. Go Rasmus!!

[LTS]

I'm sure Eichel will be a game time decision.

Skinner?  That's a strange one. You'd think he'd be on the ice unless there is some other stuff that's been going on that we've not been privy to.

I should be back from the varsity hockey game in time to rock my reverse retro my son bought me for Xmas and watch the game with him.  Just hoping his team wins tonight so he's in a good mood. 🙂

[Brawndo]

Skinner with the Taxi Squad today, will be a healthy scratch tonight 

[Thwomp!]

2 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Skinner with the Taxi Squad today, will be a healthy scratch tonight 

Probably gonna take our first round pick this year, likely in the lottery, to entice Seattle to take that contract off our hands?  That's a huge $9M anchor, no matter where the blame lies.

[That Aud Smell]

4 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Skinner with the Taxi Squad today, will be a healthy scratch tonight 

1 minute ago, Thwomp! said:

Probably gonna take our first round pick this year, likely in the lottery, to entice Seattle to take that contract off our hands?  That's a huge $9M anchor, no matter where the blame lies.

There's gonna be pain involved, for sure.

I was bemoaning this contract with someone IRL. I blamed Botterill. The other person then said they'd heard that the Pegulas forced his hand on re-signing Skinner. I don't recall hearing that. Anyone?

[Stoner]

4 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

There's gonna be pain involved, for sure.

I was bemoaning this contract with someone IRL. I blamed Botterill. The other person then said they'd heard that the Pegulas forced his hand on re-signing Skinner. I don't recall hearing that. Anyone?

In other news, husbands every day are being forced to agree to kitchen renos.

[Mustache of God]

27 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

There's gonna be pain involved, for sure.

I was bemoaning this contract with someone IRL. I blamed Botterill. The other person then said they'd heard that the Pegulas forced his hand on re-signing Skinner. I don't recall hearing that. Anyone?

I think I heard that the Pegulas also forced his hand on getting ROR out of town, before his bonus was due....which I probably heard here (not sure if true or not). 

We would have had 3 Stanley cups by now if it weren't for your meddling owners!

[pi2000]

My hope with Skinner is that RK is grooming him for a spot on Eichel's wing.     There are other players better suited for 3rd/4th line roles, so for now Skinner finds himself on the outside looking in.   

That, or RK has absolutely no idea what he's doing and has a personal vendetta against Jeff.   

[dudacek]

When was the last time Jeff Skinner was clearly playing better than the guys who are dressing ahead of him?

We're talking October 2019, right?

[Kruppstahl]

46 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Skinner with the Taxi Squad today, will be a healthy scratch tonight 

The Sabres don't need to spend $9,000,000 per year to have Jeff Skinner not play on the team.

They could have gotten that for free.

 

 

[Cal Naughton Jr]

I’m really starting to wonder if Skinner hooked up with Ralph’s daughter or something 

[Trettioåtta]

The Skinner stuff is odd. There must be some drama behind the scenes.

Even a punishment benching is usually 1-2 games at most

[dudacek]

Just now, Cal Naughton Jr said:

I’m really starting to wonder if Skinner hooked up with Ralph’s daughter or something 

4 goals in his past 46 games has nothing to do with it?

[Cal Naughton Jr]

Just now, dudacek said:

4 goals in his past 46 games has nothing to do with it?

Well yeah. If it was Reinhart Ralph might not care. He’s scoring goals

[Stoner]

7 minutes ago, dudacek said:

4 goals in his past 46 games has nothing to do with it?

You must feel like I did when I tried to tell people Pegula was trash, to be feared and loathed.

[Cal Naughton Jr]

2 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

You must feel like I did when I tried to tell people Pegula was trash, to be feared and loathed.

You wouldn’t necessarily feel that way if you’re a Bills fan as well

[DarthEbriate]

Never my mind on where I was, what I was doing...  always my mind on the macroschedule of the season.

The next 2 weeks make or break the season, so hopefully the top six gets going tonight. In two weeks we start our season series against Pittsburgh, but before then we've got 3 vs. PHI, 3 vs. NYI (whom we trail 0-3 on the season), 1 vs. NYR, and 1 vs. NJD tonight.    We have to win 2-of-3 in regulation vs. PHI and 2-of-3 in regulation vs NYI at a minimum. 6-2 or 5-2-1 in the next eight games is critical to save the season. If we lose ground to PHI and NYI here, then the season will be over before getting to Pittsburgh... because then we'd need to essentially sweep the BOS and PIT season series to get into the top four.

For tonight's game... we know Ruff will have the Devils ready to go to avenge their 2-game losing streak. Expect a heavy surge the first 10 minutes.

Let's go, Buffalo!

[Kruppstahl]

Ralph Krueger was on this morning with Howard and Jeremy.

Howard asked point blank why Jack Eichel doesn't look right.

Ralph basically implied that it's a conditioning thing; his pre-season injury delayed the start of his camp by 1 week and the compressed schedule has resulted in little training/fitness time to catch up.

Not sure I buy this as Jack is known to be a gym rat and these guys have a lot of dead time in their days, especially on the road. 

 

 

[Cal Naughton Jr]

4 minutes ago, Kruppstahl said:

Ralph Krueger was on this morning with Howard and Jeremy.

Howard asked point blank why Jack Eichel doesn't look right.

Ralph basically implied that it's a conditioning thing; his pre-season injury delayed the start of his camp by 1 week and the compressed schedule has resulted in little training/fitness time to catch up.

Not sure I buy this as Jack is known to be a gym rat and these guys have a lot of dead time in their days, especially on the road. 

 

 

I’m not buying that at all

[DarthEbriate]

7 minutes ago, Cal Naughton Jr said:

I’m not buying that at all

Yeah... last time it was emphatically Eichel wasn't hurt and it was confidence-based. This time it's conditioning-based. I mean, if this works as motivation for Eichel, great, but it sounds wrong either way.

RE: Skinner. I figured the breather would be a game or the planned back-to-back. But now it's a "Asplund PKs for Rieder's spot" and "Mitts has better vision and is starting to gel with Lazar/Sheahen for Skinner's spot. So if Skinner has to wait for Cozens or Okposo to get a night off in order to get back into the lineup, it's going to be awhile. And... if Thompson gets back on the ice before Skinner, then GM Sheevyn might as well just assign Skinner to the taxi squad and then Rochester and be done with it (at least in the AHL he might get ice time and re-find his scoring).

Edited February 25, 2021 by DarthEbriate

[Mustache of God]

1 hour ago, pi2000 said:

My hope with Skinner is that RK is grooming him for a spot on Eichel's wing.     There are other players better suited for 3rd/4th line roles, so for now Skinner finds himself on the outside looking in.   

That, or RK has absolutely no idea what he's doing and has a personal vendetta against Jeff.   

I hope the bolded is the case. I like Olofsson but he doesn't belong on the #1 line with Jack 5v5. He's a damned fine power play specialist but his even strength play is lacking, which is fine. Let Skinner play with Jack 5v5 and put Oloffson somewhere in the bottom 6.

I'm guessing there's something else going on with Skinner, he's always come off a bit petulant to me so maybe Ralph doesn't like his attitude? Who knows.

[Torpedo Forecheck]

1 minute ago, Mustache of God said:

I hope the bolded is the case. I like Olofsson but he doesn't belong on the #1 line with Jack 5v5. He's a damned fine power play specialist but his even strength play is lacking, which is fine. Let Skinner play with Jack 5v5 and put Oloffson somewhere in the bottom 6.

I'm guessing there's something else going on with Skinner, he's always come off a bit petulant to me so maybe Ralph doesn't like his attitude? Who knows.

Might be the threesome with Ralph's wife and daughter, at this point we're just grasping though. Could be much worse.

[Thorner]

34 minutes ago, dudacek said:

4 goals in his past 46 games has nothing to do with it?

So when do we bench Jack? Haha

- - - 

The fact Skinner isn’t even on the ice is crazy to me. Wonder what’s happening

- - - 

Also, we do need to factor in penalties - Skinner draws them. Can’t pigeonhole his value too much. He provides more value than many of his potential replacements for this reason alone. 

Edited February 25, 2021 by Thorny

[That Aud Smell]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

In other news, husbands every day are being forced to agree to kitchen renos.

I positively *gasped* when I read this as I am squarely in the midst of such an experience myself. #YesDear #WhateverYouWantIsGoodWithMeHon

1 hour ago, Mustache of God said:

I think I heard that the Pegulas also forced his hand on getting ROR out of town, before his bonus was due....which I probably heard here (not sure if true or not). 

We would have had 3 Stanley cups by now if it weren't for your meddling owners!

Yeah - the ROR thing seems almost like received wisdom. I'd never heard the Skinner one, though. 

Then again: The Kitchen Reno Theorem.

1 hour ago, pi2000 said:

My hope with Skinner is that RK is grooming him for a spot on Eichel's wing.     There are other players better suited for 3rd/4th line roles, so for now Skinner finds himself on the outside looking in.   

That, or RK has absolutely no idea what he's doing and has a personal vendetta against Jeff.   

Healthy scratches are a way of grooming a former 40-goal scorer for a LW1 spot?

[Mustache of God]

1 minute ago, Thorny said:

So when do we bench Jack? Haha

- - - 

The fact Skinner isn’t even on the ice is crazy to me 

He was on the ice...with the taxi squad. 

 

At this rate he'll be in the AHL by the weekend, EHL by April and on my beer league team by May.