8 points out

[Thorner]

4 minutes ago, inkman said:

The absolute arrogance he displayed after his shootout goal, gave me the tingles.  It was a coming of age moment where one look said, “Yeah I ***** scored, I expect it!”

Def. But I'd prefer that arrogance and it's 51 point pace coming from the 2-hole. Or, ideally, the 3-hole on a team with contention aspirations. But that's getting pretty long term. Could a team with Tage in the 2 hole make the playoffs? I'd say it's possible. 

[inkman]

1 minute ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Had a sweet assist on Bjork's goal the other night 

He’s certainly been more useful under Donnie magic Meatballs than any coach in a long while. 

[Thorner]

2 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Had a sweet assist on Bjork's goal the other night 

I said "Winnipeg's Own Cody Eakin" out loud like 50 times in the arena that night

[inkman]

1 minute ago, Thorny said:

Def. But I'd prefer that arrogance and it's 51 point pace coming from the 2-hole. Or, ideally, the 3-hole on a team with contention aspirations. But that's getting pretty long term. Could a team with Tage in the 2 hole make the playoffs? I'd say it's possible. 

Hard to say how the center spine will shake out.  We have Mitts, Cozens, Tage, Krebs, Quinn (is that experiment over) plus whoever we draft the next two offseasons. Certainly a much better place to be in than anything we’ve had since Jack and Ryan were patrolling center ice.  So many options and so much depth.  It happened rather quick. Is Girgs our long term 4C?  I don’t see any one else in the pipeline unless they think they’ve found something Jankowski.  

[Thorner]

5 minutes ago, inkman said:

Hard to say how the center spine will shake out.  We have Mitts, Cozens, Tage, Krebs, Quinn (is that experiment over) plus whoever we draft the next two offseasons. Certainly a much better place to be in than anything we’ve had since Jack and Ryan were patrolling center ice.  So many options and so much depth.  It happened rather quick. Is Girgs our long term 4C?  I don’t see any one else in the pipeline unless they think they’ve found something Jankowski.  

It's an accumulation of depth that leaves me thinking we shouldn't have much trouble filling out a a strong mid-lineup C unit. Whether, with the picks coming*, it represents the type of depth that'll give rise to a legitimate 1C, remains to be seen. I'm confident enough in Cozens becoming a GOOD 2C (above average) and Tage becoming a GOOD 3rd scoring line C. (His numbers actually put him as a GOOD 2C right now, but I think some of that is because of usage and if we want the team output to be where we want it, I suspect we'd be better/ideally served with him in the 3C role - we talk a lot of filling the "Roy" role, so again if we are talking making a comparison to what was a contending team, Roy was a 54 point pacer in 06 and a 69 point pacer in 07. If that team is the goal, Tage right about now slides nicely into that spot).

*I don't really see even a first line ceiling with Mitts, Tage, and Krebs, so while I think Cozens has a shot to get there, adding one C with that potential to round out the group seems important to me, particularly considering the system is lacking NHL prospective Cs in general after Krebs, if we count Dylan as an NHLer. But Krebs does help add good depth, filling out the unit seems more likely than it did a few months ago before that addition and the emergence of Tage, so if we *did* add a C high in the draft with one of our 3 firsts, even if that player didn't reach the true 1C level I'd be starting to really like our chances the C spine ends up good enough purely though the depth of true 2Cs we may amount to. 

You don't often see contending teams without a true 1C but it does happen. Regardless, seeing a team go 3 straight years without drafting a C in the first (and maybe even the second) round would strike me as an anomaly - with all the picks we have I hope at least one is focused on a C. 

[dudacek]

48 minutes ago, inkman said:

The absolute arrogance he displayed after his shootout goal, gave me the tingles.  It was a coming of age moment where one look said, “Yeah I ***** scored, I expect it!”

Thank you!

Mentioned it immediately to my daughter in the moment.

Its been a long time since we’ve seen that kind of swagger in a Sabre not named Eichel. Even with Jack, the losing often seemed to beat it out of him.

In my view it’s what Dahlin needs.

Quinn has it. From what I’ve seen of Power, he has it too.

Edited December 17, 2021 by dudacek

[Thorner]

Well, aside from this guy

[Stoner]

1 hour ago, nfreeman said:

Mike Ramsey was great, but he wasn't "Rammer."  That was Craig Ramsay.

If my mistake costs the Sabres a playoff berth, I'll be beside myself. Maybe the Gods will punish me and spare the team.

12 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Win tomorrow and it's 5.

"Ram" it home, Sabres!

 

[Thorner]

Only 3 points out of qualification for the 24-team playoff after season gets shortened 

[Marvin]

3 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

If my mistake costs the Sabres a playoff berth, I'll be beside myself. Maybe the Gods will punish me and spare the team.

Just enjoy yourself.  I am sure all of us have said and done things which might have offended The Hockey Gods.  We can't worry about minor transgressions or otherwise we'd go insane.

[PromoTheRobot]

As of now, we are 6 points out.

[woods-racer]

59 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

As of now, we are 6 points out.

If you would have told me that on September 15th I would have taken it and been the happiest fan. Entertaining, well coached and fun to watch and a not to distant sniff to the playoffs. More than any one  predicted (excluding @The Ghost of Doohickie, the eternal optimist).

But I snorted some hope-ium.

I haven't yelled at my TV this loud in years. I really think they  can make it 4. 

 

[Wyldnwoody44]

[GASabresIUFAN]

Sorry to be Johnny Raincloud but the six points, while accurate, doesn’t take into account Boston’s four games in hand.

We just need to keep winning and earning points.

[Derrico]

12 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

As of now, we are 6 points out.

[Stoner]

Six within reach.

[Doohicksie]

I think coming in 9th and winning the draft lottery would be the perfect outcome, but I'll settle for a playoff spot.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Bump ...

Looks like 12 now.

Don't shoot the messenger.

We got this!!

[GASabresIUFAN]

47 minutes ago, The Ghost of Doohickie said:

Bump ...

Looks like 12 now.

Don't shoot the messenger.

We got this!!

Lol.  We are 9 points from being last in the NHL again and 12 points from a playoff spot held by Boston who has 3 games in hand and a .612 win % compared to our .382.  Time to rotate the kids and see what they can do. 

[Taro T]

After getting 5 of the last 8 points, only 17 points out of a playoff spot.

[woods-racer]

56 minutes ago, Taro T said:

After getting 5 of the last 8 points, only 17 points out of a playoff spot.

Love your optimism!

 

[Marvin]

1 hour ago, Taro T said:

After getting 5 of the last 8 points, only 17 points out of a playoff spot.

Give us some time.  We can get there.  Just wait until we're healthy.  Don't give up hope!  (Add your cliche here.)

[PromoTheRobot]

2 hours ago, Taro T said:

After getting 5 of the last 8 points, only 17 points out of a playoff spot.

We are exactly half way through the season, 41 games, 33 points, .402 pt%. If we somehow played at a .625 pt% the rest of the way, we earn another 52 points. Add 33 and you have 85 for the year, unlikely enough for a berth. But if we could finish with 80 or more that would be a nice year considering what the predictions were.

[woods-racer]

19 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

We are exactly half way through the season, 41 games, 33 points, .402 pt%. If we somehow played at a .625 pt% the rest of the way, we earn another 52 points. Add 33 and you have 85 for the year, unlikely enough for a berth. But if we could finish with 80 or more that would be a nice year considering what the predictions were.

The expectations where the same as last year if not lower considering our player losses.

Last year we had 15 wins in 56 games played, if we made it a full 82 games that would be around a total of 51-55 points for the season.

This year we have 13 wins in 41 games played with 33 points, if we can finish out strong and end the year with 66-70 points that is a huge improvement.

[dudacek]

21 minutes ago, woods-racer said:

The expectations where the same as last year if not lower considering our player losses.

Last year we had 15 wins in 56 games played, if we made it a full 82 games that would be around a total of 51-55 points for the season.

This year we have 13 wins in 41 games played with 33 points, if we can finish out strong and end the year with 66-70 points that is a huge improvement.

Sometimes I think people forget how bad last year’s team was and how many key veterans from the start of last year were dumped and replaced by mostly JAGs

• Eichel -> Hinostroza
• Reinhart -> Hayden
• Hall -> Caggiula
• Staal -> Jankowski
• Ristolainen -> Pysyk
• McCabe -> Hagg
• Montour -> Butcher
• Ullmark -> Anderson
• Hutton -> Dell

The fact that this team has moved ahead of 4 teams in the standings and is in within 4 points of 5 others is amazing to me, considering the obvious downgrade in talent.

That’s pretty much entirely on Granato and what he’s done with the talent that stayed and was being squandered by the previous regime.

Tuch is really the first fresh bullet that’s starting to reverse the talent drain.

Edited January 23, 2022 by dudacek