🏒 Buffalo @ Columbus, 7 December 2022 7:30 PM ET, TNT TV, WGR Radio

[Pimlach]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

We're all of them with that pair on the ice?

It looked like it to me.  78 and 20 were out there for all the goals. 

Dahlin and Samuelsson has 18 mins of ice, low for them.  Pilut and Bryson played a lot more than normal, especially in the 3rd.  Pilut just would not engage with anyone, so Laine got a free ride in our zone.  

Our first line didn't see much ice time in the 3rd at all.   I saw Cozens played a few shifts with the bottom 6, that could have been due to line changes on the fly, or it could have been to help them.   

Tochett suggested after the game that it could be time for Adams to make moves to accelerate the team.  Pang said he thinks they are good enough to make a playoff run with a few additions.  Hank was trying to be polite, but he clearly said our offensive system can be dialed back to support better d-zone play. 

Everyone is seeing what we see, that we could be further up the standings with a few moves.  

[Crusader1969]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Anyone saying 20yr of Dahlin should be traded was wrong then and still wrong today. 

Tage is an exception. 

UPL, doesn't look good in the AHL or in the NHL. How many years do we wait before we upgrade him because he might maybe someday be an average nhl starter?

You should always be looking to upgrade. But you don’t toss away a 23 year old goalie.  
 

[tom webster]

1 minute ago, Crusader1969 said:

You should always be looking to upgrade. But you don’t toss away a 23 year old goalie.  
 

You are right, goaltenders are unpredictable but you also cannot wait for UPL to rediscover the magic he found once in the last several years. As I’ve said repeatedly, other than WNY, he has not been considered a top prospect. He had one great year in junior hockey but has been less than mediocre ever since. 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Great game.

The defence (not just the Dmen) was a little loose on occasion, but still a win is a win.

[Crusader1969]

7 minutes ago, tom webster said:

You are right, goaltenders are unpredictable but you also cannot wait for UPL to rediscover the magic he found once in the last several years. As I’ve said repeatedly, other than WNY, he has not been considered a top prospect. He had one great year in junior hockey but has been less than mediocre ever since. 

Yes, im not saying he should be playing on the Sabres.  Im just saying that you don’t discard him.  He is fine in Rochester

[SwampD]

I ***** hate gifs.

It’s like watching people converse with cave drawings.

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, NJhopelessSabresfan66 said:

Tage has been and is a Monster. With the talent that can get him open and fed, he is going to have a monster year!

Tuch and Skinner were absolutely brilliant in feeding the Tage.  On the fourth goal (Tage's second) in particular, Tuch engaged two defenders, still managed to get control of the puck well enough to perfectly feed Thompson for the tap-in shot.  Tage had 6 points but both his linemates had 4 point nights as well.

Cozens had his third consecutive 3-point night and fourth consecutive multi-point night.

Krebs got off the schneid with an excellent individual effort displaying tenacity and hustle.

Tage's accomplishment overshadows all of that but there were several players that had excellent games.

[LGR4GM]

 

[Pimlach]

13 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

You should always be looking to upgrade. But you don’t toss away a 23 year old goalie.  
 

 

9 minutes ago, tom webster said:

You are right, goaltenders are unpredictable but you also cannot wait for UPL to rediscover the magic he found once in the last several years. As I’ve said repeatedly, other than WNY, he has not been considered a top prospect. He had one great year in junior hockey but has been less than mediocre ever since. 

 

Finding a goalie is not going to be easy and most teams are in the boat of looking for one.  Acquiring a guy like Comrie, and hoping he develops further, while maybe having Levi and Portillo in the wings is not a bad strategy.  But it should not be the only thing we do.   

Toker, Dell, Andy, and Comrie - Adams has to get goalie play to a higher level. 

All that said, look at the cap money spent here.  Looks like a bunch of "good" goalies do not stay good for very long.  

 

 

 

[LGR4GM]

42 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Tuch and Skinner were absolutely brilliant in feeding the Tage.  On the fourth goal (Tage's second) in particular, Tuch engaged two defenders, still managed to get control of the puck well enough to perfectly feed Thompson for the tap-in shot.  Tage had 6 points but both his linemates had 4 point nights as well.

Cozens had his third consecutive 3-point night and fourth consecutive multi-point night.

Krebs got off the schneid with an excellent individual effort displaying tenacity and hustle.

Tage's accomplishment overshadows all of that but there were several players that had excellent games.

I think on the broadcast they said that Cozens is the only player of any age to have 3 consecutive 3pt games this season or in Sabres history or something like that. Sorry I don't remember it exactly. 

Edited December 8, 2022 by LGR4GM

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, That Aud Smell said:

Speaking of hustle - I saw Mittelstadt deny a breakaway to Gudreau (so many likely spelling errors here) by hauling ass back into the neutral zone.

I've been thinking about starting a thread... just a thought experiment, not a real suggestion, but basically which forward would be best to move to defense, which defenseman would best be moved to forward.  Part of it would be who would naturally be best in the new position, but also who would benefit the most from the move.  Mittelstadt strikes me as the one I'd like to move to D.  He seems more apt at disruption of the other team than at playmaking for the Sabres.  He is pretty fast and has the size to be a creditable Dman.

On defense I think maybe Pilut or Bryson would be the one I would move up to forward.

But like I said, just a thought experiment... probably should start another thread.

Just now, LGR4GM said:

I think on the broadcast they said that Tage is the only player of any age to have 3 consecutive 3pt games this season or in Sabres history or something like that. Sorry I don't remember it exactly. 

You mean Dylan.  He's on a 3-point game streak right now.

[sabresouth]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

The trade should have happened when Mule went down.  

It’s time for KA to get off his behind and fix the D.

And goaltending

[GASabresIUFAN]

5 minutes ago, sabresouth said:

And goaltending

Goaltending is much harder in season to get a deal done before the deadline.  I just don't see KA giving up on Comrie after 11 games and Anderson has been very good.  UPL still isn't good however.

[sabresouth]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

I know you have pushed this but trades like the one you want early in the season are exceedingly rare. Teams simply don't trade much in October-December. End of January you might start to see some movement. 

Come on now, Adams may have flaws but he isn't sitting on his butt not doing anything. It just doesn't fit who he is. 

I disagree. KA has had two plus years to fix the goaltending and hasn't done it yet. My only knock against KA is his slowness to act at times to an obvious need.

[Huckleberry]

 

[LGR4GM]

24 minutes ago, sabresouth said:

I disagree. KA has had two plus years to fix the goaltending and hasn't done it yet. My only knock against KA is his slowness to act at times to an obvious need.

Has he not tried though? And has he been able to add a goalie of substance in October, Nov, or Dec? Nope because teams don't trade then. 

If ppl want to say Adams move to fix goalie havent worked, fine that is true. But for the love of hockey stop with the slowness to act hasn't done anything, has had years to fix it and hasn't done it stuff. He's tried and failed but stop acting like he has ignored the position like some moron who doesn't get it. 

[Weave]

1 hour ago, SwampD said:

I ***** hate gifs.

It’s like watching people converse with cave drawings.

[Doohicksie]

32 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

 

1 hour ago, SwampD said:

I ***** hate gifs.

It’s like watching people converse with cave drawings.

[sabresouth]

8 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Has he not tried though? And has he been able to add a goalie of substance in October, Nov, or Dec? Nope because teams don't trade then. 

If ppl want to say Adams move to fix goalie havent worked, fine that is true. But for the love of hockey stop with the slowness to act hasn't done anything, has had years to fix it and hasn't done it stuff. He's tried and failed but stop acting like he has ignored the position like some moron who doesn't get it. 

No, I'm just saying that it hasn't been a high enough  priority for him. I think he could have tried harder and succeeded if he really wanted to.  I run cattle and sell cattle at auctions all the time. The buyer is the one willing to pay the price and that is what it is worth. The other bidders stopped bidding because it wasn't a high enough priority for them to buy that particular steer. The same goes for KA. We have plenty of assets and if you are willing to pay the price you can get what you need. I believe that we can make the playoffs this year. What price is KA willing to pay to make that happen. I don't think we would have to break the bank to get it done.  I also would be willing to pay more for a given player than other teams because of the position we are in. It's hard to overpay if it gets you in the playoffs.  It's was mentioned up thread that we have players in development that we don't have room for. I'm not saying go crazy out to lunch trades. KA might not can do much now but he could have this past off-season. 

[nfreeman]

6 minutes ago, sabresouth said:

No, I'm just saying that it hasn't been a high enough  priority for him. I think he could have tried harder and succeeded if he really wanted to.  I run cattle and sell cattle at auctions all the time. The buyer is the one willing to pay the price and that is what it is worth. The other bidders stopped bidding because it wasn't a high enough priority for them to buy that particular steer. The same goes for KA. We have plenty of assets and if you are willing to pay the price you can get what you need. I believe that we can make the playoffs this year. What price is KA willing to pay to make that happen. I don't think we would have to break the bank to get it done.  I also would be willing to pay more for a given player than other teams because of the position we are in. It's hard to overpay if it gets you in the playoffs.  It's was mentioned up thread that we have players in development that we don't have room for. I'm not saying go crazy out to lunch trades. KA might not can do much now but he could have this past off-season. 

I agree that if KA throws enough assets at someone, he can get a goalie.  That still leaves 2 key questions though:

- is that goalie an upgrade over what they have now?

- does that goalie want to be here?

If the answer to either of those questions is "no," then KA isn't interested -- and I'd guess that the answer to one of those questions has been "no" in just about every situation.

Now, if the Sabres get to Deluca .500, start filling the arena and keep winning 9-4 games against crappy teams and losing 6-5 games to cup contenders, I can see a good goalie who previously didn't want to be here changing his mind, since the Sabres would be a playoff bubble team that offers a goalie plenty of scoring support and an exciting arena.  But I don't think we are there yet.

[LGR4GM]

20 minutes ago, sabresouth said:

No, I'm just saying that it hasn't been a high enough  priority for him. I think he could have tried harder and succeeded if he really wanted to.  I run cattle and sell cattle at auctions all the time. The buyer is the one willing to pay the price and that is what it is worth. The other bidders stopped bidding because it wasn't a high enough priority for them to buy that particular steer. The same goes for KA. We have plenty of assets and if you are willing to pay the price you can get what you need. I believe that we can make the playoffs this year. What price is KA willing to pay to make that happen. I don't think we would have to break the bank to get it done.  I also would be willing to pay more for a given player than other teams because of the position we are in. It's hard to overpay if it gets you in the playoffs.  It's was mentioned up thread that we have players in development that we don't have room for. I'm not saying go crazy out to lunch trades. KA might not can do much now but he could have this past off-season. 

To be honest I think it was his highest priority this past offseason. He had 2 trades fall through via NTC in Murray and Gibson. Trying for 3 different guys in one offseason and getting 1 shows me it was a major priority. Adams didn't just give up when one failed he moved on to the next and then the next. 

[LGR4GM]

Let's look at Adams goalie adds. 

Trade Reinhart for Levi

Added Subban

Added Comrie

Added Anderson

Drafted the 2nd rounder last year who's name I refuse to learn for now

Tried to add Gibson and Murray and was denied because of NTC

That's since what? Summer 2020 if we include Levi and most of that really came in 2021 to now. 

 

Not saying it worked but again, stop saying he hasn't done anything or tried or is sitting on his hands. He has tried and he hasn't succeeded. 

[Crusader1969]

I know everyone is clamouring to fix the goalies BUT if the same 2 or 3 dmen are on the ice for most every single 5v5 goal against… maybe you start there? 
 

im just guessing here but I’ll say Pilut, Bryson and Fitz have been on the ice for at least 15 of the last 20 even strength goals against

 

maybe later today I’ll go back and get the actual numbers ..

get Lyubushkin back and add a good 6th Dman , you may actually improve the goalies organically 

[sabrefanday1]

Tend to forget that KA tried to get Matt Murray from Ottawa but he KO'd the deal and now he is lights-out on a Leafs team that is not great defensively either. And from the list of goalies making big bucks on long contracts I do not blame KA for steering clear of any of them. Goalies always take longer to come into their own and obviously they are trying to see where UPL stands and at the same time wait for Comrie to return who I still think is a good option and often is blamed when it is the D...

[Sabres Fan in NS]

2 hours ago, SwampD said:

I ***** hate gifs.

It’s like watching people converse with cave drawings.