Who do you start in net vs Florida?

[Buffalonill]

2 hours ago, klos1963 said:

He's our Ken Dryden, lead us to the cup and next year he wins the Rookie of the Year.

Couldn't he be our cam ward and win it all this year 

[JohnC]

11 minutes ago, Buffalonill said:

Couldn't he be our cam ward and win it all this year 

No. Not this year. But with him there is a realistic pathway. He is going to be the tide to raise the boat. 🍷

[GoPuckYourself]

Start Levi in all of them if he's up for it, there is no substitution for real NHL game experiences. There will be ups and downs even for Vets so let's see how he handles them, why not let him get a crack at the team that gave him away?

[klos1963]

1 hour ago, Buffalonill said:

Couldn't he be our cam ward and win it all this year 

Not enough games played. Dryden played 6 regular season games before winning the cup.

[French Collection]

My two cents.

They have had a 3 goalie rotation where no one has taken the net. There have been good games but many poor ones from these three. There is not one of them that gives me the feeling that they would win an important game. They might but none of them inspire any confidence that they have this one in the bag.

These guys have had 75 games to take the net and tell DG that they’ve got this. Our answers to this question reflect this.

I vote Levi because he just beat a good team, he is full of confidence, he was traded away from that team and he fills me with hope because of his talent , work ethic and enthusiasm.

Anderson hasn’t even been practicing. He can’t be ready. 
UPL was good in his last outing, but no better than Levi.

Comrie is due for a start but he just doesn’t give me confidence.

Regardless of who DG starts, the whole team must show up to beat the Panthers.

Levi has thrived on big games up to this point, give it to him.

[PromoTheRobot]

How much input did the team have on who starts? I bet Okposo let's Don know what the boys think.

[BillsShredder83]

25 minutes ago, French Collection said:

My two cents.

They have had a 3 goalie rotation where no one has taken the net. There have been good games but many poor ones from these three. There is not one of them that gives me the feeling that they would win an important game. They might but none of them inspire any confidence that they have this one in the bag.

These guys have had 75 games to take the net and tell DG that they’ve got this. Our answers to this question reflect this.

I vote Levi because he just beat a good team, he is full of confidence, he was traded away from that team and he fills me with hope because of his talent , work ethic and enthusiasm.

Anderson hasn’t even been practicing. He can’t be ready. 
UPL was good in his last outing, but no better than Levi.

Comrie is due for a start but he just doesn’t give me confidence.

Regardless of who DG starts, the whole team must show up to beat the Panthers.

Levi has thrived on big games up to this point, give it to him.

what better way to evaluate than a playoff vibe game, high pressure, revenge game. lets see what levi has down the stretch.  give us an idea of what we need to do next year.

id like him to be a killer out there, but more importantly lets see how he handles the stretch mentally. what do we have to lose? 

[Eleven]

35 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

How much input did the team have on who starts? I bet Okposo let's Don know what the boys think.

That's Okposo's job.  Granato's job is to make the right decision regardless.

[Pimlach]

The obvious answer is Levi vs Florida.  
 

 

[Zamboni]

Let’s see …. 🤔

What would be more entertaining on this forum …. Levi starting in goal and everyone continuing the lovefest even if he gets lit up.

OR Comrie starting, letting in 5 goals on 20 shots and the board catching fire 😂

It’s a toss up…. 

 

[Stoner]

15 hours ago, sabresouth said:

Well it's a crap shoot for any of them. Any of them could play a great game and any of them could crap their pants just as well. 

This is closer to the truth than most would admit.

11 hours ago, dudacek said:

Forgive them. 

They have yet to figure out that “Devon Levi” and a “rookie goalie straight out college” aren’t the same thing.

So glad You have it all figured it. You and your compatriot in Obnoxiousness, who was certain Comrie was Him.

So many Hot Takes!

6 hours ago, BillsShredder83 said:

what better way to evaluate than a playoff vibe game, high pressure, revenge game. lets see what levi has down the stretch.  give us an idea of what we need to do next year.

id like him to be a killer out there, but more importantly lets see how he handles the stretch mentally. what do we have to lose? 

This is not the time for evaluation.

[Night Train]

18 hours ago, Trettioåtta said:

Anderson single handedly beat Florida on Feb 24th. He will have been two weeks rested, and has had a few rough games recently, so is due a good one...

Also he is a vet and will have faced the pressure in the NHL before

Plus it's where he lives and could be his swan song game in front of family. 

[LGR4GM]

Start Comrie with Levi as the backup. Then Levi with UPL as backup Thursday. UPL with Comrie backup Saturday. 

[MBD]

Levi.  Former team, most talented of the 4 and the team will likely again try and play better defense for him.

[PromoTheRobot]

9 hours ago, Zamboni said:

Let’s see …. 🤔

What would be more entertaining on this forum …. Levi starting in goal and everyone continuing the lovefest even if he gets lit up.

OR Comrie starting, letting in 5 goals on 20 shots and the board catching fire 😂

It’s a toss up…. 

 

Not for @PASabreFan

[DarthEbriate]

The Sabres are in a win-or-go-home tournament the rest of the season (maybe 1 loss allowed... so call it a double-elimination tournament, but a loss to Florida counts as both losses).

What experience exactly do the Sabres goalies (excluding Anderson who is injured and hasn't practiced) have that Levi doesn't? Levi has played more pressure-packed games, tournament games, and almost more total games in the last 2 seasons than any of the Sabres other older goalies. 

Levi was the 2020 WJC Best Goaltender, the 2022 Richter winner, 2023 Richter finalist (not yet awarded), and even won the Beanpot MVP this season. (And he would've crushed it in the 2022 Olympics had he been allowed to play.... where Canada finished 6th. 6th! By playing Eddie Pasquale and Matt Tomkins. I'll bet Owen Power wishes that Levi had been his team's goalie in Beijing).

In the last 2 seasons (since COVID shortened seasons), the Sabres goalies have played the following # of games:
2021-22
Comrie: NHL 19
UPL: NHL 35, AHL 9
Levi: NCAA 32
Anderson: 31 NHL

2022-23
Comrie: NHL 19, AHL 3
UPL: NHL 33, AHL 9
Levi: NHL 1, NCAA 34
Anderson: 25 NHL

Edited April 3, 2023 by DarthEbriate

[dudacek]

3 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

This is closer to the truth than most would admit.

So glad You have it all figured it. You and your compatriot in Obnoxiousness, who was certain Comrie was Him.

So many Hot Takes!

My hot take: “we have 3 goalies who have not got the job done all year, let’s give one of the best goalies in college history a shot.”

Yours: “we have 3 goalies who have not got the job done all year, we better play one of them instead of one of the best goalies in college history.”

I get repeatedly told I’m giving up on the season. But I’m the obnoxious one?

[JohnC]

Is Anderson hurt? 

[DarthEbriate]

1 minute ago, JohnC said:

Is Anderson hurt? 

Yes. Day-to-day with an undisclosed something and hasn't been practicing since his shellacking by Nashville.

[Pimlach]

My luke-warm take(s):   

1.  We don't know how ready Levi is for NHL play.  We should not be anointing him the savior after one emotion packed game.  This league has a way of catching up.  We need to see him over several months of work, practice, games, travel and more games.  

2. We know he is a great prospect and he brings a level of skill, maturity, and preparedness that defies his age.  So learning what he can do right now will help us plan for next season.  

3.  Playing him, even though we are in a playoff race, is fine in this case.  None the other 3 goalies have done enough to claim the #1 spot.  Use the practices to see who is playing the best and then start that player against Florida.   

 

 

[Stoner]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

My hot take: “we have 3 goalies who have not got the job done all year, let’s give one of the best goalies in college history a shot.”

Yours: “we have 3 goalies who have not got the job done all year, we better play one of them instead of one of the best goalies in college history.”

I get repeatedly told I’m giving up on the season. But I’m the obnoxious one?

The obnoxiousness is dismissing out of hand very reasonable arguments for not going all in on Levi at this particular moment.

[Second Line Center]

I appreciate fan concern about “too soon” or whatever.

 

We already determined he was fit to be thrown into the fire - was the Ranger game, debuting at home, walking in to all the hype - did that come without pressure?  We all saw their response after the Skinner goal.  

 

If this team has the mental toughness to win a Cup, you absolutely play this kid in an April 4th game against the Panthers while we’re 5 points out of the playoffs and don’t think twice.  We lose, we lose.  Learn from it and move on.  It will not be because of Levi.  And I’m confident this staff knows what he can and can’t handle - and I think there is very very little he can’t handle.  He will be fine if we don’t win.  If we lose it better be because Florida was just a better team not because we were gripping the sticks too tight and feeling a bit of pressure.   
 

But we beat them with Levi?  I’m just going to say the benefits of that far far far outweigh any concern over whether or not it’s too much too soon for him.     
 

This game is absolutely nothing compared to games he’s going to play in.     

[dudacek]

1 minute ago, PASabreFan said:

The obnoxiousness is dismissing out of hand very reasonable arguments that playing Levi is not giving up on the season.

 

[Stoner]

Speaking of reasonable, is the following a reasonable way of looking at things?

The three headed monster in goal has been, uh, monstrous, but using the very simplistic metric of wins, their results have been acceptable. Enough to put the team tantalizingly close to the postseason.

For the sake of argument, if Levi had started every game this season, where would we be?

I have little doubt it would be: well out of the race.

Edited April 3, 2023 by PASabreFan

[Cheektorado]

You got to give the young man the chance against his drafting team.  None of the other goalies move the needle one way or the other.