BillsFan4

Girgs!! I Love seeing the Larsson line get rewarded!

Dahlin has definitely been struggling lately. Hopefully he shakes it off soon. Not worried about him yet, maybe mildly concerned. But I have no doubt he will be fine long term. It took Victor Hedman about 4 seasons to become Victor Hedman. People talking about a Norris were getting WAY ahead of themselves though. And as i’m typing, Buffalo gets a PP! They Need to take advantage. BTW, Kane is having a heck of a game. It doesn’t surprise me he’s fired up to play Buffalo. He’s had a really good start this season. Had a hat trick the other night. Also, Love how Buffalo is attacking rebounds and crashing the net tonight! (yes, I know this post is all over the place. Just typing random thoughts as I watch the game, half asleep...lol)

It happens to me from time to time using safari browser. I just switch to Firefox or google chrome and the videos work. NHL.com is a piss poor run site. Try Firefox browser

Pits because of the global series games in November. Because they’re traveling to Sweden, the NHL gave them 5 days off before those 2 Sweden games, and 4 days off after. So our schedule is condensed to make up for those days off. Glad they got the win! They definitely looked exhausted by the end of the game. But they got 2 points after a rough loss. I’ll take it.

Sabres look good so far tonight. Edit - I think I jinxed them. Right after I posted this the Ducks scored and it was all downhill from there. lol

https://buffalonews.com/2019/10/16/buffalo-sabres-henri-jokiharju-marco-scandella-ralph-krueger-nhl-news-2019/ Nice article on Henri Jokiharju by Lance Lysowski. He has been a good addition to the buffalo news Sabres staff.

https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/27855135/nhl-mirage-meter-which-players-hot-starts-continue NHL mirage meter: Which players' hot starts will continue? The league is taking notice of how dangerous buffalo’s power play is. I thought they did a good job describing why (though they totally forgot to mention reinhart’s role). It is a well designed power play. So much better than the previous couple years. That was one (of many) thing(s) that sent up warning flags about housley (that I tried my hardest to ignore/explain away...lol). The PP was supposed to be his specialty, and he even had a perfect blue print of how to use Buffalo’s personnel already laid out for him when he took over. All he had to do was continue what Bob Woods was doing. But he changed everything and our PP never really clicked as well after that. Yet he stubbornly stuck to his system. Anyway.... I know our PP isn’t going to keep scoring at a damn near 50% clip, but I do think they can continue to be one of the NHL’s best PP units. The Sabres have had the #1 PP before (2016), and we have the talent to do it again. I think we actually have more talent on our PP than we did in 2016.

I’d have rather faced Rosen. Fitz gave that whole team a spark when he came in and almost completed a comeback. Everyone looked like they played harder for Fitz. Its obviously still a game we should win. Hopefully we don’t get the good Fitz that shows up a couple game per season (though I do have faith in our defense if we get good Fitz).

@njbuff what do you think of this? Hynes must be on the hot seat IMO, if the GM wants eyes on him.

Risto seems a lot happier so far. Hopefully he will want to stay. He’s filling a key role for this team right now. We don’t have another defenseman like him, and honestly I think Risto in his current role is more valuable to this team than adding a 2nd line, 50pt. type of forward. Now, if someone offers a player like Taylor Hall again (or any legit top line forward) then it’s a different story. But I definitely wouldn’t be in any hurry to trade Risto unless the offer was too good to pass up. Also, I have to say that I’m feeling pretty damn good about Ralph Krueger being a legit good coach. Maybe even something special...

Just use the ignore feature for posters you don’t want to hear from. I started using it recently and it makes the board a much more enjoyable place for me.

I felt the same way. Definitely Mitts best game of the year IMO. It was cool to see Krueger reward him for it with shifts at the end of the game. He was out on the ice with under a minute to go. I

https://theathletic.com/1293878/2019/10/14/five-overreactions-to-the-sabres-hot-start/ Pretty cool stat.

Mission accomplished ?

Full quote:

I know a lot of Buffalo fans are upset about him sitting the final 8 minutes of the game, but I don’t think it’s really that big a deal (not yet, at least). For years, fans have wanted the rebuild to be done and winning to be the #1 priority. Well, I think this is partly what it looks like. Most good NHL teams prioritize winning. They don’t give their youngest players unlimited ice time no matter their mistakes+bad play. If a young player is struggling during a game and making costly mistakes, they get less ice time because the team wants to win that game. Winning is the #1 goal. Now I get that developing Dahlin is critical to the Sabres future. But I don’t really see this hampering his development. I am sure will be put into those important situations more as the year goes on and he earns more trust with the coaches. Plus, he’s only 19 (and has only been a defenseman since switching from forward at his age 13/14 season). Most defenseman aren’t even in the NHL at age 19. He’s still getting top 4 minutes and #1 PP time. Dahlin has without a doubt struggled in his own zone the last 2 games. His usage late in the 3rd period last game reflected that. But Dahlin’s usage was higher when the Sabres have been trailing on the scoreboard. That tells me Krueger recognizes Dahlin’s current strengths. He knows that he should be on the ice when we need to score a goal but maybe not when we need to defend a lead (at least not yet, especially when he’s having a bad game in his own end).

So I guess Joker is not the odd man out after all. Sounds like he’s here for the season. It would be quite a d*** move by our GM if he told Jokiharju to go get a house and then sent him down a few weeks later...

Great article. I felt like this article gives us more confirmation that McDermott was the main guy running free agency that year, and that McD+ Bobby Babich were the ones most responsible for bringing Poyer+Hyde to Buffalo.

I am anxious to see how Buffalo stacks up against Florida tonight. If they want any shot at the playoffs, these are the teams (Montreal, Florida) that they’re likely to be competing with. Personally, I think the playoffs are probably a long shot this year (though I have some hope). I think the season will be more about fixing what’s broken. But it’s still a good measuring stick.

That really was a great interview. I find so many of his interviews fascinating to listen to. Agree with everything, especially the bolded text. That’s another reason I thought/think he might be a good fit. He’s an extremely knowledgeable hockey mind first and foremost. But he’s also somewhat of a sports psychologist and motivational speaker, and he knows how to reach people. Those traits aren’t something every coach has and Buffalo almost had a bit of a unique need for someone like that. Someone that could help repair the damage from tanking+years of losing. You can see it’s taken a toll on the players. I truly believe they are dying to win and just looking for someone to lay out a path they can really believe in and I’m very hopeful Krueger is doing that. I have a tendency to get a bit too excited about the Bills/Sabres at times (like Housley during the winter streak last year...) so I’m trying to take a more patient, wait and see approach to this season. But this is the most hopeful I’ve been about the Sabres in quite some time.

Krueger on Howard and Jeremy today - https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/krueger-players-are-all-our-principles great interview. I recommend listening (or at least reading the quotes)

Yeah, so far I was dead wrong about Joker not looking ready. I really didn’t think he looked ready in the preseason, though. He looked overmatched in his own zone and you weren’t seeing this smooth transition ability he’s known for that we are seeing now. But it just goes to show that we fans only see a small portion of what goes into these roster decisions. He must have been playing pretty well in practices and he’s sure looked pretty good so far in the games. As far as Nylander, I wish him well too. I fully expect that he could put up 20+ goals this season playing along side Patrick Kane. But even if he does, I expect that he will always be one of those maddening, inconsistent players that you KNOW damn well can give more on the ice. A player that disappears for (sometimes long) stretches and doesn’t contribute much else if he’s not adding offense. Who knows, he’s young. His work ethic and willingness to win puck battles could improve. But I wouldn’t bet on it.

Our special teams could certainly use the help and Perry was a leader on that unit and has shown a great ST ability in past seasons.

Looks like Baker did shake his hand after all. Neither guy shakes each other’s hand as enthusiastically as they do with the others. But at worst you can say that Baker (or Sherman?) didn’t lean in for that half hug thing. Looks like it’s a lie to say he didn’t shake his hand (not that I like defending Baker...lol)