Was thinking the same thing. He would bring some energy and instantly improve our penalty kill. But then who sits. Legwand and Larason are at the bottom of the totem pole. But they are both centers and we need another bottom six center, unless the move Foligno to center which has been done before. So bottom wingers would be McBain and Deslaurier sand Foligno. Tough to sit one of them for Kaletta, but I still agree. Bring up Kaletta and practice the PK a lot more.

Also, Reinhart has the highest plus minus and is tied for third or fourth on the team in points. Yet he is only averaging 12:51 toi. This needs to increase ASAP. He and Girgensons are getting less ice time than Gionta. We should be conserving Gionta and playing him less and playing Reinhart a lot more. Same for Pysyk, his minutes should go up a lot.

Also wouldn't be a bad idea to start rolling four lines and taking some pressure of the top lines. The average time on ice between to top and bottom lines is pretty large. When things aren't going well a player can get burnt out fast grinding out big minutes. We have good third and fourth lines, we should get them more minutes to take some pressure off the top lines and have more energy when they are out there later in games.
- SabresPanacea

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Murray (frank)ed up with the most important position on the ice. I'd say the Chad Johnson experiment is over.

Murray (frank)ed up with the most important position on the ice. I'd say the Chad Johnson experiment is over.
- mhp

And the Lehner experiment is a total question mark also. Seeing as how Murray had a chance to look at like 8 goalies last season, how could he have chosen so bad?

And the Lehner experiment is a total question mark also. Seeing as how Murray had a chance to look at like 8 goalies last season, how could he have chosen so bad?
- Buffalo--Sabres

He stinks

Murray (frank)ed up with the most important position on the ice. I'd say the Chad Johnson experiment is over.
- mhp

Hard to know what Lehner will bring to the table...someday. He could be the long-term #1 we need for years to come, but for now it's pretty bleak.

Will it be Linus tonight?

Looks like the sabres are still trying to figure out their identity as far as chemistry, philosophy and attitude goes.

And the Lehner experiment is a total question mark also. Seeing as how Murray had a chance to look at like 8 goalies last season, how could he have chosen so bad?
- Buffalo--Sabres

He made 3 bad decisions in my view. 1, he acquired a goalie coming off a concussion. 2, he labeled career sieve Chad Johnson as the back up. 3, he made the mistake of not going after a goalie in FA or waivers. Not saying Karri Ramo would have been the answer but he is better than Johnson.

Hard to know what Lehner will bring to the table...someday. He could be the long-term #1 we need for years to come, but for now it's pretty bleak.

Will it be Linus tonight?
- LandlordTom

I hope they play Ullmark tonight. If they do I hope he plays well.

This team will not be close to competing every night as long as Gio is getting big minutes on line #2. Aside from the leadership he brings almost nothing to the table, and I'd rather see Larsson take his wing spot on line #2 or even call up Rodriguez on a trial basis...he does have wheels and can finish.

Kaleta or even Legwand on the pk are good ideas, but they weaken whatever line they are on during 5 on 5.

Murray (frank)ed up with the most important position on the ice. I'd say the Chad Johnson experiment is over.
- mhp

he is fine for a 2 or 3 game play out of 10


he is a train wreck when you go all in on a number 1 goalie, often injured when that #1 goes down

I hope they play Ullmark tonight. If they do I hope he plays well.
- mhp

he should, then again he played gionta over 20 minutes again last night

He made 3 bad decisions in my view. 1, he acquired a goalie coming off a concussion. 2, he labeled career sieve Chad Johnson as the back up. 3, he made the mistake of not going after a goalie in FA or waivers. Not saying Karri Ramo would have been the answer but he is better than Johnson.
- mhp

My revision of that would be:

1) He gave a first for a goalie coming off a concussion. 2) How did he not target either Neuvirth or Lindback instead of Johnson? 3) Definitely should have grabbed someone off of waivers.

Kaleta or even Legwand on the pk are good ideas, but they weaken whatever line they are on during 5 on 5.
- LandlordTom

Kaleta is fine for the 4th line and if your expecting any more production then 10-15 points from a 4th liner over the course of 82 games, your being unrealistic

This team will not be close to competing every night as long as Gio is getting big minutes on line #2. Aside from the leadership he brings almost nothing to the table, and I'd rather see Larsson take his wing spot on line #2 or even call up Rodriguez on a trial basis...he does have wheels and can finish.

Kaleta or even Legwand on the pk are good ideas, but they weaken whatever line they are on during 5 on 5.
- LandlordTom

He's a total boat anchor out there

wow the 2009 draft class really sucked

http://www.draftsite.com/nhl/redraft/2009/

My revision of that would be:

1) He gave a first for a goalie coming off a concussion. 2) How did he not target either Neuvirth or Lindback instead of Johnson? 3) Definitely should have grabbed someone off of waivers.
- Buffalo--Sabres

Agreed 100%.

he should, then again he played gionta over 20 minutes again last night


- homiedclown

The missed scoring chances are getting frustrated. They should have had 5 last night.

That might be the most frustrated I've ever felt at a game. The amount of chances they couldn't bury was absurd. And it seemed like everything Montreal did turned to gold.
- HonkFortheGoose

I felt the same way. Outplayed them a lot of the time but just couldn't finish. Players gotta feel pretty frustrated.

I hope they play Ullmark tonight. If they do I hope he plays well.
- mhp

they kinda have to....unless they want to play Johnson or Leuwien (sp) on no days rest the only other option they have is Makarov

Kaleta is fine for the 4th line and if your expecting any more production then 10-15 points from a 4th liner over the course of 82 games, your being unrealistic
- homiedclown

Someone gets it

My revision of that would be:

1) He gave a first for a goalie coming off a concussion. 2) How did he not target either Neuvirth or Lindback instead of Johnson? 3) Definitely should have grabbed someone off of waivers.
- Buffalo--Sabres

Forget Neuvirth....that s hip said when they traded him because he was ruining the Tank, same with Enroth. Neuvirth was pissed and didn't want to come back to this organization. That is one cost of the Tank, but one I'll accept.

Now, why he kept Johnson I don't know. That was his first bad game...at the same time he has defeciencies in his game, like rebound control...so
I don't see him as any value to the Sabres long term.

Forget Neuvirth....that s hip said when they traded him because he was ruining the Tank, same with Enroth. Neuvirth was pissed and didn't want to come back to this organization. That is one cost of the Tank, but one I'll accept.

Now, why he kept Johnson I don't know. That was his first bad game...at the same time he has defeciencies in his game, like rebound control...so
I don't see him as any value to the Sabres long term.
- IonSabres

Good points. At the moment Murray doesn't seem to be liked much around the league and the Sabres haven't even begun to become the destination for players they hoped to become. Let's face it, the bulk of the new faces were forced here on trade. The others who were signed as FA's are scrubs. Not trying to be captain buzzkill this moring but it is what it is right now.

Thoughts from last night:

Gionta has no business in the top 6 at this point in his NHL career. He's at best a 3rd liner.

Franson had his best game as a Sabre last night. Until this point, he has been making Luke Adam look like a great skater.

Ennis seems out of sorts and all over the ice, but not in a good way.

While Eichel's offensive skills are out of this world, his play away from the puck continues to fascinate me. How an 18 year old is able to knock grown men off the puck is extremely impressive. I was unaware of how good he was going to be as a 2-way forward. His faceoff skills are pretty good as well.

What I like most so far this season is that they actually look like an NHL team again. At times they're dictating play and just aren't quite clicking in the goal scoring department as of yet. They look like they're trying to find chemistry right now and I have faith that the pucks will start to go in. In past seasons, they weren't even getting chances and now we're seeing tons of opportunities each night.

The top six should be O'Rielly, Ennis, Moulson and Eichel, Kane, Reinhart, IMO.

looking likely that Ullmark gets the start tonight

Thoughts from last night:

Gionta has no business in the top 6 at this point in his NHL career. He's at best a 3rd liner.

Franson had his best game as a Sabre last night. Until this point, he has been making Luke Adam look like a great skater.

Ennis seems out of sorts and all over the ice, but not in a good way.

While Eichel's offensive skills are out of this world, his play away from the puck continues to fascinate me. How an 18 year old is able to knock grown men off the puck is extremely impressive. I was unaware of how good he was going to be as a 2-way forward. His faceoff skills are pretty good as well.

What I like most so far this season is that they actually look like an NHL team again. At times they're dictating play and just aren't quite clicking in the goal scoring department as of yet. They look like they're trying to find chemistry right now and I have faith that the pucks will start to go in. In past seasons, they weren't even getting chances and now we're seeing tons of opportunities each night.

The top six should be O'Rielly, Ennis, Moulson and Eichel, Kane, Reinhart, IMO.
- The_Inkwell

So reviewing the highlights from last nights game...
Ennis hits a post on the open side
Kane misses a wide open net, AGAIN.
ROR misses an open net.

Sounds like these guys need to bare down a bit harder and bury those shots...game could have been different.
Then again Johnson played like himself.
His play before this wasn't stellar...906 save percentage is below average.