It’s not the end of the world dude

We are actually playing pretty well

It’s ok to enjoy it
It’s ok to enjoy it
It really is ok to enjoy it
- jdfitz77

Sounds rapey

I guess i just don’t get what some ppl get out of the constant complaining
Especially when they could be enjoying that we are playing well & off to a good start

He’s only played one season. I don’t think we know what we have in him yet
- OneKaneOneCup

I think that's fair, but like I said, maybe he can be coached up, he's young yet.

It's hard to figure that out.
Clearly we lack a 6th forward.
He does add some grit and physical protection for Johansson and skins.

Hard to believe he is pointless so far, regardless of talent.

I could see giving him a shot for a bit longer and waiving/trading him for a 7th and bringing up tage if the season starts going south
- Boss34

It's not hard to believe when he runs away from the offensive zone and hides, even when the Sabres still have possession in the offensive zone.

I guess i just don’t get what some ppl get out of the constant complaining
Especially when they could be enjoying that we are playing well & off to a good start
- jdfitz77

You missed your calling as a torture specialist for Gitmo

It's not hard to believe when he runs away from the offensive zone and hides, even when the Sabres still have possession in the offensive zone.
- kingcong39

He is an all-world ball hockey player so he just plays the same way on the ice. He doesn’t know he can cross the red line.

Came up this morning in the Sabres feed in theScore.com, fwiw.

https://thehockeynews.com...-brilliant-offensive-play

Came up this morning in the Sabres feed in theScore.com, fwiw.

https://thehockeynews.com...-brilliant-offensive-play
- Der Kaiser

Who disagrees with this? The only point I've tried to make is letting him play through it.

Came up this morning in the Sabres feed in theScore.com, fwiw.

https://thehockeynews.com...-brilliant-offensive-play
- Der Kaiser

Deja vu upon reading the first paragraph.
I’mma not gonna look it up, but I think someone here plagiarized it.

Who disagrees with this? The only point I've tried to make is letting him play through it.
- kingcong39

Letting him play through it is one thing, putting him in a position of failure is another. As Krueger stated, they haven't had a day off and he could see the fatigue in the young guys who haven't gotten as much time in the NHL under their belt, so he chose to ride the vets.

The coach has been pushing the right buttons so far. Can we give him a bit of time before we criticize how he chooses to utilize the 19 year old phenom defenseman we have? He was clear before the season about bringing Dahlin along slowly and working with him in terms of the defensive side of things, and that's what we've seen so far. He has a plan for the kid and he's sticking to it.

Letting him play through it is one thing, putting him in a position of failure is another. As Krueger stated, they haven't had a day off and he could see the fatigue in the young guys who haven't gotten as much time in the NHL under their belt, so he chose to ride the vets.

The coach has been pushing the right buttons so far. Can we give him a bit of time before we criticize how he chooses to utilize the 19 year old phenom defenseman we have? He was clear before the season about bringing Dahlin along slowly and working with him in terms of the defensive side of things, and that's what we've seen so far. He has a plan for the kid and he's sticking to it.
- HonkFortheGoose

It is a balancing act for sure. I agree with Krueger's approach at this point so early in the season, and the same for Casey. It's ok to pull those guys late in the game when struggling and the game score is close. As the season goes on, and they have had more time to coach them up, I suspect they will gradually manage their exposure to those situations.

Proper development of these young guys is paramount to the longterm success of the franchise. Being conservative and bringing them along slowly based on successes, rather than throwing caution to the wind so early in their careers is the right approach IMO. Needlessly destroying their confidence is not in the best interest of the club. They're young, lots of time for proper development.

It is a balancing act for sure. I agree with Krueger's approach at this point so early in the season, and the same for Casey. It's ok to pull those guys late in the game when struggling and the game score is close. As the season goes on, and they have had more time to coach them up, I suspect they will gradually manage their exposure to those situations.

Proper development of these young guys is paramount to the longterm success of the franchise. Being conservative and bringing them along slowly based on successes, rather than throwing caution to the wind so early in their careers is the right approach IMO. Needlessly destroying their confidence is not in the best interest of the club. They're young, lots of time for proper development.
- IonSabres

Agreed. The shift they had in OT was great and I think it shows them the coach does have confidence in them and will put them in key moments.

Buffalo is 4-0-1
- Michael Pachla

From some comments it sure doesn’t feel like it.

People might not like that dahlin sat the third and Florida still tied it, but the team still won at this point I’ll give Kruger the benefit that he knew what he was doing.

Who disagrees with this? The only point I've tried to make is letting him play through it.
- kingcong39

These young guys will get their chance in time. No need to rush it at this point.

I think the issue here is we as fans are sick of seeing the same old vets out there making the same mistakes or bad decisions time after time. It gets old, I get it.

Last year I though was going to be the Year of Transition, from bottom-feeder, to playoff bubble team. That was an epic failure. Perhaps they have the right Coach and staff in place to make this year a transition year...and IMO there is great benefit for them in evaluating those Vets when presented with challenges, like in tight games. I think we finally have a very astute Head Coach who can process this information and make good decisions for the longterm. Let's give them some time.

Same for Botts, he likely has formed a very solid option on these guys. What he doesn't have yet is a solid understanding of how Ralph and staff can impact performance at an individual level, and who he can impact. He needs time to evaluate that as well. As much as I think Risto isn't very good defensively, if Ralph and Smith can turn that ship around it is very good for the team. Personally, I have serious doubts in regard to him specifically, and the risk is if they can't get him to play better his value declines.

I think it's easily explained as follows: many of us have been scarred by watching the same characters on the ice the last few years cough up the few leads they've had as a result of overplaying said players, so when we see the same players get overplayed and 2 goal leads go away, it brings back bad memories. Right or wrong, win or lose, we'd rather go down with the ship, meaning the #1 pick franchise defenseman than the alternative that we've seen far, far too many times already.
- kingcong39

One thing I would point out, the tying goal from Hoffman, that shot was ridiculous I don’t think it would have mattered who was on the ice, dahlin, Risto or whoever.

Ullmark does many of the same things Lehner used to do, but no one seems to say anything. He has an immense amount of trouble getting back into position after making the initial stop. All the other team has to do is get him moving a little bit and all sorts of holes open up. Unless he somehow works that out, he'll never be a starting caliber goalie. He's fine as a backup playing ~20 games, but he can not be relied upon to shoulder the load, and hopefully with UPL, he won't have to be.
- Wetbandit1

Didn’t he make 40 saves in his first two games, I’d say he’s the only reason we got 3/4 points against fla and cbus.

ullmark defenitely doesn't look comfortable in net

ullmark defenitely doesn't look comfortable in net
- robz228

To be honest, I think that's his style, which has always been somewhat unorthodox.

To be honest, I think that's his style, which has always been somewhat unorthodox.
- buffalofan19

He's Hasek without the talent?

To be honest, I think that's his style, which has always been somewhat unorthodox.
- buffalofan19

And to be fair, the two games he's gotten they've given up more shots than usual. Who knows why that is exactly, but he's played 2 games and has faced over 80 shots. He's seeing an average of 43.5 shots per game whereas Hutton has seen an average of 25.3.

These young guys will get their chance in time. No need to rush it at this point.

I think the issue here is we as fans are sick of seeing the same old vets out there making the same mistakes or bad decisions time after time. It gets old, I get it.

Last year I though was going to be the Year of Transition, from bottom-feeder, to playoff bubble team. That was an epic failure. Perhaps they have the right Coach and staff in place to make this year a transition year...and IMO there is great benefit for them in evaluating those Vets when presented with challenges, like in tight games. I think we finally have a very astute Head Coach who can process this information and make good decisions for the longterm. Let's give them some time.

Same for Botts, he likely has formed a very solid option on these guys. What he doesn't have yet is a solid understanding of how Ralph and staff can impact performance at an individual level, and who he can impact. He needs time to evaluate that as well. As much as I think Risto isn't very good defensively, if Ralph and Smith can turn that ship around it is very good for the team. Personally, I have serious doubts in regard to him specifically, and the risk is if they can't get him to play better his value declines.
- IonSabres

It's always tough to criticize when a team is winning. Benching Dahlin for the last seven or nine minutes (whatever it was), didn't cost them the game, so, you can only chalk it up as "the right call" for now. I didn't like having McCabe and Ristolainen out there protecting the lead. While it worked on Friday (and by "worked", I mean they still got the win), the larger sample size over the past few years suggests that this will lead to failure more often than it does success. If Dahlin's ship needs to be righted, it needs to happen fast. Teams win despite bad players all the time, and that's what happened with the Ristolainen pair on Friday. It was funny, but during the college football games this weekend, there was a line from a broadcaster about a game winning touchdown pass: "That was a dangerous, stupid, ill-advised throw...but it worked". The first thing I thought of when I heard that was Sabres game on Friday.

He's Hasek without the talent?
- jochfr

You know, I almost went there, and then decided against it.

You know, I almost went there, and then decided against it.
- buffalofan19

Thread killer

I don't understand what the big deal is with sitting Dahlin, it's a learning curve, people say we should let him play through it. Maybe but didn't work so well for Risto, and Myers did it. And there are 3 other guys on the ice, not just Risto and McCabe. Dahlin is pretty good right know, why not give him a chance to grow into that superstar he could be. It has already been said he gets down on himself and frustrated when he makes mistakes, why not let him build his confidence up a little and learn before we crush it at 19

To be honest, I think that's his style, which has always been somewhat unorthodox.
- buffalofan19

theres gotta be a balance though, theres been sequences where he's spinning around trying to find the puck where anything on net would have went in

its more than his style, sometimes he just gets lost