Joe Yerdon and Lance Lysowski of Maintenance Day join the show for a roundtable conversation on a number of hot topics from around the NHL. We tried something a little different this week and got together for a mock GM meeting that allowed us to tackle a number of topics which we see as ways to improve the league. We touch on off-ice topics like playoffs and the World Cup and on-ice issues like overtime and the shootout.
Thanks again to Joe and Lance joining the show.
Are the Sabres blue uniforms to blame for their struggles on home ice? Most definitely yes (read: no).
It hasn’t gone unnoticed just how different things have gone for the Sabres when they’ve worn their black and red alternate jerseys compared to their standard home uniforms. The Sabres enter Friday’s game against the Devils with an 8-1-1 record in the goatheads and a dismal 5-19-2 in anything else on home ice.
Even though the real solutions to their home ice woes (goaltending, team defense, better luck in general) will have to come from the general manager’s office, it couldn’t hurt for the Sabres to consider a few tweaks to their home uniform to make the team look a tiny bit better when they take the ice at KeyBank Center.
Buffalo’s blue jerseys have long been fairly bland and unforgettable. There’s a little too much blue and not much else to break it up. The white stripes the team chose to add to their 2021 uniform redesign didn’t help much as they just look like the silver stripes so many fans wanted removed in the first place. I’m not sure why the Sabres avoided shoulder patches on their home and away jerseys, but reintroducing a shoulder patch would be a cool starting point for sprucing up the home uniforms. Pulling out the white trim from the socks and jersey stripes and resurrecting the pants striping from the pre-1996 jersey redesign would be two other items I’d like to see considered.
Interestingly, the Sabres haven’t won a playoff series since they removed shoulder patches from their jerseys. Of course, they still had shoulder patches in 2010 when they lost to Boston, but that’s of little importance to the larger conversation (what makes the jerseys look cool). The Sabres have had shoulder patches on their jerseys for 39 of their 53 seasons and it seems high time to bring them back.
Continue readingA combination of poor goaltending, injuries and some more poor goaltending has all but dashed Buffalo’s hopes for a playoff push. With the team falling out of the race, and doing so in astonishing fashion, we talk about how this run of play could affect the team’s plans for the offseason. We also discuss how the utterly dismal goaltending performances of late could cause Devon Levi to see a bit more action than previously anticipated, or perhaps get his first look at an NHL game earlier than previously believed. We also have a brief Matthew Savoie update as the Sabres’ prospect has remained red hot for the Winnipeg Ice and ought to be a hot topic of conversation this offseason.
Slowly but surely, the branches on the Rick Martin tree are thinning out. There are only a few areas left where additional trades could extend the tree even further. Rasmus Asplund was one of those few players and his move to Nashville keeps the trade tree going until at least 2027, if not longer depending on the outcome of the seventh round pick they received. The updated version of the trade tree is below. Open the image in a new window if you want the high-res version.
Devon Levi’s season at Northeastern is over and the waiting over when he signs his Sabres contract has begun. We talk about Levi’s impressive two seasons with the Huskies and dig in to what the next steps for Levi will look like between now and the end of the NHL season. We also reflect on the Sabres recent losing streak and how this skid affects the outlook on the playoff race ahead of Monday’s victory over Toronto.
We recap the 2023 NHL Trade Deadline and reflect on the busiest deadline for the Sabres since 2015. Each deal the Sabres made over the last week is analyzed as we discuss how Kevyn Adams’ roster tweaks can aid Buffalo’s push for a playoff position. How the Sabres stretch run will shape up ties into our deadline conversation as the team faces a difficult run in to end the season with a tough hill to climb to sneak into the playoffs.
We also give a rundown of some of the most notable deals that were made at this year’s deadline, offering up our favorite, least favorite and biggest surprise.
Two in the Box 