Author: Chris Ostrander

Will Shuffled Lines Spark the Middle of Buffalo’s Lineup?

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The search for secondary scoring has been arduous for the Sabres. While there have been glimpses of effective goal support from players not named Eichel or Skinner, it’s hardly come on a consistent basis.

Splitting up the Skinner-Eichel-Reinhart line had been floated for some time given the incredible lack of scoring from any other portion of the lineup. Heading into Friday in Carolina, it looks like Phil Housley will separate the trio in an attempt to get a few more lines going against the Canes.

They might be catching Carolina at the wrong time says the guys at Mytopsportsbooks.com. The ‘Canes have won five straight heading into their tilt with Tampa Bay on Thursday night and have scored at least four goals in four straight games. Even with Jack Eichel set to come back, facing a team that’s been filling the net doesn’t make for an ideal matchup for a team whose secondary scoring has come and gone. The one silver lining is Carolina’s goaltending has been about as streaky as Buffalo’s secondary scoring, which could favor Buffalo’s chances to string together back-to-back wins since December 11 and 13. Continue reading →

The Instigator Podcast 7.16 – Post-WJC Sabres Pipeline Assessment

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The Sabres had three prospects take home hardware at the 2019 World Junior Championship including two with gold as Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen and Oskari Laaksonen helped lead the Finns to a championship. That prompted a conversation over the health of Buffalo’s pipeline. Thanks to some promising mid-round selections the Sabres blueline appears to have some long-term promise while they’re in need of a bit more firepower at forward.

You can listen to The Instigator Podcast on most podcast streaming services, including large providers such as iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio and TuneIn and most other third-party podcast streaming apps. You can find links to subscribe and rate the show below:

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Sabres Skills Challenge was a Treat

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It was nearly two years ago to the day that I ran this post about the Sabres putting on their own version of a skills competition. Obviously the Sabres and Pegula Sports appreciate my very big brain and think all of my ideas are very good. The best ideas you’ve ever seen.

Kidding aside, the Sabres resurrected a practice they dabbled with in the 90s, with the Sabres Skills Challenge. I’d venture a guess that Sabres Showdown, which debuted during the 2016-17 season was a litmus test for the full-scale event from this past Sunday, and they knocked it out of the park.

Going into Sunday I was worried that the fans may not show and there would be scores of empty seats which would likely doom any future iteration of the event. But the lower bowl and 200 level were each well-filled with some spill over into the 300 level. The Buffalo News reported the attendance to be just shy of 10,000, which is a pretty good turnout for something that a vast majority of the fanbase probably hadn’t seen previously.

The entire affair took just over an hour to complete and the Sabres Store was packed to the gills after the fact. Concessions weren’t overcrowded and from what I observed there were plenty of kids enjoying seeing the Sabres up close and personal. The special jerseys the players donned looked terrific and even though there was maybe a little lack of compete in some of the drills, it was a lot of fun to watch, especially Tage Thompson in the shootout and the Remi Elie, Marco Scandella, Rasmus Ristolainen trio in the 3-on-0 drill. Continue reading →

The Instigator Podcast 7.15 – Post-Holiday Wish List

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We’re back from the holidays with a wish-list of sorts of players we’d like to see the Sabres chase in order to shore up the thin areas of the team’s roster. We talk about some realistic options and a couple really optimistic ones as well. We also touch on the rosters for the 2019 All Star Game while offering up an alternative option which might provide more latitude for deserving players to be selected for the game.

You can listen to The Instigator Podcast on most podcast streaming services, including large providers such as iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio and TuneIn and most other third-party podcast streaming apps. You can find links to subscribe and rate the show below:

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Two in the Mailbox: Finding Help Down the Middle after Berglund Departure

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Two in the Mailbox, the (sometimes) weekly mailbag on the Sabres, goalie stuff, Buffalo and anything in between, is back. You can submit to the mailbag using #2ITBmailbag on Twitter or emailing 2intheboxbuffalo@gmail.com.

At this rate the mailbag is going to be monthly rather than sometimes weekly. Either way, a lot has happened since the last iteration with Patrik Berglund’s contract termination being the most recent and the biggest headline.

We discussed Berglund for the first half of this week’s podcast and the one thing that I think will be misconstrued with his contract being terminated is that the Sabres can or should exercise the option on any player they please. Kyle Okposo, Zach Bogosian, Marco Scandella are just a few of the guys I imagine fans are going to flood the mentions of writers with once Berglund’s termination is official.

The fact of the matter is that these scenarios are extremely unique and require a concrete violation in most cases (Jake Dotchin or Mike Richards, for example) for the team to have solid ground to stand on. So while you may want the Sabres to have the liberty to cut bait with Okposo with no questions asked, it’s just not in the cards. So why waste your time hoping for it? Continue reading →

The Instigator Podcast 7.14 – Berglund Decision Gives the Sabres the Gift of Cap Space

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The fallout from Patrik Berglund’s suspension has resulted in the Sabres moving to terminate his contract. This looks to be a massive coup for the Sabres as they gain cap relief both now and in the future. We discuss just what this decision means for Buffalo’s cap and contract situation, their roster construction and the process involved in making this type of decision. Along the way we also touch on the 2019 World Junior Championship, the Sabres prospects participating and which team we think has the best shot at taking home the gold.

The Instigator Podcast 7.13 – Catching up on NHL Expansion

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We didn’t get the chance to discuss the big news of last week, the NHL’s expansion to Seattle, so we backtracked a bit in this episode to discuss just what adding a 32nd team means for the NHL and where the league heads from here. Not only do we talk about which cities may be on the league’s radar for relocation now that expansion seems settled for the time being.

Among the expansion topics relevant to Sabres fans, missing 2020 as the expansion puts the Sabres at a slight disadvantage when comparing who they would need to protect in 2021 as opposed to 2021. A slight difference but a difference nonetheless. We also touch on some of the big trade news that hit the wires this week as Elliotte Friedman shed some light on the Sabres plans while Jeremy Rutherford uncorked a doozy as it pertains to the St. Louis Blues.

You can listen to The Instigator Podcast on most podcast streaming services, including large providers such as iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio and TuneIn and most other third-party podcast streaming apps. You can find links to subscribe and rate the show below:

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Sabres Blueline Turnaround is Coming into Focus

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It was no secret that Jason Botterill was facing a tough road in putting together a well-rounded blueline when he took over the Sabres. Turns out that the unit needed more of an overhaul than reshaping that stretched into this past summer.

Winning the Ramsus Dahlin lottery would make any rebuild a much easier task and a lucky bounce of the lottery balls has helped the Sabres take a major step forward.

Dahlin was really the only true addition the Sabres made to their backs blueline but he’s already meeting expectations, if not exceeding them. His confidence is growing by the day and combined with his vision and skating ability has led to a number of plays along these lines:

GIF via Ben Mathewson @ thescreen.co

There’s a noticeable difference in Buffalo’s breakout and flow when Dahlin is on the ice, something that was lacking at almost every point of the 2017-18 season. Some of his underlying numbers took a hit recently after a few lopsided showings, which tipped him below 50% Corsi, though Dahlin remains a positive influence relative to his teammates. Zach Bogosian’s Corsi jumps ten percentage points when paired with Dahlin as opposed to without him. So he’s not just passing the eye-test, though his current trend is creating at least one eye-popping play per game. Continue reading →

The Instigator Podcast 7.12 – Pilut-ing Forward

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Lawrence Pilut has only played three games at the NHL level but his early returns have been impressive. He’s also the only defenseman Buffalo has on the active roster who is waiver exempt. We talk about the different options the Sabres have to keep Pilut in Buffalo without sacrificing another player to waivers. We also discuss the Sabres four-game slide and the positive signs from the stretch which may just signify they’ll be back in the win column soon.

You can listen to The Instigator Podcast on most podcast streaming services, including large providers such as iTunes, Spotify, Stitcher, iHeartRadio and TuneIn and most other third-party podcast streaming apps. You can find links to subscribe and rate the show below:

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The Instigator Podcast Building Buffalo Edition – Stadium Plans

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The Building Buffalo Podcast has been reunited in hopes of making it a semi-regular feature of The Instigator Podcast. Our reunion episode runs through the outlook for the Pegulas and PSE in the wake of hiring CAA Icon to evaluate stadium and arena options for both the Bills and Sabres. We talk about just how precarious public funding will be for each project, how a convention center can compliment and add critical mass and what timeline we’d hope to see PSE follow when it comes to picking one project to start over the other.