don't see Eakin being scratched but i like this lineup

why is Reinhart on the 3rd line?

It seems to me that the coach has already announced the lines, especially in the top 6, and they are unlikely to change in the near future.

Its already been said cozens will start on the wing

i'm not so sure cozens is ready. He really didn't look good for Canada in the tournament

U really think Eakin will be a healthy scratch?
You don’t sign a guy to 2.25mil to put him in the press box
No way

Thank you all for your comments.
These are just my opinions, based on previous years performance.
I am most certainly wrong as to what the line up will be as I would never have had Sobotka on the 2nd line, nor kept Rodrigues in the press box, nor many other questionable line ups.
So these are mine opinions, all of yours are of course equally valid as we do not watch the chemistry nor spend as much time evaluating talent as do the coaches.
I think you all had good questions and comments.
I also wanted to put together a third line that could most likely be more productive than our second line from last year.

I know you are correct, he will most likely be our 4th line center. TBH, I was being a jerk, I did not like the signing of Eakin, especially for $2,200,000 for two years.
That is my opinion, I have been in error before and I am sure I will be in error again.
He will most likely be a fourth line center.
When one compares him to Larsson, Cody got substantially more offensive zone starts (78% v 12%), against inferior opposition (31% v 72% against elite) yet had 1 less goal, 3 less pts and his +/- was 11 lower than Larsson, last year.
Most significantly Cody played with much more talented line mates.
Laine, Marchessault, Tuch, Ehlers and Stone were his line mates about 50% of the time.
Girgensons and Okposo were Larsson's line mates 55% of the time.
I know Larsson did not lead the team to the playoffs, nor did he captain a great PK, so making a change was most likely warranted, but Eakin?

To balance the scoring, provide leadership, give the line a player who is responsible in his own end, and finally give Sam a chance that he can perform well away from Jack.
I wanted to reunite Jeff and jack while giving Tage a chance to earn managements trust that he will earn his raise.
Do those lines include Arttu, Casey, Tage and Dylan?
What are the plans now that Zemgus will be out for the balance of the season?
Yes Cody will be in the line up.
Taylor can run his own line, jack can run his own line, Jeff needs a player as Jack and Victor needs a player as Taylor.
Finally, Casey scored a dozen goals playing fourth line minutes with third line players, let's play him with talented line mates, move him to wing and give him more minutes per game.

Dylan is far better than Sam, giving him a solid NHL performer on his wing, I think he will do well.
EDIT: So if the player who led all Canadians with 8 goals and 16 pts is bad, I guess that must explain why Canada only got the silver, if the best player on the team is BAD!

Well there is my rant of the New Years.
We can all disagree and it really does not matter, these are our opinions which are meaningless.
Let me close, this is not my prediction of what the lines will me, these are my predictions of what the lines would be if I were the coach using the limited knowledge that I have.

I’m not a huge Eakin fan either,
but I’ve also not ever paid enough attn to him to have a solid opinion. I guess I’ll just hope for the best with him.

I’d have loved Larsson back, but oh well

This season all comes down to goaltending imo
If it improves, we have a shot at the playoffs.
If it doesn’t, then no chance in this tough division.

Also.... GO BILLS!!!

We normally agree and we do again.
TBH, I only did a quick look at Eakin earlier and came away wondering why we let Larsson go and signed Cady for 50% more than Johan got.
When I prepared this post I did a deeper search and saw how poorly his advanced stats compared then looked up his line mates and nearly tossed my laptop across the room.
As I said, while I liked Larsson from the first day I saw him play, the PK needed to be addressed, but Cody is definitely not the answer.
If I were the GM and i wanted to improve my PK, I would have targeted Nate Thompson $750,000 to 2020-21.
He won 55.1% of his face offs, played 2:15 min/gm short handed, and had only a 36.9% OZ start.
All slightly better than Larsson's stats.
But what do I know, he and Cody each had 15 pts last year at 1/3 the cap hit.

For children there is a bottom 6, and I talked about top 6. I think at first the lines in the top 6 will be unchanged, if Skinner or Reinhart can't get it with Staal, then maybe Krueger will try to change the lines to the top 6. I know that Hall can carry his line like Jack, but maybe later if they don't have chemistry or the second line doesn't produce.



As I understood the message about Ikin was this: speed, goals (points), leadership, and help on the PK, although this is secondary, since he will supposedly replace Larsson in position, but they are different players. I do not know what will come of it, but we will look. It's still a mystery to me why Larsson left, maybe there was some kind of conflict about which we just don't know, who knows.

I try not to get too upset about moves for guys i don’t know that much about- it’s too easy to overreact
So hopefully Eakin does well.
If not.... then we do have some young guys that have been looking good, so we can insert them & see what happens.
Sheahan is an ok bottom6 guy from what I’ve seen here n there, so he could be an option also

Larsson left because he was not offered a contract.
We now have a bottom line with a cap hit of nearly $10.5KK
Successful teams will be about 1/3 to 1/2 of that.
If Skinner is over paid, by how much is our bottom line over paid. Let me close, this team is closer than most sport writers think.
Hall and Eichel are elite among the top 20 NHL players.
Skinner, Staal, Olofsson and Reinhart are all proven NHL producers.
When did Buffalo have six top six forwards.
Cozens will be much better than Reinhart and could approach 45 even in this shortened season.
Let's not give up on Casey, he had 12 goals playing with 3rd line wingers and getting 4th line minutes. Buffalo has better forwards now who can play along side of him.
Let's not give up on Thompson, even management thinks he will do well offering him a 3 year contract at $1.4KK/yr. He may be the big body who can collect those loose pucks from the front of the net.
Wow can you imagine if Arttu Ruotsalainen could have the same splash Olofsson had.
Dahlin will get over 40 pts even in this shorter season.
Ristolainen is improving every year, he will not get his 40 pts but it will be close.
Jokiharju, Miller, Montour and McCabe are more than adequate to fill out the balance of the defense.
So the team has a new top Goal Scorer, capable of hitting the net from 180' away.
Ullmark will make his mark this year and take over the #1 GK and with an improved offense will see his GA % plummet as the puck will be in the offensive zone.

Finally, again this is just my opinion and the Sabres disappointed me last year with six straight losses after the TDL, but here it is:
They are better than the Devils.
They are the equal of the Islanders and Rangers and could finish above them.
That puts them fifth in the East, if any of the Bruins, Flyers, Penguins or Capitals have issues (age, GK, injuries, chemistry, etc) Buffalo could slip in.

EDIT: That is my rant of the day.
If the Sabres get off to a good start as they did in the two previous seasons, who knows.
Go Bills.
Riley Sheahan was an excellent addition, he IMO is a better PK center than Eakin.
Eakin scores more but he gets better Zone Starts and better line mates.
Lastly, changed the lines to what Krueger may do based on the reports of the practices.

So I'm talking about this, that for some reason he was not offered a contract? We don't know that.