It's a rare off day for the Sabres. Let's talk some news and notes:
- The three-headed goalie monster experiment continues. The plan was for Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen to man the crease last night against Seattle Kraken before the Finnish netminder fell ill with flu-like systems. In his place was Eric Comrie, fresh off a stint on IR for a lower body injury, and well, his .818 save percentage mostly tells you all you need to know about his performance. If UPL is able to get hydrated and well prior to Thursday, it’s likely he’s between the pipes for the Jets game.
- The Florida Panthers claimed defenseman Casey Fitzgerald off waivers today. The 2016 Sabres draft pick finishes his Sabres career with 9 points in 59 games and a -20 rating since being drafted by Tim Murray’s regime in the third round of the Alex Nylander draft. I suppose there should be an opinion here about whether this a big deal or not, but the truth is that Fitzgerald never left a huge impression either positively or negatively. Although billed as a more physical defenseman, that didn’t materialize often enough, and for a defensive defenseman, he wasn’t that great at defense. This isn’t meant as a roast of Casey Fitzgerald, it’s just that the group of Lawrence Pilut, Kale Clague, Jacob Bryson and Fitzgerald were all essentially interchangeable pieces in my mind who can occupy a 6th defenseman spot for the most part.
- There has been zero sunshine in Buffalo for the last TWELVE DAYS, according to meteorologist Patrick Hammer. Sun drought watch continues.
-Let’s talk about Kale Clague for a minute. Clague is perceived to have been somewhat of an underrated signing from the summer – or at least he’s the fan favorite of the four defensemen named above. I don’t get it. He plays a milquetoast game, he has two points in 19 games this year, and he generally doesn’t bring any intangibles to the team. Again, this is not intended as a roast of Kale Clague. The point is that these four guys are all the same guy.
Here’s Clague’s player card via evolving hockey:
-I am once again asking for Kevyn Adams to reach into his war chest of picks, prospects and players to trade for a defenseman. The Sabres have a dearth of defensive prospects in the organization and at the same time, they have three second-round picks in the upcoming 2023 draft. It makes zero sense to wait five years for a 2023 second-round draft pick to develop and matriculate through the organizational system when the team could just package one of those picks along with a B-ranked forward prospect for a ready-made defenseman this year. It would sure be more fun to talk about a new trade acquisition than whether Jacob Bryson is better than Kale Clague or Ilya Lyubushkin. Do something, Darcy.
-Tyler Ennis led the Buffalo Sabres in points during the 2014-15 season with 46 in 78 games. With his next point, Alex Tuch will tie that mark despite having only played only 39 games. There’s no real point here other than to say this team scores a ridiculous number of goals. Also, Alex Tuch is fun to watch. Thank you for coming to my Alex Tuch TED talk.
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The Sabres are set to host the surging Winnipeg Jets (26-14-1) tomorrow night from KeyBank Center in Buffalo.
The Jets are enjoying perhaps an expectedly good season despite not really having any superstars on their team. Don’t get me wrong: Kyle Connor and Pierre-Luc Dubois are good players. It’s also fair to say these are not accepted star-power names among casual NHL fans. They’re definitely having star-caliber seasons, though.
Winnipeg is also getting excellent secondary scoring from familiar names like Mark Scheifele, Blake Wheeler and Adam Lowry. One-time Sabre and Fabio lookalike Axel Jonsson-Fjallby has also contributed 9 points this year. He’s gone but never forgotten.
There’s also may be something funky going on with the Winnipeg Jets’ score keeping.
I’ve always been something of a secondary assist truther since I realized that the NHL tends to give phantom assists to established stars like Sidney Crosby, and it looks like something sketchy is going on with the Jets’ Josh Morrissey and Pierre-Luc Dubois.
Of Dubois’s 48 points, 15 are secondary assists, and of Morrissey’s 46 points, 18 are secondary assists. Those are extremely high numbers; like last year’s version of JT Miller level of high numbers. By contrast, Jeff Skinner (41 points), Alex Tuch (45 points), and Tage Thompson (57 points), have 9, 8 and 11 secondary assists respectively. Rasmus Dahlin (46 points) has 14 secondaries which is more in line with the Jets numbers but still not as high.
Maybe Dubois and Morrissey really are setting up these plays and contributing meaningful secondary assists. I surely don’t watch enough Winnipeg Jets hockey to know for sure. It could be a combination of powerplay generation with 5-on-5 contributions. Anyway, there’s something to watch for tomorrow night. Let’s see how many secondary assists Dubois and Morrissey knock down.
Buffalo Sabres Blogger • 
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