All Activity

The issue isn't that one of the six dmen are hurt. I'd imagine most teams are down 1 dman this time of the season. The issue is the 7th guy is Bryson. You'd think a GM who is in the final year of his job would be a little more desperate to make an upgrade

Benson sure but Norris is off injured more than he’s ever played. Not sure how that makes him the heart of the team.

I had to do a double check on the Lehner history. His career in Buffalo went bad right from the start. In the first game of 2015 Lehner was injured. He eventually became very upset about the medical treatment he received from the Sabres medical staff for a high ankle sprain. Then there were his periods of depression and mental illness that he hid from the team. In March 2018 he had a panic attack during a game. After that game all his mental health issues came out and the Sabres rightfully put him in rehab treatment. He became a free agent that summer and ended up with NYI where he had a major comeback season, only to be shipped to both the Hawks and then to Vegas on the following season. Something tells me these teams were more in tuned to Lehner's mental health issues and they from moved him quickly, even though he was playing well. Later he became publicly supportive of Eichel's neck surgery position, and was publicly critical of he Sabre medical staff, the team, even the fan base - He found the constant negativity and intense pressure from the Buffalo fanbase challenging, stating that the energy in the rink was often negative due to years of losing. So while Lehner hid his demons for a long time, he was not ever happy with the Sabres, especially with the medical staff. He talked about the use of sedatives, pain bills and anxiety pills. His time in Buffalo was largely negative and he pointed to the locker room issues, he stated that players did not respect game plans and not respecting coaches. He is not the only former Sabre from this era to report on the bad locker room - this is knock directed at the core at the time (Eichel, Reinhart, Kane, Bogo, ) whether this is deserved or not is open to debate. The Sabres were known to have locker room factions. So when you think of all the disfunction from LaFontaine quitting abruptly and the team tanking, and then all of this crap that Lehner revealed from 2015 to 2018. Then the ROR trade in summer of 2018. Then Krueger soccer hockey, then the Adams spy trip and his magical accension to GM, the EEE policies, The long list of players that left and found great success, the "extensive coach search" - it is not hard to understand why so many players do not want to play in Buffalo. It is going to take a special person, a special leader, to stop the bleeding and turn this franchise around.

Forgot to say interference was what the bench was looking or hoping for.

For fvck's sake. Can we just play a game where someone doesn't get seriously injured??

Benson and Norris are the hearts of the team. If we can survive their absence we will be ok

The replay on the NHL app has the Detroit broadcast. They first pointed out that the bench was calling for a penalty but it seemed after watching the replay they kind of shrugged that off and complimented Thompson on a good play.

Two minutes for ungentlemanly behavior.

Did they what penalty should have been called? Just curious to hear their thought.

He really dislikes Kane and wants to stop him from reaching a bonus?

Too many beers intensify one's reactions.

Not you.

Benson might be the key. Let's see how they do when he gets back. Then Norris could be playing within 2-3 weeks. 🤷‍♂️

How well they have to play the rest of the season can be parsed to make it look really good or really bad. When there's no break, the team plays 14 to 15 games per month. Let's go with 14 for argument's sake. To play at a 95 point Pace, every month, a team would have to... In those 14 games... Get 16.2 points per month. With the hole the team has dug, to get to 95 points in that same 14 games. They now have to get about 17.2 points per month. If you look at it that way... A crew about one more point per month than what you thought you needed going into the season.. It doesn't look that bad. Of course, like most people, that's if you were playing at a 95 point Pace. This team hasn't shown the ability to even do that.

When a fan base doesn't like something, the urge is there to place blame. If when you think about something logically and there is no blame to be placed, the fan base will find the easiest place, the path of least resistance. Blame must be placed.

In Muel’s defence if he doesn’t get a stick on that then Kane is burying it for the goal anyways.

You're as negative as anyone. I have no vendetta against Dahlin. I call it like I see it. I don't see this as a place where you have to bury your concerns and fears. I can't imagine any Sabres fan not having an "oh, crap" moment when Dahlin left in the middle of the season. I am proud to have planted my flag on Terry in 2011, not 12 years later like most others. It doesn't make me a negative Nellie, just a good evaluator of owner prospects.

I feel for the past decade I have read the quote “A team with A, B, C and D should not be close to the bottom of the league yet here the Sabres are” more times than I wish to imagine.

Ouch

For me? Post merging? I don't know. These forums are like spoken conversations. "Oh, and one other thing..." How long have you been troubled by this? Why didn't you come to me? TP sucks.

Kulich has blood clots, Zucker a virus, Dahlin had a LOA because of his fiancé, Kesselring blocked a shot. I don’t get this dumping on the Strength coach narrative I’ve seen for a couple weeks.

I'm here for you.

Her hot dog vendor was ecstatic..

If Adams "set out to make the team tougher defensively and harder to play against" by trading Clifton, then among everything else that's gone wrong because of him, that alone shows how incompetent he is as a GM. IMO, when it came to all around toughness, his ability to deliver some of the hardest checks of anyone else on the team, and a willingness to drop the gloves whenever necessary to protect his teammates, Clifton excelled and was a true team player on the ice. He was the type of tough player that you need in the playoffs. Maybe Adams wasn't out to build a playoff caliber team so he figured there was no sense in keeping him. As far as the Peterka trade, that made even less sense.

On the downside our defensemen took turns giving away the puck that lead to goals against. Timmons first, Byram second, Dahlin third, then Sammy directed one into the net. Amends were made and they came out with the win. They got 4 goals in regulation for the 1st time in 11 games and only the third time this year. In this version of the NHL you are going to need 4 or more on most nights to win. Let's see if they can start ripping twine. On the too many men penalty it was not perfectly clear on the replay but it seemed like one guy was going off and 3 jumped on. Lindy was talking about a dump in and that should not be called but at the end of the day it was on the bench for it happening in the first place. If nothing else the PK keeps coming though though. Still have not seen enough of Ellis but his side to side movement and play down low seems pretty good so far. The comfort level with him seems to be increasing. This is going to be a strange season in the standings. No reason to waive the white flag just yet. I could see a lot of teams fighting for 90 points this year.