All Activity

Interesting point and actually why we definitely need a guy who will "chuck 'em". If we get better/good we will be taken more seriously and Dahlin will be targeted and his dirty stuff (which I agree he does, especially that reverse hit which pisses people off) will cause more reaction and you dont' want him dropping the gloves so once again you need the defender to cancel some of that out. Krebs could be that guy who fits between a Hathaway and a DesLauriers type to make that line work IF he focuses on his role and his defensive play. I'm not sure he's the right guy for that but he could grow into it if he embraces and accepts it. Captains don't get away with dirty stuff. Just ask Marchand.

I know there’s a huge disconnect with Dahlin B/c hardly anyone wants him to be captain. Have you seen how many penalties the dude takes? A letter on his chest..anything thst aids his relationship with the officials is what we want Dahlin needs the C. I’m sorry for tooting my own horn here but I made this point before and it didn’t gain any traction and forgive me but I think it’s the most salient factor re: picking a captain so I’m making it again he needs to be able to get away with more dirty stuff: because he will seize the opportunity if available I guarantee you that “the officials hate the sabres” - you need to actively curry said favour.

The gist of the post remains the ongoing willful blindness to a big part of Dahlin's game. I remain thankful.

One only needs to look at how effective Philadelphia's 4th line was with Hathaway and DesLauriers to see how this works. You want both these guys (similar types) on your roster. DesLauriers did not dress every night and that's how it should be but they did set the tone many nights and were sometimes the best line. Hathaway type can fight and play but you don't ask him to take on the heavyweights like Reeves. It's a cancelling effect. If you make the playoffs your DesLauriers probably never sees the ice, but over the 80 plus games you need that cancelling effect since there is a Maroon and a Jeannot and a Reeves etc in your division. A fourth line that is a Hathaway type, a journeyman defensively responsible center or a young guy of the same type, and a heavyweight is a good 4th line.

I’m ok if you remove your “thanks” On that @dudacek as I added a somewhat egregious shot at Krebs just as you reacted. I know you value his defensive output My points stands tho

Culture much more putting on a black tie and going to a museum or an art gallery, which isn't to say you can't do that in Buffalo... And again, who really does that stuff on a regular basis?!?! You go to Africa, you're going to get some really interesting cultures. None of which involves museums or anything to what you're suggesting. Buffalo tailgating is organic, and its pretty awesome. I'm trying hard not to dish on your beloved Vancouver, but I'll just say... If you ask anybody from anywhere to say something about it, they'll say mountains first and ocean second. Beyond that to most people in Canada, its kind of just a Toronto Jr. Outside Canada, I'm not even sure what people would think.

Why Krebs and not Dahlin? Because Krebs is a small little agitator who we expect nothing of? Dahlin’s actual “grit” output far exceeds most players on the team. It’s like, if you have skill, and display it, that actively counts against the physicality you show. Krebs provides no aptitude of note, offensively, defensively or otherwise, other than a piece of paper that states who he was traded for, but he smiles in scrums after the whistle so he’s cool Dahlin has been a dickish, borderline dirty at times MFER on that ice for several years now. Even I’ve noticed that and I watch half as much

He said, maybe one or two, tougher guys….. I feel absolutely certain it should be two and that they had both have the ability to help the team win in other very solid ways…. We need two way guys that don’t take crap and that they psyched up their teammates to toughen up…. That’s what we need. A fighting only player is kind of dumb, imho. It is also important that the team knows in very certain terms that these guys aren’t there to fight their battles. That they definitely need to toughen up big time if we are going to go anywhere.

So you basically have no time for the entire current roster (except maybe Krebs and Greenway).

Because Maple Syrup and real poutine are both delicious. Smoked meat and bagels are also big in Montreal. I'm a west coaster though. Very little French out here. Lots of hippies and flip flops 🙂

Swifty passed you by? In some ways I think that proves my point 🙂 I lived in Hamilton in my youth as I've said so I get the close to Toronto thing but it's still close to and not it. That's a reality. Again, that's why it's affordable. It's close to, but it's not it. Hamilton's a great city too. A lot like Buffalo. But it's also affordable and a little lacking. many places are.

You sucked him dry. Is that why they droop so much? 😁

Hustling and hitting are not gone in the games I watch. In the playoffs, that rough and tough aspect of the game are even more pronounced. One of the reasons why the Sabres have been an inconsequential team is because they lack the physicality that good teams have. Playing tough hockey is not about fighting; it's about playing harder and tougher. Fighting is irrelevant to that aspect of the game. In reality, most fights are contrived where the combatants agree in advance to drop their glovers. It's so stupid and idiotic.

Sounds just like that. It sounds like they tried to narrow down the issues to as specific a target as hypothetically possible, the sort of “fix this one solitary issue and the tide of that change will raise all boats” line of thought we see proposed a lot around here. It seems like pretty much everything dudacek mentioned can be covered by turning over the one stone of finding a tough, depth centre. Essentially swapping the Mittelstadt fit, and running it back.

You do realize that saying chicken wings is your culture is pretty much feeding into a stand up routine that would make fun of the place right? I mean they made Nanaimo Bars in Nanaimo but nobody runs around that town saying that's their culture. Buffalo's fine and it's actually nice to see how strongly some people are defending it, and I'm all for supporting your home town and all that. No issues. It goes too far though if you actually try to claim it's some great place. It's just a place. Not a terrible place, but a place. Winter sucks and there's something wrong with their hockey team, but not a terrible place (unless you like hockey). Not a cultural Mecca though, that's for sure.

Thank you lol

Maybe I am overstating his negative value a bit. In a world where he has no NMC, yeah, maybe a team takes him for nothing and maybe even returns something. As is though, the trade partners will be few, if any, and I think we would need to give up an asset to make the deal, even at 50%.

I think that’s certainly valid, my opinion on it has changed significantly since I was a kid, it’s just difficult to parse how much of that is me changing and how much is, to your point, the league. That it made way more sense before seems plausible to me

Mixed feelings on him; his analytics weren't great this year but he was also being played 20-80 with Zone starts which is insanity

The difference here was one was a foregone conclusion/in the past tense and the other is projecting forward

In this modern version of the sport, fighting is pointless. Back in the day those guys filled a role and it was the only way they could stay employed.

Wasn’t there a thread last summer asking if Skinner would be a HOF candidate? We haven’t spent to the cap yet so his contract hasn’t impacted who we could sign. Rather than dumping Skinner I’d rather KA focus on getting a center first. If that requires a buyout so be it. Tage had an off year and as I’ve said before as his center goes, so goes Skinner. He actually looked re-energized when they put him with Mitts. Unless it’s a locker room issue he is way down the list of issues with this team.

Sad. Spent many many nights there in the early 90s.

Please and thank you. Overpaid but exactly what they need. Three of him to be exactly exact.

It should be banned cause it’s asinine. It’s the only (non combat) sport where it’s essentially legal/tolerated/encouraged to..not play the game in question but rather to remove some of your equipment and assault eachother. Safety issue is whatever as it’s their choice..it’s just stupid. Feels like overcompensation. Small man syndrome It’s sort of embarrassing