All Activity

For me it's less about coping with the Sabres and more about coping with @PerreaultForever, but we all gotta find our ways to get by 😜 ***** Two things have become really clear lately to me about your position on this rebuild: You think the Sabres of 2021 were in much better shape than I do And/or you think it's much easier to turn a really bad team into a playoff team than I do. To the 2nd point, I took a look at other teams, going back 10 years to the lockout. Including teams that have done it more than once, there have been 14 sub-.400 non-expansion teams beyond the Sabres. the 2015 Oilers were in their 8th consecutive year out of the playoffs. They drafted McDavid, finally made it 3 years later and missed the next 2 the 2015 Coyotes were in their 3rd consecutive year out of the playoffs. They missed 4 more years before finally making it, and have missed 4 years since. the 2017 Avalanche were on their 3rd consecutive year out of the playoffs and had missed 6 of their last 7. They made the playoffs the next season and have yet to miss since. the 2019 Senators were on their 2nd year out of playoffs and missed each of the 5 years since. the 2020 Wings were on their 4th year of missing the playoffs and have missed each of the 4 years since the 2021 Ducks were on their 3rd year out of the playoffs and have missed all 3 years since The 2022 Devils were on their 4th year out of the playoffs and had missed 9 of 10. they made the playoffs the next season, then missed last year. the 2022 Flyers were on their 2nd year out of the playoffs and have missed the 2 years since. the 2022 Canadiens went to finals in bubble the year prior and have missed the 2 years since the 2023 Sharks were on their 4th year out of the playoffs and missed again this year the 2023 Jackets were on their 3rd year out of the playoffs and missed again this year the 2023 Hawks were on their 3rd year out of the playoffs and missed again this year I'm just not seeing many examples of GMs turning sad sack teams like the Sabres into playoff contenders in 2 or 3 years. Which comes back to my first point up top: your argument makes a lot more sense to me if you think the 2021 Sabres were like the 2016 Hurricanes or the 2022 Canucks. I just don't think that's the case.

Rosanne Rosanadana!

I get it. The narrative in Boston and outside Boston are two completely different things. He is beloved in that town and by his teammates.

Bandits are putting on a clinic.

I think the Vegas locker room and team culture had a lot to do with it as well. That was a fairly close knit team and Eichel knew people were doubting him and he wanted badly to show he was not the problem, the Sabres were. idk about Matthews. He seems like a diva and a bit of a d*ck but if they change the team maybe he adapts. Maybe not. I definitely don't see Marner changing though. He's never shown anything in that direction.

It pisses me off when he shows any class and disrupts my narrative of him.

Not to mention Skinner’s $9M will be gone, one way or the other.

Quinn and Peterka are two years into their ELC's. You and pay them a lot next summer if you want. But you also can literally wait 5 more years before you have to give them big contracts. If the deserve the big money earlier, then that's a good problem to have. You move somebody to clear up space. That's what the good teams do.

This is where your analytics department should come in and find diamonds in rough. They do need to add some more pro scouts having Jeremiah Crowe as the Director of Pro Scouting because he is the only one in the department isn’t it. I do think this has at least partially contributed to the poor UFA acquisitions.

As I’ve said ad nauseum, the cap will be sky rocketing and the Sabres have plenty of space for Quinn and JJP.

I think you have to factor Peterka and Quinn contract upgrades in all of this.

That’s some nasty business.

Trades That's the avenue to improvement. Sabres will be players last choice in FA, unless no one else offers.

Thing is, Eichel had sort of hit rock bottom. Hadn’t played in a year, when he did play that year, wasn’t that good, then had a big drama with the Sabres. It had to be a humbling experience. Matthews? He’s at the top of his game, probably doesn’t think his poop stinks, and likely thinks he’s a god, like Marner does. Doubt he’s going to want a coach coming in to knock him off his game.

Wow, Dahlin ejected too for a hit to the head. Sabres players getting some edge 😂

He certainly stands out as someone who isn’t earning his pay, but this is mostly due to his injury history. I’m not going to call a 24 year-old defenseman dead weight though. Overpaid at this point in time, yes. That said, I expect him to have a decent bounce back year under Ruff.

Taking 5 years to make the playoffs is already wrong. He can’t “turn out correct.” the red wings aren’t relevant to that - - - The only reason people mention the red wings is to feel better about the sabres: our competition is with the league not one team. There is nothing gleaned by comparing the sabres “patient approach” and the wings “more aggressive” approach: both have sucked. Neither represents a verdict on the type of chosen strategy: the league has hundreds of teams providing hundreds of examples over a hundred years of GMs moulding their teams into playoff contenders over a year or two or 3, or teams successful implementing a more patient approach. We don’t need to look at these two failed approaches. Either strategy can work. Either strategy can fail based on the aptitude of the person implementing it. Both GMs have been bad. Trying to achieve a victory over Detroit is purely cope

Everyone is " right " in May. " Prove Me Wrong " is my all-time favorite response...which pretty much sinks anything a poster says. Cook, Kincaid and Shakir touched the ball the most during the late season 6 game winning streak. They are still here. It's all about Brady and his play calling in his first full season and his first camp to install his O. With Davis here at RB, I see more touches by the RB's, run and catch. Just my guess. If Kincaid is on the field, then only 2 WR's will be out there. One may be Shakir. The other 10 on the roster now will fight to be the other one. The 2nd half of the season, Diggs averaged 4 catches 43 yards a game. Davis had a couple catches and was invisible many games. Phased out and cap savings does come into play but a big dropoff ? We'll see. My bigger concern is a pass rush and safety play on the D side. Unknown until we see it.

That's it entirely. You can look at other teams as well and see bottom 3 depth/role players totaling 3-4 million(ish) on many teams. All contributing more than KO and Girgs. The first question for free agency (and we have no way to know the answer but it's the question all the same) is will we spend to the cap to try to win now or will we be a lower towards the floor team with some philosophy about future contracts. If we do not spend and bring in bodies we need we will have trouble actually being better. Yes, I believe in Ruff, but how much can he really do? It was pointed out in one of the threads how bad Granato would really be if UPL hadn't stepped up and put up great goaltending numbers. That's the team Ruff is inheriting, and there's no guarantee the two young goalies will be great next season. We need additions.

Dallas is playing near perfect defensive hockey. It's a tight system with veteran leadership and excellent goaltending. Vegas was a loaded team and Dallas managed to knock them off so I think Dallas is capable of beating anybody. Not saying they will, but right now I'd say they are a favourite for the cup. I'd predict a Dallas-Florida toss up cup final at the moment. Rangers have more talent than Boston had but Florida has the grit and the experience. They are dirty but also smart and I think they will draw guys like Rempe into dumb penalties. If their PP works that could kill the Rangers at key moments. There's two possibilities and only Florida knows which is the reality. The Boston Florida series was old time physical with some really hard hits both ways. By the end of it Florida seemed a little less physical so they are either wearing down already due to the physicality (which ultimately got them last year) or they are holding back a little because they know they will need it later. I personally think it's the latter but it's hard to say. Vancouver's the wild card to me. I mean they are doing it with a third string goalie and their superstar has been largely quiet but at times they really look good so who knows.

Hard to say, but maybe Marner agrees to waive his no trade clause for some teams. Nylander might be fine. Matthews hard to say. Clash of egos or he buys in like Eichel did with Cassidy?

It's true. Some guys want it, some guys don't care as much. This is why you need a strong locker room and a strong culture with veteran leaders who are warriors and want it. When you have that they tend to drag the others up with them and the pressure is on to meet the expectation and be part of the group.

If you find yourself offended just know it's your own fault.