SDS

I know right? Did a toe drag even exist? What you would essentially have is a guy who can barely skate backwards with any fluidity, lunge at a guy flying at him that toe drags around him and does some crazy trick goal because 50% of the net is wide open.

https://thehockeynews.com/news/article/nhl-players-keep-getting-faster-stronger-and-more-skilled-how-far-can-hockey-evolution-go Players of the 70s are not stronger than today. Casey Mittelstadt notwithstanding.

I would consider that the same size, like I mentioned, but since they skate faster and would hit with more force.

For reference: https://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/BUF/1975.html

Could you point to any video evidence to back up this claim? It smacks of an old wives tale that grows with each passing year. I watched a lot of the SCF game and there was nothing physically superior about it, unless you consider really slow skaters grabbing slightly less slower players beating the living daylights out of them. https://goterriers.com/roster.aspx?roster=2355&path=mhockey There is the roster for BU. Now, as an engineer, I remember a few physics formulas from back in the day. F=ma is one. Tell me how those kids, who are at least the same size, but skating MUCH faster is going to get the living daylights beat out of them?

My motivation was to push back on what I consider the extremely silly notion that any of those players from the 70s would be anything other than poorly trained pylons in today's game. People's romanticizing about that era clouds the fact that those players lacked the skill in EVERY aspect (speed, edge-work, backward skating, turns, lateral movement, puck handling, shot accuracy) along with the conditioning and tactical knowledge of the game. Skill wise, I would say kids in high-end programs surpass those players in skill by age 14. By the time they are 17-18, their bodies are big/fast enough that they would run circles around them. The toe drags these kids would pull would make for 30 minute laugh tracks every game. Since my push back is about people's perception of what they think they remember in the past compared to what they see today - I'm not changing anyone's equipment. I have no idea what Danny Gare would do growing up in the modern system. I assume he would be Nathan Gerbe (assuming he is indeed 5'8" as someone posted earlier) at best. But that's not what I'm getting at. Take the modern game, with 45 years of training, coaching, nutrition, and equipment improvement along with the vastly enlarged world-wide competitive player pool and drop those kids on the ice with those players and it becomes an SNL skit. To say otherwise means that almost nothing in the past 45 years has advanced in today's athlete. It means that a bunch of cigarette smoking, beer in the locker room part -time insurance salesmen have just as much chance to earn $8M/year in the NHL as does Jack Eichel. It's ludicrous.

In response to the old-timers here continually harkening back to yesteryear, longing for the stars of their youth to reincarnate and step onto the ice again to show these bums how hockey is played - I asserted in last night's game thread that the modern hockey player today would crush those players. D1 college, World Junior teams, etc... would annihilate these guys. If you need any visual proof, please watch the first minute of this Sabres/Flyers game from 1975. Three minutes is you have the time. They were awesome back in the day, but compared to today's players - they are COMICALLY bad.

For those that may not remember, JB used RORs age as the reason for moving him. He said the timelines didn’t match up. Well, they wouldn’t match up for Duchene either.

That was Lehneresque.

Older fans like to be nostalgic about their childhood heroes. All anyone have to do is pull up an old game. It’s slow as molasses. People are falling everywhere. Pucks thrown randomly around the ice. It’s not the same game.

Now. That would be idiotic to suggest a college team back then.

I don’t know what you are talking about. I was referring to today’s college teams being picked up placed into a Time Machine and dropped onto the ice against any team from the 70s.

No Alabama cannot beat the bills. stupid people say things like that. Again feel free to pull up a YouTube video and watch how awful those hockey players are compared to today’s hockey players. I did this exact thing last night.

I wish people would just go to YouTube and watch the Sabres or any other team of the 70s. It’s a clown show. Any college team could have beaten to 75 Sabres and certainly any Junior national team.

Enforcer is just code for lacking skill. Does Darien Hatcher have a son?

FYI, I'm all in on your evaluation of the team. It's definitely a sanity check against my own thoughts. Nature abhors a vacuum. In absence of real information, fans are often too willing just let their imaginations go down the well of despair. JB has said many times - they will go after good players with term if it makes sense. Obviously, with FA - he gets to set the term.' I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the GM of the Sabres wants to win as much as the fans do. As such, I'm certain he is kicking the tires on every player that fills a need, is the right age, and can be a part of the future. (as well as signing the players needed to keep the seats warm while he searches for that better talent).

Trust? It's a game meant to entertain. I'm not sure "trust" is actually warranted in this situation. What does not trusting get you? A better experience? Greater happiness? How much say do you have in the owner, the GM and the coach of the Buffalo Sabres? Does your trust affect these decisions? The past is gone. It is a sunk cost. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sunk_cost It doesn't matter if they made the playoffs every year or missed the last 20. Decisions made by other people in past years have no bearing on the decisions made today nor in the future. You can wish for the playoffs in one hand and crap in the other. See which one gets filled first. The Sabres are not going to get better just because the fans really, really, really, really want a good team and are mad about their history. P.S. I vehemently disagree that people will be happy with a perennial playoff team. Fans don't work that way. They always want more. Heck, during our 2006-2007 season, our resident contrarian pissed and moaned the entire time because he didn't like the way they were winning. People are never satisfied.

Hockey shouldn't even have goaltenders. If the forwards and defense are too weak to prevent a shot on goal than it deserves to be counted on the scoreboard. To expect the keeper to really do anything other than give his face a bath with the water bottle is insane.

I wish the fan base would listen to what Jason has been telling them how the team is moving forward. You don't have to like it, but it should at least set your expectations of how this team intends to operate in the future.

As long as he doesn't blow out his knee.

I thought it was another game where Jack outplayed his “rival” by a substantial amount.

His name is Mike Boyle. Author of a couple books and 100s of articles online.

Personally, I don’t know how to rectify the situation when one team wins because a puck bounces off a skate and we have an open net and our player stops his own goal with his own stick. Really stupid ***** has plagued this team for awhile now. Are the Oilers really better because of the deflected goal? Are we really worse because Pominville stopped his own shot? Skinners deflection wasn’t 1 inch to the left?

Given that Ryan O’Reilly did not play in the game today I am not going to discuss this in this in the game day topic. If only there was a place where this has been discussed.

It’s so awful having to read this day after day after day after day. Do you understand that no one offered more for Ryan O’Reilly? Jason Botterill is not the reason why Ryan O’Reilly got so little return. Ryan O’Reilly is the reason. At that moment in time, that’s what he was worth on the market. Everyone knew he was available and no one offered more. Again everyone knew he was available and no one offered more.