Taro T

THIS particular version that lined up against the Utes - lacking their top D-man, 2 players the coach has been lining up on the top line, their steadiest vet F, and a solid 4th liner (not to mention the guy that never plays a full season that they inked into their 1C role, who they can't actually PLAN on having available on any given night) and playing in their top 6 with their best D-man out a guy that they have at least 2 guys that are better than him; not a whole lot. Short answer of why they could be a playoff team: But the version that had most of Dahlin, Benson, Zucker, and Kulich in the lineup; saw a team that pressured their opponents at 5v5, played extremely well at 4v5, was getting excellent GTing, and was playing very close games even though they only had a functional PP for 1-1/2 games. They couldn't win in OT to save their lives. But dump the idiot that ran the PP and the OT and they get more points in the standings. Even with the idiot running the PP, they'd been right on the cusp of a playoff spot. Again, fix the coaching, and this team is a borderline playoff team. Make a couple of good moves and it becomes a solid playoff team. Most teams in the league are flawed. Making the playoffs, believe it or not, isn't a major accomplishment. It seems like one because the Sabres are the NHL's version of the NY Football J-E-S-T jest Jest JEST; but it really isn't all that impossible.

Well, in fairness, except for Helenius and a couple of D, ALL the really good Amerks are up in Buffalo with Benson, Zucker, Dahlin, Kulich, & Danforth all currently out. (Note, did not include Norris on that list. At this point there's no reason to ever expect him to play more than 40-50 games in any particular season.)

Post-tank, they keep finding ways to blame the failure on their best players. They never should've sent O'Reilly packing. Totally get how with the world shutting down they didn't want to give Reinhart and Ullmark multiyear extensions, but if they risk LT deals there, they still have both of them plus Eichel and very possibly Montour too. How much better could things be NOW if they'd've just had some patience when they had one of the best 2 way F's in the league and some extremely talented youngsters? They never even let O'Reilly play 1 single game wth Dahlin. This is so frustrating.

And get Peca back into the fold next year as well. Either as the Amerks coach with Prospal getting the promotion or as the guy running the STs and F's with Prospal running the Amerks.

Fix the coaching and this team is borderline a playoff squad. Make a couple other upgrades and it is a legit playoff team. But they need to make an upgrade at GM before either of those other moves get made.

Nah, Ruff has to see that Ellis is the major reason this team had a chance to pull off the upset. Yes, he should've had the 3rd goal. But he could easily have given up 6 before that one.

Expect that was more to be able to break up the 4th line and to get McLeod's defensive play on what had been the Doan line. Neither of those 2 lines (Thompson nor Doan lines) had looked good tonight. And that change did NOT work.

Interesting, moving Kozak onto the line with Thompson and Tuch. Trying to switch up the lines to keep from letting the Mammoth outmatchup the Sabres.

The Kid Line has been playing well, although they had their own issues towards the end of the 2nd. But, yeah, Ellis was the reason they had a lead heading into the 3rd.

2 guys on Peterka and neither bothers to actually skate with him. ####!!!!!!!!

There were a lot of line mix ups back then. Roy probably played with Drury and Grier almost as much as he centered the RAV line.

True. And with Timmins looking much better than anticipated, it's a little tougher to get this next statement to get its due, but very often it takes a D-man up to a full season to acclimate to his new team, especially when the teams have different overall philosophies. And back to Timmons, maybe he looks good in Buffalo because the overall style is closer to the Loafs than what the Pens played so he's more at home here than in Steel Town.

Who does?

Afinogenov. It was the RAV line, not the PeRV line. 😉

The weird thing is, if Quinn doesn't get stripped of the puck, that rush likely ends up fairly tame. He loses it, 3 Utes end up around the puck but can't reach it, Östlund follows up and grabs the puck; Quinn continues on to the net drawing a D-man with him resulting in a partial screen, while Rosen moves across anticipating getting the feed for the 1 timer. Effectively, tic, tac, toe though the tic was unintentionally awesome.

What a sad state of affairs that firing a failing PP coach is considered a "special event."

Perhaps not in this thread, but there was a poster here that was calling for Dahlin to take a break about 2 weeks ago. (Which IMHO was before his play had fully tailed off.) So, at least some have used the situation as a reason. And personally do believe the situation was weighing on his mind to the point that it had begun to affect his play. Am glad he's taking the break, hanging with his fiancee and helping her during the most critical portion of her recovery.

😄 No, you said something factually incorrect and have doubled down on it repeatedly, and are now trying to say it's "nitpicking." In the post it was pointed out to you that there had been 3 experienced coaches hired since Pegula took ownership, not merely 1, it was acknowledged that all 3 GMs that Pegula hired had never been NHL GMs prior to getting hired by him (though 2 experienced GMs had been hired in advisory roles; not merely 1). YOU are the one that then continued to insist that Ruff was the only actual experienced coach hired during Pegula's term even going so far as to say that Nolan had no experience "Nolan had never been a head coach but I don't count that debacle." You forgot Goober and you forgot Patrick. "Jarmo is the first NHL experienced hire they have made in the Pegula era." And somehow you also either forgot Nolan's 1st stint in Buffalo or his 2nd. It's not a big deal. But it is humorous at this point.

Over near Ra-cha-cha a lot of those left turn arrow lanes are now going to flashing yellow when oncoming traffic has the green. Which is an ACTUAL improvement over the old switch it to red and don't let anyone turn even when they're the only car at the intersection in any direction. So now, if the coast is clear, you can enter the intersection and turn.

Don't fully get why McConkey wouldn't have been a fit for the Bills just because he was primarily a slot receiver for the Bulldogs. Andre Reed lined up pretty all the time in the slot and absolutely was Kelly's favorite weapon and got downfield. If they had McConkey and he "had" to play the slot, couldn't Shakir have lined up on the outside some? And realize the big problem is they don't have a true #1 &/or a field stretcher. But Samuel is fast and so is Moore; run them far down the sideline and force a DB to run with them. Swap them out every couple of plays to keep them fresh and wearing down the DB covering them. And if you do that, then Shakir, Kincaid, Cook, Palmer (should he ever get back in the lineup), Coleman/McConkey ALL have more space to work with.

Or, even if he can hold stuff down, it's possible that his intestines aren't working properly and everything is flushing right through with little getting absorbed. We simply don't know. (And per reports, his medical team doesn't know what virus specifically is causing his issues, either.)

None of that changes the fact that he was an experienced HC when he was brought in during the Pegula era.

Wadr, disagree quite vehemently. Pomminstein was played on a line he wasn't still capable of playing on for an entire season and he wore out quickly his last year as a Sabre. He SHOULD've been used as a 3rd liner. But rather than that, he was used quite a bit on Eichel's line. He did very well there for about 10 games and then crashed to earth. It was good to move on from him when they did.

Wtf are you talking about. Nolan coached the Sabres when Muckler was the GM. He then a few years after declining the 1 year offer Regier gave him to continue to coach, moved on to the Aisles. Nolan took over again with the Sabres after Rolston got canned.

Actually, Ruff was the 3rd experienced coach hired in the Pegula era. Goober had won a SC in Pittsburgh and Ted Nolan had coached in a couple of different NHL cities. 3 experienced and 3 inexperienced. (Kreuger's partial season before leaving for Europe and hockey tournaments and pro soccer leaves him in the "inexperienced" category IMHO.) 3 inexperienced GMs with 0 experienced GMs brought into that role, though at least 2 experienced "advisors." Patrick and Kekalainen.