grinreaper

"Cozens behind the play with Roy". Hope it wasn't with the old Junkman we know of.

With shots being so one sided the Sabres had late chances to take the lead. They need to come out in the 2nd with their hair on fire. No excuses for a young speedy team that's been off since Saturday.

Sabres fortunate to get out of that period unscathed with only their pride hurt. Anderson is so good early in games. His anticipation and awareness are most likely what has allowed him to play into his 60's.

Sabre's new strategy adopted from boxing. They're letting the Kings wear their arms out early by giving them so many shots. Rob Ray taking the words out of my mouth and suggesting that it's time for the good guys to use their speed.

I wonder where he got all those uniforms?

Anderson, showing his usual early game prowess.

While I like Asplund it would be great if Mitts and Ollie play well enough to stay on the ice.

Mittlestadt getting another opportunity to show something. Hoping he does.

Reread my post. You are using two of my different and separate points as if they are one argument.

Something to keep in mind: Adam's first job was to jettison players that weren't part of the Sabre's future. He didn't complete the Eichel trade until somewhere around the middle of last season and didn't get the benefit of Tuch until after that. He had to clear the decks before making progress in building the team on ice. Placing a timeline based on the calendar doesn't make a lot of sense other than in general terms. Rebuilding a team or a business or even a golf course may use a timeframe as a guide but the smart operators are results driven. FIFY.

It says a lot about our ability to stop pucks. While I'm a defender of the Sabre's rebuild plan and their approach to creating an offensive identity it sure would be nice to have avoided Comrie's injury and the need to be icing AHL defensemen.

There's no doubt that the Sabres have the makings of an offense rivaling many of the old time teams. The problem is that they don't presently have a GT as capable as Grant Fuhr who made the HOF with something like a GAA of 3.38 and a save percentage of .887. Times have changed, eh? I can remember that the defense of his mediocre stats was that "he made the timely and important saves".

I swear I read somewhere (on the internet) that the Sabres have only scored less than 3 goals once this year. Are we in the record books yet?

Oh goody, a new subject to discuss. The team's plan is not a specific blueprint that demands following it to the letter and not providing any room for flexibility. Simply put, GMKA first set out to get rid of people who didn't want to be here or didn't have a fit for the kind of club he (and I presume the owners) wanted to ice. Recognizing that he had an abundance of potentially really good but unproven players plus an unusual amount of high draft choices he knew that he might end up with more top NHL players than what he could afford or utilize. The Sabres are presently in the stage in which these players are being evaluated regarding their value. Some have shown enough to earn long term, team friendly contracts, some might be close while the value of others has not yet been determined. The whole idea right now is for them to find out what they have and to lock up those that are deserving while avoiding picking up anyone that makes it difficult for them to stick to their plan. The Sabres, either by astute drafts & trades or dumb luck have their skill players under control and prime for reasonable contracts. What they need now and most likely for a few years are players like stay at home defensemen and a high caliber goalie. Those kind of D-men can be had at reasonable prices but not until the trading deadline or in the Summer. The goalie, who knows? To me, solving the goaltending issue is and will be Adam's biggest single challenge. Demanding that the Sabre's rebuild timeline is determined by the calendar rather than progress is wishing for feel good headlines rather than results.

Taylor Hall was a perfect example of why a team should want no part of any player that "doesn't want to be here". Hockey is a team game and individual efforts, regardless of the player's skill don't make for a winning team. Players who make the free and willing decision to play where they don't really want to be don't magically become a part of a team and make the sum worth more than its parts, but when they are added up the total becomes much less. What would you rather have, a team full of Afinogenovs or a team consisting of Drurys? Anyway, I presume that all or the vast majority of people here want to see the Sabres succeed. They've been rebuilding for a dozen years or so with different people in charge, executing various plans but disregarding patience. We now have a GM who has a plan that has shown much progress in the last year or two. Losing patience and cutting the plan short would be a sure way of sabotaging the progress and assuring that the drought continues.

Good post. It seems like it was just yesterday when I was seeing posts here criticizing Adams for not getting a deal for Eichel done along with assumptions that with his inexperience he was going to end up with a crappy deal. Once the deal was finalized and announced the tone certainly changed.

You're a good poster along with a ton of people here. I'm just a hockey fan that has the time and enjoys practicing parody with a dose of sarcasm in my own amateurish way. Whenever it "fits" my post I preface my comments with BREAKING NEWS: which is an indication and warning that what is about to come is my feeble attempt at comedy. Elsewhere where I post people are generally aware that although I often post in a serious manner that they should look out for a good dose of my use of hyperbole. I've been around this place since before the Danny Briere days and posted a lot more back then but lost a bunch of my posts. Anyway, I'm posting more this year because I'm really feeling good about the Sabre's future along with having some extra time.

After reading through this thread I have some observations: The posters here who use common sense and facts to illuminate their positions put themselves in danger of being pinned down to the point of eliminating any future possibility of backtracking from their positions and no longer will be able to have their choice of previous stated opposing opinions to refute anyone challenging them here. A classic example of leaving your posting responses nebulous and completely free for various interpretations is to adopt what is commonly referred to as "The Tumbleweed Defense". Claim something along the lines of (and I paraphrase) GMKA does nothing to try to fix our immediate problems because just the act of doing so would not fit into the plan. Then, while still on the same thread page, remark that Adams broke some self-imposed restriction on going outside of the plan by making a successful waiver claim on a forward named Jost. Obviously once these opposing positions have been stated, both opinions offer a great opportunity to argue either point. The other advantage for adopting such opinion flexibility is that posters have no need to remember what specific stance they may have had on a particular subject. On a further note I heard on The Investigators radio show today that GM Kevyn Adams had some really impressive potential additions to the Sabre's roster. He was choosing to hold them in his back pocket though due to psychological reasons that might affect the team and/or fans. Guest Bob Bray let slip that he knew categorically that a defenseman, described only as "Victor H", was available in a deal with his present team with that team paying 50% of the remaining part of his contract. The immediate hang up to the deal centers around the Sabre's willingness to give up a 2023 5th round pick. Bray, with the smug attitude typical of a former player who not only was a prolific scorer but harbors confidential knowledge regarding his imminent HOF selection forgot that he was on the air and swore the hosts to secrecy before letting the cat out of the bag. "Adams just recently signed Chris Pronger Jr., who by all accounts coming out of the KHL is ready now to be a first pairing D-Man in the NHL. The icing on the cake though is that Dominik Hasek3, son of you know who, is ready to make the move to NA, take up residence in his dad's old condo and bring his .984 save percentage and .23 GA average to his father's 2nd favored team." The hosts, shaking their heads, asked in disbelief why all of this info has been kept secret? Bob, trying hard not to mispronounce his words explained that GMKA is of the opinion that "every mountain needs a valley and no pain, no gain. Sabre's fans have not suffered enough and a decade of losing is not sufficient to get them to really appreciate the top notch team that we should have in another 3-4 years. Besides, I get a ton of entertainment value from all of the online posters who give me advice on how I can orchestrate a trade for Makar with only our 8th D-Man."

Few trades of any import are made during the season up until near the trading deadline unless one of the trading partners is getting skinned. Lehner cost a 1st during the offseason and the criticism here was deafening. A win/win trade has to satisfy many variables and few teams want to make a move with their players until they make the choice between being a buyer or a seller. In order to make a significant move now GMKA would have to overpay in either draft picks, prospects or both. Bank on it. The things in the Sabre's favor are that they only need to pick up 1 NHL caliber goaltender and since they have very high caliber offensive defensemen that can run the Power Play, they only need stay at home tough defensemen types that should be easier and cheaper to obtain. Teams simply aren't going to give them up now but will be willing to do so if they don't see a path to the playoffs well after the 1st of the year. We don't need, nor will we get a Makar. A McCabe or two would be a move that fits both our needs and the budget. Again, that's not going to happen until specific team's circumstances allow it. Adam's efforts today and in the next few months need to be spent on discussing with other GM's the kind of deals that under the right circumstance could be made. It does no good for Sabre fans to harp on perceived inactivity today when they don't understand that the kind of activity that they want is an announcement of the culmination of the work that goes on for months prior to a final deal.

Absolutely. The BS about giving the older, established teams who have displayed success the benefit of the doubt as far as officiating goes is contrary to the whole idea of officiating. Giving the star players preferential treatment is like issuing them a license to make a habit out of it and to push the proverbial envelope. The Sabres would have won the game if only they were able to finish. To have isolated games or mini offensive slumps on a team that is built around offense is a killer. A team that is built around defense first is more consistent but has difficulty playing from behind and is about as exciting as the old NJ Devils. It seems that this year the Sabres are working on their offensive game including a relentless forecheck. DG is even putting top offensive players in defense first situations and having them be on the ice defending a lead. We are a young team with overall talent the equal of any team in the league. For large parts of the game tonight we outplayed the Penguins with our speed and passing. As lucky as the guys were in scoring against Columbus they were unlucky tonight. Until the very end the Penguins were protecting a one goal lead and their experience and polish along with their great goaltending was the difference. I hated the loss but enjoyed the game.

Good post. I can imagine that GMKA is up against it for making any deal that is fair at this point in time. Other GM's aren't going to be motivated unless they're selling their garbage for more than it is worth. Once teams figure out if they are buyers or sellers when it's close to the trade deadline then he might be able to do something that fits the Sabre's overall plan. Most likely trades/free agent pickups will be what happens in the offseason. Enjoy watching this team develop this year and set themselves up as a really good team next year.

Not only was he tripped but he took a high stick from Letang that lead directly to Cindy's goal that iced the game.

If the Sabres were allowed 1/4 of a goal for every post they hit then they would have won. Seriously though, their problem tonight was simply not finishing. Their problem this year has been defense and goaltending. They're icing some real talent and offensive guys are also showing the ability and desire to play defense. The difference this year from last year and before is that win or lose they compete and are entertaining.

Nice defensive play by Peterka to not get a penalty on that.

Did you not see Drury's goal?