ska-T Palmtown

Here's what I will offer ... in a vacuum, your post might not be so bad. But the abstract truth, from where I sit, is that the team is not good enough. For whatever reason, it just isn't. This has probably happened to far better teams in the annals of sports history, but here we are. On paper - we have strong goal tending, but it is unproven and this was really the first time UPL played this well. Maybe he is finally fully recovered from his hip surgeries, etc etc, but it could also be a one and done. On paper - wow, our D! <pause for dick jokes> FIVE first round draft choices! TWO first overall! On paper - ohhh that sweet sweet forward corps! Some big guys, some small skilled players, some determined role players! Hell yeah! Multiple former 40-goal scorers, slick passers, and some guys who know their way around the full 200' length of the ice. Oh, and the kids! Obviously we don't have any McDavids or Bedards, but krikey the skill sets on these youths is pretty impressive! Some of them were over a point-per-game in the A <pause for butt jokes> before coming up to The Show. Our coach?! Man, Tage and Rasmus have really found their game under him. Saved their careers. What did all of this get us? DeLuca 500, if we are lucky. OK - that was a bit sarcastic ... and I like the players (as the people I imagine they are), but it is like making a cake and thinking the taste is just off (last season), thinking "hmmm - lemme make that again, I must have used a pinch where I need a bit more", nope still not good (this season), and then making it ONE MORE TIME just to be really really sure the recipe is off. Our recipe is off, time to try something else. I think there are enough good things about the team that a few well-placed moves could have great results, but we can't simply run it back and hope it fixes itself 😞

You know what ... I just got done leaving you a really complimentary reply in another thread and now I regret it! 😉 Your logic and kill joy has no place in a Sabres game day thread where their season is hanging on literally ... by a thread (like a really thin one that is pretty much frayed all the way thru). We are Sabres fans, so clearly logic does not apply and killing joy seems to be the only thing this team is good at on a consistent basis 😞

Your point makes sense to me - no real NHL value. They have perceived potential value which will value greatly and likely be highest amongst the home town fan base. Also, I totally agree about willing to do pretty much anything to improve the team. JFC ... 13 yrs is all but a few decimal places away. I long for the day when a 'top prospect' needs to sit in Rochester for 3 or 4 years because there is simply no room for him on the roster. Sure, we get glimpses of what is to come when he gets called up for a brief injury fill in ... but boy will he be awesome once we have a spot for him. While also acknowledging that is not entirely how the NHL functions anymore, with superstar contracts and salary caps you need some entry level contract 'kids' who overperform if you are going to make any real noise. Anyway - love the discussion, some really great points!

We have 79 points with a cap of +8 = 87 pts Detroit is 84 +10 Pitt is 84 + 8 If Sabres lose (max drops to 85) and either Detroit or Pitt hits 86, it is over. If Sabres win out and tie with Pitt, Det, Wash, Philly, NJ with 87 points, NJ is the only team that would have more RWs - we have the tie-breaker at 87 points against 4 of the other 5 teams. All that to say ... math has not eliminated us yet - but it is NOT on our side.

I am surprised none of the "still playing at a high level" folks have chimed in. I grew up slapping a tennis ball around in my driveway in some hand-me-down old school roller skates, so how I learned is very irrelevant (but follows the baseball analogy closely). I asked a couple of guys this morning at rat (shinny) who had played some college puck - they emphasized the exact opposite of a lot of the thinking I am seeing here - dominant hand on top allows for better stick handling and puck control. While stick handling, your bottom hand is supposed to be fairly open and loose, all the rotation of the stick (and thus the blade) comes from you top hand. Naturally, if you want to emphasize stick handling and puck control in your development programs, you would encourage the kids to play dominant hand at the top of the stick. Since the world is roughly 90% righties and he NHL is only 70% lefties, there is obviously a fair amount of players who did not follow the 'current wisdom'. 🤷‍♀️

Yeah, all fair points. I also don't begrudge any Sabres fans that are out of patience. I mean, this is bordering on ludicrous at this point!

I feel like I read somewhere that the Canadian and European development programs used to make fun of the Americans for trading control (dominant hand on top) for power (dominant hand low). After decades of getting wiped by the Canadians and Euros, USA hockey gave in. From memory, Patty Kane was one of the first wave of American kids taught this way. (This is the internet so I reserve all rights to be completely 100% wrong about anything I just typed ... but it feels true). **OH - I also have a really great book about the 1980 Olympic team (The Boys of Winter) and the Russians played dominant hand on top because they did not take slap shots ... they did not take slap shots because they did not have very many sticks and did not want to break them. There is a part where they talk about how at every tournament, the Russian team would ask the other teams if they could have a few sticks after the tournament.

I think almost everyone does it with someone or something at one point or another. Normally it is because one person wants another person to be something they just aren't. This is just as true in real life as it is with sports fans. Owen Power is a solid defenseman who is figuring out how his game applies in the toughest, most skilled league in the world ... gosh!

Hey! You get right outta here with your logic!

all this "Torts would do this!" or "Torts would not put up with whatever!" Ha! You know what Torts did? Lost to the team alls of yous seem to think is so inferior to whatever brand of non-sense he peddles! Woo! Ride it, Sabres!

You mean Mr. +3 tonight? Ha, yeah, I am with you - but haters gonna hate.

I get it. But all the "Sabres suck whatever" rhetoric aside ... they are tied with beating a team that is ahead of them in the standings. I dunno - not that bad. Could be getting punched in the d1ck by the BJs ...

someone pissed in SS's collective cheerios ... jeez.

wow, Tage made the goalie look big and slow ...

something must be wrong with my feed ... i heard "a check by skinner" in the d-zone.

blu n gold, eh?

Cranked something in my shoulder playing hockey ... feels rotator-cuffy. It is not awful, so we'll see. I know too many people who have had partial tears where they are told to just live with it 😞

Does that count the two Tuch fired super duper wide and/or high?

I feel bad for Byram ... Avs to whatever this is.

It was still 0-0 at that point, lol.

i screen shotted earlier!?!

I would find the former Sabre angst funny around here if Mitts were to hoist a cup this year. Could never really cheer for the swamp cats, sorry Samson.

pretty sure power poked the puck up the boards to skinner who was allergic to getting it out. However, not even a BLIP of how bad this game is going.

oh god ... a PP??? nooooooo

holy crap. This is worse than my beer league game last night ...