thewookie1

Jiricek is rather pissed at CBJ. Feels as if he’s been punished for disagreeing with the staff on his play. Barely getting any minutes and no power play time and now they sent him back to the AHL. There was some fear he may refuse to report however he loves the staff in Cleveland. Can we spin Savoie for him lol

Hopefully the break allows us to forget the other 2 wins and we can try to get another 2 wins

Part of this is due to Tuch being hobbled most of the year as well as Quinn being out half the season. Part of it has to do with the terribly executed attempt at defensively responsible hockey. Which both literally and mentally slows them down. Lastly Hinostroza, Jost and Bryson are faster skaters than Greenway, Benson and Johnson. Underachieving is also baked into it as well however I can’t exactly quantify that

Not for the Sabres to be there, just the odd formation in the standings

Oddly enough, we are more or less the last place team of passable hockey teams at this time. We have a 7+ point lead on all 5 teams behind us and would jump to 24th with a win and losses by MTL, MIN and CGY. Just very unusual.

He's legitimately nice on Twitter and seems down to Earth when I've seen him a few times at Tops.

I give credit to Thompson for at least trying to get engaged with some hits and puck carrying after they went down 1-0. Dahlin played fine, easily our best player tonight. Kudos to the 4th line who played with energy all night. UPL stood on his head to keep the score reasonable. Tuch skated, then got banged up, then skated and got banged up again Skinner was his usual bad Skinner version, all finesse and little to no attack. Power needs some confidence and to work non-stop on his shot in the offseason like Dahlin did in his years 2 and 3 offseasons. He has zero trust in his shot and thus will quite literally pass the puck to a Skinner covered by three guys versus shoot it on net. Overall a god awful game with small positives surrounded by giant negatives. They better be flying against LA from start to finish tomorrow night.

I can definitely accept the that opinion; I don't hate his announcing but its a far cry from RJ

Don’t think he’s had a job since Buffalo but he is 73 now and would have been at least 65 when he was fired here. May have just retired. As for Tim Murray he hasn’t even been a scout or anything since Buffalo. He must of legitimately did something bad that we aren’t aware of because I’ve never seen a former GM who was a front office lifer vanish like that. Botterill has been the AGM in Seattle and has been in proposed candidates when GM searches are ongoing. Adams has always been an odd one due to his experience being all over the place. Player, Assistant Coach, Scout, high up roles in the Harbor Center and Jr Sabres programs and something akin to an auditor for the Pegulas in the 2019-2020 area. He has done well at bringing on great analytical minds to his youth scouting but the lack of pro scouts seems odd. From a manager POV he seems very good, easy to work with, listens to his staff, etc. Where the issues seem to arise is with his more mild approaches to goaltending and pushing the team into the playoffs.

Yes and no; there is a definite bias to the top teams or those deemed as such.

We have a back to back in California so I’m not surprised. Looks like Comrie is all but finished as a starter in Buffalo

I frankly have no clue; I'd fear if Adams was fired the next guy would want to reset the clock again to get "his" guys. And/or they'd go stupid with the assets like Tim Murray. As for Granato, I love the guy; but I frankly think his role no longer works. He can help you develop players but we need someone who can take this talent and turn it into a playoff team versus a great developmental team that can't seem to quite get over that peak. How do you fix the team? I'm unsure and terrified by that. I can already just imagine watching us trade Cozens or Power only for them to take off into the stratosphere like everyone else seems to. Or letting Mitts leave after next season and go on to have a great career.

Can anyone explain to me how Benson was penalized for doing something every player alive does? This season in the end can be boiled down to the Powerplay being putrid. Our 5v5 scoring is Top 10 this year.

Well that was outta left field

It’s just not right, we outplayed them 2/3rds of the game and still lose.

Speaketh into existence

His effort is still there but he’s trying to force himself to play to his contract instead of just playing

Sabres playing against the trap is a never-ending practice of futility.

Cold and Ruthless are different than "firing your coach" but leaving him in limbo for multiple weeks and letting the media hound the guy over very real rumors about him being replaced. That's just bad management

HIs treatment of Bruce Boudreau makes me feel differently.

Levi does seem to have at minimum got UPL to really get his ass in gear this year. Back to Back shutouts for the long named Finn

My hope would be to convince him at 4x5.75mil as it gives him and the Sabres flexibility

Did they reattach his entire lower body or something ? I hate the designation for injuries in the NHL.

I've seen Markstrom be both valuable and cheap through the year due to his contract in combination with Wolf in the AHL The Top 9 was fine last year and has struggled this season.. Greenway is just down a line; I didn't delete him from existence lol. Finding defensive wingers who can also fit the Top 9 isn't exactly an easy task; to be honest suggestions would be welcome since I'm blanking on names. I have zero interest in trading a bigger name; it hasn't worked in the cases of ROR, Eichel and even Reinhart in a sense and frankly I don't see any scenario in which we win the trade.

No thanks, I have zero interest in playing that game again. Sign a UFA like Tanev or try to coerce Pesce if he doesn't re-up The last thing I'm doing is trading a young NHL forward who will inevitably blow up wherever he goes for a lesser Dman and change.