Mango

I have been iffy on Tage the last year. I am cautious around any player under this ownership and regime. BUT.... Tage has been really good this year. Even when the team has been bad and lacked effort he has been all over the place forechecking and backchecking. He has carried a bunch of lazy periods. The guy is all in on turning this thing around under Ruff. I am here for it. Based on on-ice play I wish Tage had the C right now. And that isn't meant to be a direct shot at Ras, but Tage is playing with much more tenacity.

Without going too far down the rabbit hole, this has been the most frustrating part of a big part of the draught and Adams tenure. They go periods, and sometimes games looking like they just aren't even trying. If they were a mediocre 89 point, try hard team every year for the last 13 years the arena would still be filled.

Great overall post but I take a little issue with the final bolded. It just implies that Adams is good or would be good at his job if it weren't for Pegula. And I don't buy it. I think Terry Pegula should be reminded every single day that he has absolutely destroyed this franchise, and his run with the Sabres deserves to be carved into thte mount Rushmore of historically bad sports ownership. I believe the stands should be full of (respectful) signs specifically directed at how bad Terry Pegula has been for hockey in this town. That said, Adams roster construction is incredibly flawed and he deserves a lot of criticism.

The issue isn't system. The issue is that this team under Adams barely looks like it is trying half the time. If we were a try hard, mediocre, 89 point team every single year we would still be averaging 99% attendance. We have been saying it for multiple seasons, now Ruff is saying it. Stop falling back on "we did some good things" and start trying hard for 3 full periods. I cannot believe we are sitting here in year 5 of Adams, and years 3+ of some of these guys, and saying "man, I wish they would just finally start trying hard". It is wildly embarrassing. Dylan Cozens getting punched in the face and then just turtling for an entire season and into the next, is the spirit animal for this roster. There isn't a better mascot.

Agreed he isn't our worst player. He has been fine via the eye test. But Ryan Johnson was also fine by the eye test. The issue that this team has with Byrum is that it just doesn't make sense. If he blossoms into what we were sold he could be, it doesn't make sense to extend him with Power/Dahlin already here. So what is the plan? From a roster construction POV it was just weird. We still need help on the defense and we now need more help filling out the top 6. This team would be better if we had Mitts/Ryan Johnson than it is is Cozens/Byram.

No. I didn't want Adams to trade anybody last year. No more roster moves by Kevyn Adams please. Get somebody else in the role. That as super strange that they marched out Appert after practice and didn't make Lindy available, right?

Anybody catch that Appert was the only coach available today after practice? That seems weird. After a quick Google of a couple of the teams in the conference finals last year I can’t find any examples of their assistants being available but not their HC.

He’s the best at something across the NHL, I don’t know what it is, but he is the best at it. So because of that he’s almost elite. I’m not hot or cold on Power at the moment but I find this hilarious.

2021-22 are useless points in this conversation in 23-24 Cozens was consistently given preferential treatment with linemates even though there were better centers on the roster. And when the bill came due the GM traded Cozens biggest competition. So back to my point, it is super weird for the fanbase to be so open about the GM promoting/demoting players up and down the roster in the same way that it is super weird for that GM of the team to lead the announcement of team captains. Neither of these things should be up to a GM...but here we are....

This is one of my bigger frustrations with both Cozens and Adams. We’ve consistently cleared the path for Cozens whether it’s giving him preferable linemates in order to “get him going” or trading players better than him (Mitts). Similar to Adams presenting the naming of the captains speech, it seems so strange that it’s also referred to as “promoting players too soon”. He’s the GM he shouldn’t be promoting anybody. Adams traits as a GM is so odd. I don’t think Pegula meddles with Adams because I think they are both on the same page. Can’t meddle if everybody agrees. This org needs both of them to stay in their respective lanes.

Would you agree that more skilled players tend to score more often compared to less skilled players when given the opportunity? Not scoring on lots of scoring ops would mean that Cozens and Thompson aren’t as skilled even though coaches have put them into position to score.

The Av’s have the worst goaltending in the league. Both goalies are .765 and .811. I’ve watched a few games and the team in front of the goalie has looked pretty good.

That statement from Granato about the scuffle just feels so telling to the problems with this team. Especially with the context of the comments made post Mitts/Okie trade. Ruff may not be a HoF'er, but he is certainly an "adequate" NHL coach. Based on where this team has been the last 13 years I would be thrilled if this roster and their mentality could attain adequate. If just playing trying hard is offensive to some of these guys they can shape up or GTFO.

The unsaid part in that seems to be that Dahlin doesn’t like that very much….

The Sabres have been the youngest team in the league for 3-4 years now. And every year they make no effort to really change that. It’s almost like it’s on purpose to keep the built in excuse for the masses. Apparently it’s working. Since this thread likes to cite Connor McDavid (Edmonton) as a reasonable bar. Wasn’t NJ something like the second youngest team in the league in 22-23? At what point will the org either 1. Address age being an issue with this roster or 2. Stop using it as a fall back excuse?

Adams playing 9D pick up sticks.

Maybe because it’s once every 365 days, but when was the last time that a GM was announced with the roster? It seemed so odd. In fact Adams constant presence around the roster with stuff like announcing captains is super odd.

When the Sabres get McDavid and Draisaitl let me know. I bet you could offer Edmonton our entire top 6 for Draisaitl and they would probably say no. That’s how large the talent gap is between those two players and any combination of players in Buffalo. Edmonton and Buffalo are not the same.

I’d train to UB South for cheap then Uber to the hotel. That’s likely the cheapest.

Less of a McD apologist and just a case of Pegula-phobia. I’m terrified to put Terry in charge of hiring a new staff. But todays game play plus the speculation that they marched Allen out there with a a concussion and possibly not even meeting with a neuro has put me in the “fire him tomorrow morning” camp.

The hardest part of the lst 13 years is that the team is just terrible to watch about 85% of the time for the exact reasons you state. Looking at 22-23, even though we were short and a bit under maned, that was a team that tried most nights. Trying makes watchable hockey. And probably increases our average attendance from 77% to somewhere 85-90%. I have to imagine Terry is under pressure from the league. We’re a top 5 TV market and bottom 5 attendance.

Am I the only one who thought Adams addressing the team to announce the captains was super weird. That whole thing feels like a coaches place and coaches place only. No reason for a GM to announce a coach to announce the captains. So out of place. I’m not sure Adams realizes his job is not to always be in the locker room/holding court with the team.

When you put it that way it sounds like tattling. I think he’s also acting as a senior advisor for Terry and taking an inventory of the roster/FO. Maybe thats just wishful thinking on my part.

Lindy isn’t a Hall of Famer. But he’s a Hall of Good’er and can be a stable coach for an org. I think the hope for the Sabres is that he can turn this around. But as much as it is his job to coach the on ice product, I think it’s also his job to report back to Terry on whether or not GMKA is a viable option to GM this franchise.

To add on to this, I think the onboarding into the league for these kids was abysmal and a big part of why they stink as a unit even though they have talent. They hung these kids out to dry for years because “growth” with not a single real NHL coach, core of real NHL vets, or an NHL GM. As pieces they’re fine. But as a unit they just don’t know how to be adult professional hockey players. Most of the guys were counting on will go on to be productive once they’re allowed to just be a piece on a real roster. Until then they don’t know WTF they’re doing.