dudacek

Serious questions need to be asked about why the weekend games were allowed to happen.

Deals like that don't happen anywhere without the owner's stamp of approval. It was reported Botterill had a distaste for long-term deals and was against the Eichel deal, but I've never seen anything specific about his feelings on the Skinner deal.

I expected it to be bad but decided to give it a shot and was pleasantly surprised.

18 goals in his past 94 games. Anyone thinking this is part of the down cycle of a streaky scorer needs to reassess what that means.

I highly doubt that any other team was prepared to offer $9 million for Jeff Skinner. If that was the choice, the correct response was nothing. Botterill and Pegula got bent over and pandered their way into perhaps the worst decision this franchise has made in years. Yes, worse than Nylander, or Leino, or even trading Ryan O'Reilly. 18 goals in his last 94 games. seven more years at $9 million. My god.

Panic? I did not expect the Sabres to end up in the playoffs. I did expect them to be in the race. So far, they are pretty much exactly that. I also expected this to be the best Sabre team in a long time. They might be that too, and that is the double-edged sword that has made this place so raw. I don't think this particular group of players, coaches and managers is broken — hell, after 10 games they look decidedly average. But what is broken is the franchise's relationship with its fanbase. Expecting .500 hockey to heal that is like expecting to repair 10 years of cheating, lying and verbal abuse with a bouquet of flowers and two weeks of taking out the garbage and driving little Billy to soccer practice.

Jeff Skinner scored 36 goals in his first 57 games as a Sabre. He scored 17 in the 72 games before that and 18 in the 94 games since.

He's tried that without scoring multiple times in the current homestand.

I remember the Ryan Miller decent/elite arguments from 10 years ago. When he was traded some of us said Sabre fans have been spoiled for nearly 20 years and we are about to find out how much. Those words have certainly stood the test of time.

My impression is Bennett is a slightly more talented, slightly more edgy version of Zemgus

Irwin’s debut surprised the heck out of me. His past two games have not. I hope a lesson was learned by the coaching staff that our starting six is far better than Irwin, and the next time someone falters, it would be a good idea to give someone else (Borgen) a chance.

I think the past two games showed how much we need Sam.

Well-deserved loss. Special teams were good, but 5-on-5 was terrible.

He is not a good human being.

He and Lazar been among the few bright spots IMO The goal is to win hockey games. Eichel and Dahlin were never generational in the real sense of the term. It means clearly the best in the world over an extended period, doing things others don’t do. There’s been maybe 10 of them ever.

This. This game isn’t over yet. All the criticisms above are well-deserved but there is still time to wipe them out.

At least Colin Smith is skating hard.

And just like that an undeserved tie game. NJ gonna NJ

Eric Comrie is one of the worst goalies in the NHL. Shoot the ***** puck.

All you guys who were complaining four five games ago? This is what bad Sabres hockey looks like.

Oh boy, we’re getting worked by the McLeod line.

For the most part during this homestand the skill guys haven’t shown enough urgency on the attack and the grinders havent shown enough finish. I’m tempted to put a grinder with Jack and Jeff and another with Taylor and Eric. Give GA’s Mitts Cozens Olofsson line a shot.

For ***** sakes

PK is much better this year. The new forwards are much more disruptive

He’s definitely playing with more pace.