LTS

Devils fans chant "Fire Lindy" - November 13, 2022 Sabres fans change "Fire Donnie" - December 23, 2023 Why do I bring this up? Everyone keeps looking at only last year to this year for Ruff. But people seem to ignore that the Devils sucked the year before their great year last year. Lindy Ruff - year over year with NJ 2020-2021 - 19-30-7 2021-2022 - 27-46-9 2022-2023 - 55-22-8 2023-2024 - 30-27-4 He had ONE good year. There's nothing here that says he's going to perform better with the Sabres. Do the Sabres have Jack Hughes, Timo Meier, Dougie Hamilton, Ryan Graves, Damon Severson? Nope. So if Ruff's success is because of the players then why do you expect he'll have success with this roster? Brunette took over in Florida and had a 51-18-6 record. Florida last year? 42-32-8. Nashville this year 47-30-5. The man coaches winning teams. When Brunette came to NJD he ran the power play, that improved from 28th the year before to 13th. That NJD last year also boasts the largest single season turnaround in NHL history. It's not all Brunette, but it's also an outlier at this point. There's just not much to give Ruff all the credit here. And if people point to the roster for the reasons of his success then you have to account the Sabres roster and ask if that roster will give him success.. because either he's a coach that wins because of the roster or he's a coach that can make the roster win. The difference is important.

He's clearly calculated how long it will take for him to get his next drink.

I assume you mean.. what if he doesn't perform this off-season? If so.. see what I bolded below. If that's not what you meant, can you expand upon your question?

Thank you for pointing out the Devils record last year... its important to note because.... This. As I posted elsewhere. Ruff with the Devils: 128-125-28 Granato with Sabres: 122-125-27 When you factor in that Ruff's only good season with the Devils was with Brunette and that netted them a +30 W differential I would say its easy to see that Ruff is not what people think he is. He's not the Ruff from so long ago. I like Lindy, but he should not be the coach.

Dog went in for surgery today. Thankfully my wife has connections with people who work at vet offices and to some vets herself through her organization. The vet she uses with her organization gave us some straight shot answers... over the weekend we forwarded her medical files and the doctor cleared a spot for surgery today. Doc said it went really well. My poor girl is exhausted (as to be expected) but she put up all the energy she could when she got home. Doc later on let us know that the tumor had cratered (or some language) and that it could have burst at any time which would have led to her bleeding out if we had not had the surgery so soon. FWIW, the original vet had let us know that she was a "ticking time bomb" but as they needed to call around for specialists to handle this the best they could get was August and at 4-5x what we paid. Nothing is a given and she's not out of the woods by a long shot... but she's home and the path is there. This dog survived eating 40 pieces of sugar-free gum without a single side effect. It helped that she doesn't chew food and apparently has an iron stomach (we could not get her to throw up the gum even giving her stuff that made me want to vomit). I can handle 13 years of suffering with the Sabres.. I cannot handle one hour of suffering for my dog. But... again, the road ahead looks good. So... cheers!

Tom webster?

So Kevyn Adams has an offseason to improve the team eh? Sounds good. If they don't come out of the gate much improved over this year I don't think he makes it to Thanksgiving. He can say anything he wants, but he said playoffs were the expectation this year... and it did not happen. He might have decided early on to let the season play out and to back some of the things Granato and the team were saying rather than cause even more distraction like what occurred in Vancouver with Boudreau... who knows. Either way... one offseason... that's it.

I'll quote the Devils record with Ruff. 128-125-28. Granato 122-125-27. As you rightly point out, the only good season was with Brunette behind the bench with him. Lindy is most assuredly not the answer.

Well.. he could have 0G.. so it means something. Relative to what you are looking for perhaps not.. but would you feel better he had shown no success? It's just there for perspective.

All good stuff. I'd be curious how those stats break down against teams in the top 50% of the league versus the bottom 50%. Is it a situation where against lower quality opponents they were able to play better defensively and still score or was it even or worse? The macro level look certainly indicates what we all thought we saw. All of that aside.. I still saw too many opponents able to drive our net while not enough Sabres doing the same. Having an improved defense only matters if it translates into winning and it did not. Now, if they can continue to improve and find the scoring ability again then fantastic. We'll be able to look back and say this season was where they figured out defense. If it doesn't.. then it didn't matter at all. Good stuff by the way. It should be long. That's research.

At least after tonight the official off-season starts and as such the debate over management changes can really take hold. We knew they wouldn't change in season... But for tonight.. they can enjoy one last game. Not sure I will bother.

One of my dogs has been officially diagnosed with a tumor... This dog does not get upset about how the Sabres play, so she means a lot to me. (The other dog, her sister, also does not get upset, but this isn't about her.) This sucks. But what sucks more is just how impersonal the vet has been about this whole situation. They've been a good vet but in the past year or two their quality of service has declined greatly. This will be our last time ever dealing with them. Not only them, but they needed an ultrasound done but the "traveling" doc who does them is only there on Thursdays and we're not allowed to be in the waiting room even while the ultrasound occurs? Damn right I asked for an image from the ultrasound before I pay that bill. Oddly enough, had the same experience with our dental practice. They'd been great but the past two years they've seen massive turnover and every visit feels impersonal. Then, they try to sell you snake oil. Like some new owner took over and decided that trying to sell BS services and pushing unnecessary treatments is a great way to improve revenue while also treating customers like garbage. Sure sign I am getting too old at this point. But... I really want my dog to be better. Nothing else matters... not right now.

Certainly.. I just got off the ice last night.. but I did not pay attention to why I was shooting a certain way. I have to analyze it more. Or maybe that 20% difference are really left handed people.. they just don't know it? Perhaps I am left handed. Hmmmm.. I use my right hand for everything though.. I trust what you (they) are saying. Now I am going to be in the driveway tonight shooting pucks for awhile.

I couldn't even imagine Mario in today's NHL. I think he's be destroying this league. He was able to do so much in the the clutching and grabbing era. I'd love to see him in this era when he could skate more freely.

I'm becoming way too engrossed in this subject and want to know more now. I dunno.. as I said I grew up using any street hockey stick available and was shooting both left and right handed.. eventually ended up shooting right handed overall. No one taught me anything.. it just felt normal. But then again, I did play baseball and I hit right handed.. although once again I don't think anyone said I needed to hit that way, just that's what I did. At a young age I had a big plastic bat and I swung it right handed.

Yeah.. but my plan is to be at my job next year too, until someone decides that I won't be. In regards to hockey I just think that "Today" this is the plan. "Tomorrow" anything could be the plan. Even if they weren't going to go forward with UPL and Levi there's no way they are going to say it publicly.

Do a search for PWHL Physicality. There's nothing to discuss with such an obtuse opinion. You can insult the team without disparaging the women's game. Well, it's possible to do so, I'm not sure you are actually able to do it. I'm done here.

Straight up a disparaging comment against women. I can go watch a PWHL game and see players going all out. Just because they aren't 6'3 215lbs and banging doesn't mean they aren't giving their 100%. Stick to comparing this team to the rest of the NHL.

Pretty much everyone? Certainly the Leafs tonight.. but it's been one giant ***** show since he took over.

It's only appropriate that a team's owner whose initials are TP gets ***** on so much.

Adams can say it.. and pretty much anything he says other than "the team failed", "the coaching staff failed", and "I failed" should result in this quote being repeated back to him: September 21, 2023. He followed it up with everything the team needed to do.. but the bottom line was that the whole organization needed to do it. It didn't happen.. and the GM gets the players and the coach prepares them. By their own measured goal, they failed their stated intent.

Blood Sport is so bad So bad that every time it's on I leave it on and watch the rest of it. "Okay USA!"

I believe this. For what it's worth I don't think ROR is a bad player, he's a good player and will benefit a team. However, he's also demonstrated that he needs other names around him and the spotlight to be shared or he tends to wilt. Nashville has the names around him without a doubt.

It is your right to say what you want, we all have the right to say it unless the mods disagree. However, your point was shutting down any oppositional viewpoint by saying people are not listening or refusing to understand when you were doing the same thing. Nothing any of us do on this forum will help the Sabres win, why would you even bring that up? As for why I got involved? Because I am not a fanboy but I am positive. So in your statement you included me. I am tired of the negativity as well as I've mentioned in other places on the forum. Every day its the same statements in every thread. Hell the guy who got hired as COO is being blasted and he hasn't done anything yet. The GM has had this time period to build a team because the prior methods of getting this team to the playoffs failed spectacularly. The cupboard was drained of all talent. Again, there was plan... we all get to choose whether we like it or not. The GM chose to have the youngest team because that was the plan. What we won't know is that if this year's plan had paid off and IF the Sabres were in a playoff position would Adams have retained Mitts and then traded away some youth for shoring up the roster? We don't know that. Instead, at the deadline he had an offer to improve the team for next year and he took it. We don't know what other moves will come next so there's no point in assuming negative outcomes. I get people being frustrated, angry, etc. I think what irritates those people is when they see others who aren't suffering along with them. Post a positive around here and people want to tear you down. They want to drag into their level of hell so you can join them. It's actually a very natural action and not just when talking about the Buffalo Sabres. I don't like this year. I'm disappointed by the team... but that's it. I'm more upset at the inches of snow falling outside my window right now than I am with the Buffalo Sabres. Because whether they win or lose, it will still be a bitch to get my Friday night beers at the store.

Ryan O'Reilly always loves hockey when his team wins... when it doesn't he loses his love of the game and wanders off to another team. He pushed his was out of Colorado, he pushed his way out of Buffalo, he straight up abandoned Toronto... Don't give him too much credit... The Predators are a good team.. ROR is just a piece of it. They lucked into an exceptional coach after Florida and New Jersey both decided on other options. It's worked OK for Florida, not so much for NJ.