LTS

As @LGR4GM said. You want a face to focus on for poor defense? Here it is. But then again.. just go deeper.. and let's see what's really changed over the past few seasons: Marty Wilford: Coaches defense and penalty kill Seth Appert: Assistant coach and forwards and power play coach Matt Ellis: Coaches centermen and faceoff circle improvement Seth Appert who ran the same PP in Rochester as Granato did in Buffalo. No real change. Lately they are slightly different once they get in zone, but their zone entries are still horrible. They are still horrible at face-offs. Nothing really changed. Ruff was brought in as a consultant head coach to pave the way for Appert and I am sure Ruff's opinion now is that these guys should not be coaches.

There some risk for Vegas acquiring Eichel, but not huge. They gave up Tuch and Krebs basically. Krebs who people want traded and Tuch who sometimes plays to his potential and sometimes does not. Neither of which have been the answer here, nor would they have been the answer there. Acquiring a player is more than the 100 pts. It's the $11.5M salary that comes with it. For that much money you want something a little more solid than what Pettersson brings to the table. This isn't like Eichel where you bring on $10M salary and if he cannot play he's off the books. This is $11.5M for a player who if they cannot perform is still $11.5M and cannot be moved. Think Jeff Skinner, but more expensive. You bring in Pettersson for Power and you lose cap space, not gain it. Perhaps you meant just move Power out for nothing or for a lower cap space player, not sure. Either way, $8M less the salaries of the player coming in likely do not get you very good defensive D. The decision time for this organization is now on Cozens, that's a given. As soon as he moved from 24 to 25 the thought process on what a player will be begins to change. The contract given to Power is unfortunate, but 22 is way to early to decide what he will become. He makes some bad plays and he's not physical, but he makes a lot of good plays too. Yes the plan is not working and has not worked. I don't see Pettersson being the help the Sabres need. Regardless of his one time output what he has shown is an inability to take a team on his shoulders and lead. If all the discussions about him are concerning his mental approach to the game does he really make sense to add to a team whose entire identity is concern over their mental approach to the game? No.

It's kids day. Our team full of kids should do just fine. These odd time starts can throw teams off... somehow I feel it might throw the Sabres off more than the Kraken.

It's like... watching an accident that's about to happen. You know it's not going to be good, horrific in fact, yet you cannot look away. I'm usually not this confused when it comes to music... and I am fairly certain that if this were played for me without the video first I might have had a different opinion, but... with the video. I'm lost. So lost.

That's sad. Dylan Cozens looks broken though. I still believe he's a better player than he's showing but I don't know if he's listening to the rumors of him being traded, if he's just not overcoming his challenges, or what. Either way it does not change his performance and what's happening. If he can't shake it he needs to go. I just hope another team thinks that a change of scenery, etc. will improve things for him.

What did I just watch? This will haunt me for awhile. And *****.. it's catchy. I hate life.

That engine has been running longer than the Energizer Bunny.

You had to inject actual seriousness into what I said? Sigh. 🙂

Hope it doesn't get too crazy. The new stadium won't be ready for quite some time. Breaking the current stadium would be bad. 🙂 And yes.. Kyle Williams... great choice.

The only thing wrong in that ESPN article is that the Sabres do not have the longest streak of missing the playoffs of the 4 major sports. Technically that belongs to the Jets. They are officially eliminated before the Sabres are each year and so they technically hold the LONGEST drought length. No, this does not make me feel any better about it.

this morning I was on here just conversing away in various threads and it did not once occur to me that there was no GDT. Yep. That sums it up. Sigh.

Our friends sent a picture this morning. They are not part of the Palisades Fire but the Eaton Fire.. (Palisades burned 15,000 acres yesterday, the Eaton only 10,000 🤢). Their house is singed.. literally 10 feet away the ground is burned and the edge of their roof and one wall of their house looks like charred firewood. The house is largely untouched but naturally smells of smoke, etc. They are fortunate (for now). It's an incredible picture to look at. The people who are out there fighting those fires deserve the deepest praise. I can't even imagine.

Yeah.. Pegula needs to recognize that he should not make any decisions on the operations of the hockey club and put someone in charge who has demonstrated success in running a hockey organization. Specifically phrased that way to put the position as a POHO and NOT a GM. The GM just runs the team. All of their hockey operations needs an overhaul.

I came across that article this morning. Definitely a good read. Thanks for sharing.

Fair enough. Let me try to clarify. In Scenario 1 - Terry Pegula is an owner who challenges his front office, they give him their actual answers, he believes them, and the team continues to suck. This is Terry's fault because he doesn't know how to hire the right people. In Scenario 2 - Terry Pegula is an owner who likes to have major influence over the personnel decisions his front office makes. The front office acquiesces to his "suggestions" because they want to remain employed. This is Terry's fault because he is a control freak. For me, if we have scenario 1 then there is hope that Terry might get it right one day.. or try to let someone else hire the hockey front office. In scenario 2 there is less hope because Terry is unlikely to back down on his control and let someone else make decisions. He'll only be able to hire people who are willing to add a title to their resume and hope that when it's over they get a shot somewhere else. The fans are truly screwed. In both cases Terry Pegula is the ultimate source of the problem. Just one allows for some hope.. albeit slim after failing so many times.

BS. This is Sabrespace where anything can be complained about.

Well done.

That's not so bad on the goal scoring. Sure he could be a transition piece, but then again, this team has been in transition for 13 years. They don't need to replace Kulich specifically as they can adjust run McLeod, Krebs, Cozens, and then move Thompson to C when he's ready. They have flexibility there... and hell we're still not sure Cozens is a center.... well some people aren't. 🙂

Yes, the ultimate source of the problem is Terry. I said that. Thanks for the confirmation.

Sprong has never quite made it on any team he's been on. I don't know that I know enough about him... but the Sabres have an opening on the roster with Kulich out and could bring him in. (can they release him again in a few weeks? I think so). It might be worth a shot.

He had surgery on something. He's out for awhile. It's weeks to weeks. 😉

Friends of ours posted a picture from their place in Altadena... the sky is orange right behind them. I'm waiting for their next update where they are out of that house. I truly it's not what happens for many reasons. But that house has been in the family for awhile and it's kind of unique which adds to the pain.

It's not surprising. He's right in stating how many points they are out by, but he's certainly mischaracterizing the chances of the team. And it certainly is accomplishing what he set out to do.. which is have people discuss just how bad his take his. My issue is that the general populace loves to prop up these idiots and thus reinforce the behavior. Not surprising, again...

Where do you see Donato different from the other 6' forwards on this team? I read what you quoted but is that the whole story? Do you look at him as a Krebs upgrade? I don't know enough about him. I can see his stats.. he's roughly the same size and scoring better than Krebs.