LTS

I like Barzal, but he seems to be injured quite often.

whoa..... about the only thing I like with the Sabres these days is Sabretooth. And yes.. the PA announcer.. awwwwful. Another no energy component to the game day experience.

Nah, I want them to win. I just don't expect them to win.

I think the sentiment is that if Pegula continues to own this team and they continue to be the joke of an NHL franchise that they have been then who cares if they leave? I want a quality NHL franchise in the city I was raised. The fans deserve it and the city does. If Pegula cannot make that happen he should sell the team. Now, what happens if no one wants to buy the team and keep it in Buffalo? Logically the only option is to sell the team and move it. At least it would hopefully become a quality NHL franchise again. Right now all we have is to hope against thirteen years of evidence that Pegula does something to make this a quality franchise. Soon we'll hope against 14 years. The Pegula era of Buffalo Sabres ownership has been nothing but a joke with the team managing to match the all-time consecutive winless streak at 18 games as well as setting the record for most consecutive seasons not making the playoffs. In league where every team has a 50/50 shot, that's pathetic. It can always get worse. It doesn't mean they aren't at the bottom now. It just means they've managed to dig the hole deeper and established a brand new bottom.

Yeah, nothing like saving money to pay players who cannot help you win and show no sign of being able to do so. Not even remotely upset that I didn't see any of this.

If you wear ankle socks sure, but what if you wear a sock that goes up over the knee? 🙂 BOHICA!

He got a 1 game suspension as well right?

Just remember, you are asking this on the same forum that debated shirtless pictures of Sabres players. Tonight is tonight, it's Thursday. Sadly I have a West Coast hockey start for my beer league team.. I love hockey, but starting at game at 10:30pm is getting tougher every year. Go Sabres! I reserve to define where they should go until after the game.

Tomorrow is fantastic Friday... this media availability will NOT meet the criteria to be mentioned in that thread. Now, if they had had media availability today it would have perfectly fit on Complaint Thursday. I guess we'll just need a separate thread to discuss everything that isn't said tomorrow.

That makes perfect sense and way more than just guaranteeing Buffalo was in a playoff position.

According to the NHL site, Owen Power is 6'6, 226lbs.

What I've come up with is: Dan Dunleavy is a commentator and what we need is a play by play person. If you've ever tried to experience a Sabres game on radio it'll become painfully clear what the difference is. Sadly, today's sports seems to be 100% geared towards the fan watching and understanding what's happening while two people tell stories. I've no doubt it's why the ManningCast was even attempted and certainly why it's become incredibly popular (although, to be honest, I prefer the ManningCast as well).

I dunno, that doesn't get him on the ice. Now, driving the zamboni or repainting the lines would at least get him on the ice.

See below. Yeah.. I was going to say this. Having a close friend who was at a Hunter's Hope golf event at a table with Jim Kelly and experienced first hand what a ***** Kelly was. Kent Hull verbally slapped Kelly at that table basically saying all of these people are here supporting you and Hunter and you don't get to act like an ***** to them. You need to appreciate each and every one of them. From that point on I had a good understanding of who Jim Kelly was. I could respect his play on the field, but not as a person. I still don't care to see or listen to him. Somehow I think that they had some agreement that said Hyde can go anywhere, but if he's available and the Bills are guaranteed in the playoffs that he would sign on for a playoff run. It's the only reason I can think of them signing him now versus over the bye.

I don't really have a problem with this move. As much as I have a side of me that wants to skate them until there's no ice left to skate on I don't think it makes a difference. Let them watch video and truly tear them down. Point out every damn mistake and lack of effort. See how they respond. Unfortunately this roster is what it is right now and despite all of our desires to make meaningful changes to it right now it's not going to happen. The NHL doesn't work that way and even if it did at least 50% of the posters here aren't sure Adams could get it done properly. I mean, practice hasn't helped them one bit. Talking to the media won't do anything for the team. It will be the same questions as last night with a few new one's thrown in that will elicit the exact same, watered down, boring responses. It wouldn't matter if the media asked REALLY hard questions, the answers would still be the same. The team knows they were crap last night. I'm not going to believe they don't care. I am going to believe that until the care ENOUGH about being crap things won't change. I do believe this team can play hockey. I believe this team can play with a chip on their shoulder. What I don't understand is why they don't. I don't understand how any athlete can play a sport at that level without having had to play with that chip on their shoulder at one point. We've seen this team have brief moments of success, so it's not like they haven't proven they can. It's psychological at this point. They need to hit "F it". And Ruff needs to start stapling ***** to the bench or scratching them. Do whatever he can with what he has to get them to turn it around. Scratch the assistant captains, the captain, who cares. Send a message that hard work will be rewarded and playing soft and lazy will not.

Yes, I did do all that research. Not just to defend Benson but also to help support what my eyes tell me. I am sure there are teams in the NHL where Benson would not be on the roster. As was discussed with Benson when drafted, he was good enough to be in the NHL last season (30 points) and he could not play in the AHL because of rules. Yeah, he's on pace for 20 points this season, but until the end of the season it's hard to really know where he will end up. I look at his assist last night on the Peterka goal. He takes a solid hit, bounces up, gets the puck and makes a great pass. I don't see other Sabres doing that. I think on this team, if the top 6 were actually playing as hard as Benson, you wouldn't even question it. But they aren't and so you try and compare him to a first overall pick on a bad team but it's not the same. He's playing way above his position and we should be happy about that. Also, this team went out and got the veterans it could get. They had to give Zucker $5M just to come here. Let's not pretend that there are a line of veterans the Sabres could bring in that would do more than Benson is doing right now.

Too much credit. This is why. You can't give Adams credit for anything, including this. All he's done is maintain the status quo. Which isn't totally fair, he's done things as the GM. However, he's as effective as the guy shuffling deck chairs on the Titanic. So.. that's that. The Sabres hit the iceberg when Pegula bought the team. The boat has been sinking ever since.

This is so very true. The only other athlete I put up in Allen's tier is Michael Jordan. I hate basketball, I've never liked the sport at all. However, I could watch Michael Jordan play basketball any time. I still never watched other basketball games or knew the standings (although you knew the Bulls were near the top) but if the Bulls were on TV and I was flipping stations more often than not, Jordan was on my TV. It's not say Allen is the same as Jordan or there are not other great athletes, but that "IT" factor is just too much to turn away from. I am the same as you. I have come back to clearing my calendar just so I can watch the Bills play and it's because of Allen.

The Sabres will never break my love of hockey. They can't. If they break my love of hockey it means they win and we know the Sabres don't win. My disdain for these puffballs has actually gotten the point where I just want more stupid stuff to happen. If you are going to be the biggest joke in professional sports then go all in. Find some new ways to get even worse. Be the absolute best you can be at it.

Well... sorry all? There was a brief moment while I was sitting at a small local brewery sipping a serviceable Rauchbier and watching the first period that I thought the Sabres might make my day even better. But alas... it was just more of the same from this team. So, they didn't get me down because I wasn't expecting anything from them anyway. I still woke up today happy as hell that I will be employed again. It's unfortunate that everyone in the Sabres organization (who puts this team on the ice) wakes up every day content with the knowledge they will still be employed today.

Yep. I think some people like to say that if the Bills drafted Mahomes then they would have won a Super Bowl. I think they say it because Mahomes has won Super Bowls... but it ain't just Mahomes winning that. I don't think Mahomes would have had the same success elsewhere. The Chiefs have had a great roster and their coach is one of the best in the business. So, I take Allen. Frankly he just makes football fun to watch. He even managed to make me not even think about Collinsworth talking. So that's something.

Well... unless whatever drinking establishment I go to tonight has a television tuned to the Sabres game I am not sure how much I am going to see. Got a job offer earlier today, so the wife and I are going to celebrate a bit. I'd love a Sabres win, but right now even the worst loss in their history couldn't get me down.

Yep. Popcorn tastes so much better when watching a good drama.

I wouldn't expect him to fight Foligno. I expected him to bounce right back up to his feet and at least shove him or respond. He did NOTHING but stare. And yes, the rest of the team did it as well. It's not about fighting, it's about pushing back when you get pushed. If you get pushed and just take it, you are, in my eyes, being cowardly. You are afraid of the potential escalation. You can't play hockey that way. You have to be willing to get physical. Odds are good that if Quinn shoves back, a scrum ensues and no real fight breaks out. There might be a few roughing calls made.

Please go re-read my post. But in the event that you don't do it I will summarize. My opening statement was about driving offense. In the same paragraph I stated that it would be nice if he scored more. Now, putting that aside. He's a first round pick, 13th overall and while he was chosen in the 2023 draft he's barely older than the 13th overall pick from the 2024 draft (Jett Luchanko). I think its important to keep his draft position AND his age in mind when setting expectations of where he should be in terms of offensive capabilities. Looking at 13th overall picks from the past 10 years.. how many of them do you think were offensive power houses in their second season and how old were they when they played their second season? Because I have a lot of free time right now I will do the work. Below is a list of 13th overall picks and the number of points they put up in the NHL in the second year after being drafted. 2010 - Brandon Gormley - Coyotes - 0 points, didn't make the NHL until 2013. 2011 - Sven Baertschi - Calgary - 3 points, 5 games played. 2012 - Radek Faksa - Dallas - 0 points - didn't make the NHL until 2015 2013 - Josh Morrissey - Winnipeg - 0 points, 1 game played 2014 - Jakub Vrana - Washington - 0 points, didn't make the NHL until 2016-2017 season. 2015 - Jakub Zboril - Boston - 0 points, didn't make NHL until 2018 2016 - Jake Bean - Carolina - 0 points, didn't make NHL until 2018-2019 season. 2017 - Nick Suzuki - Las Vegas - 0 points, didn't make NHL until 2019-2020 season. 2018 - Ty Dellandrea - Dallas - 0 points, didn't make NHL until 2020-2021 season 2019 - Spencer Knight - Florida - a goalie 2020 - Seth Jarvis - Carolina - 0 points, did not make NHL until 2021-22 season. 2021 - Matt Coronato - Calgary - 0 points, did not make NHL until 2022-23 season. 2022 - Frank Nazar - Chicago - 1 point, 3 games played. Zach Benson had 30 points in 71 games in his first season. Zach Benson has 6 points in 18 games for the Sabres this year which projects to roughly 20 points. I'd say, given the production of 13th overall picks, I have no problem with where Zach Benson is performing relative to offense. The problem with the Sabres offense lies with the players who are not in their second season in the NHL, not remotely close to the youngest in the league, and are playing in the top 9 forward positions.