LTS

I'm just going to assume the palm tree comment was a jab. It was great.

They moved it this year and yes, it was done specifically because of the NCAA football playoff changes. What likely did not help is that in the Sabres first TNT game this season they kept saying New Year's Eve for the game but the graphic they put up said it was on January 1. So imagine a bunch of people watching games on TNT and seeing Jan. 1. I did watch part of it, but at 5pm I am busy eating or planning food if I were going to a party. It's a serious miss and they'd be better off moving it to a weekend game. Also, it was raining during the first part of the game at least. The performances were cringe worthy. Find videos of Smashing Pumpkins and Chance the Rapper from that game... it's not good. The game itself was boring because Chicago sucks. Seriously 0-5 in outdoor games.. let's not have them in it any more.

But what I said before holds true. Zucker has to want to stay here, even just this season. If he wants to be traded and Adams retains him then this organization loses the last respectable thing it has going for it. If there is one thing that is true, Buffalo has moved players to playoff teams or those who don't want to be part of the organization. At the very least this allows some lower in demand vets to sign UFA deals on a 1 year basis with the mindset of "If this is their year, I am in and if not, I'm going to a playoff team." You take that away and no vet except the most desperate to stay in the NHL will sign with Buffalo.

My assumption is that Adams will do whatever Zucker wants. While Adams could refuse to move Zucker it would only add to the stigma of players not wanting to be in Buffalo. It seems like it can't get worse, but it can. Buffalo at least is known to move the veterans for playoff opportunities. This at least helps some vets sign a 1 year deal here. This game went the way I would expect. This continues to be a poorly coached team and their inexperience needs much better coaching to improve. They continue to be let down by every player who was given an "A" in the leadership group. I'm glad USA vs. Canada was on. That was far more entertaining and about midway through the Sabres game I was predominantly watching USA and then flipping back to the Sabres during breaks.

Bummer. I think one year I did a 7 day trial of Sling just so I could get it and watch the WJC.

This must be what celebrities feel like when their statements are quoted out of context. 🙂

NHL network? At least in the US all the games are on there.

I kinda look like Brad Pitt. It never helped me Also, I don't even kinda look like him. 8pm start.. same time as USA vs. Canada. Decisions...

Kept flipping between games so I missed quite a bit. They got a win, so that's good. They didn't collapse, that's good. Binnington still sucks as a goaltender, so that's good. They still have lots of issues to fix, so that's bad. But.. a dub is a dub. Now to start a truly terrifying stretch of games.

That collision was terrible. Not a surprise that he broke the collarbone. A really strange play that I think could have been so much worse. No one can doubt how hard he was going to the net, including the net itself.

Bills at 1, Sabres at 3, and Team USA vs. Finland at 2:30. Need more screens I guess.

I love wading through a GDT after the fact. This is true... but then if you look at the results tonight you might be inclined to think it's not true. Hah. it was a great comment. Bucci actually loves Buffalo and Callahan is from Rochester and lives there at present. He's the Sabres personal analyst for ESPN games. Yes. But Bucci is not as good as Gord Miller which is painfully obvious when switching between the Sabres and the Canada/Latvia game tonight. They COULD do it. It's a possibility, not a probability. That said, what's the point in crapping on everyone's parade? Let people be happy during the game. The team played well and they won. That's the point of every game. Dissect it after the fact sure. I didn't read the GDT as people thinking the Sabres were suddenly the best team in the NHL. I did however see a lot of people who thought the Sabres would collapse in this game be pleasantly surprised that they were not collapsing and indeed were beating a team they should beat. Tuch the enigma. He has a game like tonight and people love him. However, you could look at his game tonight and find a lot mistakes, including the penalty he took just before he scored the last two goals. He tends to pass to no one. He and Thompson do not appear to be on the same page. He doesn't (usually) hit people with his 6'4 frame. He often misses the net with his shots. Then.. he has a game like tonight. Dahlin is still prone to some boneheaded mistakes too as we saw very early in the game. Tuch and Dahlin are very different people. So I think what people expect from leadership might be influenced by what kind of leader would appeal more to them. What none of us see is the day to day, locker room level stuff. --------- Bottom line tonight: They won. They did not collapse even though it looked dicey at certain points. I think we saw some of what a confident Sabres team can do and while it was against Chicago I think it still translates. This team needs to believe in itself first and foremost. On to the next game.

Yeah.. they need to just stop talking about playoffs before the seasons starts. It's two years in a row where they set the expectations, not the fans. The fans have wanted the playoffs for a lot longer. Meh. I'll likely be watching.. because I'll be stuck at home having to keep an eye on a dog who had surgery recently. (all going well there).

Yes, I am watching the games. I didn't necessarily specify "passing plays". What i see is players missing tackles and opponents repeatedly getting into the second level of the defense. On the outside I see a lot of DBs not wrapping up players. I'd love to see the stats you are looking at on tackling. But most yardage related stats put them in the bottom 10 of defenses. They are good at preventing long plays and forcing turnovers.

Pretty sure we established earlier that the top 6 losing streaks in Sabres history are all under Pegula. This streak managed to make to #3 on America's Top 40 before stalling. But it's over, and that's that. Now the next conversation may sound like the Rangers which is "X wins in their last Y games".

no matter who is coaching, interference penalties and bad tackling won't change.

whatever it is.. I hope it's nothing too serious and in fact.. being on vacation would be a really good thing.

The RJ pic comes through. I'm taking this into the Christmas break. No analysis. Hooray!

I am aware of their defensive style right now. As you say, in the past playoffs, when they had a higher ranked defense they got torched. Okay, so should that make me feel MORE at ease about the current defense which relies on luck and hope? It doesn't.

My Norwegian House Bitters finished its infusion today and I bottled it up. Thankfully it's just bitters so I will have a lot left after tonight.. but mixing it with some dry gin, mezcal, and vermouth? Yes. Earlier I came across the picture of RJ that @josie did and then printed out on cards and handed out for RJ's last night. Hope it's a sign that the Sabres will find a way to get it done. Cheers!

Meh. Until I see this defense shut down another team I'm not going to get too hyped up. Injuries or not they all need to play better than they are. The offense does not worry me. The defense scares the hell out of me. They are terrible.

Freely admit I did not read the whole thread... If we are concerned about players on this team getting a large contract and then tuning out the game of hockey, Pettersson is not your answer. I wouldn't worry about his NMC. After a few years here he's accept a trade to the Siberian team of the KHL. Also, I don't think he's a good fit for this team at this time. This team needs a veteran player even if their contract will be expensive in 3-5 years. They need leaders to come in and change the mindset of this team.

First and foremost, I would not give him much credit for the Bills success and that while the Bills have been a playoff team they still have not won a Super Bowl. So if our definition of success for the Bills' management is just making the playoffs, then okay. Of course it helps that two of the teams in their division are absolute garbage. I will pass judgment on Terry Pegula as an NFL owner once the Bills face adversity and have to build a team to be successful more than once. Right now it's easy enough to say they "got lucky". Let's say the BIlls had years and years of failure after Pegula took over and that they finally got to where they are today. Then I would give them more credit. As for the NHL part of his ownership. It's been an abject failure that's never been equaled in the history of the NHL. As such I don't know who else you look to for the ultimate responsibility on that other than the one constant, the owner. It's not just that the teams are bad year after year, it's also how they've managed to irritate players and build a culture where NHL players do not want to play for this franchise. It's how they've managed to create such a horrible game day experience. It's really every aspect of how this team has been run. There are maybe 2-3 things this organization has done right since Pegula took over and sadly 2 of those moments pertain to Rick Jeanneret and how they honored his career and impact on the game of hockey and certainly Buffalo Sabres fans. That's just not a good record at creating a successful NHL franchise by any means. It's failure after failure after failure with no apparent end in sight.

Broadcast teams and media in general are very different today than they were 20-30 years ago. I wouldn't expect the local media to be overly questioning (however, they are questioning) these days. Most newspaper journalists don't even know if they'll have a job year to year. They have to branch out and attempt to build their own brand via social media but they also need to make sure they are able to access the team. There's a fine line there. The broadcast team is 100% at the mercy of the team itself. No way are they going to slam their employers. As for the city itself? I would never question the integrity of the fan base. The attendance is a testament to the product the team has put on the ice. I'd love to say that we've all been in the arena when the team is doing well and we know what the atmosphere is like but I don't know that we can say that now given how long it's been. But as we've seen, plenty of people on here know what a good team will do for attendance and atmosphere. Of course the in arena game production leaves a LOT to be desired, so even if the Sabres were a winning team I don't think it would compare to other places. That's also on the team itself to rectify. As for putting up with Terry, I'm not sure I would agree. There's a level of "putting up" that we all have to do because he's the owner. But again, I think far less people give a damn about the Sabres right now because they are losing. That's not putting up with Terry, that's not supporting his product. There is definitely an aspect of the Bills' success that overshadows that Sabres woes and that would happen in most cities. I don't agree with this. I think it's easy to equate a contract to not trying. It's easy to equate the lack of success to lack of effort. I think it's more a situation where you have just far too many young players trying to all work through the same things. They lack veteran support to provide the experienced view on how to handle everything that happens on the ice and off the ice. They are fragile, but young teams are expected to be fragile. I think they respond to benching. I think they do try for the most part. The problem is that they don't all try at the same time, try the same way that allows them to play as a team. As a quick example, I used to coach a kid who had all the motor in the world. All I ever heard about was how hard he played. His effort couldn't be questioned. It was a sentiment that I agreed with after watching him play. The problem was he was always reading the play wrong. So he'd try really hard and end up in the wrong position which would either leave a defensive or offensive gap that the team had to cover. Effort does not equal success. It's required to have success. So I think they try. They have their moments. But they fail to achieve success, in game, and then their youth and inexperience sets in and they get down on themselves. Right now I am sure its the weight of the world on their shoulders. You don't get to this level of an athletic career and have a mindset where losing 13 games in a row is acceptable. But much like life, when you get bad news on top of bad news, eventually it wears you down. This is in no way meant to say that I give them a pass on this. This is the hand they are dealt and they need to overcome it. It's not an excuse for them to have lost 13 in a row and it's sure as hell not any level of justification of the actions of the front office. This team remains a tire fire and we are all experiencing 13+ years of inertia regarding this teams futility to be a quality NHL franchise.

Dumbass has played what? 22 NHL games and now he's been suspended for 12 in his career? That's not the ratio you are looking for from a player. Last season he managed 1G, 1A, 71 PIMS is 17 regular season games. A nice 4.17 PIM/G. He was fighting every game it seemed. Then he gets his shot this season and there you go. Kid clearly needs time away from the rink. He had just enough talent to get this far but clearly his size and "tenacity" is what managers see in him. It does no good if the only thing he's crushing is nachos up in the team suite. Glad he got 8.. but it was worth so much more.