LTS

0 for 2 on the road trip so far. The real test of Vegas is being away from home. They were riding the high of being the new team in the league and being a bunch of castoffs. The shooting in Vegas gave them an even deeper purpose to play, especially in front of the home crowd. However, as the season moves into the long haul section those emotional factors wear out and they are left relying upon their talent. I don't think it will last either. If they come back from this road trip playing under .500 hockey they will be questioning just how good they really are, even if they are on their 6th goaltender by then. (Although I think Fleury and Subban may be close to returning).

There are a few potential reasons for this. The first is that he was the GM here and not an AGM so he had other responsibilities to deal with... Like a head coach who was losing the locker room. Like an owner who may have had input on what his moves were and how fast he had to turn things around. And in some cases you lose some... I mean if you look at that lineup those are late round picks on the roster. There were some early round picks as well that never panned out. It happens. The fact is though. He might not have done his best work here but to flat out say he's not a talent evaluator when he accomplished those kinds of things at every stop prior to here is just incorrect. He was a solid part of what developed Anaheim prior to being in Ottawa. The information is out there.

Well, let's see. Players on the current Ottawa Roster drafted while Murray was AGM: Erik Karlsson - 2008 (15th overall - plenty of D drafted ahead of him including Bogosian and Myers) Zach Smith - 2008 - (79th overall) Mike Hoffman - 2009 - (130th overall) Mark Stone - 2010 (178th overall) J.G. Pageau - 2011 (96th overall) Chris Wideman - 2009 (100th overall) Ryan Dzingel - 2011 (204th overall) Cody Ceci - 2012 (15th overall) Fredrik Claesson - 2011 (126th overall) Ben Harpur - 2013 (108th overall) Max McCormick - 2011 (171st overall) That's 11 players drafted while Murray was in charge of talent evaluation. There are 2 1st rounders in there and the rest are from deep in the draft. Last year's Ottawa team which performed quite well were led in scoring by: Karlsson (1), Hoffman(2), Stone(4), Pageau (6), Smith (7), Dzingel (8) Those Senators have Ottawa the 6th overall team in the league right now and they finished 12th overall last year. The team may have sucked while he was the AGM but I would think that team and its current performance based on where those players came from in the draft says a lot about his talent evaluation.

I want the team to perform better than they are. The defense is just not good enough and that's the biggest problem right now. As for everything else... I've watched people on here pine for Todd McLellan, lament losing out on McDavid, talk about how playing Kings hockey was stupid, and more. Right now McLellan is in charge of a team that is below us in the standings and by accounts of people on here should be far above the Sabres. Right now the Kings, with almost the same roster as last year, are at the top of the league (they only changed a coach and GM) Right now Jack Eichel has 3 less points than Matthews and 1 more than McDavid and Crosby, the saviours of Canada hockey. It's a highly frustrated fan base that just wants something to change even if it's not necessarily an improvement. I'm reading comparison to football teams shedding players without accounting for what is guaranteed money in the NFL and the NHL and how they are different. There are comments on how all but 2-3 players on this team need to go. A move which would certainly bring about another 10 years of mediocre or worse hockey. I think there is quite a bit of player evaluation going on right now. It's not just about how a player is on the ice but whether or not that player is going to listen to the coaching staff and work to improve their game. I can hypothesize on reasons why certain players are on the ice but most don't want to hear any potential reason other than what they want to believe. So, for me, I'm just backing off all of it. I'll watch the games and chime in here or there but it's tiring battling on here when people have gotten to the point where they want to question the validity of the entire franchise's history.

Ryan Miller once did it during a game and almost nailed Jason Pominville with the blade as it flew back at hit the glass. As I recall the Sabres turned the game around from that point and won. I can't remember much more on the details as it was quite awhile ago.

Last night was awesome enough to have a fire outside and to celebrate me being outside at the fire and not in my house with 9 screaming 10 year old girls I enjoyed a Young Lion IPA. Young Lion is a new brewery in Canandaigua. They are Rochester's largest (next to Genny of course). They are turning out some pretty good stuff and canning the Pilsner and IPA (so far that I've seen). Of course right now I am enjoying Space Kitty from Rohrbach. $8.99 for a 4 pack of 16 oz cans.. helluva deal for a really good DIPA.

I feel like resurrecting a good thread. Let's talk about a day when we come together and enjoy hockey. I will be getting a ticket to this game no matter what. It will happen and I will be there.

It's not about you, or me, or any other fan. You are irrelevant. It is about getting the media to ask questions of the players in the locker room. Eichel is a PPG player on a team that isn't performing. As for Miller, goaltender have rituals, it's not that unusual. My last comment is to address you pulling in that garbage Lassie comment. It's not worth the finger exercise to respond to you any more. Your retorts are denigrating and show a complete lack of respect. Good day sir. I can't afford to break my sticks in rec hockey. :)

Exactly. It was timed to generate discussion.

Everything is old. Get off my lawn. Don't think Jack didn't do that on purpose. He could have broken that stick anywhere but he knows exactly where the mid-point of that camera covers. That was perfectly timed. He should be pissed. Had to miss the last part of the game while driving to my son's game.

Fun fact... or not. Joe Thornton Career Points: 1,398 Combined Sabres Roster Points (as a Sabre only): 1,371 Another fun fact. Of the active roster and only Buffalo points Eichel trails Pominville for second. Pominville: 467 Eichel: 124 Moulson: 123 ROR: 122 Risto: 114 Reinhart: 93 Kane: 89 Girgensons: 89 Again, those are points in a Sabres uniform. Interesting. Anyway.. game on.

Thanks! It's what I look forward to every weekend (not the winning, just watching him play). Let's hope the streak continues. I want people on here to feel some joy until at least Sunday.

Do we trust a writer who actually proposes this as one of the fixes? "Jaroslav Halak is a free agent this summer and he seems like the ideal veteran to help out at this point. Halak could give you 35 games and steal a few victories by himself along the way. Lehner is still The Guy, but there’s a failsafe if things go pear-shaped." The Sabres have better odds of winning the Stanley Cup I would think.

The Sharks end their long road trip with a visit to the Buffalo Sabres' Key Bank Center. It's a 1pm matinee. Perfect for the crotchety old geezers who want to hit up the early bird special at Cracker Barrel on their way home after the game. It's Kids Day, which hopefully means the arena will be filled with people who still enjoy hockey for what it is... a game. The kids may be disappointed afterwards but hey kid, life is full if disappointment. Now, onto the hockey game. Joe Thornton has a chance to move in to 20th on the all-time scoring list. The Sabres have a chance to score. Will the Sabres look different after a few days off to work on their composure? Will they demonstrate the mental toughness to battle through adversity and hard times or will the crumble away under the pressure of the fans? Will SabreTooth ever stay out for the night? These answers and more at 1pm today. Tune in and see. EDITORS NOTE: I'd be at this game today if my son did not have a hockey game just early enough so that we couldn't get back to Rochester in time.

Well, i hope the stats guys jump in after reading the paper. Thank you for sharing it. My questions that I have regarding the paper are that it seems to use seasonal scoring rates in situations and then apply those rates to a period of time when the players on the ice are not the normal players that are on the ice throughout the season. So, while teams may score at a certain rate under normal circumstances the real measurement I'd like to see is how often they score when the teams ice their top players respectively. We all can accept that the 5 guys a team puts on the ice to prevent a goal will be different than the 5 guys they put on the ice under normal shifts in the NHL. The same holds true for the attacking team. Additionally, I'd like to see those numbers over multiple seasons. Using a single season provides numbers are that a single output of a set of rules and tactics used by coaches and the NHL that season. Finally, there are no analytics for coaches who play a pure attack style in a 5 on 5 mode. If I were down by 3 I would be more likely to never pull my defender off that blue line and allow the other team a breakaway on a goaltender. In most 5 on 5 scenarios the team remains somewhat defensive even if its 1 guy who has in his head that "we can't give up a breakaway". I'd rather see what 5 of my top guys can do when they throw defense out the window rather than skate 6 and still have to have one player who is thinking defensive because if the puck makes it past center ice its a free shot for the opponent. (It's not a free shot in the breakaway).

So one last thing to consider with the Kane and Eichel thing for a trade. If Kane is not with Jack then Kane is not on the first line. If Kane is not on the first line then the la la land of hockey GMs Kane is not a 1st line player and as such does not demand as much value. Productive or not, if he gets 1st line minutes he's seen as a 1st liner and other GMs will think more heavily about him being a 1st line player and at a minimum 2nd liner with 1st line potential. Just because Kane and Eichel don't mix doesn't mean Kane and <insert trading partner's 1st line C> won't.

Typical, using two completely unrelated items to force a narrative. It's not a binary situation. It's not either all positive or negative, optimistic or pessimistic. Stop treating the world like there are only two options. You are speaking of a specific situation and in that case the action to pull the goalie is purely negative. It's not me being negative, it is negative. I suppose that if i were to say 3 - 6 = -3 you'd propose I was being negative? Based on what evidence? There is none. You may feel that way but let's be real here. If you could, go through every hockey game and find the number of times a team has scored 3 goals within a 2 minute contiguous time span, Now find the number of times it happened while it was 6-5. Now apply logic to it and ask when it happened was the team that did the scoring the one that needed to come from behind or were they already winning or the 3 goals in 2 minutes propelled them to winning. In addition, you score the first goal. Face-off is at center ice. Are you keeping your goalie on the bench or are you hoping like hell you win the face-off and get it deep so you can get the goalie to the bench again? Let's go a little deeper on this. When you pull your goalie you are, in general, putting the 6 players on the ice most likely to score. Do you anticipate that you'll be able to skate them for 2 straight minutes without a substitution? Do you think your next 6 best players are unlikely to give up an EN goal? The concept of pulling the goaltender to score 3 goals without giving up an EN goal would be the equivalent of a football coach trying to score two touchdowns on hailmary passes when his receivers are all 4'6 and the defenders are all 6'4. It's just not going to happen. The same reason you use nitrous oxide when racing, or slam energy drinks, etc. The 6 on 5 is a quick boost of stacking your talented players on the ice in a short period of time to score a goal. It is not a sustainable tactic and should never be treated as one.

Well, even if you aren't going to beat them there's no reason to not practice the game plan that you are expected to deliver on every night.

Agreed and this is what I've been saying. Whether the fans on this forum want to give the team a pass this season the truth is that Botterill and Housley have one. If you are making the long play you are attaching Eichel and Kane so that Kane's numbers go up. Either because Jack feeds him or because teams focus on Jack and leave Kane open more. Either way, if the Sabres can maximize Kane's trade value to make significant improvements in the team for next year then it's worth it. That said.. if the point counts stay stagnant I would expect them to move Kane to another line anyway. I'm just operating under the assumption that they are putting Kane out there to showcase him as much as possible so they can get a great trade. I am not thinking deadline deal either. I am thinking more like December or earlier if they feel they need to pull the trigger sooner.

The fans booed the team off the ice in the second game of the season if I recall. Saying there is a losing culture is easy because the teams (Bills and Sabres) have been unsuccessful for a long time. Fans can choose to not go to the games but at some point that won't matter. Let's be real here. Every suggestion of blow it up comes with the implication that you will hire the right person to rebuild it. They JUST hired a new GM. There has to be time for that GM to do things. You don't change a team over in a year. If Tim Murray was the wrong guy then it set the team back further and now there's a longer distance to recovery. And again I say, you speak of the culture of the team. Who instills that culture? The only guys still here are the equipment people, are they the problem? New coach, new GM, 10 new players on the roster. The guys who have been here longest have been here for 5 years and no one thinks they are the problem. The next longest has been here 4 years and no one thinks he's the problem. Where is the problem? At some point the only thing people are left with is some insinuation that these players who have busted their butts their entire lives to play hockey because they want to win the Stanley Cup somehow become complacent the moment they step foot in Buffalo. If that's the case, if there's some curse of Buffalo that exists then the best bet to recovery is to move the team elsewhere right? Either that or someone better hire some witch doctor to come and cleanse the city. It used to be that people would point to Buffalo as a dump but now it continually is noted as a city on the rise, a city that is changing dramatically. I feel pretty good that you can't even point to Buffalo being a blue-collar town anymore. There are no instant fixes and that's what people have to accept and sometimes changing the remedy in the middle of the recovery can cause a setback. This is what we are facing. The change in leadership has temporarily changed the team. Only time will tell if the change leads to improvement, status quo, or decline. Personally I think it leads to improvement and I think we all get to see it this year. Nickelodeon had green slime. Ghostbusters was pink. :)

I wouldn't agree with that per se. Scandella was brought in to shore up the defense. Antipin was signed because "why the hell not". And Beaulieu was traded for because if he pans out awesome and if he doesn't how much worse could it be than what was here? The D depth is not good enough. Period. Bogosian is taking his routine extended pre-season holdout and it will be nice to have him back. I'd like to think having a D of Risto, Scandella, Bogosian, McCabe, Falk, and Gorges would actually improve this team significantly over where they are at today. You can rotate Beaulieu, Antipin and Tennyson around in the 5/6 roles if you'd like.

Which player on this roster represents the last core that embodied losing? (wait, sorry, they did bring Pominville back). The core has been ripped out. The longest tenured Sabre on this team is Girgensons and McCabe (2012). The next is Ristolainen (2013). Two of those 3 you want to keep.

Can't vote because the options all come with extra explanation. The answer is No. You don't pull your goalie. There is no message to be sent to the team except you guys sucked so bad that we are going to pull the goalie and hope that putting 6 attackers on the ice can get us a goal when 5 couldn't do it. Meanwhile, we're do damned desperate for win who cares if they roll up a few more against us. Two weeks from now everyone will still remember that those last two goals didn't matter because we had the goalie pulled. Oh wait, no they won't It will be on the books as a blowout and no one will remember or care that they were EN goals. They'll just look at the score and think we sucked even worse than we already did. If teams could score 3 goals with 6 attackers why the hell wouldn't they play that way the whole game?

Fair enough... although they were still playing the same umbrella style. The key was not the players but the style. In order for the one-timer to work you have to get a team playing a diamond PK and not a box PK. If you play umbrella you get a diamond PK. The trick is then to move the puck into a corner, back to the top, and back over for the one-timer before the diamond can reset itself. For example, Risto down to ROR. The high slot has to slide toward ROR and the player in front shifts accordingly. The left diamond player has to drop to cover ROR and the right diamond player has to move into the high slot or else it leaves the high-slot player open. By doing this it leaves Eichel with more space to position for the one-timer. Now the puck has to make it either through the gap from ROR to Eichel or to Risto depending on the top diamond PK stick and body position. If it's to Risto it has to then make it to Eichel fast enough that the PK from the slot can't get back to properly defend the shot. Any off the mark pass or too slow and it breaks down. The pass from ROR to Eichel is even more difficult to one-time just from a pure distance standpoint. If teams fade to Eichel then the Sabres had to adjust. I should go back and just watch the SHGs and see what happens. In any event.. the Sabres went to the traditional two defenders at the top. This is designed more to get the puck to the player in front of the net to score as the PK shifts to a box and they float up and down the ice to keep pucks to the outside but in theory leave the player in front for the goaltender to deal with since the players should be in the shooting lanes to keep the screen from being an issue. I thought it was... I thought they started with ROR-Eichel-Reinhart-OKposo-Risto. Again I'd have to look. Either way.. the high slot and man in front are only there to occupy bodies and serve as potential shot deflectors when the outside 1 timers are not there.