LTS

There are a lot of crude things I could say about your standards right now, assuming that statement is true. But I won't.. Let's just say that finding a razor blade in your Halloween Milky Way would be better than eating what they call pizza at that place. It's so bad there that I've forbid my kids from going there for parties.. not just their own mind you, but anyone's.

Not sure how they end the night, but they were only ranked 27th at the beginning of the game. This means there are a few others who also suck mightily with them. Thoughts.. 1. Drinking makes it all better. 2. Ristolainen looked the fool out there tonight. He can learn a lot from being knocked over, knocked around, and out of place tonight. 3. Mitchell whacks Svedberg's stick in the first. This is attitude. This is what they need to do. Mitchell also hustled fairly well tonight. I liked his play. 4. Deslauriers won't stop, move him up for more ice time, Mr. Foligno won't notice the demotion. 5. Myers did not have a great game, but he did actually cut to the net tonight. 6. Stewart played about as stupid as a player can. Looks like he's starting to mail it in in favor of a 1 year contract ANYWHERE next year. 7. Splitting up Benoit and Meszaros only serves to weaken two lines rather than eliminate one weakness. 8. Corsi ratings are clearly not weighted for shots on net. 9. Drinking makes it all better.

It's all highly interesting. Only time will tell if this group of players can actually play like they care. As for Nolan, it's highly conceivable that Murray wants him gone. He was forced to accept him and he was forced to offer Nolan a contract of substance. He was a new GM, stepping into an extremely volatile situation, and having an organization spurn a long time favorite in LaFontaine. Nolan is tied to LaFontaine but more importantly he is tied to bringing a hard working team to the ice. He represented hope and Murray would not start of his relationship well with fans if he were to eject Nolan. So, offer him the contract knowing the kind of person he is. Bring in players like Meszaros and Benoit who are clearly not helping this team at all. Watch the show unravel and Nolan explodes with his teams effort. Let's be real, the offense is bad, but Meszaros and Benoit are a complete joke. I feel that replacing those two players would improve things immensely. It's no coincidence that the Sabres won the one game that Meszaros was not on the ice. So, you set the coach up for failure, to a certain degree. He loses it, can't get the team to win, and Murray can either fire him or watch him resign. The fans won't care because he obviously couldn't produce. Bring in the coach Murray wants and see what happens. It doesn't matter how long this takes this year either because Murray has the patience. The goal is the 2015 draft. Odds are LaFontaine didn't like that idea either, but Murray could accept it. No tin foil hats, but everyone has to admit that it's a bit odd the Sabres keep playing a guy who is the lowest in the NHL for +/- and shown no ability to do anything on the ice. McCabe and Pysyk are available and they are sent down? Pysyk is an immediate upgrade... Nolan is trapped as well. If he speaks out too much he'll forever be banned from the NHL ranks. He's kind of got to take whatever comes his way at this point I would say. It's all conceivable, how true? We'll find out.

So, at an even for +/- is it fair to say he's winning his battles? The Sabres forwards are unable to put themselves into positions to break out of the zone. This has been a long standing problem. I understand what you are saying but when you play for a team as bad as the Sabres were last year and appear to be this year it will skew things no matter. There are no comparisons to be made when a team sucks this bad and cannot score. You can't use comparisons to other players because right now the Sabres are a statistical outlier. They suck, bad. I think Myers upside is that the is a legitimate top NHL defense man. The fact that he is 6'8 is irrelevant to me. It just means he has a longer reach. I look at his play and I see him doing a lot of things right as far as what D should do. His lack of scoring doesn't bother me because the entire team can't score. The opposition is doing well to try and limit his puck rushing and they can because there generally are no other Sabres on the ice capable of opening up the opposition. No team fears the speed or skill of the Sabres, nor should they. No team plays afraid of the Sabres. They can afford to take huge risks in forechecking because they know the Sabres are likely going to not burn them. The comparison is to watch how teams play against better teams and then see the more aggressive style they play against the Sabres. When you've been on this team as long as he has can you really question the need for a shrink?

Any game against long time conference rivals is good. Show some pride, show some effort, don't take crap. I didn't get to see too much of last night's game but it seemed as though the Sabres took a few cheap shots. If nothing else they need to adapt a knock the crap outta the other team attitude. Hopefully some day.

He's earning without burning a year of his contract? Gotta love that. Can they sign me and let me sit? I agree. Although I don't understand the "too big" comment. That's just... strange.

It's not about that at all. I think there's a line that gets crossed and it's not going to be easily quantified. A guy yelling an expletive like that is hardly a bother in my book. Repeatedly yelling it and or devolving into something a little more personal might be a bit overboard. I've sworn at my kids and in front of them. In general conversation I tell them that people swear but by and large that its a crutch used by people and it makes the person sound less intelligent and demeans their own points they may be making. As the owner I would ask the guy to leave. Parents like that should be punched in the head. That's a completely different issue than this. The foul-mouthed fan swearing up a storm is no more obnoxious that little Jimmy who won't sit the hell down and watch the game. They are nuisances that no one wants to deal with. Frankly I don't want to deal with people acting like morons either. If it's ruining my fun the chances are its ruining the fun for my child as well. Overboard. You went too far and you know it. No one is saying shut up and not cheer. Well, technically speaking, if a child hears you say that and they repeat the behavior it would be your fault as you were the one who committed the action that they repeated. I addressed most of your points in my first response above. It's the obnoxious fan that is the problem. The one that keeps yelling really obnoxious stupid, thoughtless comments that are more vulgar than just "You F'ing suck". Now, add a d word to the end of that and it's a bit overboard in my opinion. There's a lot of extreme commentary over the past few pages. It's about respecting those around you. If you don't then you do fit into the category. Just because you can doesn't mean you should.

The problem I see here is that you have to take into account who else he is playing with and against. If he's put out in a shutdown mode with other forwards who are also shutdown and do not score then his stats will still look bad and your control situation doesn't account for that. Extremely simplified version: My son plays D for this team. He is routinely paired with the worst forwards on the team except when they need a goal. Why? Because he limits the mistakes the forwards on the ice will make. His stats look horrible because the puck is in his end, a lot more than when the three best forwards are on the ice. The stats look bad, except that the amount of goals given up while he is on the ice remains relatively the same as when the other good forwards are on the ice.

That's about as clean as you can get. His arms were down and the head wasn't the point of impact. But yea.. 6'8 at any speed is going to hurt a lot when you are spinning into the hit. Tough call, part of the game in my opinion. That said, is there anything more pathetic that a team paying no attention to their injured teammate and instead making a stupid spectacle of themselves elsewhere? It stinks of no concern. The guy is laying, motionless, on the ice and everyone's having a hoe-down elsewhere on the ice. Check on your teammate..revenge can happen later.

Another way off base comment. The fact that he sits in the pressbox for 2.5 hours does not have any impact on his "slimness" or "quickness". His daily practicing with the team however does do that. He gains experience every practice. Hockey games are the applied learning of practice. To insinuate that he learns nothing is foolish and incorrect. He wants to be in the starting lineup for the Buffalo Sabres. I would venture a guess that anything OTHER than that motivates him. As for him being embarrassed? Pure conjecture. Has he said this? If so, he's a fool. I would expect any junior eligible player to be happy to have not been sent back to the Junior team. It means that he's better than just being sent down. It means that the team wants him around during practice. This is nothing like a proven veteran being scratched from the lineup.

On a team that can't score goals how do you expect a D man to post up points? I guess I can go back and see how those two statistical measurements counteract that but I think on a team that doesn't score and doesn't shoot the stats are bound to look pretty bad. As for this year, you have to look at the goals that have been scored (the few ones that have). Was he on the ice for any of them and then how many assists were there? How were those goals scored? At least three of the goals have been created by the forwards causing a turnover outside of the D zone. Very little chance for Myers to be involved. Right now he's the best D on the ice for the Sabres and he's an even 0 in +/- on a team that is getting scored upon. I think his is a situation where the abysmal supporting cast really can make a player look worse than he is. Nothing because if he could then the trade would have happened right? However, if a team like the Red Wings, known for being great talent evaluators, are interested in him for a top pairing then who are we, as fans, to develop a counter opinion? I would trust the Detroit viewpoint more than anyone on this or any other board. At some point a team has to keep players. I think you know that. While every player on the team over the past two years has looked extremely bad there are some that will look really good when the team improves. The Sabres can't just trade players away unless someone gets stupid. The Sabres are stacked at the prospect level and will need to move some of them in the next few years. They can bet on other players replacing Myers but none of the D to date have shown that they will. As fans I think we are always looking to the next prospect to be the guy to replace a current player on the team. To that end though, Myers won the Calder. None of our D are going to win it this year. Why should we believe any of them are better or will be better than Myers?

Going off track.. but what the heck. Why does society have this aversion to kids as though they are some kind of nuisance? The tolerance level for children these days seems to be diminishing at a record rate. It's rather sad. There's no need to act like a disrespectful jackass at any point in time. I don't care if my kid is at the game or not. It bothers me. There's a huge difference between cheering your team and being a public embarrassment.

I'm trying to think of a player who bounces off boards like he does. I watched numerous times tonight where a defenseman would check Z into the boards and all it actually accomplished was bouncing him back out into the open ice with the puck. It's a little strange. Between that and the fact that the puck seems to be magnetically drawn to his stick I am beginning to wonder if he's inhuman. I keep trying to find something to not like about him and I can't do it. He busted his ass to get back on a play early in the first period and was responsible for tipping the pick and was in position to turn it right back up the ice. His rush was every bit as impressive as Sekera's was except he did not get destroyed at the end. For what it's worth, that rush to get back by Sekera was damn impressive. You rarely see that from any player. He gave up everything for a team that was seeking its first win and I am sure that's one reason he is wearing an A. I hope he is not too seriously injured.

You are too passionate about this and not being rational. Why call up a player from Rochester to sit around when he can be playing in Rochester? They aren't going to call up a guy who is getting scratched from the Amerks lineup that's for sure. Meanwhile, you have Zadarov around an NHL team, receiving NHL training and coaching. What is the incremental benefit from sending Zadarov down prior to the season or letting him hang around for two weeks? Does it impact his development negatively because he's not down in London? Does he benefit more from being with the Sabres during practices, training, video sessions, etc.? It's a situation they can exploit to maximize the development potential of all their prospects. That said, given how utterly horrible Benoit has been I would have played Zadarov in Carolina tonight.

A policy is not a rule. http://www.ronross.info/blog/2012/06/13/business-policies-vs-business-rules-what%E2%80%99s-the-big-difference-anyway/ You attribute their willingness to adhere to the seasoning path as a byproduct of their success. It may also be that their success is a byproduct of their seasoning path. Neither is proven nor disproven here. They have practiced this algorithm for quite some time and been successful at it. Since other teams are not necessarily patient enough to adhere to that mechanism it becomes hard to tell. In short, we are given the Red Wings as a sample size. They have been successful for a long time. They also happened to have drafted amazingly high talents in late rounds, something most teams are unable to do. There are a lot of anomalies with the Red Wings. Of course the end product is easy to quantify but the reasoning as to why is much more difficult.

Since when does the NHL care about quality product on the ice? You know better than that! There are enough hacks in the NHL already. Nothing turns them into legitimate NHL players except that they make the NHL by default. It's like holding tryouts and keeping everyone because you didn't have enough to cut anyone. Sure, they are on the team but that doesn't mean they should be.

I'd say tonight was the end of the Reinhart experience for this season. He has been moved down and in my opinion, rightfully so. He will do nothing for this team this season. There will be no one to pass to and he is not strong enough to lead the team by himself. You can whine all you want about it but he doesn't belong in the NHL, even on the Sabres. There is no justification from a development standpoint or a business standpoint. As for the rest of the complaining about the team, whatever. Fundamentally they are still committing the same stupid mistakes this team made last year and the year before. They can't watch the slot or any lane behind the play. They keep making short passes in the feet of a player to subvert any momentum a player might have. They keep making short passes to a player next to them that will undoubtedly be covered immediately by the forechecking player. They probably lead the league in icing calls because they are so jumpy going up the ice they would rather turn it over. They are three steps behind where the play will be. I've never seen a team so out of position on pucks that go around the boards. They are bad. They have been bad. And I will say it again.. this is across 3 coaches and 2 GMs. It is across a massive roster shakeup and still the same stupid things keep happening. The talent can be debated but there are players on this team that are good enough to play better than they are right now. There is no chemistry on this team and that's the biggest problem. I'll see if Nolan can improve things but I'm not holding out hope of that. I was never worried about them being good. I was just hoping to not see the same stupid mistakes I've seen for 3-4 seasons now. There is something in the locker room at the FNC that just rips any kind of swagger and confidence out of players who enter it. This team has no attitude. No matter how bad you are you can still have attitude.

The big question; Will the Sabres finish this game still only having two players on the team who have scored goals?

Well, I'd agree with you, except I see them doing more South and East/West. :) North to the half wall and then South again. East/West until turned over. When they try North it's usually just to dump it back to the opposition. :)

The AHL does not consider NHL actions when taking into account suspensions. As I read it, briefly, Gillies actually was pretty clean at the AHL level. I am sure there is some kind of limitation they can impose and there are the constant challenges to the suspensions and so on. Still, if the players and leagues were serious about cleaning it up entirely they would do it. I would ban him for the season and let someone argue why he should be allowed to play. Nearly 700 games he has 3,000+ PIM and 11 goals in the AHL? Give me a break. He should take up MMA.

Well, who was on the ice when he was on the ice. This makes it sound like he was awesome but in reality if we are putting players on the ice who traditionally are low shot takers then it would amplify the stat readout.

I see a team that still is not on the same page with each other. They can talk teamwork and team concept, etc. but it isn't out there. There are guys who are just throwing pucks around without a care in the world. No patience, no ability to wait, just move the puck somewhere (always the wrong spot). They still don't know how to beat the 2 man forecheck and until they do it will stay bad. For a new coach, I see the same style of hockey being played that happened under Ruff and Rolston. I find it rather amazing that there are so few differences. Meszaros and Benoit need to have a seat. Even trying to lose is not reason enough to play those two. I'm not sure how to find the stats of how many times they've been on the ice when the opposition scores but it seems to be 75%-80% of the time or better. The biggest problem I have is that two games in a row the opposition has taken some liberties with some Sabres players (spearing Myers, boarding Reinhart, viscious cross-check to Gorges) and there's no response. If the Sabres are going to take penalties they might as well make them count. Frankly I think Nolan has become too Zen. He needs some of his old school fire back. This team needs to start being a little more chippy on the ice. Perhaps they've given up on the season already? When a player stops taking pride in his play and not playing for his team and teammates then it indicates a problem somewhere. When many players do this, it indicates a very large problem. No matter less talented some of these players are they can still have pride. That's the biggest issue I see right now. The rest is pretty much what I expected.

That's one way to smell the hops. It's called attacking with speed. It looks offsides because by the time we realize they've hit the line they are at the faceoff dot. We're accustomed to the Sabres who are lucky if they hit the line. Puck was deflected if I recall the goal correctly. Yep. You get one chance for a response before the pain sets in, even with the gear on. When it happened to me I chose to respond with a double handed stick chop to the side of a goaltenders head. Why does hitting the post mean the goal was out of position? There's a reason it does not count as a shot on goal you know. People love to assume that if the goalie had just been quicker he would have made the save so they assume if the shot was a 1/2" left/right/lower it would have been a goal. What they fail to reason is that if the puck were that 1/2" left/right/lower it would also be 1/2" less distance for the goaltender to move. So, there might be a save. I never fault goalies for tipped shots of which many of the goals have been. As for the Kane goal.. well, I think Kane, all alone, in the slot, is going to score more often than not against any goalie. I think the Hossa goal was weak. That's about it. The biggest problem for Enroth are his rebounds. They always have been. You don't play players in the NHL that don't know how to play in their own end. There is NOTHING these coaches are teaching these kids that they don't already know. They've been playing hockey 6 times a week for the better part of 10 years and those coaches all preach the same thing. You can go online and download the animated drills and systems for every team in hockey, international as well. Coaches use these. The fundamentals are the same. There are some finer points to be made on what players should do but it's not much in my opinion. I would say that Nolan is stubborn or his players are just stupid. They've still not figured out how to beat the 2 man forecheck and EVERY team is doing it to them. The Sabres need to stretch the ice and stop trying to play it up the half wall to the winger who has his back to the play. There are a few players who are being patient and making the shorter pass to the center ice player who is turning up ice. That's far more effective. They can also shoot someone out the zone to keep the other team from holding half wall winger as well. That's on the coach to change it. However, every player has done this before, I guarantee it. As for the game. Meszaros and Benoit are useless. They need to take some time off the ice. The team still lacks chemistry. They are not on the same page. This could be a lack of "system". However, i believe, despite what Nolan says, they have a system. It's just not a complex system. These players are still not used to where each other are going to be. The few who do are obvious.

No reason to not play Zadarov and Strachan today.. replace Benoit and Meszaros. Other than that.. the ice should be heavily tilted towards the Sabres end today.

Given the amount of youth hockey tournaments occurring at Harbor Center this year I think it will be well used. Those tournaments are great because the mandate the teams stay in certain hotels or they can't make it out of round robin play. (Talk about BS). It makes the youth hockey teams some extra cash though as the host team gets a percentage of the rooms booked.