LTS

I'll quote the Devils record with Ruff. 128-125-28. Granato 122-125-27. As you rightly point out, the only good season was with Brunette behind the bench with him. Lindy is most assuredly not the answer.

Well.. he could have 0G.. so it means something. Relative to what you are looking for perhaps not.. but would you feel better he had shown no success? It's just there for perspective.

All good stuff. I'd be curious how those stats break down against teams in the top 50% of the league versus the bottom 50%. Is it a situation where against lower quality opponents they were able to play better defensively and still score or was it even or worse? The macro level look certainly indicates what we all thought we saw. All of that aside.. I still saw too many opponents able to drive our net while not enough Sabres doing the same. Having an improved defense only matters if it translates into winning and it did not. Now, if they can continue to improve and find the scoring ability again then fantastic. We'll be able to look back and say this season was where they figured out defense. If it doesn't.. then it didn't matter at all. Good stuff by the way. It should be long. That's research.

At least after tonight the official off-season starts and as such the debate over management changes can really take hold. We knew they wouldn't change in season... But for tonight.. they can enjoy one last game. Not sure I will bother.

One of my dogs has been officially diagnosed with a tumor... This dog does not get upset about how the Sabres play, so she means a lot to me. (The other dog, her sister, also does not get upset, but this isn't about her.) This sucks. But what sucks more is just how impersonal the vet has been about this whole situation. They've been a good vet but in the past year or two their quality of service has declined greatly. This will be our last time ever dealing with them. Not only them, but they needed an ultrasound done but the "traveling" doc who does them is only there on Thursdays and we're not allowed to be in the waiting room even while the ultrasound occurs? Damn right I asked for an image from the ultrasound before I pay that bill. Oddly enough, had the same experience with our dental practice. They'd been great but the past two years they've seen massive turnover and every visit feels impersonal. Then, they try to sell you snake oil. Like some new owner took over and decided that trying to sell BS services and pushing unnecessary treatments is a great way to improve revenue while also treating customers like garbage. Sure sign I am getting too old at this point. But... I really want my dog to be better. Nothing else matters... not right now.

Certainly.. I just got off the ice last night.. but I did not pay attention to why I was shooting a certain way. I have to analyze it more. Or maybe that 20% difference are really left handed people.. they just don't know it? Perhaps I am left handed. Hmmmm.. I use my right hand for everything though.. I trust what you (they) are saying. Now I am going to be in the driveway tonight shooting pucks for awhile.

I couldn't even imagine Mario in today's NHL. I think he's be destroying this league. He was able to do so much in the the clutching and grabbing era. I'd love to see him in this era when he could skate more freely.

I'm becoming way too engrossed in this subject and want to know more now. I dunno.. as I said I grew up using any street hockey stick available and was shooting both left and right handed.. eventually ended up shooting right handed overall. No one taught me anything.. it just felt normal. But then again, I did play baseball and I hit right handed.. although once again I don't think anyone said I needed to hit that way, just that's what I did. At a young age I had a big plastic bat and I swung it right handed.

It's interesting. Growing up I could use a left or right stick in street hockey. Really no difference. I eventually settled into right handed. Perhaps because I played baseball and also swung that way? No idea. However, as I see it, the top hand is a pivot hand and the precision of where a stick goes is done with the bottom hand. I can swing a stick one handed all day long either either hand, but if I want control, the bottom hand is where it's at.

Yeah.. but my plan is to be at my job next year too, until someone decides that I won't be. In regards to hockey I just think that "Today" this is the plan. "Tomorrow" anything could be the plan. Even if they weren't going to go forward with UPL and Levi there's no way they are going to say it publicly.

Do a search for PWHL Physicality. There's nothing to discuss with such an obtuse opinion. You can insult the team without disparaging the women's game. Well, it's possible to do so, I'm not sure you are actually able to do it. I'm done here.

Straight up a disparaging comment against women. I can go watch a PWHL game and see players going all out. Just because they aren't 6'3 215lbs and banging doesn't mean they aren't giving their 100%. Stick to comparing this team to the rest of the NHL.

Pretty much everyone? Certainly the Leafs tonight.. but it's been one giant ***** show since he took over.

It's only appropriate that a team's owner whose initials are TP gets ***** on so much.

Adams can say it.. and pretty much anything he says other than "the team failed", "the coaching staff failed", and "I failed" should result in this quote being repeated back to him: September 21, 2023. He followed it up with everything the team needed to do.. but the bottom line was that the whole organization needed to do it. It didn't happen.. and the GM gets the players and the coach prepares them. By their own measured goal, they failed their stated intent.

Blood Sport is so bad So bad that every time it's on I leave it on and watch the rest of it. "Okay USA!"

I believe this. For what it's worth I don't think ROR is a bad player, he's a good player and will benefit a team. However, he's also demonstrated that he needs other names around him and the spotlight to be shared or he tends to wilt. Nashville has the names around him without a doubt.

It is your right to say what you want, we all have the right to say it unless the mods disagree. However, your point was shutting down any oppositional viewpoint by saying people are not listening or refusing to understand when you were doing the same thing. Nothing any of us do on this forum will help the Sabres win, why would you even bring that up? As for why I got involved? Because I am not a fanboy but I am positive. So in your statement you included me. I am tired of the negativity as well as I've mentioned in other places on the forum. Every day its the same statements in every thread. Hell the guy who got hired as COO is being blasted and he hasn't done anything yet. The GM has had this time period to build a team because the prior methods of getting this team to the playoffs failed spectacularly. The cupboard was drained of all talent. Again, there was plan... we all get to choose whether we like it or not. The GM chose to have the youngest team because that was the plan. What we won't know is that if this year's plan had paid off and IF the Sabres were in a playoff position would Adams have retained Mitts and then traded away some youth for shoring up the roster? We don't know that. Instead, at the deadline he had an offer to improve the team for next year and he took it. We don't know what other moves will come next so there's no point in assuming negative outcomes. I get people being frustrated, angry, etc. I think what irritates those people is when they see others who aren't suffering along with them. Post a positive around here and people want to tear you down. They want to drag into their level of hell so you can join them. It's actually a very natural action and not just when talking about the Buffalo Sabres. I don't like this year. I'm disappointed by the team... but that's it. I'm more upset at the inches of snow falling outside my window right now than I am with the Buffalo Sabres. Because whether they win or lose, it will still be a bitch to get my Friday night beers at the store.

Ryan O'Reilly always loves hockey when his team wins... when it doesn't he loses his love of the game and wanders off to another team. He pushed his was out of Colorado, he pushed his way out of Buffalo, he straight up abandoned Toronto... Don't give him too much credit... The Predators are a good team.. ROR is just a piece of it. They lucked into an exceptional coach after Florida and New Jersey both decided on other options. It's worked OK for Florida, not so much for NJ.

Now who's calling names? Is it an affront to you if someone chooses to look at the positives of the team and refuses to share your opinions? A lot of a viewpoint on this team really boils down to the time period over which you want to evaluate it. There's certainly a natural affinity to looking at the tenure of the current owner and calling it a failure. That said, the current team and its leadership are not responsible for all of the owner's failure. The team established a plan and they've stuck to it. They are a young team and yes, they got younger. This year, they said they were a playoff team, that was their goal. I am sure they believed the players would improve collectively and it obviously did not happen. As such,this season is a failure as measured against their stated goal. But the prior years under Adams they did not establish playoffs as their goal, and as such, we cannot say they failed in achieving their goal. Now, whether their achievements measured up to each person's subjective measurement is quite another story. But, that's subjectivity for you. As for the bolded statement, I think you are defining yourself just as much as you are attempting to define others. The opposing viewpoint is that anyone patently dismissing an argument for positivity is just a hater and there's no speaking to it. The haters mind is made up. The team has failed against their stated goal this season. Overall it's been 12 years of failure and not looking good for year 13. That said, there are still positives to take away on the future of the team. Next year will come either way and there's no harm in looking ahead even if some people are tired of doing so.

So he's bad enough to get pulled from a game but it's okay because he's psycho enough to hack an opposing player on his way off the ice? Does he share genetic code with Craig Binnington?

"They figured it out". Well, that's pretty obvious. However, it's not accurate to say Granato never will. In this thread there are others discussing the lack of a certain personality on the team or a lack of a certain skill within the player base. That matters as well. There's no one thing that is the problem here (other than the owner). It's often said that the best players actually make terrible coaches and I think that's been in evidence in many different sports. So, experience playing isn't an indicator of being a great coach any more than lack of experience. Bottom line no one "gets it" until they do. So everyone is failure until they succeed. Just because they have not yet does not mean they are incapable of doing so. And in some cases just because they never do doesn't mean they suck. Dan Marino isn't considered a bad QB. He never won the Superb Owl.

This game feels like the Sabres are hanging over a cliff while we watch the rope they are clinging to slowly fray until it snaps and they fall to their doom.

These are good points. They are the ups and downs that occur during a season and I'd like to think he's taking all of it into account. In my mind, the difference between an excuse and a reason on why something happened boils down to whether it was in one's control or not. The other aspect of this is that while these players understand that the club has not made the playoffs in 12 seasons (potentially 13), they are not responsible for the vast majority of those seasons. So, part of the pain is wanting to change that but knowing that the plan of the people who've been here slightly longer is to take an approach of youth first. Finally, youth is a reason. Experience provides the wisdom on how to handle the myriad situations that occur during a season. It's not enough to want do something and it's not enough to know simply how to do it. it takes experience doing it, to do it well. As fans it still does not change the frustration. My frustration is with ownership primarily for failing all of these years. The GM for getting out over his skis with this playoff talk garbage. Certainly there are other frustrations to go around but they are limited compared to the first two.... especially the owner.

It does. And Granato is a bit closer to the problem. But even he can't make people expect to win. That comes from confidence and each player has in themselves and their teammates to execute. I know people like to talk about Herb Brooks excellent speech and its absolutely iconic, but that speech alone doesn't translate across the full game. Certainly how Brooks coached that team to believe in themselves matters probably as much as the speech itself. But I don't want to dissect Granato here as his statements have to be different than a players. I think Tuch, by saying he doesn't want to offer excuses, is prefacing that while he has to acknowledge how young the team is, he doesn't want to. I see that as a statement outward that had the team had a little more experience they could be better. At the same time, he isn't throwing his young team under the bus. He's building them up and keeping their confidence higher. The team is absolutely playing with more confidence but as we saw during the Detroit game, it's easy for them to lose it. Perhaps I am off, but I read Tuch's statement as a way to not undermine his teammates while still throwing a little shade at how young the team is.. and how it only got younger. Being one of the older guys on the team I have no doubt he wants to be in the playoffs, not just for the Sabres and Buffalo but very much for himself. And of course.. it's all media speak.. so there's only so much I put into it all. I don't hate this at all. I'm not sure Tuch was responding specifically to the Detroit game as it sounds like he's just commenting on the overall state of things. I would 100% expect him to reflect on the Detroit game and simply say, "We weren't good enough." A a general reflection I go to what I said above. Great discourse on this. Love that we can have this kind of discussion. Thanks to both of you.