LTS

Last year I was at the Eichel return game and the RJ game. Both were entertaining in their own rights but neither had to do specifically with how the Sabres played. Tonight had everything to do with it and as someone who sat in section 307 for this beuaty... I would agree with you 100 I'm not going to get into analysis.. here's my quick thoughts: UPL has a name that mandates he makes it in the NHL. Whether its the "Luuuu" chants when he makes a save or the fact that if you enunciate his whole name it leads the crowd to chime in perfectly with "Luukkonen" As in.. Ukka. Pekka., LUUKKONEN". From where I sat , he made some key saves. The Quinn-Cozens-Peterka line.. long may they run. They are the key to the Sabres being successful. Tonight they clicked. I can watch Samuelsson play defense all day long. There's no flash to his game, it's very collected and he just makes simple moves to clear space and move people off the puck. Confidence is insane for a team. The move Tuch made early on in the game, despite not leading to a goal, is an indication of a team that isn't playing with a confidence issue. There were many other plsys that followed. Tage Thompson.. I really feel he's still not at his peak.. and he's just stupid fun to watch right now. Other thoughts from the crowd, the Sabres presentation, etc. Sabretooth rapelling from the rafters. There was no way that wasn't going to Van Damme me in the feels. It set a tone. The entire intro video did... well done. Although I still live for the day of on-ice projection versus the small screen experience of the "not-so-jumbotraon". The crowd was into it tonight. No end to the number of songs that belted out when the music was dropped out. The wave did extremely well. The 1,2,3,4,5... we want 6 chants were solid. However, the crowd needs to leave the Hey-ey-ey-ey chants at the Bills game. It did not go well. We also had a chance to completely razz Binnington and failed. The only thing I missed from tonight's game was a Binnington meltdown. That would have been EPIC. There were a lot of black/red jerseys. Many of the red butter knives too. I would say it was well represented. I ultimately decided to wear mine as well. Money well spent tonight. I was there and brought my son, just home from college, and two of his friends. They had an absolute blast and I got watch them enjoy the game. I got a chance to meet up with a former SS'er which is always a welcome experience. Looking forward to Friday.. these are the games that show us what this team CAN do. We just are waiting for them to get to them doing it on a consistent basis.

Can't wait to see how tonight's game looks... live. Sadly I need to wear the red crossed-swords so my kid doesn't know I went shopping for goatheads. If he saw mine he'd be suspicious that I got him one (which I did). 🙂 Place should be rockin.. just hope the Sabres give the crowd a reason to keep rockin.

That ESPN article is pure trash. It's clearly written to try and generate clicks. The team does lack swagger. This happens to every team. Examine the losing streaks in the NHL this year: https://champsorchumps.us/records/longest-nhl-losing-streaks-in-2023 The Sabres play the team they are tied with at the top, tomorrow night. The Blues have plenty of experience, including that often cited "MVP" that was traded from here, Eeyore. Didn't help them. The Penguins had 7 games, they are like the oldest team in the NHL.. age didn't help them. Calgary had 7 games. Because the Sabres are young they get thrown under the bus as not ready. It might be the case, they certainly have swagger but they need to find it and keep it, like they did tonight. They have issues, no doubt, but plenty of other teams much more highly thought of are right up there with the Sabres on losing streaks.

Drafts don't turn franchises around overnight. But drafting well over a few years will. That's the trajectory the Sabres are on now.

I don't think it's quite this though. There's competition and then there's giving yourself the best opportunity to have a CHANCE to succeed in your career. I think we've all seen plenty of examples where the high-priced acquisition wins out over the unproven rookie, sophomore, etc. because of the money being paid. I sure hope Levi is getting games in Buffalo. Hell, it would be great if both signed.. but until either of them sign they are not locked into anything. I see it no different than the UFA situation.. the closer you get to the deadline the less risk there is of waiting to see what happens.

I assumed voice dictation. I think its a reasonable plan. It's just not the plan the Sabres have stated they are on. The debate can rage on but the final judgment really can't be made until the plan is terminated and the Sabres were either successful or not. I think this team has the capacity to play like they did when they started the season and tonight against Montreal. I think they'll begin tweaking the team for next season. It's not what many fans want (and hell, I would love them to win more this season) but I'll accept it because I really do think there's a good amount of talent in the organization now. I think the Sabres are at the floor for no other reason than that's how the plan played out. There have to be reasons they aren't picking up the players some think they should be. We might not agree with the decisions but I'm not going to assume Adams is incompetent. I think what we are seeing is judicial spending, but there's still a gray area in the judiciousness of it. I wasn't trying to insinuate you did not understand spending. I was just commenting on the articles you linked. I assume this is just the full movie... but listed this way to make the copyright monitors not realize it.. I'll sum these movies up.. "Off the F---n' chain"

Just a thought, but if Buffalo goes out and signs a big name goalie (assuming they could) do they lose on Portillo and Levi automatically. I'm not saying they shouldn't have done it.. but it's a thought. Granted they still don't have either of them... https://thecoachessite.com/a-behind-the-net-power-play-formation-driven-by-analytics/ There's a lot about this. Although this design is a little different than me thinking you play 1-3-1 in reverse. All in all, move the puck, move your players, and good things will happen. Just to be clear.. this is Kaiden Guhle a homegrown Habs pick. Brendan Guhle is now checking out the DEL for his career path. ---- Onto the game. Hell of a start. The team played with confidence and certainly brought back some physicality. Jost to be commended for stepping up and winning the 5 min major pool. Dark horse candidate to be certain. A little bit of confidence goes a long way. You could see them sharper on their passes and covering the ice better. They were more relentless on the forecheck and only a few times got locked into their zone. Now they need to do this tomorrow..

Yeah, I mean if it kept Bryson off the ice I'd be fine with that. Bryson has speed.. a skill they do not use. So he's pretty useless. Let's break down your response: - Green light: The conversation was not about green light. Hell, there's less known about "green light" than the actual trade market in the NHL. You are bringing in something new to try and combat what I said. Typical.. but it has no place here. Why would you even bring it up? - I didn't say other GMs have to make trades. Your reading comprehension needs work. I covered indicators of an active or heating up trade market. I covered, actual trades, and speculation. Both of which are non-existent right now. Your response somehow ties other GMs making trades to Kevyn Adams having the green light to trade. That's not the discussion. Kevyn Adams could have green lights all the way to California, but if no other GM wants to make a trade right now then it won't really matter, will it. 🙄

I have no doubt it plays into it. Then again, it could be the other way as well. Our PK is so bad that the PP can stand around and still score. Steel sharpens steel right? This is one area that is absolutely on the coaching. If players are not moving you need to pull them off the PP. You can draw all the perfect diagrams in the world but the players have to execute. If they are unwilling (or unable due to some broken mindset) then you have to take them off and give others a chance.

Is there evidence here or is it speculation? Just because Boston waived him does not mean they don't see value in him. We know Adams could have claimed Reilly, what we don't know is what it would take now to obtain him. There's no evidence he's not going to make a trade. There are no trades happening in the league. None. There's barely even speculation. Your hypotheses are about all we have to go on. That said, 6th best D is still better than Pilut and Fitzgerald who are both absolutely terrible.

There's a difference in how you approach it. If you want to join up to be part of the support group that's fine. But there are a solid contingency of posters who have made it their goal in life to just complain, even without basis and then denigrate or deflect rather than have a discussion. I'm not sure anyone on here is happy with the team and has not complained in some fashion. If you are here because you want moral support in being a Sabres fan then welcome to the forum. If you are here just to complain then I think the point is, as said above, why? Eliminate that negativity from your life. Avoid it. We're all here to bring people up and get through the tough times but there are those who have a deep seated disgust of the team, the owners, etc. and it shows.

Lord I hate that. I'm still waiting for the first coach to add the behind the net power play. Teams are so used to defending the 1-3-1. You could just as easily take the low player and put them behind the net and still get your 1-timer opportunities but now you force the defenders to turn. You can easily mix the two together if a team is playing aggressive. Once you go behind the net they will back off. Oh well.. it will take time, but the first coach that does it will look like a genius.

I think that note is the key to this move overall. It has the potential to create roster competition which hopefully forces players to step up to keep their spot. Bjork wasn't doing that because they all beat Bjork to the lineup out of camp. I think if the team had been in this same losing streak and not had the depth of defensive injuries they might have gone after Reilly as well. A mistake in my opinion as they should have picked him up if for no other reason than he has to be better than Pilut or Fitzgerald who are abysmal.

I did read through the other link you sent. What I don't see (may have missed) is the timing of the spend relative to success of the players it was spent on. Take the Avalanche as an example. They were pretty low in salary cap. They had lots of young talent. They won before their spend caught up to them. Next year they will be near the top. The Lightning were similar in that regard but also managed a few mid-tier salary agreements. I think most of the team you look at that end up spending money are the ones that developed their players and then paid them. It was just a question of whether the top talent got the contract before or after the success. The one thing that plagues Buffalo unlike other franchises is the change in ownership and a complete lack of continuity and strategy for the better part of the Pegula ownership. However, you've seen the beginning of the change with the Thompson contract. You see the Samuelsson contract that so many panned but once he was injured the defense suffered greatly. The building blocks are there. Fans carry the length of the losing on their backs, it's tough to shed that. I bet Kevyn Adams could go out and spend money tomorrow... it might equate to a season of winning.. and then it might very well end up leading to more losing because of the desire to go for the short term flash. It might also work out. Both happen quite frequently. Spending analysis needs to extend beyond looking at the amounts spent and really look at how it was spent. Was it paying youth that was drafted or acquired in a good trade or was it spent on a UFAs. How long did that spend equate to winning? Is it enough to win one or two seasons or does it lead to long term success? How much change occurred during that spend when it comes to ownership and management? There are so many more factors than just records and money that have to be accounted for to truly get a sense of what works best.

Yeah. I would hope I'm on the ignore list there. Probably did but can't own up to it and would rather continue to deflect at everyone else. We're all guilty of being emotional regarding this team, that's probably what appealed to us to join a fan forum. Everyone has a different breaking point, but just because a person reaches their point doesn't mean they should then make it a mission to try and break everyone else. Let others pull you up rather than trying to pull them down.

That said, would you rather have Bjork on the roster or Jost? If Jost can turn it around under Granato then perfect and that puts pressure on the other forwards just like him to step it up. If he can't then they can waive him just as easily as the next team. Either way I bet his better than Bjork.

My point was that people have been complaining about the changing of lines and pairings like Granato is pulling lottery balls from the barrel and not because of the injuries. So I figured those who had not been paying attention as to what was happening and why it was happening would probably complain about Samuelsson being put back into the line up because it would just be another change to them. There's a healthy contingent on here who are content to just complain about everything that's happening without applying an iota of brain power to it.

Well at least you removed the crap you flung about being Donny G's brother. But your name is still a good indicator of what you're full of.

A word of caution on Detroit. They ain't done anything yet. If all of those changes have them just outside the playoffs at the end of the season then would you consider it successful? Right now there are two approaches and unless one of them puts a team in the playoffs on a consistent basis then neither have proven themselves to be a success. Moderately better in the standings, sure. Right now it's wait and see... no one has won until the votes are counted, in full. The Sabres have a lot of youth and at some point I think the consideration will be that they've evaluated who stays and who gets traded to bring in that veteran support. It wasn't going to be before this season, but it may very well be during this season, at the trade deadline, in the off-season. We don't know yet... so we have to wait and see. The Sabres established their path for this season, Detroit established theirs. Who is right? We'll not know until the end.

Simmer down. Tuch was out of practice for maintenance reasons. The fact that Jost filled in probably means Jost isn't even playing tomorrow. Are you going to get all torqued when Granato changes the D pairing and puts Samuelsson in? Most of the changes have been because of injuries.. I thought that much was obvious, if you actually pay attention to the team.

Beauty. It never hurts to check. Not just you, but so many on here are letting this team get to them, even me. I almost started a thread asking why people continue to stick around. There are people on here who seemingly have problems with every facet of the franchise and yet continue to show up here every day. It can't be good for them... and I am concerned. At some point you need to ween negativity from your life.. in the end, at least with the Sabres, its just sports. Even if you grew up in Buffalo and are an avid sports fan, it's just sports. I am one of those people, I let the Bills back into my world and their situation has weighed on me. I'm even more a hockey fan and thus a Sabres fan and the current stretch weighs on me. I know I need to step away. It's for my own best interest. No, it's really not. The coach has limits that he can go to. It's that simple. He can coach all day long but sometimes the players have to figure stuff out themselves. It's like a therapist working with a drug addiction. They can do whatever they'd like, but until the person wants to get better, not much is going to happen. The key is not giving up on them. I think Granato is an excellent coach. The team has to find a way out of its malaise. Also, people want Tortorella as the symbol of what a no non-sense coach would be. Yet the Flyers are also a joke with a more seasoned roster. If a team if a reflection of the coach then Torts is a joke.. right? Grinders are JAGs.. for the most part. I think he brings them in when he feels the talent is at the point to succeed. 7 of the top skilled players on this team are 22 and younger. It's not going to be pretty. Not that it excuses the lack of playing with heart and pride. Granato has largely kept the lines together, but Quinn was out and is back. Okposo is out now, Girgensons is out now. The D has been a revolving door. Not sure how the coach can keep lines together if the players keep getting injured. He's putting the best he has on the ice right now. The options for scratched forward are Sheahan and Bjork... yikes. This is where I am. At the same time, my sanity dictates I tune the team out because I can't watch players play with no pride and determination. I know they are having a tough time. Where is the team that wanted to fight after the end of the game with Florida, despite losing? I'm not saying fighting is the key, but it's that level of pride. The swagger.. the confidence in oneself that I am looking for. Right now I see deference and desperation. That;s not a good thing. This is on each player to sit down and take a deep breath and realize they can, should, and NEED to play harder. Right now I think the mind says, "Why sacrifice the body, we're not going to the playoffs." And the answer the heart needs to give is "Because no matter what you have to do it. This is how you succeed. Times are tough, you get tougher." What punishment did you have in mind? No one has to wait. If you or anyone else chooses to do so its because you choose to do so. This is not judgment, but "having" implies that you have no choice. You do.. even if you think you don't.. you do.

Well, I'll actually stop in and post unlike most nights when I just stop watching this team. I'm done. I'm not going to give a damn about this team until they give a damn about themselves. This team doesn't need a new coach, or more D, etc. They need to actually play with an edge. Right now they are a bunch of young players who are playing with zero confidence trying to do anything to make something happen and only succeeding in making something happen for the other team. I know people are fed up with losing who wouldn't be. But the options for the fan are to continue dealing with this or check out. If you are letting this team impact your mental well being then you should check out as much as you don't want to. The team wasn't going to be all that great this season. I expected more heart however. That's not something a coach can change, that's on each player on the ice to step up and play like they give a damn. Oh well.. for all those who can continue watching. Best of luck. I'll be at the Blues game because that was locked in before now... but no more visits to here or watching this team until they start playing like they care.

Wouldn't it be nice if that Quinn-Cozens-Peterka line could click and shine? But... I assume by 8:30 tonight I will be doing something else. Can't even believe I am going to tune in. It's getting to the point where I won't bother to pay attention until they win a few in a row.

Pretty sure that season has passed and you need to use a snow analogy. But yes, it does seem to be "pouring" snow in Buffalo right now. Wonder if UPL can actually get INTO Buffalo. 🙂

We are too young. I think at some point the youth gets filtered out via trade to diversify the roster. But, right now I think the youth remains so they can make determinations on which youth need to go.. just gotta hope those changes are made at the right time. But if you look at the youngest 7 players on the team, that's a helluva group with Krebs perhaps being the least highly thought of on this board.