Sabre fan

I guess we could await Lindy getting let go by Dallas and bring him back haha

seems pretty sad that Jack is somehow blamed for anything...he is young and still learning and clearly is a very good player. what is not good is the defensive system Blysma tries to implement, one that Lindy proved does not work...come out and get a few goals then hang on for dear life. The D are playing a system that is not suited for today's skating and passing style that sees other teams letting their D get involved, and not afraid to pass and/or go with the puck. After Blysma was fired from pittsburg, they immediately became a more offensive-minded team with the D moving freely and not afraid to join the rush. hell, our D on paper is just as good (if not better) then many teams but they are playing a system (or trying to anyways) that is not suited for the NHL. Even Babs allows the Leafs to play whatever style best compliments the individual player. one cannot ask every player to play the same boring system. as soon as a player leaves Buffalo and goes to a team that allows them to play to their strengths they excel, or at least play pretty good. the list is long and it hurts to see guys like Byron on Montreal playing so well. it was never the players, it was the coach and system...it was Lindy and Blysma is pretty much a carbon-copy of his outdated and boring "system"

Holy crap...what the hell's with all these injuries? They are killing this team, and Kulikov is by far the biggest mystery...is he any good? Hard to tell when he's been injured almost the whole season. I do not envy GMTM having to decide what to do with him...sign him? he is obviously looking long-term at big bucks but how does one decide what worth he merits when he has not been healthy the whole year? If he ever plays to potential he is clearly a top4 but will that ever happen? tough call...

I guess one could say Darcy drafted what he deemed the BPA (obviously these players were not he BPA but he seemed to think so).

there's no hope in hell we'd ever win he draft lottery, so my idea here was o kinda be realistic of who we may have a shot at.We will draft in most likelyhood around 9 to 11 so this monster Rasmussen should be still on the board. We have to remember here's like 26 or 7 other teams all looking for stud d-men, so it is not as easy as it sounds to swing a deal with say Anaheim for one of their d-men. If it was that easy, a pile of teams would have already made a deal. anyways, I do trust GMTM more then I ever trusted Darcy, who drafted some pretty bad players. We were so lucky to get O'Reilly for those two stiffs Colorado took. sure could use another great trade like that but Colorado , in he words of the band The Who, "Won't get Fooled Again"...

while all seems doom and gloom...

Yikes, just checking out a forward by the name of Michael Rasmussen who plays for the Tri City Americans of the WHL. he is huge at 6-6, 215, but has good soft hands and is a force around the net...exactly what we could use to p-lay along with jack. This guy is actually fast and has great speed for a big man. Rated #6 by the scouting report, we might have a shot at him.In 50 games he has 55 points (32 goals, 23 assists), five game-winning goals and 29 power-play points. I imagine eith er Anaheim or ottawa who seem to find a way to get these good big guys will somehow get him.there are other interesting players for sure but I love the look of this guy. should add there are 3 d-men in the top 9 and maybe we should take one of them if available. sure would love to see us actually win a draft lottery (haha like that will happen) and move up

Kulikov is...injury prone or something...anyways, I dread this game. Friggin' Cindy always seems to beat us. Maybe we can get a point which in itself would be a victory of sorts

Hey Lemmy (I mean self-appointed expert) how bout "The Chase Is Better Then The Catch"??

great tune...and fitting!

Okay, with this year being kinda up and down and all-around, I am curious if you have a song that seems to suit this season. My original song way back in September was "Anticipation" (Carly Simon) as I thought we looked real good on paper and was looking forward to the season. Now, probably "Turn Out The Lights" The Party's Over just about sums it up. With horrible loses to Arizona, Colordao and now Tampa, it is safe to assume that's all she wrote for this year. Who could have guessed Kulikov would be so injury prone? whatever...

... I just heard Adele on the radio. Holy crap that is funny! anyways, clearly that's all she wrote for this year. but we have to admit we were pumped way back in September. how was TM (or anybody) to ever know that we'd have so many injuries? Kulikov must be injury prone or something becuase he went down again last night. KO out now for a while and he has been quietly having a nice year. Frustrating all these SO loses...

we seem to always lose to Tampa Bay yet always beat Ottawa a similar team...so tired of these injuries...now KO down with a serious rib injury like Kane's...great there goes his season pretty-well. The way jack is going, if he'd been healthy from the start we'd be in the playoffs and he'd be in the top10 scoring...anyways, GO SABRES GO ...

I understand we are all tired of missing the playoffs but the truth is this team is far better then we tend to give credit for...if we had Eichel from the start, along with OReilly and kane both missing time with injuries, we'd probably be in a playoff position right now. Remember how many games we lost by a goal? Funny thing was our defense was keeping us in those games but we couldn;t score...now our offense is starting to really go good and the D suddenly gets bad! My own opinion (foir whatever that is worth) is that both Bogo and Kulikov are far better then we have seen and if for just once both could get healthy and start playing up to their potential that would solve most of our problems on the blueline. One thing for sure, our D is still better (and has more potential) then many teams in the NHL, including teams that are in the playoffs right now...

the trades made at the deadline or before were mostly minor deals involving players anyone could have had. making the big trade for a stud defenseman doesn;t happen for a reason...cap issues and salary for next season etc...just as TM was trying to do something, so was 29 other gm's and adding Stafford wouldnl;t help this team right now

it also proves )as does Toronto) that when you tank you gotta get lucky and get the draft position and guy you tanked for...as in McDavid or Mathews as Chicago got kane and Pittsburg got Malkin then Crosby. It isn't TM's fault that for whatever reason Bogo has been complete opposite from what was expected (he was drafted 3rd overall remember). Meanwhile, kulikov can't get healthy and from all signs he was to be pretty friggin good. Gorges has taken a big turn for the worse all of a sudden...if these 3 played anywhere near their potential, along with Risto & McCabe, the D would be very good. It could be worse...the leafs have no d at all and only win when they outscore the other team. They are fun to watch (Marner is quite good) but truth is Babs is just letting them play and have fun and there seems to be no system or defensive-first outlook whereas Eichel continues to excel defensively. whatever, I do think TM has done a pretty good job. Blysma on the other hand...

yep...another good young player. while we lament in our doom and gloom really things aren't so bad...we do have a ton of good young players coming along...

I have entered the Twighlight Zone...

why does this have March as only having 28 days?

TM has done prety darn good thus far. he has without a doubt had some very bad luck (maybe it's just the "Sabre curse"). Both Bogo and kulikov have been hurt and unable to play up to anywhere near their potential. Losing the 1st pick a few years back cost us McDavid and while Jack is good, very good in fact, McDavid is in a class of maybe 3 or 4 in the NHL. Furthermore, I thought Gorges was a good move and I still think the O"Reilly trade was a complete steal. yesterday teams made moves for the sake of making moves...nothing that will help any team long-term unless maybe Caps sign Shattenkirk (which doubt happens). Did we want Iginla or the other stiffs sent packing? Montreal added a bunch of nothing big guys and act like they "improved" the team. Whatever...everybody is looking for a top 2 d-man and so we are not alone in this. If i were that easy to put together a top defense every team would have done so by now. The fact is, it isnot easy and I have faith hat TM is at least trying and at least he doesn't do nothing like the guy before him.

funny cause at the start of the year, our offense was non-existent with Jack, EK and Oreilly all out with injuries and Blysma moving guys around far too much. anyways, our defense seemed to keep us in many games and we were allowing very few goals per game but losing 1-0, 2-1 or whatever. we couldn't score...now we are scoring as good as any team and our forwards are playing well. now it seems the defense has tanked...strange

In TM's defense, he has made some great trades (especially getting OReilly for next to nothing), and the Kane trade is looking better now that Kane has started to play how he is capable, which is certainly a top-3 guy. He lost the draft lottery and while Jack is very good, McDavid would make an instant impact on his team that would make the whole team better. Furthermore, trades for what were to be top-4 d-,men in Bogo, kulikov, Gorges etc have all been a bust. Bogo was a very high draft pick and highly rated (not sure what happened but he looks lost). To say that TM hasn't put together a good enough defense is not fair as he has tried and of course just about every other team in the NHL is looking for defensemen so The Sabres are not alone nor different from a ton of other teams. we do have Risto and McCabe and Guhle looks to be the real deal so hat's 3 great d-men. Our young guys look great and we certainly have a good future with them so all-in-all TM deserves a passing grade at this point. I also agree with whoever said hat Blysma was a Pugula thing and he ain't going nowhere anytime soon which is too bad

betcha Catenacci does good in NY...look around and there's many ex-Sabres playing fine for other teams....like Montreal has Byron and somebody else who won't come to me at this moment,. but I see Schaller doing okay with Boston too..anyways, this is hardly BREAKING NEWS!!!! kinda trade. Hope this ain't it or we are in big trouble! If we do no tintend to sign kulikov then for God's sake please trade him and don't lose him for nothing like Darcy use to do

certainly can think of worse things to happen then us getting a stud d-man like Shattenkirk...like doing nothing which is probably, well you know...

being the truly 500 team we are we might just win this one...then we'll lose one, then we'll win 2, then we'll lose 2...don't matter who we play...heck we beat pretty good teams and lose to the bottom teams.no figuring out this team, but I do think the potential is there. just no consistency whatsoever...is that Blysma's fault??? That is the million dollar question and one that begs to be answered.