In The Buff

I'm guessing Ruff likely doesnt leave for a few years. 1st Adams has to be let go & then Lindy takes over as GM. Then Appert has to be named HC. Then we have another 2 years of basement dwelling before both Ruff & Appert are fired & an experienced front office is finally hired to replace them. Terry needs to go thru all this 1st before he changes course, as the previous 14 years havent taught him anything. The BILLS were about building a competitive team, built on solid financial ground & for sustained success. Very likely we lucked into Beane/McDermott/Allen but i'll take it. The Sabres were about living some childhood fantasy where he gets to be Mr Hockey. With not much thats stable with the franchise, other than Terrys always there. Until Terry has killed his own love for the team & that childhood fantasy has reached its end, i dont see much of anything changing. After 14 years of this shiteshow, where's the change gonna come from? Its all on Terry. Get the eff out of the way, hire someone who knows what theyre doing & enjoy the ride.

They're a desperate team, that played with no desperation. They got their arses kicked, by one of the worst teams in the league. Tonight they played like that team nobody knows the name of, that plays vs the Harlem Globetrotters when they come to town. They just exist to get smoked by the home team & give everyone an entertaining night out. Thats what it had to feel like in Montreal tonight. Like we're a bunch of clowns. Well Terry, i hope you enjoyed the show. Its all thanks to you!

Female broadcaster on TSN, laughing out loud at how the Canadiens can't play Buffalo every night. I'm sure Montreal's players & fans wish they could. We're that bad, we make Montreal look like a top team

he seemed just as surprised as everyone else is

will tonight be Fan Preservation Night where the team hands out brown paper bags at the gate for the fans to put over their heads? Seems appropriate for the occaision

would an alternate gif provider work? Like tenor or any of the others out there? If one cant link to an outside gif database, perhaps we can just upload them instead? I wouldn't pay for the 9k either, but in 2024 i'd think we'd still be able to use gifs somehow. At any rate, its not the biggest deal. We come here for the Sabres talk over anything else

its too bad we traded Mitts. And ive heard rumors about trading Cozens for help on D. I cant imagine how weak we'd look if that happened. But If Thompson is out for awhile i'd assume Kulich comes back but who knows.

the defense has been atrocious this year but personally he seemed too deep towards the net to block any passing lane on that pass... and he didnt block the pass either, effectively doing nothing on the play. As an aside, i cant count how many goals against this year ive seen where our defenders back is towards the goal scorer. Maybe its just common place but for us it seems like its the norm. I'm glad we have defensemen who can score a goal once every few games, but i think it'd be more beneficial to the team if one of them could actually play good defense. Tie up shooters sticks, get in passing lanes, clear the net etc. We just dont do the basic things well enough & after 13 years of missing the playoffs, this is where i would focus on if i were Ruff, simple fundamentals. You gotta learn how to crawl before you can walk

Dahlin as well not doing much of anything on the play either

addition by subtraction.. or something like that... Add it all up & you get Hockey Heaven 😇

entertaining game but frustrating at the same time. Whenever this team faces any adversity, its like they crumble from within. Suppose thats a sign of a young team. Peterka was flying around tonight. Power remains an enigma to me. I've always heard all the praise for his game but i've just yet to really see it in person. Seems he's always unable to clear out the crease, or if there's a goal scored, you can bet his back is turned to the action. Just seems like he's a passenger & not a driver..

Jordan has been a bright spot for sure. But I'd slow the roll on any extension, at least for now. Jordan's not doing anything special, other than his job. He's simply playing how EVERYONE should be playing. Giving forth effort, getting to the front of the net & competing out there. I think he stands out currently because its that type of play that we've been sorely lacking for a long time. Just simple hard work & effort. To me its more of an indictment on the woes of this team & its makeup, for many to look at Jordan Greenway & start talking about extensions lol. He played a few games where he skated hard & went to the net. We dont ask for much do we? (We really dont). But if he keeps it up sure, extend him. In the more short term: hopefully his play inspires others to work hard & go to the net as well. Its been obvious for years that its what we need to do to be tougher to play against. And now finally we have someone who has done it for a few games! Keep it up!

i dont disagree with your general sentiment, but whenever Cramer says buy buy buy, i'm selling 🤣

Before the season started, we all wondered where the scoring would come from this year. 3 games in & we're still wondering.

forgive me if this is a stupid question but what does this mean for our goalie situation? Does this cement Levi as the #2? I had hoped Levi would be getting the lions share of work in Rochester, just to get more reps. Idk if its ideal for his development to ride the pine, nor for UPL to see the heir apparent waiting to take your place. Competition can be good, so hopefully they'll push each other & become better versions of themselves. Lord knows we'll need them to

i'm watching it on one of my free hockey websites. If anyone needs a link to the action, send me a DM

for the past 10 years ive used 1 free website that has the AHL, NCAA, SHL, LIGA, WHL, KHL, QMJHL & 20 other leagues actively being streamed. It has all the NHL rookie camp's being streamed live as well. Current NHL camp being streamed right now is Boston & Pittsburgh. Over the years i've seen 'Premium' alternatives come & go, yet this free website remains. Go figure lol. All i can say is there are options out there for people not wanting to go with the FLO. DM me if you want a link to check out or just look for alternatives online. Hockey season is almost here! Go SABRES & AMERKS!

i like the deal & term. There is no guarantee whatsover that Levi will be a #1 NHL goalie, yet alone beating UPL on our depth chart. I was most afraid KA would put all his eggs in the Levi basket, without any alternative plan. This rewards a player who was probably our MVP last season. He kept us in games we had no reason being in. And with Ruff installing a better structure where we play team defense, Ukko wont be all out on his own facing odd man rushes like he has so often. Give me UPL in Ruff's system & i like our chances. Sure we can quibble about an extra year or whatever but the biggest thing is that we didnt lose him without a plan to replace him & Levi doesnt get put into the role before he's earned it.

i remember falling down the stairs with a beer in my hand & because i tumbled so fast, i didnt spill any of my beer. Suppose I owe it to the steep design of the stairs. Those were some forward thinking architects lemme tell ya 😛

saw this article & thought i'd share it. Had some insightful points, from an Oilers perspective. https://oilonwhyte.com/posts/ryan-mcleod-genuine-candidate-traded-by-oilers-01j1ysd2ywbj

Bowen scored 3 goals to Casey's 4, but Bowen scored those in his 1st 3 games as a Sabre. He went scoreless for the rest of the season, some 15 games without scoring another. Just thought I'd add that, as he was the shiny new toy & quickly faded imho.

I think another factor that feeds into this perception of drafting small players is their play on the ice itself. The team has played small & when you see us getting pushed around on the ice, in a way it reinforces that idea. As an aside, i dont think this would even be a concern-able topic if we were winning games. When you've missed the playoffs for as long as us, one starts to look for anomalies to help explain the irrational. We're the youngest team in the league... smallest etc.

Edmonton got quite the deal. Paying $3m for potentially 30-40 goals? They could even move him at the trade deadline if they so chose couldnt they? Well Skins will be very motivated #1, but also it's gotta be like a huge load off his shoulders & a breath of fresh air, just being away from here. I'm sure we'll hear how he regained his love for the game & how he's just back to having fun out there. I imagine he'll do good & outplay that contract by far. Sure Skin's is a defensive liability. But Edmonton is a more well rounded team that should be able to cover for it. They didn't sign him to play defense. So far the odds are that he's next to win the Cup

remembering that the bar that's been set is pretty low to begin with: we should be better defensively but if that will translate into more wins is another story. We need our top players to reach their ceilings & we also need them to remain injury free. We should be better tho, as the bar is pretty low.

I'm calling BS on this one. If anything teams should love trading with us. Just look at the history of the guys we've moved out. ROR traded & his team wins the Cup. Eichel gets traded & they win the Cup. Reinhart gets traded & they win the Cup. Seems teams would be chomping at the bit, to poach us of our talent. What would make more sense is that the players themselves don't want to come here... and who could blame them?