In The Buff

Record wise yes we've been losing games. However we're not losing these games like we were last year. How many 1 goal games have we lost this year? Those are games we very well couldve won had we had better secondary scoring. So no I'm not on the "we're not much better than last year" train. We're actually a lot better. We were the last place team 3 out of the past 5 years & not much better in between. Anyone expecting playoffs at the beginning of the season was just a hopeful fan imo. This season was all about fixing our cap, developing our youth & farm team & evaluating what we have in order to decide what moves to make, all while competing for the playoffs. Thats why we've added some pieces & removed others. Trying to be competitive now while building from within for the future. That doesnt mean i dont wanna make a push for the playoffs now & I'm sure JBots would like to do the same. But he's not gonna veer off his long term plan & who knows, maybe years down the road we'll be thanking him for it.

nope, that was a pretty slick shot... too bad it misssed

well he's still young, they'll drop eventually

No, unless he's bringing Kane & Toews along with him

The ROR trade has been discussed ad nauseam but the Blues picked him up with the expectation that he would push them over the top & look at whats happened to that team. While statistically he's having a good season, just like he was having here, that team has been in the bottom part of the league. Is it a coincidence? I have no idea. But it is ironic that they got worse after acquiring him & we got better. I hate over simplified generalizations but it is an interesting footnote to the subject. If he was such a player to build a championship team around, it surely hasnt paid off for the Blues just yet. @ GASabresIUFAN 's post pretty much sums up my take on everything & i appreciate him taking the time to write that up, as i simply dont have the patience for that haha. We have 4 1st round picks in the next 2 years, lots of young promising talented players. Depth in our organization with our farm team turned around & the culture has changed around this franchise. The future looks a lot brighter than it did a couple years ago & that didnt happen by accident.

well he aint wrong though, at least in my opinion. We as fans have the luxury to play hindsight, a GM doesnt. Big picture our team was the worst in the NHL & today we're in the race for a playoff spot. So some will say what they will i suppose but who here doesnt think our future is looking up since JBots took over? And not just a one & done season but the ground work to be a contender for years to come?

I agree. However at this point the types of players JBots would have to be looking for are those with term remaining on their contracts, all while looking towards the future. Because by waiting to make a move at the deadline, we've wasted too much time already & we're pretty much already out of a playoff spot. I know thats not what us fans want to hear, but just the other day was that post about how many regulation losses we could have & still make the playoffs. Only way its even feasible is going on a 5 - 7 game winning streak & winning at a 70% clip. All doable in the minds of us Sabres faithful but from JBots perspective he's probably looking at next year. But youre right about this offseason for sure. He's had 2 seasons to evaluate the talent or lack there of & has a good cap situation & assets in his pocket. I fully expect him to be making moves come the draft, when the prices for players arent as high as they are now before the deadline. Imo the time for JBots to make a move for this season was a month ago.

I like probably most here have been hoping to see us make a move for a 2C for some time. But now at this point its almost as if its too late in the season for it to make an impact this year. Whats more likely to happen at this point is we'll wait til the offseason after we have a firm idea on what we have now & then we'll make a move or 2. The market should be cheaper too at that point in terms of what players will cost in return. Stinks imo because we very well couldve been a playoff team this year. But JBots has a long term plan & it appears he's sticking to it

Without knowing the type of game Leier plays, this trade is kind of a head scratcher in that theyre one in the same. Flyers get our AHL winger in return for theirs. Both have similar numbers. Perhaps Leier will be a cheaper salary option for Rochester down the road than Bailey? Beats me I got all excited for a second that we made a trade & then i saw who was involved lol

Seems to me the right way to go about getting more playing time would be to #1 play a game that demands it or #2 ask the coach what you can do for more playing time. Instead he tweets about it where his agent needs to "clarify" his remarks in a little damage control. It'll be interesting to see how this plays out.

To me this is great news. Leave it to Beaulieu to force Jbots into doing something to help this team. Its not like Beaulieu was making a real difference out there. Perhaps if this is true we can package him away for some much needed secondary scoring help.

Yeah I agree. Wilson doesn't really give us much more than what we already have now. Yes he technically has a few years of experience, including some playoff experience, but production wise his best year was scoring 8 goals over a full season. We have plenty of players here now that are just like him. Thinking his return is gonna provide some boost to our team is just wishful thinking imo.

Do they really hate us? I figured they would just sleep right thru & not even realize we were there ? I went down to Raleigh in that great run of 2006 with 4 other friends of mine. Somewhere adjacent to the big parking lot is a big Stanley Cup we made, buried in the ground there. I haven't been back there since, but if we're ever in a series like that again with them, perhaps i'll make the trip down again to right my personal wrong haha. I'm with ya in hoping Skinner lights it up & often. I imagine he's gonna have a lot of emotions & I expect him to be flying all over the ice. With Jack being back & our secondary scoring seemingly improved, a win of 6-1 sounds good to me ? GO SABRES!

That'd be great, however its gonna take a helluva sweetener. My fear is that Seattle tries to go after Ulmark. We're gonna have to give them a good asset to protect the right players, yet alone getting rid of Okposos ghastly contract. Surely KO knows he hasnt lived up to his contract. If he was such a class guy, it'd be nice if he'd restructure his deal to give the team more flexibility to improve the roster. But of course that won't happen, KO is no Tom Brady

Some posts here are looking for just a 1 or 2 year rental so to speak that can push us over the edge. Others are looking for more of a longer term player. What we all share is that our GM should do something, while not veering off course for our long term plans. I think we could do it & I have faith in JBots that if a deal appears worthy he'll pull the trigger. I'm of the mindset that no season should be written off & if youre in striking distance of the playoffs you need to take advantage of it. Because theres no guarantees for future success ever. 1998-99 we made our Cup run. Most of us probably thought we had many more coming. Whenever you have a chance at being in the playoffs you gotta try to make the most of it imo. If we can get some scoring help that won't disrupt our long term plans I think you gotta go for it.

I hear ya. When the #2 goal scorer doesnt get to play in the All Star game, somethings wrong with the selection process. In my opinion its due to how the teams are split into 4 separate teams. Our division is stacked with great players where as it stands now, you cant really justify taking one of those players out for Skinner. But when you look at the other divisions team, you could easily find a spot for Skinner there. Some divisions just have a larger amount of better players than others. I think they should go back to the East vs West format personally. If that was the case I think Skinner gets in. I tweeted to the NHL last night the same idea, because as a fan what else can I do to bring that up to them? Dude belongs in the All Star game, period

Yeah its a shame how awfully quiet Sabres games are. Its like everyone's in a mausoleum & are afraid to make a sound. In years past with how dreadful our teams were, it kinda made sense. Perhaps if our team keeps winning people will have more to cheer about? I dont know. I do know from a dj's & music perspective, the tracks they play at the arena are a bit embarrassing at least to me. For instance cotton eyed joe shouldve stopped being played 20 years ago lol Perhaps the Sabres PR team could help promote crowd noise more. By making a public push to create more fan noise. Maybe even making some contest for a cheap Sabres related prize to the section that makes the most noise during the game? The big thing I guess is that the culture around here just needs to change & for that its gonna take a whole lot of winning & a bunch of time. A new arena wouldnt hurt either ?

Yep my take exactly. I've seen too many times where he'll have the puck along the boards in the offensive zone, only to skate back towards the blue line to cough the puck up, leading to a breakout the opposite way. He either tries to do too much or simply can't stickhandle like he'd like to. I think he'd be much more effective just bringing the puck down low & working the puck from there. Or imo, simply not play at all. With CJ Smith being recalled & the news of KO being demoted, I'm relieved that HCPH appears to finally be doing something to address this.

thanks Marty Biron for answering my question lol

They've mentioned a couple times of the travel time perhaps affecting their play tonight. If we've been off the past few days why wouldn't they get to St Louis yesterday instead? It's not like they had to play a game the night before. Oh well crappy game. Thanks for the support Sabrespace ?

The goals would be nice, but at $8.5 million & the ever present threat of him crashing into a Tim Hortons? Idk. I'd rather we get someone else to score 15 goals

I'd like to see Elie skate over to ROR & punch him in the face. It'd be the most useful thing he's done all game

man the passing & puck control has been atrocious tonight. Not very clean at all

Still gotta think JBots brings in another forward to help with the secondary scoring before the deadline if we're still in the hunt for a playoff berth. I know its been mentioned in other threads but its a glaring need for one. But with Berglunds departure idk how he can't make a move if we're close to making the post season. Would love to win this game however. Good teams find ways to beat worse teams. We need to put games like this in the bag

Thats 1