LaFontaineToMogilny

I like it so much better when the Sabres win than when they lose!

Without trading for Hodgson there is no way we could have moved Roy for Ott. The trade looks better every day.

I've never played with a cage or a visor myself, so forgive my ignorance, but what would be the reasoning for a half cage? Why not just go full cage? Do you hate your teeth?

I don't have a problem with it either, and I actually think that Pominville is a good captain. He just needs someone in the room that are more balls-out to compliment his qualities. I just posted the photo because I found it amusing that one of the first pics that showed up in my image search for 'Sabres fights' was a picture of Pominville and Matt Cooke looking like they are slow dancing.

You should be careful with stuff like this. When I was living in Norway I asked people in Buffalo way back when if anyone could buy me a Mogilny jersey, I ended up getting married to a girl in California (and getting a Mogilny jersey). Just sayin'

Who can better embody the classic Sabre Dance?

I know most people disagree and that is why crowd support in the USA in general is laughable.

To me it's more like working with someone who does a really terrible job. You have a choice to say: "If he's not going to do his job, I'm not going to bust my ass either. If he starts doing what he's supposed to, I would to." or you can say "To hell with that bastard, I'm doing my part as best I possibly can, and I can't wait for the day he's out of here and gone." To sit and wait for things to turn around before supporting the team is embarrassing.

Right, so how come they talk about home field advantage in other sports where there is no last change? Why do teams ask the fans to dress in white for the playoffs? Why is it that when you go to play Liverpool, there's a sign over the players tunnel that says 'This is Anfield'? It's because the players, home and away, know that in a few seconds they'll be in front of the Kop and everything that means. To understand what being a sports fan is you have to first realize that when the team is sucking, that is when you need to cheer the hardest. That's when the fans have a chance to pick the team up and carry them. It's a lot easier to cheer and be jolly when the going is good, but it's not as needed. It's when everything is going to ###### that the fans really need to step up and show the team, and the city of Buffalo and anyone else that might be watching, that you're still there and always will be. The relationship between a fan and his team runs much much deeper than just watching some sports for fun a few nights a week. The Sabres represent Buffalo, the people, the city, even all of Western New York, and when you go to a game, so do you. To show up to the game then, and not be bothered to support the team or worse yet, booing your own team is a disrespect to the team, and the city. I don't care how much you dislike the individual players, if you boo the Buffalo Sabres you are pissing on the legacy of the entire franchise, and it would be much better if you stayed home where you can spew whatever venom you'd like to your TV, or wife, or dog or whatever. (Just for the record, I don't mean you personally, I am using the general 'you')

I know I am from a European background, but the attitude that you as a fan has no responsibility for the atmosphear in the arena is hogwash. The excuse that the team is not good enough to cheer for is a cop out. The claim that because you paid far price for the tickets you can do whatever you want is ridicolous. When you show up to a game, a home game, you have a certain job to do: Help the Buffalo Sabres perform at their very best possible level. That might not be a very impressive level, but it's your job none the less to provide the environment for the team to excel. The only way this can be accomplished is to get up and cheer your ass off during games. Anything else is a net detractment for the team. No team will improve their effort because the crowd is so quiet that they figure they need to work a little harder. No team is ever going to dig deep becuase the crowd booes the power play. It's a ridicolous notion. If it's too difficult to cheer for a team that is struggeling you are doing the team a disfavor by showing up, stay home instead. For a town that prouds itself on blue collar work ethic it is a downright embarrasement that the fans can't be bothered to get up for a game. That is skipping out of your job as a fan, and in my ind leaves the fan base with no grounds for complaining about anything they see on the ice. It's a failure to understand what your role is at the arena. I have no natural connection to Buffalo other than through some weird connection with the sports teams and by extention the city, and to me it is painful to see how the city of Buffalo is represented when the Sabres are on national TV. Not because the team is struggeling, but because the fan base is completely disconnected from the game. I for one can't phatom what the motivation would be to go to the game and basically destroy a large part of the entertainment value of the game. The sad part is that fan support throughout the league is terrible, and to stand out as an awful fanbase against a backdrop of highly mediocre fans around the league is an embarrasement. I don't want to pick on any one individual, but this sentiment is 100% incorrect and completely misses the dynamics of what a crowd does and what the function aof a fan is. Why do you think people talk about home ice advantage in the first place? Because the home team is used to the seats in the dressing room? Crowd engagement is a HUGE factor in how a team performs.

Can't wait for the day when Rolston is a former interim coach for the Sabres Can't wait to see Leino with Vanek, Leino always gets pucks to the crease, and Vanek ... The home crowd is an embarrasement for the city of Buffalo, I don't care what excuses people want to make for the lack of something to cheer for. If you show up at the arena it is your job to support the team and drive them to their best possible effort. No excuses. To sit on your hands, or even worse, boo the home team is doing nothing but sucking momentum and drive from a team that desperatly needs a shot in the arm any way possible.

Just as a note, they guy who mentioned this rumor for me would LOVE this trade for the Kings. Bernier is better than Enroth, but you're giving up quite a bit of talent in swapping Vanek for Brown.

Latest word I heard from LA was Brown and Bernier for Vanek and Enroth. So, purely fan speculation but that's what they some are thinking in LA.

I am interested in Barkov as well, guy is half Finn, half Russian, must be hard as nails.

I am soooo tired of this

Going in studs first in any tackle is red card worthy, doing it above the waist even more so. Based on your own gif there is absolutely no way that is not a red card.

That's what she said

Did the new CBA include that independent appeal thing for suspentions?

This is selling Patrick Kaleta short. Sure, it would be nice if he could be more of an offensive threat occationally, but I think he earns his keep on his penalty killing alone.

I don't think the Sabres are misusing Grigorenko THAT bad. Sure, I would probably have given him a few shifts a game up on the scorning lines and some PP time, but all in all I think the Sabres see that the game right now moves too fast for him and they are trying to ease him into the speed of the game. Theoretically just practicing with the team should be a huge step forward for him in that respect, but the way the Sabres have been skating lately I guess one could question if practicing with the Sabres really gives you a taste of NHL game speed...

I agree that Gerbe has no spot on our roster. What he brings, Ennis brings better. He doe not bring enough to the game outside his hustle to justify a spot on the roster. In an ideal world, he would be one of the first pieces that are upgraded. That said, Gerbe is on the roster right now, and looking like he is ready to play his best hockey of the season. Foligno is also on the roster and has looked far worse than Gerbe the past few weeks, that's why Foligno sits when the coach wanst Scott in the lineup tonight. If I were the coach I woudl sit either Foligno or Grigorenko as well.

The number one thing that stood out about the Sabres to me at tthe end of last season was that when Tyler Ennis picked up the puck on his own blue line or in the neutral zone, defenders would back off into their own zone. That line could establish puck possession and cycle the puck almost at will. No wonder they were scoring like gangbusters. This year they are not doing it. My gut feeling is that defenders have learned not to back off Ennis and instead try to force the puck to the boards or an early dump in and as a result our secondary scoring is killing us. I don't agree that the whole team has struggled with clean entries, I think both Vanek and Pominville has done an excellent job in that regard for the most part. If' we say the whole team has struggled with exiting the zone cleanly I'd be more willing to agree.

Excellent points, and agreed on Hecht and lately also Gerbe. Enroth on the other hand has not been able to do the job we need him to do so far this year. Granted he's not had much chance to so it, but he's come up short the few times he's been called on. I think the factor that has been the most damaging for the Sabres so far is the complete failure of the second line to follow up what they did last year, and I put that in a large part on Ennis no longer being able to get defeces to back off into their zone when he carries the puck in. We lose a lot of scoring, can't establish an o-zone precense and end up defending a lot of rushes against.

The problem is that Foligno has not been one of our better forwards this year, he has recently been one of the worst. Foligno the past 10 games or so has shown virtually nothing of his game, the way I see the game he is among the most obvious choices for a healthy scratch. That's not being down on him, I think he is suffering from the step back Ennis has had this year in not being able to bring the puck into the offensive zone with speed more than anything.

I know, right? He strikes me more as a Millwall kind of guy :flirt: