Who Else?

That's every Pens game. No Joke!

I just don't see what's left in Rochester. Obviously the goalie must not be good enough to push Enroth. The next great hope is already here (Grigs). Other than a few D-men in the system I don't see anything there, especially when you look at how guys like Brennan and that guy we traded to Vancouver ( I forgot him already) have performed here. We can still call Mancari, McCormick, Adam, or Ellis though. Porter may be an alright 3-4 liner. There are way more holes here than the hope of Armia and Grigerenko can fill. I'm sure Darcy can see this. I would like to see some youth brought in through trades, not just waiting for draft picks to develop or get their work visas or whatever. Rolston is renowned as a player developer. I hope he does well, but he was hired to develop players in the minors for a reason. I'm ready to give up assets for 20-24 year old players to fill the third and fourth line with some youth and vigor. Right now this team has two legitimate players on the bottom two lines, Kaleta and Ott. Good teams have players like Paille or Sutter (Penguins), that will never be top line players, but play every shift in their roll and bring energy. How many other teams have to use their top line to consistantly kill penalties. And yes I know there are holes in the top two, but those acqusitions are just not happening right now.

At some point the roster has to turn over some, or else what was the point of firing Ruff? Just to please the fans?

I agree about Gerbe, but because this guy is stuck here, I don't mind him sitting down and learning the pro game. Also remember he came from the QJMHL not the OHL. Yes they are both part of the CHL, but there is a considerable talent and game difference night in and out. The Q is a lot more easily dominated by a singular player with skill than the other two CHL leagues and the OHL's style is a lot more like the NHL. I think because this guy is here and he has a bright future most people think just throw him in there, because he dominated in Juniors, when in fact maybe they just kept him here because going back to the Q was useless for his progress.

Grigorenko is an 18 year old. It is true he has played only a few games, but after these games I have not seen anything that would make me go out of my to get him in the line-up. It seems that every young player that comes into any teams line up is there out of pure necessity for bodies or they have shown some special talent. You get players that can play great defensively (Couturiere), have great size (Myers) or speed (Skinner) or have a great shot (Ovi) are just overall on the verge of being great (Crosby). I have not seen a singular skill that Grigs can lean on. Should he be here? I think so. Should people be upset he is not in the line up every night? No. If he were eligable to play in Rochester it would be the perfect place for him. He may be great in the future, but I just don't think he is ready for a full time gig here.

Boooooooooooooooo!!!!

Any word on assisstant coaches yet? Darcy was non-commital in his comments pertaining to the current group.

If you love exiting hockey (I can't assume this. It is a Sabres site) Tons of star power, yelling at refs, watching star players double and triple shift, complete craziness, 5 on 3 powerplays for half of the third period, a good fight, teams that actually use the center of the ice, precision powerplays (Flyers), blood, Pierre McGuire sucking on Laviolette, the most interesting rivalry in hockey, and just plain old fun hockey, watch the rerun of the Flyers Pens game tommorrow at 1PM on the NHL network. Don't worry knowing the final score will not ruin this game for you.

I'd rather have Andrew Peters coach then Adams Numminen or Patrick. How can a team make a huge move like this and keep the stooges under him? Harry Neale? Cody McCormick moving behind the bench? Anyone besides those three.

Glad Kaleta is being rewarded ( I think). He causes plenty of havoc out there and maybe this gets a chance to see him run some of the oppositions top line players, but he'll probably only play 1 shift with these two and be shuffled down from there.

It was Gaustad. I thought Pominville's was higher up.

Happened to Gaustad didn't it?

Pittsburgh and Ottawa have a history of stupid intention injuries. I know there has been a lot of roster turnover since those playoff series, but Cooke was there for the Colby Armstrong hit, Leopold getting a power elbow, etc. It just sucks because of this clown we have been deprived of watching a Norris trophy winner and while this punk is still playing. I used to hate Ottawa, now I just don't like them, but respect the hell out of them. He probably wasn't trying to slice his achilles, but he sure as hell trying to cause injury.

It doesn't matter if it was intentional or not. This league has given a free pass to Matt Cooke and it is a joke he is still in it. If the NHL wanted to crack down on the "stupid" injuries, they should have jettisoned this idiot two years ago. Chris Neil just jumped Cooke, so he must have seen intent.

Erik Karllson just went down with a possible achilles/ ankle injury caused by Matt Cooke's skate. Looked bad, no blood.

After reading all these suggestions, I just can not see how the Sabres can compete with another team in the trade market. Sekera is a nice player at a nice price, but him packaged with another expendible roster player would never be enough and the prospect list here isn't all that deep. The only way I see you can get this guy (and keep him for more than 1 year) is to sign the offer sheet.

O'Reilly's problem in Colorado is contractual. I doubt they are going to try to be cheap with him and take on Myers' huge contract.

If Leopold has a bad game tonight, it will be Weber's fault (just ask Rob Ray everthing is Weber's fault when he is on the ice anyway). Weber sits next. What's wrong with rotating the 8 d-men because of the condensed schedule? Chemistry is a foriegn notion to this organization, so why not try to keep these guy fresh like you are supposed to with a goal tender?

I agree with sitting Scott tonight, but that got me thinking.... Wouldn't it be nice for one night that we were the tougher team and try to intimidate the other team?

Lucic, so Ruff can Ruin him.

I am not advocating weak blind passes into the middle. When the boards are covered. instead of flopping a wobbly pass to someone's backhand, skate it out. I do not understand why Weber is the on D-man that consistantly snaps the puck out or across. I can't stand the backhanded blind dump pass behind the net. Take the puck take a stride or two(away from the boards) and snap the damn thing to someone or just out of the zone. Combine this everyonce in a while with a well timed line change and maybe the Sabres will get the same type of breakaways that seems to happen against them at least once a night.

It's because the Sabres refuse to use the center of the ice on clears. Yes, it can be risky but so is giving the puck away constantly at the blue line. One of the things that Myers did two years ago that made him look great was to take the puck and skate it up the middle. If the D did this every once in awhile it would pull the oppositions defense off the boards. If the D does not move off the boards then the sabres d can rush the puck all the way to the net as Ehrhoff did late in the third last night and Myers did so often his rookie year.

It safe to say that the Vanek Hodgson Pominville line has been one of the best in the league this year. These three have started with terrific chemistry. Enough so that Vanek leads the league in points. The other lines have been pretty insufficient and the line switching between them hasn't created any sustained scoring. I was going to wait until the PP had a good night so it didn't seem like I was piling on, but that does not appear to be coming. I can not understand how or why these two units are together. The first PP unit has consistantly been Vanek-Ennis-Foligno up front with Pominville and Ehrhoff at the points. The second unit have the dynamic duo of Myers and Leopold on D. Hodgson centers this line with ususally Stafford and Ott although other players have been thrown in. Why seperate one of the top lines in the league? Are these three not capable of scoring together because there is one less defender? (And don't tell me it is to get other players going, because the goal is to score.) Why have a forward on D with a Ehrhoff who is notorious for shooting the puck into the PK forwards shin pads from the point? If this team is abundant on 1 thing other than soft forwards, it is "puck moving" Defensemen. Use them. Thomas Vanek is probably the best forward in the league in front of the net with the puck. His position is usually standing a few feet in front of the crease and look for deflections or rebounds. Tyler Ennis' job is carry the puck in the zone where he usually dumps it behind the net for the goalie to play or make a horizontal pass along the blue line. So what exactly is Foligno's duty? It is not the sniper that other PP's use. The front of the net is taken. He is not a great passer. I guess he is the guy that is supposed to get the puck from the goalie after the dump in?? Why switch lines up for the PP when you don't for PK or 4 on 4 situations? Hodgson and Pomminstein kill penalies together. Hecht and whoever is on the other one. When you switch lines up for the PP and mix and match players, the subsequent shifts at full strength are usually played by fourth liners or a collection of random players which can kill any momentum created by a PP. For example with Vanek on the first unit, he plays the first minute of the penalty. Hodgson however plays on the second unit and he plays for the second minute. Now not only has the hottest line in the league been seperated for the two minutes, they are going to have to wait several more before they can come back on the ice together. I understand that other teams switch up lines to get their scorers better opportunities with the man advantage. You just can't tell me by seperating the top line increases this team's chances of scoring.

Tonight's excuses. Montreal plated last night and were ready to go. We're a young team that is going to go through some growing pains. Or is this the game they win to a team not playing at it's best, but the Sabres act like everything is right? Go Sabres!

And we thought Darcy over valued his players!