Jsixspd

I'm gonna fire up the "Way Back" machine for a moment. I believe we have Risto in the current roster because, as I recall, Darcy Regier wanted another Finn to pair with Ville Leino. LOL It seemed like a ludicrous talent selection strategy, but hey, it worked. And.... he might have had good stats AHL, but NHL is a different story. It's hard to get too excited about a guy who scored 1 goal and 4 pts in 19 NHL games. Our roster is already crammed with players of mediocre production. Was this acquisition just a favor thrown to Jack Eichel? If so, that's kind of sad.

I certainly hope so.

lol - I need to watch "Chris Everett" kicking Rome's behind again. That's always good for a laugh

Harrington is a real @#$%. LOL!!! Look at some of those tweeted replies to Mike Straw regarding the Lehner discussion. Harrington got all butthurt about a comment I made on a BN story - I thought it was funny. I guess he just loves to tout that he's a real "journalist" and we're not. Matt Straw comes across as more credible and more dignified in his replies than Harrington, IMHO. https://twitter.com/MikeStrawMedia

So this is indeed another Tank Season, then? LOL BTW, Sabres are, for practical purposes, mathematically eliminated from the playoffs - their maximum point total is now 87 if they go 20 for 20 in the remaining schedule. Rationally, we knew they were eliminated 2 months ago - but this puts paid to it. And it's only February. Unbelievable.

Yeah, but unlike Botterill, unfortunately Lehner would probably hurt himself slamming a door, and miss 6 to 8 games. 8-10 if he already had a head cold and had the sniffles too to compound his suffering. lol

I wonder if Pegula could become so enraged at his own missteps and mismanagement as owner that he fires himself? LOL And don't forget - Pegula has stated he doesn't like to fire people. lolololol - imagine how many would be fired if he liked firing people? LOL

A really bad idea to be playing the puck in front of one's one crease in one's own zone - even when the goalie is there -Buffalo has been burnt many times by pucks passed (and turned over) in front of their own net. However, it's just a whole 'nother level of dumb to do so in front of an empty net. A disastrously bad decision by Ristolainen. Rodriguez didn't look like any ball of fire, that's for sure, and didn't pick up on Ristolainen's intent. A better player than Rodriguez might have been able to read it better and possibly salvaged the puck and saved the goal. However, Ristolainen had control of the play and the puck and it was just a terrible decision on his part to leave it in front of his own empty net. Period.

That's probably still an accurate description of Pegula, even after 7 full years of ownership. He has still has no idea how to build a successful hockey team. No end in sight to Regier's 'suffering', at least that I can see. This could go on indefinitely.

The other infuriating aspect - this has happened all too frequently - where the Sabres come out and coast for the first period or two. Then they turn on the afterburners when the other team is trying to protect the lead in the latter half of the 3rd period. Housley frequently seems incapable of having the team ready to play at the start of period 1. And also, Housley does not seem able to get his team ready to play matinee games - they haven't won one yet this season. Housley is too soft, too easy on his players, I suspect. Perhaps he's a "Participation Trophy" sort of hockey coach? BTW, this team is already on the cusp of playoff elimination. If they won every game left in the schedule, that's 89 points tops. One more loss puts them at 87 points theoretical, and 88 points for practical purposes is the fewest amount of points a team could have and squeak into a wildcard berth. And it's only February 20th - amazing how the team continues to go downhill!

According to the Buffalo News, Housley made this incredibly ignorant and oblivious comment near the beginning of the post game presser "We come out and we're playing pretty good hockey," Really? The team was HORRIBLE out of the gate - they were uncoordinated, sloppy, poor passing, unable to control the puck, turning the puck over. And I only watched just under 4 minutes of the opening period before turning it off in disgust. Is he really this stupid, or is he just trying to bamboozle Pegula and Brandon with some double-talk to save his job? The team was going nowhere with Disco Dan, but if anything this guy is a serious downgrade. C'mon!!! Or is he 'evaluating' for a whole year, instead of delivering, along with Botterill? smh!!!! And the link... http://buffalonews.com/2018/01/20/bucky-gleason-pretty-good-hockey-phil-youve-got-to-be-kidding/

I haven't watched the Sabres in a long time - but I decided to give it a try today. Turned it off after 4 minutes of game time. The Sabres looked horribly uncoordinated and inept in the 4 minutes of ice time I did watch - poor passing, turnovers, and of course sloppy goal tending by Lehner that gave up the first of his 4 in 30 minutes. So now, 3 weeks thru January, the Sabres have earned only 2 of 16 points. That is horrendous. Bylsma was a mistake - but the Sabres have definitely gone waaaayyyy downhill under the helm of Housley. At this rate they'd be mathematically eliminated by late February/early March.

Yup - I spent $60 to see them here in Detroit two Fridays ago - they looked pitiful and hapless for the most part against a team that was ranked 25th, 26th in the league in scoring at that time - that's the last dime spent by me on the Sabres - until their record = .500.

That's really the sad thing - that this overrated self-promoting schmuck, who has been involved in far too many important operational and player and coaching decisions over the past decade plus with the Bills (and boy does it show!) was given absolute power by Pegula over the Sabres, to come into the locker room and verbally coach players and involve himself in the on-ice product. Ultimately, this is all Pegula's fault, not Brandon's. Still doesn't mean that WE, as fans, shouldn't be rightfully concerned and critical when this guy starts whispering in Eichel's ear.

Pominville aside, who was to fill a gap, those other guys you mentioned (you omitted Eichel at 80 million) were signed to help build a winning team - Just to pick one - ROR has one of the juiciest contracts in the NHL, and he's a huge disappointment this year. They weren't signed as stop gaps or to help the team tank - they were hired to help win. Obviously, results are hugely disappointing - hence, the mind-blowing part.

And now, after tonight's game, they're at a 49 point season pace. Mind-blowing for the money spent on 'stars' and supposedly quality players in this roster!

Eichel is now ~95th in the league in goals scored, and 314th in the league at shot percentage. Definitely some 3rd line goodness there. And the team is now officially last in the entire NHL in points, and has slipped to a 49 point season pace. That's just unimaginable. ESPN has 'em at 31st in the power rankings. Pegula's ownership, and his 'committee'/hands on style, is an unmitigated disaster.

Hahaha - I never saw that episode - had Jeets himself in a guest appearance! Why can I now visualize Brandon skating around in practice whacking pucks into the empty net and stating with a self-promotional, self satisfied tone.. "Yup, played a little pond hockey with the neighborhood kids back in 6th grade.... scoring is easy, boys - and you got it or you don't! Nothing to this NHL stuff"

C'mon now - this roster is still "learning Housley's system". We can't critique him yet. lol

That would be horrendous. This team would be unwatchable (borderline already) if Kane goes and no one comes in to replace him. And what Pegula Sports Enterprises (or whatever it's called) done with years of tanking/losing records and an armored car full of draft picks? We're on a 50 point season pace right now. Yup, that's all they've done. But our rookie GM Botterill is 'evaluating' - I feel so much better.

^^^^LOL Maybe Brandon was giving him shooting tips? Maybe it's not the first time, which might explain a lot? lol

The time to make changes was last off season. If Botterill has written off the entire off season, and 2017-18 season, as an 'evaluation period' he's not the right GM for this team. Maybe his best qualification for the job was fitting in with the Pegula culture of committee decisions? IF any GM could legitimately use this excuse, it's McPhee with the Vegas Knights - brand new everything. But wait.... they're too busy winning and being competitive, and entertaining their fans, to 'evaluate'.

I was just ranting about this in another topic (Worst Team Evah!?) before I saw this, or I would have confined my Russ Brandon thoughts to this topic alone. Ok, all those Russ Brandon apologists out there - keep telling us how he ISN'T involved in either football or hockey operations? Please, chime in here with his "Well, he's done a great job marketing and that's all he does." I mean, he WAS acting GM for the Bills for what, 2 seasons, and his fingerprints were all over the on-field and roster failures in the Bills organization of the past decade +. Who was Rex Ryan's biggest pre-hire booster in the front office? uh-huh!!!! Now Pegula gives him all this stroke and influence in the hockey product? Unbelievable!!!! Regier's iconic 'suffering' could be just starting with no sign it will ever end!!!!

I read in the Buffalo News (I think it was Hamilton's article) that he saw Russ Brandon was having a little heart to heart talk with Eichel after the game last night. WTF is that guy doing verbally coaching the players? He knows very little about winning football teams, and he knows even less about hockey! So much for those who keep claiming he isn't involved in on-ice or on-field operations! He's 'just a marketing guy' yup, that's all he is. Eichel's performance so far this season has been horrendous - like 3rd line material horrendous. He has only had 2 total SOGs in the past 2 games. And his shot percentage is down to 8%. It's now painfully understandable why Housley didn't play him in that one and only shoot out earlier this season. The guy has all this flashy footwork and skating ability, but clearly poor shooting skills. Not sure if that's something he can improve, but it doesn't bode well.

I'm still trying to determine which equivalent year of the Blackhawk's wildly successful rebuild process we are at, so we can start to evaluate their rebuild against ours. I've brought this up before, and the group consensus seems to be to punt it another year or two down the pike. Trouble is - Pegula's 7th anniversary of ownership is in February, and we're running out of years to shuffle. Blackhawks lost in the conference quarterfinals in 2001-02 - then there were 4 sub 500 seasons with no playoff appearances, and they were a cellar type team with 79, 59, 65, and 71 points where they built up draft picks, a 5th year where they were near. 500 and an 88 point season, but didn't quite make the playoffs. Then 6 seasons after their previous playoff appearance, with 4 tank years, then a decent 88 pt season, they made it deep into the playoffs, and have been a playoff dynasty ever since. If we choose 2001-02, the year they last made the playoffs before the 4 season slump and rebuild, to align with 2010-2011, the most recent year WE appeared in the post season, it doesn't look like we're progressing anywhere near as efficiently as they did. At best, we're several seasons behind their progress. :(