eman
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Posts posted by eman
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This team would suck if Nolan was coaching. This would suck if Babcock was coaching. The issue isn't the coaching. It is setting a standard and then providing real consequences if you fall below that standard.
They still might suck, just a whole lot less and definitely be more entertaining then what we're seeing right now. Wait until the St. Louis game! Have you seen the Blues speed and fore check. They made the Leafs look slow.
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I still love Ted Nolan.
This hypothetical though? Nah.
totally agree. I love Ted Nolan. The year he won Coach of the Year, that club was exciting to watch. Short on talent. 100 % effort. Ahhh, the good old days!
We’ve watched it twice. Once with Hasek, once without.
Enough.
And both those teams were better then the current roster and #### show!
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Reality will settle in after the St. Louis game. The Blues fore check is relentless. Our only hope is of Jake Allen is complete garbage that night. This one could get ugly.
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The Sabres hit an all time low tonight by being shutout for the third straight time.
Sabres are 31st in GF and it’s not even close
Sabres are 29th in GA
Sabres are in 30th place in the NHL, tied for last in pts.
We thought the offical tank teams were awful, but this is the worst hockey I have ever seen.
Not even a question sir! Absolutely an unwatchable product right now. I do think Phil needs to go, as players have had more then enough time now to try and play whatever his system was supposed to be. I do believe they can score as they did have the #1 PP last season and this is the same group. Under Phil's group, even that has disappeared.
No way They will get better under Philly's soft tutelage. No one is being sat. Half hearted effort is tolerated. These few intangibles are all on the coach as the team is a reflection of its teacher. Lets see who else is out there and if they're actually interested in the gig.
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Frankly it's hard to argue with this. Is it all the coach? No. But these guys actually have regressed under Phil and I'm not sure it's learning a new system at this point. I was all for hiring Phil but I'm nit liking this at all.
In all honesty, I had high hopes for Phil also and I am so disappointed it hasn't worked out for him here. But I do believe the team is a reflection of its coach.
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A big reason why the Sabres are in the position they are is because Murray screwed up the tank/rebuild in multiple ways. Murray tried speeding up the rebuild by trading for established young players such as Kane, O’Reilly, Bogosian, etc... By doing that, Murray traded away numerous draft picks that the team was stockpiling as well as trade away a lot of prospects. Also, Murray tried building the Sabres the same way Doug Whaley was building the Bills and that was by having a collection of talented players vice building a team that can play a particular system and that could/should have chemistry together.
I think Botterill/Housley should redo the roster so it fits in with what Housley is trying to do. With the way the team has been playing, no player should be safe from trade.
The problem is Phil. You'll see. The team is a reflection of it's coach. Phil was a soft player (talented, but soft) This team is a soft as Wonder bread. (and it's tolerated) Yup, management chose the wrong coach for the 3rd time (Rolston, Bylsma now Phil) Nolan doesn't count as he was the babysitter for tank team.
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With the power play? Fix that and you have a lot better team.
A good coach would figure out how to make that get off of life support and start scoring
My analysis ( for what it's worth) It is the coach. Phil has to go. These guys can score but they cannot (or will not) play Phil's ###### system. These guys can score as we saw last season with the #1 power play. This season, they're a mess and they're the same group. This club (unfortunately) has chosen the wrong coach 3 times in a row (Rolston, Bylsma and now Housley) I don't count Nolan 2.0 as he was just babysitting.
I think management should be seriously checking out who is available out there and see if they'll even come to this club. Then, if they have another candidate, cut Phil loose. This club is a reflection of it's coach: SOFT! (and lets be honest, for a D-man, Phil was soft but he could skate and put up points)
Other posters are correct in that Torts and Gallant would not tolerate this crap for one minute and butts would be sat. No way this club gets better with Philly as coach. Just my 2 cents worth. They have had enough time to try and play Phil's system. These are professional hockey players and I have never seen this club worse then it is right now. The tank teams were much better. This isn't even watchable.
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Tradition ...
I'm for "traditional" also. Rpyal blue and gold. Eichel's red hair would be Schoenfeldian 2.0!!!! Count me in under traditional!
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In one sense, I agree with you. We’re all evaluated every day.
I don’t belief, though, that we’ll have a product that can be evaluated against the standards of winning and making the playoffs until 2019/2020. I belief we’re suffering the effects of “new coach every two years”, in addition to other things.
I recognize we asked the following with Bylsma, Nolan, et al. What can you conclude about the GM/HC with this roster? Sure, you can look to compete end effort, whatever that means. Opponents show effort and compete, too. I am not able to conclude it’s missing except in the most obviously situations where a player quits on a situation. I spit fire, snort, and am willing to hurt and offend to win. I’d not win many corner battles in the NHL.
Some coaches make the roster better just by arriving. Babcock made the Leafs better day one. They were night and day improved on my television. Babcocks don’t become available that often. Firing lesser lights every two years doesn’t do it for me. You never know where the problem is when you change out organizations, systems and philosophies.
This leads me to ... the single biggest miss in the last five years wasn’t Sam, Eichel, Moulson, Lehner ... it was HC Babcock.
Bingo Neo! Because we actually do have some talent here that should be better then the abysmal record we have. And I'm sorry if anyone gets offended at this, but there are several nights so far this season, that this club just went out for a skate. That's on the coach.
I got lambasted on this site for suggesting Babcock was way better then Bylsma when Babs went to Toronto. Everyone cited that Babs only won one Cup in Detroit with a stacked lineup as had Bylsma so there really was no difference. I got lambasted suggesting Gallant would have been a better choice as well and hell, I even wanted Tortorella which really got this crowd frenzied.
Not to say, I told you so, but they are all doing very well and I do believe still, any one of those afrorementioned would have us playing way better then what we are seeing. There is talent here, perhaps not an over abundance of it but we should not be where we are and look how we look.
I believe Edmonton will deal us an embarrassing loss tonight but I am glad Neo, that you see the same thing. coaching makes a huge difference. The Nolan Sabres (when he won coach of the year) were not a greatly talented group, but they were a team and played like a team. They played for each other and their coach and we had an emerging Hasek to boot. But the Nolan team was exciting in that they played hard every freaking night. The Leafs are similar in that regard under Babs.
I didn't learn until yesterday when the News ran a piece on the Housley marriage that Phil, until 2013, was a high school coach in Minny. Then an assistant whose stock rose with the Nashvllle run to the final. I'm not trying to be too harsh, but the guy seems to be in way over his head. That story also talked about the compromise he and his wife made regarding their respective careers. He'd have his, and then she'd have hers, basically. Now she's traveling back and forth and has had to put her political ambitions on hold. It's pretty hard to imagine he gets fired after one year, unless things actually somehow get worse and stay worse for the duration, but would he ever step down after realizing he's not an NHL coach, citing family considerations?
I now fear that Phil may be Ron Rolston 2.0! (and I did have high hopes for him)
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Sabres win tonight 4-3 after Eichel and Kane connect for 3 of our 4 goals. Scandella gets the other one on the PP. We go down 2-1 in the 2nd and fans boo them going into the locker room. They finally snap and come up angry.
Quite frankly, I would love to see Phil snap and come out angry. Why is benching guys in this city not an option? They aren't performing so call up a rookie and bench someone. I do believe it might be a country club atmosphere in the beautifully renovated Sabres dressing room. Babcock does it or threatens to. Aside from sitting one of our D-men, maybe Phil sits a forward for once. Hell, we're barely scoring more then once per game.
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I will watch this, but I suspect that unless Minnesota just completely mails this one in, we're gonna get trounced.
I hate to agree with you, but I suspect you are correct. With Marcus and Ennis each with a goal for the icing on the cake!
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I appreciate this.
I supported the tank, but the last couple weeks have changed my mind. Our tank is complete, we have 0 elite players. I'm not buying the "keep waiting". Chicago - Kane was year 3, Pittsburgh - Crosby year 4. Where are we, year 3 right and bottom of league? Our tank failed. Next, build a competitive team through the farm please. Red Wings, Ducks, Devils, Rangers, Sharks, Preds.
The bolded isn't true.
The funny thing about the "have to wait and see" approach with regards to coming talent, is that "the future" is perpetually "a few years away". We never have to actually be good, because it's always "all about the future". It was only a couple years ago after drafting Eichel that we were envisioning playoffs by 2017. Now it's another 3 years away. And so forth.
If we are talking strictly about current impact, Eichel doesn't sniff the top 40, never mind any of the options listed.
The tanking question is shades of grey. I don't believe tanking is objectively bad, but given who we had in charge at the time we decided to tank, and their ineptitude in terms of filling the spots created through tanking, whether through drafting or other forms of team building, it was the wrong decision for the Sabres at that time.
Our tank was a mistake. It didn't have to be. But it was.
Well posted Thorny. Seeing it too many times on these posts that we are still 3 or so many years away from being good. Time is wasting and Jack gets another 3 years older.
Don't think that Jack and his agent are going to stand for 3 more years of this either. If things don't start to look much better, they will start making noise about getting traded out of here. Some team may be more then willing to eat his contract if they figure they are close to a Cup and can acquire his skills to bring it home too.
jack is not cemented here.
Is the tank mentality what caused Pat LaFontaine to quit? I always believed it was and that he wasn't on board with that strategy. I know GMTM was his boy but I think Patty wanted to go the rebuild mode, not with a tank. Can anyone clarify this? I remember it was kind of shocking when he just up and left the organization.
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Just last Friday, when they were talking about the Peterman move on WGR, I heard Bulldog (who I kinda like) say he didn't mind because he didn't really care about making the playoffs. :blink: What?! That told me all I needed to know about a losing culture. Losing is acceptable, because it'll all be better next season, or the season after that, or after that, or after that,...
We have been sold "the future" for a long, long time and it sucks. The thinking that it is acceptable to lose now because it will all be better in the future has permeated the entire Buffalo sports scene and it is a culture of losing and it's disgusting. I think it is very hard to come out from under.
With that said, we also just don't have the horses yet. :lol:
Cheers SwampD- you have stated it exactly! So tired of hearing about 'the future". It has been beaten to death by this organization. Great post!
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I'll have you know there is not a single negative number in my math.
I don't need this negativity in my life. *Ignore*
Again, sorry to mention it, but it has been negative on the Buffalo Sabres hockey scene for going on 7 seasons now. I appreciate the "optiimism" that you guys try to bring forth, but I can't find the merit in it. 7 seasons most likely headed to an 8th, perhaps 9th as JBot will need to draft players in his vision and then mold them in Rochester. This will take more time. No quick fixes here and the big "if" in all of this is whether or not Phil is the right coach going forward.
This is not the thread for this post, unless you are a Leafs fan.
My point is: What I feel is right for this club is for JBot to go and draft the players he feels will fit his mold. Free agency, trades etc, have not helped us and will not down the road, given this clubs performance. So now we need to rebuild (again) under JBot and while this will take some time again, I feel it is the only way we will see decent improvement in the on ice product. I think this is the route he is set to go and this is what is right.
This is not the thread for this post, unless you are a Leafs fan.
Not a bad time to be a Leafs fan by the way. I should know, I am surrounded by them and they keep reminding me of this.
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I hate this stat with a burning passion. It is useless and tells nobody anything; tells people the wrong thing actually. All it boils down to is: Bad teams play bad, bad teams are bad by Thanksgiving, bad teams will probably continue to play badly, bad teams don't make the playoffs.
So essentially, we are all in consensus on this: The Buffalo Sabres are a bad hockey club who will not make the playoffs for a 7th consecutive season.
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Totally agree with this. Don't see this Montreal team making the playoffs either and Julien will be fired seasons end at the latest.
Pokey, where have you been all my life? Totally agree with your assessment once again. Julien will be canned by the end of this season. Montreal doesn't look good at all, even when Price was in goal to start this season. Rookie Lindgren is stealing some games and they were ripe for the picking against the Sabres. Not sure why the Habs are stinking with the guys they have and I do like Julien, (hell, I wanted him here!!) but his methods seem to wear thin with the players after only a few seasons for some reason.
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Guys, I hate to rain on everyone's optimism. They WILL NOT MAKE THE PLAYOFFS THIS SEASON! I will go with TSN's stats on that subject. If you are out of a spot by US Thanksgiving, the odds of you making it are very heavily stacked against you. They did the math, not me and I believe them. I wish things were truly different for this club but the reality shows when they hit the ice.
They do not score near enough to win games (and as Pokey has posted earlier, this has been an ongoing issue for several seasons now)
Even when entirely healthy, aside from Falk, Risto and McCabe, I hate the rest of our defense. Soft as hell.
Our hope is that JBot is able to draft and scout wisely (better then previous regimes) and build from the farm up. This will take a few seasons so I believe we may actually go a decade now with no playoffs. You heard it here and feel free to argue my points. Believe me, I would love to be wrong on all counts.
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I am over 50 and have been waiting. Still think this team is lacking help on offense for Jack. They need scorers... hopefully Middlestadt and Nylander step up next year. I mind that the team is playing like shiite, but at least if they continue to struggle the draft pick or picks if Kane gets traded... though I hope he stays and have a feeling OK is still recovering as much a confidence thing,... that the Sabres find some depth. JBOT, is limited as others have said because of TMs stupidity giving away picks, but that is water under the bridge. Just sucks because I thought we would see more out of this team this year. But in some ways this does remind me of the years the Oilers struggled. They will find their footing. I just hope it is in the next few years...
Between the Sabres who I had hope for and the Bills who I had no hope for but are doing the very Billsy thing they have done that last couple of years... collapsing when it mattered most... it is a very depressing year for Buffalo spots... a least I am watching a lot of hockey... as much as I hate to say it... watching the Toronto play is fun... watching Pittsburgh is fun... and St. Louis tough nose regular season play... and Tampa... just wow, reminds me of what it looks like to see good hockey.
Great quote on the bottom of your post North Buffalo. Schoenfeld was one of the reasons I became a Sabres fan. Tough as nails and sacrificed his body a ton to block shots. I really miss him. Wish we had someone on D who plays like he did.
I once had the pleasure of sitting next to his Dad at the old Maple Leaf Gardens when Schoenfeld was a head coach. Great guy and so proud of his son. He was beaming as I gushed over how much I enjoyed watching his son play. It was a cool moment for me. I really hope JBot rebuilds via the draft and good scouting. We are starved for some good times again.
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Yeah I'd buy one too. If only to poke fun at the ineptitude of this franchise. and my fandumb.
Exactly, and my age! Have been a fan since then!!!! Just one Cup before I leave this earth, it is all I ask! Which is why my impatience with this franchise grows with each season that passes by on the calendar. Especially when you're old enough to remember the old Aud and even HSBC electrified with energy during a playoff run. There really isn't anything like it!!!
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I was playing poker with a bunch of Leaf fans so I missed the game and saw a good portion of the Bruins Leafs game.
The good news is despite all the talk about how great the Leafs have rebuilt I wasn't that impressed with what they have. Aside from Matthews (who didn't play) they aren't all that special. Marner is fast but he's a one trick pony. Easy to check. Don't see him as a star. Nylander is really fast but he is soft and shys away from contact. Sooooo if he is the "good Nylander" we should probably forget about our bad Nylander ever amounting to anything. Without Matthews he is nothing.
What the Leafs have though is a team that plays harder and is more in sync. These guys forecheck really well and are definitely better than us on the 3rd and 4th lines. Their D is mobile and they pass the puck better than us. I guess that comes down to coaching.
But I think that gives us hope. Talent wise its not a huge gulf, we just need to use our speed and play better as a unit. I think the gap between us can close quickly, IF Housley and JBot get it right.
You're right that it comes down to coaching Pokey. The Leafs have Babcock, we don't. There's one of the differences. The Leafs have also just reeled off 4 wins in a row. I think their talent pool is better then ours as is their front office (now, with Shanny and Lamoriello) I will give Jbot a few more seasons as I do believe he inherited a mess. Housley gets a shorter leash from me because I do not see any effort from the group he coaches. If they played with a stronger and consistant effort, and still lost, then it's on the crew assembled. Right now, the coach is part of the problem.
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. Patience since 1970!!!
Now if anything deserved a T-shirt, this does! (and I would definitely buy it!!!) Great Post Jacque!
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Oddly, after the last game I predicted we'd see a lot of 2-1 losses this year. Go figure.
Same old same old, these guys just can't finish. Can't score.
Lots of people wanted Reinhart on Eichel's line and you got it, and he got exactly zero points.
For those of you that called this a "good" hockey game, your bar has really fallen low. Neither one of those teams on the ice tonight is any good.
Rubbish. Total rubbish.
Kudos sir! Once again, right on the mark. I believe the bar has fallen incredibly low on these blogs. Watch St. Louis and even the Flyers this year. We may have been "in" last nights game, but we will get smoked several more times this season unless we get incredible goal tending to hold us in. we are not nearly fast nor physical enough to play with any of the big boys.
Washington was tired when they played the Sabres (2nd night of their back to back) and they actually have been underachieving so far this season. Don't take that game as "we're turning the corner". We most definitely are not. Again, Chad Johnson deserved better. If we wait until US Thanksgiving to reassess, the season can be officially declared over.
TSN stats indicate, that if you're out of the playoffs by US Thanksgiving, the odds are heavily against you from that point on, to get in.
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and once again, little to no offense AGAIN!!!!!!
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Chad Johnson deserved so much better in this one.
What if Ted Nolan was coaching?
in The Aud Club
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I beg to differ on Housley. I have a sneaking suspicion we are going no where with Phil. Time will tell. Having said that , I do hope that you are right though and I am wrong. Just a feeling on my part. I don't like what I see of this club under Phil. He doesn't sit players and seems to tolerate "phone it in" efforts. That cannot happen .Everyone feels good right now after a win in Colorado (who is improved but still not a playoff contender) Lets talk again after the St. Louis game.