eman

Nope, we'll be completely out of it by month's end. )Again!) Hockey heaven ladies and gentlemen!

You can give him the year if you like. I see nothing in this squad that indicates to me that in 3 months "the lights will come on" and they will be much better. What you're seeing is what we have. Regardless of our injuries at D. I watched the Leafs last night and St. Lou handed it to them early and were up 6-2. The thing with the Leafs I noticed was that they never quit. They continued to play hard and made it respectable. I believe the reason for that was that they had to go back into the dressing room and face an irate Babcock who would be sitting guys next game or 2 or outright shipping some to the Marlies. You have to play hard at the very least for him which puts you back into a game you have no business being in. St. Louis was faster then the Leafs and their forecheck was relentless. When the Leafs started to come back, St. Lou;s coach Yeo called a timeout and read the riot act to his crew. Not seeing anything like that in Phil. We'll be completely out of it by the end of this month.

Somewhere Bylsma is smiling saying aloud "See, I told ya it wasn't me!" and counting the money.

I fear, that you also, are correct sir. The thing I love about Gallant is: No way Matt Moulson gets in a game with Gallant as our coach. Also, he would blister in the locker room after performances like tonight and the Vancouver game. I don;t see that in Phil. Hell, even Torts would wring a few necks with the kind of efforts we are seeing on a too common basis. Sorry, but we need a coach who isn't tolerating ?#### efforts. need to be sat and bring up so,e rookies, how much worse can it get The Boogeyman as well. Boughner was not the most talented but seeing what I see now, i sure as hell miss him or anyone who plays like he did. Clen the front of the crease please!!! Hit someone for God's sake. Don't make things easy.

Softest Sabre D in my memory, with or without Risto. Soft as Wonderbread.

I believe you will be correct sir. I just hope we get something decent in return but I fear it just may be the coach as well (again) Man Gallant would have looked good behind our bench! I wonder how Jack will be after this one? You know I had high hopes for Phil and I kind of feel bad for him.

Right as usual Pokey. What terrifies me even more is that a fast team like Toronto (and yes, they are noticeably faster then we are) is getting it's ass handed to them by an even faster St.Louis Blues club tonight. Stand ready folks, there will be seriously more pain coming as this season progresses. Man I have to be thinking, Arizona is one seriously bad hockey club.

And by ugly, I don't just mean this game. This season. Supposedly according to TSN, if you're out of a playoff spot by US Thanksgiving, it is almost impossible to make it in after that. The odds get seriously stacked against you from that point on.

If even for a fleeting moment, anyone thought this club may not be so bad because of a win at Arizona, or in Boston, rest assured, this club is as bad as feared. When we play the big boys (read: contenders) they are woefully exposed for what they are. Slow, and yes, they are slow compared with a host of other clubs and a defense, even with poor Risto, that just seems completely out to lunch. Robin was the reason we even beat Arizona. he came up huge on a few occasions. we have not dominated anyone in all honesty. This is going to get ugly folks, be prepared.

You're right on the mark as usual Pokey. I had high hopes for Phil. I no longer do. Trouble is, these guys have shown so little, who really wants any of them on their team? The return would be crap and you can't blame the other teams for not antying up. The tank teams were actually better and showed more effort then what we're currently seeing. Something is seriously wrong in the dressing room. No heart, no leadership.

Man, we are going to get really owned by the Leafs this season. It will be ugly and they put Curtis McIlhenney in goal for all them. Not sure what the hell happened with this crew. I wouldn't mind another fire sale as we just are not progressing with this current squad. You can burn it down. The season is early but it is a continuation of what we saw in the preseason. Only now we can't say, "Oh well, it's only preseason". I call it now, they will miss the playoffs for another consecutive year. Also, if this squad remains intact, we will miss it again next year as well.

Nolan did.

Exactly, they aren't attacking the puck. They take a wait and see approach. No desperation on this club. As previous posts have noted here. Vancouver looks ripe for the picking yet the Sabres lay back. The power play scares the hell out of me. You could see that shorty coming from a mile away. not sure what Phil is doing in his coaching. 6 shorties in the first 8 games. Just brutal!

From what I've seen, the Sabres defense is softer then Wonderbread. Disheartening. Johnson has kept this one close.

Pokey. love you man! I have been reading your posts and I could not agree more with almost everything you post. You are a realist, not just a fan. I love this team, but I just cannot fathom the #### show this club has become. I can only hope that one day we acquire decent management and coaching that returns this club to some glory. I cannot believe we are wasting Jack Eichel right now like we are. I am not getting my hopes up after 1 victory over Anaheim. They may have taken the Sabres too lightly. Lets see what happens in Vegas. Keep up the great posts!

Thank you sir! You nailed it as well. My sentiments exactly. Be prepared to defend them however as I have found out. I trusted Pat's vision even though they claim he was responsible for Tim Murray's appointment. Pat saw something he didn't like and walked. I think he made the right move. Not sure if it was involvement of the Pegula's that made him decide to leave or that he was not on board with the tank or the combo of both. When he walked I sensed there was trouble within the organization.

I went to Sabre pre season games when Kadri was a rookie and he had some great hands. Don Cherry liked the kid and so did I. I kept telling my friends who were Leaf fans: "Hey, if you don't want him, I'll gladly take him". Look at him now. A pest who has a decent set of hands and skills. I just hope our young guys learn to finish around the net. They may be fast and maybe they got too excited in their short stints with the big club. But the Sabre achilles heel is scoring and has been for quite some time and we will need secondary scoring as the opposition will focus on Jack's line first and foremost. Here's to being optimistic over our next head coach!

Nailed it sir! The organization needs stability at this point. (not to mention a decent coach and GM)

My question again comes to "Why did we not have much?" Ask yourself that? That goes to my point that if that was indeed the case, then Sabres management was inept, as was scouting to not draft and stockpile good young talent. That si their job and they have failed. Yes, I see some good players in our core lineup but we will need a coach that can develop a system (or already has one that allows them to excel. Not to mention teach the youngsters like Babcock does. Listen, the Leaf defence isn't all that strong but they know their assignments and they have Andersen to bail them out when they screw up. Until we make the playoffs and can remain competitive in that round (and the Leafs are playing Washington man for man, they are staying right with them-and the Caps were the Presidents Trophy winners) The Leafs may lose that series but the experience those youngsters gained is invaluable, as is their confidence. Plus the speed of those teams is immeasurably faster then what I am seeing in this current Sabre club. It all point to management. Again. And this is with Torts as coach. Whom no one wanted to see behind the Sabres bench on these blogs.

Exactly! Thank you for that. The Amerks sucked plain and simple and that is our feeder system. The Marlies did not. So excuse me fro not being all that optimistic about our "future stars". Again, is it our scouting or minor league coaching or both? As for Baptiste, Fasching, Carrier and all these future stars and how fast they are. You know what I didn' t see in their short stints in the lineup? Finish around the net. The Sabres achilles heel in far too many seasons. They look like the same old same old. You don't have to like what I am saying and I get that. But I have seen this show far too many times. You have to score in this league to win. Those shootout points are far too valuable to piss away as well. Net finish is important as is speed.

Nope, my rant is my rant. Hate it or love it, Tired of excuse after excuse from this organization. Time to put up or shut up. Columbus did not tank and Torts is a better coach then he is given credit for, hence the improvement in points in Columbus. I still dispute the fact on how fast the Sabres are compared to the competition aside from Jack. As for watching mediocre hockey, what do you think you just watched this season? In fact it was worse then mediocre with Dan's boring system. As for unrealistic expectations? Who on this board did not think the Sabres would actually challenge for a playoff spot this season? Most of us did, myself included. Go back and read old posts to start this season. Don't give me that "now we were being unrealistic" Monday morning QB stuff. Crusader, I wish I still had your optimism, but at my age now I will take the definite wait and see attitude with this club. I have heard "How sweet it will be" far too many times now when it comes to this hockey club. I bitch because I care, probably way too much in actuality but the results are the results. Bottom line is this: I hope you guys are all absolutely correct in your assessment of this club and I am wrong. I love the Sabres but I am not blinded as a fan. Way too many disappointments in my tenure as a fan and way too many inept managerial decisions in my opinion. I love Jack Eichel, he is the best thing that came out of this tank and for him I am grateful. He is not happy right now and I hope you can all see that. He said what he said because he gives a and even at only 20 years old, he will bolt the moment he is able to if things don't start to really turn around. We have had 6 years of no playoffs going on 7. Remember they finished 17 points out. 17!!! That is not easy to make up and maybe even surpass to make it next season. Believe me, if they don't make it next season Jack's frustration will increase as will mine and I will read on here that the following season will be the one once again. God bless you guys for keeping the faith but this past season and the way it ended was seriously troubling with the current roster and should give all of us reasons to be wary. The coach decision is so important coming up as is the new GM. Maybe one of the most important in the history of this club as we do not need to approach a decade of playoff absences like the Bills. That is a disgrace. Remember, we used to laugh at the Leaf fans and their organization. End of rant.

This is why I am hoping the next head coach of the Buffalo Sabres is a good one. And yes, we needed a new GM, I don't think that is a stretch. Lets see where Tim lands next. We need serious help on D before we play Risto to the point he gets injured. That will involve enticing a free agent who isn't past his prime and that will be an enormous task to lure that individual to Buffalo. Winning is not the culture here right now and that is why it will be difficult . Don't kid yourself. When others are competing for free agent services you had better make it an enticing offer. If we cannot get a free agent, I am hoping we have a great head coach who will school our young defenders to at least get us by in that area and allow the kids to gain valuable experience at the NHL level. These next 2 decisions are crucial for Pegula. We need a team President as well so TPegs can allow hockey people to just look after the on ice product and he can remain just a fan! I am basing a lot of what I,m saying on the NHL teams performance and how Rochester looks with our young guys (and truth be told, they look like crap) So coaching at both levels doesn't seem to be cutting it right now or our scouting is poor or a combo of both. i believe we have some good young guys on the Sabres who would benefit from a different style of play under a different system. We are about to see if this is true for 2017. As for your comment above, you noticed this also yet TM stuck with Dan anyhow. This is why TM had to go as I do not believe Bylsma would have been canned if TM was still the GM.

We are seeing exactly the same thing. I really hope we're wrong.

TM got what he deserved. He stood still and did nothing when it mattered. Coaches (and good ones) were available when this team was still in the run for a wildcard spot and he stood by Dan, it may be loyal but it was stupid. Winning organizations pull the trigger. It's the business of winning. Hopefully TPegs gets it right this time with a Hockey President, a GM and a decent head coach who won't tolerate a display like this club put on in the final week and a half of this season. And don't think for a minute that Vegas may completely suck this year, again, if they have a better record then this Sabre club you may want to revisit all our "young talent". I know we all want to see a winning club in this City but the last week and a half has me skeptical about our entire lineup. Sure, at times this season they looked like World beaters which gave us hope for the future. But when things mattered, like right after the layoff against 2 teams seated lower then the Sabres and a Wildcard spot on the line, they got owned and it all went down hill from there. So colour me really skeptical at this time. and if TPegs is really interviewing Nonis and Gillis for the GM job, expect many more drought like years. I really hope that is just a B.S report or there is no hope for the foreseeable future.

Who is Pegula interviewing now? Dean Lombardi, ex of the LA KINGS (and a couple Cups?) Who else? Not TIM MURRAY!!! Tim Murray who everyone was high on until this season and now everyone wanted to crucify by the end of it. 2 great coaches get passed on for keeping a stiff called Bylsma whom Pittsburgh ran out of town because their Superstar couldn't stand him and his "system". Again, people were high on Bylsma and smack talking Babcock on these blogs. I was the opposite and got shouted down. Now our Superstar got sick of Disco Dan and he gets run out of Buffalo also. My position is not lazy nor vague. It just seems this owner is slow or too stupid to pull the trigger at the right time involving the right people. And the clock keeps ticking.... tick, tick tick... to season 7 of no playoffs and another season wasted of Jack Eichel.