Kruppstahl

Some of us have been saying that Eichel is gone for a while! I tell you right now: this comes from Terry Pegula. He is the type of fan who thinks the Sabres' problems are somehow related to Jack Eichel or Sam Reinhart, despite those being, by far, the 2 best players on the team. I repeat: as long as Pegula is our owner, the team will be complete trash. Remember the "Rock bottom" thread? It's about to get a lot lower around here! It always finds a way to reach new depths! It would be hilarious if it wasn't f-ing tragic.

I'd actually love to see Boston win tonight so we get to enjoy a 7th game of this series, which is pretty much the best hockey of the 2021 playoffs so far. I can't get enough of this series.

I think it's pretty obvious both parties are using this as the vehicle by which they ultimately part company. It works for each of them, so both are content to play it out in this manner. Will be shocked if Eichel plays more games as a Sabre, which will make him easily the biggest disappointment in franchise history; much worse of a bust than Pierre Turgeon, for example.

I would be in favor of trading down more than 1 spot. I would trade down in order to receive the largest package with the most pieces, and use the opportunity to team build in a way that is much greater than adding 1 new kid to the pile. The trick is finding the team that will dance and give you enough pieces to make it work.

Great post. The thing is this! If I was the sort of person to turn my back on this team and move forward, I would have done it decades ago! Probably some time in the 1980s. LOL. I feel like we are stuck with the team and we can't do anything about it. I'm not sure there is a single "final nail in the coffin" event or decision that would make me forget the Sabres exist for a few years. I kind of wish there was, to be honest.

I've been thinking about this sort of thing a lot over the last few weeks, watching 2, 3, sometimes 4 good playoff games a night. The Sabres are so bad, so removed from being a playoff team, we haven't even had the chance to evaluate them on a playoff team basis. There are so many players in this league who are "nice" during the regular season who disappear and are worthless in the post season. You wonder, which players do we have? We don't really know; they haven't had the chance to show us what they can do in the face of opposition. I think they would crumble most likely; the really successful teams have it all. Speed, size, they are aggressive, they play tight team defense; they do it all. It's one thing to wave a magic wand and put the Sabres in the playoffs. It's quite another to imagine those guys winning a best of 7 series against Tampa, or the Islanders, or Boston, or Colorado. Those are all sweeps, with us on the losing end of things.

The OP makes a good point here. It's not just that we are bad, or a team that fails to achieve good results. It's much more than that! We just aren't likable on any level! It's not a team I find myself cheering for, almost ever. I can't think of many individuals on the team I like. When full crowds are a normal thing at arenas again, we will see just how bad the damage is. You are looking at <10,000 crowds for home Sabres games, as the norm. The arena will look "half empty" at all times and the cameras will deliberately try to not show this during games. Hockey Heaven!

I forgot this thing was tonight until just now. Not expecting us to win, but I'll tune in.

Lots of hockey fans seem to love writing down imaginary line combinations and do it all the time. With the Sabres, it's kind of like being on the Titanic, noting that there is a hole in the side of the hull one hundred meters long, and then deciding that maybe its time to re-arrange the lounge chairs on the promenade deck. You can play with those line combos all you want and rearrange the deck chairs, but guess what? That ship is still sinking. 😂

That's not how Pegula wants his ownership to work, and that's not why he bought the team. He's what every sports fanbase fears most: the meddling owner. It is impossible to miss the playoffs in the NHL 10 years in a row without a meddling owner. If we had made random decisions all along with a dart board, we would have made the playoffs by now.

Sounds like he is "OK" so to speak, but I'd be surprised to see him again this year. BTW, I thought the way Foligno went after Perry was really stupid, and I like fighting in hockey. There's no way in the world that knee was close to being intentional; fighting him over the incident was just stupid, especially after Perry went over and gave Tavares a couple of love taps on his legs as he was stretchered off the ice. I didn't understand the staged fight at the next face-off at all.

Maybe by people who don't know hockey. The guy is a stud and played a huge role in LA's 2 recent Cups. He's the sort of "heavy" player I love, with tons of skill and he's not slow.

Huh? His current status isn't going to last forever. I assume you mean his injury and the impasse about how to treat it best. If I had to guess, I'd say he's done as a Sabre.

I'm much more interested to see how Josh Allen does. He needs to play at or near the same level as last year to prove he can do it. I'm not sure he can. Hence the excitement and anticipation. It all rides on his back anyway.

Is that Risto's father?

Has anyone here played Call of Duty WWII on PS4? I guess this is a few years old now. Any good reviews?

Overall disappointing night last night, I thought. Tonight and tomorrow we get to probably the 2 most anticipated series for me: Edmonton/WPG and Montreal/Toronto. Can't wait to watch both. It's always so much fun to hate on TO, but then in this case it means cheering for...Montreal?! That's strange, but I'd rather do that than the reverse. Growing up in the '70s and '80s, Montreal was easily my most hated team in the NHL.

There are a lot of Sabres fans right now saying "Do x, y, and z" and we are in the playoffs no problem next year. If only it was that simple. No one here has any idea what this roster is going to look like next season; it could be vastly different. Until we know who is on the team leading into the season, it's going to be very difficult to figure out how we might do. Also, a lot of folks are subconsciously comparing Granato to Ralph, and concluding Granato is a coaching genius. No, Ralph was the worst coach in franchise history who had no business being hired by any NHL franchise... Did Granato show promise and make the most out of a bad situation? Yes. Personally, I think we will extend the HC search as long as possible b/c it's a great way to get free outside consultation about the state of health of the Sabres, and idea for how to proceed forward. At the end of that learning session, I wouldn't be surprised if we name Granato permanent HC, and that's OK. He seems to have the attention of the players and seems like a solid coach at this level. He will have a short 3 year (?) life span like most of them anyway, so let it start now. We can always shift to a seasoned, proven NHL veteran coach as the *next* coach if/when Granato starts to falter. Those guys are *always* available..might even be one much better than anyone available right now.

It's funny; growing up in WNY I have never known ANYONE who didn't LOVE a Coffee Crisp, and yet they seem to remain hard to find in most places across America. Seems like a product that should/could/would instantly become one of the best sellers in the USA is more people knew about them and had easy access to them. My favorite Canadian (you really mean British, not Canadian) candy bar is Mr. Big! Coffee Crisp is a strong No. 2 though.

Will the league "officially" take action in this type of situation? Absolutely not. Are quiet one-on-one conversations taking place between Pegula and some of the other owners and Bettman? Absolutely. I would be shocked if they weren't. Subtle nudges to get them to clean up their act; a ***** show like the Sabres organization has become is not good for the league, and the league is constantly battling health problems as it is.

Who else watched the Battle of Florida? Pure excitement and intensity for 60 minutes; the gap between now and the regular season is a gigantic problem for the NHL IMO. Regular season = unwatchable; playoffs = epic; they should try to balance it out a bit. 3 good games tonight!

At this point, I'm preparing for the Sabres to not have Sam or Jack. And yes, it will get a lot worse when they are gone. I just don't think either one wants to be here now.

This is the latest chapter in the sorry saga of the Buffalo Sabres--the worst franchise in the NHL. As I keep saying, it is going to be difficult to win much of anything with current ownership. I hope for continued success with the Bills and Pegula slowly giving in to the knowledge that owning 2 major league sports teams is just too much for one person or couple. This all sounds like Jack wants out of here, and he figures he can use the neck injury as the vehicle for getting out of Dodge. I'd be stunned if this ends well for your average Sabres hockey fan.

Not clinched yet, but close! https://www.audacy.com/wgr550/sports/sabres/sabres-could-officially-clinch-last-place-in-nhl-standings-on-thursday

Take care of our own business: LOSE. Lock up the best odds for picking NO. 1. Somehow you know we won't pick first anyway, but why not try our best?