Kruppstahl

I totally agree with this. Successful organizations in all pursuits, not just sports, go out of their way to create a positive culture, and for good reason. Look at the effort problem this team has. They come out flat or play 1 or 2 strong periods or one good game and then 2 bad ones...I'm talking effort, not results. That is a direct product of "culture" IMO.

I have been thinking about something like this more and more lately. There are a number of player usage/ice time decisions from Krueger lately that would suggest he and Botterill are not on the same page. The amount of ice time Vesey got over Skinner last game is a great example. That was either a product of Ralph trying to screw with Botterill, or total ineptness. I think Ralph is too intelligent for that level of ineptness, so I think he's screwing with Botterill and/or they are not on the same page.

I thought the same. We grew stronger as the game progressed and the Ducks grew weaker. It actually got fairly entertaining for a while in the 3rd, and yet we didn't engage in any foolishness to muck up our draft pick. If we had bothered to show up for the start of the game we may well have won this one.

That's exactly right. We don't have many guys who want to go to the dirty areas. Very passive roster in that regard.

I thought this was Dahlin's strongest, most complete game in a loooong time. Skinner's game is in a really dark place right now.

That's encouraging. Will be good to get him back, though I'm not sure winning is the best outcome from here to the end of the season. There's going to be a drop-off in draft talent around the Number 10 spot; we need to be on the good side of that line.

I continue to say that Pilut is, or could be, a top 4 D-man. Figures they would send him to Rochester and give playing time to much less worthy candidates. I realize it is hard to shop guys for trades if they aren't playing, but still... This team better be unrecognizable after this trade deadline and this coming off-season.

Keep an eye on the face-offs tonight. These are the two worst teams in the NHL at the face-off dot.

I loved it except for the Ray Shero part. LOL. It's true.

The key to the whole thing is that there is a clock ticking in the background the entire time. The clock is Jack Eichel's peak years as an elite player. They need to not only get it right, they need to do it pretty darned soon.

He's more than amply demonstrated that he doesn't know what he's doing. I'm not sure it makes sense to double down on him and let him damage this organization more than he already has with another trade deadline and off-season set of deals. Let's not forget, with the exception of 3 or 4 players, this is entirely his team. He is terrible at roster building and player evaluation. I'm just listening to the post game interviews from last night now (WGR-550 didn't load the file correctly last night so we couldn't listen then) and there were more embarrassing questions asked beyond the Harrington/Reinhart dustup. References to the empty seats, the booing...the Sabres have received the focused attention of the national media all week... This crap is getting ugly fast. The organization is really in a bad, embarrassing place right now. It all starts at the top and about the only thing Pegula can do to start fixing it is to make a change at GM. I don't expect it to happen though!

We don't need to re-litigate the decision to switch colors back in the '90s, but perhaps you have already forgotten why we did that. It was an attempt to burn the past of a more or less terrible franchise and create a fresh beginning. One in which we all had hope that things would be better than one playoff series and done for the rest of our lives. I loved the uniform change as our black/white/gold scheme is ugly and the all black was cool and intimidating. Black is universal and the best color in fashion; that's not a trend. The goat heads sucked. No getting around that; but that could have been fixed. You also have to remember that there is an entire generation of fans who sort of "came of age" in their fandom with the team wearing those black/white/red uniforms. (I'm not one of them but I acknowledge they are out there). The decision to blow off those uniforms blows off a piece of Sabres history--good or bad--and it gives the finger to that fan group in particular. You don't have to agree, but the decision to not wear the correct uniforms for that period was a marketing disaster and a horrible look for a middling franchise. Nothing new there.

I don't intend for this to be an anti-Reinhart comment, just an observation. Start counting the number of times Reinhart is in sole possession of the puck, looking to do something with it, maybe skating or maybe stationery, and then simply gets blown up by an opponent, ends up flat on the ice, gives up the puck, the opponent retrieves the puck, and then does something with it benefitting the other team. This usually happens at least once per game. The term "strong on his skates" never applied to Reinhart. He is like a weak child out there. I realize absolutely nothing to do with physicality is his game; it's all mental with him and his vision/creativity is what will keep him in the league and scoring points at a reasonable clip... But this guy would get his ass pounded in a typical 7 game series against a big, heavy, western conference team in the playoffs. Good thing we aren't in the western conference.

Just found the string of Tim Graham tweets blasting Harrington. Wow, some bad blood between those 2 colleagues! I agree it was a tad douchey but that is a different issue to whether or not Sam floated on the play. This conversation started with fans defended Reinhart, as though he did nothing wrong. In conclusion: Reinhart is a talented floater; Mike Harrington is a confrontational reporter who pisses off hockey fans; and the Sabres suck.

Not a question of catching Larkin. A question of getting back as hard as he can until the play is over. What if there's a fat rebound? He could easily have contributed to the play but chose to quit skating 2 or 3 strides early. That's the entire point.

Reinhart quit skating a couple strides early and not because he was "gassed." It was more because he is a floater. A really talented floater. Not sure why folks in Sabreland hate Harrington. He is the least Buffalo aspect to the Buffalo media and the only guy who holds players/organization to any kind of standard whatsoever.

Sam floated on the back check as he often does. He quit skating and might have been able to do something, especially if a save had been made but a rebound coughed up. He didn't know what would happen when he quit skating. It was a bad play and I'm glad Harrington drew attention to it.

LOL. Paul Hamilton wasn't there. Do you mean Mike Harrington? The guy who asked the back check question? Most seem to hate him as well. Maybe that's you hated. ?

He did not look close to being NHL ready.

Same here. Detroit has lost 9 in a row or something like this? Maybe they'll be inspired. We are also starting a rookie goalie who really has no business playing in the NHL. That should help.

That's it, direct your anger at me, a fellow fan of the team.

Of note: "The toxicity of the Sabres' lack of success is beginning to seep into the marketplace. Buffalo's average tickets distributed per game is 17,146 (90.8% capacity), down from 17,908 (93.9%) last season. In the Pegulas' first full season as owner, it was 18,550 (99.9%)." "Here's what I know, according to sources: The Sabres were looking for a president of hockey operations-type last season. They never hired one, and seemingly cooled to the idea. If Botterill comes back, I can't see a scenario in which he doesn't have someone above him to help facilitate this turnaround, or at least sign off on his plans." "If they don't retain Botterill, there are two other directions in which I'd support the Sabres going. Scenario No. 1: If the New York Rangers ever allowed Chris Drury to take another job, I think Buffalo hires him in a millisecond as its Joe Sakic/Steve Yzerman conquering hero. Scenario No. 2: Krueger becomes coach/general manager, which we haven't had since Darryl Sutter in Calgary. Look, if anyone could do it, it's that guy."

Sorry, didn't realize it was posted twice already. I just posted another from the Wyshnyski article today; hope that's not another repeat.

Article today from Greg Wyshnyski. The national media is really focusing on Buffalo right now. Maybe this will force something to happen. https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/28643117/why-buffalo-sabres-nhl-biggest-disaster