Kruppstahl

When?

Glad to see others are tuning into this; I've been bitching about this since the trade. I thought we came out like gangbusters for the first 12 minutes or so of the game. We were buzzing, attacking, skating, shooting....we got one goal, Skinner cranked one off the pipe for what easily could have been his second...we had 2 or 3 other great scoring chances too. And then, being pleased with what we had done, we stopped! FF a while and it's 4-1 Carolina. Zemgus gets a lucky one in garbage time and that's that... My dream of seeing us lose on home ice to Toronto next week for our NINTH LOSS IN A ROW grows closer! Hey, a man can dream, can't he?!

http://www.tankathon.com/nhl I just played 5 times in a row. Results were 8-8-9-9-FIRST! LOL. It would be so sweet to pick first or even 2 or 3 this year. An unexpected gift if it happens.

I think that was brought to the front by Pommenville with his post game comments after the Pittsburgh game. He was straight up pointing the finger at the players, not coaching, and suggesting effort was not there. This is obvious for anyone objectively watching, but it was good to hear it from a player right in the middle of it all. It's been that way for a long time. It has been years since this team came out prepared to play the start of the game and then delivered 3 strong periods, game after game after game. There is some reason for that and it transcends a mere "lack of talent" as you rightly point out.

A barren brownfield with nothing that will grow in it might be more appropriate than a tree. hehehe

Only in Buffalo are moral victories acceptable accomplishments. Bills fans have been so beaten for so long, most fans are happy with "decent showings" in losses. We tend to lose in Raleigh so why should this be any different? I would genuinely like to see us lose through the TO game next Wed. night. A loss to TO on home ice for our 9th in a row might be what we need to finally get some of these people fired.

That depends on what version of the story you believe. One version was that LaFontaine is somewhat out of his mind with brain trauma from his many concussions, and that he had gone rogue, taking independent action in some areas where team discussion should have been relevant. If LaFontaine is not all there it was on Pegula to figure that out before he gave him the keys to the franchise. As I understand it, Pegula simply bumped into #16 at some charity event or whatever and was like "hey, you'd make a great choice for this job" simply b/c LaFontaine was a fan favorite and a great hockey player. It's a great example of Pegula's naivety, and why it's going to be tough to overcome. I would assume you and everyone else wants the same result, don't you? I want this team to be competitive some day, and actually good. Not pretend good. I would hope you can see that this team will achieve nothing with the current administration in charge. The sooner it is replace, the sooner we have the chance to improve. But even that will mean nothing if Pegula makes more bad hires.

Hiring the wrong individual doesn't invalidate the process. Teams also fire bad coaches all the time; doesn't mean it isn't important and effective to hire a good one. Obviously LaFontaine was not the guy for the job, but Pegula didn't figure that out. Most of this will always come back to Pegula. He's the source of all of it.

If you remove Eichel, Reinhart, and Skinner, this team has 1 forward who has more than 30 points at this point in the season! ONE! More than 30 points! And that is Sheary sitting with 31 points, barely over the threshold. There is just nothing here beyond that first line, and what is here is not motivated by its head coach or consistently put in its best position to succeed by said head coach. The coach needs to go, the GM needs to go, and 80% of the team needs to go.

Are you kidding? 1 way contracts make it rather difficult to send guys down to Rochester. Guaranteed contracts remove fear as a motivator for the players nowadays. There is almost nothing a coach can do to enforce discipline on the team, other than reduce ice time, or sit a player out. But even then, there is enormous pressure to play certain guys and they can't all be benched, all the time. It's the nature of the NHL in the 21st century. It has to change come the next CBA; ownership needs to figure out a way to eliminate guaranteed contracts and if they have to miss another season of hockey, so be it.

We have seen enough with both franchises to see the problem, IMO. The problem is Pegula is beyond clueless. So as long as he is making the critical decisions like who to hire as GM, nothing but garbage will flow downhill from that initial decision. I totally agree with you: he needs to be surrounded by quality people he trusts and who know what the hell they are doing. I think a "czar" position would serve both franchises very well. See, here is the thing. Let's say he eventually fires Housley and Botterill, which he WILL be doing at some point, it's just a question of when. What then? Is he just going to repeat the same mistakes, conduct a new GM search himself, do the interviewing, and make the hiring decision on his own? What makes him think he knows how to run a hockey franchise? If he's just going to keep repeating the same mistakes via the same broken structure, don't expect much to change long term. A czar, if it's the right one, could change that. To his credit, he did try something like that, but again, he chose the wrong guy in LaFontaine. He needs to go back to that type of approach, but with someone a bit more proven in the role than Patty La La.

Agreed. We've had Jack for the bulk of this year. Look at "all the winning" we're doing with him too! Trade da bum!

There were also many people here who thought Dan Bylsma was a good coach and that it was exciting that we hired him. Some of us hated that move from the get go. Some here said we would make the playoffs this year--as recently as a week or so ago! There are many here who think Risto is a good defenseman. I can go on. Suggesting that the ROR deal was horrible is not just 20/20 hindsight. The deal was terrible when it was made, it is terrible now, and it will be terrible 20 years from now. At least if you're a Sabres fan. St. Louis fans likely feel differently. Hasek to Red Wings? LOL. His career was over at that point. That's not even close.

At least they are #1 at something!

Probably quite a long time! This is the Sabres we are talking about.

Didn't know he was married! Has he matured a little and calmed down now? I thought was still a partying single guy.

Huh? Need to wait 3 to 4 year? No we don't. ROR is a known commodity in this league; he has a roster spot on the Canadian national Olympic team. We got nothing in exchange for him; we already know that. Well, we might hit on a very late 1st round pick; that's our only hope for getting anything back the other way. By the way, name 5 worse trades in Sabres history, since there have been so many....

Great game! LOL The Malkin v. Larsson heavyweight bout was something I've never seen before. 2 players dropped their gloves, actually began to fight, sort of, and then both just mutually stopped fighting with no interference from the linesmen. Had 1 or both of them kept their gloves on, sure, nothing new there. But they dropped the gloves! I've never seen that. PS: Listening to Pommenville post game interview now; he seems to be throwing the team under the bus. He said pre-game preparation was fine; Xs and Os only take you so far; the game is about who wants it more, fighting for the puck.... He's basically saying don't put this one on the coach, this team just sucks.

To those in this thread who seem so opposed to fighting in hockey: what are you doing at games when you attend in person and a fight breaks out? Or what did you do in the past? Look away in horror? 99% of the building is on their feet and going insane, and that has been consistent in every game I've watched since the 1970s. You do realize you are the oddballs, right? Some of the absolute most memorable and dramatic moments I remember as a Sabres fan involve fights, rough stuff, violence, brawls. RJ's absolute best calls, historically, involve fighting and huge line brawls. Hockey is so much less dramatic and interesting without the tough stuff. It used to bring teams together and forge tight bonds; it made huge enemies of certain players/teams and it's just not the same these days without it. Regular season hockey on most nights has the flavor of a pre-season exhibition where both teams have agreed to a non-verbal pact: I don't do anything to upset you, and you don't do anything to upset me. Together we can stay healthy, not have to work too hard tonight, and earn our 7 figure pay checks Do you guys like that? Why on earth would you? This is why players go nuts now when someone makes a huge, clean hit. In the old days that was part of the game and no one would do anything about that, other than maybe try to respond with a hard hit of their own. Now, players respond so violently to it because it is a crime in today's game. The guy doing the huge hit is violating that non-verbal contract! He's showing passion, playing really hard, and doing something that might make a player get injured, miss some game time, and God forbid, cease getting that 7 figure salary. It's just a totally different game now, made much worse by the absence of the tough stuff. And of course, as fighting ceases, the stick work and slashing increases. I think the people opposed to this stuff are the types to have never played hockey or maybe sports in general. Hockey isn't chess. Physicality has had a huge role in the game historically.

I have no idea who steps up and says things in the locker room with the door closed. I'm not in there. I think BOGO is considered a leader of the team, by the team itself. I bet Eichel steps up and talks from time to time, though he's obviously not a veteran with the weight that can bring. Who holds others accountable is an interesting point. It assumes you are a veteran, have been around the block a while, are talented, and have some history of success. Those are the things that give weight to your voice. We straight up have no one on the roster who fits that description. EDIT: Pommenville probably comes as close as anyone on this roster to being "the guy" to hold others accountable. Of course, we all know him well and he is not a very vocal guy. Although you can demonstrate leadership without being vocal.

You mention a few relevant factors related to the remainder of the season: entertainment value and draft position. But there is another factor at play: losing out in such an ugly fashion that Phil get fired. I do not think we are at a point where Phil will be fired at season's end, so more losing, in ugly fashion, could be the difference in getting Phil fired. It could be the difference between Botterill wanting to retain Phil and Pegula endorsing that, or Pegula ordering that Phil is terminated. So in that regard, there is a lot on the line here (potentially) and it's another facet of these remaining games to consider.

Phil believes in all kinds of witchcraft and voodoo. It's all the traditional hockey crap that hockey guys think is important, despite it not really existing. If he studied data and exercised reason, his player usage would have been a lot different this year.

As you point out, Pittsburgh is focused now and they are ramping up for the playoffs. I expect them to play hard and us to get killed, particularly without Eichel in the game. Hutton in net doesn't help things.

Lose! Lose badly! Look bad while losing badly! And keep on losing! PLEASE!

Well you probably know that Mike Schopp has mentioned quite consistently, all season long, that Housley never has a good answer to those types of questions. Something that makes you think he has it figured out. It's usually the opposite. I am on Schoop's side in that. Was it last game or the game before? Paul Hamilton asked something about effort and Housley started reeling, going off on a tangent about getting some bad calls from the refs, etc. It was a game where the only theme was a lack of effort and what the hell is going on over there, and Phil's response was to ramble on about poor officiating and some other stuff.