Kruppstahl

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.

Sobering read. And it's all spot on. https://sports.yahoo.com/sabres-rebuild-still-going-nowhere-213907773.html

He doesn't seem very bright, in general. In theory, though, he should be intelligent in the field of hockey. He doesn't seem intelligent in that manner though either. His player usage has straight up shown a lack of hockey understanding IMO, fairly consistently. The best players seem to often make poor coaches.

I noticed that too in Housley's post game comments. He has done that a lot IMO. I.E., watch the same game I have watched and concluded something totally different to me, with him taking a positive view of the team and me taking a negative view. He may be just talking and saying words for the media, but what if he really thinks/means the things he says? Further proof he is part of the problem and has to go. I just wonder what Pegula thinks about all this. We never really hear from him anymore and he is kind of a mystery absentee owner most of the time. Is he patiently waiting for the season to end so he can order Botterill to fire him? Or is he thinking "disappointing season but overall things are going as planned" or what!?

"Captain" is a leadership term. What we learned last night is that our talent is rather thin when you remove Eichel from the equation. I thought Reinhart--at times--was able to carry his line. Skinner also had several golden scoring opportunities but the puck isn't bouncing right way for him right now. After that, there's nothing to speak of. This isn't a team. It's a collection of a couple excellent hockey players and lots and lots of passengers. But we already knew that!

I enjoyed this and agree with a whole lot of it; not sure we were a great franchise historically. We were good at making the playoffs in an era when almost everyone did that, and then losing in the first round. Of that, there is no doubt. But that is off-topic. I agree with your analysis of Terry Pegula. I have been saying this for several years now, in both a Sabres and Bills context: he is the lowest information sports fan you will ever find. On top of that, I straight up question how intelligent he is. On top of that, his mind is controlled by a force outside himself: his religious faith. That is always dangerous. When a franchise changes everything about itself over and over and yet remains terrible for a sustained period of time, there is only place to look for answers: ownership. One need look no further than the Bills' history and the ownership situation there. For probably the last 20 years of Wilson's ownership or so, the situation reached an alarming equilibrium: until Ralph died or sold the team, nothing would change, and we would be terrible. And that's exactly how it worked out. We seem to be in a similar equilibrium now with the Sabres. I don't see a lot of success coming from the Botterill regime. So then, if and when he is replaced, who will he be replaced with? And who will make that decision? Answer: Pegula. Why should his judgment be any better then that it has been for the last 8 years? What's changed? Added experience? Maybe. PS: You'll notice Beane and McDermott are doing the same thing Botterill is doing; influencing their naive owner into taking the long, slow rebuild view. The Bills straight up sacrificed last season without needing to do so, but as you point out, why work for a couple years if you can extend the gig to 4 or 5 or more.

Definitely me. I watch all of them. Usually late at night in quick order recorded on DVR. You can get through an intermission in about 10 seconds on the fastest FF speed my DVR has. It's great. I can also avoid that creep Duff and my boy Marty stammering away in his Quebeclish.

One obvious difference is that at least Vancouver can look back fondly on the 2010/2011 campaign and enjoy that incredible regular season run they had, and the fact that they were 1 win away from hoisting the Cup. At least that is something. That was the year we lost to Philly in round 1 and haven't had a sniff since!

Yep; played a lot of hockey at Lincoln Park. The one in the Town of Tonawanda, that is. LOL That was my immediate reaction after the game last night. It was just really quiet, like the game had been played in a venue that seats 100 people or something. I guess almost everyone there had gone home by the time Reinhart did his Gretzkey routine, taking up shop behind the net. He looked, studied, thought, deliberated, down by 2 goals...and then the clock ran out with the puck still on his stick, still behind the net. LOL!

I've been at the "lose out" stage for about a week now. It's obvious. Finishing the season in such ugly fashion that Housley is fired at the end of the season is the best thing that can happen to this franchise long term. Sometimes in life you have to take a step backward so you can take 2 forward. Don't even get into it. "Tank" is suddenly a word thrown around a lot in hockey chat forum circles but most folks don't seem to understand the concept or how it works. Most posters who use the term over at OBD discussing the Bills literally don't understand the concept.

You guys are where I was pre-game. It's only going to take longer if Phil Housley starts next season as our HC. Losing out or something equally ugly has to seal that coffin closed on old Phil, doesn't it!? PS: The end of the game was weird. There were some palpable boos but it was mostly just quiet. Like the game had been played at Lincoln Park and the 13 parents there to watch had already gone home. Hockey Heaven!

Who's wallowing in misery? When this team is good again, Phil Housley will not be its HC. Therefore, the sooner we get from here to there, the better. Losing out (more or less) in ugly fashion would probably hasten that process, so I think that's the most valuable use of these remaining games. Talking about "veteran returnees" feeling this year constitutes progress is ridiculous and frankly the sort of thing sports fans talk about. It's not a real thing. Those guys know what's going on around them and hopefully are pissed off about it. Our record for a dozen more games and change isn't going to change their opinions. How long did it take for ROR to figure things out and begin his "trade me" campaign?! Not long.

I think there is a solid chance we do win this one tonight, though I'm hoping against it. Best thing that can happen for this franchise is to finish out the season in a really ugly fashion. Most interesting thing I've read in this thread so far is the poster who is going to eat at Chef's tonight. It's making me hungry. Wish I was there eating a little veal parm with you!

What I notice about Skinner is that he is a competitor and usually motors along at near full throttle, most of the time. He is a huge trash talker and muckraker and it's hard for guys like that to take nights off and disappear. So at least you have some assurance he won't pull a Drew Stafford and disappear after he gets his shiny new K.

The teams that will seriously be competing for the Cup in a few weeks will have both character/toughness and skill out the wazoo. As you say, we have neither. We aren't even a "team" per se. We have a collection of maybe 4 guys that are great and you can use to build a team around. The rest is just camouflage. This team could and perhaps should have 50% and more turnover next season.

I would suggest your estimate of what is good enough is not close to being correct. Unless you are trying to assemble a team that misses the playoffs each year.

And Edmonton. Double oof.

The missing link is indeed "pressure from ownership". That can change the whole situation very quickly. But absent that, I agree with what you are writing here. I expect Housley to be coaching the team next year for Game 1 of the 2019/2020 campaign. I also expect the team to grossly underperform, and for Housley to be fired in the month of November or December. The ensuing chaos and struggle to place an interim coach of some description behind the bench will result in another lost season and no playoffs. Pegula has the power to actually do something about that now, or at least during this off-season. But if he is going to ax Phil, he needs to do it soon. If we are going to hire a new coach it would be best to do it when some of the bigger names are still available. This is all true. He was the same as a player, which is why he was never particularly liked in WNY, despite being a HOFer who played 8 seasons in Buffalo.

As of right now, I expect both GM and HC to survive into the start of next season. If that is the case, I expect us to underperform next season, play poorly, and for Housley to be fired maybe in the month of November. Because of that, we will not make the playoffs next year. That's one very likely outcome for next season. If GM and/or HC are replaced over the off-season, obviously the whole situation changes.

The entire history of this franchise is earmarked with "IF"s and "BUT"s. Nothing new there.

This is without question. This entire lingering rebuild era is--without question--the worst era in franchise history.

This is brought up all the time but I totally disagree with it. If the Sabres moved I would move on as well and that would be the end of it. We would quickly adapt to the new world without a WNY based hockey team and that would be that. I'm already pretty used to that world, b/c that is the world I find myself in every year come playoff time anyway. There aren't a lot of folks in WNY still crying over the loss of our beloved Buffalo Braves after all.