Kruppstahl

The team has been a bunch of no-shows since October and you want Botteril to "send a message" now?! Where were you in October, November, December, or January? And that message involves waiving Jordan Nolan or Gorges, two of the few hard workers on the team? Come on man. The problem is Botterill has to work within a structure of how things are done in the NHL. He can't just do it all whenever. On Monday we will see round 1 of many changes to come with the trade deadline. The team will work very different on opening nigh next year.

If you didn't hear it, listen to Kevin's report on the state of affairs in Rochester. Be warned: if you are in a bad mood you might try to hurt yourself after listening. The outlook is not bright. :o http://www.wgr550.com/media/audio-channel/2-21-kevin-oklobzija-rochester-business-journal-and-pickinsplinters-talks-all

He is competent but he is nothing unique or special. I have never really liked him and do not look forward to him calling all games for a period of years once RJ calls it quits for good.

NHL hockey was immensely more entertaining in the 1980s; it's boring now.

Go look at Wawrow's twitter thread. He mentioned a "slamming of a door" up in the press box area I guess, presumably implying that Botterill or someone associated with the team was pissed off b/c we suck ass and slammed a door. Big deal. Of more interest to me: I noticed a later comment in Wawrow's thread where he mentioned that after a typical Sabres' home game, you can find as many Sabres out in the hallway chatting with visiting players as you can find in the Buffalo locker room itself. I swear to God, NHL hockey sucks ass nowadays. It's just horrible. Regarding the door slamming, do something already Botterill! The entire team needs to be remade while retaining very few current players. So get on it!

Sure we miss Jack, but that is not the story of this game. We played usual disinterested hockey, little compete, and were beaten to the puck all night. In the end, it caught up with us. This group can't be broken up soon enough.

We're a couple of years away. I don't think a lot of fans realize how messed up this organization is. Botterill is a big believer in developing the proper way, from within the organization and having a competitive group in Rochester. It all takes time to develop and we are starting out, right now, close to square 1. Well, it's square 1, but with Jack Eichel already acquired. So maybe square 2.

No he's not. The team is going to be "fired" before he is, and we don't need to debate that. Just wait a while and see what happens.

Probably true, but that is Pittsburgh for you--a franchise I would rather not emulate among winning franchises. The Boston pack dog mentality is much more sound. You hit one of our guys, our entire team jumps on you without hesitation. Love that approach and Boston has always had it, despite the names changing over the years. I wish I knew how they pull that off. I think this current situation is overblown by Herrington however. It is not analogous to the Lucic incident. And for the record, I agree that did create the beginning of the end of the old Rochester Core. And what is wrong with that? This is hockey, not international peace negotiations. The consistent absence of grit, toughness, competitiveness, and physicality from almost all regular season NHL games these days is a giant turnoff and the product suffers as a result. The issue is most definitely not about "fighting" vs "not fighting" as an abstract concept in a vacuum. It is about "unified team that supports one another" vs "bunch of individuals collecting pay checks and managing their solo careers." I'm sure you see the difference. More or less agree with you, but this year it has definitely been about more than just not enough players. The entire group has been disinterested most of the season and many key players played well below their potential for most of the season. Eichel has come on strong and Reinhart has a good groove going right now too, but it wasn't like that all season. This team has looked totally fractured or like a group that hates their HC or something like that all season long. Even when they find a way to put it together now, it doesn't usually stay that way for long; good periods are followed by bad periods; good games followed by a couple bad ones. The makeup of this team is flawed and it transcends talent level, though that needs improving as well. I think the type of teamwork and support Harrington talks about is available in the NHL these days. Though there is no argument about the fact that the traditional tough guy no longer exists in the league. He has been replaced by a much better hockey player and worse fighter, for the most part. There are very few guys in the league now who can't, at least a little, support a hockey-oriented slot in the lineup. This change has been going on for a very long time and it gets worse all the time. The absence of enforcers has created a casual approach to most games that is devoid of competitiveness and the product suffers as a result. This weird rift that has existed between TBN and Pegula, almost from the very beginning, has resulted in the News reporters being shut out of the Bills and Sabres, or at least so it seems, and TBN's readers are the ones who suffer the most from it. There is very little juicy insider-knowledge sports reporting going on in WNY. Though to a certain extent that is b/c it is WNY and not a big city. In that sense, it's not going to change substantially even if things improve between the paper and Pegula. Yeah, I agree with this take. I don't think anyone needs to "go there" with this Eichel incident, and comparing it to the Lucic/Miller incident is simply misguided. I think that is just Harrington whipping a little click bait, b/c that sort of thing generates clicks, and reasoned, tempered, moderation does not. Bills fans love to bash Bills sports writers; Sabres fans love to bash Sabres sports writers. I'm not sure what that is all about.

I think he's pretty much done for the year. I can see why Housley wouldn't want to publicly state that, however. No way they push his return and it will probably benefit us to leave him out of the lineup at the end anyway (go for last place get the best odds of winning the lottery).

Of course there's an upside here. Between Eichel being done for the season and our talent dump at the deadline, this team has a great shot at finishing dead last. Odds of winning the lottery not great, but still nearly 1 in 5. Maybe this will be our year to have some luck. We are rebuilding ALMOST from scratch at this point, so we can use all the help we can get. You mean if he's still a Sabre in a month's time. Ditto for Reinhart. Both could be gone, both could remain.

They have a very special, almost unique ability to suck ass at home. They reserve their most boring games for the home crowd. What a hockey game!

Susan Banks was a total hotty; had a somewhat deep, sexy voice as well for a woman.

Very glad he got the 2 games; that was total BS. It's a shame FL has no one in the lineup who could have gone over and taught Larsson that we don't do like that over here. Larsson is a total disappointment, along with the rest of the team. Send his ass back to Sweden.

Yes, like all of them. Which one? :lol: I loved what we saw from the Sabres for most of the 3rd period; one of the more entertaining segments of Sabres hockey all season long. We showed emotion, energy, "compete", and it looked like we were actually pissed that we were losing. Where has that been all season long? Shows you just how broken the team has been. Botterill has a lot of fixing to do. Larsson's cross check was total ; I wish someone had kicked his ass after that one. I watched the FL broadcast with post-game interviews; the rematch in FL should be an entertaining game! :thumbsup:

Season ending surgery. The funny thing is Bogo is like an ironman. He's never hurt! ;)

We need more primary scoring before we need to worry about secondary scoring. We also need lots of other stuff.

I suspect many have checked out at this point. The most interesting development of the evening, for me, was the revelation that a talking RJ bobble head exists. I found that news more entertaining than the actual game.

Things that are awesome: The talking RJ bobble head!

Really? That's fairly entertaining. Wonder if it's true or not.

Housley's comments after the Stars game were pretty solid. He seemed genuinely pissed and flat out said this game shows us what kind of players we have on the team, what direction to go in in the future, and what "buttons to push." AMEN BROTHER! I don't think Housley has done a great job of things, but we have a huge collection of losers on this team who are not that interested in being professional hockey players....that's where the problem lies. On top of that, there's not a lot of talent to spread around either. It's funny, seeing as this entire rebuild was initiated b/c we had precisely the same team, just with different names. :lol:

Don't think Housley will be going anywhere this season, nor do I think he's the main reason for this disappointing season. Having said that, he doesn't seem like a great choice and I would imagine he'll be replaced in due course if ever get good again. Watched Anaheim vs. LA Kings last night; incredible game that was genuinely entertaining. Played with a playoff game level of commitment and energy from both teams. I haven't seen a Sabres team play like that in at least 5 years. That's not all on Phil Housley!

Nice avatar! But even at our current 56 point pace (OMG) I think you're going to be väntaring for a long time. The odds just aren't that good!

What's with the Lehner controversy/debate in the latter pages of this thread? LOL Dude is horrible and will be gone after this year, for little in return. His fundamentals/positioning are god awful. And to think GMTM gave up that first for him! I still get pissed about that one. Other notes: lots of things looked better tonight but still not enough; McCabe is freaking terrible; throw him in the bust pile along with Reinhart, who had a nice game! Trades can't come soon enough; can't wait to see what happens.

Hockey already is much different to what it was even 15 years ago. The physical component of the sport is all but gone, at least in the regular season. Makes for a rather bland product IMO. Hockey without hitting, physicality, grudges, drama, conflict, hate, and the odd fight is kind of like kissing your sister... ...or a pre-season game in almost any sport.