msw2112
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Posts posted by msw2112
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My thoughts:
- The pre-draft press conference is probably a regularly-scheduled event that every team has, every year.
- If Adams is up to something behind the scenes, I'd prefer he keep it quiet and doesn't tip his hand in the media in such a way that could cost him leverage in potential deals with other teams. Someone above said "I don't care what he says, but only about what he does." I agree with this.
- I don't have a whole lot of confidence in Adams either way, but maybe the presence of Jarmo can help.
- It's a huge disappointment if the entire coaching staff returns. Again, no need to publicly make statements in the media to humiliate guys who may be bad coaches but good people. Just say they're under contract publicly, while, hopefully, privately, he's searching for their replacements.
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Based on the market across the league, Tuch today, at his age, is a $7M-$9M player. If he was 36 today, he wouldn't be worth that, but with inflation, the cap going up, etc., by the time he's 36, if he's making $7M-$9M then, it will be market for a player his age. 29 year-olds of his caliber will be making much more than that in 6-7 years. So get him signed today. He's a key player on the roster. He has size, speed, scoring touch, and is a great penalty killer. He's also a leader and a great locker room guy. He's not a fighter, but he'll drop the gloves on occasion to defend himself or a teammate. He even has playoff experience. He definitely was a guy who "wants to be in Buffalo," so let's hope that last season's failures didn't change that.
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19 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:
I don't think you need to impress the casual fan. You just create a winning atmosphere and the casual fan can get caught up in that if they want to. Better yet your tickets are in such demand from the winning that the casual fan can't get one.
I respectfully disagree. In the old days, the Aud was sold out every night for years. The team was good and it was the only game in town. People today have so many entertainment options, that the casual fan is not easily swayed. A playoff game in May or June, sure. A Tuesday night, mid-October game against Cal-gary? You and I are excited to be there and see a winning team. The casual fan is not. But give the casual fan music, food options, a fancy show on the video board, some crazy giveaway between periods, etc. they are having a fun night of entertainment downtown. You and I are the same in how we view the team. But you have to look beyond yourself at the bigger picture. (Actually, you don't, but if you want to objectively respond to the original post, you might.) This team is light years away from selling out a "lower tier" game. Even if they team starts winning, they're still going to have a hard time selling out early season games against unexciting opponents, particularly if the Bills are playing well, which is likely to be the case over the next 5-7 years. They need to market the product beyond just the die-hards.
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5 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:
Well see I'm not missing it, I just don't care about the tourist.
The thing about the Sabres (and that's all that matters here) is they often do not seem serious about winning. When you announce up front that it's "a development year" wtf are you doing? Winning and learning to want to win (and hate to lose) is part of development. Adams comes in and it's like in 5 years we will be good, that's his promise (which he failed to deliver on but didn't get fired anyway) and so he tears it down and we start. The expectation however should be better every year and they just aren't. We are the same, picking around the same spot, and we are entering the next wave of possible exits. It's absolute garbage. Rob Blake got fired because he couldn't get past a Stanley Cup finalist. Where's the bar here in comparison???
What if YOU are the tourist, attending a game in another city not involving the Sabres (or a team you're a fan of)? Is winning the only thing that matters?
I realize that you're not focused on that, but the original post asked whether it was important to "entertain the people in the stands" and whether it was important to entertain the "causal fan." I'd argue that it is important. I sometimes take my kids to major league sports and they care very little about the actual game action. The other stuff keeps them entertained. I'm going to be in Boston over the summer on a family vacation and we're attending a Red Sox game. We're not going because we care about the Red Sox winning, we're going to check out the atmosphere at an iconic ballpark.
I've been a huge Sabres fan, following the team more or less since it's inception, so for me, when it comes to the Sabres winning is everything. I don't care about the scoreboard, the music, the food options, etc. - I just want to see a winning team on the ice. You and I likely agree on that. Pegula and Adams have run this once proud franchise into the ground. Whether they can recover it is highly in doubt.
So, as to the Sabres, we agree. I'm just addressing the questions raised in the original post.
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15 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:
Winning is all that matters.
I think you're missing the nuance. Winning matters if you are attending a game involving a team that you're a fan of. There's no disagreement there.
But if you're in Buffalo on a business trip, not from Buffalo, and maybe not even a hockey fan, but attending a Sabres game, does winning matter to you? Or are you more interested in a comfortable seat, the video board, the food options, etc.?
When I attend a Bills or Sabres game, it's all about winning. When I attend a Seattle Mariners vs. Detroit Tigers MLB game, I really don't care about winning. It's more about the overall experience.
If the survey is specifically targeted at Sabres season ticket holders and/or serious Sabres fans, then yes, winning is priority #1.
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This is an interesting topic. I have a mixed response. Having grown up in Buffalo, when it comes to the Bills and Sabres, it's all about the product on the field/ice. I don't care at all about the rest of the entertainment experience (provided I can do the simple things like get a beer or take a leak during the game without missing 30% of the game waiting in line). I always arrive prior to kickoff/puck drop and stay until the game is over, regardless of the score. Even in a blowout, it's interesting to me to see how the backup QB performs or if the rookie winger scores a goal.
That said, I have lived outside of Buffalo for quite some time now and have lived in big cities with most/all of the major pro sports teams. I have no interest in season tickets, but frequently come across tickets to games. For those games, I'm just as interested in the food, entertainment, music, betting, cheerleaders, and hanging out with the people I'm at the game with, etc. (or more) than the game itself. I have no problem arriving late or leaving early. For example, I went to an Arizona Cardinals-New Orleans Saints game. I really didn't care who won the game, but made a small internet wager on the game, just for fun. Whether I won my bet was more interesting to me than the game itself. Having a comfortable seat was important to me. If I'm at a Bills game, I hardly use the seat. I've been to NFL, NHL, NBA, and MLB games around the country and enjoy the event as a whole, but usually don't really care who wins. Every been to a mid-season NBA game? They're snoozers until the last 5 minutes. Or a MLB game before the pennant races start heating up? I find it hard to focus too much prior to the 8th or 9th inning.
Over the years, I've turned down many free NFL tickets (mostly Cardinals and Bears) so I could watch the Bills on TV. I'm just not invested in those teams, yet don't want to miss a minute of Bills action. The tailgate/pregame (and/or postgame) is often more interesting to me than the game itself.
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When Joki is on his game, he's better value than a 4th round pick. He seemed be playing better since the 4 Nations. I assume they were sitting him recently to keep him healthy for a potential trade. I suppose the Sabres wanted him off the roster, both as a player that doesn't fit what the team is trying to do and also as a salary dump, so they took what they could get. Better than nothing.
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20 minutes ago, Standing Room Smoking Cigs said:
No although the cost is high and could see Power is a price to pay, but he is still growing, his metrics are high. Byram and a kid a price to pay, maybe a pick also, but Power is a kid still, give him time, Remember the Sens and Isles gave up on Chara.
Didn't Victor Hedman, another highly drafted bigger defenseman, also have an up and down start to his career, before becoming one of the top D-men in the NHL?
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Here you go:
New GM: Lindy Ruff
New Coach: Seth Appert
New Star Player: Jordan Greenway
Some would call it promoting from within. Others would call it reshuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic. It's tough to be a Sabres fan these days.
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1 minute ago, Sidc3000 said:
It’s always a possibility that his family ties are stronger than his drive to win anything
Or maybe he's extremely driven to be a part of the solution....Sure the Sabres are a train wreck right now and have been for several years now, but it doesn't mean that every move that the team or a player on the team makes has to have a negative connotation.
Adams has not performed well overall, but the Greenway acquisition, and now extension are, in my opinion positive moves. The Sabres paid just a tiny bit above market, but locked up a solid veteran player who played well for Granato and for some reason, appears to be even better under Ruff. He's an excellent penalty killer and chips in a bit offensively, has great size, some grit, and reasonable middle-to-bottom 6 skill.
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Unless they have a handshake deal saying "I'll trade you to a contender so you have a shot at a Cup, but you'll re-sign with us next season," I don't see the point of trading the likes of Greenway and Zucker. The team needs veteran players who can play and lead and has a shortage of them. These two guys are among the few that they have. As many have stated above, the likelihood of a mid-round draft pick (or really any draft pick outside of the 1st and maybe 2nd round) making an impact at the NHL level is minimal. The Sabres already have plenty of draft picks and development prospects. They're better off waiting for the offseason to re-tool the roster and making player for player trades at that time. Contending teams looking to add for a playoff run are typically not giving up good players, they're dealing future assets (draft picks and prospects) for "now" assets. The Sabres don't need any more future assets.
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32 minutes ago, LTS said:
Matthew's decision to play had to be supported by the coach. Did they say that Kyle Connor was battling illness or did they just choose to scratch him and dress Kreider?
Meh. It's over. Time to move on.
I didn't follow it that closely, but I think that Connor was injured or sick. I agree that the decision on on Matthew (much easier than trying to spell that last name!) had to be supported by the coach, but only the player can truly evaluate his own body, pain tolerance, etc.
I agree that's it time to move on. I didn't have much interest in the tournament to begin with. It really is a manufactured product versus an authentic best-on-best. As much as Russia deserves to be sanctioned as a country, not having Russian players (and stars from other countries) involved makes it such that it's not really best-on-best. Plus, the teams were only playing together for a few days before the tournament started, so in my opinion, it's a bunch of all-stars being thrown together at the last minute, versus a true team that's had time to develop as a unit and have chemistry. That said, the players took it seriously and played really hard, so it did turn out to be more entertaining than I thought it would.
I sometimes drift to the message board to procrastinate from doing my job, and this is the topic of the day, but time to get back to the grind...
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29 minutes ago, Mustache of God said:
That was fun that we got to watch Matthew tchachuk stapled to the bench, unable to play, instead of a healthy Tage.
I'm a big fan of the Tkachuk brothers and how they play the game, but Matthew's decision to play was a selfish one. A healthy Tage Thompson would have brought more to the lineup than a lame Matthew Tkachuk, who played less than half of a game when he knew that he was injured. The other way to look at it is that he gave it his best shot, putting Team USA ahead of his own personal health, but I don't think he was being honest with himself and the coaching staff.
In a game like last night's where the margin between the two teams was razor-thin, losing a player for more than half of the game (and he wasn't close to 100% when he was in there) could have impacted the outcome. Given the opportunity to play and show why he belonged, Thompson would have hit the ice like his pants were on fire.
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It's not likely that Tage will play, but if he did, I think he'd be an asset to Team USA. When Tage plays with intensity, he's a great offensive player and he has one of the best shots in the league. His combination of size and skill is hard for defenders to deal with. The biggest issue with him on the Sabres is that his effort is inconsistent. Put into a championship game, playing for his country, with all of the accomplished veterans that are on the USA squad, there's no way Thompson would float around the ice. He'd go full-tilt, hustle back on defense (if asked to do it) and would contribute. The Sabres lack the type of environment (meaningful games, influential high-end veterans, etc.) that would bring out the best in Thompson. Eichel lacked that in Buffalo, and like Thompson, was the best player on the ice at times, particularly offensively, but also floated and didn't backcheck. Those problems are non-existent for Eichel in Vegas and on Team USA, where he plays a complete game and has been lauded for it.
Obviously, I don't want to see any USA forwards injured or ill, but as a Sabres fan, I'd certainly like to see Thompson get on the ice tonight.
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The article is a bit odd. The title indicates that both teams regret the trade, then goes on to say how poorly Mittlestadt has been while then saying how good Byram has been. The author does more or less indicate that it's odd that the Sabres would have regret, given how well Byram has played.
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I'm bummed out/disappointed that the Sabres suck, but it doesn't really impact my life that much. For me, it's a little bit more than entertainment, as I played hockey and grew up attending and watching Sabres games (with my father, grandfather, brothers, and friends), so there are some sentimental ties to the team that I wouldn't have to an actor or movie, but I still enjoy my life, my job, and my family and just accept that my favorite hockey team is terrible.
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3 hours ago, Stoner said:
FWIW Adams insisted this is the staff Lindy wanted. It was portrayed as Lindy wanting to see how it would work.
I wonder what Lindy thinks about it now....
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4 hours ago, mjd1001 said:
Everyone is different. Yes, there are some guys that want year round warm weather, clubs, a nice downtown skyline to look at. But...thati s not for everyone.
If you put together a strong winning franchise, that will supercede most of the above for many players.
And then there are guys that just don't like the above. In my early 20's I left WNY, moved and lived in Boston and for years in Florida. We are back in WNY and when my relatives talk about living in Florida as a 'paradise', I'm like WTH are you talking about, its awful.
Everyone is different. Some love those things, and thats fine. But don't make the mistake of thinking everyone does, its not true....maybe more guys, espeically the younger ones want Vegas, Miami, New York.....but not everyone. But if you put together a winning team, most of those worries will fade.
I agree with what you are saying. In my post, I said that Buffalo is a great place to live "for a lot of people." I did not say it was a great place to live "for all people" or "for everyone." I also went on to say why some NHL players might like playing in Buffalo based on where they are from or where they are in life.
The quote in the article was one NHL player saying that other NHL players love playing in Buffalo, so for those that do love it, I was speculating as to why.
But, yes, in sports, winning tops everything else.
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Buffalo is a great place to live for a lot of people. Most hockey players come from northern US states, northern parts of Europe, or Canada. Buffalo being a smaller US market has a similar feel to where many of these guys grew up, so they feel comfortable. Southern Ontario is very close by, and Quebec not far, so it's close to home for these guys and it's easy for their families to come and see them play. The winter weather is familiar, so a non-issue (as it might be for NFL players).
Since Eichel's departure, most of the guys on the team seem like good guys, and Granato, Ruff, and Adams (and even Pegula too) seem to be good people who treat the players with dignity and respect. They have a nice locker room and with Harbor Center, great facilities. Regardless of why, the Sabres pay their players pretty well, overpaying for many. As stated above, being a small market, hockey is big and the players enjoy some level of celebrity that they may not have in other markets, and I'm sure this doesn't hurt for the single guys on the team. For the married guys/guys with families, it's a great community to raise a family. Great real estate is affordable and commutes are short.
For all of these reasons, I can see why players like to play in Buffalo.
The only thing that's an issue - and it's a big one - is the losing.
Aside from all that, the comments about Ruff are pretty sobering. I've always been a huge fan of his, both as a player and a coach, but I wasn't high on re-hiring him this time around. The game may have passed him by a bit. When seeing him in the bench, he just doesn't look as engaged/confident/in tune with the game has was in the past. The results so far seem to support this notion. That said, the 4-game winning streak is nice and let's see if they can build on it. Nobody would be happier than me if they can turn it around with Ruff at the helm.
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Maybe the success Kulich has had recently is behind the decision to give Rosen another look. It seemed like their development cycles have been tracking each other's the last few seasons.
For what it's worth, despite being picked several spots later in his draft that Rosen was in his draft, I've always thought Kulich was the better prospect.
And I agree with those above that unless there's an injury forcing Rosen to get called up to play, let the kid enjoy his All-Star experience and call him up in 3 days. If he ultimately sticks with the Sabres this season or next, Rosen is not likely to be seeing any more All-Star experiences in his career. If his NHL career pans out, he'll likely be a middle-six winger and those guys are not playing in All-Star games.
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I saw the game and have read the posts above and have several thoughts. For those who don't like long posts, the key points are in bold:
1. I buy into the notion that the other players on the ice may not have seen the hit. Based on what I saw, they looked confused after the whistle. It didn't look like they know what happened.
2. I'm not familiar with the Devils player who made the hit and whether he's a dirty player. I don't know what his intent was on the hit - intentionally dirty, clean aggressive hit, or accidental.
3. Regardless of #1 and #2, I still think the Sabres should have responded. If not on that shift (giving them the benefit of doubt that the guys on the ice didn't see it), then on an upcoming shift. Even if you don't go after the same guy, fight SOMEBODY. Not only send a message to the Devils, but also to the Sabres own team and own fans.
4. Sure, retaliation COULD HAVE cost the team the game. It doesn't matter. This team is very far out of the race. PLUS, the benefits of team chemistry and firing up the team/crowd likely outweighs the downsides of taking a penalty. If they retaliated, maybe the Sabres and Devils player both go off, with the Sabres getting an extra 2 minutes for instigating. Well worth it.
5. I did not think the hit on Kulich was dirty or intentional. The other player was Lazar and he wasn't even looking at Kulich. It was just two guys playing aggressive but clean hockey making contact near the board and Kulich fell awkwardly. I don't think that one warranted any kind of response.
6. I did not see or hear the press conference, but I understand why Ruff might have been sending mixed messages. Either he consciously told them not to retaliate and he's defending his decision, or he wanted the guys to retaliate and is pissed about it, but doesn't want to air that dirty laundry in the media. He may want to address it internally.
7. The season has been a failure so far, but have to give some kudos for 3 straight wins, including against decent competition. Better than running for the bus.
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22 hours ago, Pimlach said:
I don't think Terry Pegula is in the same category as Dan Synder. I think he is a decent man that is well intended. I just want more effort to find someone that has the leadership and the NHL hockey know-how to restore the franchise, just like he did with the Bills. The Sabres need a top down cleansing.
Until then I wont go to hockey games, and it pains me to have to do that.
While I'm not a big fan of fracking, I largely agree with the comment above. Snyder is a giant a-hole and the NFL couldn't wait to get rid of him. Pegula is a good guy who has done a great job with his football franchise and a lousy job with his hockey franchise. When he ultimately finds the right management team for the hockey team, that team will be fine. It's been a long wait and the wait continues, but he'll eventually get it right, even if by blind luck.
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18 hours ago, inkman said:
The gov’t is forcing Doug Allen to sing the Anthem at the Sabres game? A cruel and unusual form of punishment.
It's not that bad. He can sing and leave. He's not being forced to stay and watch the game.
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As usual, I'll replay the game with the sound on later tonight as I'm doing other things and will peek in if I hear there's a goal, power play, or fight. At this point, it's just not worth my time to actually sit down and watch with full attention. It's too bad, because I really enjoy watching hockey and really enjoy watching my team (the Sabres) in particular, but it's really just not very enjoyable right now.
Sabres announce qualifying offers
in The Aud Club
Posted · Edited by msw2112
Let's hope so. The guy played well last season and turned out to be a major piece of a big trade. If they let this guy walk, they are truly the imbeciles that we all believe them to be. And yes, Bryson continues to be a head scratcher. He's fine as a 7th-8th D-man and has played some decent minutes here and there, but there was no reason to lock him up when they did (early) and how they did (one way contract). I'd be OK with re-signing him at the price that they did AFTER the draft, free agency, etc. If they still needed a 7th-8th D-man at that time, he would have been fine. What was the hurry?