Pokey Jones

Just reading this roster, which isn't all that good, less than 4 million below the cap - that will be a problem too if they can't ditch something soon.

Time to get back to actual predictions................ I joined this board when they fired Murray. I guess there's some silence policy when you first join but I was excited we were finally going the right way. Doubled that with Housley's hiring, was afraid they'd hire Sutter or some other dinosaur with old time thinking. Forgot I was on this board but was hugely optimistic about the possible turnaround. Then I remembered I was here and checked in. I have been slowly watching my optimism erode and now my fears that this will take longer than we want it to have more weight behind them than any blind optimism. I've seen bits of several teams in preseason, and sad to say they all looked way ahead of what we showed. Now its just preseason, but................ So, unless there is some miracle magical turnaround (fingers crossed) and it all suddenly falls together in the first month, I see us close to or dead last.

Easy there, I never said I didn't like Larsson. I figured him for 4th line center when this camp opened but his camp has been less than I thought it would be so all I was saying is it wouldn't surprise me if Housley didn't want him. There are 4th liners who have looked better. Maybe you didn't see that post, but earlier I said "if Moulson is in the opening night line up we definitely will not make the playoffs". Never said anything bad about Larsson. Biggest stiff/disappointment of this camp has been imo Pouliot. Absolute rubbish. As for Bailey, they gave him every chance, He didn't seize the opportunity.Not sure he has the drive or desire to ever take the step forward. If he doesn't this year, forget him. Not surprised about DesLaurier, Nolan is a 4th liner too, but he is faster and probably slightly more skilled. Fighters are a thing of the past. In general, they went for speed which is what I predicted from the start and will continue to be the case in the future.

This game simply looked too much like games from last year. Dull and boring and lacking effort in places. Listless is maybe the right word. If we hope to make the playoffs we have to beat teams like the islanders and we won't do it like this. Things I liked: Griffith plays solid hockey. He obviously learned some good D skills playing with the Bruins and he can skate, shows effort and looks like he wants to make the team. Definite 4th line imo and maybe even 3rd. Beaulieu looked really good in flashes and will be a solid D improvement over time. He takes chances though so ideally he needs a solid stay at home guy to play with. Nolan was one of our best players tonight. This makes me happy we got him, but also makes me wonder how bad we are if the guy the Kings cut stands out this much right away in our line up. He is a lock for the 4th line at least and a definite improvement. Things that bother me the most: Lehner still goes down too early and lumbers around in that position. The book on him is old and he isn't improving on his weaknesses. Easy to beat high stick side. Not going to be a top 10 goalie ever. This was close to our starting line up, and we were at home, and yet once again they lacked effort and desire. Not a good sign if this carries into real games. Lastly, Eichel. He gets a pass cause he has to, and maybe he just doesn't care about preseason but I'm not seeing a guy with fire in his eyes who wants to prove he's as good as McDavid or Matthews and wants to earn a top dollar contract. I see a guy with tons of talent going through the motions and biding his time. Lets just hope its a preseason thing. Bottom line, if this is what the regular season holds in store, we not only miss the playoffs, we will be near the bottom without even trying to tank.

Sometimes you guys really over value our roster from last year. Seem to forget how bad this team was. Of course you try to trade Larsson before waiving him - if you can. I'm sure the Kings tried to trade Nolan too but at this stage of the season most teams don't look to trade for 4th liners, they usually give their younger guys or minor leaguers a shot first. It just becomes a salary issue and nothing more. I think Larsson is probably on the roster, I just said it wouldn't shock me if he wasn't.

You can't compare players from one era to another. It's just not possible. Perrault was the greatest player the Sabres have ever had, he was dominant in his era. Bobby Orr was the greatest player in the league, he changed the game. The game has changed a lot more now. Fast guys who were too small or too soft can have allstar careers now. I dumped on Connolly in another thread but in today's game he'd excel. I loved old time hockey but it ain't coming back. To win today you need speed and so playing with speed is what I want our team to do.

I want to move on from it, cause it's talking about ancient history, but I have to say I am not 'trolling". Just honest opinions. I never liked Connolly and I thought that trade killed the team at the time and he was symbolic of everything that was wrong with the Sabres at that time. I stand by my opinion that he was a soft and a floater. Aside from the first Nolan era the Sabres have historically been a soft team overall and it has cost us in the past. Fortunately now, the league has changed and we shouldn't have to worry about that any more. Speed now. Speed and more speed and we are on the right path but we got a long way to go.

We'll see. Not long to wait now.

Excellent. Can I have an award? But let me ask you a question. This may seem random, but it's not. What did you say/think when Lucic bowled over Miller and nobody did anything? I'm curious.

Does anyone think Pouliot has actually played well enough for a spot on ANY line? Since they acquired him he might get one, but he certainly hasn't earned one.

BS. Connolly never went to the hard areas and rarely showed up in big games or in tough situations. That's a fact. Granted, in today's game he would probably be a much better player but that wasn't today's game and he has to be measured by the standards of his era. He was softer than soft. He defined soft. Peca was heart and soul and that trade was among the worst in team history. That move, and then the failure to pay either Briere or Drury created the negative legacy that this team has lived under for a long time. Over paying ROR and Okposo has perhaps helped remove that shadow a little, but I'm not sure it is completely gone yet. I feel sorry for him for all the concussions he got but if he hadn't been so soft, he wouldn't have been as targeted and he would have been able to take a check better. Today's game is different.

It's not impossible. I think they will try to make this team as different from last year's as possible and in the case of a tie they will pick a younger guy over an older guy. Larsson has not impressed in the preseason. I think Josefson may have won the center job for the 4th line. Honestly though, I don't think much of this matters. This is a thin team in terms of depth and the composition of the 4th line will be determined by what role Housley has in mind for it (i.e penalty killers, a crash line, a fast line, whatever) and how many minutes he plans to play them most nights.

Not saying Nolan replaces Bailey. Saying someone who might have been seen as 4th line bumps up and Nolan takes that spot. I think Larsson may also not make the final cut.

Connolly was an injury prone floater. That's all.

Enforcers are a thing of the past. They won't make a comeback.

Can I say Nolan or is it too late into camp for that?

I think Bailey might have lost his shot with Nolan coming on board. Unless Pouliot has played his way off the team, which is highly possible. Management often favours the guys they brought in though, at least initially, so maybe not.

I'm not sure that depiction of the Leafs rebuild is accurate. Sure they sucked for a long while but they didn't stockpile anything. The current rebuild comes after they ditch Burke. You take their reset and move forward with the trade of Kessel and Phaneuf (basically all their vets) and their tank to get Matthews and you compare it to our tank to get Eichel and forward from that. If you do that, its a simplistic argument, they win.

This could mean Des finds himself the 13th forward on this roster and only dresses if they think they have a need for extra muscle which won't be often. My own feeling is they just saw him out there and figured why not? Nolan is fast enough for Housley's system and tough enough for this new softer nhl to be about as physical as you want to go most of the time. Most of all, good work ethic and attitude and that is something maybe a little lacking with some of these guys that'll be going back to Rochester. They've had their chance to shine and most of them have shown a lot of not much. Attitude change is part of what this team needs.

The D pairings all come down to what Housley's thinking is. Will he have one pairing that gets tons of ice time or will he spread the talent (and lack of talent) around so there isn't a weak pairing. I have this feeling he believes more in rolling lines and pairings to keep people fresh and so at least for the first half of the year you won't see Scandella with Risto. I'm just guessing here though, can't tell from preseason.

I only saw the third period so my comments are based solely on that. Initially they looked brutal and outclassed but the effort level was much better in this game than the Leafs one. Beaulieu, terrible mistake on the Pitt goal. Johnson looks meh, Ullmark is better but it depends on how much Lehner will play. Josefson looked decent at times. Signs of life but the lines - if these are the lines - need more time together, they all seemed to lack chemistry. Jack has to be better.

There is one consistent element to the Leafs rebuild. All their young players are fast. Some of them are really fast. Speed is what the league is about now. Leafs got this before we got this. JBot/Housley get this but they have to work with what they have for now. Here's the disconnect. We, as fans, wanted a rebuild like Toronto got.We feel like we were supposed to be them. Most of us are tired of waiting and want playoffs now. For them however, this is year ONE of a new rebuild. They will impose their system, get the players they have who best fit that system and slowly remove the ones who don't. So unless a bunch of guys step up and "fit" (which at this point doesn't seem to be the case) you can expect a step (maybe a big one) backwards before moving forwards. Now MAYBE a change in philosophy is enough, like Cassidy in Boston who moved them from Julien's outdated ideas to the new nhl way and it can turn quicker, but I don't think we have the talent to do that, or maybe to say it better the RIGHT KIND OF TALENT to do that instantly. Hope I'm wrong on that, hope they surprise. My feeling however, is that we will take a big step backwards this year and the team we see at the end of the year will barely resemble the one that starts the year. I also firmly believe, however, that we are finally on the right track, we just have a longer way to go than we would like.

Nylander is really fast. Will the rest come together at some point who knows, but because of that speed I won't give up on him just yet.

Pommer WAS faster. Is he still? Dunno. Nylander is still the projected guy I think. Pommer would be a placeholder to allow the other lines to build continuity. Don't actually understand why so many Reinhart fans have given up on Nylander. Seems contradictory. Reinhart was rubbish when he first showed up here. Struggled big time and was sent back. Nylander doesn't seem to earn that same amount of patience. I think Nylander has (so far) shown some flaws, but he is really fast and you can't teach that at this level so I see more potential. I have not given up on him yet.

I'd agree with that, I think it will be Griffith at least to start.