PerreaultForever

Is that what it was? Blocked a shot off the foot sort of thing? Maybe broke a bone?

Oh well I don't think they have any hope of making it. There are more teams in the mix currently than expected before the season started. Before the season started we thought they'd be competing with Detroit, Ottawa. Montreal, maybe the Rags, Tampa or Columbus for a wild card. Teams like Boston and Pittsburgh were being counted out and in the McKenna sweepstakes. But look at the standings. You have to get ahead of the expected playoff teams like Florida, Toronto and Washington just to get back in the conversation and then you still need several others to fall. Did you see any of that Boston Montreal game? That was vintage Bruins Habs rivalry stuff and Sabres are nowhere near the level of intensity either of those teams brought. It was almost playoff hockey. Sabres could go on a 10 game win streak and still be on the outside.

Well to me Greenway isn't being much different than he was before. He's always had moments and then nothing. Most of them time he looks like a guy who is walking while everyone else is running. Just kind of lumbers along and occasionally runs into somebody. See, Quinn has zero physicality and Greenway has some physicality but does very little else, hence, smoosh them into one.

Weird game. Looked like it was over at 4-1 but the PK came through and Detroit made a pile of errors. Giveaways and shoddy D on both sides. Thompson with the physicality that would make him a true superstar if he would bring that every night. Nice to see how excited Ellis was with winning. That's a guy happy to be in the NHL and doesn't have the stink of losing on him yet. You have to like it. If we could somehow smoosh Quinn and Greenway into one player we'd have a very good one, but as is they both suck bad. Timmons looked pretty bad tonight as well. Hope that isn't going to continue. That assumes all the teams above them (in the playoffs) maintain their current pace. That won't happen either. Not likely.

I think he was at the LA Leafs game though. Saw a rumor Kings might be interested in Power. I think they played 6 or 7 decent games this year.

Flyers were looking for another D man so that rumor was a thing in the summer. Not sure now but their D isn't deep and they might still want a PP2 guy (with Drysdale as PP1). As an aside, it's early and a lot can change but right now Philly is in a wildcard spot and so it looks like the subtraction then culture first rebuild plan is doing better than the Sabres let the talent create the culture version. At least at the moment.

A lot of Flyers fans want him gone but I don't think Briere or Tocchet does. Having said that they want D so they'd probably find a deal that works around Samuelsson (for the lineage) or maybe Byram. Tippett isn't what Sabres need though. Not imo.

In fairness to the comment, he does acknowledge that this is a "hockey market". That is something that has to be remembered and maybe the league needs to think about and go talk to Terry. Destroying an actual hockey market takes a lot of work and he's frakking it good. He isn't used to the fans being critical because he doesn't relate to 15 years of futility in an actual hockey market and how much that hurts. This happens with every new guy they bring in. They only relate to their own time frames. I don't think any of them stop and think "oh my god, for that guy in the stands it's 15 years". Nobody in the organization takes ownership of that and so it continues.

I imagine a loss like that must be even more demoralizing than the usual losses. They had some puck luck, some PP activity, decent effort level and still no result. The quit has to come out in some of them for sure. Can't imagine at least some of them aren't thinking how the heck do I get out of here? Watching Rosen try to defend McKinnon behind the net was just comical. They won most of the key puck battles. Team is hopeless. So which Cowboy Junkies song is next? Cause Cheap Is How I Feel? The Things We Do To Each Other? Still Lost? Spiral Down? When The Bottom Fell Out? Misery? The ones I want are, All That Reckoning and then New Dawn Coming. But more likely, We will Never Get Out Of These Blues Alive.

Except, the outcome is a self fulfilling prophecy if you build a team around the continually injured and a bunch of kids. This is why it was easy to predict back in the summer. It may be slightly worse than expected but it's not unexpected. We have one outlier in Dahlin leave of absence. That could not have been predicted. Norris, Greenway, Zucker, are all players with continual injury history. Danforth is whatever as 4th liners are a dime a dozen. Kozak was the same. So you have injuries to Benson and Kulich. Every team is missing some guys. Tkachuks in Florida and Ottawa for example. Lindholm and Mittelstadt in Boston. Toronto might have just lost Matthews. Competition has injuries too. It's a lame but predictable excuse.

Oh I'm 100% in agreement with that. I'm just predicting what he will say, not agreeing with it. I wanted him gone last year. I never wanted him hired. I can't wait to see him go.

I guess that feeling was indigestion.

Does Kesselring hit or fight? I'm still waiting to see something from him. He just looks lethargic and awkward to me most of the time. Doan didn't hit any of his old buddies. Guess he still likes them. Remember when we were discussing getting Trouba for their cap dump plan?

The loser body language is back. The hung head acceptance. The lack of fight. Quitting on puck battles. The losing culture is setting back in (if it ever left). When that happens to most teams they usually fire their coach. Sabres? They probably just listen to Rob Ray nonsense.

Watching the Edmonton Philly game first intermission sportsnet guys named Sabres as the team most in need of a major trade or shake up. This is where they are. Could a Peterka hat trick tonight get Adams fired? We can only hope.

FFS I never care about this BS internet exactitude. People always find ways to critique others. Who literally gives a S##T. Doesn't matter what you said. Doesn't matter what I said. Sabres just suck and I blame Pegula above all else. That's ALL that matters. Glad to amuse though. Maybe you got some more here. Carry on.

Or they felt the hospitals in Sweden were better, and of course she likely has family there for her support. I would be pretty surprised if Dahlin was not a return to Sweden guy when he retires.

Whatever. The crux of the issue is Pegula has for the most part hired inexperienced people to run this franchise. Nitpicking. I'm basically going tank forward and they made Nolan a sacrificial lamb for the tank.

The NCAA thing is very valid. This is why McKenna is not exactly tearing it up this year as well.

I know, but you wait. Once Adams has a presser he will use injuries as the excuse. It'll be a veiled we can't blame injuries but............. sort of thing.

If the Bruins waive Aspirot claim him. Good, stable, boring and uninspiring stay at home D man who made virtually no mistakes in the games he played. Much better than Bryson and a reasonably good compliment to any of the puck movers.

Just call me Nostradamus. Told ya injuries would be this year's excuse before the season even started.

Matt Tkachuk. Only bigger. Definitely not Tuch. A little like Martone maybe. I know the skating critique and a lot of the bigger guys get that critique. It's an over rated stat imo. It's not like he's a bad skater, just not the best. Lots of guys who people said didn't skate well enough make it big. Look at Geekie on the Bruins. People said he'd never be more than a 4th liner due to poor skating. Last time I checked he was tied for most goals in the league. They adapt.

You think it was right to offer the coach of the year a one year probationary deal? Seriously? After that debacle they brought him in as a sacrificial lamb. He never had a chance. Murray had to trade away every goalie because he still won too many games. They did not do right by him at all.

Of course. You know my build would be very different to Terry's. McKenna is still the obvious top pick but he has struggled a little this year. Size might be a factor. More Hughes vibes than Celebrini. Maybe Bedard. I think it might take him a few years to make a real impact. Belchetz is probably going to go around 3 or 4. Top 5 anyway but that's where we might end up as Calgary looks pretty woeful. Lottery of course could change all that.