PerreaultForever

No doubt. After all these years I do watch with a very critical eye. Remember when they blew Toronto out? What did that amount to? Nothing. Win or lose I won't get excited until I see consistent effort.

Every year there are guys who fall due to some biases and they all get picked at a certain point when they fall far enough for a team to think it's worth the gamble. Benson is no different.

Well yes, I think they were lucky in both cases. I don't think watching Savoie mattered though. I think that's just your conjecture. Sabres do not have a size bias like some teams (eg. Philly). Adams should have known their were goaltenders going to be waived. DiPietro was another candidate if not Ellis. The question now is what is he doing and why isn't he doing it? Decide already. If he's set on UPL then trade Lyon. Can't see Edmonton not taking a shot at him. Just make a decision. What is Adams doing anyway? Just lunching and golfing with Staal (who does what as well?)?

Well ya, because I think the Hawks were flat and floating. They felt screwed over by the refs the other night and I think they came in ill prepared and unmotivated. The fragility of youth if you like. So it didn't take much and Sabres had been yelled at so they came with their speed and there it is. Look, I have said this before. If you give the Sabres open ice they are as good as ANYBODY. They would be a cup finalist if the whole league played that way, but the reality is there's more to hockey than that and most teams don't play that way. This is where it falls apart. Calgary might be a garbage team but they are a grind team who play along the boards. Sabres lost to a crap Philly team last year exact same way. This movie is a rerun. I see the article on the top page how "Zucker drags them into the fight" and yes, that's true, but it also exemplifies the flaw in the whole plan. The lack of veteran leadership as a whole in the entire rebuild. It's a fundamental and fatal flaw in the Adams plan. Zucker isn't enough. I don't think things have changed here. I could be wrong, but it all looks the same to me.

I don't know what this means because every team makes their list of BPA and he would have been ranked as such on everybody's list. When the time comes teams deviate from that when they have guys who value size or grit or something they specifically want on their staff. I am sure Sabres had him ranked around 5 or 6 like many of the scouting people on the internet. They likely had another guy expected at their spot but when he fell they couldn't resist. It seems simple to me. If Östlund and Rosen become something I think you can say their drafting has been decent. Good even. Far from perfect, but good all the same. I'd have to look over every year's lists to see who they missed on (if anybody). I would rather have Beniers then Power at the moment but I can't fault them. I got that wrong too. I haven't given up on Power totally but I thought he would be better. He still just seems like a guy who doesn't care about hockey at all.

I don't think they played hard. I think it came easy and they enjoyed it. It's good they took advantage of the moment but it didn't require a whole lot of effort. Win the next 3 or 4 and you might be able to say something real about them.

Exactly. This is what they do every year. A big scoring outburst game after a crap effort and then they sink back into their normal soft lethargy. They might win a few but the cycle will repeat because the team is built on a flawed idea and culture. I see nothing different here.

No, I expected a win as I said. I'm just not about to break something jumping on and off the bandwagon. A beer league team could have beaten Chicago tonight. they were horrible.

I think he slid because he's small and teams didn't think he would have the same effectiveness playing against the big boys.

I'm not surprised by this. It's happened many times before. A complete garbage game, coach yells at them, they win the next one big. I really didn't think they played all that well though. It was a wide open game and they love those always. Zero physicality, no D anywhere and Chicago coming off a demoralizing controversial loss. If you get excited by this you are a fool. Nothing has changed with this team. Starting UPL also tells me this team is not serious about winning this year. They are still showcasing/deciding and they don't have a clue on what they are doing with the goaltending. But hey, lots of goals, win better than a loss. So enjoy it while you can.

I think part of this comes from less reliance on the old time actual scouts. Guys who went around to the rinks. They talked to the coaches, the parents, people watching. The kids themselves. They got to know the families and their stories. How they worked. Their character. They got to know and see things that don't always show up on video. They still do some of that but not as much. Benson is clearly a character guy with a work ethic. If I'm tearing this down to the studs (again) he'd be one of the few I'd actually keep. Maybe the only one. Well that's true but I really see no correlation with Savoie other than the fact both were smaller and so both fell below their ranking. otherwise they have nothing in common.

Benson was ranked as high as 5. He fell because of his size. They lucked out. It happens all the time with smaller guys who end up being good. The best way to evaluate it is to look at who was drafted after him. Nobody there in the first round stands out as a missed opportunity. Benson was the best pick at that spot. No question. I don't think that's genius on the Sabres part though. Just luck.

I actually think Hamilton's comment was spot on. "Terry must be okay with it".

There's an old story about Rick Dudley that sticks with me (and no I do not remember the source) from like 20 maybe 30 years ago. He's watching a junior allstar game (I think the old Don Cherry one) and he points to three different guys (not the main stars) and says that guy, that guy and that guy, they all have it. All 3 went on to star NHL careers. I know, it's folksy, but it showed to me that he gets it. He knows what it takes and can identify it. I think he's had a hand in shaping Florida. It fits. The culture is strong there. We need a culture overhaul. Oh I am 100% sure Terry wouldn't like it. Terry has to step away. Dudley is very connected. Dudley gets it. Dudley gives you the short list of candidates. It'll never happen, but it would work. It would all change.

That's a very valid point that goes to the core of the problem. Similar to what Hamilton said on the podcast. Terry must be okay with how things are (or else he would do something). They're fine with it. Nobody cares. They just enjoy their fat pay days and relax. They don't hate to lose.

I suppose so. I just feel the whole thing needs a severe shock to the system. That may make it worse before it's better but this path will lead nowhere different from where it's been. Really won't matter who gets hired though if it's still terry's vision, Terry's choices/favorites, Terry's idea of what type of hockey (and type of players) and so forth. new management needs autonomy and I don't think terry will give that.

Games like this make me want to hire Tortorella to bag skate them into submission, subtract half the roster and create enough chaos to build something new out of. I know I know, dinosaur, over the hill, not the guy we want. I don't care. I just want to hire him to punish these guys. They deserve it.

I've said it before and will keep saying it until they do something else. Hire Rick Dudley as Senior Advisor. Give him free reign to hire/fire everyone else.

Problem is I don't think moving Tuch for a prospect does anything to help this team. It'll just further the narrative of being a farm team for the league and players all want out. You going to tell Dahlin to wait another year or two? I think you need multiple trades and a roster overhaul. Change the direction. Moving Tuch in a larger package or a roster reshaping for next year is a better sell to everyone.

They don't battle. They don't seem to care. They accept losing too easily. I hate to say it but it is just like Shorsey. "they don't hate to lose". In all these years they have had a broken culture and they do not fix it. They just think it will fix itself and it doesn't. Fine and dandy for guys like Tage to say they took them lightly but where was he? What was his mantra? I did the work with Detroit so it's your turn tonight? Was that it? It has to be every game. Every shift. Every loose puck. It just never is. Lazy stupid team.

This is how the Sabres slowly kill their fans little by little. Every year we get that tiny glimmer of hope where they look like they might be becoming something and then they deliver an absolute turd of a game like this one. The most winnable game on the schedule. Bottom feeder team tired on a long road trip should be easy pickings but Sabres have no fight, lose every puck battle, play shoddy D as usual and even quit on home ice with 20 seconds remaining. Disgusting effort all around. Usual suspects all garbage. Timmons really turning into garbage now too. There is absolutely nothing positive you can say about this game. Just pure absolute trash. Games like this (and we get them every year and more than once) make me hate this team and want EVERYBODY fired and EVERYBODY gone.

Well if he doesn't earn it he doesn't earn it. He could end up being the Sabres waiver version of Ellis as I believe next year he is not exempt.

He certainly does doesn't he? I don't really like it. I think it risks an injury or burn out on any goalie. Very few teams nowadays run one goalie multiple games in a row like that. I also think it doesn't do right by the goalies in question. There's too many goalies. Time to s@@t or get off the pot. Stop procrastinating cause you don't know what to do Kevyn. They don't fix this Levi will want out for sure. UPL obviously will be unhappy and Lyon might start to get unhappy too. Yes, that tracks. UPL also has a habit of letting in soft ones at inopportune times. game killers. He's unreliable. It should be Ellis-Lyon 60-40 split in games with Levi pushing for a real shot next year and then Georgiev as an injury insurance policy for the season at best. That's it. It's not that complicated. Adams is the only GM in the league that can turn a waiver gift like Ellis into a complicated mess and controversy where nobody will be happy. I would have started Lyon tonight and then back to Ellis on Friday. Calgary is a dumpster fire but watch out for the Johnny Beecher hat trick 🙂

No. Don't assign motives to me that are false. What I want is to not lose the season. Somehow they aren't out of it yet despite the lost and blown games. Make the team better to compete and don't worry so much about trades and who gets whatever. get some D help. I also want to stabilize the goaltending and do right by the guys we go with. As such I'm not even complaining if he traded UPL for "future considerations". I think he can make a better trade but I really don't care. Ellis is better.