PerreaultForever

Well we maybe should have been but as it turned out we were not "close" at all. I think it was the first year for a lottery and also the first year some people claimed it was "fixed". Crosby after Lemieux just didn't seem fair.

Penguinos not going down without a fight.

That was a textbook example of how the Sabres think they can win on a regular basis. When it works it works and looks good. I thought the caps would be better, thought they'd be more physical. Maybe this playoff run is wearing them down idk, but they had no answer for the speed of the Sabres tonight. Games like this will just serve to convince Adams he is on the right track and thus nothing will change. Lot of posts and crossbars on both sides. Winning is better than losing.

Just the physical guys. No more small speedy playmakers, we have a cupboard full of them already. Maybe the big goalie. He could be an interesting project.

Nah, neither things are real. Nylander could always shoot and skate, he just doesn't compete. He's just having a run on a loose open nothing to lose team. It'll crash again. He's of no consequence. As for the Leafs, wait for the playoffs. That D will crumble.

So what do we get tonight? Playoff style game or have they quit on the season? Washington one would assume will bring it but will the Sabres? idk. They are kinda slow, but they clog up the middle really well and their shutdown style is more playoff oriented. Oshie is apparently out so there's that. But, it might be time to change the video.

This is absolutely correct. This team has played garbage defense (or no defense) for so long they will need a tough coach and an extended training camp to even get close to where they need to be to win. It might break some of them. If this ever happens there's a possibility some of them won't take it well and what happens then is key to the future success of the franchise.

Oh wow that article on the lead in page was scathing. Brutal truths. https://www.niagara-gazette.com/sports/sabato-terry-pegula-remains-silent-as-sabres-arena-continue-to-decay/article_67f586da-f065-11ee-9367-4f626955fa3f.html

The other thought I had about this is if he thinks the Flyers were soft, what would he consider the Sabres???

Torts not a happy man. We are their next game. If they respond to this we are in for a war. If they've turned on Torts it'll be an easy win. EJ is horrible, but that new goalie is pretty good.

Ya, height usually comes first and males stretch like bean poles sometimes. Muscle can be added at any age although it obviously gets harder as you get older. Chest size, shoulders, all that strength stuff continues into the early 20s if you do the work. I know when I was young I was a tall skinny guy ending high school but then I worked out a lot in the 19-23 or so years and only then got a more broad shouldered more solid build. I think that's pretty typical. Now back to Benson, he's obviously not tall, but he's got a firmer squat build for his size than some of our other young guys. If he keeps working out, doing weights and all that I can see him being a very compact and powerful player. Harder to check and knock down than a Cozens type who are more lean and thin. If we are lucky he'll get mean and turn into a Fleury type. If not a Briere type will be just fine.

Thanks for looking into all that for the Byram Montour comparison. I think it actually validates my point that Adams is just doing what JBots already did and there's no progress. We just gave Mitts away. If the team was not a garbage dumpster fire we'd still have Montour, wouldn't need Byram, so we'd still have Mitts and we'd be a better team. This is an example of why we just don't get any better. One piece in, one piece out, one hole filled, another hole created. It's a constant cycle. As for the deals he tried to make, who knows. Making a few phone calls leads to a rumor and I'm sure he's always looking for new parts but how serious any of those talks are is just speculation. We can only measure him by what he actually gets done.

Which is exactly the same as Philly with their "subtractions." Hayes was an allstar for them but Torts said he had to go, he went, and they are better.

Add height? You going to have them put him on the rack?

Do you have any facts to back this up or is it just speculative based on what you hoped he would do? I mean you can say something like "he wanted Pesce" but Pesce had a NMC for Buffalo which may be true, but if he was actually available did any GM NOT want Pesce? Rumor he wanted him probably based on a phone call with no further discussion. The only thing that seems fairly probable is what he did try to trade for Chychrun but as far as I know the rest is just rumors. I'm not sure Byram has all this upside people think and that's because of his size. There's no question he can skate and move the puck, but I really don't see him becoming a real solid D man, he's just not big enough for that. He's a fine addition to the team he came into but I'd challenge you to prove to me that he's actually better than Montour.

To the question it depends. Is it a contract year?

Can we trade Skinner to a French team? (or maybe a pretend French team?)

So true. He looked absolutely dreadful on that and you can see he does not have the size and/or physicality to handle hard play in tight. few of our D do. I said this in another thread but I think it's worth stressing. If you look at Adams building a team he "filled a need at D" with a fast puck moving D man but that's exactly the same move JBots made when he got Montour and he's basically the same guy. In fact, Montour is a lot tougher and might be the better of the two. When Montour got here he wanted to be here (being from Ontario) until the losing kicked in and he was poorly coached and the D system sucks and his game was garbage so he goes to Florida where they have proper structure and good coaching and he's a star for their D. Byram is just Montour V2 and so in terms of building this team if you look at the whole time line, Adams has simply given away Mitts. We have not progressed here.

In fairness they traded away Walker and Seeler is hurt as well as old injuries for Risto and Drysdale. They were getting pretty thin back there so I think EJ is just a stop gap filler for the moment. They are trying to do a tricky balancing act between now and future with that Walker trade. He was really good for them this year. I'm curious to see this 6'8" Russian goalie they got though. Guy is huge.

Hasn't been the same player since he got damaged in that fight. Same for Cozens and his. I wouldn't say they play scared, but they definitely play smaller. I truly believe that what happens with this team is guys like that look around and say to themselves why am I taking the physical toll when nobody else is? Nobody's got my back why should I have theirs? This is the mindset that sets in with this team. It's a mistake in team building and the losing culture is infectious, especially when it's a low expectation pampered locker room anyway. Laziness and relaxed easy living sets in. If it was any of us, we'd be exactly the same.

UNLESS you want to start winning now and not a year from now. UNLESS you want to change the character of this team now before young players give up and want out. The clock is ticking to another Eichel wants out scenario. We don't spend to the cap anyway, one extra year of 2.4 is not huge. The biggest part of the money will be gone when we need cap room for Benson or whoever. Do it NOW. Ship him off to wherever it was they sent Moulson.

I just want Skinner gone. That's it. Jost, Girgs, Olofsson who cares, not relevant, should be upgraded, should be waived, they are all non entities to me with no value. Robinson, Krebs, Bryson, who cares? Pretty much the same marginal value. Just get rid of Skinner, upgrade the bottom end, and then all of these mutts become irrelevant. Now who is this Comrie guy? Never heard of him. Does he play for them?

The commonality here imo is that all 3 teams lack good coaching. Ottawa basically doesn't have a coach, ours is a college level guy and (although I know less about their details) Detroit's hasn't got them playing a good system either. Three up and coming rosters filled with top picks all failed because of the coaching. Vancouver on the other hand transitions into the next level because of good coaching. Philly and Nashville overachieve due to good coaching. There are other factors, but that's the biggest one imo.

Philly playing like they are intentionally trying to NOT make the playoffs.

It's not the individual players imo it's the (bad) system and the coaching along with the full immersion development plan. When you critique Power (still a kid) or Byram for that matter or any of the rest of the D stop and consider Brandon Montour. This team and this franchise f's players up and they almost all get worse when they come here and are better when they leave and get proper coaching.