PerreaultForever

You know the Sabres are like a flaming bag of poop left on my doorstep. I foolishly stepped on it, the fire's out, but I can't get the stink off my shoe.

Welcome to Pegula hockey. Lots of goals and next to nothing physical. Only problem is most of the goals get scored by the other team. This was beyond garbage. I watched the Bruins/Wild game first and that was a really good hockey game. Fights, hits, saves, scrambles. goals, right into OT. The difference between the two games was like night and day. This was SO BORING AND UNINSPIRED IT WAS RIDICULOUS. No pride, no effort, nothing. They should have loaned Benson to the World Junior team to let him go try and win something rather than hanging around this garbage learning to accept losing. It would have been good for his development to remember it does not have to be like this.

Oh well I was just talking about goalies in general but fair enough. Thing is, Comrie isn't anything anyone would want so it's a non issue.

I honestly can't believe this. If he was really looking for a goalie there were many opportunities over his tenure and he didn't make any big moves in that direction. To think he'd switch gears now and make a goalie move just doesn't seem likely to me. Common sense said they should have added a better veteran goalie than Comrie and most people here think he has done a poor job on goaltending but I think he will remain steadfast on his letting the kids grow together thing and that includes Levi and UPL as his goalies.

So the Sabres press announcement would be that they are very excited that this young group is only 2 games off last year's pace and has a vastly improved penalty kill. Trust the process.

Considering all the goalies who have moved around and switched teams through trades and various other deals over the last 3 years I'd say it was like rolling a pair of dice knowing they had to come up double sixes or you lose. I suppose we should be happy Murray didn't waive his no trade clause or Adam's goaltending botchery would have been even worse. As is, it's pretty bad though all the same.

You SURE about that? I doubt it.

Which is exactly what he always was. All those stats people who threw out diagrams and numbers claiming he was some sort of untapped gem were just blowing a lot of smoke and living in denial of the fact KA screwed up goaltending on this team and we all have to pray now that Levi and/or UPL will somehow rise up and save us.

He's made about 4 million dollars from being an NHL hockey player if I have the numbers right for doing basically nothing of value. More money than most people on this board will ever have. I feel absolutely nothing for Jacob.

Well sure, but you don't expect 4th liners to be "good" do you? You want them to not be a defensive liability, maybe chip in on the PK a little and have at least one guy in the unit who will stand up if/when teams take liberties with your talent. If they can disrupt and/or bang the opposition around a little, throw them off and get under their skin all the better, then they are a good 4th line. If they chip in offensively on occasion as well, then they are gold.

We still have Olofsson.

At 71 is Martin the oldest coach in NHL history? Who gets hired next, Don Cherry? He's only 89.

It's always been easier to fire the coach(es). The usual failed build/rebuild goes something like new GM, keeps coach and changes some key players but then fires that coach after a year to bring in his own guy, then fires that coach, maybe one more, then he gets fired, rinse and repeat until you get it right. GMs generally get 2-3 coaches before they get axed. Deconstructing a roster of players is always harder.

I think it's questionable and I do think he pulled up and didn't hit as hard as he could have but I can accept what you're saying as well. It's definitely on the line and maybe over it. He's not a repeat offender though and Lindgren was fine, just a little cut off the corner of his helmet. He played the rest of the game. So I think it looks worse than it was. No big deal. I still remember a league where hits like that were not only legal, but encouraged. They put in the automatic icing only because too many D men were being crunched face first into the boards as they went back to touch the puck. One of the things in today's game that leads to less and less hitting is now that anything on the numbers is considered illegal guys turn to the boards without fear and thus occasionally get crunched. Back in the day when I learned hockey we were coached to not fully turn to the boards to avoid that possibility. The game changes constantly and one thing always leads to another. Eventually it'll just be all non contact.

Well on this we agree. Murray did go too far, made poor choices, and also drafted poorly with the picks he had. You do need both and I've also said Adams has to use some of his prospect capital now as tradeable assets. Not ALL of it, but some of it. He does not seem to concur and it is a mistake. So yes, coaching has been a problem and management has been inadequate and that's the case right back through this entire Pegula era, which is why I have also said that's the real problem.

Not even close to what I said. The bottom of the roster has been a disaster last year and this year. In contrast you take Philly, who everyone said would be much worse than us but they aren't, and they built one of the best 4th lines in hockey by signing DesLauriers (yes, maybe an overpay but still signed and a last off the ice leader type), I think Poehling was a waiver pick up or in their system not sure, and signed Hathaway for reasonable money. Built a line fans love and it starts most of their games and often gives teams fits playing against them. KA re-signed Kyle and Girgs woo-hoo. Get the point ? I only mentioned Fasching because I noticed he has regular NYI minutes and they are better than us right now too. Carrier obviously stuck in Vegas, So, doesn't have to be those names. Could have signed Perron or others but he didn't. That's the point. If you believe the construction of this roster (particularly the bottom 6) is correct and a good plan well good for you keep believing and attacking other posters who disagree. But you are wrong.

Come on man, it wasn't very hard and it was off the shoulder. He shouldn't have followed through and he made contact so it's the 5 and a game and that's fair but if you're thinking suspension go watch figure skating.

Thriving in their respective roles. They are all bottom end guys but they all play with effort and character, which is what a lot of people keep pointing out we are missing, that's all I was saying. Yes, they are easily replaced.............but oh wait, KA didn't feel that sort of player was valuable or he couldn't get them to come but whatever the reason they were NOT REPLACED. (Robinson seems about the same as Fasching so that'd be pin step one in the right direction) As for the pipeline, he had the picks and he traded the picks for those key pieces and veterans. The point was, it's not all one or the other but it's hard to do all things at once. If you think KA is right and it should be all pipeline first and add veterans later good for you. I disagree and the results so far do as well.

It's not as simple as to reduce it down to tanking and drafting vs. signing vets. and so on. Now to be clear I'm not addressing this specifically to your comment but to the whole thread and conversation. Everything is connected and it's not about just drafting, or just signing, it's about who you draft and who you sign. TM did what a lot of people now want KA to do. It failed miserably but think about it. We've had lots of talk about goalies here. He traded a first for a top goalie prospect. Guy turned out to be a psycho but the idea was sound. He brought in a power forward goal scorer to play beside Eichel and a hard hitting physical D man with the Winnipeg trade. He already had his 2 way 2C in ROR. Added DesLauriers, Carrier and Fasching as your bottom end toughness guys. All 3 of whom are still in the NHL and to some extent thriving by the way. Lots of the pieces were there and in theory that should have worked right? Why didn't it? Bad coaching, bad locker room, disunity, and then horrible drafting with the picks that remained. You can go through every GM/coach combo and think the plan SHOULD have worked but it never does. Now the plan has been almost all draft picks. A lot of talent. But no leadership and again it has to fall on the coaching and the culture. "Hard to play against" is how you start any successful rebuild. That's how Vegas started. That's Philly with Torts now. Not once in the last decade I have I heard anyone say the "Sabres are hard to play against". To me, that's where it starts and ends.

That's the problem Punch, no rings for the Sabres.

The list of mistakes is long. Really long, but there is one repetitive constant. No experienced hockey guy in charge of the operation. List of inexperienced or limited NHL experience coaches and green GMs. The constant failure has made the franchise a no trade list priority and so they are stuck with drafted rookies and very little leadership. This produces limited accountability and a losing culture. The problem, is Pegula.

I hear you, but are we really asking the 18 year old to lead the rest of them? wtf is wrong with them if that's necessary.

Skinner doesn't know what a 200 ft game is and doesn't care.

Dubas must be killing himself tonight.

Another relatively soft and uninspired effort after a good one, that pretty much tracks for this team. They are lazy and spoiled and have no inherent work ethic in them at all. Philly just knocked Detroit off 1-0 on the same night. Points in 8 straight games. Low skill and very very hard work. Coaching does matter. This was a real nothing game. Like nothing much happened. They play shut down and we do not drive/work through it. over as soon as it starts. I don't know how many of you have noticed this but watch for it if you haven't. I watch a lot of the games on a delay/replay so I've noticed it for years but on almost all nights Sabres games are much shorter than other games in terms of total real time. A lot shorter. Because less happens. The old "low event" hockey. Lots of skating around, lots of moving around the edges, very little activity in the dirty areas. It's nothing hockey. I found myself raising an eyebrow when Thompson had a little shoving match and Dan said words to the effect of "that's the last guy you want to have fighting" and I thought no, quite the contrary, that's what I think might turn this team around totally. Man is huge. His hands are huge. I remember a few years back he took on K. Miller and handled it okay. If he played with that type of edge all the time we might really have a team playing with that type of edge. I mean he's not scoring much anyway. So back to being garbage. One win out of three on a round trip will keep us in the forever top ten pick group of who cares anymore.