PerreaultForever

are you younger? I find in general the younger fans simply don't get the full level of frustration. They don't remember what it used to be. They just don't get it.

It's a nice idea, but this year I'm not expending much energy on potential free agents. I am pretty confident we will not be signing anyone above the Clifton level and that level is meh.

Strange comparison to Chara but I guess that's Bruins hate. Gallagher does push the envelope, but so do lots of players. We could use a few envelope pushers. When we were good we had them. It corelates. I think 5 games was right.

Let's see, more or less than others...........so less: Skinner. Can't stand him. Wish he was gone. I imagine I'm the biggest Skinner hater on the board. Dahlin. I don't hate him, but his defensive game is lacking at times and he is not worth the worship/love he gets here. Thompson. His lack of physicality constantly annoys me. On the other side, Cozens. I still believe with the right coaching he can be saved. I could be wrong. Greenway. See above. Clifton. The expectation was too high and the surrounding cast/D partner bring out his flaws. He can be a solid bottom pairing guy in the right system. If I had to pick a favourite player this season it's Peterka. He gets a lot of love though so there's no more or less involved, just saying for the sake of.

Is Gallagher a repeat offender? If he is, 5 games is too light. If it's his first major offense like that then it's pretty reasonable.

Well I'm going to disagree. We have size in terms of body size but they don't use it. Even a giant like Thompson rarely hits anybody. You think a coach can fix this, I'm not so sure. Yes, a few of them might be fixable, but I think quite a few of them are just what you see and won't be anything else. The problem with guys like Krebs is there's nobody backing them up. Krebs has fought, but he's mostly bark and no bite. Skinner? Skinner is no threat to anybody. If Krebs was on a line with a DesLauriers type he'd be just fine in that role, but he's not. Ultimately though it's an impossible argument to prove until we get a good coach in here and then he either benches players and they get moved out or they respond to the message. Until that happens we have a divide on whether or not the "talent" actually has the character or they just don't.

If the implied suggestion is that Pegula will not pay for free agents because of the Ehrhoff mistake it's clearly false as we signed Hall and Skinner to big money deals. Arguably both mistakes, but the money was spent. If they shifted to not signing any more big money deals voluntarily it's because of those deals and not Ehrhoff. If the implication is some sort of German voodoo curse, JJ Peterka should have cancelled it. If not, I guess our next coach has to be Uwe Krupp.

Yes, this all sort of comes together. We need more people with Benson's aggressive drive and effort (along with his skills and hockey sense) and the speed is always good, but we do not need more little skill guys and goal scorers. No more soft Euro prospects for now. We need size, grit, 2 way ability, leadership qualities and even some more fighters and rats. AND more goalies in the system because we do not have THE goalie yet,

I'm not going to argue further than this but you suggested certain people should leave. ANYONE who suggests someone should leave, needs to be told.

Well okay fair enough. I suppose I'm always locked on building playoff sustainability and not just some squeak in fluke early playoff exit thing. If we'd have somehow gotten in and one point over Florida I'd have bet anything we'd have been swept 4 straight (5 with some lucky game goalie thing) and the Bruins would have maybe won a cup (or at least been in the final with Vegas). So the Bruins haters here should probably feel good about that 🙂 Most of the off season talk around here was how Levi would save everything and be Patrick Roy. Lots of instant Levi believers here and I think KA was one of them. Folly.

That whole "one point out" argument has many flaws I hope you realize that. Part of it's presumption is of course, that all the teams around us stay the same or get worse. They don't.

Kostin is clearly a few cards short of a full deck. Why would anyone voluntarily take their helmet off against DesLauriers? https://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/n268773

Yes. we're not "real fans" ffs

So you are still a believer?

BUT in 13 years they haven't done it. That takes some massive incompetence.

There is no evidence, BUT we all know they only hire inexperienced guys (in terms of NHL coaching) and we all assume Peca will make them play like Peca. Honestly, can't be worse than it is.

To the question yes, it was a horrible off season with only one idea and that was these kids will grow into a force as is. Stay the course and that's it. To the bold, I hated that more than anything this year and have said so. Big mistake. I was a huge Peca fan back when he was a Sabre player and was gutted by the way he left the team. Devastating. Peca was a true leader, a real captain, and he played 100% the "right way" as they say. If we had a Peca captain on this team I am sure things would be different so having a Peca coach was the next best thing. I suspect, however, that Peca's philosophy does not mesh with Granato's philosophy and Granato didn't want him as an assistant and since Granato is Adams' guy that was that. My dream hope is that Brind'Amour will in fact be available come season end, Adams will hire him and maybe we also bring back Peca as his main assistant. Pipe dream.

Well yes, ultimately we're left with the question, is KA completely incompetent, or are his hands so tied and he's so limited by how few people will come here that basically no GM could do the job. Either way we are screwed and ultimately the fault lies with Pegula for letting this franchise grind down into a bottom feeder. It was a prime destination once upon a time being so close to the border and the big Ontario hockey markets.

Well ya, I think that part of the equation is inevitable but it might take a LOT of money and some guys in their prime might just not be interested, even if they get more from the Sabres.

That was definitely a balanced roster. Old and young and it had role players as well. Sadly, there is one possibility that no one wants to think about. It is POSSIBLE that in this era where players have lots of NTCs and get to express their wishes more and control their own destinies, we have been bad for so long it truly is the case that basically NO ONE wants to come to Buffalo and so he offers and tries but there's just no options and no takers. So the only guys he can get are over paying a guy like Clifton over 3 times what he was making (an offer too good to refuse so to speak) or an old guy nobody wants any more who decides to take a fat payday for his retirement fund. It's not something anyone here wants to believe is a reality, but it just might be.

Clague was on it. Lots of current NHL guys on it, but presumably not all involved or even there. I believe they are saying one drunken woman went up to the room and had consensual sex with one player. After that 7 or 8 players(not sure if they are counting the original guy) came into the room and then some things happened that went into the rape scenario. She was too drunk to leave or resist but did not consent to any of what went on after. If that is in fact how it went they are all guilty, but the original guy is the lowest of the low imo since he allowed the other players in and basically passed the poor girl on like a plaything. Truly revolting. full roster: https://www.hockeycanada.ca/en-ca/team-canada/men/junior/2017-18/world-championship/stats/team-rosters?teamid=175

Well I can't be sure on Skinner's influence, but you can look at how Carolina wanted him out, how he clashed with Kreuger (yes I know he was a bad coach but there was still the issue of Skinner being uncoachable) and how on the ice he clearly does whatever he wants to and is out of position all the time. It's hard to have a structured system if you have guys just doing what they want and maybe, just maybe other guys look at him and think "well he's not doing it why should I?" idk, longest non playoff streak in the NHL for a player. You can argue it's just bad luck for him but maybe he's part of the reason for it too.

"Drew Doughty believes selfishness has crept into the dressing room over the past month, saying players “started thinking [Wednesday] was a cookie night, and we stopped playing the way we know how to play” after going up 3-1 at 9:44 of the first period against Buffalo." (from NHL.com) That makes sense. Sabres in town. Cookie night.

This is amusing to me that you still think VO would command the most interest on a deadline deal. The only way I see VO being moved is if a team like San Jose strips away so much of their roster they need bodies to finish out the season. Playoff teams will have absolutely zero interest in VO. EJ will get us the most (unless we deal Okposo) simply because veteran depth D men are in demand at deadlines and he's a cup winner.

I seem to remember Hart being in the rumor mill about this issue way back when it started. Those "indefinite leaves" did sort of pop out of nowhere suddenly so a connection here is likely.