PerreaultForever

I think in some ways that is very true. We have players with great talent but we do not develop them into complete players that maximize their abilities the way the Bruins (and other teams) do. All you have to do is look at the players that leave being better than they were here (Reinhart NHL star of the week last week I believe for example) to see that the problem is deeply rooted and isn't about the players. Coaching matters. Culture matters. Just look how Tochet flipped Vancouver. Coaching matters. Accountability matters. In Buffalo it's about having fun, playing your game and scoring goals. In other places like Boston it's about winning and working hard to improve even when you are winning. Everyone is united and accountable. As Johnson alluded to games ago, until this team realizes you need to play a complete 2 way game to succeed in this league it'll never change. So to your point, it's never just about talent.

I remember we all begged for this back when he was struggling (before he went down to Rochester) and it never happened and it never will. He's just not that guy. IF he used that body to hit people and drive the net and so on he'd be one of the most dominant players in the league but it's just not who he is and I don't see it ever happening. He's effective as that long reach, control space, snap the shot from 10 feet away guy but expecting him to become anything else is unlikely. The PK thing is an interesting problem as I get the logic. Teams use big D with long reach usually. Put your big forward with long reach out there makes sense, Also have the possibility of a quick break counter attack shorty. But I'm not sure they have spent much time on the ins and outs of how to be a good defender and minimize your risks of injury. Defenders do tend to get banged up, it's the nature of the job, but there are ways to play to minimize the risks.

Hi Kev. Excuses excuses excuses. "give our boys the space and time" lmfao You got the "boys" part right.

My guess would be he looks to sign a 1 year deal with a contender and then MAYBE signs a 2-3 year deal with Buffalo for next season or not at all. After we crash and burn the rest of this season he can be part of the optimism for the next year. It fits with Buffalo Sabres thinking. It's always NEXT year.

Yes, like the comment from @Marvin the emphasis has been on goal scoring ability and mobility for the wrist area so the protection suffered. Perhaps some time learning defense and how to block shots properly before making the big guy with long reach your PK guy was in order. Maybe a fluke/accident but blocking a shot with your wrist is a bad bad idea. You should be drawing your arm/wrist towards your own body not away from it. It's going to give them (and some people here) a lovely excuse argument though to deflect blame from where it really belongs.

As I said, "as bad as they are in other ways" but the point was unlike Ray and Dan they do critique bad play on the Bruins. One could argue that accountability is part of that organization's mindset and thus their announcers are expected to hold the team accountable as well. This differs from the Sabres. The Sabres seem to have a forgiving mentality with an eternal idea that tomorrow will be better than today. I had no issue with the Cozens comment though. Boston folks tend to enjoy hockey fights and Hathaway was on the Bruins last year. They didn't mock him just stated what happened. They also had no issue with Dahlin's backwards hit on Marchand but the Bruins will stand up for each other, even if Marchand does the very same thing to someone else next game. It's just the way it is there. Ponder it if you like.

Yes, I thought using the words "frakkin' and well" spelled that out with a little dark humorous word play but yes, TP. He doesn't understand hockey and his vision of what this team should be and do has always been out of whack. Thus he hires inexperienced people willing to say "yes" to him. After all these years I still want Rick Dudley hired to slap some sense into all of them. (Yes he's old, but I bet he could still knock out half the guys on this roster and the other half would just pee themselves from his stare, and that includes coaches and management) And as long as TP is owner I know nothing like that will ever happen.

Sabres are caught in a Mobius loop. No matter which direction they take, they end up in the same place. There is only one constant through all of this and you know who he frakkin' well is.

I could be wrong, but I got a sense tonight that he really can't see the puck if there are bigger bodies in front. If that's true, his size is going to end up being an issue after all. In any event, he should be in Rochester.

Well, as bad as Jack Edwards and Andy Brickley are in other ways, when the Bruins play poorly they do criticize them. It simply can't be a "learning experience" forever.

Oh, one last thing, Ray and Dan were their usual apologetic excuse oriented duo but it was sad that he doesn't know how to properly pronounce a French name - Poitras. You'd think a Buffalo announcer would know better.

I'm not going to say too much but you know, I've seen every Sabres and Bruins game this year and I didn't think the Bruins played particularly well tonight. It was kind of like they went up 2-0 early and knew they had an easy night ahead of them and just coasted. It was no contest and they actually played the Sabres kind of soft. Sabres outhit them even which I wouldn't have bet on happening prior to the game. It's obvious the Bruins are a solid defensive team. It's obvious the Sabres don't have a clue. The game was actually kind of low event and boring. Whatever you want to say about whoever you have to admit the Ullmark play producing the 3 0n 1 goal was the highlight of the night. If Levi had done that and Sabres scored you'd be talking about it for weeks. Overall though, game was boring. The lack of being upset over losing has been an ongoing thing for years. Bring on the culture problem thread.

Okay so here's the honest truth. You all know they're my second team and I've explained why so I watch both and I know both. The Bruins have a flaw and they can be beat. The question is do the Sabres coaches get it and do the players have the will and fortitude to do it? Fast heavy forecheck on their D plus net front presence. Do that, bring it for 60 and you can beat them. We have the size and speed to do it but do we have the desire and will? That is the question. I'd guess no, but it's definitely possible. If the Sabres do not, they will kill them in front of the goal as they will use their bodies to go in tight. They are slow, but they are structured and disciplined and their goalies are both playing at a top level. Poitras has struggled a little last few games because of physicality against him but if we give him open ice (as we tend to do) you will see a surprising amount of skill from the kid. The quick outlet and stretch pass MIGHT work for us, but it's not a strategy to rely on with their goaltending and counter attack, but their D does activate and go deep so they can get caught. Tough game for Clifton I imagine part of him is still spoked B. Obviously I want this game to go to a shoot out. Sabres/Bruins games are like Cure songs to me, happy and sad at the same time but always enjoyable.

Is that the criteria for Buffalo hockey decisions? Who is best friends with who or lives with who? If so, that might explain all these years of futility. Do they have a tandem bike?

Sort of true. Montgomery has been juggling lines a lot though and they've had several bottom 6 injuries so the 6 now are not the 6 who started. We have some of that too of course. Lucic-Beecher-Lauko started really strong as their 4th line and played very heavy. It hasn't been the same since the injuries to Lucic and (until recently) Lauko. Poitras has also slowed down and looked more like a 19 year old lately. He's like Peterka and Quinn were last year. Good one moment, iffy the next. Bruins (as a whole) are slow. The way to beat them is with fast relentless forechecking on their D. It's their Achilles. Hopefully DG knows this and will gameplan accordingly. If not, it'll be like the Philly game we lost.

Ted Nolan wrote a book. I wonder how the Sabres will come off in it?

Ya, Ned Stark was the King's Hand. The hand chopped off was the Kingslayer. Anyway, it's Little Finger you have to watch out for.

Practice lines: Marchand-Zacha-Pastrnak Van Riemsdyk-Coyle-Frederic Heinen-Poitras-DeBrusk Lauko-Beecher-Steen Lohrei-McAvoy Lindholm-Carlo Forbort-Shattenkirk Brown-Mitchell Ullmark Swayman So that's your match up. I suspect if they have the choice they play Coyle against Thompson. Lucic still out with a foot injury so VO is probably happy about that. Ullmark probably starts.

Well you know what happened to the King's hand in Game of Thrones 🙂 I think the tension may have been more with Terry's other half but that has changed, for obvious reasons. I would hope that TP is learning from his mistakes as well or at least he should be. He's made enough of them.

What King McDavid wants King McDavid gets. Don't see how any coach can fix that D and goaltending but miracles do happen. It was an inevitable move.

Except Krebs is playing his way out of the NHL. He's been garbage so far. I agree on the "gritty depth" and have been on that soapbox for years but we just don't have it. We have a lot of the same. We do not have a team structure suited to it and we do not have those type of prospects pushing to come up.

This is blatantly false. You play the hot hand and the match up. Should your most talented play the most? Sure, but lots of times that isn't the best plan. You coach, and play people, to the game and the situation.

Benson yes, Savoie ? Not unless he develops a lot over this year in junior. He did not look close imo.

I'm not giving up on Cozens but at the moment he isn't growing into his new shiny contract. He needs to look at Mitts and perhaps take a lesson. Mitts was ineffective at the NHL level, got humbled, and then apparently got serious. He seems to have beefed up a little and is certainly using his body to drive through and past opponents creating his own time and space. This also draws additional defenders towards him opening up space for others. Cozens needs to do this more. He still tries to move the puck around people, control it, and move to open space rather than trying to create it. He's a big enough guy, he has to use it.

I said he'd be the "potential" replacement in a down the road a little way. After some time as the assistant. We have a tendency to hire coaches with no NHL head coaching experience after all. Peca and his style/background bring all the things Granato and the current group do not. Could he translate that and get our guys to learn it/play it idk but he brings a fire and passion that Granato seems to lack in his more intellectual and (generally) calm approach. He seems to be working out in New York.