PerreaultForever

Sort of but not really. I hate all star/break time and have no use for it so I miss hockey in general during this period but the Sabres, not really. There's only been about a half dozen or so Sabres games this year that I found to be truly entertaining or "good" hockey. They generally bore and/or disappoint. Like @Pimlach I wish they would be better and they would give us good hockey but it just doesn't happen and I see no reason to think it will happen this year or even next (unless changes happen).

Don't kid yourself, we're stuck with this line up even if we miss the playoffs (which we will, not sure why anyone would even think that's a possibility at this stage).

Made of glass. I really wish they'd give better details on what it actually is though. "Upper body" is just such bs.

Salt Lake City Sabres actually has a good ring to it. Just saying 🙂

I agree with this. If your core isn't successful, as a GM, your first thought has to be how do I change this core or what do I change to get results and not this is my core and I will wait for them to become successful. The word "core" is a fairly new term for hockey in general. I never remember it being used back in the day. Veterans was used, leadership was used, but never "core". The entire team was seen more as a collective group led by some veterans. I think free agency and the salary cap especially has created this new scenario where teams feel they need a small group (the highly paid) to be the "core" of the team and then they cobble the rest together with lower salaries and entry level deals. So as you say, it's kind of pointless to rally around any "core" if they are not successful. Personally I don't see any indispensable parts to this team right now. There is no star goalie. There is just a couple young prospects in UPL and Levi but no core stud. Dahlin is an offensively gifted defenseman and these are a big deal in the modern NHL so he's important since you have him but not indispensable. His defensive game is lacking for that status. He's nowhere near Hedman level imo. None of our forwards have played to core status either imo. Tage can be very good. Cozens was looking good last year but not so much this year. Mitts has actually been our best forward this year and at times Tuch shows me solid leadership (at times) but not one of them is top level core imo. Not right now anyway. Leadership, work ethic, and consistency is also part of what makes a good core. We really lack that as a whole.

imo that's too many names to be a "core" (whatever a core actually is, just a buzz word really). The team has no VETERAN core. A bunch of young guys with talent doesn't come together into anything unless it has leadership.

He lives in British Columbia, where the reaction to this is basically "aren't you?"

Your bottom sentence is exactly my point. This process/development thing is BS. We should have already been aggressive. They're blowing it and if they blow it for too long we will just end up with another wave of exits like Reinhart/Eichel and yet another round of "development". If the Canucks had chosen to do it our way they'd be right down with us.

He's got a free time year earning $5 million so he's not coming to Buffalo next season unless we gave him $ and term. Pegula will not do that, no way.

You're making excuses. Boston was a "freak". Vancouver is a "strange case". It's just not true. What they are doing is making good moves and being successful. Sabres are not. It's just that simple.

It's not just that though. Your strength matters. How you play the game matters. Your on ice awareness matters. It's too early to say Quinn is injury prone, but imo we are rushing most of these guys and at the same time I do not think we put enough into strength and conditioning, physical development. He's a bit of a light weight. Injuries like this can happen to anybody though. The faster you play the more open you are to bad outcomes should you lose your balance for any reason.

So with the Kings hiring Hiller on an interim basis, https://www.nhl.com/news/todd-mclellan-fired-by-los-angeles That likely means one less good coaching candidate available for next season. Get ready for another year of Granato.

Skinner yaps and whines a lot. If we, as a team, were more relevant I'd bet he'd rank higher on the list. Much higher. We, as a team, are easily dismissed though.

Okay fair enough, but Vancouver was supposed to be just like us and worse this year right? A few young promising stars. A few old stiffs. They found a way to change their circumstances didn't they? We are in the circumstances the franchise creates.

Sell ALL pending UFAs and anybody else he thinks is not part of the future or doesn't fit (if there are any buyers) Buy a player cheap if there's a team that wants to jettison somebody to free up cap space for some other move. Obviously no complete stiffs unless they are pending UFAs too and not unless we get asset(s) back to make it worthwhile, but it should be explored. TBH though we have little of value for deadline deals. EJ should get us something and maybe somebody takes Kyle if we retain salary but I suspect that's about it. Teams will call about Greenway and possibly others but there's no need to move them unless the offer is too good to turn down.

Bringing up L.A. goes against your argument. They've brought in players to go with their young talent and, although they are in some sort of coach killing funk at the moment, their overall rebuild has progressed much faster than the Sabres and their picks and prospects develop our own model has. You can believe the Bruins are some sort of "freak of nature" but they aren't. It's called good asset management, strong team culture, and proper roster construction. You can think of them as some old team ready to fall but they aren't that either. They're about the same age as the Leafs, Tampa and Florida, and hello, those are your division playoff teams. Not only that, they actually have MORE projected cap space for next year than the Sabres. Once again, not freaky, just good management. Could they make poor signings, blow that cap space and take a fall next year? Sure, anybody can, but I wouldn't put money on it if I were you. Their situation is actually pretty solid and although they have few prospects in the system they do have a few that will fill holes as they have done a better job on role players and specific needs. If you have one center hole on your roster you do not need 5 center prospects, you just need one that's good enough. You don't have to limit this to freaky Boston. Florida made moves. Tampa made moves. There's lots of examples of teams in it to win it. Vancouver now joins that group, and where were they a year or two ago? You really think the Sabres way is better??????????????????????

trust the process development year

If he has a good playoff run I'm sure Vancouver will make him a solid offer but I suspect he still goes to free agency regardless. Bruins, among others, will likely be interested in free agency. He will drop down the line up as he ages but he is versatile and a 2 way player so I think he will still be in demand.

Nothing personal, but this is loser logic. You've been in a Sabres bubble too long. I'll contrast what you are saying with how Bruins fans talk about deadline deals. The argument you make would be they've lost a lot of deadline deals. They have a weak prospect pool. GM must be an idiot right? But there they sit year after year in first place. Even though they went out in the first round last year nobody talks about how they shouldn't have gone all in with Bertuzzi and Orlov. Sometimes the deals fail. Sometimes they succeed like when they got so much out of Johanson they made it to the final and that run convinced our GM that Johanson was worth signing the next year. But it's all in and it's playoffs every year and the fans love it and the culture thrives and people want to be there and Sabres fans just hate the Bruins year after year and watch from the outside as they "win trades". Did we "win" the Vegas trade? Did we? Bet there's no Vegas fan that thinks that or cares about any of those picks/prospects they gave up. Vancouver is showing they care. They want to win. It matters. Nobody in Vancouver thinks the owner sucks.

So what? So what if Kuzmenko scores 50 goals next year? Nobody in Vancouver cares. This is an example of how fast a rebuild can work if you hire a good coach and a competent GM. Kuzmenko was a poor fit to Tochet's hard work system and thus he was expendable and they are all in on winning and winning now. The fans are excited, the team is a contender and the Canucks are thriving again. So yay for Calgary they won the trade, and they can enjoy watching the Canucks in the post season. Sabres win trades too. Yay?

That sounds like the storyline for an episode of Friday Night Lights but it's a perfect example of what does happen for sure. As I've mentioned here before there's a hockey academy associated with the high school here and when my daughter was there Dylan Cozens was in it. Members of that academy literally ruled the school. They could do anything and were somewhat worshipped. Now some of them kept their profile low and worked on hockey and more hockey and Dylan was apparently one of those, but others not so much. Jake Virtanen was also a graduate of that program and he apparently was a total a-hole and when he walked down the hall with his pals he expected the seas to part for him. I also know there was a math teacher there that would "negotiate" final grades and would push up failing grades with points for how you dressed and other bs. It's definitely a deep cultural problem. My own experiences were in a different age but when I played hockey in high school I know I got away with a lot and in my final year when I was also on the football team my social status went right to the top. Heck, the principal of our high school was an ex CFL football star so to say the team had special status in that school was an understatement to say the least. That was a long time ago though.

Oh in Canada hockey is definitely number one for sure, but it's the same sports culture issues in different sports in other countries so I'd still say it's sports in general. Soccer players are worshipped in Europe and Latin America. I'm not sure which sport is the biggest in the U.S. Football certainly has the big moment and tv event thing down but maybe basketball has the most hero worship. Baseball players have had the same sort of issues has hockey players. It's all the same. It was dismissed as "boys will be boys" for years, but as I said, maybe times are finally changing.

Sports culture, not hockey culture, but times are changing. Tons of it has gone on, no doubt. Maybe it's being stopped now though.

Definitely disgusting. Without question. Definitely despicable. I don't know if "prey upon" is the right word though. This isn't the same as a stalker or pulling someone off the street, that's predatory. You could make the argument that taking advantage of someone in a vulnerable position/situation is predatory, but I think if a lawyer went that route they'd probably weaken their case and lose.

Oh I know. Expansion is all about lining the pockets of owners no question so they probably will. I'm just saying I wouldn't want it. Product is diluted enough as it is.