PerreaultForever

Umm, there's a dream? Just from a hockey viewpoint this is a fascinating game of contrasts to me. Completely different rebuild strategies going head to head. They should not be where they are. They have overachieved by far. The Carter Hart thing alone should have sunk them but it didn't. We have far more talent than them. A LOT more. They went with a veteran mix and a veteran hard ass coach who punishes them when they play bad rather than stroking their fragile egos. You can go on and on but it's a total contrast top to bottom. Personally I find them fascinating and have watched more Flyers games this year than any other year for that reason. I'm interested to see if Torts gets them to bounce back or if they've finally quit on him. It too is hard to say. Biggest question of the night, will Hathaway taunt Cozens all night long or was it a far less significant moment to him than it was to Cozens? PP better be careful, Flyers attack the points hard in their PK and get a lot of shorties.

Personally, and I'm probably alone, I'd love it if they combined the jerseys and had the logo from the blue and gold on the red black and white colour scheme. There's something about that red black and white that just works for me. (It is probably deeply embedded in my brain because those were the high school colours I wore.) But yes, some sort of pride in the jersey is something lost by Pegula's era. I'd hope winning (if we ever win) brings it back but idk. It isn't easy at this point and gets harder and harder as we get further and further removed from an era like that. If you stop and think about it, there are draft picks coming in now that have probably never seen or known a winning Sabres team. If you consider that the first half dozen years of their life they don't remember much when they maybe started watching and playing hockey, Sabres were garbage and have stayed garbage. What do you think their perspective on that team will be? Thanks Terry.

Not really, just doesn't dye his hair.

Even there, we shall see. I'm not a believer in all the "future" stuff. If they were that good, we'd already be winning. On top of that by the time those 3 are all fully cooked we may have lost somebody else's love for hockey or traded rather than signed or who knows what. Any number of our current players could be winning cups on other teams before anything comes together.

Let me correct that. No, too much POSSIBLY good young kids coming.

It would depend on who is available in that draft. Likely no, BUT I would like them to retool this roster and that would mean trading away SOME talent for grit and toughness and defensive ability. I want some major changes, and I don't think I am going to get them.

So what's your opinion of Skinner who constantly chirps at opposing teams? Doesn't back it up but taunts and chirps all the time. Point being this is far from a unique thing. It happens all over. Rempe is acting like the Heel in wrestling. It's a show to win over fans and win a job. He's huge but he's over doing it and getting his share. He will wear down. Which gets to the point a lot of (often younger) fans who are anti fighting don't get. If you talk to these guys or listen to the stories from the retired ones, having to answer the bell wears on you too and you don't want to have to do it all the time. So when that's a thing, you sometimes think twice before laying a guy out and so that too protects your stars and other players. Less liberties are taken. The Sabres bubble thinks they can get away with the fancy new hockey, but if we do improve enough to be looked upon as a threat or team to worry about it's coming like it or not and we as a team will have to be ready for it. Right now, we are definitely not.

I think so. The team is well balanced and they have all the right parts. They could go out first round but they could also go far. If they end up playing Florida that will be a war, and a hell of a series to watch.

Tampa Bay now only 4 points behind Toronto. Talk about a team peaking at the right time. They will be a dangerous team to face first round.

It was pretty funny, but I found myself wondering if this was Buffalo, if we were in New Jersey's spot and Rempe had run idk say Benson and Peterka for argument's sake and then he'd taunted us like he taunted New Jersey's bench what would we have done? Sadly, I think the answer is nothing. The first fight was Vesey Lazar, ex-Sabres.

You can argue the details but there has been a drop off and sometimes dramatic (Skinner). The point for me really is if we keep rewarding big seasons for individuals on a loser team we will be stuck with a loser team. The make up of this team needs to change and not every goal scorer can have a place in it. If Peterka is your guy and you want to roll the dice on him as a top liner winger you can do that, but you better be sure he is the guy who can deliver the goods consistently. So really, to me, it depends on his ask. If he wants 20 goal scorer money great, if he wants top line money, that's another story and then I'm not so sure so imo better to place safe and bridge.

His asking price is what interests me. We have this obvious situation where contract year players here seem to have their best years and then drop off after. Peterka and UPL are interesting problems for Adams as Mitts would have been. He isn't likely to trade them all is he. I personally think it has to be bridge, but then I wouldn't have opened the vault for Power yet either.

Actually, mathematically, not all that great of a shot as you might think. 6.3% We ended up drafting 13th and who can forget Marek Zagrapan! It wasn't weighted the same way it is now where you can only fall so far. 48 balls and Sabres had 3 of them. (which is 3 more than most of our current players have but that's another topic :))

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.