PerreaultForever

I'm not going to go over the development of all the listed teams and such as it would take too long and not really get us anywhere. I would just say the Leafs are a perfect example of how you can get the offense top level and fail miserably because you built it wrong from the start. I don't want to follow their lead. It'll just lead to a whole new frustration if and when we ever do make it to the playoffs. Washington is a perfect example of how an offensive team can be taught to play team D but it took a certain coach to do that didn't it. So, to the bolded sentences if that's true, and not just rhetoric, how come they haven't addressed it prior to the season starting? How can me and others here see it and now Johnson say it publicly now when it should already have been said a long time ago and certainly before this training camp. Granato thinks this part is easier, well lets get to it then. Now. Before it's too late.

No, you just haven't been here long enough. These "conclusions" are based on years of their play not 4 games. The disappointment is that this year doesn't seem any different and I really wanted them to get it right this time.

You are going to get the snide snipes for this comment but you are correct. We are a very easy team to play against and have been for a really long time. Pegula hockey is not winning hockey.

This is part of why I say "backwards". When have you seen this team exercise that sort of continual commitment? You have to build the team with these types of things first, not as an afterthought.

My fear is that since Adams didn't do enough in this off season we will burn yet another year. Rather than "win now" in the end they will end up saying some things like "learning experience". When the problems are so glaring and obvious it's frustrating not to see them addressed.

Well ya, that would be the subjective element as to where you draw the line. How often they do that. I agree, it's an impossible and eternal argument.

Oh there's always a possibility, but this isn't a new problem.

Hasek was a superstar. No question. Perreault was arguably a superstar, but I could see an argument against that too. That's it for Sabres. Right now the league has one superstar in McDavid. Two fading old superstars in Crosby and Ovechkin and one possible future superstar in Bedard. There's another tier of players that you can make an argument for and they are all stars, but clear cut superstars? Highly subjective and I'd say no as my criteria for the term is extremely high. Others would lower that bar and include them. Pettersson might be in that group. Question, were the Sedins superstars? Is Matthews a superstar? For you. I didn't mean win it all with that. But dominate games or change the course of them yes.

If it's NOT on the coaching then it's on the players, so your argument then is that these players can't/don't/won't do it. It's not like it's Granato's first season here (or there's). Too young. That part falls on KA. Building an all kid team. Folly from the start.

But it has to start somewhere and there has to be a coaching commitment to it. It has to be. We should have been doing it since Granato got hired, but "offense first" was the mantra. Once a season starts it's too late. We did it backwards plain and simple.

For years I've been saying this and you've insulted me and mocked me. You always have to add your snarky memes and your disagree emojis and YOU have constantly said I knew nothing and YOU and they were right. So am I a little smug now that a stanley cup winner comes to the team and says the same thing? Damn right I am.

So there's a guy from outside the organization coming in and saying what some of us have been saying all off season so the question is why has the coaching staff not made that their priority in training camp? Ultimately this falls on the coach.

That's fair. It's a more generous usage than I have but it is a subjective thing. There's also a bias towards offense as in most sports but you are correct about Gainey. He was essential to their success. We had the French Connection who were stars for sure but our success at that time was also heavily dependent on Ramsey and Luce (and then Gare to complete that line) as they were a great shutdown pair and two of the finest penalty killers in the history of the league. Without them we never make it to that cup final, we'd have just been like today's Leafs. How about I say it this way simply, I would prefer to be wrong.

Ya, not many. It is a term I personally do not hand out easily. Eichel, for example, isn't one. For all that generational talk he hasn't become a superstar and likely it never fits for him. Star yes, all star yes, superstar no. Same holds for Dahlin as you said. leagues and tv networks (and some fans) like to use the term more generously for marketing obviously.

Absolutely no need for a sell off (unless there's somebody who wants out that we don't know about but I don't think that's the case) but the team needs a different make up, more two way forwards and not just offensive scorers, more NHL depth and most of all a coach who can instill a proper defensive system and work ethic in this team be that an assistant or a new HC. I firmly believe that it is already past time to move SOME prospects/assets for NHL caliber roster players now. Not ALL, just SOME.

For you, does a "superstar" need to be a complete player or just an offensive scorer? Can the dominant defenders be superstars or is it just reserved for flashy offense?

To me, a superstar is a guy who can flip a game on his own and do that often. They elevate the players around them no matter who those players are as well. Can Pettersson do that on his own or does he need the supporting cast idk. I think it's too early to say he's a superstar. In terms of definition, I'd ask you this. Is there a current Sabre who you would call a superstar?

I guess you can take it that way but it's not what I want. I said years ago I thought their approach was wrong BUT also that I hoped I was wrong. I stressed that. What I want, the only thing I want, is for the Sabres to win. AND WIN A LOT. I'm just really disappointed after all the talk and hype about "time to win" that they have come out so flat and disorganized and unready to compete at a high level. The lack of team unity (on ice) is appalling. I look at the Philly games (I've watched their 2 home games) and there is a team with very little talent and supposedly they should all hate Torts by now and quit on him BUT they come out with fire, energy, resolve. They work their butts off and they get two wins at home. WHY aren't we like that? WHY???? I'm sick of it. I hate being right about this. Absolutely hate it. Maybe they turn it around, but this is not the way to start a season of so called "time to win". You start hard and fast like those other teams. Some or all of whom will falter later at some point due to depth or youth or lack of talent but the serious effort to be good is there at the start and that's all you can ask for. We do not have that.

Hey, guess what? We're currently dead last in the East. Can't wait for those draft lottery threads. Meanwhile Philly is leading the Metropolitan (yes, I know this won't last) cause, well, Torts is a dinosaur who doesn't get modern hockey and the Bruins, despite playing pretty poorly are undefeated. Yzerplan that so many of you mocked a feeble 3 and 1 to start.

Open ice talent definitely. They are great at 3 on 3. Not sure anybody's teaching them to play actual hockey though.

I don't see the signs (but I hate most of his movies too) or maybe what I see is signs of the same things as last year and the year before and so on. The same problems, the same weaknesses. It's just THE SAME.

Yes he is, but Beecher and Lauko are not. Lucic trails on every play but it kind of works as he comes in late after they both get in there. He will be in position to intercept the outlet man. It's a heavy line and hard to play against. Much like Philly's Deslauriers Hathaway line. They will both give us trouble. As for the Marchand comment, I eagerly await the day the Sabres really stand up for themselves and not just pushy shovey a little when something happens. I hope it happens one day, be it Marchand or whoever.

6:25 of the highlight package. Turned the game around.

You're not seriously going to suggest Benson is a physical match for Marchand at this point are you? If you do, no offense, but I will never be able to read you seriously again. Did you see Benson get manhandled off the puck tonight and how it cost us a goal? If not, watch the game again.

Yes. Along with not getting one of the Russians or Latvians or another of the goalies that were moved around at that time.