PerreaultForever

But it's not exactly deja vu all over again, it's worse. The "young core" does not seem up to the task of assuming the mantle so what do you do with this lot? Tear it down again? You're stuck with it. Your superstar D man is getting mugged on the ice and what does the team do? Slowly coasts back to the general area watching the show from a distance or not even caring. We just whine to the refs like "it's unfair" . Softer than the Leafs, and that's saying a lot. The prospect cupboard is supposed to be full, but what has KA actually done? Traded away Eichel, who only went on to win the cup. Traded away Reinhart who is flourishing in Florida. Traded away Risto who...........okay he's not very good.........but maybe better than Clifton. Lost our only true NHL goalie to free agency. made minor trades for guys who are unable to make the roster like Stillman. What as he actually done worth talking about??? As for drafting, the prospects MIGHT emerge one day but this is still almost entirely a JBot roster. Peterka is a solid pick for sure but the big break out player is Mitts and that's still JBot. He took longer than expected that's all. Maybe Benson will be a star but he's 18 so who knows. We can still ruin him. KA has had a ton of picks, a TON, and there is still time for them for sure, but at this point where is KA's stamp on this roster? Johnson and Clifton? Greenway and Jost? It ain't much worth talking about that's for sure. Granato? Clearly out of his element. Doesn't seem to have what it takes to be a good NHL coach. Either that, or these guys just don't listen and nobody makes them. It never changes - since Pegula got here. Scientific research teaches you to look for the commonalities when searching for answers. It's him. It's how he runs the franchise. I see no other explanation unless it truly is in the water.

You're not going to get this lot to change much with a mid season coaching change. If you want to change the approach and culture, get a team that plays hard, sticks up for each other, has accountability and brings effort and intensity most nights you need a multi year plan and you have to weed people out first and bring in new leaders and examples. KA did the tear down. Eichel Reinhart and Risto were the problems right? Hmm, I guess not. Team is a joke.

That was so pathetic I am lost for words. and according to Rob Ray, "there's nothing you can do about it" "sometimes things just don't go your way". This entire franchise is a f'n joke. Soft as butter would be downplaying it. Just pathetic.

idk. I think the time was before the season started. Not sure any small moves (I doubt there'd be a big one) would make much difference at this point. I also imagine there are few teams looking to unload the type of players we need right now. Most will probably be holding on to them until closer to deadline unless you make an offer they can't refuse but we don't want to do that.

Well GA is down slightly but overall that ain't good. So the two together pretty much sum things up. Even the stats people can't argue this.

Do you have the defensive stats to go with it? One without the other has no meaning imo. Your offense can drop if your defense improves and vice versa. I suspect they are not better though. Not better enough anyway. I don't think KA will get fired. Pegula likes his yes man. Granato may take the fall but even that is uncertain imo. I'd fire them, but Pegula might not.

Well yes, but I personally find it interesting. I probably wouldn't if the Sabres were any good but if/when other teams pass them from behind them I am interested to see what they did differently. Maybe KA wanted to follow Carolina's model (although we play differently to say the least) or more likely New Jersey but the Yzerplan is definitely different and so is Ottawa. I'd other teams in as well. Montreal is unexpectedly currently equal or ahead of us and they were supposed to still be in bottoming out mode. I find Philly interesting as well. Very little talent, old school hockey, and yet so far better results (although that might still fall). They were supposed to be bad like San Jose. I'm also interested to see what Trotz manages in Nashville. It's all very interesting. And would totally go by the wayside if we made the playoffs and could call our rebuild done.

Salary cap. Lots of teams would like to add him, but few contenders have any cap space at all. The number of landing spots was small I think.

I guess my name is Nobody cause I've been talking about it since I got here many years ago. There are a few who agree as well. Krebs looked in over his head there and for a second I thought he was going to turtle. I swear he definitely flinched when the bigger St. Louis guy (Tucker?) gave him the shove and the stare. Krebs between two tough guys might work as a 4th line. Krebs on his own is a minor irritant to some teams and he's going to get destroyed if he makes somebody tough truly mad. Any time toughness tries to emerge on this team it heads back into retreat when the player involved gets no support. Pegula don't like that type of hockey. I stand by that claim.

People still use Reddit? who knew.

He has a habit of dropping down and missing those high shoulder shots. It's a consistent flaw and when exploited he looks really bad.

Well there ya go. Offense pretty good. Defense a pile of crap. That's pretty much on brand for this current team. (and that's team defense, not just defensemen) No Clifton to blame this time so enjoy dumping on Power and UPL or whoever. It makes no difference. Nothing will change.

I suppose Clifton demonstrates how important team structure and the defensive play of forwards is to the success of the team and individual players on it. One affects the other. In the system he came from, his flaws were minimized, covered up for, and he thrived. It allowed him to hit a lot and play aggressively. In this system (?) his flaws are exposed and he doesn't get much support and so he flounders. I saw Risto the other night in a Philly game. They have him as 6D and they have kept it simple for him. He stays in his lane, drops back quick and still hits like a ton of bricks. Seems to be working in that somewhat limited capacity. I think Clifton's case has similarities. Now to the game, are the Blues any good? Are they not in a bit of a tear down rebuild? I think you have to win these games to have a shot that's for sure.

Have to be glad Detroit didn't get a loser point. Kane apparently planning on playing in about 2 weeks. That's a surprise if true.

Oh it's a temp thing got it. So they'd have to get Montreal to move their team back to Quebec. Guess that's unlikely.

.500 isn't even close to making it in this division/conference. Isn't the stats thing if you're not in the playoffs at American Thanksgiving your odds are like less than 20%? Something like that.

Does St. Catherines have an arena? I only mentioned Hamilton because I know they have a decent arena looking for a main tenant. Not sure why the Bulldogs left it though. There might be an issue I'm not aware of. Are AHL facilities good? idk I live in Abbotsford BC and we have the baby Canucks. It's a 7000 seat arena. Nothing special but not terrible. It's up by the University so they use Uni parking lots in the evenings. It gets pretty jammed up for bigger events though. "The arena has a capacity of 7,000 seats for hockey with room for expansion to 8,500. There are 300 club seats, 15 boxes, 20 private suites, and 2 party suites." (according to wikipedia). No idea how that would compare to Rochester. I don't think the border would be an issue. It'll only close if there's another pandemic and then hockey pretty much closes as well or I guess if somebody launches their car into a fireball but since that just happened what are the odds it happens again soon?

Hamiltonians tend to be Leaf or Montreal fans because of original 6 Canadian content. The AHL Bulldogs who were in Hamilton were Montreal affiliated. Hamilton however, also has a fair bit of anti-Toronto sentiment. It's a bit like a New Jersey vs. New York kind of thing. When you grow up in Hamilton on a clear day you can see Toronto across the lake and you kind of hate them for having everything when you're stuck in the working class s$$thole. After they built their arena and the Tim Horton's guy tried to get them an NHL franchise they had a couple games there to showcase the NHL. I saw the Sabres vs. Canucks there. Unfortunately the Sabres sucked that night and it was a bad game. Anyway, it'd probably be better than Rochester. Mind you I don't know much about Rochester. Been through it a few times many years ago. Went to House Of Guitars. Hung out with the Chesterfield Kings. I remember driving by the Kodak plant. I'd guess that's all gone now. It was years and years ago.

What about Hamilton? Didn't they upgrade their arena but don't have an AHL team? Less than an hour away.

Hmmm, seems to me you were all in with them when they made a big deal about Tuch but whatever, you can change your ###### stance whenever you want, it's allowed, it's just the internet.

Because they know he will be back as soon as Comrie gets hurt, so next week probably.

You demand this level of play on a nightly basis as a standard, and not just on response nights after clunkers. The country club door has to stay locked and the fun first attitude has to go out the window. Raise the bar of expectation. It's on the coaches and then the leadership down. Accountability and a consistent work ethic, simple as that.

I suspect he chose the team he thought had the better chance of making the playoffs. Check one more box on the crazy Yzerplan.

I think that when you say "most people" you mean Sabres fans with a bias. There are people here who pronounce prospects as stars long before they earn it. I don't buy in to that until I see it on NHL ice. Spinning this into me saying Quinn is some sort of a bust is simply a twist on my words. We were speaking in hypotheticals about how to evaluate the success of analytics in drafts. I merely said at this point he doesn't look like the best choice. After the injury he might come back and show that he is the right choice. But assuming it's a fact before it happens is just wrong. Because of the injury I even give him an extra year before that pronouncement. But it's all hypothetical at this point.