PerreaultForever

Of course we can't control it, but that doesn't change the fact that it's a big problem. As long as Terry is the de facto director of hockey operations we are sunk. I am 100% sure of that.

Yes, for too long the thinking has been down the road, build for the future and development. The thinking of "win now" should have started when we missed by 1 point but since it didn't, it's definitely what has to be the full thought process now. Yes, you don't need this many prospects. You are still drafting more every year as well. You can easily package some of them up without getting anywhere near any idea of selling off the "future" for the present like Murray tried. You can target several types of teams. Teams that have veterans and are cap squeezed. Take a veteran contract off their hands for an ELC prospect. They can then sign the FA they want so everybody happy. And to be clear I don't mean a dead contract here I mean a player who can still play. An NHL veteran with gas in the tank. You can also target teams looking to rebuild/retool and shift to more speed and skill (which has been our focus for draft picks). The Boston type teams that have realized they are too old and slow and are looking for a speed/skill shift. Or the teams in a rebuild that might want to go even further down that road by moving out veterans. primarily I'd want guys headed to RFA not UFA at the end of their contracts but that's all in the details. Then if I'm GM I'm also going offer sheet crazy. We have cap space and we can do the St.Louis/Edmonton type moves. Get aggressive. Get creative. Team is a laughing stock now, I'd rather be hated than laughed at. The one thing we cannot do is stay the course and wait for development. We do that and I guarantee you Dahlin is gone and then maybe Thompson too.

More rats on that team than any team I can remember since the old Philly teams but they are smart and well coached. Quite disciplined. They won't lose their cool and will do it in subtle and clever ways that likely get Tampa to take more penalties than them. If Barkov is out for any term though that will hurt them. They might need Barkov to beat Toronto.

Oh no it's a problem if he's in the meetings period. I don't know where you work but if you are in any kind of office or anywhere that has meetings you know full well that when the big boss is attending people aren't free to speak their minds and the yes men and ass kissers come out. Meetings without the big boss are always more clear spoken and honest. It does really matter. Especially if they know Terry has a strong idea of what he wants and then they have a tendency to not disagree for their own job security. We need dissenting voices. Argument. People with different ideas of how to do things and how to evaluate. Think outside the Sabres bubble. Ruff was a start I think but not nearly enough.

Quite possibly. It'll mean nothing though if Terry is still in on all the meetings and they are all yes men.

A little bit of the nasty came out in the Florida series tonight. It's heating up.

I agree about Zucker. I think Sabres have to do it mostly by trades. The McLeod trade was a good one (even if eventually Savoie is better). We need more like that and even bigger for even better.

Yes of course, and if you win people accept whatever it is you are preaching more. That's obviously true. Why Cassidy could do it though was the culture was already set. They were a pull together team first place right from the get go and it stayed. They brought in leaders like Stone and the team had strong compete. Anyone who comes into that (like Eichel) is under instant pressure to suck it up and get with the program. That's the key. Establishing the culture at the start of the rebuild, not the end. That for me is the Sabres biggest problem. Not establishing the culture FIRST.

Doesn't hurt to keep saying it. Fans speak loud enough MAYBE eventually Terry listens. (I know, probably not, but what else can you do?) Fire Adams Fire Adams Fire Adams There. Three times. It'll happen now right?

Hasek seems really intelligent. Offer him the Sabres GM job. Maybe we will finally prioritize goaltending.

Adams is the one that needs to look in a mirror. He's a failure plain and simple.

But it does work. Cassidy won a cup.

Playing as individuals and not a team has been a thing here for all the last decade since the tank. They destroyed the culture. They didn't rebuild the culture. They let young star players just go out and "play". TEAM as a concept has been secondary for a long long time. Believing that this has finally changed in the last 20 games is questionable to say the least.

Yes. I like all 3 of them. I identified Peterka's potential early and some people laughed at me when I said he'd be better than Quinn but all 3 of them are good young players. They are too young however to be the driving force of the team. Peterka's maybe there now but the other two aren't ready to be the top line (yet). Zucker was an okay add (although his durability still worries me) but I want more and even better. Make some more McLeod for Savoie type deals.

Perhaps. But that also speaks to having veterans in the room who want to compete and who drive the kids rather than listening to the kids get their way. Consider that in Buffalo Eichel was in charge. They did whatever Eichel wanted and ran things Eichel's way. Eichel goes to Vegas, with Bruce Cassidy, a far harder coach than Ruff. Probably the meanest next to Torts among recent coaches. Eichel needs to adjust but gets on board. Why? Because that team was led by people like Mark Stone who are warriors and competitors. That's the difference.

Yes, remember though the bs about calling it a "development year" earlier. How do you think guys who feel they are already developed feel about that? It's a horrible way to try to build a culture. We all know that but for some reason Adams didn't. He had a firm plan in his mind. Subtract the disillusioned stars and acquire picks to stock the cupboard. Then spend several years developing the young guys all together and then magically it will all come together and under the veteran coach they will launch into the next level and stay there forever. That was his plan, and it always was and still is stupid.

The case of Erik Johnson is interesting. The way it's worded there seems odd to me and yes, he didn't work out but I remember his being the first veteran voice to speak up that year and in Philly I heard he was considered a leader and culture builder despite his declining play. If I'm not mistaken he's dressing for Colorado right now. So it seems weird to me to suggest he was seen as not wanting to win by others here. The bottom line though is many people here, myself included, have been screaming to have more veterans on the roster for years and it just never happens. A little bottom end rotation is all we get. The few adds they have done recently are a step but only a tiny one. They have to do much more and yes, as others have said, all of this screams FIRE ADAMS and yet he's still here. The one thing I don't like regarding Ruff is the statement he made saying he "met the players half way". That still says a little the inmates running the asylum to me but I suppose details on exactly what that meant might matter. To me though, if he was brought in to be the man, he should be that and the players need to step up and step in line. Now fire all the assistant coaches. All of them.

You think it's physical? I'm not saying it's not fast and skilled. Just that it's not as physical as I expected.

The hockey is decent but it's disappointingly tame overall. Winnipeg and St. Louis are trying to hurt each other but otherwise it's been pretty tame. I thought Florida and Tampa were supposed to hate each other? Gonna be a war? Looked more like they were getting ready to go golfing together. Maybe the 4 Nations spoiled me but so far the best hockey of the year was in that not this.

Basically yes. Remember it's not a one way street either. If they are phenomenal down there and your AHL coaches tell you this guy is "fully cooked" as you put it you can bring him back any time and waive some stiff. What I'm talking about is building a team and roster that isn't dependent on rookies and youngsters having to be good for the team's success. The Sabres way.

They did, but then they didn't build back culture first. Look it was well known ROR was pissed off before he got there when he wasn't named captain and then we didn't name him captain. The guy really wanted to be a captain and should have been. You don't make the kid the captain no matter how talented he is. We also threw away a heart and soul guy like Foligno instead of naming him captain and building from that idea. We had nothing in the locker room to provide direction and then we brought in slackers like Skinner instead. Funny guy. Thinks he's Zac Galifanakos. Great. Pity it's hockey and not stand up.

I'm really not sure what you are trying to say, especially listing off star players as comparisons. Benson isn't Pasternak. You need to compare them at the same age for example. Tuch was a first round pick. 60 games in the minors doesn't seem to have hurt him. Since you are listing off Bruins the better comparison would be Poitras. Another guy who was too young to send to the AHL at first. Before he got injured he was producing roughly the same as Benson. Bruins, despite sucking, sent him down this year to learn and grow. He's becoming a solid leader in Providence and I suspect will be a Bruin next year or the year after depending on their full plan which nobody seems to know. I guarantee you he will be better for it.

I don't disagree and I really like Benson and I really like Kulich, but if we go into next year and our top line is Benson Kulich Thompson we are simply NOT making the playoffs. We need more veterans.

Which speaks to how the Sabres do things backwards. Their culture is strong and they retained it and hence inserting a guy worked. They added veterans not just rookies. It's a very different (and correct) methodology. Sabres should have focused on establishing the culture right after the tank. They still haven't done it.

So that's the plan? Just better marketing? Sometimes I think Pegula has already decided he will eventually sell the team and he's just extracting what value he can and waiting for that expansion money to roll in and when franchises hit the level he's decided it'll be gone. I mean is there another explanation for the lack of effort and direction that actually makes sense? He's not a dumb man I don't think.