PerreaultForever

idk, I wonder if he won't drop the gloves easily any more and although it's not a necessary thing in this league, we do need a few people who are ready to answer when needed. My hope was that Cozens would be that complete player guy. Now I'm not so sure.

Cozens still out? Hmm, I wonder if he's going to come back gun shy. Not good. Those bottom lines are not good.

Predictability in ANY PP is a bad thing so it's true, teams do look for Tage now but most teams have one key sniper. The key is the movement and motion of the other players and the net front. We also try too hard and too often to get it to Dahlin to let him be QB. He is, but it can't be your always play. Sometimes you have to go where the other team allows.

tomato potato, you're still saying the same things as me, they haven't made up their mind as it's still "opportunities" and "looks" at this point in time.

That's part of what I mean though. They can't decide where those players should be. If they just wanted to keep them they could but I think maybe they feel they can only keep one and just aren't sure which at this point.

Stay as far away from DeAngelo as possible but the other three have appeal, depending on the price of course. I will be shocked if Sabres make a move though. It just doesn't seem to be their way right now.

Seems to me the Sabres simply cannot make up their minds on a lot of these guys and it's likely because a lot of them are very similar. So now Savoie gets his audition I guess.

Well you know it does say something when the Leafs second best D man is 40 years old.

I like Crouse as a player quite a bit but the Coyotes aren't doing that bad so are they actually looking to unload people at this point?

Not true. He was yapping at Marchand skating by and when Marchand chirped him back he was seen smiling and laughing hysterically.

There was a lot there but I'm just going to focus on this line because if he did say that it's troubling to me and might explain one of the reasons we continue to fail. By the time 1/4 of the season is over you have very often made your grave and are ready to lie in it. You can't waste too many games learning and developing if you truly want to make the playoffs in a league this close and competitive. It's also odd to me because it is once again backwards. The coach is supposed to forge the identity of the team and have them play to a certain plan. Yes, you do make some allowances for individual specifics and talents, but as a whole you decide what you want to be and you mold a team to be that. The players should never be the driving force in that. Maybe this is why we never get it right and never play the right way. Skating around and scoring goals is fun. Blocking shots. Zone coverage. Taking away passing lanes. etc etc. Yuck, ain't nobody got time for that.

I get that. Totally. I've given my story out before but super short version. As a kid in Hamilton first hockey game I watched was Bruins playoffs against St. Louis. Flying Bobby Orr what's not to like? Black and Gold were the home town Tiger Cat colours too. Became a Sabres fan instead because of the French Connection etc. on local tv. Bruins fell by the wayside but with the Sabres tank era I drifted back to watching them as they were good and what I wished the Sabres were. That's about it, but I get why it would be weird for most Sabres fans, especially the home town crowd.

Celebrini. Not sure he's worth a tank, but he's pretty good. No guarantees with the lottery of course.

It's not that it was "so hard to understand" , it just didn't seem necessary considering they have so many forward prospects. Don't really see a need for a Johnson audition at this stage given they had all of preseason for that already. Guess they were not happy with Biro and/or Rousek. It's just odd that you keep Bryson but then you limit his minutes. Seems counter productive. We will see what happens moving forward but reliance on basically 3 lines instead of 4 will wear the team down over time but I suspect we go back to 4 lines when Cozens returns.

Not at all. A bunch of you like to jump on the fact that Boston's my second team but my assessment of the Sabres game has nothing to do with Boston. Boston lost because Detroit played well, they have an exceptionally good PP and the Bruins had like 7 or 8 penalties (some iffy but that's the way it goes some nights) and the Bruins are down 3 starting D and 2 forwards. Sabres went on a losing streak last year when they had multiple D injuries at once. Bruins might as well. If you look back to what I said about the Flyers game, you'll notice I said "fret not, we can beat the Leafs" and voila, there it is. But, contrary to the rollercoaster emotional ride some people like to take here, nothing has changed. Can't wait until somebody tells me I'm not a "real fan".

Not exactly. Hockey fights are all about leverage and avoiding direct punches more than how you throw them. It's an art form and he needs to sit down and have a long chat with Rob Ray. He's an emotional fighter right now, but doesn't really know HOW to fight. It's a skill too.

So you guys like this sort of hockey? Interesting. It's a nice ice show, but I'm not sure it's hockey. I knew they had a solid shot in this game. A bounce here or there and we come out on top. The kind of game they love with the virtually non existent physical aspect and the free open ice all over. If we could play teams like this all year we'd be a cup contender. We'd then lose to the actual hockey teams in the playoffs, but that's another story. Peterka continues his breakout year. Mitts still good. Not sure why they went 7 D considering the limited ice time for Johnson but maybe somebody's got a nagging injury they were afraid would flare up idk. I had to laugh several times with the HNIC announcers "Leafs better on the draws tonight" "Leafs playing with more physicality tonight" lmfao. No, no they weren't, they were just playing Buffalo rather than Boston (from the previous game). Boy is the bottom 6 for them BAD. Bertuzzi is awful. He looked so good down the stretch in Boston but him and Domi are both awful on the Leafs. It's still all about their big 4 and that gives them zero chance to win the cup. Which I love. I know some of you got excited here. You think we're capable and better now, but nothing's changed. Next team that plays a 1-3-1 or gets physical or just plays good D and it'll be right back where it was. But cool beans, we beat the Leafs. HATE the Leafs. Don't want to BE the Leafs. So in that respect, an enjoyable night. PS - So I missed it, what's up with Cozens? He get concussed with Hathaway's knock out punch? Was that it? If so that's not good.

I know the logic, but the reality seems to be different. Personalities can destroy locker rooms. There's a consistent pattern with his career.

2.5 million reasons to keep playing.

imo Stillman (as flawed as he is) is the most like Samuelsson from that group and thus should be the guy in the line up. We should have a system in place where players of a similar style/type replace injured players for the sake of continuity and building a proper team structure instead of just the most "talented" guy. But whatever. I'm starting to not care. Team is idiotic.

I honestly don't think I've heard an "angry" post game from the Sabres in over a decade aside from Eichel bitching and that one time Reinhart said something about the goaltending. Almost never, perhaps never, hear "we have to be better". It's always something along the lines of "disappointing". Resignation from a captain is just plain wrong. People will hate this but the other day I heard this from Marchand post game after a win - stress this, after a WIN - (paraphrasing from memory but approximately) "we have to be better than we were tonight. This team is still very much a work in progress and we have a lot of work to do to get to where we want to be" That after 9 wins to start the season. That is all.

I have not seen them play this year but it seems a lot of it has fallen apart. The Evander Kane cancer finally took hold?

Absolutely correct, because the system here is to just roll lines. We have no identity lines, we have no checking line, and the future seems to be locked on more offensive talent and no 2 way talent so the baffling plan continues. Granato is a terrible in game coach as well. He might have knowledge and he might be good developing young players but he is NOT a good head coach.

That was funny but it is kind of strange to me that the team has sentiment for anyone when they have set a record for most seasons with no playoffs. I always thought the first thing you do is say goodbye to EVERYONE from the past when you come in and clean house . But whatever, here they give them letters.

Not that baffling. Sabres do not make major adjustments or changes in style, suck on face offs, and Granato has no clue on line matching. Road teams coming in to our building play road style games with tighter checking and more defensive emphasis (in general) so it's not that we play all that much worse at home, just that the opposition teams play differently than they do at home, where they try to "entertain" more and tend to play more open and offensively oriented (again, in general). We do not handle physicality or adversity well and we are poorly coached in terms of game management and specific adjustments to match the specific opposition. We are clueless.