PerreaultForever

Come back in shape? Is that an acknowledgement that they showed up this year out of shape? So isn't that on Ruff? Where was the boot camp then to get them into shape? Blame it on Europe? It just sounds like similar bs to every other year. Lazy, spoiled bunch of losers. 14 years worth and counting.

Nothing better to do since no playoffs? You really think the Achilles explains everything with Quinn? I don't. Never have. First game I saw him in a Sabres uniform I thought I don't know about this guy. Seems like a lightweight afraid of contact. Can skate and shoot but he doesn't have the grit needed to be a good top 6 scorer. But whatever. He might still get it one day. He is young and could change, but right now I can't stand him. To me he represents everything wrong with this franchise.

Honestly I no longer give a flying f**k who they draft but for the record I'm not overly thrilled with what they've done and how they draft in general. That grouping up there, despite the number of higher picks, is not filled with future NHLers imo. Now before you say I don't know what I'm talking about (you can go back and look) I said right away in the Kulich draft that he was the one that I liked the best and thought had real NHL potential. You also scoffed when I said 2 years ago I thought Peterka would be better than Quinn. I could go on but there's no point as you think you know everything about the draft. I draft a goalie EVERY year. EVERY single year at least one. You get too many good ones you trade them. It's just a process and a logic I subscribe to. You need that position to be solidified and strong or the rest is pointless. Trade for D now? Yes, absolutely, and I've said that many times. I want more Savoie/McLeod type deals not less. Veteran defensive D is a priority. Has been since we drafted Dahlin but we haven't done it. Just tinkered with bottom level guys like Clifton. But I also want that situation to end for the future. Defensemen generally take longer to develop and late bloomers are frequent and I want a flood of defensive prospects in that pool. We can score goals. We need defense. I personally like Mrtka better than Smith but if they went with you and chose Smith I wouldn't be unhappy either.

I don't care who wins the cup as long as the Leafs lose.

We get to see if he's a playoff guy or not too. As you know, some guys elevate in the post season and some guys do not (most Leafs). I'm curious to see what kind of guy he really is. This will tell.

No there isn't. This team has goal scorers. It needs D. Honestly, if possible I'd draft 6 D and a goalie or two this year with however many picks they have I don't keep track any more. I would have said McQueen but that back thing makes me think not worth the risk.

Well that certainly wasn't playoff style hockey 🙂 Just 3 more seasons until Lindy gets win 1000.

Considering how this falls out and who other teams are likely to take I think I'd go Mrtka. I doubt he's gone higher than we pick and even if you rank him slightly lower we need more D in the system.

I'm old. I still have a memory though. Sports, politics, whatever, you remember how they recycle these things over and over again and they all mean nothing. In politics people have short memories and they forget and so they can get fooled again. In sports it's generally a shorter timeline and so people get renewed hope but only with a changing of the guard. Adams coming back after this many years and zero progress just boggles my mind. I was sure that even with Pegula wanting yes men 5 years was going to be his limit. Even with a tank and all the negative things that come with that you get this hope of a new savior drafted. This season I just feel dead inside when it comes to the Sabres. I have zero hope that this will be any better next year the way this is going. Zero.

Yes, definitely, but it won't happen. Most of us have been asking for this for years. Even just calling up guys from Rochester. SOMETHING.

Aren't they considering expansion there?

Yes, Adams will think Levi will get it done next year and that's all he will need to roll out the same basic line up (with one or two minor depth moves maybe). The presser will talk about how they are committed to "seeing it through" or "getting it done" or something like that from both Ruff and Adams. They will talk about how the team "learned" from the losing streak and "grew" and they "like where they are" at the end of the year. All a big pile of crap.

Yes, if I'm reading you correctly the Sabres construct the team wrong. Their theory is wrong. You cannot build a winning team with 12 scoring forwards and 6 puck moving D men. I know they don't really have that but in many ways it seems to be their goal.

Damn, that's a hard truth to read from any fanbase. Leafs are still pussies.

I hear Phoenix is looking for a team.

We have started from scratch several times. For me, when you start a rebuild you get yourself (any way you can) 3 cornerstone pieces. A star forward, a stud D man, and a really solid goalie. When you have those 3 pieces you build a balanced roster around them made up of speed, skill and toughness. Veterans and youth all in balance. (we currently lack the goalie) It's not a complicated formula but it is the only formula that works. We are always missing a piece or two and we seem incapable of building that balanced roster. The main reason for that imo is Pegula. I have heard it said by many hockey people that you can't have a successful organization if everyone is always in agreement. You need dissenting voices and outside ideas. That conflict and argument leads to better decisions and more objective assessments and thus success. With TPegs in the room all the time everybody is a yes man and they just don't get it. They live in a false reality of their own creation and as such, it will never succeed until Pegula gets out of the room.

If we are rolling everything forward and keeping it all basically the same no f'n chance. It appears that is the plan. You can start talking about the 8th best pick in next year's draft now.

Not exact, but that argument's pointless. He's in his correct role and he does his job that's it. We are always shuffling deck chairs on the titanic.

He's been saying Adams needs to be fired on his twitter.

Absolutely. Pegula doesn't like fighting and the team as a result never values that until some incident happens and then they play up to it for a while and then the next year it's back to the same. They don't understand hockey. You can be as tired of it as you want to be but it's true. However, NOT because they are actually "better" elsewhere but because the team dynamic they get placed into is better, the expectations are higher, and their roles are better defined. Thus, they thrive there. Tampa signed Zemgus to do a certain thing and they placed him in that role and he does that thing. No more no less. Our fourth line was less this year than last even though Adams claimed he'd upgraded it and spent a good 2nd round pick to do it. That alone is grounds for firing in most organizations but in Buffalo? Carry on.

As unappealing as this is I can totally see Appert being given the "interim" tag next year if we are failing mid season and then being given the head coach title the next year after another late season surge where they come up just short and draft 8th or 9th. Again.

I know right. Just another in the long list of guys who give more elsewhere than they did in Buffalo. Sabres hockey seems to sap the life out of many players.

Zemgus showing how you actually respond to a bad hit. Adams upgraded though didn't he. https://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/n271698