PerreaultForever

Good defender, strong in front of the net. He's a sometime down the road prospect but if he keeps developing could be an incredible 5th round pick. One more, and we need them.

idk. You're saying Adams only offered 1 year and Hall would have taken more. Maybe. In any event glad we didn't sign him for more at that money, that would have really sunk us.

They do, and they often have great goaltending. Silovs was excellent. The team always has that grinding feistiness somewhat how Girgs plays. It's a true lunch bucket lower skill higher effort team.

I don't have to slow it down. I don't expect any of them to start on the Sabres roster. It's possible they start the season to give them a few games before sending them back down, but that's the most. One or more MIGHT get called up at the end of the year or as injury replacements but it depends on how they play and how the Sabres do. I think Kulich is closest, but at his age he'd have to do something remarkable in pre season to stay up. I would certainly hope we would now shift back to a normal development plan(s) for these guys and not use the big club as a development team but actually focus totally on competing for the playoffs. We lost 2-1 to Florida on April 4. Imagine if we'd gotten lucky that night and won in regulation? Florida, the possible cup winner, doesn't even make the playoffs. I bet Adams looks at this and thinks, Levi added, Quinn, Peterka and Power seasoned, we're good. He'd be wrong, but I bet that's what he's thinking.

idk the rules, just wondering if Vegas wins the cup does Lehner get a ring and/or his name on the cup?

Latvians beat the Swedes. I wonder if Girgs is regretting not taking part in this now? Latvian fans are going crazy. Huge moment for them. Canada's game was solid. Quinn was good. Montemault was very good. I would guess it'll end up Canada vs. USA for the gold but anything could happen. Some Sabres will definitely get medals.

Well that's possible as well, but you're going back a year earlier than I was. I think it's safe to say Adams was hired by Terry since they already had a relationship and initially bringing in Hall was a move to try and create a top duo but you have to remember that Hall wasn't getting the money he wanted and took the one year deal as a result. I'm sure both sides felt they could do well with that combo but the one year deal may already have been seen by KA and Terry as a one last shot for the status quo. idk, the injury obviously factored in, relationships soured, Jack wanted out. The early rumours of that were obviously all true. Thus the tear down had to happen and did. Draft success will determine how well the rebuild goes as it seems free agency won't be the route for the most part.

What is it with Swedes faking injuries and doing the head bob? Just watched the TSN bit showing the Latvians/Swedes. That Lindholm head fake was just embarrassing to hockey. Hope the Latvians find a way to beat them. Montembault is playing really well. Quinn's goal was a little lucky but it was a goal scorer's goal. Goal scorer's find a way and often look lucky. His speed burst was impressive. Peterka's goal against the Swiss was a real snipe. He's showing true signs of breaking out. We can hope it'll be like Cozens and he will have his NHL break out year next season.

Mistake imo. Even if you like Kyle, he contributed little on the ice at this point and it was time to pass on the C. This is step one in my fear that next year's team will look a LOT like this year's team.

So you're not a fan? 🙂

Absolutely, but don't measure everything by scoring stats. A lot of those guys (almost all) are or were playing better hockey in their roles on their teams then they did here. I'm seeing Reinhart get bolder and bolder as the playoffs progress following Tkachuk's leadership and example. Eichel is back checking for f's sake. He almost never did that here. Tyler Ennis might be the only one worse after Buffalo. Asplund hasn't been gone long enough to tell. The rest have been better.

Ya, I said last 10 to keep it in the era of total futility but Drury was pretty past his prime. Myers? Not sure he's worse, but then he wasn't here long enough to really say. We kind of broke him .

I'm not sure "fun" is the right word when they all seem to be doing better but maybe it does saying something. Maybe try to come up with the list of players who left Buffalo over the last say 10 years and did WORSE. I can't actually think of anybody at the moment. I mean Bogo was still playing and even won a cup, Risto isn't good, but he's slightly better than he was here (but still not good). E-Rod was playing with McKinnon. Colin Miller's still in the playoffs (at least for another game). All I got is Will Butcher. No idea where he is. Everybody who leaves does seem to do better.

It's just an article. Biron and Brodeur are the two guys quoted. You respect them don't you?

Totally valid, and I feel the same way. Ex-Sabres going to win the cup one way or another just like ROR all over again. Might not matter, but I can't think it helps this franchise when you see a "leave and succeed" thing happening over and over again. When they hired Cassidy there was a whole good luck to them with Cassidy vs. Eichel talked about a lot but here we see Eichel in line, Cassidy in charge, Eichel back checking even. imo three things factor in. 1. Cassidy is a good coach, and we didn't have good coaches during Eichel's time here. That's on the Sabres. 2. Eichel isn't captain/leader of Vegas. Stone is their leader. There are other leaders like Pieterangelo. Cup winners. It's a better team around him so he doesn't have to be the main guy every single night. Thus he plays more relaxed and better. If we'd named ROR captain and had better veteran leadership maybe he'd have developed differently. That's also on the Sabres. 3. Eichel was an arrogant and cocky a-hole kid as noted. Maybe after the trade, the derision, the negative comments from multiple directions, maybe he's reached a level of maturity where he knows he has to give more effort and he is. This is his chance to show what he can be and he's doing it. Maturity. I'd prefer to believe it's that and not just getting away from Buffalo. I still suspect the a-hole is in there and if he wins it all it might come back out but at the moment he's playing the system and listening to the coach and thus, winning. That's not on the Sabres. In sum, I'd say the Sabres failed as an organization in elevating a cocky a-hole kid into second coming status and giving him too much say and power. A stronger organization with a deeper solid culture might have made him a different player sooner and succeeded with him. Hopefully we will have that soon, if we don't already and will do it properly with any future "stars" we bring in. Or to put it simply, you never let the inmates run the asylum.

I was googling around and found this 2021 article by Larry Brooks. Quotes Biron in it. Main thing in his opinion is the development model. https://nypost.com/2021/03/20/why-quebec-is-no-longer-an-nhl-goalie-factory/ That one focused on Quebec. This slightly older one from the CBC focused on Ontario basically says the same thing. European development model for goalies is better. UPL gets mention here. https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/hamilton/ohl-trades-hockey-1.5011453 So they've kind of figured out the reason. I'm surprised they haven't done more to address it.

That is a surprisingly weak list. I wonder why that is? Expensive goalie equipment parents can't afford? Lack of glamor in the position at an early age? Coaching? It's definitely a puzzling thing.

There are a lot of Russian goalies in the league aren't there? As well as Scandinavians. I'd have to look over all the rosters and think about it (and I will admit to being too lazy :)) but there has to be more Canadian goalies than that. I'm blanking though so maybe there isn't. That's kind of weird now that I think about it. I wonder why.

If I remember correctly Pat hired Tim to work under him but then something happened and Pat quit or was pushed out. I don't remember any clarity on what happened, I assume people signed NDAs. Tim without a smarter boss above him was a recipe for disaster.

I'm not debating that aspect. What I'm saying is that Murray got full control and proceeded to ***** things up royally. There might still be an argument as to why Lafontaine left, but I think there has to have been some sort of conflict over direction and the "plan" at that time. In any event, I think we will agree that Murray was a bad hire and a rookie GM like that should have never had the control he had and the ability to make all those poor decisions he made. If only they'd hired Rick Dudley above him, it might have ALL been different..........................

So you're suggesting that in a few years Levi will be one of the top 3 Canadian NHL goalies in the league? That's quite optimistic, and we can only hope that you are right.

Pity they haven't given Levi more games. Hofer was garbage but I guess they view Levi as a green rookie. Disappointing.

I think TP is the only one who knows what really happened and with NDAs and whatever I doubt any of us will ever really know, but the power structure shifted and so did the direction. It was a bizarre moment and the franchise did change after it.

and some of us (many?) still believe Lafontaine out Murray in was the launching point of the entire crash and burn that followed.

I know, and all I'm saying is that is rhetoric until it's reality. I didn't say he CAN'T coach defense, just that so far he hasn't. It's time to add that. So the verdict is yet to be determined. I still think it's backwards. Offense comes naturally to a lot of these guys. It's what they like to do. Playing a team defensive system is much harder, but necessary for success, especially in the playoffs. Defense second might work though idk. Cassidy seems to have Eichel etc. playing better D than ever before so I give it the benefit of a doubt in terms of which comes first as a plan. Do you at least agree that we were close enough and are scoring enough that now is the time for that defense and now is the time to compete for the playoffs and definitely not have another "developmental" year next season?