PerreaultForever

I wouldn't call it "good". It was a bottom end over pay to marginally fill a gaping wide hole. So it wasn't a BAD idea, but it wasn't anything spectacular either. Much the same as Comrie as goalie. All the weak spots from before the season are still the weak spots.

Next 3 games are all against heavy styled teams that will make life difficult (assuming they are on their game). If we lose them all it's definitely over.

and before you say he doesn't have a no trade clause, do you really think the Blues would do that to the guy who won them a cup?

and ROR isn't agreeing to a Buffalo trade either.

So what was the point of sitting both of them? Granato not want to make a Sophie's Choice and play favourites?

So the Sabres don't want to win is that it? I honestly don't get it. Right when I was starting to believe they were on to something they think hey, let's take the goalie that's on a hot win streak and send him down to the minors, let's scrap our exciting energetic 2nd line and saddle our second best center with 2 scrubs, that's the ticket. Become a one line hockey team again, what could go wrong with that plan? It just didn't feel the same any more. It felt like the old. I don't get Dahlin's big hit at the end either. Was that payback for something I missed? It made no sense. I like a solid hitting D man, but you throw a few of those at the beginning of the game to set the tone and make their forwards think twice. What's the point with 30 seconds left? It was a Risto type move. Seattle played a bad hockey game by their usual standards and still coasted to a win. Absolute rubbish top to bottom.

lol, no worries he won't look like Chara but he will hit somebody. Might see how he feels about the Sabres by how many people he tries to hit 🙂 Forechecking them would be good, it's what we should have done against Philly, but we don't seem to like to play that way. See if Seattle takes away the middle of the ice the way the Flyers did.

So you want to lose again??? The idea of bringing back any of the guys who KA cleared out is just ludicrous. Maybe offer Philly a 2nd rounder for Risto? They'd probably take it. I've read things online where people also talk about trading for ROR. Sure, why not, let's kill his love for hockey permanently this time. Reinhart is back to being Reinhart, and it's part of why Florida is losing. Just be glad that era here is over. Somebody else's issue now.

Bad haircut?

This would likely be the very last thing Fitz would want. As a grown man would you want your daddy to help you out? I think not.

lol, after all the times she told me how terrible a coach Torts is she was remarkably quiet after this debacle. But yes, I clearly know nothing.

Unless Jokiharju's ready and that's his spot.

The operative word was "should" .

They had an easy game against Montreal so they won't be tired. They will play us exactly the way they always do.

Well the two are kind of interconnected. The Sabres have tendencies and weaknesses and the Flyers took advantage of that.

Except, in this case, they didn't let them play their game. So you do need to adjust.

I'd like to see a Miles Wood type added but I'm not sure there's a real trade market for VO and I'm going to place Kulich ahead of Savoie. Just a guess.

Well Torts' mantra is "be hard to play against" and that's what they were. Simple straight ahead hockey where they kept everything along the wall (and owned it), clogged up the middle, and just drove at the net with sheer physicality rather than skill. Totally revealed and exploited the Sabres' weaknesses. In a way, we were out coached. They had a solid game plan designed to stifle our style and we failed to adapt to it. I suspect this will come up again (and again) between now and the end of the season. We simply lack the grit and physicality to play this sort of dull plodding (but somewhat effective) style of hockey. Seattle will likely drive the net as well. Goathead magic might just have died tonight. let's hope UPL is hot.

My point is only that next season he has to earn his spot and not simply be on the roster to learn. If Jost (for example) is on the roster Savoie has to outplay him. If he does, he gets a shot but like Shane Wright in Seattle, if he isn't ready you send him somewhere lower. All depends on what KA does with the roster. I'm not concerned with ANY rookie next season unless he earns a spot. Keep stocking the cupboard and if it is too full trade 2 for 1 or something. Or trade for more future picks. Doesn't matter as long as the cupboard stays full(ish). Next year I am only concerned with winning games and doing what it takes to win games. Nothing else matters and imo that should be their focus too.

Kind of funny, but instead of being the trap game, we have a trap game for a change. That's new isn't it? lol I watched the first period of the Leafs Flyers tonight and the Flyers are really not good. We will likely see the back up as Hart played too. Still, they can be physical and they do have a few opportunistic guys who can score so they might give us trouble in front of the net if we take them lightly. Should be an easy win though. As for the Kraken, that'll be tough. Have to hope the long road trip will wear them down and maybe they'll be thinking ahead to their next game which I believe is Boston. We do have more skill players, but they are a tenacious bunch.

I think you're right, it's likely Clague or Fitz as they are toss a coin kind of similar. Coach seems to like Clague at the moment so it's probably Fitz.

and similarly, The fundamental difference between comparing him to Mitts and some of these others is almost all of them join weak teams lacking in real quality NHL players. We can't be a training platform and hockey school forever and if, as I think we should be, we are competing finally then the leashes get shortened and the training takes place at the AHL level like it does for teams like Boston. You won't see Lysell in their line up until he beats out a veteran already there (for example). Next year we shouldn't be developing for the next year after that but rather playing to win. Things will change and the way the roster functions has to change. Something maybe Sabres fans aren't used to. Also, he's small, so it'll likely take longer. If he was dominating at his level I might believe you. If he'd set a scoring record at the World's like Bedard I might believe you, but he wasn't even there. We're going to start functioning like a good NHL team soon. Get used to it.

Much better positional play these days. Players finally seem to have a feel for where linemates are and are supposed to be. Continuity and the coaching paying off. Now the confidence grows.

There is some real talent emerging, no question. Goaltending, D depth and 3C seemed to be fatal weak spots but Jost has been adequate, Clague has been relatively solid, and UPL has been very good. With Cozens breaking out big time and others coming along this is perhaps the leap forward we'd hoped would come.

Don't you mean our boys in red, black and white? 🙂