PerreaultForever

I find it odd that some of the people here who critique me for being stuck in the 80s and wanting too much violence in hockey (their claims) watch football but that's for them to figure out. Some of us hockey fans don't watch football any more, and while this player's injury is a tragic event, the world doesn't stop for football. Should the Sabres forfeit and not play every time a person in Buffalo gets seriously injured or dies? The idea is simply absurd. Having said that, hope the guy pulls through even though I have absolutely no idea who he is. I stopped watching football years ago. Now as for hockey, big test for the Sabres. Washington plays a style they will not like. Speed and more speed and don't get intimidated or it'll be a hard fall back down to earth.

Move to Canada 🙂

I've noticed this too. I like Kulich, but I don't like this aspect of his game. he does seem to coast from time to time and let others do the dirty work. Hopefully that can be coached out of him and it's not a character trait. Otherwise he shows great promise.

The game with the snow blowing was certainly more winter like and thus very enjoyable. I don't think the league likes them as much though. Seattle could be a weird one and might get rained out. I think Buffalo and Toronto should play an alternating outdoor game every year. I want that rivalry back more than any other.

Fun game and general vibe. The opening "puck pitch" was cute, and Orr sent it straight down the plate 🙂 Bruins haters should at least relish the fact that the result was better for our playoff chances, long shot as they might be.

His game generally lacks on the defensive side and they wanted him to learn the team system. having lost a couple they inserted him to add to the offense and it did.

I would welcome his addition.

Well you're not really disagreeing with my feelings at all. Beef doesn't always skate as fast as you'd like but if you can get both together sure. This is why on the back end my target would be Conor Clifton. He's not too old, in his prime, he hits hard and frequently but can also move the puck and keep up with the speed. He's like a better Lybushkin. He's also grossly underpaid and ripe for a big raise which I doubt the Bruins will be willing to pony up for after they pay Pasternak and some of their other UFAs. He's my main D target unless you land a higher profile player in a trade or other type of move. I agree. I've said it before and will keep saying it. Conor Clifton.

Nah, not that. I see Krebs somewhere between Yanni Gourde and Curtis Lazar. At this point I have no sense of which end of that spectrum he ends up on but something similar.

It's an option but not how I see it. I still hold to my earlier assessment that Krebs isn't going to be an offensive star and he needs to develop into a role player, at which I think he can be very successful. I can see him becoming a pesky irritant with just enough offensive ability to not be ignored. His smiling up beat attitude fits with the idea of him becoming a little powder keg. I think Granato sees this too and is using and developing him exactly as he should be.

That may very well be the case, and if so, then no. It's all hypotheticals. My free agent targets will be lesser names anyway but as a GM you explore every option. If you can get a Horvat right now for 4 years you do it. If not, you don't.

But I would say when you are down a goal the chances of a tie rest with the big line more likely than not. Tage hit that post. That puck goes in we likely play another OT.

Okposo's line played well in this game as they are more suited to the style Ottawa was dictating. The kids struggle with this stuff, they still have much to learn. Krebs is getting it. It'll come.

You misunderstand me. I'm willing to pay Horvat but not for 8 years. If he wants that money for that term then I'm not interested. Cap management is about veterans (who might be overpaid) falling off the payroll as younger players get pay increases. It's a balance. You don't have to be a cap floor team in anticipation of a payroll increase coming 2 or 3 years down the road. We have more than enough room to add talent AND pay those who earn it down the road.

I haven't noticed a bias in favour of better teams myself, but reputation does factor in.

So I guess you were happier tonight. Sabres could easily have been called for too many men on 2 different occasions. They are judgement calls.

That was about as even of a hockey game as you can get. They did what they do a little better than we did what we do. But really, luck could easily have flipped the result on another night. Bit of a rough game for Cozens. Growing pains. They did get on Dahlin a lot and it threw him off his game a little. It is what they do and it will always be what more physical teams do. He's going to be a target his whole career. We need to hit back a little more to keep them more honest. In order to win we have to skate and keep skating and all too often we stopped moving our feet. Tage, for example, when he's going full speed and uses his reach (or shot) he's elite, McDavid level even, but sometimes (like tonight) he stops moving and relies on just his size and reach and his effectiveness falls drastically. Right now, 2 even teams, and they came out with a little more desire (off a loss) than we did (off a win).

In the last week, Senators beat the league leading Bruins in OT and Sabres beat the Bruins in OT as well. If you want to get serious it's a 4 point game and you need to win this one in regulation. Both teams prefer to play very different styles. I think it'll be defined by which team asserts themselves enough to dictate the style of play. If there down and dirty in front stuff prevails we lose, if we drive the net and play with speed relentlessly we win. Toss a coin.

It's funny but I do notice Sabres fans almost always complain about refs favouring the Bruins, and yet Bruins fans frequently feel the league is against them and the refs almost always favour the other team. This has gone on for years if not decades. In my opinion, after watching hockey for a really really long time there are only 2 teams that really get regular favourable refereeing and that is Toronto and Montreal, especially at home. Otherwise home teams get away with a few things now and again from some refs, young refs tend to call more chintzy stuff that could be let go, and teams in black do tend to get more penalties than teams in white, that is true (as studies have actually shown for all sports). The rest of the perceptions are fan bias. It was a good game. They lost a lot of one on one puck battles but they had good goaltending and they found a way to win. Enjoy it.

Except he's the only one who took a hard direct punch to the head, there was blood sprayed on the ice and he was leaking enough to have to go off the ice for repairs. The fist pump was entertaining as I said. You don't have to win every hockey fight. Now when we sign Clifton in free agency (I'm throwing it out into the universe cause it's a thing I'd try to do and want out there) they'll have to kiss and make up 🙂

I did not think the refs were biased in any way. I was watching Philly L.A. later and that had some horrible ref'ing in it. In this game I don't think it was bad or favoured either team. Disagree.

I agree it's very unlikely, but I also see no reason why you wouldn't add a player like that if you wanted to become a serious contender. He's exactly what we need in terms of forwards. We have more than enough money sitting around.

It was @Refuting , but ya, he might have pulled it out of his "dreams".

In the most recent phase the defense is playing much better. Forwards are checking better and they aren't being intimidated. Cozens is a completely different player this year. Passing is better and they are fighting for loose pucks harder. Most of all their positional play has improved drastically and the (using the current NHL buzz word of the era) structure is vastly improved. They used to run around so much and sometimes got away with it because of their speed, but now they are actually playing their positions and relying on their team mates to play theirs. It's a huge change going forward in terms of building a real winning team. This would be big thumbs up to Granato and his assistants. Last year they were just loosey goosey go and try to score as much as you can. This year they are playing more 2 way hockey.

It's in one of the topics here. Somebody had a per Friedman tweet about Buffalo being a possible destination.