PerreaultForever

Every morning. S**t Shower and Shave right? The phrasing is too absolute. I think he is doing things, but I don't think he's actively pursuing the things we want and feel we need. I think it likely (for example) that he's made a bid on Chychrun but it's likely a low ball bid compared to what they want and Adams is fine to wait it out or even let it not happen. Arizona wants 2 1sts, I would guess he's offered them 2nds and maybe a prospect like Rosen. I don't believe he's actively pursuing a goalie or any other major move though. Might have feelers out on our potential deadline candidates (ufas). So I guess the short answer would be, not a lot.

lol, there is nobody on this roster that would take on Lucic now that he's old even, yet alone back then.

So you haven't been watching for the last 10 years?

We went through this last year and he never brought us what we wanted at an NHL level. Maybe this time will be different? Can somebody/anybody convince him to use his size and get mean?

Been a Sabres fan longer than you've walked the earth bucko. Shut it. No it doesn't. I hate Crosby. Always have.

Nothing overly unexpected here. Kiss those playoff dreams goodbye (if you had them). We cannot play with the big boys. More competitive than last year, but still far away. Cozens whining instead of scuffling was disappointing, but the biggest disappointment on the night for me was when Thompson got manhandled to the ice by their D man and he didn't do a damn thing. Big guy like that with no physical push back, I guess that's Sabres hockey. Maybe one day we won't be a soft team any more....................maybe one day...............

Not a chance. Gare would have punched his lights out man to man, face to face. As would have Dudley and a host of others back then. Spinner might have whacked him with his stick but we all know how psycho he turned out to be. In no way are they comparable either. But that's a whole other topic.

Total BS. Skinner goes upwards when he makes contact with the head. No excuse. It's a ***** move by a player afraid to drop his gloves. Be a man and exact revenge properly or stat out of it and let somebody else do it who actually is a man. There, I said it, cause you pushed me to it. Skinner is a ***** and deserves his suspension. (Marchand is irrelevant to this. Cheap name drop to curry favour with Sabres fans)

This is truly absurd, but I'd probably go watch it.

All the Skinner defenders need to stop being homers. There is no place in hockey for stick to the head. Emotion? Sure. Whack, hack, fight, whatever, get it out of your system, but there's no excuse for anyone for a cross check to a guy's head. Defence of the goalie? Absolutely. So drop 'em and unleash. There's a big difference. As for an appeal letting him play tonight, I wouldn't. 3 games is more than fair and you really don't want him on the ice after that in a back to back. Pens would head hunt him for sure and things would likely get ugly and we are not the team to face that. I expect the Pens to play shutdown hockey and then ramp it up in the third. I don't think an older team like that can go full out for 3 periods in a back to back after a previous fast game. We need to come at them hard and fast for a full 60 to have a chance. Do not let them dictate the speed and flow. I feel however, the line matching for the home team will benefit them and we will likely get out coached so the veteran team will prevail. But you never know. Goaltending is the wild card. I'd put VO in Skinner's spot, leave the kid line alone, move Kyle up into VO's 3rd line spot. Asplund in on the 4th line I guess. idk, I hate the bottom 6 of this roster regardless.

Unfortunately it very well might be. That makes it a very long plan. Too long imo.

Did he elaborate on what "the plan" actually is? I know it's all about people who want to be here and the draft etc. but what's the timeline, that's my question. It all seems a bit vague.

is he and does he? Not really imo. How many hits does he have in a typical game? I wasn't implying anything about fighting (even if I do think a Gordie Howe hattrick from him now and again would be fine). Just about throwing body checks.

Very good effort in one of the first real hockey games I've seen them play this year, and by "real" I mean a game against a good team that takes away what you like to do and gets in your way and makes you overcome that rather than just two teams letting each other do their own thing (as we've seen lately from Columbus etc.). It was simply real hockey and very competitive. Could have gone either way except.......... Skinner is a f'n idiot. You want to be a tough guy go ahead, hit him, drop your gloves, go to it, but cross check to the head??? A suspension is deserved to say the least. Idiotic. Otherwise an encouraging game though. Highly entertaining.

https://www.nhl.com/news/buffalo-sabres-attempt-to-hold-nine-pucks-in-one-hand-after-high-scoring-game/c-338552926?tid=281396148

Yes, but for the time being I'd go with Fitz. Like most of you I consider that spot a hole that needs to be filled.

Available now would be the issue wouldn't it.

A little bit like that, yes. Afinogenov was more of a quitter though. His effort level varied game to game . Skinner usually gives effort, but he's undisciplined and somewhat selfish. imo people just aren't noticing him doing these Skinner type things as much because the other two guys with him are as good as they are.

I'm not as sold as you are. I still find Skinner as the weak link in terms of a top line. Sometimes good sometimes bad he improvises (as you put it) far too often and gives the puck away more often than makes a great pass. Sometimes he's great, but some games he's an undisciplined liability.

idk, I wouldn't give up 2 firsts for him. What we really need is another Samuelsson, and that's not Chychrun.

What you say isn't wrong imo but it brings up some nuance that is important. ?When he has time and space" is all fine and good and it is what makes junior players great but in the NHL you need to be able to CREATE time and space for yourself or you need linemates to create it for you and in a sense carry you (which is obviously non ideal). That's the crux of the line's problem as VO also needs time and space and two guys needing with no one creating, that's a problem. Quinn, in time I think, will develop the ability to make his own space but right now he's the beneficiary of playing with Cozens who has great hockey sense, makes great decisions, and most of all can possess and hold the puck and thus create a lot of that needed time and space so Quinn can just move into that open area or towards the goal or whatever it is at the time. So I guess what I'm really saying is do we really want to find ways for Mitts to succeed more (i.e. be carried by his linemates) or are we better off to find another Cozens (or Thompson), let them create time and space for their linemates, and forget Mitts entirely. In the long run, I think that's the better plan.

Well no question, but that's not what Tuch is turning out to be, that's what Tuch is and has been for a while before we got him. There is no question he makes the players on the ice with him better. They compliment each other well. The move to center for Thompson, perhaps a lucky accident, perhaps by design, who knows, but it created a solid tandem.

Well he's no RJ. But on the bright side he's no Jack Edwards either. It could be much worse. I personally like what the Kraken assembled. Forslund has a lot of energy and manages to add excitement. Olcyzk levels it with much better hockey knowledge and insight than Ray. Dan is very flat in comparison and could use some of that energy. "That's Kraken hockey baby" comes off great and he could use some sort of battle cries for the Sabres in a similar manner. Really, just more energy and excitement. He's often just too flat.

Thompson is a fascinating player to me. Most of us saw his size and wanted him to be a physical power forward. A missing Sabres component. Big knock was he just didn't seem to want to bang people around and use that size, and he still doesn't - in that way. So what was it he said, something like "I thought about what I was good at and developed that" (or thereabouts) and he's done just that. Takes over a huge amount of ice and shields the puck with that size and reach and on top of that power and accuracy in his shot have gone off the charts. He's simply played to his own strengths and is in a way redefining what a center can be and how he can play in this current NHL. Trust me, this will be contagious and height and reach are going to become bigger things for the stats/draft dudes in their center icemen . Now Mitts. My question there is what is he actually good at? What role can he fill and what style can he play? I honestly don't know. I see no particular strength at the NHL level so he's going to have to up his desire and work his ass off to become something or he's not going to be here or anywhere in a few years. One side note, I do wonder now if Tage wasn't affected more than we think by his wife's cancer issue and maybe that held him back or distracted him from his development back in 2019 and 2020 I think it was. Whatever the case, he's on fire now.

There's nothing to get over, he was -2 in a 9 goal game. As a D man in my youth one of the first things we learned was never stick your stick forward towards a shot where you end up deflecting it. You block it with your body or you get the hell out of the way so the goalie can make the play. Hockey 101. Mitts and VO were equally bad, but that's being hammered to death in other threads. Power, on the other hand was very good.