PerreaultForever

I thought this was the case using the old eye test so I looked it up. In terms of shots blocked per game we are second to last in the league with an average of 11 per game. Vegas is top with 20 per game. Also, although +/- isn't everything, it is worth noting Bryson is -12.

Sure, but can he drive his own line? 🙂

I think the way things are going this is highly possible now. There was a glimmer of interest after the run of wins and competitive games but I think the lack of entertainment has returned and the people will give up and splurge on fresh lettuce instead. Better value 🙂

Screw the advanced stats. Bad D makes goalies look bad. Everybody's on about how good Ullmark is this year. Is he that different? or is he just playing confidently knowing he can rely on his defense. He knows his D and his D knows him and they make each other look better. I will tell you what the stats don't. When a goalie can't rely on his D he knows he can't leave a rebound, he has to clear the shot. Maybe he can't see through the screen. Maybe he gets run into more or simply worries about getting run in to. Maybe the pressure of rarely playing with a lead gets to him knowing he can't let the next one in. I could go on and on. All these things add up and the goalie loses his edge, his swagger if you will, and then his advanced stats are worse. Cause that's what Ullmark has now. Watch a game. It's swagger. The one thing he didn't have in Buffalo.

Fighting is down, but it's definitely not gone from the game. You're just watching too many Sabres games. Remember this guy? https://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/n265891 Sabres definition of checking: wave your stick towards the puck, close your eyes and hope nothing happens.

It takes a true hockey genius to run a power play where everybody stays wide and all you do is move the puck around the perimeter. Possession numbers must be quite good. Analytics and all that. I am mildly amused that I am reading all these angry and negative comments about various aspects of the team that are all things I've been saying off and on for years now and have been mostly dismissed and called a pessimist and so forth. I'm not the type to say I told you so but I think maybe I do understand hockey after all. Pegula does not.

lol. That would be kind of funny. I feel it'll be tonight though. Not Bjork, but some sort of emotion has to explode on this team doesn't it?????

Totally agree. The show has been pretty much rubbish after the defeat of Negan. Horrible final seasons, aspects make no sense even in the premise of that world, and yet they have the audacity to make it a "universe" and spin off movies and sequels. I guess somebody cares. I'm seeing it out though. At least until the finale this week. I like the zombie genre though, always have. Maybe that's why I still watch the Sabres 😉

idk, I've watched every game so far this year. I see flat performances. They don't dig down when behind, they don't give extra. They basically don't break a sweat. When's the last time you saw them come off the ice sweating and exhausted? Standing around is just that, standing around, and looking for somebody else to do the work. Even Cozens, who is the least of the offenders is often trying to block shots with his stick instead of his body. So yes, they need to learn to play D, but they also have to be willing to do what it takes. Screw the players if they ignore it. That'll simply mean we have the wrong players. The players should NOT be okay with losing either.

You're reading that wrong. Lack of effort is unacceptable in Philly under Torts. I never feel that that is the case here in Buffalo. They DEFINITELY lack effort on many occasions and at some point of most games.

You still watching the Walking Dead? Negan's no Negan 🙂 idk, I've seen Ottawa look really good this year and also really bad. They are better at home than on the road though. I expect them to play us physical. Maybe we see that first fight this game? Heck, the Sabres SHOULD come out with fire and anger and want to break the losing streak, but they'll probably just be the same...........

Spot on and true. Granato said some accurate things but it still sounded like "learning opportunity" stuff to me. Torts, after a slack effort says things like "they keep playing like that and I will make their life hell". He has brought them in for a tough morning skate the day after a sucky effort. He can't fix Philly's lack of talent, but lack of effort is unacceptable there and I never feel that with Buffalo. It's always just learning and they never learn. imo they are learning to lose AGAIN. The leadership is lacking, the effort is lacking, and thus the results are also lacking. There's simply no feeling that this is improving in any way. Danny Gare? Ya, definitely. He brought it. Luce brought it. Ramsey brought it. The French Connection slacked and played soft now and again but the D was solid and tough and there were lots of grit players back then like Dudley who brought it every shift. That's why I mentioned Miles Wood with 6 goals in the discussion of New Jersey. He's no allstar, but he brings it. It's contagious. We used to have guys like that. For some reason this team feels we don't need any of them now. Makes me wonder if things would be better if Marcus Foligno was still here and perhaps even wearing the C.

I was watching a replay of the Flyers Columbus game after. First period, Flyers were bad and down 2-0. They do the bench interview with the coach thing and Torts simply answers "we suck". Second period Flyers came out completely different and made it a good game. Lost in OT but still, it was more entertaining hockey with effort. Now I'm not suggesting the Flyers are any good or have things right, they're not. They have very little actual talent and Torts will struggle to get them any wins at all BUT maybe this kind of coaching honesty is what this team needs. Time to stop talking about "learning experiences" and other bs excuses and actually trying to win some hockey games.

Won't make any difference until we bring in attitude, desire, grit and just general will to compete. This franchise is utterly clueless.

I hear Barry Trotz is open to hearing offers.

No. Give me something to believe in and maybe. Right now, I think they need somebody to "lend them a hand"

So they've decided to suck hard for Bedard? Can't wait for their "contributions". This is a huge game and there is absolutely no reason they shouldn't win it. I watched Vancouver play Boston and they are a total mess. I'd say some of them have quit on Boudreau too. Goaltending is weak. D is weak. Forwards are a mess. If they don't change soon they are definitely in the Bedard race. they are losing, we are losing, let's see who the real losers are.

This is true, especially about their top 2Cs and the front office, but unlike Buffalo they also added veterans. They signed Doug Hamilton. They got the goalie as mentioned. Tatar is playing well for them. They kept grit in Miles Wood and added (or re-added)Bastian, and Ryan Graves. This is not a team built on draft picks alone.

It's actually not that hard to do when you finish at or near the bottom of the league every year and draft in the top group, and when you trade the top players you already had for even more top picks it's even easier. or it should be. in a few years we will be able to draw up comparison charts of who we drafted and who we didn't. Only then will we know how many Nylander's (8th pick in 2016) and how many Thompson's (26th pick in 2016) we got. So maybe for you it's OK, but for me it's not. It's no longer OK to lose all the time and wait for "next year".

I think they're building it backwards. They are focused on the offense (perhaps the belief that it will provide more entertainment value and fill seats faster) and seem content to wait for Power to develop and to get Levi (?) or one of the others in goal. It'll take years. I've always believed and said here you start with goal and move out to D and add the offensive talent after you've built a tough hard to play against culture. maybe I get that belief from watching the Bruins. maybe it's because of Hasek idk. Just seems the right way to me.

Fair, but the lack of depth on forwards hasn't been tested as they are pretty much healthy. Where is this team however if Thompson or Cozens goes down? or Tuch? What's left and who fills that void Sheahan? I think not. We've had at least 3 chances to snap up Reilly. Is he great? No. Is he as good as Jokiharju, probably. Maybe better. So why not? I get it with 1 injury, don't grab that salary burden but with 3? Seems like a "don't spend any money" move to me. As for all those D injuries at once, it happens. Last year at one point the Bruins were down 4 or 5 starters on D. This year they've been down 4 and one of them was the top guy. Good teams have depth. I don't expect us to match that level of depth, but at least something closer. Guys we've ditched and cast off as useless are currently playing in this league. Mostly for teams doing better than us. Surely we could have kept a few of them around.

Right now our rebuild is better than the Ottawa plan. Better than the Blue Jackets and probably better than the Flyers in time (although maybe those 2 are still in tear down mode?) It is Not as good as New Jersey or probably not as good as the Red Wings and the Canadiens seem to have fared better than expected (and us) as well. If you want to include the west it would seem the Kraken might have moved ahead of us already but the Ducks and Canucks and Sharks are all behind I think (maybe all 3 still tearing down). (Looking at Boston and the Ducks it seems Lindholm's contributions may have been underestimated all these years). Arizona, surprisingly looks about even with us at this time. Then there are the old teams falling like Washington and St. Louis and the still okay teams like the Islanders who everyone thought would be worse. So overall, in terms of rebuilds, I think it puts us roughly in the middle of the pack. Considering how long ours has been going and how many assets we got for the last phase we did we should be much better already but if you look at it as just the KA era it's mid level. Maybe that's good enough for some people. I consider it failure and missed opportunity and........ I am simply tired of half assed efforts and loser hockey.

Well there are a number of things wrong but the lack of production by multiple people is certainly contributing. 1) the slow build plan is their plan but it didn't need to be this slow imo and more should have been done to fill holes on the roster - we beat that discussion to a pulp in the summer and going into the season though. Opportunity missed imo but you don't win with an all rookie team. 2) There is no depth. 3) It's not a balanced team and lacks identity. Okay so we are the fast attacking team maybe but only part of the roster can play that way itself. There's simply too many rookies and you get multiple struggling rookies at once (and by rookie you can include the not quite there yet types who are a few years in) 4) Skinner 5) Skinner's contract 6) KO as captain. Is it working? I think not. 7) desire and a winning culture. It's slipping away. I can see it each game little by little. The blank looks, the lack of emotion. They're getting used to it AGAIN. I could go on and rant all day but that's enough. Most of this team is just there, nothing else, and they just lack.

Pretty sure the team making that deal gets to talk to the agent and work out a deal. It's not like the Vesey thing.