PerreaultForever

Well he certainly hasn't advocated for Flyers style hockey here that's for sure.

This off season is certainly a strange one for them. I can see a scenario where they get right back in it quickly but like with most teams a lot of things would have to go right. Number one Swayman has to get his mojo back. If he doesn't they will be in the McKenna lottery. Sadly this is quite possible.

Well yes, this has been the same for every year. He has a wealth of picks and prospects and could make deals but he hasn't. he also wants to "win" trades and that is unnecessary if you are actually trying to win now. As long as you get what you want/need it is okay to overpay sometimes. Especially when you have that wealth. He's not in a "don't want to trade away the future" scenario, there's actually too many prospects and unless things change we will just end up giving people away cheap like Jokiharju for a 4th or losing them on waivers. There's only so many roster spots.

It has become well known that Montgomery wanted to be in St. Louis. This is part of why he got fired in Boston. He didn't want to re-sign and commit. He would not have come to a team like Buffalo.

I've never denied they are my second team and have carried me through dark Sabres times. I told my full story on this site. SFW? I am merely relaying things from the Bruins forum that I thought might amuse. For the first time in over a decade they are cheering losing/tanking. It's quite funny to me. Want to hear something else funny? They are starting to hate on Mittelstadt.

Given that the current on ice roster seems to have found some chemistry and Quinn has shown signs of actually being useful my new thought is to trade Norris in the off season. He's a big trade chip and could get a potential return. imo we have enough offense as is (and we have offensive prospects). What we need for real lasting success is a proven NHL goalie and a top 4 defensive D man. Add those 2 ingredients at any cost and we might actually have something. I'd try to upgrade Lafferty as well but that's a minor issue and not game changing to say the least.

I do not think a plan of UPL and Levi is a good idea for next year. It could be the decision that makes us fail again. I wouldn't take the gamble. I would find a decent proven NHL goalie to handle half the load (roughly) and trade for him asap.

Bruins fans are very grateful 🙂 So we will end up picking around 8th. What a shock.

I'm not going to buy into the "if' scenarios. A lot of things can go wrong fast too. Things just are what they are. What I will say though is it is way past time for Adams (presumably) to stop having faith in what's happening and stop waiting for more prospects to develop and make the moves now needed to get over the hump. He should have got on this when we missed by 1 point before and he definitely should have gotten on this when they hired Ruff and started this season but if he doesn't make the big necessary moves now he's just shooting the whole thing in the foot. This team, as is, looking pretty good, so there's your immediate trade chip. TRADE NORRIS. TRADE THE TOP PICK. get that veteran goalie and that top 4 defensive D man. We have the assets to get it done. GET IT DONE.

I've heard several "insider" types say he's not really interested in the NHL as he loves being what he is and he has already turned down teams like Philly. Having said that, there are no guarantees college success translates to NHL. I'm actually fine if Ruff comes back but I wasn't happy with the assistants this year and really would like to see changes there as I'm sure many of you would.

Cozens just forgot what team he was playing for. Perfect pass to Krebs. Tape to tape. That's mad skills. We looked like a real hockey team so where was this earlier? All it's going to do is get us into picking around 8th again and convincing management and owner we are on the right track. Boston fans thank you.

They seem to have Ottawa's number this year so no reason to think that can't continue. Top 5 pick soon handed over to the Bruins at this rate.

I agree that how you play matters quite a bit. The way the rules have changed for example there's a lot of slim young kids who haven't learned to protect themselves along the wall. They turn and face the boards as if they are invulnerable and if they get a shot from behind (which might be a penalty but still happens) they are done. In the old days you wouldn't do that. You'd be coached from doing it. Lots of other things but I never said it was about size. It's more about strength and conditioning. It's just that the big guys are usually stronger and have more upper body strength. I have no idea why Greenway is out so much. I see nothing on ice that would be taking hits or doing something that would result in it. He just seems injury prone. As for Norris, he is quite light looking, as is Quinn. Looking at them they don't look like guys who have a lot of upper body strength. Benson's small but he has a broader looking build for his size despite his age so I think he will be okay even going into those tight areas. Norris I worry about. Not sure if those shoulders could handle playoff hockey at all should we ever get there. A guy like Bennett could end him game 1.

idk what we inherited with Norris but he's had several major shoulder surgeries so I'd say he's potentially fragile. Why a big guy like Greenway keeps missing games is anybody's guess.

Sure but every team in that race has had key players injured at times this year. There is no valid "if" and you won't get me to drink that Kool-Aid. We were not as good as the teams still in it. Ottawa has won the which one will make it next year of Ottawa, Buffalo, Detroit race that we heard about last year. Montreal and Columbus win the good drafting faster than expected rebuild awards. Rangers and Bruins are crashing below expectations and what happens to either next year is unknown. We are down with Philly in the lots of mistakes and haven't got it right yet class.

but nothing. they don't mean a thing.

Adams made the team too young, that's his ultimate failure. It's a self fulfilling prophecy. But right now he's telling Terry, "did you see that, we beat the best team, we're the best now."

Yes it is, but if you were a player and had a chance at getting out of here with a big contract wouldn't you take it?

I'm seeing a lot of "if" all over the internet in Sabres conversations. If Dahlin hadn't missed games, if Quinn had started hotter, if goaltending had been better, if they hadn't gone to Europe, if if if it's if every year. The bottom line for me is Ruff didn't make a difference. The team isn't any better than it was last year.

I heard an interesting comment the other day on a podcast. I forget which one. I think it was Jeff Marek's. "No franchise can ever be successful if everybody is always agreeing with each other. You need dissenting voices for success." If that's true, and I think it might be, that right there might be the core of the Sabres problem brought on by Pegula's presence and the need to "agree". We need somebody in that room to say "that's stupid" once in a while.

The problem I have with Adams (well, the biggest problem) is this constant narrative that it's "hard to make a hockey trade" and that's the only trade he will consider. The reality is it's easy but you need to do TWO trades not one. That way the whole league is an option. You can do a hockey trade if it's there but if not, you work harder and you trade the guy you don't want for picks and prospects and then you trade picks and prospects (not necessarily the same ones) for a veteran guy(s) you want from someone else. Teams contending, teams rebuilding, teams with cap room, teams that need cap room, they all want different things and Adams can fill any of those needs if he stops trying to do just one deal that is player for player. So Power or Byram for whatever but ultimately we end up with veterans on the team that we are currently missing like a solid defensive D man (among other things). Adams needs to stop trying to win deals and stop waiting and use the luxury position he currently has. How they can still not get this right is mindbogglingly stupid.

Given the success St. Louis had I think we are going to see several offer sheets around the league this year and Peterka could be one of them. What KA does with it who knows.

If they take us seriously we have no chance. If they play loose and spend the day trying to set up Ovi we could steal one. That's it.

But, if we were closer and actually in the hunt opposition teams would take us more seriously and we'd have a tougher time of it. We've been winning a bunch of wide open games where teams have been loose and/or uninterested and when given open ice this team usually does well. The exception was the Philly game where they also played loose and open and beat us at our own game. I laugh when I read things like "Quinn is heating up" on twitter and sure he is, cause he's not being checked as closely and he has open ice. Give him open ice and yes he has skill. We knew that. The problem is his inability to play through tight checking and physical defense. This happens to this team every single year and every single year it seems to give management this illusion/delusion that we are close, just a little luck is all we need. It's madness.

Well okay but I think it's safe to say we haven't had a good GM in this entire non playoff stretch. They have all made a bunch of big mistakes.