PerreaultForever

Been saying this for years. and it's not just the defensemen, a lot of the forwards don't do their job defensively either.

Mike Reilly is down in Providence but not playing. Rumour has it they are working on a trade to somewhere................... (I doubt it's Buffalo)

I think my ipad threw itself off the bridge.

If those lines play out against what Boston usually does, you have Thompson vs. Bergeron which should be interesting but likely we win zero face offs all night. Cozens line will have their hands full with Pasternak and Hall and Coyle's line will absolutely destroy Mitts line. But you never know. Boston has to have an off night at some point. Maybe this is their "trap game".

Pat LaFontaine put a curse on them. We don't deserve it, but we have an owner who knows nothing about hockey constantly hiring inexperienced people and flipping the plan over and trying again and never handing the keys over to an experienced hockey guy(s) who knows what he's doing and isn't learning on the job making mistakes. The best players on this roster were acquired by JBot. KA flipped the assets Murray acquired for picks and prospects (Tuch excepted) that may or may not pan out. If they do, it'll be closer to being fixed, if they don't, it's just gone full circle and gotten us nowhere. If Pegula had handed this team over to somebody like Rick Dudley years ago we wouldn't be in this mess.

He reaches his peak when his linemates are on his level (or closer to it).

F*ck Jack Eichel. That is all.

Must the Sabres always suck and the only highlight we ever have is winning the draft lottery.

I want to see Eichel get booed every shift. Sadly, I think this might be Eichel's revenge game. I haven't seen Vegas play this year but if it's Cassidy hockey, well, we have struggled against that style for years.

obviously finding a way to keep his job but he's pretty much taken over DesLauriers role there. 4th fight this season already.

Seems like old Nathan Beaulieu is fighting somebody just about every night this year. https://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/n265831

They did but that's only step one. They still have to come up with another 6 million plus I believe. Forbert might go on LTIR but more still has to happen. I'd still take Reilly, but at this point with their squeeze I'd want them to toss in a higher mid level draft pick, maybe even ask for a 2nd rounder. Craig Smith is another name tossed around as an overpaid has been. Same thing. I'd want a solid pick or prospect to take him, but I think there is an opportunity to get something from them.

I think that's a fair assessment of what they are doing. I'm not convinced it's the right approach though. Not at all.

I don't really disagree with you but to me not caring about winning vs. winning not being priority numero uno is a distinction that kind of doesn't matter. To me. It amounts to the same thing. I'm pretty sure it is a VERY long timeline, but I don't have to like that. As a fan I am sick and tired of "next year". We've heard all that before. To me, setting a standard and an expectation for giving it your all and trying to win every night is a cornerstone. Philly was supposed to be crap (and maybe still are) but that's the approach they've taken. Culture first. I'm simply afraid this will cycle around AGAIN and this batch will lose their love or get comfortable with a low bar and round and round and round we go.

I hear this, and I've seen the messaging, but I just don't see that on the ice or in their decisions of who plays and so forth. To me it sort of looks like they don't care about winning this season at all. They will never say that, but that's just how it feels.

Or they don't actually want to win this year.

These lines are closer to what was working earlier so I guess the experiments go down as failures. Pilut-Power troubles me.

McAvoy likely coming off of LTIR this week. Bruins going to have to do some serious cap gymnastics this week. KA should call and see if they want to sweeten something.

My comment wasn't directed at you specifically but rather to the general idea of a "trap game". If you lose 2 straight and come home and fall into a "trap" that's a huge failure of the coaching staff and/or the leadership core. There is no way this should happen. If coming off 2 wins sure, but not after two straight losses.

as it's been for a decade or longer.

This "trap game" thing is nonsense. It presumes the team in question, the Sabres, is a winning team and a substantially better team than their weak opposition who they take too lightly because they are too focused on the "real" opposition coming the game after. While they may indeed be thinking about the Eichel game, none of the other aspects of that hold as true. You simply don't run into a "trap" game when you've come off 2 straight losses, it's not possible.

Risto back on the ice tonight. Flyers beat up on Blues.

Ya, they paid tribute to him before yesterday's Bruins game. I always liked him as a player and he seemed like a class act. Too young. RIP.

Yup, I'd say we are firmly back in the suck hard for Bedard sweepstakes. I said a while back I thought the culture was fragile and an effort (or rather lack of) looks like last year and the year before and is right back to coasting complacent acceptance of losing. We went down 3-1 I didn't see any digging down, any extra effort, anybody giving it their all. Just same same all around the perimeter, little in front, little extra effort. Just a big bag of nothing. Rob Ray calls it a "good effort" when the most entertaining moment of the night was when his papers got soaked in ice spray. On nights like this I hate that I became a Sabres fan. I'm watching the Kraken right now. Far more entertaining so far.

I disagree. I think it's pretty clear that he isn't going to be a top line offensive talent. (I could be wrong, but it's my assessment) With that in mind, I still think he does have speed and skills and a good hockey IQ so I'm sending him to the AHL and instructing the coaches down there to try to turn him into a role player. I want him on the PK, in checking scenarios, practicing face offs, defending leads, NOT on the PP and not in a scoring offensive role. See if he can become a solid checking 2 way guy rather than a bust. trying him in those scenarios in the NHL will be too difficult at first and will lead to losses. Nothing wrong with going back down.