PerreaultForever

Totally agree with those announcers. Cocky arrogant young kids got a lesson. Nothing to see here, moving on............

The operative word is "compare", while the point is the value to the team. In terms of what they bring for what they are paid, I would rather sign Vinnie for a few more years and play him than pay VO. Now if VO takes a huge pay cut that analysis changes. Keep in mind in 50 games Vinnie has 11 goals and in 60 games VO only has 4 more and he's had PP time despite 3 times the salary. Vinnie has a higher scoring percentage and Victor's plus minus is the worst on the team. I do not see VO as an important part of the future.

Disagree. Krebs and Girgs are both wingers in this line up and nobody on the team can win a face off. An upgrade would be a role player with a similar (but better) skill set.

Nobody needs to go unless they have an upgrade ready. Team chemistry might seem like a new thing around here but it's important. idk if Eakin has any role in that but if he does I don't get rid of him just to get rid of him. If you can sign Andrew Copp or somebody for reasonable money sure, ditch him, but we need to retain leadership and chemistry. Again, not sure he brings any of that, but the RJ thing makes me think maybe he does. and he did help us win an OT 🙂

As I remember you also said we'd compete for the playoffs. Optimistic humour was how I took it all, but if that was a serious prediction you actually believed well then you win the prize, whatever that is.

I'm fine with keeping him, but he needs a massive pay cut. About half of what he makes now. At this point, I think Hinostroza is the better player and I would re-sign him first. Better value there imo and a solid placeholder for the next 2-3 years as prospects develop. The way things are looking they will need to put a fair chunk aside for the 2023/24 RFAs to keep things well balanced.

I can't be sure, but it also looks like he yaps a little on the ice too. As you say, a "hot dog". Stuff like that is going to happen from time to time and you have to be ready as a team to respond to it. Anaheim has just gotten used to Deslauriers being there to fight their battles and now they aren't as protected as they were so they need to shut up and deal with it.

lol, like anybody here predicted this season for him (and as a center). Aside from, I guess, JBott.

No. Absolutely not. I think the train is on the tracks and moving forward and I think we stay the course. We have 3 solid goaltending prospects already. Impatience is the only thing that can ruin this change. I'm all for bringing in a mid value veteran to increase depth and support UPL etc. for next year but nothing overly costly.

Hey, if one of the draft picks or prospects develops into a star player great. If Cozens turns into a ROR I guess he becomes a "superstar". If Thompson gets even better and scores 40 or 50 goals a year I guess he becomes a "superstar". and so on. But in any case I don't believe there should be any focus on individuals. No one player should be deemed all that important, and players have to want to be here and want to be part of it. That's the new culture you need. If someone from the group emerges as a consistent great talent they get paid accordingly but no Skinner type signings, no Johnny Hockey additions or trading prospects and picks for some name player. Draft well, keep growing, keep building, increase the bonds, band of brothers and all that. Not individuals. It's started, keep it going. While it's true that in the end if we're to be a cup contender there will have to be star players on the team, they need to be developed within, not brought in. And no divas. Attitude has to be part of the draft process. In the end a team with a whole bunch of 20 goal scorers will take us further than a team with 1 or 2 40 to 50 goal scorers. If you don't believe me, come back to this after the Edmonton and Toronto playoff fails this year.

The idea that you build a team around superstars is utter folly and the Sabres are the perfect example of how that fails. great goaltending is without a doubt always essential, but superstars in a cap era? Hopefully we never go that route again.

What also impresses me about Krebs is his passion and enthusiasm. A genuine love for the competition shows through already. We have several players now with the right attitude and it's rubbing off on the rest of them. You can see the comradery growing and the team bonds forming.

My source says they will both be Sabres.

There's no doubt he's showing signs of maturity and becoming a more confident and complete player but watching them now, he doesn't strike me as captain material. I personally don't pay much attention to management and coaches and the others "around the team" as they often say what they want known and spin things and so on. After all these years I simply trust what I see in the games. We've all been lied to too many times by management and ownership. I'm measuring them only by actions and not words too. imo if they do not name Tuch captain, it will be another huge error. This ream is bonding since his arrival and I do not believe that is a coincidence. We've never had a guy who grew up wishing he could be a Sabre as a kid and this could be the beginning of a real rebirth. We name him captain and he will bleed blue and gold. It'll mean something to be a Sabre again, and pretty soon players will want to be here again. It will all slowly come back.

I truly like his development this year and he's added physicality that has changed a lot of things for him and the team, but he's not captain material. Even if he's the most skilled player on the ice it doesn't matter. I am hoping they have learned from the Eichel mistake and will not hand out letters based on skill or the size of players contracts, but rather on their character and true leadership abilities. imo you name Tuch captain next year, Cozens gets an A and unless he's traded Kyle keeps his A for next season (that A eventually going to whichever kid steps up the most and becomes the bigger leader. At the moment I am thinking Krebs).

It'll be Tuch.

Tanking is a loaded word and it's hard to say if management intentionally tanked or not. The goaltender situation screams intentional tank but I think it more likely they just screwed up on Ullmark and were left floundering. The rest of it was a tear down and deconstruction but it seems to perhaps have finally solved the cultural issue so one would have to say that ultimately the decision to ditch the big 3 was correct. This team is now on a forward trajectory but how fast that rise is will be hard to say. Depends, quite obviously, on the goaltending and how many of the multiple picks and prospects they hit on. Right now, all the young centers need to go to face off school so maybe what the team needs is an assistant coach with that specialty. Otherwise, add a goalie, a right hand D, possibly a checking center Eakin upgrade and a little more toughness. The rest is on the kids and new core that is already here.

These things take time, and there are ups and downs and ebbs and flows but imo this all started with Tuch lacing up his skates as a Sabre for the first time. I would call it the Tuch Effect. Said for years that we lacked leadership, Eichel was the wrong captain, Eichel was a crap captain, The "stars" were not leaders and the team simply wasn't a TEAM. We now have players with a different attitude, multiple leader types, cohesion and desire. Don't kid yourself, there is a long way to go still, but they finally look and play like a team, and it's a foundational step forward.

Krebs is starting to show real promise. Put him with a sniper and a power forward and we have the makings of another good line. If we use those picks wisely we can still win this trade.

It's not his fault. Edmonton has goaltending almost as bad as ours, a bad D and very little really good depth. Relying on 2 star players and a handful of other okay players to carry a team to the promised land is foolish no matter how good those stars might be, So no, Tippett couldn't have fixed the Eichel-Reinhart-Risto Sabres but he'd coach this group of kids we have just fine. Everybody here should be happy the bruins seem to be falling apart.

Pity about those 2 weeks then, as getting Wright might be the only saving thing to happen this season (apart from Tuch, I like him, he's like the type of Sabre we used to have before Terry bought this thing)

I'm done with you, you're an ass.

See, that's a perfect example of what I've been worrying about with KA f'n up the goaltending situation. You want to create a winning culture, you want to build with the kids, you want a new attitude and enthusiasm and these guys just get another lesson in losing. It's not good. There is no way Columbus should have won that hockey game. When Tuch made it 3, that should have been enough (admirable attempt at an RJ by Dan by the way, Tic Tac Tuch was pretty good I thought). momentum lost with a never should have gone in goal on Tokarski, and then iffy goaltending for the rest and there we are again, loser culture. This is extremely irritating as it was a fun game earlier and this should have been a celebration night. Argh!

I guess you have special status with the admins good for you. You get to repost and manipulate things and be a dick and nothing happens. IF I get back into it I will get muted or banned and have posts removed. Seems fair.

That first unit is long overdue, the second one ...........