PerreaultForever

I'm with you and I agree on Samuelsson benefiting but those two are bad examples to compare to Power. Chara was a beast and a beyond normal physical specimen (still is) and Hedman is big all over. Look at his chest and upper body. Lot of muscle on there. Power is more in the Tyler Myers category but can hopefully develop into something more like Pietrangelo. We don't actually have a single bruiser on the D right now. You're pretty soft on D when your toughest D man is little Conor Clifton. I'm honestly not sure what Ruff will try to do with this group. New Jersey under him didn't play defensive hockey. Ruff's never been a defensive guy really. What I am hoping is he will bring a new level of compete, we will pay attention to details and play more disciplined, and in terms of style, we will try to be an aggressive forecheck team. This to me is the recipe for success if you want to be an attack, rather than defend, type of team. We will have to get tougher or add toughness though for sure.

Yes, that's why I think San Jose. They have a lot of holes on that roster and not a lot of bodies to fill them. Chicago depends on their timeline.

"ugh" as in you don't like that type of hockey or "ugh" as in you think Canucks were bad? You don't think Nashville played good defensive hockey?

You're actually the only one who keeps saying that phrase and pushing that narrative. It's your strawman argument that you try to put everyone who disagrees with you into. I do not recall a single person saying Power would be a big guy who hits stuff.

He definitely came across as older, and soft spoken, but speaking as someone very close to his age, you mellow on the exterior because you come to realize the shows of emotion are kind of a waste of time and whatever fires you had inside are still there burning in full force. One may seem "different" but that doesn't mean they really are. Maybe a little wiser, but really the same. Now you personally can't do everything you could when you were younger, but you really do know how to get things done.

Nashville played a really really good playoff game tonight. Lauzon was the guy Seattle got from Boston and then traded him away for a 2nd rounder I think because they liked Borgen better (?) In any event I'm thinking both teams have regrets on the guy. We should have traded a 2nd rounder for him and added a sweetener if needed. Guy is a hit machine and exactly what we could have used. Games in Nashville should be crazy.

Yup. He can be. King of Western New York maybe.

I'm saying LINDY might have some new ideas. He said up front he didn't say yes to the job right away which makes me think he asked for some level of input or control. Maybe not, it's a guess, but it's what I would have done if I was him. Now that's not to say Lindy can go in and say "fire Appert" or whatever, but he can perhaps have some say in the direction and how things are done. We shall see as time goes by. All speculative at this point. The discussion of style and how they play (which me and you disagree on entirely, we know this) is another discussion but we shall see if that changes under Lindy or not as well. You can laud Rochester all you want, but we didn't make the playoffs for another year so to argue that what we have been doing is great/good/whatever word you want is just silly imo.

I could be wrong, but I don't think he's watching Appert to see if he wants him on his staff, I think he's going to watch Appert to see if he thinks he's the right guy to develop players properly in Rochester or does he need to be replaced. I am hoping that they will change the Rochester plan they have now and turn it into more a school for teaching players to improve on their defensive game and some of the things they perhaps did not learn in junior where they were big offensive stars. Obviously he's also going to look at the players and see if anybody's on the cusp of the NHL or can fill a need.

If the players are the problem we wouldn't keep seeing ex-Sabres doing well when they leave and go elsewhere. Skip Skinner cause I agree about him and do think he needs to be gone. I don't see anybody else on this roster who is a problem. Some of them are soft and it's hard to say if they will always be soft or can be coached into playing harder and bigger and some of them are developed poorly, but with good coaching I think they can be fixed.

My favourite line from him was one I've said here many times "it's not just about goals". Lindy will tell them and show them all the little things they need to do to turn into winners. Whether or not they do it is another matter. This is why I also want Tuch as captain now more than ever. He's going to tell the rest of them to "listen to Lindy, he knows what he's talking about".

The bottom line for me on why this is a good move is this: We argue on here about why they lose all the time. Is it the coach? Is it the players? Is it the culture? Is it Adams fault? Is it Pegula's? and there is some consensus but there's also a lot of differing views. With a new coach like Gallant or Berube we'd be in the same arguments should they lose. Berube was overrated. Players won't play for new coach. We chose the wrong coach and so on. With Lindy we know this for certain, 100%, as we've seen it before. With a sufficiently talented roster Lindy knows how to win in this league. He's done it numerous times and you don't get to his win total without knowing how to win. So if this team still loses we will know for sure, 100%, that it's simply not going to happen with anybody in this franchise. There is absolutely no question that this team has to win now and barring some incredible injury bad luck they should win next year and make the playoffs and become a contender. If they still don't, then Adams has built a roster of lazy uncoachable losers (which I don't believe now) and we will have to tear it all down again and the team will likely never win until Pegula sells it. This imo will be a certainty. But for the moment, I now have hope for next season.

I'd guess he couldn't trade him because he wasn't willing to retain salary for the small return he was offered. Nobody was going to pay that salary for what he brings. He'll have a job next year but it'll be for a substantial pay cut.

Should I change the wording to block shots properly? You don't win in the NHL without shot blockers.

Jay McKee? It is time these D men learned to block shots. Peca? (take a drink)

I think the biggest change will be Lindy will be focused on winning hockey games and not player development. This, in and of itself will be a big change.

Eichel was winning late game face offs. Amazing what coaching can do. It was so close to Edmonton Vegas which would have been really good. This LA series is a bust. Maybe a couple rounds from now.........

I was thinking today that if we do want to swap some talent for grit and toughness Utah might be the best team to talk to. They will want a little more offensive flash for their new fan base.

Now that Ruff has been hired as coach, the next step is to name Tuch as captain. Why? Because he already has a relationship with and a love for his coach and thus is the best possible bridge between players and coach, which is what a captain has to be.

I do think it's now playoffs or bust for Adams next season. I could even see a scenario where, should it fail badly, Adams gets fired and Ruff stays in an interim capacity where he eventually moves into an upper advisory role after helping handle a transition to a new GM and possibly new coach. But I am hoping we never find out and are talking playoffs this time next year instead. Damn, @Brawndo is always beating me to Sabres news, now he's beating me to my own thoughts!

Start at 4:39

The money doesn't matter. We can't afford any sort of negative division at this moment. Ruff has to be allowed complete control or this will fail miserably.

Possibly. or the KHL. I think he might get a 1-2 year deal out of San Jose or Chicago though. Both teams are in full rebuild and might want a placeholder for some of their draft choices.

It's hilarious to me that I'm all too often accused of being too negative and yet I'm extremely positive about this hire. For all you Ruff haters I guess it's time for me to say: You're not real Sabres fans.