PerreaultForever

I'm a little late here as I had to record this one, but I'm going to be a contrarian to the negativity I'm reading here and to my own frequent pessimism. I don't really care about the score, season doesn't matter and Dell was ridiculously bad. Flopping around and turning around and losing his stick, guy is a clown. Had a lucky but horrible night. We have no goalie right now plain and simple but whatever, we knew that. This was I think the first game where I saw some really encouraging moments for the future. Tuch's best game as a Sabre by far. That was more of what I had hoped for when we got him. Very promising. Cozen's looked good. Excellent on the breakaway. The skill is starting to show at this level. Kid is going to be great. Tage still playing well and controlling the ice at times. Samuelsson solid and is perhaps already, in terms of defense, our best defender out there. We have half our shutdown pair. Lastly, Quinn does in fact have some real talent. Going to be a sniper. Just a question at this point if we're talking Ray Shepard, Rick Martin, or Alex Mogilny. Bright future there without a doubt. Just one thing though, he's a child. Bulk that kid up and get him extra time in the weight room. Until he grows, we're going to have to protect him. Adams needs to add a couple tough guys to this line up to protect these kids from the Wilson's of the league or we will be in trouble. I am encouraged.

I haven't seen Dallas play this year so no idea on them but it will be interesting to see what Quinn can do at this level.

Well it's about time. Like French Collection said I'm interested to see if he can play like the end of last year and be a big part of this rebuild or if that was just an anomaly and he really isn't going to be much of anything. Body of work is too small at this point to know where he actually will fit in.

I know a lot of people were excited with getting Pommer back in that deal but I never liked trading away Foligno. Heart and soul guy and would definitely fit that guys who want to be here thing Adams talks about with his legacy and local connections.

I'm getting confused. I think maybe we are actually arguing for the same thing using different words.

We should have kept him.

ideally they'd be replaced by better 2 way checkers and/or role players.

I'm sorry, you consider Okposo and Girgensens as valuable assets rather than part of the problem? Okay, we are on different planets. Amazing we haven't won a cup already then. No need to do a thing.

Of course he was, and that's his job too, but the response is still bad. What would Gretzky have done in an Edmonton interview? He would have said he has to be better. That's the right evasive answer.

I'm with you in part, but I don't think you want to be trading away many picks for position or anything else. There might be a big hole at RHD but this team needs more of everything and as such BPA is still the best approach and sort it out later as you see who develops. This is why I talk about clear direction and identity though. I hope they have that in their own heads. I wish I knew what it was. Then you do draft the BPA that fits that identity when there are players ranked close in your lists.

As usual our universes are in complete disagreement. Players aren't accountable enough these days imo and there needs to be more direct questions and they need to be called out. Why show up at all for a press conference if all you're going to say is we have to be better at everything. Draisaitl's attitude shows me why that team might be doing so badly. All fine in the fair weather, lacking character when it counts. Carolina looked really good. Bruins looked old and slow.

Personally I think people put too much stock in that comment. I think he only said it as a justifier for trading Eichel and maybe the rest of the tear down.

Of course it takes time, but we can only comment on what is on the ice. The rest is hope and conjecture. What I am looking for is a clear indicator of a team style and an identity. They still seem to be juggling this for that and mixing and matching and there's no clear indicator to me that we are headed in any particular direction. If you take moving Eichel (after Risto and Reinhart) as the bottom, you expect to move upwards from there little by little, and if you get a lot right you make a leap forward at some point but either way a constant progression. On many nights we're still seeing a team that doesn't seem to belong in the NHL.

I'm talking about putting a guy like Rick Dudley in that position. LaFontaine is just the point where they abandoned that idea and went with just a GM when most teams were doing the exact opposite (and still are).

Well the optimist in me hopes that's true, but from outside the area I see no comparables between the Sabres and the Bills. I don't watch football as much as I used to so I might be wrong here but the Bills seem to me to be a hard working defense first team and that, to this point in time, is definitely not the Sabres. I don't think it's valuable to say those guys they hired didn't get other jobs as meaning much since those guys didn't have enough of a resume when they got here so of course they wouldn't move up after. Botterill did get an assistant GM job though pretty fast to be fair. Based on his time in Pittsburgh no doubt, but still, he got a job. I am not saying any of them were good hires and would do a better job if given time. They all cocked it up in one way or another and I think the reason for that is they didn't have an experienced guy above them to come in and stop some of their bad moves. We have the draft capital and the prospects now, so it's all in place for Adams to succeed, but it looked that way when Murray was here too, and he squandered the picks and made a bunch of bad moves and it failed miserably. I think my main point is it all looked good on paper then too. Everyone thought we were poised to rise up in the dawning of the Eichel era. This doesn't feel different to me. I HOPE it is, but so far I don't see it. When Adams talks he seems to say we will become Carolina. Fast, tenacious, attacking relentlessly. A team that doesn't quit. But I don't see that on the ice. Not in terms of style or form or content. It's all just coming soon and to be announced.

Well this is what you get when you take 2 to 3 players away from it and don't have a set unit to step in. Without Eichel VO is too easy to defend and Dahlin is the only driving force so that's easy to take away or limit as well. We need the young skilled players to be better before this PP will get better too. In the meantime, I'd try putting Tage back on the point in Eichel's old spot rather than down low. He controls space with his reach, has a decent quick shot but more importantly seems to have the best passing skills of our skilled forwards. Have Tuch drive the slot. Cozens in front (or Murray for the size) with Dahlin at the other point. LW is a problem so I guess it's Skinner for now but his passing skills make me want to replace him. Just don't know with who.

Love it. Absolutely love it. I know it's a minority view but I liked it when they switched to those and was disappointed when they dropped them. Now, to explain a bit, my high school hockey team was the Hill Park Rams (an actual goat head if you will) and was in fact red, black and white so I guess I'm a little nostalgically biased 🙂 That team conjures up good memories though of a hard working stick together bunch and that's what I'd like to be again.

Sure, but sometimes George Costanza gets the job................... The point is we keep going with guys who learn on the job and they make mistakes as they learn and then we fire them for those mistakes and start all over again. Hence a decade of not even mediocrity but absolute rubbish. Regarding LaFontaine, my point wasn't about him specifically, but rather about having a senior guy in charge of the hierarchy. With whatever happened there Pegulas decided they didn't need that job in the organization and that, imo, is a huge mistake.

I like Jiricek but I'm just waiting to see where we draft and who is actually available at that pick. Too early. Agree that RHD in this year's FA crop is slim and unlikely. Even if we drafted Jiricek or Nemec, I'd still want to look at adding an FA on a 3-4 year deal to cover that development time. Adding Manson or Gudranson through free agency would be solid moves for this team. Adding both would make me very encouraged about next season. I'd also bring back Pysyk as a 6/7 depth guy at the right (low) price. Consider Dahlin, Power, Samuelsson Manson Gudranson Jokiharju (Pysyk) as a pretty solid defense with a good mix of abilities (and salaries) to continue building from.

You don't draft a RHD first just because we need RHD. If you do, that guy will still be 3 years or so away from taking that spot. Three years to address that problem through free agency or trades.

Burke, Dean Lombardi, Peter Chiarelli, Ray Shero, Mike Gillis, Brian Lawton, Mike Barnett and Pierre LaCroix. maybe more, that's all I got.

Oh yes, and we've been so successful since haven't we?

I disagree entirely. Most teams recognize they need a senior director or advisor type and a GM and an assistant GM. They seem adverse to this, and I think that's about control. As for CEOs, some micromanage and some designate and evaluate based on performance. They don't all stick their fingers in. Lots of them go golfing and just expect results. To me, it all goes back to LaFontaine.

Karmanos, Ventura, Galimini, for me just names until they prove themselves with what they do. Pending. Reinhart for Levi. Were you excited by this when it happened? I don't remember what you said specifically but most people here were all upset about just getting a 7th round draft choice. IF Levi is the real deal (and I think he is) good trade. Pending. Risto trade check. Eichel trade. Losing situation. I don't blame him even if this is one sided. rock and a hard place. Power chose to go back. Quinn. Pending. You see I'm not going to credit him with futures and possibilities. I'm only going to look at what's been done and what's on the ice. We've been down the stocked cupboard bright future road before and that car ended up in a ditch.

I agree he's a second pairing guy and said that many times, but the point is you can't subtract a big minute RHD, not add one, and then expect there not to be a hole at RHD.