PerreaultForever

Carrot or a stick? Who knows. Who cares. Maybe he will threaten them with low flow shower heads in the dressing room. Maybe he will promise them French hookers. He's not going up there to fire anybody. He probably just had a hankering for a smoked meat bagel sandwich. The Petterson rumors might be real. Him and Miller apparently have serious beef so maybe that town ain't big enough for the both of them.

That sounds nice but how? Seriously, how? If the GM rewards mediocrity with big contracts and doesn't make any big moves what control of the country club locker room does any coach have? None. The GM has to give the coach power to sit people and subtract people. He needs options and Ruff has very few. Who will he play if he sits Cozens? How will that be better? Seriously, you're the coach, what do you do?

The bar is higher there. They're still not happy and are talking trades. They start winning and maybe Swayman gets his mojo back it'll probably fizzle out but they have a winning expectation there and they spend right to the cap (if not over at times).

It's natural to think that. We've already passed the point where most teams would do something.

Yes, of course he is, but if he tells them what to do and what he expects and they just don't do it, he basically has no power or options in this environment. It's not his assistants, it's not his personnel, he's pretty much neutered.

Because we don't develop them the right way. We don't make them earn it. Right from the get go we never do it right and they become soft and weak. Cozens wasn't called the workhorse because he slacked off in junior. Here he's found the standard doesn't demand it and so that's the end of that.

Culture change has been my battle cry for quite a long time. We get close but we never seem to get there and then it all falls apart every time.

Watched this in replay. Wasn't surprised to see the Sabres give them trouble early. They get sucked into an open game with us every year and we've won several of them but not this one. I do wonder who's decision it was to play Levi? My guess would be Adams. Ruff's not big on giving rookies a shot but you never know. I suspect Adams rolling the dice with his guy. Loss not Levi's fault, but he still doesn't look NHL ready to me. The passenger of the night award goes to JJ Peterka. Just watch the 4th Leaf's goal. WTF is Peterka doing, because he's not playing hockey. Admiring how white the ice is? Singing jungle bells to himself? Just floating around in between Leafs doing absolutely nothing basically giving them a PP when it's 5 on 5. If this was a Tortorella team he wouldn't have seen another second of ice time after that and he'd probably be in the press box for the next 2 or 3. That was pathetic. Just pathetic. Garbage team. Fire everybody.

But yes they are. They have created this culture. We've changed the players after blaming them many times already. There's a deeper underlying problem. otherwise the players leaving wouldn't get good and win cups after leaving would they. This will be hard to believe, but right now, as he is currently, Risto would be the second best D man on this team. When he left here, he was barely an NHL D man at all.

No. Just NO. To hell with the draft.

I'm not going to click on anybody and you know that the "problem" here today is the "solution" on his next team, you just know that. I'm not doing it again. It's the franchise and the ownership NOT the players.

You know the saddest thing is with the Rags crashing and burning, the Bruins falling, Detroit still sucking, Ottawa not doing much, there was a very real opportunity this season and yet Adams won't do anything to try to seize it.

Good teams find a way to win close games, bad teams find a way to lose. Really is there much more to say? maybe just that Cozens shouldn't fight. He's really bad at it.

Hockey Guy with a nice little summary of the Sabres. #1 on the misery index.

Caps are way better than the Sabres right now so naturally, this one will be a Sabres win.

Some interesting comments I basically agree with from these guys. Sabres stuff starts around the 35:30 mark.

I saw an interview with Michkov the other day. He speaks through a translator. He was asked about his feistiness and I found his answer interesting. (not an exact quote) He says "that's hockey. I know that every player on this team has my back and will support me and I will defend every one of them. That's what a team is." Now, I know they say they have a good locker room and they are all friends supposedly but when was the last time a Sabre said anything like that? It may have happened, but I honestly don't remember it, it would be a long time ago. Anyway, they don't know how to build a solid hockey culture here, and with Pegula as owner they probably never will.

Well I can see the Leafs maybe wanting him that's for sure. Don't see how they'd make the cap work on it but that might happen. I doubt we see anybody of note come here.

It's possible. I won't argue that. I just think a soft D man like him won't be in demand for the playoffs. Don't worry though, we will get a middle level pick for Clifton next year 🙂

Correct. I've seen him put his stick in front of a player and glide in towards the net with him, but he doesn't use his body to move the guy out or use his stick to stop the other guy's stick either if that guy keeps driving. He's very passive.

I think that's a reasonable critique. I know people hate this sort of comment but I think he's not very bright. He is thinking too much, but thinking slowly, rather than instinctively reacting, gets confused with the new system and makes poor decisions, sometimes in panic mode. The speed of the NHL game requires instinctive play and quick decision making and he just can't do that. It's a big problem when you are expecting him to be the leader of the line. I guarantee you he will thrive if slotted in between 2 solid smart veterans on another team. You slap him in between Marchand and Pasternak for example and he's going to end up putting up a point a game or more after a short adjustment. He will be just like Reinhart and the rest.

Now why would you think Calgary would want to give him up? Unlike us, maybe they value some veteran leadership for their rebuild.

Correct on all fronts. He does have offensive stats but he is horrible defensively. Literally does not seem all that interested in defending at all. Very passive around his own net and very often a spectator.

Ya, but that's what I'm saying. Cozens should be much better and what he's lacking is that tenacity and spunk that Benson has. He doesn't have to be a perfect shooter. He can be a very effective player in many ways. There's just no reason the young 19 year old should look like more of an NHL player than any of these guys, but he does. That's just how bad they are.

It was depressing watching a Detroit broadcast of the Detroit Philly game and they brought up Risto's plus minus and Redmond goes "how'd he ever get that bad?" and the other guy goes "spent some time in Buffalo" and they both busted out laughing hysterically.. Yes, we are the joke of the league, even to the garbage teams.