PerreaultForever

No it was ambien and benzodiazepine that he named. uh -huh 🙂 Flyers looked really good tonight. Kraken not so much.

Well this is why I say draft a goalie every year somewhere in the draft (7th rounders can look promising later right?) . Goalies are weird, they have weird development curves, they take two steps forward and then 3 back and then who knows and often they aren't ready for years. UPL might still be okay, he might not, but hopefully this makes them realize these things take time and the idea of playing him this year and rushing him was dumb and dumber. Coach him properly, and bring him along slowly and I think he will be fine.

I personally think there's more to it than that, but for me, the biggest mistake (which I've said many times before) was holding the captaincy for Jack and then naming him captain because he was the big shot draft pick and not for his leadership abilities. ROR came to a crap team and he wanted to be part of that "build" and he should have been named captain. You can see in hindsight, St. Louis came together under his leadership, he is a leader. I personally think (and I admit this is speculative) that ROR and Jack didn't see eye to eye. There was talk of locker room rifts back then, veterans vs. younger and so forth, some sort of disfunction. Eventually ROR decided he didn't want to play second fiddle to this guy. Murray also brought in the worst kind of veteran leadership imaginable. Drug addicts, alcoholics, rapey abusers, without arguing about the validity of the charges/rumours and the causes the group of people he brought in were not good role models for a young entitled dude whose first message to the Sabres was a drunken "I'm coming for you Buffalo" (yes, I remember) . Jack may not have followed in their footsteps, but the entitled good times foundation was laid and the team first, hockey first, comradery and so forth never became a part of subsequent locker rooms and Captain Stick Smasher never matured into any kind of leader at all. I'm just hoping KA can trade him before the rest of the league realizes this and his value plummets.

One side note, JBot also talked about a need for a culture change, and he's in with the Kraken who seem to have that aspect right, so I do wonder if the Pegula's refused to accept the idea that problems stemmed from certain individuals and a lack of leadership and now they finally got it. Maybe it was Jack's attitude, maybe others, can't say anything for sure and it'll always be speculative, but time will kind of make things obvious I think.

idk, I guess I'm watching something else entirely as I see no similarity to the way Vegas played at all. Vegas had great goaltending and played shutdown hockey until they added enough high end talent to open it up more. Yes, they were fast, but so is just about every good team.

Well I guess since the Kraken haven't waived Borgen he was the best available. Personally I would have grabbed Moore when Boston waived him instead but who knows. I don't expect much.

I hope you're right, but I don't think so. He will not change. I said in the off season, with the great purging, Skinner was going to be a problem and I do not know if there is a solution. We'd be a better team if we found a way to get rid of him, but I doubt there is any realistic way so we have to hope you are correct and he will eventually be on board.

Well, if what he says is true, and I think it is, I just want to shove it up close and wave it in the faces of all the people who have laughed, argued, mocked, dumped on, or dismissed my comments over the last 3 years that the team needed a culture change rather than the just get more talent argument they generally countered with. Because that is what this is, a culture change.

True. I'd say maybe part of the learning curve. Certain players will gain confidence in their shooting and they will pick the right moments etc. Granato has to keep coaching, but it's an improvement.

Yotes look more like a Ted Nolan style tank team to me. With all the draft picks they have and likely more at this year's deadline they will be able to build an interesting team around Wright if their plan works. Horrible hack hockey team right now. But.... Dahlin played really well. Granato might want to rethink his Jokiharju Dahlin pairing. This was the first game in a long while where I saw signs of Dahlin's potential future greatness. Nice to see. Thompson's maybe okay at center after all. Overall, while I don't think this effort would win against a good team, it is really nice to see the comradery and team spirit developing. Actual smiles on faces. Cozen's inability to finish is starting to worry me a little but we shall see. Some real ineptitude in the OT from both sides but hey, nice shootout goals. Undefeated! Best takeaway for me, is this team is passing the puck so much better than the last few years and playing with more unity. It's promising.

They're not giving up on him but Swayman was better in preseason so he gets the start. If you've watched the Bruins at all over the last several years you earn your ice time on that team and nobody is above benching. I'm hoping Granato brings that same sort of ethic to the Sabres.

Really? This guy?

Nice idea, but where did you get it from?

Wrist slashes happen, it's hockey. Depth on this team will definitely be a problem, we knew that going in. How durable some of these young guys are is one of the many questions we still have. Butcher likely for Jokiharju, maybe Zemgus goes up to 3C and Hayden comes in on the 4th line?

Shhh, don't rain on the parade yet, there's no cover on the bandwagon but ya, Canadiens are missing 4 key pieces to their run from last year plus a few lesser pieces, they are not and will not be good this year. But, having said that, you have to beat the crappy teams to get the points and we did.

"Beatdown in Buffalo" Oh man it's been a long time since I read a lovely headline like that so going to enjoy it while it lasts. https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/beatdown-buffalo-slow-start-season-leaves-canadiens-concerned/

I disagree with this entirely. I did say ages ago he shouldn't have been named captain and a divide was created etc etc beaten to death and in the past. But, I do see a POSSIBLE culture shift here (too soon to say for sure) and I do not think any sort of step backwards would work for that change to continue. In fact, I'd say the faster we get that deal done for whatever the better. Don't want it to keep coming up periodically, just want it over and then we can call that entire era dead and gone.

Talent isn't everything. He was a crap captain and maybe he's a crap team mate. idk, but what I do know is this team looked like a TEAM tonight and that hasn't been the case for much of Jack's tenure. Not saying that's ALL on him, but there's something different here without him.

lol. This has to be the fakest "new" account I've ever seen. Enjoy whatever this is you're trying to do. Watching this first game we might be more entertaining than I expected and we might have the beginnings of something to build off of, but in no way shape or form are we getting anywhere near the playoffs.

This appears to be the case.

Well that was a pleasant surprise. and I hate Montreal so double bonus pleasure. I'm not sure how to word this but the thing that struck me the most was a sort of uniformity and continuity on the team. I've often said in the past they looked like a bunch of individuals playing different ways and there was messy discontinuity and sloppy mistakes, and although there were a few mistakes here too, overall it was solid fundamentally sound team play. Very different for Buffalo but maybe there is an upside to no star power after all. I suppose it speaks to good coaching, or maybe it's just we finally have a young no name group that listens to their coaches. idk, but whatever it is, it's a more solid way to build on than I expected. See where this goes.

Damn that is a weak looking line up. Hinostroza is the top RW??? and how is Cozens supposed to develop into anything playing between two duds? This team on paper does not look better than last year in any way shape or form. It's going to be a long season.

This is what interests me to draw comparisons to the Kraken. Their plan was start with a solid top goalie and build out from there while ours is, as you say, just sign a placeholder. I personally think they are right and we are wrong but we shall see how it goes. I think they have a better team on ice at the moment, but we have more prospects so in a few years who will be ahead. I think it's a good study in varying approaches.

I believe there was a rumour that talks with LA started up again after that injury so something of that sort may have been discussed.