PerreaultForever

ROR missing in Buffalo on St. Pat's Day feels like karma or something. Win or lose if we play with effort like that in all our remaining home games it rekindles my hope for the future. Sheary played well. E-Rod. Nylander's best game as a Sabre, so MAYBE he's not a total scrub, fingers crossed. Nice to have a game where bitching about referees is actually a valid conversation :) Nelson has to go though. So soft. Down on his butt on that first goal. We have to get Risto paired with a solid defender so he can relearn how to take care of just his side of the ice. Right now he tries to take care of both sides on plays like that and thus the minuses keep adding up. Terrible team D on plays like that. Overall an entertaining effort and that's all I want for now. I was also glad ROR was just meh, and I'd add still looks slow and would not fit in what they are trying to build. Fun afternoon. lol. Only in Buffalo.

I don't expect a win, but I do expect effort in this one. I can understand that lacking now in road games, but there should be an element of pride even when you are out of it when you play for the home crowd. If there isn't, then the culture has not changed one iota. Speaking of that culture, if ROR was a problem shouldn't we see some of our current leaders take a few shots at him? A few liberties? I'm probably too old school.

That is kind of weird as it's obvious that he lacks in fundamentals (and perhaps at times focus). Perhaps we need a better goalie coach.

Oh ya, forgot to mention, has anyone counted how many soft goals Ullmark has let in near the post? It's got to be a LOT.

Well I am an unlucky fan I guess. 10-8-8-9-8 and I gave up (like the Sabres :))

Hmmm. Skinner and Dahlin in, ROR and Kane out.................trying to think of "more talent" worth talking about but coming up with nothing.

2-3 wins hardly matters so it's a non argument.

This stuff is getting really hard to watch. Might have to stop for the rest of this season. Watching Nelson in his fight (?) with Ferland it makes sense now why he didn't do anything to Zadorov. Guy is softer than a twinkie. Also thinking I'd rather have the first than Montour. Guy has some offensive skill, but his D game is turrible. is it possible we are actually WORSE than last year? I'm starting to wonder.

The question is, is it worth waiting for? Well, I don't think we have a choice. It's obvious their idea is to get players to play that way and to try to find players that fit that system and to build a team that way. They started it, so if you abandon it now you are starting over yet again. You bring in a defensive minded coach (for example) and he goes we need a D that can prevent goals. This Montour guy takes too many chances etc etc. and you are shuffling the deck chairs yet again. This is it, we're in it. I do like the idea that they do seem to have a plan and are sticking to it. It's not how I personally would build a team but it's what they decided to do and we are stuck with it, so I hope it works.

I just read that article about even scoring a goal would be a moral victory......... Man, the bar is LOW. not sure any other team sets it that low but whatever. We will lose.

The implication is that we would be significantly better (if not, why go on about it mattering?) and if we were better we'd have another dozen wins or so and thus be a playoff team or in the hunt until the end. If all you're saying is we'd win 2 or 3 more games it's pointless to care about it either way.

I know a lot of people think Quennville could magically elevate us to the promised land but I think it'd be exactly like Hitchcock in Edmonton (Chicago is actually playing better now without him just for the record but that's not important). I wish firing Housley would be some magical fix, but it's simply not true. There is no coach that will magically fix this. Our talent is simply not good. You have a choice to either believe the youngsters like Mittlestadt and Dahlin etc. will get better and elevate us along with some other possible future additions and to believe the system will work when the talent arrives or you get cynical and dump on it and bitch and moan for another year like the one before. I'm happier to think positively, but if people need to go the other way I get that too.

We do not have to hit from afar, they choose to make that shot. Skinner is the only player on this team that drives to the net with the puck. Eichel and Skinner can play hockey. Sometimes Reinhart plays hockey. The rest of our forwards are dogshit.

If what you, and all the people still going on about trading him away are suggesting is that we would be a playoff team if we had not made the trade, well it's simply time to drop your crack pipes.

To me, his saying he didn't see it as an excuse makes it worse. It should have been an instant instinctive response. I have seen many games where a superstar gets hit legally and a player sees his guy on the ice and races over and drops them or at least hits the guy. It's your superstar. Your main guy. You just do it for the team end of story.

We couldn't score last year, or the year before, so what did you expect without Eichel in the lineup? We were a one line hockey team and now we are a no line hockey team. That "kid line" should be renamed the "disppointment line."

So then the logic is if we had not traded him away we'd get Hughes?

I have just one question for all the people going on and on about the ROR trade..............what did we win when he was here?

cause Tage, like almost everyone on this team is SOFT. I was pretty sure we would lose this game but we've lost our will to live. We aren't fast anymore. We are soft. We have zero compete. The team has given up on the season that is for sure. Slow like last year now. Disappointing to see. definitely not fun to watch. rest of this season is just going to be painful. I was disappointed Nelson was already back. Sits for 1 game only. Less than Eichel's suspension. This sends no message at all. And then you have the Malkin/Larsson almost fight. Malkin's much bigger and Larsson clearly wanted no part of it and there's Hunwick just standing there probably thinking he has more allegiance to the old Pens than he does to his current team mates. Damn we have a sad sack lot of useless nobodies.

I'm not behind those closed doors so I can't say but relationships between them and lines of communication and philosophies all play into the equation. If the players like Phil and him and JBot are still in agreement, then I doubt there will be any change unless we suck next year and then JBot has to fire him or be fired himself like Hextall was in Philly when he stood by his coach. At this stage, I really think they still believe they are on the right path and have a different timeline then the fans.

Exactly, which is why I said he should be paid like a 30 goal scorer and not a superstar.

Don't agree but I don't think we will get anywhere further with this so I'm going to leave it there. The test for me is next season. I expect the right moves and for us to be a playoff team. If we are the same or worse next year then I will agree and take it one step further and JBot will be another failure, but I have faith for next year. No longer.

Sobotka with Skinner? Oh Jesus................. I saw the Penguins against Boston the other day and they were on fire. We are going to be smoked.

Maybe if we hadn't traded away guys like this: https://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/n258498

His current scoring slump works in our favor I think. If it continues some teams will question his ability to get it done when the games got tighter and the checking closer. I suspect we will be his highest offer. Maybe we too have to question making it TOO HIGH just to keep him. I like him, but he is just a 30ish goal scorer, not more, and should be paid accordingly.