PerreaultForever

Did not like this one. Goalies are weird animals but this is arrogant and divorced from reality. The D was good???

Can't agree. D would fold under this level of physicality. Our weaknesses are net front and defending when forechecked heavily. That's playoffs. We are not built for it.

I really don't think they will sign him but that'd be good. Unless they can move some big contracts somehow I doubt they can or will afford him. I'm betting he goes to Calgary. Unless of course Vegas puts several players on LTIR and promises him a new tandem bike.

lol, you're really snipey and sarcastic this end of season. Not making the playoffs this year has really hurt you.

The article about promoting Appert scares me. A move like that might finally be enough to make me quit for real.

Well he played well through it but I think the Larkin injury really hurt them and the goaltending. Much like the Sabres, they are not very deep at this point.

I wouldn't. He's incredibly streaky and is likely to disappoint overall. He was good tonight, but that's definitely not every night. Man I love playoff hockey though. Watching this Bruins Leafs game I found myself thinking that even if the Sabres managed to make the playoffs they are so not ready for this. Leafs tried to be physical but this Bruins team looks more playoff ready than last year. Sweeney's deadline moves look like genius.

I honestly believe it's not that it was a difficult system to learn. What they had to learn here was that the forwards weren't going to come back and help out. They (first Clifton then Byram) came from systems with very good back checking and forward responsibility, Clifton was lost at first. Byram got confused. We basically had no system and it was every man for himself. They learned that they can't do the things they were used to doing.

I'm not going to agree with this. I do agree we have too many similar D men and not enough big strong defensive D men but the number of D men is barely adequate. How many times over the last few years have we seen a defensive shortage with injuries? D men get hurt. Especially if they play the right way. You need about 10 competent NHL or marginal NHL bodies in a season for long term durability. We can of course add guys as free agents, but as is, I think our D is barely adequate. The bolded are my tradeable commodities. Especially if we build the bottom 6 properly. I'd also move picks.

Some pretty soft refereeing in this Islanders Canes game. I hope that's not this year's playoff standard.

Skinner's uncoachable (has to go) but I'd like to see a year of Cozens, Power, etc. under a real NHL coach. A coach who can develop the defensemen and the defensive side of the game. I think these guys could still be much better and just might be. Especially Power. He's still really young. We just haven't developed him properly yet.

True, but Dahlin was a consensus number one overall pick. Some people preferred Svechnikov but most "experts" had Dahlin ranked #1. Easy decision for the GM. Steal of the first round there was probably Quinn Hughes going 7th. Rangers did well with K'Andre Miller at 22. Durzi at 52 was a real steal. Wasn't really a great draft though outside of the top end picks. A lot of Pekars.

Likely whatever the tax amount would be in Calgary or wherever else he'd sign. Florida will have to let some people go though that's for sure. Reinhart will be overpaid though. This is a peak year for him and he won't do it again (probably not anyway) and part of his success is the team he's on and his linemates.

I can see that for them. They had a horrible losing skid and couldn't get out of it. Same for Philly. Number of reasons for both teams, but they both cracked under the pressure and the harder hockey often played near the end of the year for actual contenders (or pretenders).

Ya, I always had a problem with the naming of fringe players as captains. How is a guy like that going to convey "you have to work harder" to some snot nosed diva kid who is thinking "I'm better than you old man". If they were cup winners it might be different. It's a critical moment for this team. I really think we either get it right this time, now, or we will fall apart again and have to start all over one more time.

Oh of course the Brind'Amour dream is definitely the top choice and I'd be fine with Berube too. I favour Gallant partly because of Tuch saying good things about him and with Tuch we already have a bridge between players and new coach so it's a smoother transition.

Absolutely no argument. I really liked Benson and he's the best rookie we've had in ages and a pleasant surprise. I never looked at his junior career closely because I assumed he was a top 5 selection and we picked lower so no point. When we picked him I thought he must have fallen for a reason and I assume teams thought he was too small. I'm thinking now some of those teams didn't do their homework since he does not play small and his build will make him a functional smaller player as he develops. I suppose we lucked out due to the depth of that draft. Anyway, yes, he plays the right way, but there are still many things in his game that he needs to work on. For example he took a lot of stick fouls. He needs to work on his timing. He's far from perfect as is.

You can definitely say that, and so anyone who doesn't make the playoffs is "garbage" and that's a valid place to draw the line but I would say they made progress. They were better than the year before. Not good enough, but better. We were not better. We were one point out so anything but playoffs was failure. You can say we were the same, but that's still not "better". Every year you should be better than the year before until you win the cup. That's the measure of success for me. It's often not as fast as a fan would like, but if it's progress it's a measure of success.

They jumped over the Sabres and got closer, really close, and they didn't sell off picks/prospects to do it. I'd say that was a small success. I don't watch them enough to know much more.

Well I guess this discussion will be back on soon. https://www.nhl.com/news/patrick-kane-unlikely-to-return-to-detroit-red-wings-next-season

Well I think it's obvious they "should" be able to do it themselves, but they didn't and they can't so they need the push and to learn what it takes. Seems simple to me.

I'm personally fine with bringing back Krebs BUT it should be near league minimum and short term. Two way even. He should be a marginal depth forward who can work his ass off if he wants to try to earn a roster spot. How much they pay him will tell me a lot about the Sabres. Girgs has to go. Olofsson has to go. Skinner has to go. Bryson and Jost are irrelevant. As is Comrie. At minimum we need a solid 2 way center. Two hard nosed gritty bottom 6 forwards and 1 solid defensive defenseman if Samuelsson isn't up to the task (which he probably isn't). A good veteran back up goalie wouldn't hurt either. Levi should also have to fight his way onto the roster and UPL needs to be challenged to keep his #1 spot. The coach needs to create a proper defensive system and make these guys play hard and aggressive. Some players may not be up to the challenge. Any that aren't need to go.

I didn't read that the same way. I see him saying he talked about accountability and he wanted them to step up so to speak, but he didn't try to force them to change or punish them. The wording "I can punish" etc. tells me he doesn't believe in that and so he just talked. It didn't work. I'd contrast that with the Torts year ender where he talked about the information they gathered on who would respond to what and who wouldn't and how they can improve with that information. In terms of talent we are way ahead of Philly. In terms of culture building we are a big step behind.

I don't disagree at all. It was a thing with the Sabres long before I came to Sabrespace. It's come up over the years many times. Nolan's lunch bucket crew were different but that's about it. My first choice is Gallant without question. As for Granato, no need to get into it as it's done and over but he may have talked about accountability but he did not hold them accountable. Too much "growing and learning as a team" talk and too much calm and patient forgiveness along the way. Too much comfort.

Well maybe that'll be in the minority owner deal. Maybe they will be offered first crack at buying a controlling interest or all of it? I was thinking, maybe it means his kids have no interest in owning a sports franchise and they'd rather have the money? That could be it. (or he doesn't want his kids to have it).