PerreaultForever

"In over their heads" to me is a strange way to look at it but maybe we aren't too far apart, we maybe just word things differently. To me it's a lack of continuity and veteran leadership. Adams plan is that this group (himself included I think) learn from their mistakes and eventually get it. How that is supposed to happen I have no idea. So you have a bad team, and you tank. You start there. You have absolutely nothing left because you stripped it all away to tank. That's your start and then you build with a hotshot superstar and his tandem bike partner. What else does Murray do? He gets a competitive 2 way center in ROR, a tough D man in Bogo, a big young goalie projected to be good in Lehner, a power forward in need of a new start in Evander Kane (as a side note it is funny to see Evander Kane mentioned as a player style we need in the playoff thread). All of that seems logical and are things we talk about now that they are gone. But it doesn't work. He traded away picks, drafted poorly and failed to fill out the roster. Most importantly coaching fails. So what do we do? We blame the players. We start again. JBot sees we have no D. He tries to get a whole bunch of them but none of it comes together under horrible rookie coaches. He signs another big shot forward. His drafting is better, but not great. Once again we blame the players AND the coaches. So Adams tears it down and starts again. Now we have so many young prospects we don't know what to do with them and finally a veteran coach, but still little to no veteran leadership. I know I've left things out but there's a lot and I've typed enough for now. The main point being that everything currently being advocated for has already been tried over the Pegula era except hiring a competent veteran coach. Now we have that. So, MAYBE, it can finally get going in the right direction. If this fails, I truly have no ideas other then to say it's the water. Ya'll be best to move.

Yes it is. and it's not always appropriate. But whatever. Stand on the ground you want to.

It's not complicated.

I didn't scapegoat anybody. Stop making stuff up to make your points. If Okposo isn't that guy (and he isn't) then he shouldn't have been named captain just cause he was what? Likeable? Old? It was just one of many dumb things this franchise has done. He was a bad captain, simple as that. The lack of good veteran leadership on this team is a huge issue. Huge. imo the "plan" is dumb unless it has in fact just been a difference of opinion on timelines and Adams is set to shift things this off season. If they do not make moves and give Ruff what he will need to win it'll be goodbye Adams and get ready to start again. I do laugh in general at the "inadequate from a talent standpoint" argument that I see now and again which gets juxtaposed against the how great Quinn and Benson and Peterka and Thompson etc. are. We have more first round drafted players than ANY other NHL team. We have a ton of young talent. Compare them to Boston. They have Pasternak. Offensive superstar. An aging Marchand and who as high end offensive talent? DeBrusk maybe? That's about it. Zacha is middling. Coyle is a good 2 way forward but he's no offensive star. That's it. Way less "talent" than the Sabres, and yet.....................................

In 2024 you really want to talk about Evander Kane and put up a meme of a monkey suit? Really? REALLY? Think it over.

There's absolutely no reason (physiologically) that Tage Thompson should not be able to play like that and assert his will. Can Ruff change the reason (psychological) that he doesn't? Stay tuned to next season to find out.

If Johnson is in your starting 6 who is out? Dahlin, Power, Byram, Clifton, Jokiharju, Samuelsson (we safely assume Bryson is out) so which of those 6 gets the boot for Johnson?

This did not age well. 🙂 I think everyone here would agree that we all hope Ruff can make the Sabres into a team that doesn't quit when they are back up against it the way the Bruins showed it tonight. I think they will still lose the series, but if they get lucky in game 6, game 7s are always a who knows what will happen thing.

Ya ya ya, but that's not what I said. I didn't say he'd have CHANGED things, but a good captain takes responsibility publicly. If he doesn't, nobody else does either.

This was my problem with him as captain, and our lack of leadership in general. Nowhere in there is there a sense of taking responsibility for that failure. There's questions, side blame, and lots of I don't knows, but nowhere does he say he failed as captain.

Really? I was always under the impression that these contracts had clauses in them with releases if you took another coaching job. That's why a lot of them flirt with broadcasting for a year or two after firings. That's a double pay but if they coach they get a release. I could be wrong. Each contract is likely different but I don't know why a team wouldn't have that clause in.

13 years of abuse. You know I think the one that hurt the most (more than tanking) was how they folded up after that season starting, what was it 10? more? game win streak and it momentarily looked like we were on to something. Most other years we've just flirted with winning but that one felt real and I fell off that bandwagon hard.

Fair, except for one thing. It's really not their own game and hasn't been for years. Most long time Bruins fans have been complaining about how much they aren't that every season since. That was a heavy hard team (2011) . Most of their roster now isn't anything like that.

Nichuskin that big of a deal for Colorado? Man they stunk.

I believe this as well but I'm not going any further than cautiously optimistic. I would be more optimistic if Lindy had brought in 1 or 2 of his own people as assistants, whoever his own people might be. I can totally get why Lindy would want his last coaching job to be back in Buffalo, and he'd obviously want to end on a high note (whenever that end is) and retire a happy Buffalo Sabre. I just hope he still gets to assert himself and they listen to him and get him players he needs, rather than them expecting him to be the listener. If Tuch is named captain my optimism will increase. If it's Dahlin not so much.

I don't think so. The original 6 has impact compared to newer teams but I don't see many Detroit, Chicago or Rags jerseys either. Philly has some fans around here for god knows what reason and the Canadian vs. USA thing is real so there's some Calgary and Edmonton as well as the sea of Canucks. A few years back I was talking to a guy who owns a sports collectibles store here and he said Bruins stuff always sells. Hated by many no doubt that's true but as was said earlier or in another thread, success leads to hate from other fan bases. All I know is October to April I'm a Sabres fan but every year all I have left in May (and occasionally June) is the Bruins. That's the Sabres fault not the Bruins. Too late.

Rempe.

Sorry but if you watch any of their road games you will see they have the largest fan contingent at games of any NHL team (aside from when Leaf or Hab fans attend Sabres games. I even run into Bruins fans out here in BC all the time and they are public enemy number one after the 2011 cup. I have yet to see a Sabres jersey anywhere in the lower mainland. . maybe they are hiding.

I personally like Yakemchuk over Dickinson for D.

Soucy's been an understated key signing Vancouver made. You can see how Seattle goofed on that one and he just quietly gets the job done (and now not so quietly :))

Well, I hope you're right, but I will believe it when I see it. The history, and the patterns you can see repeating say otherwise. Faith or belief is something I do not have in this group at all.

Yes, this all does suggest they believe firmly that they know better and they believe in themselves and their view (and that's Pegula on down). No outsiders with differing views allowed and definitely no outside experienced people who might actually vehemently disagree with them. The more I think about this the more I dislike it so I'm going to stop thinking about it. So did Rochester have a good PP that made sense?

Well the optimism I had gained with the Ruff hiring just took a dip down (and mostly over the Appert in 2 years idea which ya, might happen). It's not that he's going to be a horrible assistant or anything, it's just that too much of it looks the same. I was hoping for a little change in direction with a McKee hiring or Peca back or something else new that signaled real change. Now they just have to do next to nothing in free agency, draft a speedy Euro forward with that first pick and then name Dahlin captain and then I can cancel my sportsnet subscription for real.

Third string little Latvian goalie getting it done. Who saw that coming?

Lone ranger? He's not even Tonto.