MakeSabresGrr8Again

It's kind of like the lottery....the more tickets you buy the better your chances are. With our team it's more like ,,,,if you don't play you have no chance.

I think you're correct for the most part but, in our case I think next year is a full year for Housley because of a few reasons. 1.Not enough of this team was "cleared out" and still needs players added that "fit" the system. Sobotka, KO, Pommer, Scandella and maybe a couple others come to mind. 2. The bolded.....I assume you are implying that younger players would be better students and "teachable". Not everyone is going to have the same learning curve and the youngsters on this team have demonstrated that. Mitts is placed in probably one of the hardest positions to learn and seems to be progressing slowly. There's also TT and Dahlin, while I think Rasmus will be fine I still have doubts about TT. Would love to see TT get stronger and maybe develop some mean streak in him. 3. I think (hope) there's going to be more clearing out over the summer plus the draft and the promotion of players from Amerks before we hit the next season hard with the system. I think next season is your "year 2" with the roster more complete and another year for players like Mitts/TT/Dahlin to learn along with the additions of any new players through promotion, FA, or trades that happen between now and then. Thanks for your input and I agree with your assessment, we just differ on the timeline. Our difference could be that I feel we are dealing with a rookie GM and a rookie HC, so I'm willing to give them that little bit of leeway. I've (we) have waited this long for results and I would rather it be done right and put this all behind us for years to come. I would rather end up like Detroit (25yrs of playoffs) for the next 25yrs than up and down like FLA or Avs. For these reasons I push your timeline by 1yr. EDIT: actually only pushing the timeline by 1/2yr....based on the willingness of others to allow until December.

Don't expect Laaksomem for a couple years, he signed a 3yr deal in SHL through the 2020-21 season.

Sharks? Sabres? Win or lose? It's a matter of personal preference now a days.

We haven't tried the Torts type yet have we? That you have to go back to work?

Where do you get this crap? Your post is more worthy of a laugh to say the least. Nobody said any of those things except maybe the goalies. Let's be more realistic..... Would you rather have your goalies sv% at .923/.920 or....906/.911? This of course is minus off ice issues because we're discussing talent. What's Lehner doing these days? Would you rather have Gorges/ Franson or Beuliue/Scandella.....to me its a toss up with different styles and different levels of suffering. Would you rather have Mitts/Sheary on line 2 or Moulson / ROR. Would you rather have E-rod or Brian Gionta? Baptiste/Bailey/ Foligno or Sobotka? But I'll take Skinner over Kane. Being realistic....that's Evander.

Wait.... wasn't someone harassed for using a woman's name in an offensive manner? The name Phyliss come to mind.

Do you have any stats that prove the roster as a whole is better significantly or is this an eye test thingie? Just as an example.....why do you say Bogo is better now, because he played more games? And if he is better, isn't that an argument in Housley's favor? Also, 2yrs ago our top 6 point producers included one D-man (Risto)...this yr it includes two D-men (Dahlin/ Risto). Beyond the top line minimal improvement, I think jumps in production will be difficult to find as a whole, especially with the "Golden Child" (ROR) trade. It's the things you're not saying that I question most....Is Mitts a better 2C than ROR? How much better is Sheary over Moulson(numbers almost exactly the same with 9 games left) and why? Gorges wasn't the best, but he played with more heart and likely blocked more shots than our current D combined, how do you measure? Is it because he was slow? Is Sobotka better in the left dot than ROR was? Is Mitts a better truck driver than ROR when drinking? Is goaltending better now? Lehner/ Nilsson were BOTH over .920 sv%....Hutton is an appropriate .911(emergency) and Ullie is .906. As far as Eichel being better, how much better do you consider him? Two yrs ago his pts/g projected over 82gms would've given him 76pts.(this year it would be 88pts). Are 12pts good enough over 2yrs to really say he's better? So many questions....so few real answers.

I'd really like to know how you come to the conclusion that this roster is better than 2yrs ago.....just asking for a friend. Personally, I don't see it, but maybe you can prove my friend right and we can have a good laugh.

Yet you think Housley should be winning and isn't even close to that roster talent....hmmmm.

Let's get Babcock fired tonight. Payback? Karma? OOPS....GO SABRES!!!!!

Seeing that we're becoming one of the laughing stocks of the NHL, I thought it would be appropriate that we make extensive changes in the line-up. With that in mind I refuse to consider anymore of these piddly trades and signings of UFA's. It's time for change.....BIG change to this roster. My ideas hopefully will put a smile on your face and give you a rise as well. Here it goes.....your 2019-20 roster to take us to the Cup and allows for us to tell everyone to piss off. Players position is disregarded in this fun exercise. Forwards: 1st line....Jack/Skinner/ Fast 2nd line...Little/ Pekar/ Panik 3rd line...Seguin/Johnson/ Getzlaf 4th line...Point/ Moore/ Wood D-men 1st pair...Holden/ Johnson 2nd pair...Gravel/ Burns (any biker knows how this feels) 3rd pair...Lovejoy/ Hickey 4th Pair...Weber/ Vlasic (everyone's favorites on their footlong) Git 'er done.

I've considered this too. It would add a little extra to the Sabres/TO rivalry. I'm all in.

Laaksonen is under contract with SHL until the end of 2020/21 season. Can he get out of this some how? just asking.

Not being snarky.....corrective and informative, sure. Soft and weak, yet forceful in implementing a team system. You can't really focus on individual talents in a "team" environment, at least not totally. I think Phil has done well with what he has to work with. Our middle six needs some serious help and when it comes there will be undeniable improvement. If you focus on individual talent you will need 10 different systems running at once. You need to impose a system and then get the players to adhere to it by either teaching, replacing them with the style player you need, or hopefully it comes natural to them.

So , you aren't worried that we might be in 1st place come US Thanksgiving? Then what? Do you still fire PH or do you take the chance that next year bares better results?

The tank seasons were over before Housley got here.

How do you know you hear crickets? Where did you hear these crickets?

yea, they need to stop building the Tim Horton's so close to the Consumers Beverages.

So now we need a better coach than Babcock and get to the 2nd rd in a hurry or nobody will be satisfied? Good luck with that. And once we get there then what will all the b****in' be about? And once we win the cup, I can hear it already......"take out that 15 game win streak and were just an average to mediocre team".

No....it just depends on how you read things. He didn't "start" losing, we have more wins than last year. He started winning. Or you can look at it a different way, the losing started 8 yrs ago. 3GM's and 5 coaches later, you want to blame one person.

Never said they were a good team ....at least not yet. Never said they've comeback to win every game either. Read what's there and not what you want to see. Have any questions...ask.

Then why have our 3rd periods been pretty good, especially early in the season when comebacks were frequent. If he's not adjusting, that likely doesn't happen. I would also hope that when these players actually start "buying in" to the system and the roster is set, there won't be a need to adjust and maybe only "tweak" from time to time. Great teams do little adjusting to the opponent and cram their style down your throat. They force "you" to play "their" game, not the other way around.

Amen!!!!

By not saying anything, he said more than we need to know. Did he say ..."i love the wings" or Did he say...."i hate buffalo, too many Tim Hortons"