Alaska John

My fear about this team is that they're rinsing and repeating the culture mistakes. Eichel and Reinhardt didn't come to the team with defeatist attitudes. Neither did O'Reilly. These players, who were top talents on the team, just got worn down, disgusted, and had to go. A year ago KA was crowing about having players who wanted to be here and who respected the Sabres logo. Now all those top picks are looking at each other and seeing another year of their careers going down the drain. They HAVE to be looking at other teams and wondering if there's a way to get somewhere else.

Someone explain to me how smart it was to let Linus Ullmark go to the Bruins as a FA. He's been playing great since he got there (aided no doubt by Boston's great team defense) and it's easy to see how the Sabres would have made the playoffs last year with Ullmark in goal.

Son of a gun. I was right. This team drives me nuts.

The Leafs have a winning record so the Sabres have a chance. They're the opposite of the Dolphins. The Sabres can play well only if the competition is difficult.

And now the Sabres beat the Golden Knights. What on earth is going on? Why can't they play better against the weaker teams?

Nice to watch a professional team for change. Everyone on the same page (literally), everyone working together. And no goals allowed.

I don't follow junior hockey, so who are the Sabres tanking for NOW?

This team has road wins against the Bruins and Rangers. Why they hell can't they beat the weak teams?

Interesting suggestions, but Hamilton is Leafs country. The Sabres want to maintain their identity as a regional NYS team.

Good for everyone concerned. Levi needs to play, a lot, and not have the pressure of the big league record in the back of his mind.

I think there's a misquote here. "Be a waggin' " would mean acting like a happy dog.

A great guy who kept going as long as possible. I am sorry for his family that he didn't have more years without hockey games so he could spend more time with them.

Congrats to Jessica Pegula. If she's earned almost $4M in 5 years or so, she'll make as much as her parents have, in, oh, about 125 years. Keep swinging, Jess.

How? Do you mean not getting the YouTube subscription? Or not going through YouTube at all?

The initial purchase of Sunday Ticket is $100 cheaper if you subscribe to the full YouTube package, but then you're on the hook for the monthly fee which was upwards of $70, roughly $900 per year extra. Not a bargain unless you really want the full YouTube. Since I have Direct TV (which I got in order to get NFL Sunday Ticket, but which I'm keeping at least for now because I love the DVR to let me not watch commercials) I didn't need the YouTube subscription. Also my internet is flakier than the satellite dish, which always works unless there's a huge storm overhead.

Gave a like for the dead-on Love Canal comparison, also for the comments about GMTM screwing the rebuild completely. As for Eichel's intelligence, who knows if the friend's assessment is right, and anyway we aren't picking scholars, we're picking players with hockey IQ. Eichel has a good understanding of how to play the game, and that's the relevant criterion. Eichel and Reinhart were both drafted #2 overall but only Eichel catches the grief. Not sure why. I think Eichel tried for a while to be the leader the Sabres wanted, but gave up. I don't think Reinhart ever tried to fill the role. I think they're both playing the way the Sabres wanted them to, but now they have professional coaches and help from a strong group of teammates. Also playing much better is Montour, who I suspect bagged it while with the Sabres hoping to get paroled to a better team, and it worked out.

I wonder what happened to that wardrobe of his.

I love that second suggestion, but why not make it really interesting and put the ball pool in the middle of an ice rink and make the GMs get to the pool, find their ball, and get it to a hockey goal? And the GMs have to be in socks, no skates or shoes. Watching some of these guys slide around for 100 feet would be a ratings bonanza.

The comments about culture really struck home. In many cases it isn't a particular person who's to blame for teammates not feeling comfortable, it's a general attitude among everyone that doesn't foster respect and trust. For example, teasing is allowed to go really deep and personal, and that the receiver has to just take it and stew about it. It takes leadership to shut that down when it starts to happen. I am not saying Eichel was the person who made everyone uncomfortable, because I don't know that, but it does look like Eichel was the person who failed to stop it. The Bills were mired in bad culture for years. Well, decades. Then finally some older, really good players stepped up (Kyle Williams, Lorax come to mind, and probably some decent players like Tyrod Taylor too), the bad apples got tossed from the barrel, and the field was ready for a new crop of happy relationships.

He used to do his shows at the Katherine Cornell theater at UB, at the Amherst campus. I loved seeing that after I'd moved away from Buffalo because I used to go to classical piano recitals in that theater when I was a student there. He was funny, smart, talented.

I'm struggling to understand two things. One, why do they play so badly at home? Two, what the hell happened a couple of weeks ago? The Sabres were actually in a playoff spot on the NHL website for part of a day. They beat Toronto and apparently figured that was all they needed to do. Are there any theories about either of these?

I think a lot of Sabres fans are going to fire themselves. They'll walk away shaking their heads. Do you recall, it was just a couple of weeks ago that the online NHL standings had the Sabres in a playoff position? What happened? Did they all get sleepy? Is there something in the locker room food that's slowing them down and letting them make stupid mistakes?

Total collapse. What on earth happened to this team? Maybe they figured the lottery was a better long-term play than squeaking into the playoffs and getting wiped out by the Bruins in four games. Well, if that's the thinking, it's terrible.