Pimlach

And therein lies the rub. Terry wants involvement, not just information. I have said this a lot, if you want a big name coach with NHL experience, then you better be prepared to give him roster input. If not, then you have to get lucky and hit on a first timer. So far no luck in that department despite having many talent young players come and go over the years. Someday we might see one of his kids running the team.

True. I do not condone anything he did either, and I don't feel bad for him because he was a Buffalo Bill. He had domestic violence issues with his first wife too. As a young Buffalo kid, I had posters of OJ, Gil Perreault, and Bob McAdoo on my bedroom wall. I got to meet him once and he was what you would expect at that time, he was the coolest and most magnetic guy in the room. For a short period of time in the 70's we had 3 very good teams, all with superstar players.

Seems logical to start with the coaching staff and then let the new coach input on the roster. Logical next step. DG is a good guy, he did what he can, time for a fresh start.

I think a brain scan will likely reveal some issues. He had anger issues that came later in life.

I know. I hope they don’t pour gas on it tonight with a bad effort. 🙏

OJ was an icon before he went nuts. Not gonna make excuses for him either.

You have been a very positive force here lately. The build momentum got a good chuckle from me. I just want them to win at home, and let the kids see reasons to like this team. I really do not want to them fall behind and have the crowd get upset.

muscle? weight. ?

Thank you, thank you, thank you. The over use of the word "hater". Disagreement, or not liking something, is not hate. But some people are now conditioned to call anyone who does not agree with them haters. It has become a careless over-reaction and a mechanism to vilify those who have deferring opinions. It is a lazy. Back to Owen Power - I cannot think of any Pronger-like defenseman today. Chara is gone. Dare I say the game has changed some? If Power will just learn to use his body effectively - wedge, trap, box out, use size and reach as leverage - he could become great. The Sabres had a defenseman named Bill Hajt who also was not a banger or a fighter. But he was big and strong, and he used his body effectively as you describe. He had a good outlet pass and would use his size and reach to create the room needed to smartly make the breakout work. He was a lifetime +318 in 854 games playing mostly on a second pairing. You probably were not going to score a goal on the Sabres with Billy on the ice during his prime years. He is an afterthought now, in nobody's hall of fame, but he mastered what you are asking for playing 13 seasons with no minus years. Power can do that and so much more given his offensive skills and his vision.

Well Cooley, Guenther and Raymond did not score 30 playing center for 2 rookies last year either. This season has been rough for Cozens from the very start. Our crappy roster construction forces the kid to be a leader, a fighter, and a protector. Cozens is falling victim to what Trotz described. They threw a ton of money at a 22 year old and said, you are a core leader, go get'em Dylan. They had similar expectations on Dahlin - he never had a mentor or was paired with someone that could help him get better and learn. He did it on his own. Dahin and Cozens have been pushed fast. Power too, for that matter. Some players can handle it, some cannot.

Great data here! I think Tage is going to remain a solid contributor whether you call him a 1C, or a 2C that plays 1C on this team. I think Tuch is what we see. A 20-25 goal scorer, that can hit 30+ some years, and that can play anywhere on the top 9 as needed. Peterka is still learning and has earned top 6 this season. Quinn is another that should be pushing for top 6. Cozens is clearly having some growing pains. Thinking of the Trotz quote, we really need to help him. Sabres #1 need, without any doubt is a top center. Add 2C/1C capable guy that easily forces Cozens to 3C. Trade some of the precious kids to start winning now. I am not thrilled with Krebs as a 4C either. He works hard but 4C is a were I want to see a shut down center, with some scoring touch, that wins draws, and helps on the PK. We need 2 veteran centers to improve for next year. Bringing in kids from Rochester is not the answer if playoffs are a serious goal. We are saturated with youth.

The came within 4 points of a wild card spot 6 times this season and came up with an 0-6 record on the next game. This is hard to do. They choke under even slight pressure.

At some point the Sabres players will be refusing long term deals.

Fan Appreciation Day. Given the Sabres track record for playoffs, you would think they would do this game earlier in the season. I hope Terry is there.

And he did much of it paired with Joker, not with Dahlin.

Yes, some will make it no matter what. Others are inconsistent. Despite all the complaints about Power not hitting, he has had a solid 2 years.

Not that I saw. I thought the puck was pushed wide, way after the 0.2 expired. Either way, it was not going to count.

So read the quote from Trotz and think about how they handled Mitts, Thompson, Nylander, Dahlin, Cozens, Power, Krebs, and Benson. Thriving or surviving?

Yes. If you have been following closely since TP took over you would have seen the meddling and heard about it. If you know any former Sabres, former coaches, or employees you might believe it. The guy blew it right out of the gate, starting with Lafontaine and almost every move since. He is now past the massive interfering he did with the Sabres in the early days. Since he shut them down at Covid, and fired Boterill for not following his new plan, he has this team in a slow rebuild autopilot. He installed Adams, a guy with ZERO NHL hockey operations experience, to run his efficient, economic, and effective policies - we have not yet seen the effective part of this plan BTW. I don't really care what you believe either. You can question me, that is fine. He runs the NFL team differently because Beane and McDermott really do run the Bills and they keep him at bay. They like him, and he likes them, and they are winning - so you keep on keeping on. Terry gets to go into the draft war room and be with the boys. He gets to say, "I like Josh Allen the best", and that is ok. Because Beane makes the picks. You can believe what you want. You can think because a guy makes billions in energy that he can run a hockey team. I don't see that correlation and 14 years of watching him in action tells me a lot. I cannot think of anyone that he hired to run the hockey operations side that had the right experience, and the track record to do the job. All of the GMs since Darcy have been very young and first timers. Murray is out of hockey, never to be heard from again. Boterill is back with his old boss and working at the same level he was before he took the Sabres GM job. He is one of 3 AGMs in Seattle btw. Adams had the least experience of the three. Why do you think he hires these young dudes? Why do senior level men like Trotz, Boudreau, Berube, Gallant, etc, not get a call to help in some manner?

Adams does not take ownership for the state of the team, so neither does Granato, so neither do the players. I am so tired of hearing that they are not the cause for the drought. The current FO, the current coaches, and the current players are as big of contributors as anyone else. This is the exact opposite approach that McDermott and Beane took. The Sabres are clueless from top to bottom.

Why do you blame the city? Buffalo has been a great hockey town in the past (long past) and players have enjoyed playing in Buffalo and living in Buffalo. That was when they had good ownership. The Sabres organization started to get a very bad reputation around the league when they dismantled a President's Trophy team because then owner Golisano did not want to pay the players. The bad feeling about Buffalo around the league started then, because ownership showed no commitment to winning, even when they had the pieces to do so. Pegula was supposed to be the savior and he came in loaded with false bravado, bragging about his money, and making stupid claims that he could not back up. He has proven to be a fool with money, and ironically today he runs the team on a tight budget. Pegula's big problem was not hiring the right people right from the beginning while listening to his Pittsburgh and Penn State buddies. LaFontaine was a terrible choice as POHO who made more terrible choices with Murray and Nolan. Since then Terry has just made mistakes upon mistakes. Putting his wife in charge being a massive one. He is now gun shy and surrounds himself with much younger yes men. The Sabres have had great ownership just once - that was under the Knox's. That is the era were the greatest moments, the best memories, and the majority of the best players come from. Back then Buffalo had no trouble attracting and keeping good players. Buffalo is not the problem, but being a small city and having very bad winter weather is going to work against attracting modern players, I get that. But there are plenty of players that prefer small cities and that come from winter climates. Winning is all it takes. Commitment to win and run a classy organization. It starts at the top and the Sabres ownership has been below par since the Knox Family sold the team. Even when the Rigas and Golisano teams found success on the ice, they also had issues with they way things we managed. It is not the city that is the problem. It is 100% Terry.

To tell Tage to win the draw with a clean "laser shot" on the net that goes over the goalie's shoulder and into the net with 0.1 seconds left - and provable on replay.

That will not happen. When you replace the leader you don't leave him around to be 2nd fiddle. Not in any business.

They won't let him. Beane allegedly has a no interference clause. They do let him play the boss on draft day. He sits in the war room and gives opinions.

Adding those "leadership character players" is not staying the course. Adams has showed no ability to add those kind of players - Stahl didn't want to help us, Hall could not help us, EJ and Anderson were expired players on an empty tank. The Mitts-Byram trade just got us younger and gave us another 21 year old kid to cover up for - Byram is not yet a first pair guy either. Paired with Joker, they make up a very weak 2nd pair that gets exploited. So far he has drafted 3 good NHL players - Quinn, Peterka, and Benson - all still learning their way. He made one good trade to fill a need (Greenway for a #2), and he made one good UFA signing (Clifton). Everything else he did is a big nothing. Maybe a few more prospects will develop, making the team younger still, but the roster is completely devoid of men that play the game the right way and know how to win. So stay the course? There are some good building blocks. I say bring in a better coaching staff at the minimum. Prefer that Terry brings in an experienced hockey man (POHO) to put over Adams. Then Adams can concentrate on contracts and the draft. Let the POHO fix the roster (handle the pro personnel) and find a coach. My trust in Adams to make all the right moves is waning.