Pimlach

Who said anything about nostalgia? I didn’t. First you complain about former Sabres in front office positions when the league has several. Then you complain about former coaches moving to front offices when that is also common. Now it’s nostalgia. ??? Assume that Terry does not clean house, because he isn’t going too. You can continue with Adams working with Terry and the HC reports to Adams, or you can have Adams and Lindy both reporting to and influencing Terry. To me this is a no brainer. Your other choice is to follow another team for now because this is the reality of it.

There are several ex Sabres in front offices all around the league. There are many ex NHL coaches in front offices all around the league. I am not thrilled with Lindy’s coaching either but Adams running this is failing. Maybe Lindy can help more from a team roster building perspective? Maybe he turns out to be good at it?

This is a positive. Adams wanted Appert as coach and didn't get it, and Adams does not want advisors/consultants and now he has one. Terry decided on Lindy and the direct line to Terry is exactly what Coach McDermott has. I just hope Lindy becomes the more influential of the two and that leads to positive changes. Still prefer Adams is replaced but that is not likely unless he plays the politics of this triad wrong.

Just want to add one more hopefully constructive point to this. Thinking about how the league should look at this going forward. If you whack (hard to ferocious level) another players gloves/wrist/forearms you get a slashing minor or even roughing, you will get a penalty. Today, if the blade of your stick even touches the gloves or near the forearms of another player you get a minor penalty. This gets called routinely as slashing or hooking. Even the softest glances get called, do not touch the gloves with your stick. The benefit is it reduces players having to play in pain for the rest of the game, or sometimes part of a season hurt , or even worse get sidelined for awhile. Why are head hits treated different? Why not all head hits draw a penalty? But just don't touch the gloves, right? Why is touching the gloves with your stick blade more important? Seems like the priority is all wrong to me. It makes no sense that a ref would not call something on that play.

I get your points. I still think Howden got off easy. He got nothing. Kulich was slightly low coming out of the turn but not really leaning or stretching forward, I cannot even say his head was down. He was also being pushed in the back by #15 on Vegas. The hit was was reckless, Howden turned to his side and contacted his head first, he is out of control. That is my judgement. Player safety? Who is responsible for it? The leagues inaction says they are not. So we should see more of these legal hits, right?

Not making it years on end. Its not even close.

Players bend over reaching and stretching all the time. Are they supposed to play scared and just stay straight up. Howden took advantage an opportunity to bury a vulnerable younger, smaller, rookie and he got away with it. He actually got rewarded for it. A head hit is a head it. Either you enforce player safety or not. Which is it? You want the ref to determine if he meant it or not, in real time? No. And the extra misconduct on Krebs, which I'm told could have been a game misconduct, the ref does what to decide that?

The misconduct is either a 10 or a game? Stupid rules. What determines that decision? The NHL is famous for these poor rulings. Why didn't Kolesar get an extra 2 and a 10? He told the reporter afterword that the Sabres were playing a "heavy game" and he went out to stop it. Why isn't that an instigator? Ridiculous rules.

I edited my list to include him, I mixed him up with another player. Can't forget good ole' Slava.

You just said they will be "warm and hospitable". Now you say don't expect a congenial response. Ok. Image of "Pimlach visiting Victoria, BC"

I am no fan of Matty as a coach but a being a good player does not translate into being a good coach in the NHL. Looking at the top 4 winningest NHL coaches. #4 - Paul Maurice - no professional games after juniors #3 - Barry Trotz - no professional games after juniors #2 - Joel Quinnville - NHL 4th liner #1 - Scotty Bowman - no professional games after juniors

Is it just a coincidence that Samuelsson and Cozen have had such bad seasons right after being given the A? I wish Cozens well, moving him was best for all parties. Unfortunately, it could prove to be another indictment on how the Sabres have mishandled their youth.

I get that the ref missed the head shot in real time, but the replays show it. I get that since the ref thought it was a good hit that Krebs would get the extra 2, but 10 more minutes was excessive. Are only good teams allowed to respond like this?

I don't hate them, but I wish these guys were never Sabres: 1. Kane and Bogo - they were matching set of bad and they hurt the fragile and evolving team chemistry. Absolutely the wrong kind of players for young Jack and Sam to be around. Murray sucked in every way and he too shares the top spot with the players of his signature trade. 2. Taylor Hall - he never tried to help, he took the money and he ran. He was an underperformer for most of his career anyway. 3. Eric Stahl - similar to Hall, I expected hard play and leadership and got nothing. 4. Berglund - the entire city of St Louis knew this guy had issues, but Buffalo didn't. He did us a big favor by quitting. 5. Lehner - just always seemed to be unstable, he was an inconsistent player that choked in the moment. Even after he left he just would not go away. 6. Dmitry Kulikov Slava Kozlov - he was the first player to make me realize that Buffalo was no longer a hockey destination. I was stuck in the 70 and 80s until this guy came around. edit: mixed up the Russians

Spring means golf, and baseball, and the Misses and I getting our garden in order. Hockey playoffs? oh yeah, I remember that too.

Kulich might be hurt. Could be more of that crazy flu spreading?

Ehhh, I want to believe you but what I witnessed first hand is tension right now. Now I get what some of the Canadian posters here were saying about the importance of the 4 Nations games, which in the US is now long an afterthought. I just spent several weeks in Florida - Fort Meyers, Tampa, and St Augustine. Just like you hear and see Canadians citizens saying "willing to fight" and the new PM saying "drop the gloves" on the silly American TV news, there was animosity down in Florida. I visited friends in two separate snow bird communities and heard all about the outspoken Canadians that are bashing the US and some being extremely vocal and challenging about it. I heard Americans replying with comments like "they should just stop coming down here then". Not good. Never, ever, have I seen or heard this before.

Eichel extended and he gave Buffalo a good shot and good effort, but the organizational operating plan (EEE) was getting much worse, not better. Can’t blame him for leaving and the injury issue only made him look more right than wrong. Eichel was mishandled from the start, he needed to be put in place from the very beginning, but no one was there to do it. When did you see or hear of Eichel looking to veterans for help and guidance? Murray is to blame for the bad chemistry and the bad culture that Eichel, Reinhart, Bogo, Kane, ROR, and Lehner all helped to create on those teams. They were known for excessive partying and cliques, those teams were never close knit. So many stories in Buffalo about the bad behavior of Murray’s bunch, which bled into Boterill’s group too. The current core group under Adams could not be more different personality-wise. Eichel is not the same kid anymore. He has matured in many ways, but he will get booed in Buffalo for a long time. I watch him and marvel at the skill and I think of what should have been if only the organization was run better from the top down. Eichel was not the problem. The problems start at the top.

The players did not dislike Cozens. The room isn’t better simply because he it out. What Dahlin meant is they learned from the Devils game and the hit on Tage. They responded and pushed back and got rewarded. They are jubilant to finally see results but don’t count on a long winning streak. They are a work in progress. Players keep track of ice time so they certainly realized that Cozens was getting a lot of ice time and hurting them with his poor play. They observed him under pressure, and he was not reacting well to pressure. But that doesn’t mean they dislike him.

Haven’t heard any such thing about closing boarders. I plan on visiting Vancouver and Victoria in June, and Southern Ontario in July-August. I love going to Canada.

The win doesn’t have to be meaningless. Short two top 6 guys, playing with a Rochester call up, coming from behind twice, winning in a shootout, all against a Cup contender. They need to succeed and get a taste of winning games like this one.

Three stars. 1. UPL 2. Dahlin 3. Krebs - without the fight we get rolled over.

UPL stones him for the win.

Great move Tuchie

UPL!