Pimlach

Interesting to hear two points of view on the UPL head hit. I have seen a lot of hockey games, players will take liberties and act like it was unintentional. Especially when there is no fear of retaliation.

I missed the game. So now I hear Malkin hit UPL in the head?

I was surprised by the players comments at locker clean out. They fiercely defended Granato during the season, recall the fan salute thing, and then afterwards It felt like some of the players were throwing him under the bus. Very strange situation in Sabreland.

I cannot agree with him selling the Sabres to outside interests, it would alienate him with many Bills and Bandits fans. In a perfect scenario, a Buffalo based business consortium buys 51% of the Sabres from Terry and they run the team, including the Amerks. Probably not gonna happen though.

and don't forget the arena.

This is true. If they keep Byram the dollars invested on the defenseman will be even more pronounced. I think if the team is going to be retooled then Mule and Joker need to go. I would not miss either. Today there is a big focus on puck moving defenseman, we have 3 of them, lets add some better defensive defenseman that can clear out the front of the net, add a physical presence, and win puck battles.

No. I won't admit that because it is not even close to true. And who the fu@k are you to judge me or anyone else? When you not complaining about how everyone gangs up on you, you are defending the incompetence of the organization. You contribute nothing to this forum. A quick review of your posting shows nothing about hockey, no insights to the team, or the games, or the past, or the future. Nothing much from you but eyerolls when people criticize Adams and Pegula. And of course name calling and cheap shots.

True. And it should apply to every player. I mentioned early in the GDT that it might be good game for Reimer to play. UPL has had too many rough games. Most of them he started out good, kept them in, and then failed under relentless 3rd period pressure and a collapse by the skaters in front of him. We know he can better but right now I look more at the lack of support. Lets look at how many of the Adams core got paid and then followed up with a big drop off the next season(s). Muel, Tage, Cozens, UPL, ...

I think Terry is naive enough to think his pep talk in Montreal would help them. Instead things have been worse. All he did was message that losing was ok. There is no winning standard right now.

I am losing my love for this team. I can’t even bother to discuss all that’s wrong.

Maybe the Umlauts need to go?

Nah. He isn’t the problem. He isn’t carrying them either, but he isn’t the problem. This is not a playoff team.

The Washington Generals of the NHL.

I am glad I missed this one. Took my wife out. Then we came home and had a FaceTime happy hour call with friends, planning our big trip to Florida. All the while I have the game on with volume muted. I saw it, paying half attention, and with no volume. They stink.

I thought Robinson earned another look. I am happy for him. VO needed to go somewhere. Vegas, what luck for him. Glad to see him do well. He was a #7 draft pick made by my least favorite Sabres GM. Mitts - Our best two way center last season is now -16 in Colorado and struggling. Byram has been far better and he has much more value today. Would love to give Adams props here but we have the worst center spline on the league so ...

We agree that the winning culture has to start now. No more tanking, ever. There will be a good player there when we pick.

I try to avoid you and ignore, yet you come back and insult me every chance you get. To clarify - I was shocked that he doesn't prefer to get traded to a contender and try to win a cup. He can go back to Buffalo as a UFA after the season if he likes it here. If he prefers to stay with Buffalo and signs a deal to max out his salary before retirement that is his business and fine by me. I now understand he has personal reasons to do so.

No tanking please. This team will probably finish bottom 6 even if they try. Is there a reason to tank?

I am taking the wife out to dinner tonight so I will miss the early part the game. They tend to play to the level of their competition, so every game is a battle for this team. Maybe some day they will be good enough to dictate the play to their opponent? I thought Reimer might get the net but I see UPL is confirmed.

Its called pressuring the puck and they don't do it. They don't win loose puck battles nearly enough, and they panic and ice the puck way too much. The icing leads tired players and more lost D zone face-offs. Hence the excessive number of blown leads.

They treat the puck like a hot potato. No puck pressure and no puck possession. Lots of icing and lost faceoffs.

And they can get the ELC asap in Buffalo, then move on to bigger money.

less bad? He had a goal, was +1, got the 3rd star. I do not see the need. "Award" the goal and move on.

How we match up when teams play a shorter bench is a factor but a three goal lead at home should be 99% defendable. With a 3 goal lead the Sabres played in a 20 minute defensive shell (more like a stupor) that most teams wont do until the last 5 minutes. They had no puck possession, no SOGs, very few shot attempts. It is a terrible strategy for a team that plays bad defense to begin with. Lindy - Other than calling a much needed timeout and telling them not to panic they played the exact same way after the timeout than before. This time they got the break when needed. The TNT crew had a hard time getting excited that they "held on". More was said about the Canes being off last night.