Pimlach

Good evening Teammates, Lots of Christmas stuff going on but taking time to watch my favorite hockey team. Time to win one, wearing the RJ tee shirt, and breaking out the Woodford Reserve. MUSCLE WEIGHT

What’s in there?

I wore my RJ tee-shirt a few times this year. It was given to me by my daughter, who attended his goodbye game. Sad, but they have never won a game with me wearing it. Maybe I try again tonight?

I just don't get it. Why not a 3rd line of Kulich - McLeod - Benson? That pushes Krebs to 4C. McLeod is an RFA after this season. What do you think happens to him? Also, looks like Bryson moves past Joker, again.

@Stoner will be airing his grievances.

Lets see, what will happen on the Island tonight? The Aisles will break out their heavy game and we will get stifled in the neutral zone. We wont get enough high danger shots to really test their goalie and we wont be willing to go to the dirty areas. UPL will keep it close for awhile, but it end up 4-2, with the 4th goal being yet another ENG. Oh yeah, and Martin and their 4th line will slap us around as usual.

And the inbound players negate the trades because of the poor organization that Terry Pegula leads and runs.

No to Petterson. Not with that contract. This team has enough problems with motivation and bad contracts.

I’m not following your last two comments on tanking. The OP suggests tanking. I already addressed my thoughts on that. I’m against it. Please stop being coy and ask a direct question. Or ask none at all.

If we haven’t extended the UFA, or even had the conversation, then Adams should get whatever he can. I would like to keep Greenway since he is 27 and in his prime. A rarity for this totally unbalanced roster. He is a very good bottom 6 guy with a defensive slant to his game. He has some trouble staying healthy. I suspect he wants out. Zucker is 32 and I expect he wants a shot with a playoff team and Adams will try to help him get one. So far I think he is a class act as a player. He shows up.

It didn’t work then, it won’t work now for the same reasons. If we get a top player in this coming draft that’s great. But the Sabres FO needs to try to win right now.

Nothing for me but I have a few relatives that need health issues resolved. That, and a Super Bowl for Buffalo.

Bills won. Ugly win is still a win. This is a game they didn’t seem up for. Good wake up to get them to refocus. Beat the Jets at home next Sunday and they can clinch the 2 seed at a minimum. If KC clinches the 1 next week then the Bills can rest their starters in the finale at NE.

Tanking is losing on purpose. Period. How you do it, or rationalize it is irrelevant Trying to get the #1 pick in 2026, as you suggest, is tanking. There are no caveats.

Your thread title says Draft #3 this year, and win the lottery next year. That spells lose on purpose => TANK. Why not just win the lottery this year? Is it because you want a guy two years out? That is tanking my friend. The draft is just one way to improve the team. It is a slow process and its a crap shoot. There are players with NMC/NTC's, looks like about 40%, but not all have it. -> https://www.thefourthperiod.com/no-trade-clauses Adams has been using draft and fast development and avoiding veteran blockers. He signed a few vets and mostly JAGs, and we have learned that it does not improve the culture or the provide a good environment to grow players in. First step is to dump Adams and hire serious hockey people to run the team, hire hockey execs with Cup pedigree that have done it before. Give them full control and let them work. Let them improve the coaching from the development coaches, to AHL, to the NHL HC - get better everywhere. They MUST bring in some help for the young and struggling players, this is the problem that we have right now, we lack the players with know how that don't fall apart under pressure. The combination of competent POHO/GM, competent coaches, a true hockey town, and proximity to Canada will all help to reduce the impact of taxes and no palm trees. But they have to look and act like serious team. They are a total clown show right now. You are listening to Adams which is bad, and you are telling us to repeat the biggest failure this franchise has ever made, which is to tank on purpose. If we get the #1 this year fine, at least we didn't try to lose on purpose. Thinking that the luck that happened to Pittsburgh or Chicago will happen to Buffalo is not realistic.

a response to the Spoon signal has been detected.

Ok. Fine. So we might get a top 3 pick this year. It will still take years for him to reach his peak. In the meantime you build and try to win asap.

Really? Why would anyone think a top 3 pick in this crop of 18 years will not have the same development timeline as a guy like Sam Reinhart? Reinhart was highly touted. He looked good as rookie, a promising kid with skill that needed to grow. He was much better at four years. He is a true Super Star by 8 years. That is what you get if you are lucky. It still takes time. No 18 year old is going to turn this around by himself.

Agree. Passes are more effective than relying on puck handling. Passes move the puck up faster and spreads out the defense. They were doing it for awhile too.

If the Owner is ok with the current situation, and the GM is safe, and the HC is safe, then why would the players worry? Terry's speech sure inspired them to do better. The only worried players are the ones lining up to leave and they are worried about missing out at the trade deadline.

We did this, and it failed, and it basically destroyed the team for oh about 14 years now. So you want to tank for two years. Maybe get another 18 year old savior. And then what, wait 4 more to build around him? So 20 years without playoffs. Have you learned anything from the last tank?

I don’t know about any of this. We could start four more threads about poor passing, no net front presence, not checking enough, and poor defensive structure. All of it could be supported as much as puck handling. I think they play with the puck way too much and then skate themselves and the puck out of the high danger areas. They pass the puck out to the perimeter which helps the opposition to set up. They fail to take the shots that are there, when they are there. They fail to set screens and get rebounds, and pick up lose pucks. They lose puck battles, they fall down. Puck handling is not the root cause. Why and how did they win three in a row to reach a playoff spot only to fall apart on a home stand? Just a snap of the fingers and they fell apart. 13 in a row, and most of the worst losses were home games. answer: It’s not puck handling. The roster has big holes, the team’s Core is immature, most of them are fragile and mentally weak right now, and they lack leaders and role players. Look at who has the A’s and C’s. Roster construction is the problem. There are too many young players that are expected to carry the load. Take Jason Zucker as an example. He is one of the hardest workers on the team, constantly getting under the opponents skin, goes to dirty areas, has skill, understands the game. He is a one year rental and he will be asking to leave this team by the trade deadline. Does anyone think he is inspired by Dahlin, Cozens and Muel as his captains? If he plays hard it’s because of his own internal pride. We really did need 3 Zucker-level contributing veteran forwards, with term and committed to stay (i.e. blockers), to make a playoff run and we got none. Sobering thought is Greenway will leave too. Byram leaving is very possible. McLeod is a RFA, maybe him too. The team is built the wrong way. There is no veteran presence and no cultural pride to bring the young players into. The GM has a bunch more kids to look at in Rochester, and he will be under pressure to ship out some of his current young players that are now regressing and breaking down. Cozens and Quinn, for example, are breaking down under the load and the expectations. They were not ready for this. Maybe they will be next year? Or maybe they will be gone and replaced by Helenius and Rosen? We have seen this movie before. The problem has a root cause and it’s way up top.

The Canucks are clinging to the 8th WC spot, I’d say they are desperate in a different way.

Some of it is the constant over passing. Some of it is no one in the slot, or in front of the net, which would bring in their defenseman. The gotta go to the dirty areas.

Another hockey season over before Christmas. Unbelievable.