FrenchConnection44

I'm down with this hire. He was near his last legs on a flawed team with a minor league coach when he was here. I'd prefer Jordan Staal but I'll take him. He's been in many a playoff and won the Stanley Cup with Carolina. And he knows the league. Better than not hiring someone.

If he knows his stuff, this will be a good thing. Much of the team needs to get bigger, stronger, and develop more endurance and speed as a whole.

Do I want to search for that? No. Do fans who don’t have hours in the day to do that want to? No. Did I want to tune in and see the combos on ESPN ahead of time? Yes. They didn’t show that. I’m not laying around on my butt in my parents basement spending time looking up that. I work for a living, sometimes 60+ hours, and I have innumerable responsibilities with kids and grandkids. I want to tune in, see exactly what is going on with my team, explained clearly, and know what the numbers mean each time they’re drawn. they didn’t explain any of that. Until the fourth ball was drawn, and then, we have lower odds in the penguins! The NBA does the lottery without any problem. That was classic NHL nonsense.

Nonsense. It took a year out of Dylan Cozens and who knows if he will fully recover. And the fact is the entire Sabres team is intimidated and unwilling to take on tough guys who go after them because they are intimidated. If you don’t think they need a tough player who can take on anybody and protect the better players, then you’re either just being an *-**** contrarian, which is typical, or you are insanely naïve. Just watch the playoffs and how Florida manhandled Tampa Bay. That stuff matters. Both football and hockey are two sports where intimidation still does happen. It may not be to the same degree as in the past, nor are there pure goons like Dave Schulz , but it still matters.

WTH was that BS lottery? Nobody knew exactly what those numbers meant at the start and what the numbers we needed to get, until the fourth draw. And the rest of the way it made no sense either. It was just such a bizarro system. That had to be the most absurd lottery draw system I’ve ever seen. Come on. Of course we get screwed. Bettman should be sent to Gnome, Alaska to dig dirt. After he cuts through the ice.

I.e., he intimidates precisely zero players on the ice.

Watching the Panthers play the Lightning is a great example of why the Sabres need a lot more grit and toughness. That they just don’t have dudes like that. They need really three or four guys who play with an edge and can be intimidating. A guy like Tkachuk.

Agreed. Just being facetious

Benson is a fan favorite and really smart player with great instincts. I don’t see the comp to O’Reilly who is bigger and stronger. He can hang in front of the net. Nor the comp to Marchand who is much more physical and tougher. And has a real edge to his game with dirty play. He’s mean. And an agitator not afraid to rough it up. Marchand also probably really goes only 5’7 and still around 180. Dude is a small bowling ball. The challenges for Benson are multiple: he doesn’t skate really fast; he doesn’t have a powerful shot; doesn’t have really strong hands or handle or ability to rocket passes; and he doesn’t really have size or strength or power for the corners, or the mean / angry streak to match up. He’s got great hockey sense. Tricky good defensive stick skills (except for a shot and strong hands). Now, if he gained 10-15 pounds of muscle, developed his shot and stronger passing, improved his skating speed, or became more physical in the corners he could really become a very good player. But he has a lot of work to do to become a significant player imo. He’s a kid in a man’s game right now and it may take 3 more years and some adversity to get there. The fact is, most of our players play like Junior or college kids. Benson is the poster boy. They don’t play like men. Two or three of those on a team are fine. But it takes men to win in the NHL.

Eklund has to be the obvious pick, right? 5’11, 161. He’s the perfect finesse player to go with the other 18 finesse skaters on the team and the 15 finesse prospects we have in the system. No brainer. Especially if we want to hit 15 straight years.

Because the league prohibits that through the CBA. It is how it is in every team sport. Team facilities are open for players to train and trainers are allowed to interact with players at the player’s request during regular hours. But they cannot even make appointments with players and no team staff are allowed to contact and work with players during the off season except for the league specified conditioning camp and training camp.

Once again, the late season run was fools gold. And all it did was to likely take them out of getting a top 4 player who might have helped them next year. How ridiculous. 🤦‍♂️ Adams is so bad but he’s not likely to go anywhere. 🤦‍♂️ And a player we needed to package in a trade, Power, is injured and likely to rehab all offseason. 🤦‍♂️ Of course, we did keep Bryson in the fold I will never understand that move. I doubt he’d be on an NHL roster if it weren’t for Adams’ genius. Fairburn: “Bryson signed a one-year extension March 20. Since then, he has played five games and been scratched 10 times. The Sabres are 0-5 when he plays and have been outscored 7-0 when he’s on the ice at five-on-five. His on-ice goals-against average during that stretch is 6.42, according to Natural Stat Trick. That contract is a head-scratcher when roster spots will be at a premium this summer and the defense is in need of a clear upgrade.”

Just on here to post about that. I just don't think you can take much from a team that was all but eliminated and then decided to play freely and went on a run. It's fools gold. That's why I'd have preferred for us to rest some guys with "nagging" injuries, bring up guys from the minors, and hope for a top 4 pick in which we might land a kid who can play next year. If this is largely the same team next year (they need a physical, two-way F, a big D-man who also plays a physical game, and a goalie. Even then that is jsut to get in the playoffs) other than a few minor changes like this last offseason then I don't see it happening.

That is nice. But no offense at all, but that is ultimately utterly meaningless unless it gets us into the playoffs. And in reality that means … continues into next year. And how often has winning when it no longer matters benefitted the team the following year over the past decade plus? Until and unless we get a team that has the ingredients to win consistently all that happens the rest of the year doesn’t mean bleep. IMO. I don’t care about moral victories. Not after 13 years plus of futility.

Interesting that in ESPN’s players to watch in the upcoming NCAA tournament, along with Jake Richard under Sabres control, there were several players who are free agents that are garnering interest from NHL teams. We should be all over some of these guys (first one is Riley Thompson, Ohio St). A big fwd who can play D, and a physical defensive minded 6’6 defender? We probably won’t show any interest 😉

Imo, the key is getting a new GM in who can truly lead the organization and then decide on coaching. Torts would be intriguing given his successes.

Benson is a smart and tricky player with that uncanny knack for being in the right place quite often. Hard to teach those instincts. and still young. But he has to devote himself to get stronger. Physically overall, to add some physicality to his game, to increase his speed, and to develop a quicker and stronger shot (want to see his shot % get into the teens. As it is he just doesn’t yet have a strong shot). If he does he could be a very good NHL player—not just a hopeful one for a future hopeful winning franchise.

Just going to mention him. He was featured in ESPN’s prospects to watch in the NCAA tournament. He’s also not yet under contract. But good to see some promise.

Once again, meaningless wins. How often have we seen this. Only ruining our draft position. Smh. And giving fans hope they can be decent but they will find a way to disappoint once again next year I’m sure lol. (While the Pens position themselves to land a top player of course. And he’ll probably wind up being a star with their luck.) This team has to be the greatest flatter to deceive team in all of sports, bar none. Some sports pub / network put out a yearly award for that. If they did, the Sabres would be multi-year champions over the course of the last decade plus.

Norris already out with injury. 😂 Of course. Anyway, this team still needs a goalie but a strong power forward or two (ideally one who can intimidate and take on bullies), and defensive RHD would be nice. I don’t want to tank but I also want to finish bottom 3-4.

Of course we won. I knew we'd beat some good teams. And its time for another 3-5 game win streak (which has argably been this team's defining characteristic - losing streak, winning streak, losing streak, etc. )

I think it is that he is simply spending so much to go all in on the Bills in the Allen era, plus the stadium and the $560 million he has to pay on overruns (good grief!), he is just not going to spend any more than he needs to or be aggressive with the Sabres. He may not be able to afford to from a cash on hand perspective. So he’s going to cut corners there.

Well deserved for Allen. Total franchise player. Also interesting that he is only the fourth quarterback to win the MVP but not be named first team all pro. But I agree with that situation. I failed to pay attention when he won MVP. It’s an interesting category, but I get it and it made sense a couple of times in the past. Like in ‘87: Joe Montana was first team all pro and deservedly so. He was the best quarterback in football that year and the best quarterback in the game. But Elway was deserving of the MVP because of the fact that he carried the Broncos so far with lesser talent.

I want a top 3-4 pick so I want us to score some goals, make it competitive but not win 😬 At this point, if we got hot, went into the draft with the 8th pick, we might actually retain Adams and be in the same spot again next year. Which would result in further pain. So I can root for wins at this point. Just me. I know others differ.

The team never should’ve drafted Owen Power, number one. What they need to do now is trade him. And hope they can get a first or high 2nd for him. If we had a coach who came in and said to him, “look, you’re never gonna be a great hockey player until you get some toughness inside of you. I don’t know whether you have that or not but you better get it in a hurry. Hockey is not a game for 6’6 220 pound defenseman who won’t play tough, physical hockey,” maybe he could light a fire under him. But if he’s going to play like a girl then go play volleyball If you draft a guy number 1 over all who is a 6’6, 215 lb defensemen, you want him to aspire to be the next Chris Pronger or Victor Hedman. Just look at Pronger’s PIM