JohnC

He was injured when we dealt for him. He was playing hurt while with Ottawa, so we got a damaged player for a healthy player. It wouldn't be surprising if he finishes the season in the suite recuperating from a previous injury. The GM who contributed to digging this franchise is expected by the owner to be the person to dig us out. Anyone confident that he will accomplish that?

Cozens should have been tried at on wing. This is a deal that was the right thing to do for the player and the organization. If Norris can return to health, then it is a fair deal. There is no question that the player mix needs to be shaken up. My fear is that the team's losing environment is affecting other young players such as Quinn and Samuelsson.

That's what a normally run franchise would do. It's sad to say that the Sabres are not a normally run franchise. KA has been at the helm for five years. His middling work is evident. What's tolerated here is not tolerated with most sport franchises in all pro sports. That's why this franchise has been flailing for a generation.

A couple of Savoie/McCleud deals in the offseason would be such a pleasant surprise.

I'm not obsessing about getting another #1 or 2 center. However, that's not to say that I wouldn't want to add another quality center. If the price is excessive in acquiring someone to fill one of those two top center spots, then the next best option would be to add another winger or two who are second-line caliber players. From there, you have a number of options putting together two legitimate top lines. As you point out, Tage can play on the wing or center, so there is some flexibility there. Kulich is showing too much promise for me to dangle him on the market. And I'm adamantly against trading Power. (I wish the haters would find another target of their scorn. I don't understand the hostility toward him.) On the other hand, if Bryam could bring you a second line player, then I would be inclined to make such a deal.

Has anyone told you that you look like Ryan Miller?

Is that you in your girls night out outfit?

No hair on his chest. Still a boy. 😃

Without going back and forth as to why a particular young player was not playing well my worry is that the environment is so toxic that it will bring down other young players and create an impetus for them to seek another less sullied franchise. I already see the depressing effect happening with Quinn and JJP. Players at this level are highly competitive and want to win. They don't want to be stuck with no hope for success. I also see this contamination being an issue with more veteran players such as Tuch and Byram. They don't have to tolerate being anchored to a mocked franchise. They just have to let their contracts run, just like Reinhart and Ullmark did. It's a bad situation that the owner created. He's the source of the problem and also the solution.

I didn't take your comment as a negative. I apologize if it seemed that I did.

Dan Snyder, the former owner of the NFL's Washington Commanders, had a stupendously large yacht and sailed off. When he sold (league pressure to do so) he made a stunning profit, multiple billions, and ended up in England to get away from his pariah status back home. He was a sleazy fellow who hired sycophants so that he could tinker with his toy franchise. The fans had enough of him and stopped supporting the team. Terry Pegula is certainly not a sleazy fellow but he has followed the same Snyder ownership model that made it a failed franchise. Once Snyder left the scene the franchise was quickly revived. I'm hoping a similar sequence would happen here. That's the solution!

I apologize to the members here for the repetition of my commentary. I just don't see a solution to this futile situation until the source of the problem either comes to his senses or he leaves the scene. My preference is for the owner to sell and leave the scene. Let me address the Cozens situation. The Cozens scenario where he ended up being traded represents an organizational failure more than it does a player failure. Once he left the toxic environment in Buffalo, he ended up being a positive contributor for his new team. And the player that he was dealt for, known for his injury history, is not on the ice for us because of his injury status. That's a perfect capsulation of the KA era.

I'm in the same boat that you are in. I've reached a level of apathy that goes beyond a temporary suspension of interest. This Pegula era can be categorized as a continuum of incompetence where one lost season can't be distinguished from another lost season. It's added up to a generation of futility. Can someone get through to this reticent and stubborn owner that you can't dig yourself out your own man-made deep hole when you call upon the same people who buried you and expect them to get you out of it? Where is the freaking common sense!!!! Just one example of ineptitude that is representative of the KA GM era: He trades Cozens for Norris to demonstrate he is taking action to start to rectify the deficiencies in the roster that he was most responsible in assembling. Ottawa trades a particular player known for his history of lack of durability for Cozens. Cozens goes to a stable organization and ends up playing well enough to be a solid contributor. On the opposite end of the deal, Norris ends up being out of the lineup because he is injured. That represents the KA GM era of a series of miscalculations. I don't like being a constant crank. But following this decrepit franchise is depleting and unenjoyable. This clueless owner has destroyed this franchise and its fanbase. I wish he would sell, take his tidy profit and sail off on his large yacht.

Eichel is happy that he got away from this hollow franchise. Reinhart is happy that he got away from this hollow franchise. ROR is happy that he got away from this hollow franchise. Ullmark is happy that he got away from this hollow franchise. Montour is happy that he got away from this hollow franchise. Cozens is happy that he got away from this hollow franchise. How many more players on this team will let their contracts run out so that they can get away from the shambolic franchise that they are presently stuck in? It's outrageous how the silent owner has gutted this franchise. The shameless can't be shamed!

Wonderful news. Happy for you with your positive update. As far as possessing musical talents, I am an abomination. In grammar school when practicing for a class song for the event the music instructor advised not to sing but to fake singing. His appraisal and recommendation although harsh were sound. When you don't got it you shouldn't go there.

The arsonist owner burned down this franchise and fanbase. He poured gasoline on the house and then threw a match. Instead of getting a hose to douse the flames he poured more gasoline on the fire. When asked why he did what he did, he responded that he didn't know that gasoline was flammable. The authorities arrested him for felonious stupidity.

I wish both of them would go away.

Have you considered consulting for a generationally failed company/franchise? This would be a challenging turnaround project for anyone. The biggest challenge would be dealing with a stubborn owner who is resistant to outside advice. 😀

@Brawndo is our hockey encyclopedia man. He's also known as Dr. Google or Dr. Recall. He's a bottomless pit of knowledge that can't be matched. He's our own source, and if anyone tries to use him, they will have legal complications due to copyright infringement.

It doesn't matter where he watches the game. If he hasn't figured out by now that he is the primary person most responsible for the demise of the franchise, then as an owner he's obtuse beyond repair. The owner doesn't need Sherlock Holmes to figure this out. He needs a mirror to find the source of the problem that has plagued this now mocked and irrelevant franchise.

Let me condense this for you a bit more: Since Pegula became the owner, a generation ago, this team has not qualified for the playoffs. That's an ignominious accomplishment that few franchises can't match. There's a much bigger issue than a flukish stupid play. It's like worrying about the dirty dishes in the sink when the house is on fire.

What's both sad and laughable at the same time is that expansion teams become competitive and meaningful before the Sabres are able to do so. While the Sabres remain stuck in the muck of mediocrity and irrelevance for a generation, new teams quickly become relevant. Vegas is a good example of that. That's pathetic and stupid! It's more likely to be the case if they don't hire anyone from the Sabre organization. They should use Bufalo as the model organization as to what not to do.

If the owner doesn’t understand the clusters…k that he created years ago, he ought to get back on his gargantuan yacht and sail away. I’d so freaking tired of this arsonist!

The GM who is the architect of the post Jack rebuild is sitting next to the owner in a suite in Utah. If the owner isn't asking himself and his self-selected GM why are we inhabiting the bottom of the league after half a decade of rebuilding based on your lower cost blueprint that you proposed to me? Whether the Sabres would have won last night or not is irrelevant. When you compare this team to the upper echelon teams, we are out of their class. When you compare this team to the low-end teams in the league, we are barely struggling to keep up. The person who needs to face the ugly reality is the owner, himself, who has destroyed a franchise through his own malfeasance, and what's even worse is that he has withered the fanbase to a fraction of what it was when he took over. The stubborn owner needs to sell, or if he won't, he needs to get serious about hiring qualified people to run the hockey franchise. The reticent owner is an arsonist who burned down a hockey franchise because he lacks the self-awareness to recognize how incompetent he is as an owner. He ought to be ashamed of himself. I'm so tired of him.