pi2000

I'm fine with Ullmark and his performance.... he's still young (for a goalie) and has shown steady improvement. But you need a proven veteran starter to split time with him.

It's funny how they have one good game, get a win, and Ralph says that's a "confirmation of the system".... well what about the other 5 or 6 ***** games? Those don't count? Staal is done. I'm already tired of him getting caught from behind and turning pucks over. Him and Okposo would probably find some success in my beer league. Can Ullmark play every game? If Hutton savea that breakaway 20s in, it's probably a different game script. The boys see him make a big save and get fired up, completely different game. But he wasn't even close, completely faked out, just tough to watch as a teammate.

A better goalie and they likely win this game.

MOIST WIND

7 points with 6 of those games against arguably 2 of the top 5 teams in the league. They're imrpoved, unfortunately in a tough division, but long term they will be better for it.

Anybody missing Larsson or Girgensons yet? You think either of them bury that shorty by Rieder?

MAF?

IR is the new "retirement"

They had eons to address the goaltending situation after last season abruptly ended. They did nothing and now we hear they're talking to teams about the position? The ineptitude is mind-blowing.

M. Johansson > Staal

IMO the win last night was more due to Philly being flat than a "confirmation" of the system. The defensive zone play is still atrocious, with even the slightest amount of puck luck, Philly gets 3 or 4 past Hutton. Until the defensive zone play improves I'll remain skeptical.

I dont think it's the losing. It's the culture. Play hard earn a contract then go through the motions, collect your Pegula bucks and keep getting ice time because the franchise cares dearly about your feelings so they won't cut your ice time or waive you in the offseason... it's a nice comfortable cozy life as a Sabres player.

Why does every player who has a nice season or shows promise (skinner, dahlin, etc..) eventually settle into complacent mediocrity? It's like Buffalo is the place you go to earn a nice hefty contract and then put it in cruise control for the remainder of the deal. When was the last time they had a guy outplay his contract value?

...in otherwords, they'll never play together under RK

🤦

he's added weight which is good, but short term he will be adjusting to his new playing weight so don't expect too much out of the gate... trust the process

..but the players really really like him 🙄

Ha yeah I've always liked Torts, doesn't have to be that extreme thought. At some point this franchise needs to decide if they care more about their players feelings or actually winning games.

Yeah well guess who's job it was to have them ready to play? They way they looked tells me the past two weeks weren't intense enough... That shoulda been plenty of time to get them up to game speed. It looks like they coasted though the last 2 weeks. There shoulda been bag skates, battle drills, etc with RK pushing the pace as hard as he can... If anybody listened to Eichel on spittin chicklets last week it sounded like they had an easy camp.... disappointing.

It's always a red flag when the players like a coach too much. You want a friend? Look to the guy next to you on the bench, not the coach.

The ***** is he getting paid for? He basically took the night off, it's no wonder his team did as well. The balls on this guy, telling the media he wasn't going to coach and let his guys have fun? That's a fireable offense IMO. You have a team that hasn't made the playoffs in 9 years, almost half the roster is new faces who have never played together before, a rookie playing the top 9, and you're not going to coach them? What was it a couple years ago that Phil Housley cancelled practice the day before their first game and they got smoked? Now the coach decides he's "not coaching" the first game? What next, they gonna forfeit the first game come October?

It was aggressive in that Sheahan chased down a loose puck on a race back into the WSH zone... which started the entire sequence. I loved it, but want to see more of that type of aggressiveness in the neutral and d-zone. Don't let them setup and get comfortable, attack at all times. And it's not just on the PK, it's at even-strength as well. THey play a tight box and don't challenge the puck or take away the points... it's ***** hockey, playing afraid, scared to get burned by being too aggressive... that doesn't work, never has. The only reason you play that passively is if you don't trust your ability to win 1-on-1 battles... as somehone who's played, it's more a mental thing IMO. I believe it's why you see the "new guys" being more aggressive and confident on the defensive end. RK needs to fix that, if he doesn't it's going to another long season.

moist wine

That said, the problem with the PK is that it's too passive. They let them waltz right into the zone and setup shop. The best PKs in the league are aggressive, making teams uncomfortable on zone entries and aggressively attack the puck in the d-zone, which lead to turnovers. That style will occasionally give up easy goals as it leaves at lease one, maybe two, guys unaccounted for, but it's more effective than just sitting back and trying to block shots and take away passing lanes in your own zone, because good teams like WSH, PHI, NYI, etc.. will eat you alive if you give them enough time and space.

Correct, I went back and looked, it was in fact Rieder.