pi2000

I'm not buying his "misread a text" excuse... there is a lot more communication going on (especially on road trips) than just texting. Typically each player gets an itinerary on the bus/plane/whatever with the entire schedule, etc.... Roommates are in constant communication just about the entire road trip. Schedules are posted... and it's not his first road trip. There should be absolutely zero excuse for being late for a team function. I think he just felt that it wasn't important to him because the team stretch doesn't really help him prepare and BUF is out of playoff contention, etc. etc.. It was a poor decision on his part, and he paid the price for it. One other thing... coaches normally don't attend team stretches. The coaches are usually in meetings going over video, planning strategy, etc... while the team captains run the organized team activities. What I think happened is that Samson was late, Gio called him out on it and reported him to the authorities.

Understood, but it seems most folks here are ready to pass this off as a mis-communication thing, absolving Samson of any wrongdoing, while being critical of severity of the punishment. To me it's very unprofessional of Samson to voice his opinion that a team stretch the morning of a game isn't going to make him play better. A team stretch isn't about individual physical preparation, it's about team building... and Samson just doesn't seem to understand that for whatever reason. Maybe he'll get the message now.

Who's his roommate on the road and why wasn't the time communicated via word of mouth between those two? It's not his first road trip, I'd imagine the event (meeting, team stretch, etc..) happens at the exact same time every single road game. Doesn't matter if it's the Cup finals or pre-season, arriving on time (and by on-time I mean at least 15min before the event starts) is part of being a pro.

What? So they send out their meeting schedule via text? What if he doesn't have service... what if his phone's dead? And his excuse is that he mis-read it? Sounds extremely lame. If it was a confusing text, then others would be late. That's the type of excuse a chronically late person makes. You're a pro Samson, arrive no later than 15 minutes before every meeting. When I played college, on the road we we're always with another team member just about every waking second... so I find it unusual that he was by himself and just mis-read something. Who's his roommate on the road, and why weren't they both late? I can't imagine any situation where the meeting time wouldn't have been communicated by word of mouth between teammates, etc...

I'm not buying it. Pegula stated that when he bought the team he was going to stay out of the day-to-day personnel decisions. That said, every owner in every sport has a say when offering big long term contracts.

They currently sit at 76 points with 3 games to play (MTL, @FLA, @TBL). A record of 2-0-1 gets them to 81 points.

We don't know how many times he's been late in the past. Maybe he's one of those chronic late people and they warned/fined/disciplined half-a-dozen times or so already and they finally had enough of it. I like the punishment. It's very Belichickian... and sends a message to the rest of the team.

Forwards coming off the ice sit on the end of bench closest to the door, so they leave the ice over the door, or through the door. They then slide down towards the middle of the bench as each line changes eventually landing in the middle at which point you're up next unless the coach calls out some other line or line combination. This helps to eliminate congestion as you don't want guys coming off and jumping onto the ice at the same spot. Defensemen typically do the same as the forwards in the first and third periods, with the exception being the second period where you have the "long" change... so the rotation on the bench will be reversed such that the next d-pair up sits closest to the door so they're joinig the play closer to center ice rather than the near the offensive blue line. A stickless player can still block a shot, throw a check, bat the puck with his hand, block a passing lane, etc... It's much better than losing that player even for 15s which opens up the ice for the offense.

Elevated respiratory rate in a cold environment exacerbates post nasal drip. A few guys on my mens league team dipped while playing. However, the practice was eventually banned because of brown spots accumulating on the ice. Nobody on my college team dipped during games/practice.

What the hell has Samson ever done in this league? He's not an All-Star, he's a 20 goal scorer trying to find his way. He has no say at this point of his career, Murray would laugh in his face if he demanded Bylsma be fired. I agree. He just looks good when compared to everyone else on the worst bottom 6 in the league.

How do we know he was late to a meeting? I like the old school dress-and-bench. Good to see he's being held accountable.

I'm sorry but everyone trying to use the Reinhart benching as an excuse to fire Dan are damned fools. If it was Kane who was benched for violating a team policy everybody would be begging for Murray to trade him. Young Samson up and suddenly it's Dan's fault .. yeah OK.

It happens. Having to sit on the bench in full gear is a feeling. Happened to me in college and I didn't realize what was happening until a few minutes into the game and not hearing your name called.

http://www.nhl.com/stats/player?aggregate=0&gameType=2&report=skatersummaryshooting&teamId=7&pos=F&reportType=season&seasonFrom=20162017&seasonTo=20162017&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,30&sort=shotAttemptsRelPer60Minutes Look at the bottom of that list.... Gionta, Foligno, Larsson, Girgensons, Grant,... D-Lo holy is he bad. That's BUFs bottom 6 players with a SATRel60 of -6% or worse. Compare that to a playoff team like the Capitals. Their bottom 6 actually lead their team in SATRel60... that's what you want from your 3rd and 4th liners, they should be good possession players. Their top offensive players are in the red because they're less inclined defensively... which is fine... as long as your bottom 6 can shut other teams down... which BUF's cannot.

The Sabres 3rd and 4th lines are worst in the league, they're bringing the team dowd. If you could break out possession numbers by each line, you'd see how much an anchor the 3rd and 4th lines are on this club. Bring in guys who can skate, win battles and puck races, and their possession numbers will look drastically different. They can't defend, they can't win battles, they can't win races... that's the remnants of the tank. I haven't heard one player said anything remotely close to the idea of trying something completely different. They only talk about execution, paying attention to detail, committing to the system.... why? Because the system isn't the problem, and they know that. 1) Gionta and Moulson were brought in to lead the young kids. Did they succeed? Sort of. Maybe they lead by example showing the young kids how to prepare and bring a consistent game... but they failed in other areas IMO. Their time is up, the young kids have a few years under they're belts, they're ready to take over this team.... and that means replacing these aging players with young athletes who can win races and battles. 2) What's different about the strategies? The strategy in both cases is to put pressure on the opposing D, wear them down and create turnovers. It's a successful strategy if you have 3rd and 4th lines that can skate and create havoc.

Not by choice. I expect more than half those guys to be gone next season. The 3rd and 4th lines will look drastically different when this team starts to win consistently. I disagree about the styles, they're more similar than you think. You don't think Bylsma has tried to motivate these guys? His voice is nearly gone every post-game interview. They're beyond that.... the accountability needs to come from within the leadership group on this team, and it just hasn't been there.

It's not only Bylsma that wants to play that style, it's GMTM. He wants to build a team like the Ducks and Kings, big bodies that can skate and cause havoc. Look at the guys he's traded for and drafted... they all match that style of game. At the professional level it's not on the head coach to get these guys up for every game. Screaming and yelling coming from a coach gets old very quickly... but if it comes froma peer who you go into battle with, then IMO it means a whole lot more. They should be playing for each other, not for Dan, and that comes from having strong leaders in the locker room.

Winning without Risto is nice, but... IMO these late season games don't really mean anything when it comes to evaluating your roster. Teams that have clinched playoff spots have taken their foot off the gas, same can be said for teams on the outside looking in. FLA looked very disinterested last night, very poor compete level, etc. which gave the illusion BUF played well. If that game was in January, I would bet on a different outcome. I'm hoping GMTM evaluates the roster based on what they did from Dec to shortly after the bye week. That was when playoffs were on the line and they needed to step up and show something.

I agree 100%. It doesn't matter if you can sign him for $1, it's time to move on. Bylsma wants to play a north south speed game with big bodies crashing down hard on the forecheck. Gionta is a nice guy, he put up some great offensive numbers in his prime, but he doesn't fit the type of game they're trying to play. Sure it's a nice story, a WNY native comes back home to lead his team to the playoffs... but let's be real here, he isn't leading them anywhere. Where was his leadership when this team came off the break and dropped two straight to COL and ARI? IMO a big reason this team faltered was because of a leadership void. They desperately needed somebody to call guys out in the locker room and on the bench, hold guys accountable, etc... to prevent them from laying eggs against bottom feeders when you're making a late push for a playoff spot. Gionta (and Gorges) were supposed to be guys to keep everyone in line, but IMO they failed.

Bucky is an idiot. We're not even 2 seasons removed from fielding one of (if not the) worst team in NHL history.

Sabres coming off an entertaining win where they showed lots of speed and energy. That said, I'll predict BUF gets outshot 47-16 and lose 2-1 in a shootout.

Wow, that was quick. Thought for sure he'd be heading back to school in the Fall.

In the old NHL, somebody would kick his ass. Today's NHL has no fighters to police this kind of , so a slash here, a cup check there, etc... mostly goes unpunished.

btw i this up... it's completely wrong, forgot to factor in the Vegas team which gets the same odds as the 3rd place team..