"What's wrong with Dad?" Thoughts on the core problem with the Buffalo NHL franchise

[mjd1001]

Not that I'm saying that's a problem. I'd bet "most fans" prefer the Petey and Craig Fightin' Guys Hour more, though.

Speaking of that show (and a bit off topic)...I don't mind them that much. A lot of times, I like listening to that show.  But the other day something really bothered me....

 

They were talking about playing the Lightning...Rivet said the team needs to play physical (no surprise) but Peters took it one step further....

 

Peters said against guys like Stamkos...you have to hit "to hurt" them...he then apologized for saying it...but again said something to the effect of not just playing physical, but hurting guys like Stamkos (to ME, it came across as hurting meaning injuring them.)

 

I'm all for the Sabres winning of course...and while I have gotten my fill of fighting a good hit is still great to see....but I'm a fan of the NHL....I WANT to see players like Stamkos...and Ovechkin..Crosby, McKinnon...I do not want to see them get hurt by anyone, including the Sabres.

[SwampD]

So it's about the Peguals. Is this another "put 'em on trial" thread?

For the third time, no, it's not. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

There is nothing wrong with the franchise that some talent couldn't fix.  

 

It's now incumbent on Jbot and his staff to properly draft and develop.  I've raised this issue many times.  Go look at the 2005/6 team.  12 players came up through the system and they were supplemented with guys like Hecht, Grier, Briere, Drury and Lydman.  They played a 4 line game.  

 

The plan to rebuild isn't that hard, but you have to draft and develop properly (aka 2-3 players per draft) and then fix the holes without outside talent.  TM put the cart before the horse and neither he nor DR drafted well.  So now we are saddled with bad contracts and a lack of talent.

 

Jbot looks to have already fixed part of the problem in Rochester and turning over about half the scouting dept.  He'll clear more NHL dead weight this off-season.

[Wyldnwoody44]

I blame pegula for global warming..... And tibet.

 

Is that right?!

 

 

On a serious note, I haven't watched a game in a couple of weeks (for various reasons) but daily I have tried to log on and read in here.... We are in rough shape, basically between eichel being 21, kane getting moved, injuries and lehner, each thread is becoming more doom and gloom.

 

I wonder how the oilers feel, playoff last year and hope, to this.... That may almost be worse, we haven't had much hope now perpetually eh.

 

We need more GDT's to mix it up a little

[PASabreFan]

We get it. The OP hates the Pegulas. Nothing to see here. 

Thanks for your thoughtful contribution!

 

The one constant appears to be Simonick.

Nice. I do wonder why new coaches don't bring in their own equipment and training staff. You can drain the swamp, but you still have this deep state to deal with. I'd clean house of all the hangers-on, but obviously Housley and Botterill didn't feel it necessary.

 

No way Schopp and the Bulldog don't read this board. This is basically their topic for todays show.

The thread was inspired by them, so I guess it would be life imitating art imitating life?

[Thorny]

He recounted a story I hadn't heard about Drury talking to Vesey about what it's like to play in Buffalo and how you're a big fish in a little pond and under the microscope, and in Manhattan you can fly under the radar (that cliche of the day desk calendar is coming in handy). (Drury IIRC once talked about being stalked in Wegmans or something.)

 

---

 

I've been ruminating on it, and after I come back to the inevitable issue of poor ownership since the Knoxes, I do get to something else, but I'll save that for later.

 

 

I feel like you are sniffing around the idea of pointing towards, well, us. The fans. But I could be way off.

 

1.  Pegula made a bad choice in Bringing on LaFontaine, whos decision it was to hire Murray.  Murray is/was a few years behind the times in terms of building a team with speed, instead he focused on size.

 

2.  You 'lost' the lottery 2 years when you had the best odds to win it.

 

3.  You haven't drafted a legit all-star type player in the past 10-15 years (Eichel eventually, MAYBE Risto but I'm having doubts there)

 

4. Speaking of the Draft, in the past 12 years, You have 30 1st or 2nd round picks. How many have turned into legit top pair D-men or Top 6 forwards.  Maybe 2?

 

5.  You overpaid for O'Rielly and Okposo.  Both are slow. They would have been very good/great in the NHL of 2 or 3 years ago, but with the speed of todays game, they are not good legit top line guys...yet you are paying them like top line guys for the next 5 years.

 

6. Developing talent...and this ties into the draft also. Who on this team was brought up through the Sabres system (and there should be a LOT considering the number of 1st and 2nd round picks they have had):Eichel, Reinhart, Risto, McCabe, Girgensons....are the only guys I know of that get significant ice time.

 

The best thing the Sabres can do is fire the entire scouting department.....and go out and find who is the best scout in the league (maybe the best 3-4) and pay them as much as you need to join the Sabres.

Good post. I think Botterill already remade the scouting department, though. So that's a start.

[hsif]

 

 

...I WANT to see players like Stamkos...and Ovechkin..Crosby, McKinnon...I do not want to see them get hurt by anyone, including the Sabres.

I want to see Crosby take a stick to the nuts................

[Cityo'Rasmii]

yielding the ire of Mr. Reaves. . .

Edited December 1, 2017 by tfighter

[Scottysabres]

The Sabres are what they are. A team in the middle of a complete roster tear down and rebuild. 6 years, That's what it'll take, we are currently in year 3.

[LGR4GM]

The Sabres are what they are. A team in the middle of a complete roster tear down and rebuild. 6 years, That's what it'll take, we are currently in year 3.

You know, think this might be exactly right. It's why trading that first for Lehner was bad.

[Thorny]

The Sabres are what they are. A team in the middle of a complete roster tear down and rebuild. 6 years, That's what it'll take, we are currently in year 3.

So another 3 years till what, playoffs?

[Eleven]

 

 

Nice. I do wonder why new coaches don't bring in their own equipment and training staff. You can drain the swamp, but you still have this deep state to deal with. I'd clean house of all the hangers-on, but obviously Housley and Botterill didn't feel it necessary.

 

 

Housley and Botterill?  The guy has been with the team since DAY ###### ONE.  He IS THE CONSTANT.  He's Cousin Oliver.  He's the jinx.

Edited December 1, 2017 by Eleven

[Kruppstahl]

36 posts responding to the OP's post, and none of it is really focusing on what the OP was trying to get at.

So PA Sabre fan, why don't you tell us the juicy part you were saving for later?

 

Cut to the chase!

 

This team has quit; it does not compete; it is broken.  That goes beyond the traditional sorts of arguments raised in this thread like poor scouting/drafting.  Our problem is bigger than that.

[darksabre]

36 posts responding to the OP's post, and none of it is really focusing on what the OP was trying to get at.

So PA Sabre fan, why don't you tell us the juicy part you were saving for later?

 

Cut to the chase!

 

This team has quit; it does not compete; it is broken. That goes beyond the traditional sorts of arguments raised in this thread like poor scouting/drafting. Our problem is bigger than that.

Actually it doesn't.

[LGR4GM]

36 posts responding to the OP's post, and none of it is really focusing on what the OP was trying to get at.

So PA Sabre fan, why don't you tell us the juicy part you were saving for later?

 

Cut to the chase!

 

This team has quit; it does not compete; it is broken.  That goes beyond the traditional sorts of arguments raised in this thread like poor scouting/drafting.  Our problem is bigger than that.

It's bad scouting and drafting. 

[PASabreFan]

Spoiled rich kids.

It could be the millennials. Very well could be. Jack had a lazy, entitled millennial moment the other night. He took a rather routine unscreened one-timer from well out and showed disgust at (himself? luck? the Hockey Gods?) when the goalie gobbled it up. He expected it to go in because (I am a special snowflake? the goalies were kinder to me in Hockey East?).

36 posts responding to the OP's post, and none of it is really focusing on what the OP was trying to get at.

So PA Sabre fan, why don't you tell us the juicy part you were saving for later?

 

Cut to the chase!

 

This team has quit; it does not compete; it is broken.  That goes beyond the traditional sorts of arguments raised in this thread like poor scouting/drafting.  Our problem is bigger than that.

Yeah it's been a pretty disappointing lot of responses. Eleven seems to be the only one thinking outside the box (resistance to change, acceptance of mediocrity, honoring our local legends with lifetime appointments and coaching and management opportunities).

 

I was hoping someone would inject his or her caustic mix of wisdom and perspective DEEP into the chasm, spreading it horizontally, and break apart the logjam, releasing a rich motherlode of answers to the surface, but, alas, no one has.

[Marvelo]

Extremely stupid, naive and inexperienced owner(s) and mistakes compounded are the reason. But it's like asking why is the big dumb kid in school so dumb? Why? Because he's dumb. Can he be taught? Will he grow into something awesome by good teaching? Probably not. He's just going to be a big dummy when he grows up.

[Jacque Richard]

Extremely stupid, naive and inexperienced owner(s) and mistakes compounded are the reason. But it's like asking why is the big dumb kid in school so dumb? Why? Because he's dumb. Can he be taught? Will he grow into something awesome by good teaching? Probably not. He's just going to be a big dummy when he grows up.

lol, I have a grandson like the last sentence

[LGR4GM]

Almost took the bait, almost.

[North Buffalo]

It could be the millennials. Very well could be. Jack had a lazy, entitled millennial moment the other night. He took a rather routine unscreened one-timer from well out and showed disgust at (himself? luck? the Hockey Gods?) when the goalie gobbled it up. He expected it to go in because (I am a special snowflake? the goalies were kinder to me in Hockey East?).

Yeah it's been a pretty disappointing lot of responses. Eleven seems to be the only one thinking outside the box (resistance to change, acceptance of mediocrity, honoring our local legends with lifetime appointments and coaching and management opportunities).

 

I was hoping someone would inject his or her caustic mix of wisdom and perspective DEEP into the chasm, spreading it horizontally, and break apart the logjam, releasing a rich motherlode of answers to the surface, but, alas, no one has.

I here you but none of us are channeling Sophacles, usually its simple stuff, but maybe they all need their moms and were not weened soon enough.

[LGR4GM]

This may be the best 3 post series I've ever read. Hahaha

It could be the millennials. Very well could be. Jack had a lazy, entitled millennial moment the other night. He took a rather routine unscreened one-timer from well out and showed disgust at (himself? luck? the Hockey Gods?) when the goalie gobbled it up. He expected it to go in because (I am a special snowflake? the goalies were kinder to me in Hockey East?).

We got Millennials are lazy and entitled. 

 

Extremely stupid, naive and inexperienced owner(s) and mistakes compounded are the reason. But it's like asking why is the big dumb kid in school so dumb? Why? Because he's dumb. Can he be taught? Will he grow into something awesome by good teaching? Probably not. He's just going to be a big dummy when he grows up.

Dumb kids are dumb so why bother. 

 

I here you but none of us are channeling Sophacles, usually its simple stuff, but maybe they all need their moms and were not weened soon enough.

and Millennials are soft

 

Great outside the box thinking.  Revolutionary stuff right here. 

Edited December 1, 2017 by LGR4GM

[That Aud Smell]

Yeah it's been a pretty disappointing lot of responses. Eleven seems to be the only one thinking outside the box (resistance to change, acceptance of mediocrity, honoring our local legends with lifetime appointments and coaching and management opportunities).

 

I was hoping someone would inject his or her caustic mix of wisdom and perspective DEEP into the chasm, spreading it horizontally, and break apart the logjam, releasing a rich motherlode of answers to the surface, but, alas, no one has.

 

You seek larger truths and significance where there are none to be found. That sort of activity is easily encompassed within the definition of folly.

 

But, whatever. Folly can be fun. It can also be a waste of time.

[SwampD]

Complacency.

[PASabreFan]

You seek larger truths and significance where there are none to be found. That sort of activity is easily encompassed within the definition of folly.

 

But, whatever. Folly can be fun. It can also be a waste of time.

You seek larger truths and significance where there are none to be found. That sort of activity is easily encompassed within the definition of folly.

 

But, whatever. Folly can be fun. It can also be a waste of time.

I do think a larger truth is out there. The incorrect call on the spin of that wheel, corrected; the slaying of a defenseless bat; that 14-4 win over the Leafs. We are paying the price.

[LGR4GM]