GDT: 3/24/2021: Sabres at Pittsburgh Penguins 8pm NBCSN

[Gatorman0519]

6 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

The Buffalo Sabres (not their fans) deserve this, honestly. You reap what you sow. We made a mockery of the game for two years, and weren't smart enough to figure out a way to right the ship afterwards. This is entirely because of decisions made in top positions within the organization, and the fallout will continue until something changes up there.

I am ready to move on from Jack, from Sam, and from Dahlin. Not because everything is tainted and we need an exorcism, but the symbolism there is a compelling narrative to bring along with it. Put these guys on organizations that can show them the right way, and then let's build one ourselves right here.

In doing so, the same mistakes as before cannot be made. There will be a lot of younger pieces coming back in these deals. Some of them, along with other assets and cap space, will need to be spent on identifying proper veteran players. Dylan Cozens has a lot of excellent instincts. He "plays the game the right way." We need vets who do the same thing, and have found success in this league doing so, that can show him how to use those instincts to win hockey games. We need to fight, scratch and claw to find the right players to do this. And we need the right coach to lead them out. If we go this path, given Gallant's story in Vegas, I wonder if he wouldn't be the perfect fit. 

I'm ready for it. We can't continue down the path we started in 2015, or 2018, or 2020. These players can't handle it anymore, and neither can the fans.

Gallant turned a trash Florida team around in one year.  He took an expansion team to the finals. But... he is a no nonsense guy. The type Terry is allergic to.  He won’t take Terry’s meddling for 2 seconds. He’s an elite coach that at worse would make us a least competitive. And does anyone actually think KA can turn this around? He’s way over his head.  Need to get some serious people in here pronto. 

Edited March 25, 2021 by Gatorman0519

[GASabresIUFAN]

Let’s be honest, the 3 most important players on this team are injured.   Our top forward, our top defensive defenseman who makes Risto into a top defenseman, and our good goaltender.  This team is thin and without their best player at each level, they really can’t compete.  Add terrible coaching and a 14 game losing streak ensues.  

Just like last year we don’t have a legit 2C.  Staal is just a name at this point.  Not a huge surprise, but managements decision to put Mitts on the bench to start the year and Cozens to RW made sure we didn’t have a young center working in the NHL.  When a cast off like Lazar is your 2nd best center, you are in trouble.

McCabe’s injury has destroyed the D when coupled with RK doing a very good job of destroying the confidence of Joki and Dahlin.  To many puck movers and not enough guys competent in their own end.  Makes one wonder how things would have been had they given Borgen a chance to start the year.

Lastly, Ullmark.  The difference between him and Hutton, Johansson and Togarski is about as large as the Grand Canyon.  

We are at the point where nearly every mistake ends up in the our net.  We have zero flow on offense. The only line really creating opportunities is Mitts, Lazar and Skinner.  We’ll win a game sooner or later, but in this division we really don’t stand a chance until the injured guys return.  

[SDS]

3 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

How come? 

Because nothing should’ve changed from two weeks ago until the end of the season. We all know what’s in store for this team. They are doing what everybody expects them to do. That shouldn’t be changing people’s minds.

[Claude Balls]

9 minutes ago, SDS said:

Why are people saying that Casey’s break away deserved a penalty shot? He kept control of the puck, skated several strides and got the shot off unimpeded.

Because he was clear of the defense by at least 1 stride when the hook occurred. If you're free and alone in on the goalie and are interfered with in any way, it should be ruled a penalty shot. Ironically, the call on VO later on, that the ref did call a penalty shot, was not. That should have just been a 2 min penalty. Refs were brutal all night.

[LabattBlue]

I didn’t see any of the game, but I am beginning to wonder just how hard it will be for the Sabres to win without both Eichel and Ullmark. 😞

[apuszczalowski]

6 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Let’s be honest, the 3 most important players on this team are injured.   Our top forward, our top defensive defenseman who makes Risto into a top defenseman, and our good goaltender.  This team is thin and without their best player at each level, they really can’t compete.  Add terrible coaching and a 14 game losing streak ensues.  

Just like last year we don’t have a legit 2C.  Staal is just a name at this point.  Not a huge surprise, but managements decision to put Mitts on the bench to start the year and Cozens to RW made sure we didn’t have a young center working in the NHL.  When a cast off like Lazar is your 2nd best center, you are in trouble.

McCabe’s injury has destroyed the D when coupled with RK doing a very good job of destroying the confidence of Joki and Dahlin.  To many puck movers and not enough guys competent in their own end.  Makes one wonder how things would have been had they given Borgen a chance to start the year.

Lastly, Ullmark.  The difference between him and Hutton, Johansson and Togarski is about as large as the Grand Canyon.  

We are at the point where nearly every mistake ends up in the our net.  We have zero flow on offense. The only line really creating opportunities is Mitts, Lazar and Skinner.  We’ll win a game sooner or later, but in this division we really don’t stand a chance until the injured guys return.  

Apparently its not that great according to all the talk and broadcasts outside of here, I keep hearing and seeing about how goaltending isn't an issue and they haven't been an issue, its everyone else in front thats the problem

I think Ullmark is the best of this bunch, but I don't think he is a huge difference maker for this team and is at best a good 1B as part of a tandem, or a very good backup. But he isn't the guy thats going to go out carrying the team on his back and win them games on his own

[Randall Flagg]

9 minutes ago, SDS said:

Because nothing should’ve changed from two weeks ago until the end of the season. We all know what’s in store for this team. They are doing what everybody expects them to do. That shouldn’t be changing people’s minds.

I promise you I'm not deciding this because they've lost 15 straight instead of 5 straight, or something like that.

There is nothing to gain continuing down this path

[dudacek]

Haven't read the thread but here's what I saw:

• We are clearly transitioning to a different style; Instead of trying to be the worst offensive team in the league we are trying to be become the worst defensive team.
• Is it any surprise to anyone that the deliberate departure from a rigid structure has made Casey Mittelstadt and Jeff Skinner far more noticeable?
• Is there a single veteran other than Skinner who hasn't checked out since Ralph was fired?
• I can't recall ever developing such a raw hatred for a Sabre in such a short time as I have for Eric Staal.
• I haven't seen many 40-shot games where so many of those shots seemed to be high-danger. The charts should be interesting tonight.
• Rasmus Dahlin makes me want to weep. He has so far to go just to become a trustworthy NHL player again.

Can't wait for the trade deadline.

Edited March 25, 2021 by dudacek

[Ruff Around The Edges]

31 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

The Buffalo Sabres (not their fans) deserve this, honestly. You reap what you sow. We made a mockery of the game for two years, and weren't smart enough to figure out a way to right the ship afterwards. This is entirely because of decisions made in top positions within the organization, and the fallout will continue until something changes up there.

I am ready to move on from Jack, from Sam, and from Dahlin. Not because everything is tainted and we need an exorcism, but the symbolism there is a compelling narrative to bring along with it. Put these guys on organizations that can show them the right way, and then let's build one ourselves right here.

In doing so, the same mistakes as before cannot be made. There will be a lot of younger pieces coming back in these deals. Some of them, along with other assets and cap space, will need to be spent on identifying proper veteran players. Dylan Cozens has a lot of excellent instincts. He "plays the game the right way." We need vets who do the same thing, and have found success in this league doing so, that can show him how to use those instincts to win hockey games. We need to fight, scratch and claw to find the right players to do this. And we need the right coach to lead them out. If we go this path, given Gallant's story in Vegas, I wonder if he wouldn't be the perfect fit. 

I'm ready for it. We can't continue down the path we started in 2015, or 2018, or 2020. These players can't handle it anymore, and neither can the fans.

I actually think this take is dead on.

It is time to press the nuke button on this,provided the Sabres have the right pieces in place in the front office to build this correctly, AKA Terry and Kim staying the hell out of the way and keep taking victory laps on the NFL Network.

[PerreaultForever]

I'm late to the party since I recorded the game. All pretty much the same. Same problems, same mistakes, same lack of effort. I see virtually no difference between this and Kreuger hockey. In other words, it's the players.

Some people seem to like Skinner better now. I don't get that. Blind passes, lazy plays, turnovers, no backcheck, he's rubbish and I know why Kreuger hated him.

I have wondered before why Olofsson wasn't our first up in every shootout but what do I know. Still wonder. 

It was nice to listen to honest announcers pointing our our glaring flaws for once rather than the apologists on MSG. 

A few questions come to my mind.

Risto trying to show toughness for the new coach or as a trade audition?

Is Dahlin really that bad now or has he quit on purpose hoping to get out? It's hard to believe he is this bad, 

Was Thompson punished for almost fighting last game?

Does Hall care at all?

Does a single player have any pride left as this is what the 4th game of lame keep away at the end. Just embarrassing. 

Lastly does anyone care about anything any more?

[eman]

34 minutes ago, Andrew Amerk said:

This is a terrible take.  

No, it’s bang on!

[Ruff Around The Edges]

1 minute ago, PerreaultForever said:

I'm late to the party since I recorded the game. All pretty much the same. Same problems, same mistakes, same lack of effort. I see virtually no difference between this and Kreuger hockey. In other words, it's the players.

Some people seem to like Skinner better now. I don't get that. Blind passes, lazy plays, turnovers, no backcheck, he's rubbish and I know why Kreuger hated him.

I have wondered before why Olofsson wasn't our first up in every shootout but what do I know. Still wonder. 

It was nice to listen to honest announcers pointing our our glaring flaws for once rather than the apologists on MSG. 

A few questions come to my mind.

Risto trying to show toughness for the new coach or as a trade audition?

Is Dahlin really that bad now or has he quit on purpose hoping to get out? It's hard to believe he is this bad, 

Was Thompson punished for almost fighting last game?

Does Hall care at all?

Does a single player have any pride left as this is what the 4th game of lame keep away at the end. Just embarrassing. 

Lastly does anyone care about anything any more?

About the coaching:

I would love a players perspective on this but its pretty clear the Granato is going to be an interim HC and the locker room has to know this so considering the long losing streak, missing some key players, and most of the players knowing A. A good amount of this team will be jettisoned out of Buffalo and B. Why give it all for a coach that may not be here long anyway? I think its hard to TRULY judge what the coaching change means at this point in time, until a true replacement is here that the Sabres intend on keeping around for a few years at least.

[PerreaultForever]

5 minutes ago, Ruff Around The Edges said:

About the coaching:

I would love a players perspective on this but its pretty clear the Granato is going to be an interim HC and the locker room has to know this so considering the long losing streak, missing some key players, and most of the players knowing A. A good amount of this team will be jettisoned out of Buffalo and B. Why give it all for a coach that may not be here long anyway? I think its hard to TRULY judge what the coaching change means at this point in time, until a true replacement is here that the Sabres intend on keeping around for a few years at least.

That's true, but really maybe the core problem is a team that has had too many "why give it" moments that should be unacceptable in a better hockey culture. There's no pride in wearing this jersey. 

[apuszczalowski]

2 minutes ago, Ruff Around The Edges said:

About the coaching:

I would love a players perspective on this but its pretty clear the Granato is going to be an interim HC and the locker room has to know this so considering the long losing streak, missing some key players, and most of the players knowing A. A good amount of this team will be jettisoned out of Buffalo and B. Why give it all for a coach that may not be here long anyway? I think its hard to TRULY judge what the coaching change means at this point in time, until a true replacement is here that the Sabres intend on keeping around for a few years at least.

Its tough to say because it does seem like Granato is just a placeholder and they intend to try to find someone else  after the season is over.

Did he get the job with the front office telling him to just go out and be the guy behind the bench to keep the spot warm for someone else, or was he hired and told that he has the lead position for the job if he can turn things around? Has the front office told the coaches and players that they are throwing in the towel on the rest of the year and are just going to play the year out and start new in the offseason, with everyone being available to be moved if they get the right offer?

Either way, Its not going to be a quick turnaround like you see with other teams that get the 'New coach' spark for a few games. For that to have happened, they would have needed to make the change way earlier when things started to look like they were going to get bad and not after many players checked out and other got hurt. I think it was more then just the coach losing the players, I think the front office lost them too when they pretty much sat back and did nothing to try and fix key issues with the team.

[Randall Flagg]

The number of "little things," from puck placement on passes, to which lanes to put sticks in, to anything remotely resembling cohesion, spacing on the rush etc. that has survived coaches that try to address them in practice is stupefying. And the claim cannot be made that our coaches have just not known HOW to do that, we don't know what they did to try and address it, we don't know what other coaches on good teams do. Rodrigues is hardly Crosby, and I remember making a dumb amount of posts pointing out his spatial awareness instincts and how rare it is for us, but the things that guy was doing (and failing to do) because of those instincts and the amount of space he and his teammates knew how to create and manipulate was crazy, and we could never create the same circumstances for him or anyone else. Nobody here can do it. The Sabres are always being squeezed out with no safe outlets. ALWAYS. It doesn't matter who. It doesn't matter where. They get squeezed out, cannot breathe for how tight their circumstances is, and then other teams have 2 options and 6 foot buffers of clean ice anytime they please. The degradation of hockey abilities that comes from playing on a team that has no experience with winning NHL hockey seems to be accelerating, and I don't think that keeping the nucleus of this team together gives us enough to work with, either asset wise or cap space wise, to address this by supplementing veteran leaders and teachers that are also good. 

There's something on the micro level that seems to be getting worse in all players that grace this team, no matter where they are coming from. I now believe that we cannot add a critical mass of "fix" to these issues without removing a substantial part of what is there to create assets. I don't think it's any one skater's fault, and I think we have quite a few guys that could be important pieces on contending teams. I think the path for US to get to that spot will be quicker and easier if we move on from the bulk of those that only know Buffalo hockey, and use what's left to create a new brand of Buffalo hockey. It's dangerous, but it's different in spirit from the tank. It requires heady scouting, you're not going to be plucking a team's Couturier all the time, but you might get their Laughton, and it might work out. And given what you're dealing, you WILL get talent. 

I would be sick imagining Jason Botterill attempting something like this. I think Kevyn already has it fleshed out in high detail. 

[sabremike]

22 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

I promise you I'm not deciding this because they've lost 15 straight instead of 5 straight, or something like that.

There is nothing to gain continuing down this path

Here's where I disagree with blow everything up: the last Sabres coach who you could even claim is an actual NHL coach was Dan Bylsma (who is pretty bad, as evidenced by him not getting a HC gig since). Since then we had two seasons of a bad high school coach and a season and a half of a slick talking con man who was in way over his head. You could take as much good young talent as you wish, throw them into that viper's nest of incompetence and the result would always be spectacular failure. So rather than blow it all up and hire another entry level trashbag coach in way over his head how about hiring an honest to God proven quality head coach with a track record of success a mile long. If that doesn't happen in a few years time we will be having this same exact conversation only the names will be Cozens, Quinn, Samuelson and whatever poor godforsaken bastard who has the horrible misfortune to be selected by us 3rd overall in the 2021 draft.

[bunomatic]

1 minute ago, PerreaultForever said:

That's true, but really maybe the core problem is a team that has had too many "why give it" moments that should be unacceptable in a better hockey culture. There's no pride in wearing this jersey. 

There’s been no pride in wearing my Sabres Jersey or any of my hats for a decade. I got tired of defending this sad sack organization to complete strangers. Its a joke and its on us fans. TP and KP are the only ones capable of turning this around. But that would take some deep cleansing of their souls I’m afraid. Or sell the friggin team ya hosers. **** I hate this org.

[MidwestSabresFan]

40 minutes ago, Claude Balls said:

Refs were brutal all night.

Bingo... but so were we.

[LabattBlue]

I don’t think there is a single move this team can make in the off-season to save the STH base.  There will be a huge cancellation rate, and one I’m sure the team will try and hide.  

[Doohickie]

1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Would the Amerks be any worse?

If Krueger coached them for a few months they'd be MUCH worse.

[apuszczalowski]

With Kruegger, I think that he isn't much of an 'X's & O's' coach who is going to be able to coach up a teams talent and teach them. He might be successful on the older stacked Penguins teams when they were winning  where the talent was already there and didn't need someone to teach them. He could do what he does best and just be there to motivate them when they need it. Ideally, he would probably be best as an assistant on a staff where he doesnt need to worry about systems and 'X's & O's'

[In The Buff]

I just finished watching the game. I took a screenshot of the stream i was watching, right as the buzzer sounded to end the game.

Really speaks a thousand words

 

Thank the Gods Reinhart when he went down wasn't seriously hurt too, bcuz we would've had another: "Lowest Moment to be a Sabres fan" after the one last week

Edited March 25, 2021 by In The Buff

[Marvin]

4 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

I don’t think there is a single move this team can make in the off-season to save the STH base.  There will be a huge cancellation rate, and one I’m sure the team will try and hide.  

IMHO, you are right.  The only thing that has a chance --and it may not work anyway -- is hiring a top notch, well-established, accomplished coach.

[Gatorman0519]

4 minutes ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

IMHO, you are right.  The only thing that has a chance --and it may not work anyway -- is hiring a top notch, well-established, accomplished coach.

Gallant

Boudreau

Julian

those are my top 3 in order and nobody else should be considered that’s available. Don’t want a college coach. 

[Zamboni]

11 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

I don’t think there is a single move this team can make in the off-season to save the STH base.  There will be a huge cancellation rate, and one I’m sure the team will try and hide.  

I have heard this for years. Literally years. It hasn’t happened ... yet. I’ve been a STH since the summer of the 2004 lockout. So 16 seasons of attending games as one. The STH/mini pack numbers haven’t dipped below 14,000 in all those years. But maybe this is finally the year there will be a “huge” cancellation. But it won’t be from me or a few STH/mini pack holders I know.

I personally would define “huge” cancellation as more than 4,000 seats.