K-9

I could only get half way thru. Not because of Eichel so much as Weidman. I think he’s a total tool. I’m convinced Eichel pissed off one or both of the Pegulas at some point and I suspect it was when he first demanded to be traded before the 2020/2021 COVID shortened season and made it readily apparent he wasn’t interested in being part of the solution here, even after they tried getting him some better surrounding players I’d be pissed at him, too, after giving him his big contract, making him the face of the franchise, and then being told thanks but no thanks. I’ll just say good luck to Eichel and leave it at that. I gotta kick out of his reference to Dr. Cappuccino as “a well respected person in the field.” That might be the understatement of all time seeing as he was a pioneer of the procedure, has performed more of them than anyone on the planet, and travels the world teaching the technique to neurosurgeons all around the globe. After hearing Eichel, I’m now certain that the Pegulas made it clear to Dr. Cappuccino that ADR was never gonna be an option and that’s why he changed his tune. And that’s regrettable on many levels.

Too bad Tre White is hurt.

Yeah, that ain’t helping for sure, but we are getting outskated, outbattled, and outplayed in front of Dell anyway.

I don’t know, but between last week’s game and tonight, I think Ottawa might be a far, far better team than the Sabres currently. I know the Sabres won 3-1 in that first meeting, but they had the better of the play most of the night and they’ve simply picked up where they left off last week.

6-1 last year vs a tougher schedule with the same coordinators. McD and Frazier certainly screwed the pooch Sunday night, but we should also give some credit to the Chiefs, too.

“Devon Levi, come on down!”

I’m down with that and I think DG has done a great job sticking to the plan and seeing the larger picture. I’m just hoping when that phase ends that he shows us his tactical skill for the game. There’s much more to coaching than teaching, after all.

Ah, gotcha. Appreciate the clarification.

They play the NFC central next year. The Rams game is the added 17th game vs a non conference opponent and it’s in LA because we played that game at home his year vs Washington. In 2023, we will play the extra game at home vs. an NFC South team; most likely that division champ because we will win the AFCE again in ‘22.

My only complaint with DG is that he doesn’t seem to be a good tactician, especially in game. Perhaps that’s by design given the developmental nature of this season and his mantra about letting players growing thru their repeated mistakes, but it’s a concern for me moving forward.

The three timeouts were the most important factor for KC. It meant they had the entire field at their disposal and were not confined to the sidelines. By extension, it meant we had to defend the entire field, but for some reason we chose not to play it that way. KC could keep us honest and we should have done the same.

That could have been a quote from Granato himself. Seems to have these guys all reading the same page.

Eichel was injured before camp started, never healed from that injury and played hurt the entire season. I don't recall a game last season where he looked like his normal self. That he was still almost a point a game player was remarkable in and of itself.

Agreed. They could move things back a bit as well as move the beginning of the season up a bit, too. But I can’t see the league’s broadcast masters and the billions they spend for those rights agreeing to do that.

Because it’s crunch time between the end of the regular season, consolidation of scouting reports, the combine, free agency, and the draft. It’s a ton of work and logistics to accomplish in a short period, especially for a totally new staff coming in. And that compressed time window got even shorter with the extension of the season this year. It’s a disadvantage for teams in transition. The league tries to make up for it by letting teams with new staffs start camps earlier, but that does nothing to help with all the challenges on the front end.

I understand your point. And I can appreciate that fatigue can lend itself to poor decision making as well. But you don’t have to be a super talented player to make good decisions. I’ve seen lesser physically talented players compensate by making better decisions since I started watching hockey. No matter. Half these stiffs will be gone soon enough anyway.

Continues to be no answer for an aggressive forecheck. We’ve seen it game after game. Sure, that’s a talent issue, but it’s also a question of lack of poise, poor decision making, and winning puck battles. Also, Donnie G shows little in the way of tactical adjustments.

I’ve wondered about that, too. But in talking to a couple orthopedic friends (both of them knee, not spine specialists), they are pretty convinced that Dr. Cappuccino would never have given his OK even if the Pegulas did and they cited favoring more stability vs. more flexibility as the reason because of the violent nature of collisions in hockey and the unprecedented nature of the ADR procedure in hockey players. Let’s hope Eichel comes back to being the elite player he was and makes future decisions easier for everyone involved should another hockey player face the same injury and treatment options.

Hope he gets them early because his Amerks game went into OT last night and I worry he may not have any legs left when the 3rd period rolls around tonight.

I see Raddysh showing that dirty play that the parent club requires.

Yep. Slim pickins for sure. I don’t understand how we can slam everything that’s wrong with the organization to explain why free agents won’t want to come here and in the next breath expect that a good free agent goalie automatically would. Makes no sense to me.

Indeed! Good for Doogie!

Amusing, but not original in the least. A blatant rip-off off the Captain Andrew Luck tweets from a few years ago.

All I can do is laugh. Which is not a good thing because the Sabres have driven us to apathy. Fans won’t be back any time soon.