nfreeman

It took a Beaulieu-like turnover to get Reino off the schneid, but we'll take it. Now ROR needs to remove head from rectum. 20 more minutes boys. Let's get a W under the belt and get a little better each day.

Minor question for the Ontarians: would Haliburton qualify as “Northern Ontario?” I tend to think of “North Ontario” as closer to Hudson Bay — but I could be out to lunch on that. As for CH: good luck to ya, kid. I’m glad you made a good bit of cash before this was taken away from you.

Thanks NS. You're a good man with a kind soul. Much appreciated and I hope I can learn from you.

I wonder if Anaheim will rest Gibson and start Millsie.

OK, but the GWG last night was unacceptable, and of a piece with him falling apart in the SO every GD time. I am pretty close to deciding that he is not the guy long term -- and I am 100% glad that they only gave him a 1-year deal. He can still turn it around this year, but right now he's not earned the #1 job next year IMHO.

The plan is this: 1. Despite a weird watching-a-train-wreck quality that the troll had, he is gone. 2. Everyone else is, again, requested not to introduce politics -- including via random remarks about political figures. I agree with most of this, although I thought B-loo looked pretty good last night -- I saw only one really bad play and quite a few solid ones. I'm much more worried about Risto and McCabe -- I'm seeing very few positive plays from either of them -- although to be fair, Risto did play a ton of minutes and the Sabres were much sounder than previously, so he should get some credit there. Still, I don't see any plays out of either of them that contribute to quick, crisp offensive starts. Risto in particular seems to make one bad pass after another. I liked him with ROR and Moulson/Reino last night -- didn't really like the change to putting Kane back with Eichel and Pommer that we saw in the 3rd.

Beat me to it. He's made the playoffs twice (zero series wins) in his 9 NHL seasons, and once in his last 8. And yes, continuous losing -- especially self-inflicted -- begets more losing.

Yes indeedly.

I like those lines, although I'd prefer a faster guy on with ROR and KO -- which I'm not sure the Sabres have.

I like this description, and this quality, along with pretty good hockey IQ is IMHO what makes him a good #4 C and viable #3 C in a pinch. I just think though that he has zero offensive talent and is thus best suited for a 12-to-14 min per game checking forward/PK role (as I would prefer that the Sabres third line contribute more offense than I think a line centered by Larsson is capable of).

So Nylander is still hurt? Yeeeeeeeessssshhh.

I thought effort was fine and play much less disorganized than last 2 games. Significant improvement over those 2 games, which were just not NHL-level efforts. I also think implementing Howie’s team offensive system is gonna take some time. In the meantime they need their big guns to produce, esp on the PP, and they need Lehner to step up.

While it's hard to disagree with this, I think it's worth noting that every NHL team has equivalents of these guys in its lineup. The bigger issue IMHO for the Sabres is zero-to-negative production from the guys who are supposed to be leading the charge.

I think there is enough talent, and the problems we’ve seen are all between the ears — the players are trying to learn a new system (and in the case of half of them, a new team and new city), they make a mistake, it ends up in the net, they get tentative, guys like ROR and maybe Lehner are drowning in self-doubt and self-blame, some guys aren’t focused or determined enough, etc. That’s where coaching comes in. I think Howie can get them to the right place mentally and that this will turn around. It’s just gonna take some time.

Does his boozing on the job create safety risks for you and the other guys? If so, I think reporting him is the right thing to do.

So it looks like Cordy Glenn is being marginalized along with Dareus (and it's fair to include Watkins and Darby in that category too I suppose). Sheesh. I know none of us has any clue about the attitudes of any of these guys other than Dareus, but they really are unloading a bunch of guys at key positions.

Bump.

How about 2-1-1 on this roadie, some signs of life from ROR, KO and Reino and a return home with a bit of confidence?

Outstanding.

Serious question: do you think any NHL arena, for a team that has made the playoffs twice in the last 10 years and zero times in the last 7 years, with zero series wins, is more supportive than the Sabres' crowd?

I like S&B, but I only listen to their podcasts when they're interviewing someone interesting -- i.e. JBott, someone from TSN, etc. (or, I confess, Hammy). If the person they're interviewing is a hockey person, I usually find it worthwhile. It's pretty easy to do via iTunes -- they post them every day, usually hour-by-hour, and usually indicating who they are interviewing. (Same for Howard & Jeremy, about whom I have a similar opinion.) I have zero interest in listening to them (or any other radio show) shooting the breeze for 3 hours.

Well, I think Reino has done so little worthwhile this season that I'm not inclined to disagree with any steps Howie might take as to his role. Certainly ROR needs to improve as well. It's a cliché of coaching that different players need different treatment -- so perhaps that's how Howie is operating here. Good stuff here boys.

Well, this coach felt he should play Center. He may have changed his mind on that, or he may have felt (and probably did) that the team and Reino both needed a kick in the pants after an atrocious start. But that doesn’t mean that Howie and JBott have decided.

I will also point out that while I think it was a mistake by Howie, I don’t think it was a big mistake or a consequential one. More of a missed opportunity for a nice moment. The team has much more important issues IMHO.

I agree completely. This was a mistake by Howie.