Marvelo

Buffalo should just retire the #19 out of sheer embarrassment. It's been the badge of flawed players (exception Fred Stanfield) since Steve Atkinson... Cody Hodgson, Tim Connolly, Norm Milley, Randy Wood, Tony Tanti, Kevin Maguire, Brian Holzinger, Bob Corkum, Doug Trapp, Bob Halkidis, Jim Wiemer, Sean McKenna, Jeff Eatough, Randy Cunneyworth, Derek Smith, Alex Tidey, Morris Titanic, Fred Stanfield, Steve Atkinson, Francois Lacombe.

Jack Edwards take on the Bruins trade: https://twitter.com/RealJackEdwards/status/614548386507804672

Bad management has gotten us where we are and that's where we'll stay.

I'm not perfect. AllI can tell you about is my experience posting my ideas and what these people have said to me.

Don't be afraid to post; you might add a point that noone's thought of. Or one of your thoughts might lead to someone else coming up with a gem. There are some real smart people here. I don't presume to know much about salary caps or financial structures or front office finagling either. But I don't know if you really need to know these things although some people here are sticklers about that. I've been following the team since the beginning though and still play hockey and am passionate about the sport and like to share ideas. Warning, there are people like d4force and Andrew Amerk or whatever he calls himself these days, who try to make you feel like your ideas are idiotic or whatever and that starts to ruin the experience of sharing or bouncing ideas off people. There's no excuse to insult people here…but people do it anyway because they are small. But never mind them.

SS should be a safe place to post stuff but there are always these lurkers whose lives are so empty, just waiting to pounce on anything they think is out there. Some of these trolls have posted more than 10,000 times. I can't stand these people. I've blocked a couple at least. There are posters who say "that's the stupidest thing I ever heard" or "you're an idiot" or things like that on a regular basis. Their account should be reviewed for things like that and if they surpass a certain threshold insulting people, they should be kicked off. A few people make this a board a shaky experience at best. People have to learn to disagree with respect.

I was wondering who was the driving force in Ottawa behind the Ben Bishop for Cory Conacher deal. Was it GMTM or his uncle?

Thank you for posting this. It's always good to see Rick speak his mind, as opposed to being in the framework of a play by play man.

Don't agree. He had amazing speed and would have amazing speed today plus he was elusive. He cut through defenses. He was an assist machine. And he had brains. He didn't spin his wheels like Afinogenov, who was probably faster. Perreault had many more moves and actually got around and through people and made plays that actually resulted in goals. Afinogenov was so fast he didnt know what to do. He is really known for only one play. Perreault made hundreds of plays like that, especially the kind cutting through defenses and faking out the goalie. To me, there's no comparison between Perreault and Afinogenov as players…Perreault had five times as many goals and eight times as many assists. He's a Hall of Famer; a Mario Lemieux prototype. I'm sure any team today would love to have a Perreault.

He was still scoring about a point a game when he abruptly retired in '86. Remember the organization was at its nadir and chose Pierre Turgeon 1st overall after that season. My guess, he was disgusted with the team and he couldn't escape being a Buffalo Sabre. They should've traded him to Montreal to end his career as a mark of honor. As great as Perreault was on the Sabres, I can't help but think how much better he would've been on the Habs team of the 70s and 80s. But I'm glad he was here. He influenced a generation (+) of hockey players. Another interesting thing I heard about why Perreault wasn't allowed to play in the '72 Summit Series against the Rooskies was in the early years Imlach told him to just play offense in order to get the fannies in the seats. So he was lacking in defensive responsibility and unfortunately Sinden chose a player like JP Parise to replace Perreault,,,of course that decision sucked. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0qtxHnKM_o

I've heard kids growing up in different cities model themselves after the stars in their city at the time. If so, we had tons of budding Gil Perreaults around Buffalo in the 70s and 80s. I lived around the block from Gilbert in Williamsville and remember him pulling right into our driveway while we were playing street hockey. He lived on Ranch Trail West in what was hardly a mansion. We lived on Ranch Trail in one of the original model split level homes. He was shirtless and I was the most visible so he spoke to me. He was looking for someone with a riding lawnmower to cut his lawn. I knew a kid who had one; he was a few streets over…but my dad didn't have one. We had the pull start kind. I would've cut his grass with scissors if I could. Not being socially skilled, I couldn't engage in talk for long. He wasn't a big talker either. So it was only for a brief moment he drove in and out of my driveway and my life but that was it. I wish he could've got out of the car and took some shots but so be it. That's my Gilbert story and I'll remember it for the rest of my days. I still play roller after all this time and I remember Gilbert as a talented, fast and tricky player, forever with his mouth open, making moves.

Glad to see a legit voice here John and good to see you're in touch with Joe Fan. Maybe you'll get some scoops here too.

Here are a few pictures of Gilbert with his idol Jean Beliveau, about 1970 or so.

I had the privilege of seeing the great Perreault in many games I went to see him at the Aud and elsewhere and on TV. I must say there was noone like him. The way he could move was just unbelievable; the speed he would go end to end would make fans just stand up. He could do it all by himself. I never saw any threads devoted to this all time great Sabre and just wanted to start one, just to see what anyone remembers.

Agreed.

Torts. Bring it on.

As I said before, it's not Buffalo, it's Bridesmaid City...

Anyone who's still playing hockey at age 62 is ok in my book. Look at Obama in his weenie bicycle helmet. He's what, 51? He's a national embarrassment in everything he does. Putin is James Bond compared to this azzclown we're stuck with. The player facewashing Putin in the scrum was funny. I liked the guy shaking his head in the audience. It's a fraud and they know it. But it doesn't matter…Doesn't hurt to have Fetisov and Kamensky dishing him the puck, plus the other team afraid to intercept or cover Putin, esp. now that Fetisov is a politician. Who is the Russian player with the funny cap on his head instead of a helmet?

Nothing beats the Baltimore Clippers Fight Song.

Nykquist is a sniper. I really like his game. It depends on the price to get him. But on the other hand you can't talk about players like they're chips in a poker game. They like living in some cities and despise other cities. My feeling is he's probably happy with the chemistry on the Wings and although there's some hope with the Sabres, you can't eat hope for breakfast. Losing sucks and I just don't see too many good people wanting to come here until the ball is already rolling and the Sabres actually have a winning record.

Chuck Fletcher is a mark and Buffalo collected big time at his expense. The owner can't see it but he's the main problem in Minnesota. Here's how it all worked together. From the St. Paul Star-Tribune: At the 2013 trade deadline, (Fletcher) traded two prospects and a first- and second-round pick to Buffalo for Pominville. At the 2014 trade deadline, he traded two seconds in a package that included the acquisition of Matt Moulson (one goal in the playoffs) from Buffalo. Last July 1, he signed Vanek to a three-year, $19.5 million contract, and at this past trade deadline, he traded a second to Buffalo for Chris Stewart (no goals in the playoffs).

From today's Mnpls Star-Tribune: ...Last week Vanek said “my game is about setting guys up.” Vanek has transitioned from a goal scorer to a guy who once knew how to do it but can't do it anymore so he sets others up. Scoring means you're putting yourself in vulnerable positions to get hurt. Vanek has broken has jaw before; I don't think he was ever the same after that. I think he's shy about taking abuse so now he specializes in making passes for scoring plays. Problem is the team pays $6.5 mil to the guy who can score and that's who the fans pay for when they sell out the arena. So no, don't sign Vanek, he can't/won't produce goals anymore and you don't pay 6.5 for an assist maker.