Marvelo

Past 5 starts for Miller he is GPA 3.2 and 2-3 record. Blues fans are saying he's not looking good lately. Looks like those fluky longshots are starting to get past him again. Maybe they're not allowing enough shots? http://cinesport.stltoday.com/nhl-saint-louis-blues/highlights-miller-blues-fall-to-stars/

very interesting but stupid.

IMO Hasek and Perreault are the only ones whose numbers are retired. They embodied excellence over a long time. As much as I loved Lafontaine/Mogliny, they didn't do it for long enough. Patty had one great year, two VG years and three years he didn't play much for various reasons. Mogilny, one great year, three vg years and a rookie year. I loved Martin but Perreault elevated him, he didn't play long enough (not his fault) and he's not a HOFer, didn't score 500. Rene Robert. Kidding, right? Gare was VG not great. Horton again spent too little time as a Sabre, his main thing was he was tough as nails, then he died. He was much more known as a Leaf and a donut man. How about Andreychuk and Hawerchuk are next? Or Rob Ray? Don't believe in the statues either. Statues are for legendary Cup winners like Orr. Retiring these guys numbers is like retiring numbers from the Cubs. Very few and far between because of the lack of ultimate success of the team. But with the 42 members of the Sabre HOF (is Paul Terbenche one of them?) there's no shortage of glad-handing cronyism with this organization.

that would be funny if he stiffs the Sabres and doesn't show up.

On a serious note, I'm worried about what all this losing and not competing is doing to the psyches of the young rookies that have potential but are up with the "big" club this year. Ristolainen, Girgensons, Pysyk, Grigorenko, Larsson, Hackett, Varone, and to a lesser extent Zadorov and Liewen. Just seeing what a mess things are this year, they can't be looking forward to much. They have the corrupting influence of the do-nothings on the team, the losers, the also-rans, the I'll try hard once inawhiles, the overpaid former "stars", the almost made-its, the borderliner straddlers and the guys who are going to drop off the face of the earth after this season. They're all on the team now influencing our younger players, who might take up their poisonous examples. When these kids finally achieve their dreams and come up to the big show, they look around them. Half empty stadiums piping in applause, losing left and right with no answers. Hockey executives "in charge" who are do-nothing cronies. Long losing streaks. A modern record of futility in lack of goal-scoring. Crap hockey all the time, not even being able to get the puck. Is this what striving all your life to achieve being an NHLer is all about? There's a lot of negatives this year and the youngsters should be protected against it and not exposed to it. I don't care if we bring up an entire ECHL team, we should protect our future stars against the psychological damage they're going to surely get by being part of this tire fire. You build a team by surrounding good players with other good players. I think TM has a handle on that. But in the meantime, send whatever good players we have down to a team where they have a chance to succeed and build confidence because being on the Sabres at the the time being would develop the opposite of confidence.

Thank you Uncle Terry.

kill me now.

Here's a reminder to never drink and skate:

Seriously. The strive to mediocrity just to be ousted in the first round was the definition of false hope. But this crash and burn is really hard to take because there's no guarantee we'll ever get out of it.

I think respect is a lost art. It's nice to refer to someone you know that way but for people you don't personally know...It always kinda weirded me out that through the years almost all of the players would refer to him as Mr. Wilson as well. It was like it was written that he had to be referred to in that way in the clubhouse manual.

I never got this "Mr. Wilson" stuff. Why not just Ralph? He wasn't Dennis the Menace's next door neighbor and we're not 5 years old. Mr. Wilson just sounds false like there's too much respect there, someone who's way above us. Maybe that's what he was...way above us, pulling the levers (and many of the wrong ones) out there in Michigan like some kind of Wizard of Oz of bad football. For all the years he lorded over the Bills (and there were many dismal, dismal seasons before many of you were even born), I had the sense that he really loved Buffalo but was vulnerable about the effect losing had on the fans and afraid of how consistently bad the team was. There's a story that in 2009, he was going to have a special presentation to himself at a Bills game at halftime to show off his HOF ring. He abruptly cancelled this presentation; rumor was that he was afraid that the fans would boo him because of all the bad years. Despite all the losing and bad football, and his 50+ years of ownership, his big chance to win a coveted Super Bowl went wide right by a foot. (maybe poetic justice, maybe part that the stadium that bears his name was cursed; built on top of a burial ground) But if it wasn't for Ralph C. Wilson, Buffalo wouldn't be on the national sporting map, there would be no Buffalo Bills or Oakland Raiders, the AFL would've probably run into the ground and there probably would be no AFL-NFL merger. The man was a football visionary who unfortunately was a prime example of a meddling owner. But he was a gentleman and a sportsman. I couldn't be more impressed that he played tennis into his 90s. A tower of strength that seemed as rock solid as Mount Rushmore, born at the end of WW I. But even Ralph Wilson is human and unfortunately all things must pass. I hope he's playing tennis up there, pain free, age free, and winning championship after championship. Rest in Peace Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Thank you for putting your faith in Buffalo.

The d and goalies aren't too bad though. :doh:

I really don't keep track of who's out there who wants to buy a hockey team, especially in the Buffalo market. But it seems like our ownership group already has rumblngs of preparing the team for the next owner. I never heard of Rigas, Golisano and Pegula before they were chosen for us by the NHL. I wish I had an answer of a person who has tons of cash and lots of hockey smarts and has a feel for the city of Buffalo but I don't know who would invest in a money-losing situation like that. One guy I heard of is Sherry Bassin but he's probably too old at 74. I always thought Phil Esposito, who was kicked out of Tampa Bay by the Steinbrenner ownership group (read his book, it's hilarious) might make a good owner. btw, I think this is a great take by Jim Lorentz in TBN about what's been happening with the Sabres. I always thought he had a good handle on what's really going in.

if he's a gift, I'd like to return it.

Pegula sounds like a moron. How do people like him get so much money? Listening to him is not reassuring.

absolutely. results count and there are none.

It's a sucker's bet. He's scheduled to score with :001 left in the final Sabres game of the regular season.

I was in on a conversation with Bruins fans the other day and they were talking about Neely. They said when they see him up close in person, the man's a terrifying sight. A big guy with an enormous temper who anyone would be afraid of. Even the current players. Not only that, he was the quintessential Bruin. Who is the quintessential Sabre? It's Perreault. But the man for all his talent, could be intimidated, as what happened in '75 in the Finals. Lafontaine? Ultimately as an executive at least, he's a quitter. My point? The Sabres have always been in search of a character model. The bottom line is when push comes to shove, the character issue is at the core of the Sabres' problem. They've never settled on a character for the team, they kept switching depending on which way the wind blows. In the early years, they modeled themselves after the Canadiens. When the Sabres finally hit their stride and looked to be able to win a Cup in '06, they stockpiled the smaller, faster, more clever players. It always comes back to the smaller players we remember around here, except for the French Connection or a Mogilny. But when they say the Big Bad Bruins or the Habs or Red Wings, these teams have a blueprint for success year after year, generation after generation. They pretty much know what type of player is a "Red Wing" type. We don't know what a quintessential Sabre is. But for now, if there's any defining characteristic of a Sabre, it's that the owners stop short and don't pile on the talent when the team has a chance. Individually, the quintessential Sabre is a hard-luck quitter; he will ultimately be pushed out of the way at crunch time.

yeah I'm cynical about the new ownership too. especially with that scummy Penn State connection. :sick:

sabres are The Skating Dead.

I urge all the fans at the game to start raining garbage down on the players and especially Pegula.

it's the Habs vs. the Hab nots.

I missed the beginning of the game. Was Vanek cheered or booed?

We're awful in so many ways. Just no vision with management. The 3rd uniforms are puke. Could it be any worse if we were to introduce these heritage unis as our thirds?

https://www.youtube....h?v=BdknOwK2GgM