Mango

With all the talk of Tage/Cozens going to the wing because they can't figure out center/refuse to play the game the right way, you know who would give us the freedom to shuffle the lines around? Casey forking Mittelstadt! But hey, we have the third iteration of the same defensemen. It is kind of like Multiplicity, where every time Michael Keaton clones himself they get more and more broken. That is our defensive core....

I am sorry, are trying to tell me that Jerry Forton, former NCAA volunteer assistant and HC of NIagara University Club Hockey, is not cut out to be a high level executive in the NHL? Shocked I tell you. SHOCKED!

Has it occured to you that the guys on this roster that have been losing for 3-5 years in a row are just not good enough to win more hockey games than they lose?* *Under the current roster construction.

If...IF we do that, it should certainly be pointed directly at Pegula. Adams is the symptom and not the disease. Firing Adams is only part. "Terry Pegula ruined Buffalo Hockey" and "Get Out Of The Way And Hire A Real GM and Scouting Department" Should both be prominent on the same sign. I do not have the words to relay my level of disgust for one Terrance Pegula.

FTFY

To play devils advocate, it leaves you with a guy who also wasn't very good, not being very good. If Cozens or Thompson can't or won't do what they are supposed to the team suffers. And it is on them. If the team gets worse because Cozens/Thompson can't or won't do what they are supposed to so they get moved to wing and the team play gets worse, then that is also on them. That said, I do like Thompsons game under Lindy this year. But he has had a tenacious 200 foot game at times (when healthy) This seems to be a quick reminder to Tage that he isn't infallible even if he is the best center on the roster. Lindy is rewarding behavior not skill. He seems to be saying "Play the game the right way or get demoted. Talent be damned". I am fine with it as long as we keep it internal to the guys at the big club. I don't want to enter the never ending vortex of shirting on the players here then bringing up some 20 year old.

Stop it Lindy. I can only get so......."excited". Thank the forking lord. I suspect this sort of comment/behavior towards Kevyn's core guys drives him crazy. Maybe reading too far between the lines, but Lindy specifically mentioned that having Alpert was to help him know the roster better. Hearing him say "I know these guys know" feels (hopefully?) like a shot across the bow to the rest of the regime.

Do we think Adams is rooting for Los Angeles today. Because Palm Trees? I would love to sit Adams down with McBeane and a dozen or so other Bills players. I grow more disdain for Pegula everyday that this guy is on the payroll from here on out. EDIT: Now I’m posting snarky Adams comments at TBD in the GDT. Thanks Kevyn. GTFO.

Let Lindy bring somebody he knows well from the Devils. Then let’s get this ship righted, move Lindy to the FO, and a new HC comes in. It’s definitely going to be Jerry Forton. Former club coach of Niagara University hockey and UB soccer.

I’m starting to lean into “don’t do a thing until they fire the GM”. I took me until around the trade deadline last year. I’m already there now. If you thought the failure to even attempt to negotiate with Mitts was bad, it will certainly get worse.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/nhl/article/sabres-gms-comments-on-no-palm-trees-and-taxes-miss-mark-in-buffalo/ Am I the only one who wants to see McD locked in a steel cage with Kevyn Adams. From the article: “ McDermott started his (postgame) press conference by thanking New York state governor and Buffalo native Kathy Hochul — who is responsible for the same taxes affecting Bills players — for helping clear the roads to allow players and fans to get to the game. Then, he recalled what he heard about Buffalo early in his Bills tenure. "When Brandon and I first arrived, being at the combine, someone saying, 'You know, it's going to be hard to get players to go to Buffalo,'" McDermott said. "I didn't say anything but in my mind, I was saying to myself, 'We'll see.' When people get a chance to be in this environment and play in front of these fans, I think it makes a huge difference. This is a place where people love their professional sports teams, they love sports overall. It's a true connection to me that I've experienced in eight years (where) the team and the fans are one."

Suzuki and Stutzle were both more productive for at least a couple of seasons before they got that deal. Cozens had one good s again and one meh season. It almost reminds me of Skinner-lite or a pass rusher who hit double digits the first time in a contract year.

Regarding Cozens, this is Adams fault. His contract makes it difficult to field a roster with a 7 year/ $7M 3rd line winger. I have to wonder how those contract negotiations went. Just looking at Mitts deal who outperformed Cozens in a contract year. Something like 3x $4.5M had to have been on the table right? Did Adams call Dylan’s agent after 3 too many manhattans? Im struggling to think of another comp for both term, compensation, age, and production for Cozens.

Some posters watching box scores: “Cozens has been better lately because point per game” Lindy Ruff: “Go be a rotational player on the third line and think about what you’ve done.”

Im glad your mom made space for you to stay in her basement.

Question, if McBeane and Allen walked away, do you trust Pegula to rebuild the franchise? I would bet my mortgage and 401k on no and I wouldn’t lose a wink of sleep. We saw Pegula sans McBeane at OBD and it operated A LOT like the entire history of the Sabres under Terry. McBeane are a perfect example of a broken clock is right twice per day. Terry Pegula single-handedly ruined NHL hockey in Buffalo. Take the “what have you done?” BS and shove it up your….

Th egg should go the Bills route and hire a tandem from another org. Let Lindy grab somebody from the FO and an assistant from NJ and let’s get this thing moving.

This! If we could clone Thompson, Tuch, and Greenway we would be in a waaay better spot. (Defense be damned) Top 6 would have Thompson and Tuch on both lines and the bottom 6 would have Greenway on both lines. At that point I think we’d be a playoff team and 2 defensemen away from being real competitors.

I think the first couple of years Donnie got these guys to be really good at plying around their flaws. But to be a good hockey team they need to get better at them and we’re seeing that struggle. Being a good coach is often about finding the balance between the two. But ultimately poor roster construction will make that job much harder because most of the big clubs roster is good at the same thing and also shirty at the same thing.

This is probably pay a good practice for every market. For example, I grew up playing hockey so I get it. But I wish I could watch basketball and know what’s going on, but I don’t. I try, it’s a cool league but I don’t know what anybodies responsibilities are.

My quick $0.02 is that 2 years ago Granato got the most out of the skill sets if this roster. But they still were short of an NHL level squad, and well short of a quality playoff team. Last year it was time for them to grow up and play like adults and they failed. Under Lindy there is no running from failure. It’s Cozens job to be better. The roster doesn’t have much depth. So if Cozens (or anybody else) fails it’s on the player for not being up to snuff. Also, the more I think about the staff sticking around because Lindy “didn’t know the squad” was a worse decision than it seemed at surface level. It gives these kids a whole staff to run and hide from the HC’s messaging.

Declined because…palm trees

“We’re not a destination, nobody wants to be here” is bulletin board material coaches use from taking heads to get the team going. WTF is the org supposed to do when the messaging comes from inside the org? Somebody should ask Lindy about that? WTF do you do as a coach when the call is coming from inside the house?

Honestly, my biggest hope this afternoon is that they pepper Lindy with questions about Adams comments about not being a destination, roster composition, hold his feet to the fire about his assistants, and comparisons between other orgs he worked with and the Sabres in terms of backend support. Not exactly fair to Ruff but it’s time to push the clown out of Buffalo. Let Lindy pick his own GM. Ruff has made Buffalo his home for longer than Adams has been alive. The destination comments have to really grind his gears

My hot take is that Pegula wants to sell the Sabres but wants to hide behind a Lombardi before he does it. He will be run out of town if the Bills falter (like the Sabres) in the post Allen era without a Lombardi and he sells the hockey team. In that scenario he’d be considered one of the worst things to ever happen to Buffalo. But with a Super Bowl trophy…..