dudacek

Longest they’ve ever gone in a season under Pegula before you’ve found the hook to hang your inevitable disappointment on?

I have. But I get what you’re saying. What’s more notable to me is I have never heard Granato call out his players, not once. To the media, his message has been unrelentingly one of positive reinforcement: when he is talking about good play, he talks about the players being self-starters and eager learners so he’s not surprised; when he is talking about bad play he talks about the same qualities, so he’s sure they will overcome it. When he talks about breakdowns, he talks about them analytically, in a broad sense, as opposed to individual players making mistakes. His overriding principles are positivity and consistency: something that I, personally, would appreciate as a player. It’s also something that I’ve observed people over 50 seem suspicious of.

Tage injury sucks. Not that it’s actually important, but I was really pulling for him to hit 50 and/or 100, and it’s slowly slipping away.

Interesting given the fact we’ve got 14 forwards. Entirely possible Tage and Greenway can’t go and this is just a precaution, but I hope he gets a look for his sake.

Agree with most of this except I think it is poorly understood and often misread and overrated by fans, many of whom just use it as an excuse to cover what they really want: to enjoy the catharsis of “our” guy pounding the snot out of “their” guy. Riley Stillman went after Tanner Jeannot. Dylan Cozens went after Trent Frederic. They “had their teammates backs.” Doesn’t carry a ton of weight for the masses because in the first case they lost the fight and in the 2nd they lost the game. Did it carry weight in the room? Probably, but it doesn’t seem to be carrying much on the scoreboard.

Not exactly. https://www.vancouverislandfreedaily.com/news/unwelcome-spotlight-falls-on-nhl-team-pride-night-events/

And, once again, the fan base braces collectively with a “please don’t embarrass me”

Bottom line is the only thing that really is objective is wins and losses because that, by definition, is the objective. Everything else about being a sports fan is varying degrees of how it makes you feel.

Just gotta pile on, don't ya...😜

The fact that the Pastrnak clip is pure hockey cliche voiced by every sweaty guy in front of a dressing room stall, including the Sabres, makes @PerreaultForever 's conclusion pretty easy to dismiss. The fact that he has frequently stated he doesn't pay attention to interviews and has dismissed various statements from various Sabres as pretty much saying what people want to hear doesn't do much to reduce my skepticism.

Weird, I saw Skinner not shooting at an empty net the other night to try and get Tuch the hattie. Why aren't we in first place yet?

Maybe, but since Marchand did the right thing and stood up for his teammate we know Bergeron will never get hit like that again. (Sarcasm, in case it wasn’t obvious)

The market is the market, but I still think that a 3rd was too low a return for a RHD of his ability at the deadline.

Good write-up here https://www.grandforksherald.com/sports/und-hockey/chris-jandric-is-among-the-countrys-top-scoring-defensemen

It shouldn’t be overlooked that UPL is on a one-way deal next year, and should also be eligible for waivers. Comrie is the same. The plan clearly was that one or both would emerge this year and they would form a tandem next year. The plan has clearly failed. Next year they should be battling for the backup position behind a new acquisition and the loser of that battle should be traded or waived. Personally, I don’t expect UPL to be a Sabre or an Amerk come October.

Skinner Tuch Thompson Cozens Krebs Peterka Quinn Greenway are back next year. If you're not bringing back one or more of Jost, Okposo and Girgensons, I doubt Kulich is the guy you are looking at to replace them. It's basically going to take a Mitts or Olofsson trade to give him a chance at a roster spot. And even then, he's got competition from Savoie and the fact Matt can't play in the AHL. Kulich most likely gets the role Hinostroza fell into: AHL call-up/injury replacement. Which, IMO, is the right spot for him anyway.

Few did. Yet look at this board.

I think it's time for Sabrespace to be relieved of its duties. If there has been one constant in this decade of poor results it has been Sabrespace. Accountability is in order. It's time.

Did not see this coming. We were doing too many things right for too long. We spent a lot of time talking last season and into the fall about how bad goaltending was going to crush development by making the skaters 2nd-guess themselves. I guess we shouldn't be surprised to finally see it manifest itself. Still feeling generally positive about the direction of the team — the people in charge are good people and the players have talent. But my god it can be tough being a Sabres fan.

It’s getting ridiculous. Points in 9 consecutive games, 8/14/22 over that stretch. Kid has at least 2 points in 12 of his past 17 games.

The only way I can interpret the optics as “bad” is if: a) the Sabres goalies are getting job done in the playoff race instead of this abomination https://www.nhl.com/stats/goalies?reportType=game&dateFrom=2023-02-26&dateTo=2023-03-18&gameType=2&playerPlayedFor=franchise.19&filter=gamesPlayed,gte,1&sort=wins,savePct&page=0&pageSize=50 b) Devon Levi was a 19-year-old kid who never played a game above Jr A instead of 21 and one of the top 3 college goalies of all time. Yes, they should give him some practice time first and get a sense of his readiness first. But if he looks capable in practice, this isn’t giving up on the season, it’s more like trying to save it.

Don’t disagree with this. Disagree with the idea it’s risky to give him a game. You’re not going to crush his career or our playoff chances. The latter might be a question if our current goalies were good.

Didn’t Kulich have 29 in camp? Maybe Savoie and Ostlubd take 28 and 21 from Kyle and Z?

Just so I'm clear, what happened in that whole sequence that mattered? No Sabres stepped up to fight a Flyer and made you feel better about how much their game sucked?

Plus Tuch. Seems to me the injuries were a factor, but more so how they fed into the lack of experience, coupled with the pressure of the race. The team tightened up and too often stopped playing their signature game. There have been more stinkers over the past month than any two months combined since the 8-game losing streak. The shorthand is they weren’t mentally tough under pressure enough to overcome their roster holes. The question that needs to be answered is whether this experience toughens them up the way Donnie thinks it should, or whether they need to adjust the personality of the roster. That is in addition to upgrading the roster in and of itself.