LTS

Okay, I lied. I don't think Stafford hears about it at all. He's playing the puck and Hamilton tries to step into him. It's straight on and Hamilton has his head down not up. If the rookie puts his head up he gets in the shoulder. I think Stafford is safe..

Just read the whole thread.. flip on back a few pages and you can see when the Bruins fans stopped posting. Great game. Vanek has really been on it this season. His creativity tonight was something to behold. The Sabres D still scares me. Leopold looks bad, Myers looked better but still scares me. Weber shall play until he has a few bad games because he has looked really good. Sulzer and Ehrhoff are solid. I missed the first period and heard most of the second on the radio.... I got home just in time it seems. Nothing more tonight.. I can't. Foligno is the soul of this team now and I love that.

I felt as though the conversation had gotten to a this or that type mode not a both. Miller had enough time and even owned up to it. He said, point blank, he didn't take anything away from Frattin. I think we are on the same page here. Playing to win. So, if the goal is to have enough points at the end of the season then wouldn't it make sense to protect the 1 point you would get by going to overtime rather than potentially lose it by taking chances? You have a few possible scenarios here: 1 - You score a goal and get 2 points. 2 - You end up tied, get 1 point and win in overtime, you get 2 points. 3 - You end up tied, get 1 point and lose in overtime, you get 1 point. 4 - You lose and get 0 points. Of those scenarios 75% of them get you a point or more. If you don't play for overtime you have a 50% chance of getting 2 points. The goal of football is to win as well. You do that by scoring points. You score points by moving the ball forward to the end zone right? So, why do even the most successful and storied coaches not go for it on 4th down all the time? Why do the most successful of coaches still play field position football? Let me answer that for you. Because it's about the percentages. It's about giving yourself the best opportunity to succeed at the ultimate goal, winning a championship. There are plenty of successful coaches who would have and have done the exact same thing.

I think Lindy isn't fired but is allowed to leave the position, as it were. :) That's the difference. You are continually worrying about things you have no control over. Why are you pissed? Why do you fret over the management and play of the Sabres? Doesn't seem, even a little bit, sad that you can allow yourself to remain so worked up over something that you have no control over? I would think that if you were so emotionally attached to the Sabres you might want to get a job there and see what you could change. Look, I'm not trying to criticize you as a person. I'm trying to understand why you would allow such things to intrude upon your life. My only option is to wait and see. Would I change coaches? Sure thing, but I can't. So, I'll critique what I can and comment on what I see, when I see it. The ONLY promise that was made, well the overwhelming promise that people cling to, was that "from this day forward the Sabres sole purpose for existence is to win the Stanley Cup". If we really think about it, that's an empty statement. I think it insinuates that Golisano didn't want to win but truthfully that wasn't true either. Golisano wanted to win. Hell, winning the Stanley Cup would bring in millions of dollars in revenue. The difference, in perception, is that Pegula was willing to do whatever it takes to win whereas Golisano was more calculating and accepted breaking even. So, true to his promise Pegula has been changing what we can change. Just because he hasn't done what you or someone else believes should be done doesn't mean he's lying to you. It means he's doing things his way. You are free to run the Sabres your way, but you don't own them. All of the people with opinions on what it would take for the Sabres to win the Stanley Cup have still won just as many championships as the current owner. What I alluded to above.. Lindy can go to the front office. That would be Samuel Barber's Adagio for Strings. One of my favorite all time compositions and so perfectly used in that movie by Oliver Stone. However, I don't want to equate nad punching to it so I'm going to pretend you didn't say that. :)

You speak as though the outcomes of one player do not depend on the play of another. Let's examine the play. At the 7 second mark Liles flips the puck to Frattin. If you look at he positioning at that point 3 Sabres are in a line, 5 feet on their side of the red line and all of them in the half of the ice closes to the bench. That leaves 40+ feet for Frattin (a player with speed) to work with. The play by Liles is a basic, flip it to the open side (which happens to be AWAY from the benches, a very bad thing) and let a player create in space. So at this point the Sabres are guilty of allowing the play to move away from the line change thus requiring players to skate further to cover the play. Ehrhoff is making a change, but that's not necessarily a problem as the Leafs only have 2 players rushing, so at worst it's a 2 on 2 with a 3rd Sabre D jumping into the play on the bench side of the ice. Leopold should never be over as far as he is especially within 15 feet of 2 of his own players. Advancing to the 4 second mark... Three Sabres are in the zone and the second Leaf has just entered the zone. There is nearly ZERO chance Frattin can flip the puck back so the farthest guy (Myers, who just came on for Ehrhoff) should go to the high slot and cover any pass attempt. The second Sabre (Stafford) should be helping close down the drive to the lane by Kadri who is just entering the zone. The third Sabre, Leopold, is standing right next to Frattin. Rather than hit him Leopold turns and for the last 4 second doesn't take a single stride while Frattin takes perhaps 2 to accelerate past Leopold. This is the key breakdown as Leopold breaks his containment on Frattin. He has him hooked.. he could have pulled him down but rather than take the penalty he lowered his stick and because he does not take a stride and Frattin does there is a separation that allows Frattin to push the puck to his forehand. At the 1.8 second mark the puck is flipped and gets between Miller's arm and body and goes in. Of course if you look at the net the entire short side has a gaping hold from his elbow to the crossbar so there was plenty of space for a puck to go. Miller played the rush like Frattin would pass the puck. Perhaps he expected Leopold to contain Frattin so his only option was a pass. Either way, you can't leave the short side open when a guy is coming in on net. In my opinion, Leopold absolutely was out of position from at least the 7 second mark. Miller did not control the post and let the puck in and Stafford could have assisted more and let a bounce go to Kadri with perhaps .5 seconds left. All guilty.. all of them. Now, can we just all agree that the Sabres screwed up the last 7 seconds of the game and lost because of it?

And once again.. Miller leaves a gaping hole in the net. Hell, the D team goalie I played against Sunday night covered the upper part of the net better than that. Ridiculous.. horrible defense... horrible goaltending.. And let me say.. horrible officiating. Follow through? I suppose if you take a slap shot and then spin in circles flinging your stick around it's a follow through.. right? Get out of here.. once the stick goes up at the end it has to come down.. not back into someone's face... Still.. the D is soft, way too passive and Miller sucks.. end of story. Why people continue to consider him anything more than an average goalie is beyond me.

This at least the third time the Leafs have been looking for the Sabres D man to pitch down from the blue line. They chip it off the glass and end up with a 2 on 1. The Sabres have to watch for that.. the Leafs are totally on to it. You can see the puck carrier just staring at the defenseman waiting for him to jump into the play.

That is why I believe Marcus Foligno is critical to this team. Well other reasons too but that was damn beautiful.

It's funny right? Because the day the Sabres traded to Islanders to get a shot at Ehrhoff and signed him that same windbag was pontificating about how the old ownership would never do that and that this was the kind of stuff that makes champions. So, I suppose Mr. Schopp is just as ignorant as the owner of the Sabres. The difference is that one of them can do something about the team. Schopp's job is to stir up conversation so he has to constantly change his viewpoints. I'm quite certain that the only people on Earth who waffle more than politicians are sports radio announcers/analysts. For the most part I wouldn't even mind what he had said in that rant if he wasn't so damned ostentatious about it.

He probably could be sent down, so it's not that it CAN'T happen but it might be the dumbest decision you could make as a GM to completely waste a year of the contract. As for clearing space.. Ellis and McCormick are waiver fodder this season, no risks... I ask you. If Ellis or McCormick clear waivers then wouldn't you be happier if Girgensons was called up in the event of an injury? I know I would be. I actually do. I think Leino brought a different attitude to the locker room and the team. He came from a system where players played tough and he's shown his ability to control the puck. His high salary rate aside he is an improvement to the line up. Business wise I think Leino is showing to be a reach but from a mental approach and skill set view I think he's desperately needed out there.

I don't believe so. He was essentially going on about realizing now that his coach and GM might not be the guys, etc. He might be realizing that now, but I think it's a bit of a reach to portray Pegula as ignorant of what he was buying in the first place. I'm nowhere near the business man he is and I didn't have a good group of advisors who were "hockey men" helping me figure things out but even I knew that Regier and Ruff hadn't won anything during their tenure even though other people in the league were singing their praises. Schopp was insinuating that Pegula was somehow snowed in this regard. Schopp's job, of course, is to make those far reaching statements because it then causes discussion on the radio. However, in this case I think he was way off base (more so than normal). Sure, and the GM and coach may be to blame. The GM seems to be making some good moves over the past two years. The coach? I'm not sold on Ruff, I think his system confuses players into thinking too much and debating what kind of hockey player they are supposed to be. I think it stifles creativity. I think that if this season things look and feel the same then you have to fire the coach and if Regier flat out refuses then he has to go as well. Ruff has spoken about changes he was making this year and we'll see if they pan out. The one thing we have no control over is the change of circumstance over time. So, with Pegula, the parameters changed in the organization. He made a lot of up front changes that are quick and easy to do (it's only money). The longer term pieces are putting together a team that can compete and adding a few players. We have to see what happens.

Schopp sounded like a complete idiot during that rant. I think it's absolutely ignorant to think that Pegula did not know what he was buying. His management team with Ted Black, etc. are not complete idiots. If anyone expected him to come in and say, "The team I'm buying today is a complete group of failures. I'll can everyone and start from scratch." they were idiots. He came in and said what any successful business person would say. "I'm here to be successful, in this league that means winning the Stanley Cup." What people HEARD was that we would immediately win the cup. They've been making moves on all fronts. Draft picks don't pay off overnight, ask Edmonton about that. Very few people were pessimistic about our draft results last year. Most were encouraged by the KAssian/Hodgson trade. More were encouraged by the Roy/Ott trade. I think many were shocked we got a 1st rounder for Gaustad. At the same time we've plugged some holes and others take a little longer to fill. We weren't going to get Parise and there was not a lot of scoring to be had on the UFA front. So where would it come from? We've drafted a gifted center, a shutdown center, and we have Armia coming. There is a lot of talent that will be arriving (yes young talent) but it will be coming. People just need to get over the fact that you don't win overnight. I think Pegula is doing a fine job. He's made massive investments in the team, the arena, the surrounding area. He is almost single-handedly trying to revive parts of Buffalo that should be flourishing. One of these days I half expect him to say he'll foot 50% of the cost for the Bills to move downtown. He's undoubtedly investing in the area and would make money from having them downtown as well. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if he's in on buying the Bills at some point. The guy is not an idiot. I think his reliance upon Ruff and Regier are along the lines of they may need to be replaced but before I make a solid judgment on them why not try and give them the tools to succeed. If they don't.. then you take action. I feel that at the end of this season if the Sabres are not improved over last year there may be changes in the leadership of the team. We shall see how it gets in April.

Nor mine. I outlined reasons why I thought he'd be staying somewhere else. The lineup flexibility of having him is just too great to not have him here. Ruff this morning also talked about how the off ice conditioning and training at the NHL level were improved over the Q and that would benefit Grigorenko as well. He did mention the drawbacks of not having many team practices but followed that up with a statement about him then getting more one on one focus for development. All in all everything that Ruff said this morning on WGR made me 100% confident he was staying. This is great news. He no longer has the pressure of a tryout. He cannot be sent down... the worst that can happen is that he is scratched on any given night. He should feel better about this and I am hoping that he carries this positive feeling into tonight's game and completely electrifies the fans. There would be nothing better for him to have a fantastic game tonight and the Leafs are certainly a team to have it against. Game.... ON.

A game will be played... that's my prediction. Go Sabres. That is all.

I've been down on Myers this season (just been too busy to get on here and say it). I did not see the Caps game although I heard he played better. Myers, from what I see, has a physical issue at the moment. Not a question of his physicality (that sucks too) but he looks as though there is a problem in his stride. He spoke of trying to bulk up and I'm wondering if that weight change is throwing off his skating ability to a certain point. When you are 6'8 you fight the higher center of gravity for turning and his legs have to be able to compensate so he doesn't lose acceleration. In addition he looks TIRED out there. He might have a few shifts of energy but many times it appears that he just doesn't have the energy to get to where he has to go. His response to the hit on Gerbe disgusted me to the point that if I were on the Sabres bench I would have torn him a new one (as a player or a coach). If I were on the ice i might have would have wanted to hit Myers even though he were on my team... I wouldn't of course because I would be too busy going after the guy who hit Gerbe. Perhaps he's lost on what he's supposed to be. Someone needs to snap him out of it but for now I would dress Brennan and see what happens.

Insanity.. we just love to find something to whine about. If he is talking to Darcy then perhaps he's bringing up ideas that Darcy is NOT considering because of his past "hand-cuffs" and saying you know.. we might be able to do this financially if you think it works from a team perspective. All we KNOW is that they talk a lot. I talk to my employees a lot as well. I provide suggestions, we talk about them, and some get canned and some don't. It's generally better than unilaterally commanding how something should be done.

Look.. he's RJ and in Buffalo.. I'm pretty confident that any medical assistance he needs he's going to get. I'm not worried.

Apparently he was comprehensible enough to get the taco point across. At that point I'm sure I'd start looking for some ground beef, spices, and tortillas. :) Ahh yes, his anecdotes. So what did he do after the second whistle?

See any Dominican baseball player in MLB.

. What kind of tacos?

That may be the case but there are players in Rochester that can be called up to fill those roles. I'm not sold on Ott being suspended. Kaleta getting hurt? Sure.. that's got history on his side. If you send down McCormick and keep calling him up you run the risk of someone picking him up sure.. but what are the odds? If you want someone to fill in a skating role on the 4th line move up Sekera or play Brennan there and let Weber play on defense.. (yea, I said it).

If there's a trade to be had it will be at the deadline when a team that has no shot is willing to give up a player. The problem is that every team will be looking for someone like Getzlaf and that will drive up the price. Not saying you don't pay it.. just that it won't be easy to get.

While it irritates me a bit under the skin it's not enough to get me upset. If Rob Ray sucked at the job then I would be more upset but I really like his input on things.

I think right now it would be fair to say that he's down the depth chart at Center if you need a guy who you know is responsible and reliable in the position. If you are looking for the "game manager" type player and not someone too dynamic. Hecht, Leino, and Ott all present a more reliable and responsible choice at the position but certainly not the dynamics. This isn't to say that Grigorenko has not been reliable. In fact I like his positioning and he's been down low making some good defensive plays in the past two games (last night especially). Right now I think he 's staying. I think the option to have him in the lineup for the year and filling in a top 6 position if needed is too important to pass up. If you look at who the Sabres have to move to make room it's not real difficult. They can send down Ellis and McCormick. They probably would both clear and if not it's not a big loss at this point. The Sabres have Foligno, Scott, Kaleta, and Ott. Role players are easier to find than skill players. So, you send down Ellis and McCormick (when he returns). Do they need to send anyone else? Brennan, Weber, and Leino are the 21-23 players on the roster at the moment. If you send down Ellis you are down to 22 and can bring Gerbe into the mix. Did I miss someone or something?

Three Heads Brewing Too Kind for me. Whatever. The guy spoke honestly about what happened. If he said he's going to drop the gloves every night then he'd have every pest trying to get him to take a penalty. I don't care what people say, I care what people do. I saw Stafford go after Hartnell. Regardless of what happens next he's shown that he's willing to do it. He did follow up his words with the simple statement that we are holding each other accountable. He felt like he needed to do something, perhaps next time he won't need to feel that way because someone else on the Sabres has dropped the gloves or better yet, people just stop taking runs at guys because they know to a man the Sabres will react. If you hate the guy then just hate him and get it over with. At least he's willing to put a body on people, he showed that last year. If you want him to be the second incarnation of Keith Tkachuk you've gotten yourself a bit off base.