Trettioåtta

Sabres throw a party of players, staff and their families to celebrate a successful season I imagine

I thought it was second :p Yeah he has been a defensive force this game. I hope this keeps up

67 has been quite noticeable this game. In both positive and negative ways Nelson with a very lucky block that saved us a goal

I forgot about Lidstrom's final shot in the game 7. So close to tying it

Very. But I could get used to it :p

Its quite nice being the team the national guys support. They're just shitting all over Detroit

Samson is headed towards unheralded hero of the Sabres team. He is a great asset and probably one that is more valuable than his trade return would be.

Eichel, Risto and Lehner having good games so far. Eichel has actually looked pretty special over last few games. Ennis wins most problematic. I want him to return to form - he would be perfect chipping in 50 odd points a season. How did he miss that shot though?

The Flint Sabres has a nice ring to it. A bold move is trading for two young and mostly unproven D-men to round out our defence. Guys with like less than 50 games played and who are not considered up and coming stars

The Wii was very cheap and very gimmicky. It was great fun for a day, playing the friends of family... then it got stale and was forgotten by most. I would be intrigued what the game sales stats show.

Jack does have a pretty stride. Do you think pros try and steal tips off each other? Like ask Jack for skating lessons, ROR for pocket picking, Kane for forechecking etc. Or do you think they just try to focus on sharpening 'their' game and accept its too late to really improve the peripherals?

Ennis deal isn't bad if he was playing and producing at the level he was when he signed it. Those concussions really have screwed him. Hopefully he recovers

haha. But he is saying it in an interesting way

Andersson was the 30th last year and roughly 50th this year. Pretty similar value (especially as he has slightly worse stats).

Is preferable... if it works. Sometimes outside pressure is needed for the right thing to be realised. Hashtag hint hint Murray (should he be reading this thread). I also like Lehner because he simply says it how it is. None of this generic we need to play hard, get shots on net, play a full 60 sound bites.

I disagree. Any player who is pulling their weight in a team that is not has the right to call out the rest of the guys. I don't care if the team like him, and I doubt he does either. I'd rather have a team of professionals who tolerated each other and got the job done than a room full of friends happy to wallow in mediocrity because they're enjoying the journey too much to care about the destination.

Man Lehner is great for this team. I think it is as pitched at some players as Bylsma. Lehner is vocally keeping all accountable and arguably can get away with it by the special privileges his position offers. No doubt this will annoy people the same way Miller irritated them when he did it, I like that Buffalo has a strong history of good and interesting goalies. I hope Lehner is around for a while 5 x 4 million extension.

Plus we got Legwand. Not that he added much, but that's like a 3rd/4th rounder coming back to us.

Plus if he turns his coaching around we can use the same chant. I say DAN you say CAN: DAN - CAN

Plus the season they won, he was only coach for a few months. Usually a coaching change mid-season puts some fire in a teams play anyway (e.g. Islanders this year)

Great post. Interesting read. I honestly don't have the time to watch enough hockey, but I'm assuming the photos of the other teams are 'typical' of their breakouts in your eyes? I've just had surgery and have a few weeks off work, so was looking forward to watching more hockey... then the Sabres decided to go on a west-coast trip :( Obviously we are favouring the stretch pass. How much do we think that is a coaching decision or adaption? What was Bylsma like with the Pens? i.e. are we hail marying it every time because we don't have, or DD doesn't think we have, the talent to properly carry it? Or is this just his system?

So with us well and truly missing the playoffs, I don't even the most ardent optimist still believe there is hope. What happens to Dan? Do people really think he will go? This team is on track to perform worse than last year (both in points and positions). However, Murray has not addressed this teams weakness in 2 seasons now, and on top of that has been trading away what serviceable D-men we had. I'm still not quite over Pysyk being traded. I was reading a Q+A with the Panthers equipment manager and Pysyk was mentioned multiple times as a low maintenance player who is an absolute professional - the guy clearly had a lot of time for him. But I'm sure 3/4 of a season of a misused and under performing UFA is just as good. In other news, does Buffalo have a paper that would ever use the headline 'Bye-lsma' for when he is fired?

I'm trying to work out if I can get to this. See how willing my wife is for a trip across the Atlantic...

Plus with some obvious exceptions, I would probably want to give a well-thought-of AGM a shot at GM over a fired GM

NHL ready?