#freejame

Sabres in years past would wilt in a game like this. There’s still a lot of monkeys on our backs. A win here takes off a big one.

I don’t really appreciate when people make me laugh with these

It must have been a blink and you missed it type event because I finally caved and looked at the standings and we’re in 7th in the conference. Can jump into 4th tonight.

I’m reading Malcolm Gladwell’s new book (it’s fine), and in it he talks about the recovery of the Florida Panther (animal, not the team) and how inbreeding after mass extinction events had basically destroyed the population to unrecoverable levels. So to flesh out the gene pool, they brought in Texas panthers to breed. Apparently it’s been a very successful program. Florida officials have mixed feelings about their bastard panthers, but most think it’s a good thing. Im not positive any of this ties in to hockey, but I’m sure someone here will be able to make it relevant.

I don’t think most posters mean it that way, but I think by many it’s perceived that way.

How many games above true .500 before the arena is packed? My guess is around 5 games. The fan base is hungry. Everyone I talk to wants to believe, they’ve just been burned in the past.

To me it’s always been mocking the team. I remember it starting with NS posting must win during games when we were already eliminated. It always came off sarcastic to me. I can see how it was fun for some during the darkest of days, but to me it’s always going to mark our years of futility.

I think I like it. All Cozens has to do is keep throwing the puck at the net. NAK will cause chaos in front and we’ll get a lot more second chances. I think adding NAK for more forecheck/backcheck will also get more of that out of Cozens. I’m not sure what will get Quinn going. I think he’s gotta self-start more than anything. Hopefully that ENG helped.

At this point, I think it’s mostly just to annoy those of us who don’t like it. I’ve never been able to stand what it represents.

If you’re going to waterboard, do it with conviction!

Who could have possibly seen this coming?

And that comment was made right after the Europe trip. I’m not sure what your confusion is. They looked like ***** overseas.

That was three weeks ago…

How would salary cap in the playoffs even work without changing how cap accumulates during the regular season?

Can’t watch, so mark it down as a dub

Yeah, but like, it wasn’t easy

I want to see Krebs-McLeod-Cozens. McLeods transition ability will take a lot off of Cozens. McLeod has also been creating a good deal of second chance opportunities which will be easier for Dylan to convert off of. Dylan is also creating a lot of second chance opportunities, so putting Krebs (or another pesty player willing to play the front of the net and crash hard) will create some havoc in front and lead to more chances. Getting Cozens on his off wing will also get his stick closer to the net and allow him to convert on those second chance opportunities/have better shooting angles. I don’t need him passing, shoot the puck and let the chaos take care of the rest.

Marino would have been an amazing pickup for us. Tough break for the Utes

I think it’s very clear that both our understanding of hockey and the English language are in two different places so I’m just going to move on from this conversation. My God help your reading comprehension.

I’d like to see Power add more of a recovery skill for when his stick/reach doesn’t work. He’s got good stick work, but he can get undressed if someone is able to route a puck through it. It doesn’t have to be a check, but closing the distance with his body and slowing down the forward would help him immensely. I think Power’s stick work will be elite by the time he’s in his mid-20s. It’s similar to what I said about Dahlin and his elite line work. If he can develop another skill to a high end level, he will be a #1 defenseman.

Glad you got to go to a good game. It sounded pretty loud considering how few people were there. The fanbase is hungry, that’s for sure.

I literally copied and pasted your own words and now you’re saying you said something else over and over lol -I have seen alot of posts in the GDT's when the Sabres are down where people are negative about Ruff...he doesn't have it anymore..it was a bad hire (not the hiring process was bad, but it was a bad hire, etc. So yeah, you are wrong there.—Your initial post said you’ve seen people saying Ruff needs to go. I responded saying that’s not true, but people are leveling criticism at him and the hire. Your response is saying the same thing I just said. -The team needing to be broken down/rebuilt? You are wrong again. Look back through the gameday threads, just as above, they get down by a goal or two and there certainly ARE people calling for that in posts.—What am I wrong about? That some fans want to make changes from Kevyn Adams because he’s on year five of not making the playoffs? You lost me. -You say that is not outlandish to say the team shouldn't be run differently? I never said it is outlandish. All I said is it is an example to support the point that some of us where making and guess what, IT DOES. It may not be outlandish, but it still supports the main point.—what are you even saying here? What I said was “People should want the team run in a way that makes the playoffs. If this team doesn’t make it, it should be run differently. This isn’t outlandish to say.” I didn’t say you said anything lol. -You don't get context at all. I never said last night was a 'nagging win'.—your words were literally “and these nagging wins” in a GDT after a win.

This is absolute bologna. Some people have made up their mind that Kevin Adams is awful—It’s his fifth year in charge, after not having made the playoffs the previous four. People should have an opinion of him. The stats back up a negative opinion. and so does Ruff—I don’t think I’ve seen anyone call for Ruff’s firing. I’ve seen people question the hiring and hiring process, and I’ve seen people pushback on some of the over the top things people say positively about Lindy Ruff. Same goes with players like Tage (not a top center, it’s a mirage), Dahlin (WAY overrated), Power (needs to be traded now).—Tage was not a top center last year or three years before that. He started flat. There’s nothing wrong with questioning where he ranks. This is a message board after all. The professional consensus has him not as a top 15 center either. There are two groups of people on this board regarding Dahlin. The first see him as a Norris Candidate. The second wants him as a Norris Candidate but doesn’t think he’s been one. So yeah, there’s debate in if he’s overrated and if you’re calling a guy Norris level and he’s not, that would make him WAY overrated. The majority of the board has been up on Power this season. Defense typically takes longer to excel at in the pro level than offense, and as a number 1 pick on a team that hasn’t made the playoffs, that’s worked against Owen. He also has very high trade value. If you think moves need to be made, he’s a great piece. But I don’t think I’ve seen any real calls to trade him. Either the team turns into a cup contender right now for those fan,s or it needs to be broken down.—Again, not true. It’s Kevyn’s fifth year. If he doesn’t make the playoffs he needs to go. That’s how things work. It’s supposed to be a performance based league. Also, it was the organization that said the goal is to be a cup contender, not to simply make the playoffs. I don’t know of any fan who doesn’t just want to get in at this point. But we have seen where sometimes we get a narrative in our own head that we want the team run differently—People should want the team run in a way that makes the playoffs. If this team doesn’t make it, it should be run differently. This isn’t outlandish to say. and these 'nagging wins' are causing the changes we want to be made to not be made soon enough.—last night wasn’t a nagging win. Fans have been saying we need to grind out wins (and overtime losses) since Lindy’s last stint as head coach. Last night was a great performance, as evident in the overall conversation during the game. If there are people like that, you'll see....they won't say much during a win, but even after a winning streak the team will have that first bad game and they'll be back here to say "everything is awful" "**** is a bum" and "I told you so"—this is exactly what you’re doing RIGHT NOW, only in the flip side. If the Sabres ***** the bed Saturday, you can guarantee the same criticism will be leveled because the same problem will be evident. People have been making BS posts like this calling fans ***** for years and it’s complete nonsense. Everyone here wants the Sabres to be good. Everyone here wants the Sabres to be in the playoffs. There is no fan that is better or that is worse. More than 75% of the board said we would make the playoffs before the season started. Year after year with the bad fan ***** gets so old.

Greenway and McLeod were great tonight. I’m still not sold on Zucker but that pair is on a heater.