jad1

No doubt one of the the blindspots and fatal flaws in Adams rebuild plan is the unwillingness to sign skilled vets to short-term bridge contracts. But I think that's more in line with his build-from-within/no-blockers strategy than an internal cap.

After the Calgary game, The Athletic posted a stat that I think is one of the KPIs that will indicate how successful Ruff will be as Sabres coach. The stat was that the Sabres had the highest shooting percentage on rebounds in the League. However they were 23rd in the league in rebound shots taken. Listening to Ruff's press conferences, I think he is aware of this and is working on motivating the team to go to the net more. It's proving to be a task with the current group of players, who are Leino-esque in their love for playing on the perimeter. Changing this mindset will help the team improve, but it's a stubborn problem that will probably take 40-60 games to fix.

I don't think this is the case. If Adams is still here next season, the Sabres will spend to the cap on the players they drafted. That cap money is being held for Quinn, Peterka, Levi, maybe Byram.

Yeah, of all the possible outcomes of this meeting, this is the probably the worst. Ruff's job just got more difficult.

So you are saying that the reason the Sabres aren't spending to the cap is that Terry Pegula, a man whose net worth is almost 8 billion dollars, wants to save roughly 7 million bucks? If you understand Adams' long-term vision of roster-building, you would understand why he's signed Cozens and Power to long-term contracts. And the reason the team has unused cap space is because Adams is holding on to it to sign Quinn and Peterka to similar long-term contracts at the end of the season. I don't agree with Adams' approach and believe it's flawed, but it's not an approach whose goal is to save the owner money.

He was and is. No coaching candidate who doesn't already own a house in Buffalo was going to sign up to work under Adams. Many doubted Adams claim that he talked to several coaching candidates before hiring Ruff because they didn't believe he had enough time to talk to that many candidates. However, it is believable if those candidates said no f'n way I'm working for a dead man walking. Those calls only take 3 minutes. You can make 10 of those calls in 40 minutes, when you factor in Adams' slow dialing time. Pegula just is wasting all our time by drawing out the inevitable decision to fire Adams.

He was a dead man walking at the end of last season. Everyone in the league except Pegula recognized it.

Cross check. Good on Benson for staying with it and getting the shot away.

The last time the Sabres made the playoffs, Bill Belichick's girlfriend was 11 years old. (That's a NY Jets joke, but it also works with for the Sabres)

Why wouldn't they just promote Karmanos for the rest of the season? He was well-regarded by the rest of the league, and the sooner you make the move, the more you'll be able to see if he can handle the job. If he can't handle it, fire him and hire someone else in the off season. Oh, and ask Ruff if there are any coaches he likes who are hanging out on their couches right now. Let him bring those guys in and fire Ellis and Wilford. Ruff sounds like he's had it with Kevyn's boys.

Pegula is giving 8 million dollars a year for the next 8 years to Owen Power. How much more charity is needed by the Sabres?

Greenway understands the assignment.

I think if he does, it's going to take something like 60 games to fix.

Toilet Bowl sponsored by New York State taxes

Sabres have about 5 turnovers in this game from just inside the Rangers blueline.

In Lindy's press conferences, he's talked about Cozens and Thompson making the wrong reads on the defensive side. He talked about them not being connected with the defensemen. And also how their extending shifts have hurt the team. Before the Detroit game he admitted the system he's installing requires more work for the centers than Granato's system and if they can't handle the work, he'll move them to wing. Would like to see the Sabres analysts follow up on those comments by the coach.

They haven't won 4 games in a row in almost 2 seasons, even with Dahlin. The Sabres lack fundamentals and are mentally weak. Instead of measuring them by the standings at this point, the goal should be to give a legitimate effort for 3 periods of a single game. Right now, even that seems impossible.

Don't underestimate him.

Adams says a lot of stuff that isn't true.

Oh yeah, these guys have always been all talk. Writing letters the fans while it's been obvious that they have no clue about the effort it takes to win night in and night out. Ruff should have been a much need blast of reality to this group. It's good to see he's finally getting there. Let's see if this mentally weak team is up to the challenge.

Yep. Could see it coming miles away. Surprised it took Ruff almost 30 games to get to this point. It'll be interesting to see who on the roster survives this.

Terry absolutely meddled with the Bills when he bought them when he hired Rex Ryan. That was a 100% Terry descision. I think he wanted an organization like the Patriots, where the head coach was the main decision maker and the GM was more the facilitator. That's why he kept Doug Whaley. When he replaced Ryan and Whaley, he hired McDermott first, looking for the same HC centric org, only this time without a clown as the HC. When they brought Beane aboard, however, McDermott and Beane organized more traditionally around the roles. They made the playoffs that year, and Terry has been in the background ever since.

If Botts was winning games and making the playoffs, he wouldn't have lost his job, no matter whether he listened to Terry or not. I'd have an easier time agreeing with you if the Bills and Beane weren't in the picture. Nobody accuses Terry of meddling with the Bills, because Beane is clearly in charge. He's a strong-enough GM enough to set boundries. He's also good at his job. If Adams is too weak to set similar boundries with the owner, or too poor a GM to build a winning team, then why are we wasting words on Terry. The first step in getting right is firing Adams. The second step is to hope for luck in finding the next GM. It worked for the Bills.