jad1

More embarrassing than being the first team to finish 31st in the NHL? Let's let Housley decide.

Botterill would never jeopardize the Amerks season that way.

Moping and attitude criticism coming from a fan is the most useless criticism in sports. Fans aren't on the benches or in the locker room, so complaints of those type should be dismissed out of hand. As far as hustle, in addition to being a point-per-game player, he's the team's best face-off man and is at the top of the league in zone entries. He also kills penalties. That means he's on the ice for defensive and offensive zone starts, and he's often the guy lugging the puck when he's out there. The dude hustles. He could, however use a 2nd center to help carry the load. Again, Eichel is the shiny object on the team, so he's subject to criticism. But when talking about Sabres and their anemic offense, blaming Eichel for the team's issues makes no sense.

He's better than a point-per-game player on a team that can't score. He's 9 points clear of the 2nd leading scorer on the team. Even games where this board claims he's the worst player on the ice, he still posting 2 assists. I get he's the shiny object on the ice, but calling out the only point-per-game player the Sabres have had over the last 12 years in a thread about scoring doesn't make much sense. The Sabres have 3 legit top 6 fowards on the team. That's why they're not scoring. No team can make the playoffs with one strong line and 3 weak ones. Want to fix the Sabres scoring? Fill out the second line with legit top six foward talent. That's what's really wrong with this team.

Until he frames every observation with his experience while in Buffalo, and fans remember how he left. Same with Drury. And Lafontaine. Problem is that the Sabres have burned every relationship with their star centers to the ground.

Total lack of intensity on that play, Jack ?

"Respect for your own net" is the problem according to the guy who named Hutton starter tonight.

McDavid has lost a lot in the NHL too. It takes more than one guy to turn a team around. The fact is that O'Reilly is having an all-star season and the Sabres have throbbing, gaping, noxious need for a 2nd center, and JBot made that deal WAAAAAY too early. Maybe if the Sabres had a coach who could handle a locker room, the Sabres would have an extra 20 goal scorer on the roster and a legitimate 2nd line, instead of the never ending clown show that they've been putting on the ice the last 12 years.

This is one of the worst offensive teams in the league, but they overpass the puck like their the freakin Globetrotters.

I don't know, Hutton's positioning is just awful. He's not a butterfly goalie, he just relies on his reflexes, which are spotty. I think he gives up soft goals because he doesn't take the bottom of the net away. I agree about housley. His system is to have the D push the puck, which is going to lead to turnovers. Playing that style, you need solid goaltending, and Hutton has been shakey for the last month. For that reason, I have no idea why Ullmark hasn't started the majority of games since Xmas.

Yeah, all while posting all-star numbers. Obviously he's the problem.

They traded away the guy who hated losing.

During power plays, they should turn off RJ's mic and play "Turkey in the Straw."

This division has Babcock, Julien, and Cooper. And the Sabres are going to stick with Housley.

Can we just pull Hutton...and send him someplace else. That dude's legs never stop moving.

Amateur-hour head coach

It'll stop when they hire a legit NHL coach.

I would add that their Rube Goldberg-like entry plays also eat up valuable time on power play. Eichel has a high zone-entry success rate. Why do they need four drop passes to get it to him to carry it into the zone? And when they get it into the zone, they screw Eichel to the left side board, the Ovechkin-one-timer zone. But Jack never really takes that one-timer shot. The puck goes to him and the defense collapses, and Jack sends it high to the dman, who works to get it back to Jack, and the defense collapses. And the funny think is that Jack is probably better shooting from the right side than the left. The whole premise of the powerplay is to get Jack a shot that he probably won't be able to take. They'll move other guys around to get Jack his shot, Dmen go high to low, wingers dig on the boards and move to the net. The only guy who is stationary is Jack, the best skater and scorer on the team. They need to abandon this one-timer set-up mentality and let Eichel be the guy that moves. Let him play high on some attempts. Move him to the right side on others. Make it harder for the defense to find him.

I don't think they're that bad. There is no reason the power play should be this bad. Defensive coverage is a coachable thing. It's been terrible the last few weeks. Line-up choices have been iffy too. And the locker room management has been pretty terrible. What does it say that the team decides that Housley can't manage a guy like O'Reilly. A veteran coach would get more out of this team.

Housley is a John Scott away fron being the worst coach in Sabres history.

That's pretty dogmatic, and what's worse is that it assumes that you can pick and choose when you're going to compete. Whether they planned for it or not, the Sabres have one of the best lines in hockey, solid goaltending, and a decent backline. They need another center and winger to be a playoff team. And again, while some might not believe that gaining the 7th or 8th seed is worth investing in, some of the best Sabre playoff runs started in those slots. Having a plan is important, but the plan has to also be flexible enough to take advantage of current events.

This is a good point. When is it time to make that Gilmore or Stu Barnes type trade? It feels like this season is a good time to do it.

Seriously? The only thing that Buffalo teams have going for them the last two decades is that there are still people who are interested in watching and discussing them.

Right, after sticking with this team during 7 years of some of the worst hockey played in NHL history, the fans are the problem ?

Team needs to focus on eliminating mistakes and developing mental toughness. With Quennville sitting out there, they need to quickly figure out if Housley can figure this thing out.