Kruppstahl

Hey, it worked wonders for ROR!

Fire Botterill immediately and replace him with someone with experience and success in building a young team. I would also look to move the long time tank players off the team ASAP, including Reinhart most of all. If a guy like Rodriguez is publicly asking to be traded, you know we have one of the worst locker rooms in the league. And then folks wonder why Dahlin's progress is going sideways. I shudder to think what sort of environment that kid is currently being ruined in! Oh, so it's been a 10 year plan all along. No worries then. ?

It's been this way for a decade now, at least. It was a problem with the old team before it got blown up too. Hockey has transformed as a sport, particularly at the NHL level and during the regular season over the last 20 years. I find it mostly boring now, though one or two games in every 10 might be fun to watch. It's funny, but my interest in this game tonight peaked when McCabe took on Kucherov and got bloodied for his efforts. Finally some drama, narrative tension, and players who seem to actually care about what they are doing for a living!

They should respond to Rodriguez's request by cutting him from the team immediately. Buffalo must be thought of as a bottom 3, if not worst, stop in the NHL right now.

So, we've now lost 6 of our last 7 and only Ottawa, NJ, and Detroit have fewer points in the East. Skinner is gone for a month and we have a GM who doesn't do anything. If opposing teams can keep Eichel in check, we lose. Our mediocre goaltending continues to be a problem. Fun Fact: We traded Paul Gaustad to Nashville on February 27, 2012. Pretty soon that will have been EIGHT YEARS AGO. It's hard to believe we are where we are with this rebuild after this much time. It's been a complete and total disaster. Darcy's comment about Sabres fans suffering is the wisest thing anyone has ever said about this team.

And really not much of an end game to the suck in sight, you know? That's the part that hurts. Wonder what Skinner did to his shoulder. He might be gone weeks and/or months.

I'll be impressed if we actually show up and play well/hard for 60 minutes. Until we start doing that every game, there isn't much point in discussing the finer points.

Tonight's a good night to call out Reinhart. He's a floater who routinely plays way below his potential. He cannot drive play and he lives and dies with the success of Jack. He should be moved, perhaps with other assets, for a group of assets in return. And can someone tell me why BOGO is playing on this team? He's f-ing terrible and doesn't want to be here.

I will be happy if they just show up, seem interested in playing hockey, and string 3 good periods of effort together. We usually don't get all that in a single game.

The Bills fan base is generally in denial about the limitations of Josh Allen. They'll cook up any explanation to help explain a loss that doesn't shine a bight light on the QB. It's interesting, but also strange IMO. Allen's support is starting to collapse within a portion of the fanbase, but it's still not widespread. The day will come when everyone accepts it. But the question is how long will it take to get there?

Yeah, I don't put much into that crap. Do you?

My guess is a nagging quasi-high ankle sprain or something like that. Something that has been bothering him for a while but has been kept in check. It flared up the other night in the pre-game skate and they figured better to rest that night than have the situation blossom into a full blown injury in the game.

Ottawa is one of those teams that always makes for a dreary game and a lousy opponent. New Jersey is similar for me, as is Carolina. I always enjoy playing certain teams and hate playing others. Remember when Ottawa was actually a fierce rival and a matchup with them promised some rough stuff? Yeah, that's gone forever.

So we learned a little bit more about the "flu" he had. As you say, upper body injury he has been dealing with. Didn't come out of nowhere. I knew it wasn't the flu. Hopefully whatever it is stays in check and doesn't present a bigger problem going forward.

I don't know how good his save % would be elsewhere, but I agree with your general point here. He's just not that good a goalie, and playing in front of a fundamentally bad hockey team has exposed him. He's no more than a backup at the National league level.

Rayzor seems a bit overweight and out of shape these days, but have a look at how far the league has deteriorated! As an example, watch that melee surrounding Dahlin from last night. That is the new thing in the NHL. Play gets rough and escalates. The whistle blows. Players pair up...and then nothing happens. It's all hugging and avoiding eye contact because no one wants to fight. In this environment, Rob Ray at his current age/level of physical conditioning would thrive. Not that he would do it to his own teammate, but can you possibly imagine Rayzor at his current age grabbing Dahlin and lighting him up? Might end the kid's career. In the old days, there were always soft guys like this in the league. The guys who avoid altercations. The difference is that the team still had a bunch of other guys willing to take care of business. But now, those other guys are gone. They're not there anymore, so we are left with these Dave Snuggerud and Christian Ruuttu types engaging in these hug fests. It's embarrassing.

The theme here seems to be "falling off the table." What concerns me most about Botterill is that he seemingly has no idea what a good NHL hockey player looks like, particularly as viewed from the perspective of being able to generate a long run of success in the playoffs. He seems to love physically small, weak choir boy types who have absolutely no inner drive or competitiveness in them, by nature. Somewhere along the line in the last 20 years or so, hockey players stopped being hockey players. or at least a lot of them did. By that I mean the profile of who ends up in the NHL is changing quite a bit. The 2 big drivers are how soft the game has become, allowing soft players to excel, and the money involved now, turning even a very short career into a "set for life" pay day. Whole lotta pussies floating around the league now, and Botterill seems to have a knack for finding them and turning them into Buffalo Sabres.

So if it really was just a case of "flu" or food poisoning or that type of thing, Ralph's comments after the game last night are really weird. All he had to say was "flu" but he said anything but that. Kind of weird.

I've written this sentiment virtually word for word a few times now. His failure to act is going to cost us another playoff-less season.

A second really disinterested, soft game in a row! Great. The work ethic problems continue under their 4th (5th?) coach. Connor Sheary you suck so bad. Reinhart you are such a floater. No way in hell do you get the big K and I hope to God they move you for equal value this year. Carter Hutton you aren't even a solid backup these days. Sobotka! I haven't forgotten about you! You aren't sneaking by just because you are out of the lineup! This is still all your fault! I've been asking for over a year now and I will continue to ask: how long do we have to endure this before Botterill gets fired? And when he is gone, why should we think Pegula will get the next hire correct? If you're Pegula, how much longer do you want Botterill F-ing this ***** show up? It's hard to believe we are still this bad after being this bad for so long. The cavalry never arrived.

The analytics support the decision to pull the goalie on the PP; not too early based on a lot of data. Had the team bothered showing up for the first 40 minutes things might have become so desperate.

This team is terrible. Reinhart has become invisible, Skinner needs a playmaker to play with; his talents are being squandered where he is right now; Dahlin is playing so f-ing scared he's making mistakes he wouldn't be making if he was more relaxed; overall secondary scoring is non-existent; the D has major holes all over it, and Botterill likes the look of things as they are. Don't expect the much needed roster relief to come any time soon.

Someone call the caaauups! Sabres stole a point. OT is on Jack; that puch has to go forward on that play, can't come back out like that. We had no business getting a point today, but I'll take it.