Pokey Jones

Babcock isn't doing anything magical, he just has more talent to work with.

I know I know, but if you blew it up and built it wrong what choice do you have other than blowing it up again? Look, the Isles aren't very good imo but we all talked about how a team that was beaten bad would bounce back with a big effort which they had. We should have seen that from us in this game and we didn't. So, if they can't fix it on this road trip coming up (which is the traditional pull together bs scenario) then blow it up cause there is no other choice.

This is true, but when the old guy is your best shot you have to realize your team is in deep deep trouble. Pominville now shouldn't be better than 3rd line and maybe some 2nd unit PP time, asking more than that means your team sucks bad.

nah, Stafford definitely played before contracts and coasted after. Winnipeg fell into the same mistake we did and signed him after he tore it up for a bit after the trade. Boston was smarter, they got a little out of him for the playoffs but then said no thanks.

If he adjusts it we will still fail. It's not like he took a playoff team and ruined it. Ruff couldn't get them to play at the end, Nolan couldn't get much on a regular basis although before the fire sale AT TIMES they showed a little Nolan grit and heart (at times), Bylsma tried to patch the holes and hold it together waiting for reinforcements that never arrived, Housley has the right idea for the new nhl but not many players on this team that can play it. bring in any coach you want, this pile of trash that Murray built is useless.

I don't think Eichel is pulling a Stafford, but he will coast when he feels its a lost cause. The quitting/excuse attitude runs deep on this team and needs to be purged.

This team is filled with quitters.

I'm telling you it has to be blown up. The culture is all wrong, the excuses are all stale, it'll all fall back into familiar patterns. It's been going on for too long. Like it or not, it has to be Jack cause they signed him already. Kane is probably just motivated by his contract pending but he is still motivated. It's all rubbish and it can't be tweaked or adjusted, it needs a firesale.

I'm gonna go drink.

Kane is playing like he wants a big contract. Eichel is playing like he got one and no longer cares. ROR is playing like he wants out of here. Reinhart is playing like my grandma. Is Moulson in the press box?

Don't fire Housley fire the team.

Yup, they start the games faster, but they don't have enough players who can play it so they end up giving the puck away constantly.

lol. good one.

What a s*it show. In the preseason I was the pessimist, turns out I was being too optimistic. Maybe Beaulieu can play wing cause he sure as s*it can't play D. Sign Kane, keep Jack and Risto and trade the rest of this entire roster for whatever draft picks you can get. Start over. And yes, as I said before, Bylsma had them playing that way cause he knew they lacked talent. It was his only option. Housley wants them to play differently, but they are simply incapable of doing it. Worst Sabres team ever.

All I want from ROR is to be a shutdown guy. If he scores great, but first responsibility/role should be keeping their best center off the score sheet. Let Jack lead the O.

Coach goes with who he thinks has the hot hand or is the best against that goalie. Wait for more games before deciding if this is true or not.

lol - good one. A burned out (close to) 55 year old is kind of what I am actually. Being a Sabres fan doesn't help.

We will argue that point forever I guess. So I'll just say this last thing, were we a playoff team last year with Jack and Sam on the same line? (go ahead, make all the excuses you want now, it doesn't matter anyway)

Yup. McDavid was getting manhandled and pretty frustrated with Dorsett tonight. There's your other difference. If you want McDavid to be Manning, Eichel isn't Leaf, he's more Favre or Roethlisberger (without the rapey stuff hopefully). If we ever build a team around him good enough to get to the final while Eichel is still in his prime and we play Edmonton, I guarantee you at that time head to head Eichel will make McDavid his bitch. My feeling right now is that Matthews might be the best complete player of all 3.

It is (sadly) amusing to see that there are enough issues and problems to spread the blame all over the place and end up with very little consensus.

I don't like to blame goalies but you could make the argument that if we had better goaltending we could be 2-0 right now. No, not saying it is all his fault, but the great goalies make the big saves at the big moments, and Lehner didn't and his play put us behind. We are simply not good enough to win without above average or great goaltending. Reinhart sucked. Hmmmm, wonder who predicted that possibility? In his defense though I will say this, not sure why Housley had him up against Tavares, that to me was a rookie coaching mistake. Total mismatch. I said before the season we'd be giving up a lot of 2 on 1's as the D grew and I worried about Lehner's ability to bail us out on those. Case made tonight. Beaulieu and Tennyson both made huge errors at times and McCabe looked disappointingly awful. maybe just rust (fingers crossed). Bottom line, the slower players struggled the most and once again ROR looked like he cannot play at this tempo (as did others). I think the idea he is sulking over the C is BS but if that's it, well get rid of the baby now cause that kind of attitude isn't what you want on any hockey team. Upside was they didn't quit, and Kane can play uptempo with Eichel, we need a 3rd player for that line as good. We don't have one. And of course Moulson played. He did right? Or was he in the press box? I can't remember.

So I can't be more than one thing? Come on, sometimes with this team I have to rely on humor to keep sane. I'm a pessimist cause I'm tired of hearing about "potential" and "upside". A few years back all you heard was how full the cupboard was and how great we would be and now the cupboard seems less than full and so on. Potential and upside mean NOTHING. So with no humor, no confusion here's what I really think: 1. Happy we fired Murray. Hopeful in that regard with JBot. 2. Really happy we hired Housley and not some old styled dinosaur. new era, new style, his ideas are the right ones. 3. Jack is a star player. Risto is a star player. I really like them. 4. Housley is already improving the D and he doesn't have a lot to work with. Really hopeful for Beaulieu to emerge as a late bloomer. 5. Like the speed, tempo, the "system" if you will. It's all good for the future. 6. Don't think there is enough talent on this roster to make this system fully work yet. 7. Kane and Reinhart are both over-rated in different ways and with cap issues etc. I think we are better off to move them out of town. 8. Our goaltending is too inconsistent to be anything other than average (win you a game one night, lose you one the next, etc) 9. Not sure if ROR will fit in this system. Might want to think about trading him as well. Good player, but maybe not for this team. 10. Too many scrubs on this roster (like Moulson) for us to be a serious playoff threat this year. No depth either. So I am hopeful for the future now for the first time in a while, but at the moment, pretty pessimistic about this year. So that's the truth, if I contradict it, I just might be (failing?) at a joke or two for my own sanity. Cheers, now let's beat those Islanders 10-1 and make me look like an idiot!

It kind of depends on how many minutes you expect your third pair to have. If you play uptempo you have to play everybody and depth-wise that'll be a problem. But still, its better than last year. Way better.

This. Plus when I said he led them to the cup its because in the playoffs he emerged to be what he is (was). Playoff stats are way more important to me than regular season ones. of course there were other players on that team that played a role, one guy never wins you a cup, but his emergence and dominance that year is what took them over the top and gave them the successful run. When we got Jack, I said to my wife "he will never beat McDavid in regular season stats or the scoring race but watch him become more dominant in the playoffs and win more cups". We just have to build a team that can get him there.

Ya they can, but they have to play slower. Last season, the PP worked really well with Sam and Jack because its more of a control possession type thing but at full strength jack was alone too many times. You need players that can skate at his speed so that he can come at the other team full speed. Reinhart isn't that guy. Against slower teams they would be fine together but not uptempo like Housley wants. There is no one else right now (maybe Rodrigues but that's a long shot), so we need Nylander to surprise for the time being until a new guy with real wheels comes along.