erickompositör72

It won't happen, but if we could do Halak for Lehner, I will jump up and down cheering

Not trying to weigh-in on either side, but just saying- wouldn't be far fetched to assume O'Reilly's kid is not on his mind during a post-win night out in Calgary, etc.

Aha, a mid-season loss to a team in the playoff hunt, and voila! You are completely vindicated!

Think twice about that #timesup

He won't as a GM... maybe as a director of scouting

I'm hoping the Sabres start playing at a pace which would have made them a "bubble" team, had they played that way the entire year. I don't care what that does to our draft position. It's time they showed us some good hockey, and I think they do have the talent to do so.

I've been called "selfish" many times... ...but this is the first time I've been called it for wanting my favorite team of all of sports (since I was 6 years old) to win games... If that makes me selfish, I'm guilty as charged! But I really wish some people here could see this in a little more nuanced, less black-and-white fashion. Too many are literally of the opinion that it's either playoffs or race for 31st. Honestly, I just think it's an overly simplistic view of the dynamics of building of winning team.

Some of us begrudge people who call themselves "fans" who cannot enjoy a win. I'm on the fence between begrudging and attributing it to some minor psychosis... Changing names to Swedish is fun. The fact you actually use it to try to call me a hypocrite is pretty weak. I hope I don't need to explain more why I'm not a hypocrite; I trust you're bright enough to figure it out.

I hope more people here start to realize this. Some people here are like heroine addicts with their high-draft-pick fetish. You can beat this addiction. Winning will help. I know it's hard at first.

Ausgezeichnet

I think they're all believing they can play like this consistently, and are motivated to show the home fans they can.

I was thinking the same thing. And if he wants to play in the NHL, woe is GMBot to deny him and tempt him to pull a Vesey/Butcher

Can we trade him to a tanking team for anything useful?

Probably for the same reason Eichel's contract was based on the potential he shows, not his slumps

If GMBot trades Reinhart- in my mind, it will be a litmus test in how he judges young players. If he gives him away for more than what I believe his potential is, I will become very skeptical. On the other hand- maybe GMBot and Wowie have decided that the team needs the Eichel-Reinhart-Kane bromance to be completely disrupted, and both 9 and 23 need to go to get 15 to focus... just a crazy theory!

Completely disagree. Not only could it provide carryover momentum, but it will build a trust between Phil, Jack, and the rest of the core, that they have a formula that will work. Jack, as the leader, will be able to sell this formula to any new faces in the locker room with genuine belief. Think about it. We hoped we'd be a bubble team this year. What "good" would that have done us? The "good" it would have done is show growth. Why wouldn't it be just as satisfying to show that growth, albeit with a late start? What if we play the second half of the season like a bubble team? I'll tell you why some people don't like it. Because they started daydreaming about the draft already. It's a fool's errand. If we played as a "bubble" team since October, would you be talking about how we "screwed ourselves for the draft?" No! You'd be talking about what great improvement it is. Why can't you say the same, even though it took a while to set in? Because of your draft wet dreams. Get over them. Some people here seem to actually want either playoffs or 30th place. I think that train of thought is... well... nevermind- nfreeman will call me "obnoxious" if I say :P

Trade Lehner right away! Perfect time to do it!!!!

Yeah, I wanna go forward into the next decade with the basket-case core. Yay! Not sure the relevance of the latter part of your post

Win. No more loser . We're at the breaking-point

I think you are severely mis-remembering My broader point was- he had good seasons as a 19-21yr old on a not good team, and he slumped in the worst Sabres half-season I've ever seen. I hardly hold that against him.

Is it the term or the $ amount that makes you sick? Don't you think we should take his first two seasons into account? (as a 19-21yr old)

Not to beat a decomposing horse, but... I don't buy that he's kept us in any games that a solid NHL starter would not have also kept us in. He flails around and makes saves look more spectacular than they are at times, because it's a wonder a slow-reflexed, 6'5", 240lbs guy can do it. Most starting goaltenders move much more efficiently than he does, making what might be an "impressive" save by Lehner look routine.

Maybe the refs consider everything catchable, if it's NE?

I think Lehner has cost us as many as 8 games this season. 16 points. That doesn't explain every problem. But, just for shits, how would we evaluate things if we were currently at 47pts, 6pts out of the last wildcard?

I have a theory that all of Phil's rhetoric (playing fast, attacking, exciting) had the effect of making the entire team think they no longer had to play smart, disciplined hockey. I think that subconsciously set in before they even got to training camp. I think their PP success last year came from a combination of skill and discipline. This year, the discipline went out the window (hence all the early season shorties we allowed). Not to mention that stupid drop-the-puck-back-5-times-in-the-neutral-zone-before-entering-the-offensive-zone thing.