PerreaultForever

I think it's less complicated. To me it's just a lack of urgency and physical play. They don't win enough puck battles. They haven't won enough puck battles since game one. They haven't won enough puck battles since I honestly don't know how long, but years. We are at that stage of the year when teams coast in expecting to win easily and we catch them napping. They turn it on at the end maybe and if they have a goalie out and are a goal down they wake up for a bit and battle for pucks. We lose those battles. It's not more complicated than that.

Well I guess that is a memorable first ever hat trick to say the least. He's got a story for his grandkids now. idk, that game was putting me to sleep and I think Carolina came in half asleep but a win is a win.

Sabres can play with these guys and should be able to but they probably won't.

Lots of injuries in his career so at 32 it's risky but the lack of veterans here makes it valuable. Give him 3 years and slap an A on him.

It's a true thing. On the surface it sounds kind of dumb, and it's straight out of Shorsey, but it's also real. I mentioned this last year (or maybe the year before? it all blurs and time flies) that we have guys who love to win but these kids don't hate to lose. The team as a whole accepts losing far too easily and far too quickly. This again, is a leadership problem and the problem with a team of young individual stars.

Damn I just did the same thing. I was hoping...............

We've actually agreed a couple times lately. It is clearly the end times. (or more likely some things these days are just too obvious)

Ruff just sounds so tired and old in every single interview clip. I'm slightly older and he makes me feel spry. I think this is killing him.

Most likely.

It wasn't that simple and in many ways it is similar to what is going on right now with Cozens and others. Sabres did not surround him with the players he needed to develop with and his "leadership" role was thrust upon him too early and too much. He's a different player in Florida and that's because of the players around him and what his role is. They identified his skills and used them properly. He does many of the same things but one step closer, one step harder, etc. because he knows he has support on all levels and so he thrives. The skill level was never in question but the losing and quitting became a thing here as it does for almost every player here. I am almost certain if Cozens gets moved within a year he will be exactly what we wanted him to be on his new team. If we move him to Detroit for example they will slap somebody like Kane on his wing and not some green kid. Sabres have thrust him into a leadership center role and "developed" him carrying young wingers almost exclusively while what he needed was to play between two veterans. Sabres are just a stupid team.

Agreed, but I'm pretty sure Adams will just follow whatever "plan" Pegula decides is right at this moment. If Pegula likes these players and thinks we just need more time than nobody big will be moved. If Pegula is fed up with these players (any number of them) then Adams is off working on his speech/excuses for the post trade(s) press conferences. Pegula might not make every individual hockey decision but he definitely controls the vision and whatever timeline they are currently going to use. At this point I'm 100% sure if Adams said NO to ANY Pegula idea he'd be fired that day. The climate for a firing is ripe after all.

I picked talent, but focusing in on the too young and unprepared for the NHL aspect of that. Their development program sucks and given the complete reliance on the draft you would think they'd have focused on building the best development program possible. But no, they just seem to think these guys will all just get it eventually through trial and error.

Well, since you asked, I guess I'd say no, you don't take it away. I said giving him the C was a mistake and I think I was right, but once it's done it's done and there's no justification to remove it. He's far from being the main problem. I will say this though, in the tear down, when they ditched Reinhart Eichel and Risto I wondered if Dahlin should have been in that tear down group as he had a lot of losing stink on him too since he started so young. I wondered if he could escape that mindset they were trying to clear out or if he'd fall back into accepting losing too easily and drag others into that along the way. idk, too late now, but maybe another tear down and a different rebuild is the only answer long term. I just don't know. It's hard to believe it's still not working.

This is true, Columbus has used their picks to draft a wide array of different types of players and we have many times drafted the same guy over and over which leaves us lacking in many areas. We assumed the idea was BPA and then trade the duplicates but so far little of that has taken place. Savoie out with Benson in as mentioned but that's about it.

Is Kasper better? idk, I think it's too early to say on him. Problem with this is it continues the pattern of the Sabres being a development team for other teams. How do you ever win if you just keep trading for younger guys?

and I imagine it felt pretty good for him when he beat us. Disco Dan isn't doing great in Seattle, but they play better than the Sabres.

They certainly destroyed Seattle today that's for sure. Makes that another 4 point swing vs. Sabres in the standings. Ottawa also winning against Dallas. They are a tough one to figure. Some nights they look really good and then others complete garbage.

Agreed and a guy like Byram is a valuable player on your roster but not if you already have multiple versions of that guy. In this modern era you want 2 of those skilled offensive D men. One for each of your two PP units. When we already have Dahlin and Power wtf do we want Byram for? Meanwhile Jokiharju and Bryson are C grade versions of the same that are bottom end fill ins at best. Clifton and Samuelson are middle to bottom end mediocre D men and Gilbert is a tough guy but a marginal NHLer. Really a 7/8 guy on your roster. That's a very badly constructed D despite having 2 overall firsts and another first rounder on it. One of Power, Dahlin, Byram needs to be traded and since two are locked up and one wants a new fat deal that's the logical guy to move. Now if there's a great deal for Power out there maybe I make that and sign Byram. Details on that would matter. It seems unlikely in terms of the Sabres winning the deal. Just on the current last game, Byram was way out of position on several goals. The Dahlin Byram pairing is a really really bad idea.

Washington is a great example of how to rebuild properly. They didn't dump all their veterans. They kept a strong leadership core, sold a few pieces at deadlines, built a strong veteran AHL team to focus on defense and culture and they develop their prospects within that. Then they add a few UFAs each year and a few trades but they keep the team filled with veterans and pros and not all kids. Total contrast in style and method.

Yes, because they insist on puck moving offensive D men rather than block shots move bodies etc defensive defensemen. That and most of the forwards prefer to play offense as well and make poor decisions accordingly. It's the team they have built. It's what Terry wants.

I kind of know what you mean. I don't think he has any answers. It does appear that he cannot get them to keep playing with the level of play they need. He cracks the whip and gets a few periods or a game out of them and then they are right back to their preferred way of playing, which is not really playing. Just soft perimeter stuff. I'm not sure any coach would reach them though. I think it's the type of players KA has assembled together.

You're making the assumption that Adams would do a logical thing and trade for a player(s) that would help this team immediately. Wouldn't shock me in the least if they've already concluded this isn't the year and it'll be next year or the next next year and they would trade for Kasper or Danielson or some sort of package around one or more of them. Dumb? Yes. But it's Adams and Pegula. It's what they do.

In the Florida Boston game they put up a standings graphic and the Sabres were the only team in the division not included as "in the hunt".

Played that like he was wearing blue and gold. Very entertaining game. Weird bounce to tie it, weird bounce to win it. Bruins not good to start and Florida dominated but it appears at least for now that Swayman is back to form so that might change things for them a little. Let's not forget E-Rod also scored.

Kid's day. Sabres killing off the future generation's love for hockey now before it barely gets started. Soft bunch of quitters. The D showed all their frequent weaknesses. Garbage.