PerreaultForever

There was something a few years back about "we got bad advice from hockey people" which was sort of a sideways we made a mistake but it was also the wrong lesson learned. Pegula thinks he knows better that's certain. imo 3 things broke this franchise. 1) Lucic hitting Miller 2) LaFontaine resigning 3) tanking for McDavid and not getting him There were numerous other mistakes but those 3 are big pivotal things. All 3 have contributed to turning this franchise into what it is and Pegula has not found a way to rebuild it from those moments because he thinks he knows better and now it's gotten so bad I'm not sure anybody can fix it without something radical.

We don't claim people off waivers. Have you not noticed that yet? There's been several potential upgrades available this year and we do nothing.

The fear of a Bills superbowl might be, however, that it convinces Pegula he does know what he's doing in sports and Sabres fans will be told to be patient and the Bills will be constantly referenced as to why he's a good owner. (and yes, I know you people in Buffalo won't care because, well, you'll have a superbowl finally).

I think you could argue that Canada isn't dominating the worlds any more because too many of their best are staying in the NHL. Celebrini, Bedard, Fantilli, Benson, that team could be a lot better than it was couldn't it.

I agree in part, but what they need is people working for the Sabres that stay on top of the kids they send back. Guide them and help them and give them weight programs and other development plans. We really aren't investing enough on development at any level and with a constant rely on the draft and young players plan it's really stupid.

If you think back to his glory days here he had solid leaders on those teams and there were guys on the roster that would drag others into the fight if things sagged. He doesn't have that this time. maybe Tuch worships him but to most of these guys he's just some old guy Sabres put in charge. The team still accepts losing, they don't hate to lose, and the standard is way too low. The leadership they have is inadequate and they are at times clueless. I do not believe there is any coach who could magically fix this roster. There is enough talent here, but the roster as a whole is poorly constructed.

Agree with what you're saying there but would just add that veterans would have experienced something different so one would hope they could get the others out of the funks quicker and raise the standard to where it should be. Benson hasn't quit yet, but Cozens never quit in his first years either. Wait until Benson gets his big payday 🙂

I'm still going to disagree with that. I firmly believe that being part of winning at the lower level would benefit him more than being surrounded by the stink of losing he has gotten here. The team we have is delusional top to bottom. Watched a Tage interview post Colorado and he was talking about all the good things they did and how good they played. THEY LOST. I never hear that on any other team. Having Benson in junior and another Zucker type veteran in his spot would have been the better plan. Lack of veteran leaders is the biggest problem and the idea of a room full of kids growing together is ridiculous.

I disagree. We want all these kids to come in as children and some of them like Benson shows signs of being able but there's more to becoming a pro than just playing, becoming a man even if you like. Sure, you could argue that he won't learn much in junior but would it be so bad to have him dominate in junior? Win a championship maybe? Captain team Canada in the world juniors to maybe not choke? Get bigger and stronger and then be really good and strong and confident when you come into the NHL full time? What have the Sabres achieved keeping Benson on the roster other than burning years off his ELC and showing fans how useless the other guys are in terms of effort. We do not know how to develop young players properly. That is certain.

Oh absolutely. The KA plan was Thompson, Cozens, McLeod. Lafferty/Krebs. Things don't work and players don't play up to their expectations and Ruff juggles and tries everything. There is a bias towards his own guys that is certain, but that's not unique. Most GMs do that. But yes, he'd like you to at least believe he made out okay on it. He did not.

There have been numerous 4th line players as good or better than ours that have been waived over the course of this season. So everything Adams did there was a waste. Zucker is the best and we got him by overpaying him and he will be a fine 3rd line player for a playoff team down the stretch. Adams will try to get a first for him but I doubt he will. I suspect a 2nd so that'll give him a wash on Malentstyn I guess. McLeod is okay but not great. He's definitely not as good as Mitts was if that's the intent, but he is better than Krebs. Thing is, if he does make any big moves it'll probably be Cozens or Byram or someone like that and that'll open up more holes that need filling so next year it'll be all about Helenius or some other kid. So same problems.

Two simple benchmarks. Benson stands out like some extremely able prospect here and on any other team he'd be good, but he'd be just another rookie. Zucker, a third line player on past teams, stands out like he's an allstar here. Everything is relative.

This one is really hard to watch because you can just see they can basically generate zero offense at all. Vegas isn't even breaking a sweat.

For the right offer nobody on this roster should be untradeable. Byram will be traded imo. He's going to want a lot of money and there is no way they can pay Dahlin, Power and Byram with big deals at the same time. Not the way they budget and plan. Now if somebody wants to offer a lot for Power's potential, then by all means move him. He's certainly not worth what he gets right now. What I wouldn't want to see though is moving players out for picks. We've done enough of that already.

It's looking like Ottawa was just riding the Ullmark wave. With him injured they've fallen back to looking, well, basically about the same as the Sabres.

Well ya, that's what I meant. Benson didn't play the last half of the period or thereabouts. Definitely not in the last stretch. I really think Colorado did the challenge to make a statement. They didn't expect to win it they wanted to frenzy up the crowd and their own bench. It worked.

Well yes, I suppose faking injury could be a thing, I'm just saying I've seen whistles for less. This looked like obvious distress and the play had moved away from the goal area already.

Initially, but didn't he sit for the last half of the third?

Trades would be pointless. We need to add veteran leaders. We've needed that for a long time and still do.

In fairness however, it was odd that they did not whistle the play dead for the injured goalie. He was clearly hurt and down and there was quite a bit of time before he scored. I've seen many games where that would be whistled dead long before the wrap around took place. Pretty sure that was the big complaint. The cause of injury was obviously just a hockey play where the D man knocked him towards the goalie. I think Colorado challenged it just to punctuate their complaint. Also weird that Ruff held Benson out after that to protect him from getting killed. I guess that's a good thing, but also what does that say about this team?

and they beat the Bruins who can't score a goal to save their lives on any night. One of the funniest things now is watching Zadorov shoot. I remember watching a playoff game with Vancouver where he rifled one into the net and I though wow, he's developed a cannon with his size behind it and I guess Sweeney saw that too. Trouble is that was his 1 out of 100 shots that actually hit the net. Somebody needs to get that man a pair of glasses. Shoots wild is an understatement. Point to my mentioning this is Sabres have blown another season that has teams falling and opportunities there for the taking as Washington has done.

Well the third period was certainly eventful. Can't say I got bored, that was some major entertainment (although I'm sure Colorado fans think the refs suck). When you look at the impact a veteran like Zucker has you just can't help but think would we be a playoff contender if they'd spent to the cap and added another one? At least I think that. But we need the money for next year I know Kevyn I know.

So what you're saying is PROGRESS!

The question would be is the speed not there or is he just not using it due to playing too cautiously and/or thinking too much and hesitating? I think it's the latter but being slower due to the past injury is also a possibility.

Ya that's fair, and for that I put the blame on Granato and Appert and how we develop young players in Rochester. They should be learning how to play defensively FIRST and then when they are capable in that they come up and can slowly let their offensive creativity come back out. I remember Granato saying offense was harder so that came first and it was just so backwards from almost every other team I just never understood it but I think that is Pegula hockey. It's how he wants it, and that's why we've continually lost.