PerreaultForever

This is where we will disagree (forever). I've heard him speak and seen what type of person he is and I do not believe he went out to intentionally injure anyone. Sure, he hit hard, and sometimes crossed the line in the heat of the moment but he was not an intentional dirty guy. I think Bennett and Tkachuk intentionally do things to try to hurt people. Marchand used to but not much in the last part of his career. Mike Peca laid people out and I bet you don't feel the same way about him as you do Chara. Which brings to mind a question though. Dirtiest Sabre of all time? Who would that be? Off the top of my head maybe Barnaby, although if you go way back there are other candidates. For example as much as I loved Dudley, he was dirty af.

I accept that, but I'd also say a version of Chara is exactly what this team currently needs.

Oh please, stop. He did not make the team any better than it was. He did not address the major weaknesses and he bet solely on Ruff elevating them and his signings stepping up. Ruff didn't, Cozens didn't, Byram underwhelmed. Nothing wrong with the McLeod trade but ultimately with Cozens sucking that did not fill the hole he created trading away Mittlestadt. Malentstyn isn't anything and thus no better than Girgensens, probably worse. Lafferty and Aube Kubul were money wasted and didn't upgrade Okposo. The roster was basically the same.

Was that ever proven or just talk? Stylistically Bylsma didn't open it up in the preferred way. That urge for wide open offense might have come from Eichel as well as Pegula.

Well, see I hate Pacioretty so I'm like whatever, he'd have done the same hit if he could. Chara, Stevens, Pronger, guys like that were always hated by other teams and that's the nature of who they were and what they were paid to do. Playfair and Korab were similar.

Oh I totally get that. I know a lot of Bruins fans are having trouble cheering for Florida for similar reasons. Marchand, understandable, Lucic, for sure, but Chara? Big beast on the ice but he's a really good guy. I never saw him in that same "rat" boat. I have respect for him.

That's how I felt last year. This year I'm waiting for a new dealer. 🙂

As do all the Tkachuks, Bennett, Perry, Kane, Nurse and a host of others. But oh look, they're playing in the finals. I mean look at these playoff stats. https://www.statmuse.com/nhl/ask/brad-marchand-career-postseason-stats that's hall of fame stuff.

I am not believing anything in advance. Been burned too many times. It's all bs until it changes.

Well ya, so putting that in the worst way, a tired old man with a chance to pad his retirement account working from home. So he took the job.

I keep seeing things like this and I have a hard time believing it. Active? With Kevyn Adams? With no coaching changes? I will believe these things when they happen.

They hired Bylsma because they didn't get Babcock and he was last notable coach remaining. Had won with Crosby so the thinking was win with Eichel. They fired him because there was no progress at a point when there was greater expectation after drafting Eichel (and we already had Reinhart, O'Reilly etc.) After more than a decade of failure the bar for success has been drastically lowered, that's obvious. DeBoer will never happen here.

These things happen and who knows. I know nothing about him so can't say if we screwed up or not. I'm really interested to see if this Shabanov guy (supposedly linked to the Flyers) will come over and can he play. Supposed to be incredibly skilled, was just passed over for size. I only put it here cause it's not worth it's own thread on a Sabres site.

This is never going to happen. TP is never going to hire a defense first guy like DeBoer and he is most definitely not spending big coin on a high profile coaching hire.

I hate to say it but this narrative makes it even worse than if they didn't let him pick his own assistants. This tells me his day was truly done and he was no longer connected the way he used to be. A has been and people didn't want to come to the Sabres or work with him and he knew it.

lol, please, don't do that internet tough guy garbage. We all know you're in your mom's basement. Let's be real about hockey. Marchand will be in the hall of fame one day. If he was a Sabre he'd an all time fan favorite. All we can hope for is 20 years from now we will look at Benson or somebody else on this roster in a similar way. Right now? We got nothing comparable.

He isn't. He just said he was open to teams bidding and the speculation was it would be 8x3. Bennett hasn't asked for 10 either but that speculation is out there too. Rest easy, neither will be a Sabre.

In all my 50 plus years of watching hockey I cannot think of a final series closer than this one. It is dead even and a total coin toss. Either team can win this and it'll probably be luck in game 7 OT. It's a very good final, the league must be happy.

He would punch you back, harder. Admit it, you wish he was a Sabre.

Nothing against Lindy but what's the point of retaining him as an "advisor" when you didn't even let him hire his own assistants? Just cause he was a Sabre before? It would be pointless.

I see nothing in Sabres style of play or character that would indicate playoff success if they got there. What is it you are seeing?

Sturm hired in Boston. The mantra seems to be they plan on being very defense first in terms of team identity. (They may have to be with their lack of offense outside of Pasternak).

No. Big no. At this time we do not have any of the leadership or experience required for the playoffs. They would be so far over their heads so fast they'd exit faster than the Leafs did when they first got back in. Look at Ottawa. They even had some playoff experience on the roster and they showed they were way out of their depths. You are dreaming if you think they will do well. Unless they add veteran leaders of course. But they have not shown any desire to do that so far.

You would have seen glimpses. Moments. Individual games. We have not.