PerreaultForever

and that's why there are no real consequences for bad play in Buffalo. You get the one game sit and then you're back and the other guy gets his one game sit and so it continues. Nothing changes because there are few options for changes. Chicago is interesting. Obviously It's a rebuild around Bedard but they've gone out of their way to try to establish a winning culture and work ethic around that rebuild. How lasting the Foligno and Maroon type effects will last for that team remains to be seen but Bedard is being mentored the right way. Can't comment on how to beat them as I haven't seen them play this year but I assume you shut down Bedard and then they probably don't have much offense after that.

There's no question in my mind it's a passionate fanbase. Hockey can and should thrive in Buffalo. Matter of fact it's probably the only thing keeping it going. If this team and their 13 years of futility and mismanagement was located in some lesser market or non traditional hockey market the rink would be near empty and nobody would care.

Because you have a team and you have veterans and leaders that bring the culture along and then you insert one or two young guys in each year as they are ready. You don't strip teams down to nothing and try to fill a roster with all youngsters. I said this last year and it still holds, being the youngest team in the NHL is NOT an accomplishment. This is the first year we've had a competent coach (who may or may not be past his prime, but still a competent coach) and there was a slight attempt to add grit and some vets but too little too late. Cozens is this year's whipping boy. With good reason, but all this time we've been just throwing him out there in a prominent role with no support. He's a mixed up kid now and has lost his game like Risto and others before him. All this time he should have been playing with two solid vets and if he was, I guarantee you he'd be a much better player and possibly an emerging star. We just keep making the same mistakes again and again.

I hear you but I'm thinking about opening night this year and the place was buzzing. With Ruff back the expectation was high but the fans were ready to go. It'll die as the season goes on (assuming they keep sucking) but it's clear the fanbase in Buffalo, starved as it is, is strong. Really strong. A good owner and a new way of doing things and they would flourish in Buffalo.

That would be a good way to have a full reset. Assuming you bring in competent hockey guys to run it and they build a new team from the bottom up with a solid hard working culture, draft a few new future stars and spend to the cap wisely. Current expansion rules do allow you to construct the beginnings of a roster.

In the Pegula era this team has never had a balanced roster in terms of either skill sets or a veteran/youth mix. There's no team chemistry on the ice and there's little continuity as the roster turns over constantly. They haven't drafted well, they don't have depth, and they are soft as can be. There is no winning culture here. They broke this franchise with the tank and they have never rebuilt it properly since. I said before if Ruff can't fix this it can't be fixed and that may very well be the case. You have to start over again and nobody wants that as they'd probably make all the same mistakes again and so it continues.

They have an identity. It's the same one they've had for the last 13 plus years. Soft losers.

You know if they listen to Lindy they might figure some of it out by 20 games, but at that point it's too late and it'll be a repeat of late surge comes up short.

Depends how you define "elite". If you didn't want D men you could have taken Svechnikov, or Brady Tkachuk even. Beniers instead of Power. But then you'd have to address D wouldn't you? Eichel and Reinhart are both elite by the way. Eichel for sure.

You want to see bad goaltending watch a Flyers game when they play Fedotov.

I've felt like this many times but like an old junkie I just never quit. Watching other teams or I lose my love for hockey. That's the only thing that has kept me going.

No comment.

idk, maybe, maybe not. It's all speculative but I'd guess it was simpler. Adams and/or Pegula considered JBot's bridge deal with Reinhart and how that ended and they wrongly drew a comparison to Cozens and so this time they went another way. It was following a league wide trend to award contracts to young "stars" before they earned them. Power followed as you know. He hasn't been awful, but he's not living up to that value yet either. Honestly I think if Cozens was playing with Greenway and Zucker he'd look a lot better. If he had developed on another team that surrounded him with veterans he'd be better. They've always expected him to carry a line rather than supporting him as he develops. The "grow together" idea was just bullcrap. They've ruined him. No idea if it's permanent or not. Shouldn't be, but who knows for sure. So to that point, the real issue is trading Mitts. As for Lindy, I think that just timed out right with NJ firing him. Don't know which of them wanted him more, but it was a veteran coach with Sabres legacy. Hard to say no to that idea. Long overdue in terms of hiring a veteran coach that's for sure.

Dahlin shouldn't have been named captain. There's too much pressure for a change in culture here and they should have just let him be his best self rather than adding that. That's my belief. It's affecting his play. Consider how when Eichel went to Vegas he wasn't captain any more and his rise to his former self (or better) was rapid. Captaincy is added pressure and this 13 year drought is a pressured environment. If you measure performance with cost, Cozens is our worst player, Dahlin is second worst, as expectations for them are higher. Peterka would be our best player by the same standard. Zucker, we knew he was being overpaid to come here, but he hasn't been terrible lately. That's arguably our best line. idk what the deal is with Cozens but obviously he should have been bridged rather than getting the deal he got.

Blaming the officials is really weak. I'm not on board with that at all. I would counter that while yes, I am negative, I've been abused by this team for 13 years and so I'm not very forgiving, but you are far too excuse oriented and most definitely forgiving. The goaltending has been average at best. Not as good as last year. The defense is the same as last year. Moves the puck well but cracks under pressure, gets disorganized chasing the puck and breaks down in front of our net. The top line is good offensively but a liability defensively. This is not uncommon in the league so it's fine. Could be better but acceptable if they score. The 2nd line is a complete disaster. Nobody on that line playing well at all. The 3rd line is solid and a fairly competent NHL line. Oh look, it's least "Sabres" line on the team. There's something to consider. The 4th line underwhelms. Nothing horrific but really no impact and they do not change the momentum like they were billed to be the line for. Not a complete liability but no impact either. PP is garbage. Same as last year. It simply doesn't work as is. PK is inconsistent and thus mediocre. There is nobody to call up or slot in that can make a difference at this stage of their careers. That's the Sabres. Top 10 draft pick coming again. Adams will be fired. Forten will be elevated. Ruff will get another year (probably). That is how it all looks to me right now and yes, that makes me cynical, angry even, but mostly just sad.

The reason I do that (for people like you) is because of what you don't notice. I can't count how many times you shoved stats in my face and stuck sarcastic memes up when I was questioning whether or not Quinn was actually any good and simply saying "I have to see it on the ice and I haven't". All those critiques and sarcastic (and even insulting at times) comments from you elicit these "told you so" posts from me. So block away. IDC. But I told you so.

I think my expectation of what this line would be has colored my perception. I will admit I'm also likely more critical of this 4th line because of how good the Bruins new 4th line is. It's their best line actually. Their so called 2nd line has also sucked bad but that 4th line is dominant and this Tampa cast off Koepke is better than any of our 4th liners. Don't know how they find these guys but they didn't have to give up a 2nd rounder to get him. What they have in their 4th line is what I was hoping the Sabres would have in theirs. The injury might be a factor with Krebs being Krebs as the substitute but I guess ultimately I wanted more from them. No disagreement on line 2 though. Absolute garbage.

I think Ruff has the right ideas and is telling them to do what it takes but the question of how many of them are "ruined" is up for debate. It may take a lot longer to fix them than we had hoped. Years even. Hard to say, but many of them definitely need fixing. This situation comes from not having a proper youngster/veteran mix over the years and Adams "grow together" all youth team has a much harder time building a winning culture from scratch. It does, of course, start with the tank. The rest from there is on Pegula's approach and meddling.

I'm not going to argue with this, Cozens has been awful, but I will put forward one thing for you to consider as a possibility. Cozens looks worse because he is at least trying harder and running around more because his linemates aren't doing much of anything. I think it's a little of all these things.

The Quinn fan club has to start admitting that he is sucking just as bad as Cozens. Benson I excuse as he's a 19 year old and I'm not shocked he is up and down and has to grow but Quinn is horrible. Cozens is horrible. The unit is a complete liability. 4th line is also garbage. They have done absolutely nothing.

What possibilities? The list of things wrong is much longer than the list of things right.

Sabres be Sabres. Some people were saying the other night they were just on the wrong side of "puck luck" so tonight it evened out and they had "puck luck" but they still found a way to lose. I'm getting tired of pointing out the obvious and arguing about which guy is worse or most to blame. Just a few games in and it already feels like it's over.

I agree. It also creates a situation where we do not have many NHL experienced subs to call up should we get into a heavy injury period. We will be relying on an all rookie/prospect call up squad. Very unlikely that would go well.

Penguins haven't been very good so far. It's pretty obvious that if you want to move up and try for the playoffs you have to knock off these middle of the pack teams and you have to do it every game. I'm hoping we see a heavy forecheck soon. That's the biggest missing ingredient to this team imo.

"recency bias" was said in the Greenway thread and I think you might want to apply it here as well. I think you are all overplaying this based on an early opportunity and hot start.