PerreaultForever

Only one I can think of would be Bob Nystrom. There's been some mean and dirty ones. Ulf Samuelsson for example, but not many fighters.

True. I will admit to being one of those "many" and we were wrong. He's Detroit's Carter Hutton. Never take a goalie out of St. Louis I guess.

Now just bring the intensity to the games and take it out on the other team........ I'm with Lindy, no issues here. Nice change of pace from the "we're all having fun" practices under Granato.

Edmonton starts the season with 3 straight losses. Maybe the "jeff Skinner will finally make the playoffs" thoughts were premature.

Another thing to keep in mind is Minnesota soured on him for that inconsistency which made him into a tweener and not really anything special. Showing up for EVERY game has to become a thing for him (and many other Sabres).

Probably hard headed (he does have a big tv head) but not nearly as hard headed as Domi was. That little ball of hate didn't seem to feel head shots at all. Ray learned to fight pretty good, but I don't think he was a particularly heavy puncher. Didn't inflict all that much damage on his opponents over the years. So I don't think he was overly feared and thus had to maybe fight more often than some real heavyweights.

I agree that he is a horrible analyst and his insights and keys to the game are usually not very insightful or even accurate (if not just dumb generalities like "score early") but he was a Sabre warrior and a long time fan favorite. I have no issues with him being there. You know I remember when he first came in. He was a marginal bottom six guy struggling to make the line up but then he saw an opportunity and carved out a place for himself by developing into a willing fighter. Not what was expected when he came here. Point is, you need guys like that, guys that are willing to do what it takes and create a role for themselves. It's not just about goal scorers. Ray did what he had to do and he got good at it. Admirable.

He's looked good, and he's playing for a contract (or a deadline trade) but he was the definition of inconsistency last year so idk. I still question his desire and work ethic. If he brings it every night (and maybe Ruff gets that out of him) I think he can be a very effective player, but I'd wait to see if he does or not. Zucker's also looked better in N.A. than he did in Europe. That whole line has been quite a bit better and more like what was expected or hoped for.

Hasek didn't seem too pissed about it in the video they showed.

True, but save that for a losing night 🙂

He's on a 40 goal pace (roughly speaking)

and more combined NHL losses, as was pointed out in the broadcast. Only because you gave me a thumbs down for predicting an upset.

They're definitely playing better hockey. They have a lot of things to work on still but they just look more like other teams now and do normal hockey things like hit back and finish checks, back check, block shots. It's looking more and more like an NHL hockey team. I imagine Tuch haters from earlier have changed their minds now (maybe). You could argue we are now already reaping the benefits of the back up goalie against us syndrome and they most definitely did not look like the same team that beat up on Boston with Barkov and Tkachuk, Bennett doesn't waste his nastiness on teams like us that's for sure, but you can't take away the Sabrea effort and in this game, they were clearly the better team. Grrenway with an oustanding night. I still think we'd be a better team with Mitts (and no Byram) but no need to dwell on that when it's a winning night. I think Ruff is slowly having an effect.

This did not age well. This did not age well either.

Sabres lucking out here. No Barkov, No Tkachuk. No excuses. Quick zone exits (supposedly our strength on D) key to beat their forecheck. It's upset time.

I don't think it matters who the GM is as long as Pegula keeps sitting in on the meetings. Let's face it, Pegula is the GM. The rest of them are just his minions.

Personally I don't care about goal scoring. Winning 6-5 can be exciting, but winning 1-0 is also still a win (as is losing in reverse). The complete picture is what matters and this team will not win many games unless we get greasier. Still way too many easy perimeter shots. We will make goalies look good this way, stats be damned.

What makes you think Adams is a sincere person? I think we have seen many blatant lies (eg. interviewing multiple coaches). I see him as an indecisive yes man who has no clear plan. He's the Michael Scott of the NHL.

Coaching is hard but I think also fun. I'm not sure I'd agree that GM is all that hard of a job. I think there's people on this very forum that could do a better job than Adams.

Ottawa beats Florida and Ullmark looked sensational. This is a worry. The good news for the Sabres, Barkov might be injured.

Arguably they deserved a better fate in this one and there was some good hockey played out there. Much better effort than in Europe and it looked more like what I expected a Lindy Ruff team to look like. Really like the aggressive PK approach, that could reap dividends over the season. More people are finishing checks and there was better pace overall. Everything except the PP was trending in the right direction. The PP however is garbage. They had a huge 5 on 3 early and barely got a shot off. By contrast LA passed around and set up a perfect shot on their brief 5 on 3 and there's your difference. Samuelsson's penalty was lazy and dumb. I'm Ruff, I'm benching him next game to make a point. That was just dumb. Raise the bar on acceptable play. First stick smash of the season goes to Dylan Cozens. Seems like it's an annual tradition. More dumb, but I guess it shows emotion? idk. Just seen it too many times. Save your sticks and bring it to the next game instead. Still waiting to see evidence of what you all keep telling me Quinn will be. Still not seeing it. Disappointing, but also a little encouraging.

Self fulfilling prophecy then if that's the case. You either want to win or you don't. Every year you really should be trying to make your team the best team possible and not really worrying too much about contracts down the line and too much future planning. If you don't start winning you don't create an environment players will want to come to. Now nobody says trade away all your picks and prospects, but leaving holes and thinking about next year and the next year just leads to more losing.

Well it's re-set time. Hope they look different than they did in Europe.

I'm not disagreeing with you, and I've been pretty consistent on spending to the cap and using some prospects/picks at this stage as assets to be traded for veteran on the roster players. I'm just suggesting Adams might be trying to do a lot more than we think but is failing not for trying but for no move clauses and similar related things. You need to stop rubbing.

One explanation (which no one will want to accept or believe) would be that very few players want to come here and so they can only attract marginal free agents with big overpays (like 5 million to Zucker) and thus they have no alternative but to run with prospects and drafted players of their own. They have created this mess with their ineptitude but getting out of it is likely getting harder and harder to do.