PerreaultForever

I don't know if I believe anything coming out of this team these days.

idk, remember that earlier comment "I guess I'm a pretty good hockey player" or something like that. Made me think Jeff is more about Jeff than anything else.

Well first, I think it's the players more than the coach so a change won't lead us to the promised land BUT as of now I'd fire Ralph and hire Gallant all the same. There could be an advantage to an interim however. Tortorella MIGHT be available at the end of the season if Columbus continues to falter. Whatever the case, I simply want a coach who will demand a work ethic, and then they can ship out anybody who doesn't buy in. This next coach has to be the last coach for a while.

What I've seen of Philly against other teams hasn't impressed me. Their D is poor, Carter Hart is off and on and not as spectacular as he was last year, and some of their forwards seem to be slacking and lacking (like ours) BUT they coasted to easy shut out victories on us already so no reason to think that'll change.

I don't really want to defend Kreuger too much, but I have a nagging feeling that it's not all about his ideas/system but more about the players we have. Is it possible that those 3 relatively low skilled players are doing well (again relatively) because they (and a few of the kids) are the only ones actually listening to Kreuger and doing what he asks them to do?

Purely speculative on my part, but I think ROR really likes being the main man and the center of attention. If you remember St. Louis started very poorly and Tarasenko was considered the big star when he got there. Berube flipped it around and made ROR the cornerstone and he played his best hockey ever. If Eichel was gone I'd give it to Okposo since he's considered a veteran leader and we're stuck with him BUT he's also gone in time to hand it over to Cozens or whoever becomes that true leader. Unless of course we brought in someone new that fit the bill.

I think that's only partially true, and I also still say this team blew it holding the spot for Eichel rather than giving it to ROR. Things may have gone very differently had we given it to the best player at that moment rather than waiting to anoint the big draft pick.

this is what we're reduced to............. the internet is destroying the world.

Well that's fair cause he wasn't our guy he was their guy. But, trying to be objective, he's a dedicated workaholic in terms of fitness and preparation, diet even. Full on community guy with Sick kids etc. Always stood up for his team mates. I can only imagine how strongly he might have commanded that locker room both by presence and example. You don't see ANYTHING like that from our guy. (Just be glad that shot of Jack wincing on the bench isn't a meme yet) Peca was a great captain. We definitely could use someone like that for Cozens to model himself after (among others).

Ralph's a good talker so my guess is he gave a really good interview. Jbot, and again it's just a guess, probably felt some pressure and swung for the fences with an outside the box hire. Maybe the Pegulas said we don't want some tired old has been, this is a new era and we want to be cutting edge (or something similar) and that's what JBot came up with. A gamble, but clearly it has failed.

Toews yes, idk about Crosby. Works hard, dedicated but also a bit of a whiner. Good captains often aren't the stars. Nick Foligno's a good captain, so is Anders Lee. Chara imo was the standard and Bergeron is almost as good. When Bergeron retires it won't go to Pasternak (their best player) it'll probably go to McAvoy.

Bruins don't do everything right, they make mistakes. Look at that draft, one of the deepest in history. They had 3 firsts (which was smart in a draft that good) but they picked Zboril, DeBrusk and Senyshyn when they could have had Connor, Barzal Chabot. Zboril finally looks like he can be a mid level NHL D man but imagine how strong they'd look with Barzal and Connor on that 2nd line they are always trying to fix. As I remember it at that time they felt Thornton was too much about Thornton and wouldn't fully buy in and he was a bit of a quitter (by Bruins standards) and on that team no one player is bigger than the culture and that's why he was moved even though they got a less than return. That attitude is maybe what separates them from a lot of other team cultures.

The GM and the coach have to be on the same page with this. You can't have a situation where you bring a coach in and then say "oh ya, by the way, Skinner only plays like this.... so forget all those ideas from your interview, you'll have to please him and his preferred style." The coach and the GM presumably have to have the same vision and then with trades and signings make those things fit. I'd be curious to know what JBot was actually thinking with Kreuger? He clearly wasn't offering any similar game plan to Housley so I assume JBot thought the mental losing culture thing was the main reason but I really don't know. I guess since Housley's vision failed JBot felt a different direction. Whatever the case, we need to decide an identity and then build to that. The only identity I see now is soft and lazy with a whole bunch of quit.

I'm going to disagree. I think it's worse now. In hindsight, the tank is awful, but at the time it seemed like pain to get gain. We were going to get this generational player and so we hit bottom but then it was supposed to be a climb up from there. Something to look forward to. Now however we have talent (allegedly) and big names/salaries and yet we are arguably worse or just as bad as then, so what do we have to look forward to? Nothing. At best a tear down and redo. At worst more tinkering and more sorry excuses for a decade or longer. It feels worse to me.

You know if they fire Ralph right now they'll just put one of the assistants in as an interim for the balance of the season so won't make much difference unless you think Steve Smith can coach............or Granato? Not sure who would be top of the food chain. Not gonna matter.

E-Rod was on Pitt's 4th line I think only because of an injury to someone. Against Philly he skated in on an open net (goalie pulled ) and he actually managed to hit the post. Seriously, wide open, and he hit the post. I'm really not sure what any of this means. Fact is only ROR and Lehner have gone on to massive success post Sabres. Evander Kane still ruins every team he gets to 🙂

You're not wrong, but I have to add Scott Wedgewood shut them out and NJ won 1-0 today 🙂

Wilson suspended 7 games. https://www.nhl.com/news/capitals-tom-wilson-suspended-seven-games/c-322207478 here's the thing I don't get though. why are these suspended games not held back to be against the team you played? Wilson for example misses their next game against the Flyers which helps the Flyers, but might hurt Boston who might end up fighting for a playoff spot with those Flyers. Seems wrong. Especially if Carlo is out for any time.

Well just trading Reinhart isn't going to solve anything but I'd certainly welcome moving on from the entire core as I've said repeatedly. None of them have emerged as hard working leaders and so none of them are untouchable. In all trades it of course depends on what you get back but I think you either go all in on deals or you don't bother cause moving one or two bodies won't change anything. Reinhart's name was just mentioned though as one name or many. The statement was that they're calling everybody and all names are on the table for discussions. On the current active roster the only untouchable to me is Cozens. I wouldn't trade Bryson or Borgen or any of the prospects that seem promising like Pekera. I'd want a lot for Dahlin as I think he can still be saved with the right team and coaching. Pretty much everybody else is expendable or irrelevant.

I'd prefer that too, but it's a little too abstract to go deeper. The big names presumably involve a combination.

I'd gut the team and get as many picks and prospects as possible. Trade all UFAs and even all RFAs (but some of those can wait until later if necessary). Also going to trade Eichel but that also can wait if necessary until the off season. I've had enough of this lot.

Carlo is 6'5 and he was not bent over so not sure how you can argue it wasn't a head shot but I'm not overly concerned. Wilson is a repeat offender so you'd think the league would suspend him but whatever.

You are as delusional as the Sabres.

I'm going to be blunt. Eichel sucks. Not only is he quitting on offensive plays, he's a defensive liability. He's checked out, he doesn't care, whatever the excuse, he's crap and so, as a team built around him and supposedly led by him we as a team also suck. If Tortorella was our coach he'd be benched, The entire team is clearly delusional. I like some aspects of Bryson's game, he has real potential (but I can already see it, we're going to rush him in and ruin him) and it was nice he got his first NHL goal but in the intermission interview down 4-1 "we're playing a pretty good game" is some sort of alternative reality I'm clearly not part of.. Either the kid is incredibly dumb (which I doubt very much) or this is the positive crap they're being fed in the locker room and it is the most unbelievable rubbish ever. If that was a "pretty good game" the bar is so low it's submerged in the swamp. How much are we paying Montour? Whatever it is, it's too much. This team sucks so bad. Barzel goal was sick. Unfortunately for us it'll probably make the plays of the year reel. Aren't Hall and Eichel supposed to be the ones dazzling us with that sort of thing? What a draft year that was, and now I'm not sure we even got the 2nd best player in it. Such a pile of crap this team.

We might win a few games somewhere along the line due to teams not taking us seriously or facing back up goalies but otherwise I've seen absolutely nothing that tells me we can even compete with the level of hockey being played by the big boys.