PerreaultForever

Maybe ROR got confused in the first couple games with Scandella on the roster he had Sabres flashbacks and momentarily lost his love of hockey again. and then he woke up.... You know, a lot of people talk about winning cultures, band of brothers, team as a family and so forth but (and hate them all you want to) watching those Bruins and the way they pull together and rise up as a team, the energy and emotion, the 2nd, 3RD and 4th efforts, it is an enviable culture. Probably the best in the league. I imagine Eichel sits in front of his TV thinking why oh why can't I be on THAT team?

No, I meant inexperienced at that level (or higher). It's also an odd thing to say they will shift focus to youth. As someone else said, don't you have to have a lot of youthful prospects for this idea (which we don't)? I always thought the usual AHL model was to have rosters of veterans and kids so that the kids can be mentored, coached, taught to win. JBot's idea was to create a culture of winning in the AHL that he hoped to flow into the Sabres from that level was it not? Not saying it worked, but it was a decent idea. Obviously we will have to see how this plays out, but what they have done so far really doesn't inspire confidence or optimism.

I admire your optimism but there's absolutely no reason to think we would have beaten the Pens.

To me this is another inexperienced cheap hire. Guys who are glad for the promotion so to speak and will be maleable to the powers that be but will all require time and a learning curve to succeed at this higher level. It is clear that very soon there will not be a single guy with solid NHL experience in our management and coaching structure.

Ya it was the Canadiens and then the Rangers won, I think in 94 which was supposed to be the end of a 50 year curse that would then go back on the Habs for the next 50 years or something like that. Toronto has the longest running cupless streak for an original 6 team. Hope it stays that way.

I always felt we should have kept and signed Halak at that time and then picked up Khudobin when the Bruins let him go. Both were available and affordable and both are starters in this years playoffs now. Would have easily skipped the whole Lehner debacle and kept that draft pick. If only.

Disagree. One high stick call missed but otherwise even off calls both ways. Opening penalty on Marchand for example was definitely not a good call. Bruins totally outplayed Canes after the first and aside from Halak's one gaff that was a perfect playoff game for them. I don't think Rask made a "dick move" but it was clear his head wasn't in it. His play and concentration was off since the start and they might actually be better off (given that) without him. Looks like a back and forth series. Less physicality than I would have expected but tough defensive hockey which is the Bruins way like it or not.

and........if we had made it we'd what? be playing competitive playoff hockey with outstanding goaltending like them? I think not. Maybe we'd have won the lottery.........and yes, Jason would probably still be here. Maybe.

Vancouver go figure. I guess one 50th anniversary team got it right.

Maybe it's cause I'm old, but I'd go Toe Blake for Chuck Noll. I mean I'm a lifelong Steelers fan so Chuck Noll is one of the greatest of all time for me, and Toe Blake, I mean 8 cups, what more can you say.

For what, a bag of pucks? We're not getting anything of value back for him at this point. I have no idea what we will do but there is likely no immediate fix to anything. #8 should be a good prospect. Personally I hope Sanderson falls to #8 because, although one can argue we do not need another D man, I think he is one of the best prospects in this draft and with Dahlin, Jokiharju and Sanderson we would have a very young D core which will be the envy of the league and the strength of the team in a few years. Also allows us to finally do the Risto trade and/or Montour and possibly get a quality 2C in return. Fixing this team instantly will take some FA signings and some very creative moves and I doubt very much the organization spends the money or that Adams has the GM expertise to instantly pull off anything major. I expect a simple pick straight off the league rankings board.

I'd suggest Al Arbour is the better counterpart.

If they win the lottery, which I really hope they don't (because if they don't they don't even get a first round pick) I suspect they'll swap Nylander for a D man first chance they get. They may do that anyway, if they are smart.

Really bugs me that right after we find out they've cut off Gilbert's ambassador paychecks they announce they are giving away Perreault bobbleheads with this announcement on the jerseys. Just wrong.

Another interesting observation for all the puck possession preachers. Toronto dominated in puck possession, but Columbus backchecked their butts off and jumped on opportunities. In simple terms, they just worked harder.

Definitely. Leafs are a team built for the regular season, not the playoffs. We don't want to follow that example.

Let the 50th anniversary festivities continue.................

They really do don't they. Solid and deep. They could go far. I cannot cheer for Toronto under any circumstances so I hope the Jackets still knock them off and let Nashville win the lottery. Not that I like Nashville, just less relevant to us.

We hated them for sure, but it's wrong to say they were the embarassment of the sports world. A lot of people loved that spectacle at the time and they made Slap Shot the movie (not about the Flyers I know, but similar subject matter) and everybody was talking about it. It was prime entertainment in it's era for many people, not just Philly. Things were different then. these Flyers are a different thing entirely. Like the Canes, another team that has drafted really well and rebuilt much much better than we have. Hextall drafted really well.

True. We could have had that goaltending instead of Hutton. I think overall all that can be said for sure is that is an organization that has made smarter moves than this one. At one point maybe 2016 they ended the season only a few points above us. After that they seemed to do everything right both in drafting and marketing and we are what we are instead.

Nope. They use them, but they also had a guy like Dudley there to go yes, that go, no not that guy. You need a complete approach, not over reliance on one thing. If you look at the history of Dudley and things people have said about him over the years you'll see he had (has) an amazing ability to identify who has IT and who does not.

So Carolina has a pretty good team with some amazingly talented youth. So let me get this straight, there's this guy named Dudley, with Buffalo connections who helped build that team, and he's available, and the Pegula's aren't hiring him cause they no longer trust hockey people to run a hockey team - that about right? meanwhile, the team across the border who went all in on analytics was shut out by old style team defense on a disciplined team coached by another guy with Buffalo connections and our future is analytics......"the future's so bright I got to wear shades."

I'm not sure you can say that. JBot's plan seems clear, if wrong or misguided. Step 1, fix the locker room, culture and such so you remove the prominent components brought in by Murray to make it his team. Kane, Lehner and then (perhaps wrongly) ROR. Problem is, he got little or nothing in return. Step 2, fix the D which was a total disaster when he got here. he hired a coach who had new fresh ideas and had coached D. He drafted Dahlin when he won the lottery. Traded for Montour, Miller and Jokiharju. Got so much fresh D in fact he had too much of it and then failed to respond to that. He grabbed cheap assets when he could, like Sheary, who were supposed to hold the places until kids developed but everybody seems to play worse in Buffalo than they did before. Skinner was his sniper for Eichel but then he overpaid him. I see the plan, he just didn't execute the plan very well and got fleeced in his trades as it turned out. Drafting? Jury's not out yet, but likely average at best, maybe worse. So my point is he had a direction and a vision, but he couldn't find trade partners that offered anything decent or had any real interest in what we already had. Or so it seems. Maybe he turned down some great deals, but I doubt it. Adams will have the exact same problem. Aside from Eichel and Dahlin, nobody wants Sabres, or if they do, they'll want them at clearance bargain prices.

Probably figures his odds of making the NHL instead of the AHL are better here.

Yup, he lifts his skate blade on purpose, no question. He's an extremely dirty player imo but having said that you and I both know if he was on the Sabres we'd love him. Blue Jackets played a great disciplined game. Now imagine what the history of the Sabres might have been if we'd hung on to Torts and he coached us for decades..........Him and Trotts are without question the best 2 coaches in the league. Their teams are always better than the talent they have to work with. If only........