Pimlach

I think the Sabres show up tonight. Tuch will be missed but I still expect a good game against the retooled Broons.

Look at the Sabres. They still falter a lot but it’s mostly due to inexperience or a lack of talent at certain positions. People want to fire Granato but he still has his team. They are listening to him, they are simply no better as a group than their record. They are a team that has to fight to get a wildcard spot. Improvement comes incrementally, but inconsistent play is more prevalent in a league where you play 82 games versus 17. Football is played once a week. Preparation for any one game is much more intense, and margin for error is less. The Bills should be a top team in their conference and they are not. They are finding new ways to lose but the turnovers and penalties and bizzare play calling tell us a lot. They are getting worse not better. McD is far more likely to get canned than Granato. I would not have thought that 2 years ago.

A few years ago I talked about what a good coach McD was. You asked me, “ is he great?” My answer was “not without a championship “. Sadly, it appears he lost his team. They have moved on. You can see that the great internal leadership from the players is gone and that the team culture has changed. High expectations seems to have caused them to flinch, not to rise up.

The one and only time this season that they won the toss and took the ball … and Cook fumbled it away on the first play. Since McD always defers, you would think they were confident that they could score first and play with a lead. Denver is a bad team that is playing hard. The Bills are hardly playing. McD has lost them. All phases of the game are unraveling.

Happy Birthday Gilbert. The 70’s era teams were the best, the most fun, and most tied into the community. Still a bunch if them around Buffalo. Knox did everything right as an owner. The product on ice and the presentation of it was top notch and classy.

They don’t have fun anymore. Josh looks lifeless. They team lacks spirit and hunger. They are unprepared a lot. Something changed in the locker room and within the once positive culture.

Maybe so but it started bad on National TV MNF. The Jets QB was injured and out on the 3rd play. We still lost and played terrible.

McDermott has to be wondering what is going on? So many details related to game day coaching are lacking. Too many to list. Can’t even get lucky and win on a missed FG, nope, too many men on the field. McD said afterwards that they “practiced the change from the dime defense to the FG Blocking Team”. He said that like they did it this week. So why were 12 guys out there? Communication. The details are in the communication. Remember that the ST coach got fired for 13 seconds, apparently no one told the kicker to squib. My youth and HS football team huddled up on kickoffs and called the play by kick and coverage. One guy was responsible for counting the players and checking alignment. Unacceptable mistakes every week. Attention to detail is lacking.

Next year is another clean slate tryout. How many rookies make it? Kulich, Benson, Rosen, Savoie. We cannot absorb them all. Mostly because they are similar type players. Savoie is most likely needing a full year in the AHL. Benson has a natural two way game, so he could stick. Kulich and Rosen will get long looks and are probably more ready than Savoie.

I can go with this but I like parts of Clifton's game and his string of bad luck seems to have ended for now. He has been more steady, and he is strong in front of the net. I think we keep little Johnson up. Rotate the Johnson's, Joker, and Clifton. Heck, give Power and Dahlin a day off when they get nicked and need a break. Ruff did not stick with the same 6. We finally have 7 that are worthy of playing. The trick is we have to play Little Johnson enough.

What about GA? Could some of the system changes the focus more on "team defense" be taking away from GF? Injuries are hurting some of the players like Tuch and Cozens

The bottom 6 is not playoff caliber, not even close. The loss of Tuch and Quinn, plus the funk that is Dylan Cozens right now, is making it hard to put together even 2 good lines. I do like moving Cozens to Tuch's spot, maybe it will ignite him. KA should have brought someone in to replace Quinn - and not another rookie. Adams is lucky that Benson shows as much readiness as he does because he banked on Olofsson. Our weakness right now is not goaltending or even the defense. It's the forwards, specifically the bottom 6 - who would have thought that? Everyone just thinks these forward prospects are going to step in and help right away but there are too many spots to fill and they are spots that require 2 way players with a heavy and grittier game - that is not what you get from Benson/Kulich/Rosen. FIFY

You missed the number one root cause for much of this. Fix the power play and figure out how to win at home and all this tale of gloom and doom changes.

Who? Without knowing your next move, why make an any move? If we are in trouble on Jan 27 are you going to fix it, or just punish the coach? Are you going to put Matty Ellis in as interim and flush the season? Or do you have a plan where the next guy comes in and has what it takes to elevate their game quickly? Firing the coach, especially this coach, will not go over well with the Core players, most of whom look to DG as a guy that taught them and gave them a chance to get over the hump. Sure most they are locked up in contracts but I doubt Adams has a plan to replace Donny with someone that can do better, or actually has done better. And if Pegula has to weigh in, and he will, I lose even more faith. I don’t see a dire situation after 15 games. Many teams are in the same boat with consistency issues. Folding your cards without a plan is not a good thing.

At least to Christmas and I’ll make an evaluation. They needs 30’ish games. Right now, he stays. The problem is way more roster related than anything else.

I don’t think 15 games is near enough to blow this up. It’s waving the white flag. I will look at it during the holidays, if they are in the race he stays. If not, you look at the entire situation, and not only the HC.

NO. It is not the time to fire the coach. They are 7-7-1. Still very much in the thick of it and actually slightly ahead of last years pace. Firing the coach after 15 games when at .500 is irrational. This is not a winning team in decline, it’s a young team trying to get to another level. Firing the coach is pretty much giving up on the season. Does anyone think that Matty Ellis can do better, cause that is what you will get. Just do not think that Adams is going to bring in a proven vet NHL coach like Gallant. We will get another experiment. The slow start is on Adams IMHO. Granato plays the cards in his hand. Adams brought this roster back. He spent the preseason with extended prospect tryouts resulting in a slow start. Adams made no moves at goalie, sticking with 3. If you want a full regime change, GM and coach, then you do it after this season but Adams and Granato should get another full season Let see were they are at the Holidays. If somehow the team quits on DG and they fall back to the dregs of the league then yes, make a change. But we are not there right now.

What about Gallant?

You can see him at times think/hesitate, and sometimes that is enough to foil a breakout or lose possession, but also many other times he just naturally does the right things - which I would assume is why his analytics are good overall. If we could have got a Pesce type of defensive defenseman to pair with him, or take some of his minutes that would have helped. Adams could not beat the $4M x 6 years offer he got, and/or the player may have had no interest in leaving a Cup contender to join a rebuild. Teams are playing us different this year. There is more pressure on the puck and they are not giving us time and space to create. This team has to learn to fight through it an earn it and get more dirty goals. We need more dimensions to our game.

JJP is listed at 6’ and 189 pounds. He looks much more stout this year and when he is moving he can be a load. Let’s look at his development. At 18-19 he plays a full year in Rochester. Impresses, grows his game, and makes a splash in the playoffs At 19-20 he could have spent more time in the AHL. If he was with the Avs, or Tampa, he may have started the year in the minors. On a weaker team like Buffalo he was able to play in the NHL with youngsters Quinn and Cozens. He needed protected minutes at times but he did a nice job overall. Then he played well in the Worlds. This season at 20-21 he looks to be blossoming. Changes in his physical strength are helping him. Opportunity to play with better veteran players is helping him. Last years experience is helping him. JJP is a rare player that looks to be developing quickly. Now look at Savoie at 19 years and 5’9” and 179. He needs a year in Rochester like JJP had, and I didn’t need to see 4 minutes of NHL play to figure that out. Savoie also has a pretty stout lower body and a frame that can carry more weight. He just needs time, strength and conditioning, and the confidence you get from succeeding in the AHL, a tough and physical league

We covered your paragraph 2 and 3 at length over the off season. The question came up “Did Adams do enough” and I basically voiced the concern in paragraph 3 to a tee. Bringing in a vet middle 6 to replace Quinn would look smart right now. Rebuilding the 4th line would look better too. Apparently he tried to do more, he said he tried for Pesce, a forward, and others. Either Players in their prime still do not want to come here or Adams does not want to pay or block or give up prospects? The premise that this rebuild could fail because the Core is not supported is real and it happened once before. As for paragraph 1, your thoughts on Power are not what I see. I don’t see “struggling badly”. I just don’t. He makes some mistakes, he hesitates to think at times, he plays a lot of minutes (too much probably), but he also does a lot of good. Tough position to play at 20-21. Remember Dahlin at that age? Remember the “is Dahlin Dumb” thread? Power is nowhere near that level of inconsistent and hopefully he never gets that scrambled in the head from lack of support. You struck me as an analyst of data and now you are going against the data. When you consider why the analytics might be wrong, you should also consider why they are correct as well. This team has bigger problems to solve than Owen Power.

He was flinching, uncomfortable, and passing to the wrong team in his 4 minutes of play. It amazes me how some fans here think that Savoie’s tryout was 4 minutes. He has been here 6 months. It’s unfortunate that he can’t play in the AHL. That is the level he is ready for.

We are rehashing some of the most common off-season comments and concerns. Here is a list of them: 1. The new core needs more veteran help, just like the old core did. (Eichel, Reinhart) 2 Young team - we are about the same average age as last year because we added 18-20 year olds and lost a 41 year old. 3. Can you install defense into a system two years after you start? 4. Goaltending not good enough 5. Not enough grit 6. Coaching staff not good enough. 7. Arena and game day experience not good enough. Fans gone, etc Whenever we lose a game, these are the themes. They are valid too. On thing for certain is we aren’t surprising anyone. Teams are ready and aware of who to shut down and how to shut them down. What I can see is that with Tuch out, Quinn out, and Cozens in limbo we are carrying some forwards every night that don’t belong in the NHL - some are too young, some are not good enough. I prefer to complain after the game rather than after the first period of a 1-0 game. See items 1 and 2 above. Last night we played 11 forwards and with Tuch out we could not come up with 2 good lines. This is part of the inconsistency we see. It was a curious decision given how hard it was to beat Minnesota’s back up the night before. My input is to send the kids down, Savoie gone, Benson will be next. Krebs needs the AHL right now but won’t clear waivers. VO is taking up space. Try to make a move or two to improve the middle and bottom 6 if playoffs is the goal. On to the next game. This team is still a work in progress.

It’s not the best time to make moves, that would be the off season. Still, you can see that they are going to have to improve and balance the roster if they are serious about competing. Mitts will be retained.