Pimlach

Benson's injury was an accident. He got hit in the face with a puck and the cut got infected. Nothing to do with strength and conditioning. Greenways injury was fixing a problem he has had long term, nothing to do with the new S&C coach.

Terry had some really good pieces and he chose to promote Adams from Business Admin to the top Hockey Operations job to manage it for him. It is hard for me to believe that Terry was not 100% behind getting Eichel out. After that the mantra of "wanting people who want to be here" went way too far and to the point of detrimental.

I wish him well in Rochester.

Teams purposefully losing is a bad thing. The Sabres did it dirty and went way too far. Nolan kept trying to win so they traded his goalies. Some fans booed wins. That was all regrettable. The irony is that the Sabres two consolation prizes have cups on other teams.

I am going to watch them forever. I’ll never change. I stopped going to games and I stopped buying merch. I won’t support Pegula in that way but I watch and hope for better days. I didn’t think they had a playoff roster to start this season. Still too many caveats requiring growth in young players. The center spline is not very good still. Without the concept of Norris we are back to last years problems at forward, only without Peterka. My hope is that Terry finally cleans house and the next guy can figure it out.

I’m looking forward to it. This is a good test of the team’s willingness to grind out a road win. I saw that Ellis is projected to start tonight. I think Lyon should get another game. The top 6 is marginal already with McLeod and Quinn having to move up. Any timeline on Benson being ready?

I can’t see any team trading a top 6 wing for Norris. The entire league sees the injuries and his salary. Unless they are trading equally bad salaries then maybe.

Gary knows he isn’t a “terrific” owner, he isn’t even close. Everyone knows Terry and Kevyn are miles over their heads in the NHL. Terry probably knows it too but for some unknown reason he isn’t taking action yet.

It’s very sad, and even surprising, that a finely tuned athlete in this modern sports era, with such knowledgeable training and dieting, can get this injury on a faceoff. It says something very concerning about his overall durability. He is a good player, he is skilled, and he doesn’t play a shy or timid game. I saw him run someone and I saw him retaliate on a hit. It’s just bizarre that he has these issues.

Benson was to prove he is a legit Top 6 by scoring more points. Right now, this season, we need him to produce more than the 10 goals and 30 points that he has produced in the past two season. Sure, they brought him up very fast and he is young, I get that. Skinner is gone and they didn’t replace him. Peterka is gone and they didn’t replace him. Their goals have to be replaced and Benson, among others, has to contribute more on the scoresheet I hope he does. As for Zucker, I think he is really good player and I always have. But his career is winding down. He can score 20 again by playing on the top 2 lines and with power play time, but I just don’t think he would get that opportunity on a really strong team at this point in his career. Instead he would be a 3rd liner. I think he is extremely valuable to Buffalo because he still brings it on game day and he can help show the way.

Well, Tuch isn't signed but I doubt that Adams would move him, unless he asked to be moved (he hasn't), or he is asking for too much money and would prefer to try his luck in free agency (maybe).

Sure I get what he was saying to. It is not hard to grasp his point. I responded to the OP's specific point, first game, one game, whatever. But we all know its been 14+ years of false promises, mismanagement, bad judgement, and poor effort by the people at the top. Believe me, I am not an apologist for this organization. The Sabres have had the worst front office in the NHL since Pegula fired Regier, and quite possibly the worst in all of the major professional sports in North America Don't take my word, look that the record. Still, I would like to try to enjoy at least part of the season, and I would like to hope for a little while that they can do something. By December I should be ready to face another harsh reality and another lost season.

Benson and Kulich do indeed have top 6 skill, but I am saying legit Top 6, as in no question about it. Benson has 21 goals in his first 146 NHL games. Kulich has 15 goals and 28 points in one NHL season. They have skill but they are not going to be top 6 on good teams. Zucker is a fine player, but he would be a 3rd liner on a good team. People want to win more games right now. They need players that are better right now.

He was crashing the net all night and Schneider didn't like it. Neither did Borgen later in the game. Borgen took a penalty for ripping his helmet off. Zucker was a bright spot and he played with emotion. Very few others did.

Only Tage and Tuch are legit Top 6 players. Sorry Kevyn but you blew it again. I think you will see Helenius up by December.

Buffalo center spline is maybe better than Boston's and that is it. And to get there you must include Norris or put Thompson back in place of Norris. I complained about the center spline a lot last season and they replaced Cozen with Norris. That only works if Norris can actually play in the games. McLeod is a 3rd liner that can help top 6 a little bit. Krebs and Kozak are JAGs.

Read the ORIGINAL POST. You will see that the ORIGINAL POSTER said the words ONE GAME two times in his first four words. MY response to the OP was literally about ONE GAME, because he made a strong point about this ONE GAME. There are many other threads covering the horrific performances of past 14 seasons.

It hurt me to hear boos in the first game. I get it, there is pent up frustration, but it still hurt to know how much damage has been done to a once great fan base. A few lethargic power plays. The fans know what bad hockey looks like and they feel no connection to this team. It was a very disappointing home opener, one in a string of many. Was Terry Pegula there? I saw Beane talking to Adams. I saw Thurman Thomas.

Wow. It’s one game. I agree that the lineup is not inspiring. This is another year of losing a top 6 player and not replacing him. As usual, they are hoping other players (Quinn and Benson) picks up the scoring of Peterka. Still, it’s only one game. Take a break, look at the standings. Maybe something good will happen? I will add that if this is another season that is over by Christmas I expect more players to lose their love for the game.

You build continuity over time. There is no way to know what the best line combinations are just from preseason. You are not going to build continuity in one game, especially when regular players are out with injuries. When Benson and Greenway come back there will be changes to get them in the line up. By playing Geertsen he enabled line swapping because there is no way that guy is good enough to play a straight 4th line shift. He was out there for the first goal against. But with Rempe playing Ruff chose Geertsen over Kozak, those are the players he had to work with. If Geertsen didn’t play and Rempe went after our players then Ruff would have been criticized for that too. Lindy is taking some criticism, much of it deserved, but line combinations for the first game is not a valid complaint. They got stopped by a fantastic goalie and their PP was ineffective, and they started the game way too slow. There is no new special teams coach. The coaching staff is the same as last season. The power play is still looking bad. Seth Appert runs the PP.

SOG indicator was the highlight of the first game. It worked.

He probably had IV antibiotics if he had an infected cut.

I agree. If Adams keeps Reinhart and Eichel and Ullmark we would be a lot better. Imagine if Norris is out for a long stretch. He was one of the better players tonight. He is glass.

Adam’s won’t fire Lindy. Terry won’t fire Adams.

Bad first period but then they played good hockey until the final 5. Lots of work to do with this group. Im worried about top 6 firepower.