Pimlach

Oh no. Byram.

This is weird having Benson in the broadcast during a game.

Meghan is awesome.

Well the get a nice 3 goal lead and then give up a late goal. Sloppy play. Breakdown.

Chicago took a lot of chances pressuring the point. Tuch gets the puck behind them and boom.

Zucker is back.

Doan. Nice job.

Terrible power play.

Fixing the fourth line will not move the needle toward the playoff goal. The fourth line players are good enough for a wildcard team, and for most teams actually. The problem is the top 6 and it has been for a long time. Improve the top 6, move some of the current 6 to the 3rd line. Everyone likes Doan. I do too. But he is not a first line player at this point in his career. He would not be top 6 on top 8 team. Add better players, improve the first line and benefit from the trickle down.

I will be watching. Really need this to be a win. The Bills game is hurting me, as did the hockey Flame Out on Wednesday.

The infamous Palm Trees and Taxes press conference had many hockey reporters and pundits talking about how Adams was the only GM in the NHL without advisor's or a POHO. I assume that Stahl is helping with the day to day operational work and that Jarmo would be looking at the strategic planning.

Almost. A winning organization hold themselves (management), and their employees accountable. Accountability has to start at the top.

8 sacks. Countless QB pressures. Allen with no designed run plays to slow them down. Allen on QB draws could have slowed the defense down. A fourth quarter 4th and 1 and they call a slow developing backfield handoff to Cook for a loss. A final drive 3rd and 1 screen pass that gets deflected by a DT. offside on 4th and 1 with the game on the line - that play was a pass. A simple tush push on any of these plays and the drive for points continue. They had timeouts available. Both Bills offensive tackles were playing hurt and getting abused by the best DE combos in the league. Never once did I see a Bills TE or RB help them by chipping the DE to buy Allen more pocket time. Joe Brady’s play calling has been figured out, Miami stopped this offense so you knew Texas was going to be tough. Brady is showing us he is not up to it. OC is my first move. Go outside for his replacement. There are other problems too but the easy fix is 5he OC and a top notch WR for the offense. The defense needs a lot more help. Five good players from the past are no longer performing. Milano can barely move, he misses tackles and is done. Tre White is a liability. Terrell Bernard is struggling. Taron Johnson seems worn out too. Poyer is a desperate patch at Safety. Then there is the DL that never improves despite all the draft capital spent there

Thats why I said “maybe”. It’s possible that Lyon is also a vocal leader too. Not absurd, just a hopeful thought. My questioning of Ellis getting 3 straight games remains. I didn’t think it was necessary for a team carrying 3 goalies. BTW - Tage had a goal and an almost assist on an almost goal. Im good with firing Adams too.

Ellis is still promising from what I see. Hindsight says asking him for 3 in a row against a desperate veteran team was a lot, play Lyon and maybe he, being a veteran, knows what to say to the slackers in front if him.

He messed up on the first goal. Rebound control is a work in progress. He kept them in the game in the second period. I didn’t study the goals he gave up in the 3rd, the Flames dominated play the entire period. Hardly seems worth it to watch it twice.

If any other hockey market had to deal with the Pegula era Sabres the team would be moved because no one would care or support the Pegula product. But Buffalo is a small market and lives in fear of losing this team. If the team moves the odds of getting another one are not good. Should this continue another 5 years I think that will be enough to break the spirit of this abused fan base. Can you imagine a 20 year drought? Going to games in that facility and losing for this long is torture.

Maybe not. But I’m thinking that this terrible team culture is unique to Buffalo. No NHL team has a worse reputation either. The Blues and Flames came limping into Buffalo and won. Both teams on backs to backs, both teams playing back up goalies, both team have less talent, and both wins were dominate. These teams knew that the Buffalo game could be wins, and they did everything they could to make it happen. The Sabres players lacked the maturity, leadership, and self awareness to be ready and win the obvious games that they should. Home games at that. Culture is important. Culture is defined by what you do.

Some funny comments, but I have nothing against this guy. The problem is not Geertsen, it’s the people who thought he could help.

No front office changes will be made until the season is over. By then the Bills will be done and Terry can unveil his next new plan. If the team completely quits on their coach then Ruff could go, and Appert can get his look. Adams fate will be decided after the season.

No one gives executive advisors free rein. One aspect of the job is to provide alternatives based on your past experience, current research, and know how. No has to listen or follow the advice either, your advice could simply serve to make the full time execs feel better that other views an alternatives were considered. If Dudley had free rein to hire and fire he would actually be the POHO or GM and he would be accountable for the results of his decisions. That said, Dudley would have been a good guy for the Sabre to have. Zito in Florida hired him for advice, and rewarded him by putting his name on the cup, so he must be pleased with him, but Dudley does not to run the show. Duds is not easy and he is not a pushover. He is considered an “old school” hockey guy. Terry might not want that.

Peterson was ok, but I'll take Don Luce on the dot for a key face-off under pressure. I will go on to add that the Selke voting in the early days of that trophy was a joke. A big injustice was Bob Gainey winning the first 4 Selke's. Look at the voting in those years and look at the stats of the top vote getters. Luce and Ramsey had multiple years in that stretch that were statistically better than Gainey. One year Gainey even won it as a minus player, while both Luce and Ramsey had 20+ goals and over +20 in +/-. I think the voters today are more accurate today than back then. Gainey was a very fine player but the Montreal/Canada hype machine helped him with the voting.

I forgot Bylsma. He turned out to be a mediocre HC, but he has a Cup in his resume. He was hired because of the Pittsburgh connection, as were a lot of front office strap hangers in the tank era. I did not include Ted Nolan because LaFontaine put him in as HC, and Terry did not listen to Nolan or support him in any manner.

Tuch is on a 28-30 goal and 65 point pace. Pretty good considering all the injuries, instability, and line changes. He is a +1 and he has been solid defensively and on the PK. But many fans here think that he is not playing good hockey. I also thought that the home town connection would help get him signed to a good contract BEFORE the season started. Good meaning coming in at 6-7 years at $8M. I actually thought Tuch would take a bit less to help him get out of Buffalo if needed. Now the Kempe deal is pointing to even more years at $10-11M. That is too much for a last place team that is facing another rebuild. Given that the Sabres are looking at a new GM, new head coach, and another retool at the minimum, I would now consider trading him before the deadline. I do think he is one of the better players on the team and his play this year is pretty much who he is. I also think this contract stuff is a distraction for him, and his wife probably wants out too. Vancouver is her home town BTW.

LaFontaine - first time POHO Murray - first time GM Kim Pegula- first time whatever it was she did while running the Sabres Boterill - first time GM Housley - first time HC Krueger- HC for a few months, fired, became a soccer coach in Europe, then hired by Terry in a bizarre move Adams - First time GM Granato - first time HC Ruff - retread Sabre and a lazy hire instead of doing a structured coach search There are no different reasons. He keeps doing the same thing - He keeps losing. He keeps hiring people that he can control. He keeps settling for cheap and easy hires. He will not hire anyone that is headstrong on how to do things. He fears he will be cut out. He has not hired a proven winner yet.