Believer

🤞🏻

Panthers icing a MercyOnThem roster tonight. Adams should be grateful.

Not to pick on the guy, but neither is Tuch. He’s had well over two seasons to demonstrate leadership and he has not. We need to stop kidding ourselves. Dahlin is young and may not have the personality attributes. Haven’t seen it yet anyway. We don’t have one Honest to God player on the roster who is a natural born leader with the hockey chops and personality to inspire his team in the locker room, on the bench, and on the ice when needed. A leader from birth, a strong communicator, a powerful leader by example. Not one. All those high draft choices all these years. Not one. What an indictment on the Sabre organization, our past and present GM, our past and present Scouting staffs, and our owner. I live in Sarasota so was unable to watch or follow the game Thursday. No power. From the game thread and postgame comments, seems we missed another good opportunity for a win. This is to be the turnaround year for the Sabres. Tough start can be overcome. Won’t speak for others, but I can’t abide quitters. Do something Adams. Do something Ruff. Do something Dahlin. Do something Sabres. Start tonight.

Agree. Nothing seemingly to my eye, though. Probably watched Tuch on tv play more than half his nearly 200 games as a Sabre. 82 games is a grueling schedule and even the best players pace themselves. The best players play hard as the rule, not the exception. Don’t see that attribute in Tuch. Depends on the game, the shift, and the score. For a guy so excited to return to the area of his youth and a player embraced by fans and the press, his on ice effort has dropped off. No doubt he was disappointed not getting the C, but that was never in the cards given his impact in 2+ years here and Dahlin’s pedigree and All-Pro status. Appreciate mine is not a popular opinion. In this pivotal year for the franchise, Tuch and the other vets need to be present every game. Same goes for Adams. They all need to deliver this season.

LTS was speaking of Tuch. Tuch is a disappointment. Can see why LV offered him up. They knew something we are only discovering, imo. Size doesn’t matter if you don’t use it.

I go away for 30 minutes and come back to find the wheels fell off. What happened?

Damn.

Levi should get an assist

Thompson stymied twice on great opportunities. He’s due.

Bravo, Greenway

Devils aggressive again. Sabres look disorganized again. Tuch gets manhandled.

This is a highly misleading stat, imo. Think the game was decided in the 1st Period when the Sabres came out flat and were outshot (as I recall hearing) something like 18 to 5 and were down 2-0. How do you come out flat for the first game of a pivotal season of high expectations after several days rest, encouragement from Adams, maybe Pegula and instructions from Ruff? Seriously confounding. Someone posted earlier Dahlin, Tuch, Samuelson, Cozens and the other veteran leaders need to show up tomorrow morning from the drop of the puck. It will be a character test. Win or lose, show up and play hard. No excuses.

Sabres were uptight from the start. Put too much pressure on themselves. Couldn’t match Devils intensity. Didn’t play aggressively until late third period. This is on the Coach and the Captain, imo Better days ahead.

You killed my buzz. Pass the bong.

Think of the beer sales! 😂

Interesting observation.

Think the message is this year is all about winning. Period. Every game at every level.

I saw the game on NHL Center Ice. Great to be watching hockey again. Sabres looked hungry. Different team.

A lot of pressure on Ruff and the players when it was created by and rightfully belongs to Pegula and Adams.

And wins half his faceoffs. Let him teach a couple of our kids.

Would bet the League has already given Pegula the message. Invest in your franchise. New roof, new video display scoreboard, new high profile Coach. Make the playoffs. Business as usual is over. Pegula is still a cheapskate but Adams was more active in free agency.

Like his playoff experience and age. We need a couple more grown men to show our kids how to navigate an 82 game season plus the playoffs.

Our elite players should be talking up our young team and its SC prospects for the next decade to other players around the league, helping Adams sell the opportunity in Buffalo. Doubt this is happening much yet. Our guys are probably waiting to get a firsthand sense of Ruff at camp and how Adams will address the several RFAs before buying in themselves and selling the opportunity to others. My guess is the stink of the fan boycott is another factor causing players around the league to wonder about Buffalo. Who disses their own fans? Unhappy players. Who wants to join a group of unhappy players? It’s a leadership issue, imo. Pegula is just now starting to reinvest in the arena. Granato is gone. Okposo is gone. Adams is on thin ice. Ruff and presumptive new Captain Dahlin will be the real catalysts for leadership change, imo.

And physical players. Hitters. Guys who can send a message. Think Dahlin will like this guy. Couple of Messengers.

Farm kid. Character guy. If he’s willing to protect our top players, he’s a nice addition. From Washington Post article in April ‘23: “One of the hardest-working players on the team, Malenstyn leads the Capitals in hits with 209 (finished with 241) and is first among forwards in blocked shots with 87 (finished with 93)Even when Washington makes a practice optional, Malenstyn is nearly always on the ice — except for the rare day that he’s forced into taking a day off, usually to give the bumps and bruises from his physical play time to recover.”