Marvin

Speaking of the 1970's Sabres, that defence is what we expect. Most were physical, most were puck moving, most were defencively sound. Housley was soft by comparison and not as defencively sound as, say, Schoenfeld, Hajt, Fogolin, etc. while his offencive prowess did not compensate for his comparative deficiencies. He was not helped by the idiots before the draft who compared him to Bobby Orr.

There was something incredible about how the Sabres became so beloved so quickly. Some of it is probably Buffalo and we, the fans, but something about the team, the era, and the management that bonded us.

Welcome back.

That does not mean the medical staff are incompetent.

And I'll sail if I want to, Fail if I try to, Bail if I need to. You would wail too if it happened to you.

(Raises hand)

Welcome to the board.

Welcome back to the board.

S.S. Gilligan Hockey Heaven Sent Tank Fruit

Good luck, @MODO Hockey

No surprise: Pegula believes in this too.

Dear God, I hope you are right.

Is the plan now for UPL and Tokarski with the Sabres?

Luckily, this is not down to the studs. There should be 4 lines and 3 pairs of NHL-quality players -- granted with no #1 line and probably a bottom-half defencive corps. Also, some NHL-AHL tweeners may help with depth. We do need goaltenders in the worst way, though. The coach is trying to win. The GM will not undermine him by trading away decent players when things are going well. That will be a huge improvement over XGMTM.

Correct. I believe that losing can become a habit. The Tank helped create that because success was undermined at every turn by trades. Then the attempted acceleration of the rebuild added to it because there was no foundation to build off of. Now, yet another full sell-off reset is acceptable after another full sell-off reset; what should have happened was a rebuild while keeping the players that worked and adding to them instead of trying to lose. Until someone gets time, goaltending, grit, and talent, the team is doomed to be in an endless cycle of losing.

That W-L record for *this* franchise over the past few years is remarkable verging on miraculous.

I missed your first post. Welcome to the board.

Welcome back to the board.

Bad, bad, bad, bad, bad...

I think Terry is against pure cap dumps; players need to be productive. He probably figures if we are going to lose, the he does not want to spend money unnecessarily. I wonder how much Jack's behaviour has worn on the Pegulas. They basically have catered to his every whim except for a long-term contract with Reinhart.

Can't we just get better each year and not hope for a franchise saviour? He isn't coming because there is no such thing. You need to build the team up piece by piece.

When people here say they have something, the hit rate is way better than 1%. When we speculate about the Sabres, we do as well as your typical paid hockey pundit.

The goaltending and veteran signings result in 2 lines like the LOG line and sage partners for the young defencemen, which initially takes a tonne of pressure off the kids. Goaltenders play at a bit above league average. No one takes them seriously until they are firmly entrenched in a battle for 3rd as Boston and Montreal regress. Then the youth starts taking on bigger roles and the team rides their enthusiasm and utter disbelief and relief of the home fans to squeak in. They lose round 1 in 5, though, but learn a lot and suddenly are a respectable team.

As Avril Lavigne once wrote, I'm with you. I would like to see 5 lines and 4 pairs of competent NHLers (the bottom of which are in Rochester) on this roster. I want 2 solid NHL goalies. I am not asking for the moon. If we can get Larsson and Lazar types with a few Will Borgens, we could have a decent mix which I could live with. Let us do this the right way this time.

Although the top end is obviously not as good, It is sad that, as of now, the Sabres have comparable depth at forward and defence before the free agent frenzy than the teams from 2013-21 had after the free agent frenzy.