JP51

I think this is pivitol... not so much for the season or the playoffs... but the psyche of the team.. coming off a 13 game winless streak... rattle off 3 in a row a feat which this team has rarely accomplished in the recent decades... to dropping 3 in a row... I think a loss here could send them on another protracted losing streak... a win helps them from falling into the abyss especially another home game getting booed off the ice... either way I see nothing but pain, disappointment and despair ahead but I do think this game is a bit of tipping point if they lose it.

I was thinking the same thing LOL

honestly even Benson, there is no one I would say is off limits... to trade it depends on the return... like you pull off a massive Blockbuster and try to get say mcDavid... well guess what, if they want Benson, Dahlin etc... thats what you are giving up. No one thought when the Sabres were trading for La Fontaine that they would put Fifi on the market... but they wanted Turgeon so.. off he went... When... that moves to it depends on the return.. I simply do not trust the current management to obtain a return with the types of players required to build this team... so, whenever there is a new and competent GM, POHO or whatever would be the time... if you are telling me that is never gonna happen... then I really dont know how to respond, because it wont matter anyways... I know this... I do not want KA making decisions with our assets against competent GMs, nor do I want him reforming the core and direction of this team.

Pretty true analysis i think with the exception of zucker any trades he makes make us worse and FA he signs cost us money and produce very little result. This is a horrific combination I was relieved when the trade with Pittsburgh was a big nothing burger 🍔 I was scared to see what havoc he might have reeked

I am resisting the urge to shout Stanley Cup here we come as i wonder if this isnt a pre cursor to something else... guess time will tell...

Everyone is fair game depending on the price except maybe Benson or Dahlin, but depending on the package I could be enticed. I would put them on the market right after the FO is cleared out and a competent GM and POHO are hired.

As hard as I have been on Adams its not hard to fathom the failure (although I totally get what you are saying) I think the ship has been rudderless almost even before Pegula because of financial resources, but definitely rudderless with Pegula. Adams is just the typical unqualified GM that Sheppard's a rudderless process. So to me firing Adams isnt enough... I think there needs to be a purposeful direction set by a competent POHO and GM that number 1 Pegula agrees to step away from and allow to do their thing, just provide resources... this to me is more than players, its scouting, internal operations etc... Once they have an opportunity to assess let them make the decisions on if a tear down or a re tool is needed. But something needs to change. I just don't know the extent of the change cause I am not a GM with the direction etc... I personally think the FO needs to be blown up and a major re tool on the players... But... if TP fires Adams and goes to Pittsburgh to hire an assistant cause he likes them, or tries to lure away Ben Johnson from the Detroit lions like he did Kreuger cause he believes in the style... etc.. or bring in Gil Perrault because he was his idol... then nothing will change... He needs to leave his fan boy parochial view of the game behind and start to run it like a professional organization where players play, coaches coach, GMs manage owners own and provide resource... this also means a commitment to funding the entire organization including traveling scouts if his GM, POHO deem that necessary. He needs to do all of these things just to bring the team up to the level of a legitimate NHL organization. Then they can begin to build. He has done this with the Bills... if you look at them under Wilson when he got older... he hired Buddy Nix without any other interviews because he knew the name... Russ Brandon because he was like his son , cash to the cap etc... the result was a rudderless bad to almost mediocre team for decades. Pegula changed that when he did the above. That is what needs to be done here.

I feel like we need to sit over a bourbon and a splief and solve the worlds problems the rabbit hole would not be deep enough LOL..😆

I can only imagine what it would be like to be in the middle of a 14 game streak like that, getting beat bad, or blowing leads, being booed etc... kind of a vicious self fullfilling prophecy of confidence... the only thing to break that was to win... even after 1 game it could have all gone bad... if the next game was a dud... but to string a few in a row together... has got to be really helpful for the psyche of these players for sure.

Quite honestly I was thinking Tuch would get the C. I understand why Dahlin has it but Tuch seems the more obvious leader maybe Dahlin grows into it i think he tries I think Tuch is more natural

That's really what 3 meant... they believe they are on the right course and do nothing i just re read it totally not clear closed the poll

I am kinda with you i do think that this losing streak was a bit of an aberration to be repeated maybe a small move enough improvement to pull back the pitchforks but ultimately if change is coming it will be the off season or at minimum after the Bills are done or trade deadline

Interested in people view here... Do we start winning and stay the course, wait till the offseason for changes, clean out FO now, start trading players now?... My guess is that we continue on this path and see how it plays out, ultimate they will need to make a change in the offseason, not sure absent another long losing streak TP pulls that trigger in season.

this is precisely correct... they are not built for the type of hockey played as we get closer to the playoffs... .anything over 500 hockey from them would be shocking and clearly show some improvement.

Well that locker room has to feel a sense of relief... how bad does it su&k for them each game they loose... they have a great chance to string a couple together with the Hawks up next... lets see how they respond....

Oh I think honestly the next year is over too but people just need some hope

I am going to trust you... I guess... I have seen very little of him very little opportunity to see him play I go to bed early lol... anyways when I have seen him play I did not get the impression he was a physical power guy that crashed the tough places... skilled with the puck good speed soft hands... but not a power guy... but again... I have very limited exposure to him from game to game...

Exactly... trading one of our only kinda gritty guys for more soft under performing perimeter guys is not the answer. But bottom line if Adams is still the GM that is exactly the trade I suspect. and if it is possible to get him we should...

I kinda feel opposite... I think this is one of those we score first maybe even up by two or so and then let the lead whittle away...

For the Sabres... Kim to make a miraculous and unanticipated recovery... I wonder what that would do for Terry.

You are not... if you are old enough to remember Rick Martin (who was my favorite) awesome trigger man... terrible puck handler... he had Perrault and Robert to do that.... we seem to have alot of Martins... Tage, JJP, Cozens.even Quinn, Tuch is better down low and in traffic but is not especially good on the puck... I think this issue is compounded by our percentage of losing faceoffs and having to chase to get the puck and losing battles in the corner.. Making each actual possession much more important..... our unforced turnovers absolutely kill us...

I will go one further... make a change... a solid and significant one in the front office and watch the hope re assert itself almost immediately... I think when you feel helpless and that nothing will change you get angry or apathetic or exceedingly negative... throw some prospect for hope and change in there... and watch what happens in this town...

Ok, so I am going to leave my utter frustration to the side... and try to be objective on why he does what he does... I am not defending him, nor am I excusing the ultimate failure that his tenure has become... in fact, based on where we sit currently it very well may be the best thing for him to step away... He is the ultimate architect of this state of affairs. I think he listened to the league and brought in folks they recommended... understanding he needed people in the room that had hockey knowledge... that failed, then he has Brandon and I believe Gilbert and the misconduct assertions and he feels betrayed... he then goes outside the organization gets Murray whom I believe was recommended to him and fails... on to an up and comer from Pittsburgh his favorite place and that fails... so he retreats to who he knows and says he groomed in Adams who was never meant to be or at least not ready to be a GM and now he is on 14 years... He has tried listening to recommendations, using people he trusts, going outside the Organization, hiring an up and comer, and bringing in someone he thought he groomed all blew up. His wife has a catastrophic event changing his life and focus forever, COVID destroys attendance for a period and the financials go south, with an NHL system that leaves smaller and especially under performing markets in a bad way. He is frustrated, sick of drama, hurt by the fact that the fans have turned on him, and recognizing that all of his good Hockey Heaven intentions have blown up. He is sick of change, sick of paying coaches not to coach, and frustrated to the point of apathy as is reflected by the players. He wants to win, but doesn't know where to turn, he is likely somehow ok with the status quo and a rationalization that we just need to give it time and fans are just mad but he cant listen to them. But most of all what happened to Kim changed him... the burning desire to do what ever it takes is gone, reality has set in for him that life is more than a hockey team and all the money in the world cant fix Kim. I truly feel for the man... I do believe he wanted to be this knight in shining armor that did good for a team and a town... but in the midst of the rubble, he is left confused what seems to be alone, and with a changed life focus. But make no mistake, I believe his intentions were good... and then life happened. Why sell, I think overall we need to recapture the brand that was the Sabres... leaving the current brand behind... we need to have someone build a team with a vision that is commensurate with what the NHL requires for success... obtaining these players under the current brand is proven to be almost impossible via trade... and our drafting has been predominantly of the same type of non aggressive skill player... So either a trusted name as POHO like a Stan Bowman etc.. and a GM that is renowned... or step away because he just doesn't have the fight in him anymore.. And based on what has happened in his life... I don't know that it wouldn't have changed any of us... Go ahead and flame... say I am stupid... whatever... but it is what I think... I don't have disdain for the man or his intentions, I do have sympathy for him as a human being... However, the state of affairs... well that needs to change drastically... ...

They are accountable their goal is to lose and turn this into hockey hell which they have done. There is no possible explanation for this level of abject ineptitude you literally have to try and focus every bit of your essence to be this bad for this long. There is no other explanation. Pegula was bullied by the hockey team in HS and he is exacting his revenge.

Exactly lazy lack luster perimeter skaters