Carmel Corn

PP - too many passes, not enough shooting (again)

Hire that Walrus as our goalie!

I beg to differ....addition by subtraction for KO, MS and Sobotka. Jury may still be out on Nylander and Guhle. Bealieu is gone no matter what anyway. Zemgus can stay if the price tag is reasonable.

I doubt all 3 will be hits vs. misses. However, I don't think GMJB's strategy is solely depending on picks either. I'd like to think he'll do more trades and maybe FA signings to improve more quickly, just hopefully less reckless than GMTM was.

To me, it's like we're still paying the price for a failed GMTM reign. His "win now" approach with trades and bad FA contracts has failed and we lost considerable draft capital in the process. The picks we kept have not been overwhelming (ex. Nylander). Enter GMJB now and his approach requires more time and patience....leaving us with a soft and mediocre team while his prospects still develop. I fear we are still a few years away from being a true contender and we may also have a question mark on HC too.

Understand your approach, but I would rather see them start with the forwards and work backwards. Figure out how to swap in some pieces that can forecheck and win battles along the boards. I'd like to see some new faces that love to hit and finish checks. I think we need more forwards like this to not only make the playoffs, but succeed in them.

Yes, we can agree the roster is full of SOFT players and that is GMJB's responsibility. That being said, there are several players who have shown (albeit too rarely) that they can dish out a little punishment. I am thinking players like McCabe, BOGO and maybe a couple forwards have shown an ability to be more physical and finish checks. I don't think it is unreasonable for HCPH to expect this and demand it more often.

Hard to know one way or the other, but I think the team playing "soft" is not something new that just happened for the first time tonight. With a few game exceptions here and there, I feel that's how they've played (soft) for the majority of the last 15-20 games. No team fears playing the Sabres and if they can keep Eichel and Skinner in check, they have a 90% chance of winning.

I wish HCPH would have called out his team for being soft, etc. 15 or 20 games or so. It may not have changed the results, but still would like to see him make his players more accountable publicly. I know I am old-fashioned, but sometimes you need a "whip" vs. a "carrot".

I would consider any opportunity to add veteran center depth that has some offensive upside. Even if Mittelstadt improves next year, I still worry about our center depth and how vulnerable we become when injuries happen at the C position. Losing Scandella may be addition by subtraction.

Nope....but we get a "PARTICIPATION" trophy!

An effective power play coupled with less shorties would have won the game yesterday. HCPH has no answers for the PP and it has been 1.5 years...not a recent problem. Second...as in period. HCPH seems to be lost on how to get better 2nd period performance for the team as evident by the season-to-date +/- differential vs. the 1st and 3rd periods. Statistically the second period is by far our worse from a scoring differential standpoint. He is accountable for these two things in my mind.

I wish Sheary could stay on his skates more. He has speed, but is at a real size disadvantage. Seems to end up on his knees or gets knocked off balance quite a bit. Some smaller guys can still play big (ex. Mike Peca), but Sheary seems really "small" to me.

This game was "winnable" despite the bad performances by Eichel, Dahlin, etc. SPECIAL TEAMS - stop the shorties and cash in on the PP (we had enough chances). Imagine where this team could be if the coaching staff could figure it out!

How much do you want to bet that HCPH reunites the Eichel-Skinner-Reinhardt line the next game?

I would argue that it is just not today.....unfortunately

Except Danny was not a center

We all want and expect Dahlin to be special....but wow he is having a rough game so far!

Wouldn't it be nice if KO's contract had the same amount of term left as Sobotka's. Still hard to swallow the fact we're stuck with both of them next year and KO for a while beyond even that.

Perhaps, but expect Beaulieu to get moved. Maybe a Bob Corkum 'ish type of year.

I'd rather see him playing the left point on the PP.

It could be 2-0 based on shorties....fire the PP coach!

Yes....and I would LOVE to see him in blue & gold

Smaller players like Sheary and Pilut getting run over. Imagine playing a 7 game playoff series against this team. We're too small and weak.

Weak call!