GAME DISCUSSION THREAD

[FogBat]

I apologize and regret saying that. You are right, though. DeLuca cannot make me mad over far more serious issues, so there is no reason for me to react the way I did. I had a couple of beers, something I usually stay away from, and it slipped. No excuse, though.

Try to have a good one tonight, fella's. I'm going to grab a soda and watch Miracle.

How fitting! The Sabres could use one right now. :thumbdown: :wallbash:

[JohnRobertEichel]

Pardon me for going OT since this is a GDT, but I put it up for a reason. The Aud is fixing to come down (if it hasn't already), and it's a tribute to that building.

 

Corp000085 and That Aud Smell have their own Aud avatars. I found one that I figured would be apropos.

 

BT3@H, Max is to this season what Kalinin was to last season.

 

Actually, Max is to this season what Max was to last season.

 

Webster's dictionary defines "maxim" as such: a general truth, principle, or rule of conduct. Maxim's "maxim" is that he sucks and will continue to suck as long as he's a Sabre and a North American pro hockey player. He has zero trade value. Send him down to Portland and pray someone picks him up off waivers.

 

And by the way, I'm not excusing the rest of the team's play. I'm just saying that the book on Afinojerkoff has already been written.

[FogBat]

Actually, Max is to this season what Max was to last season.

 

Webster's dictionary defines "maxim" as such: a general truth, principle, or rule of conduct. Maxim's "maxim" is that he sucks and will continue to suck as long as he's a Sabre and a North American pro hockey player. He has zero trade value. Send him down to Portland and pray someone picks him up off waivers.

 

And by the way, I'm not excusing the rest of the team's play. I'm just saying that the book on Afinojerkoff has already been written.

Interesting...

 

I don't know if anyone beat me to call for Max to go on waivers, but I'll shout it from the mountain tops if I have to.

[SwampD]

Actually, Max is to this season what Max was to last season.

 

Webster's dictionary defines "maxim" as such: a general truth, principle, or rule of conduct. Maxim's "maxim" is that he sucks and will continue to suck as long as he's a Sabre and a North American pro hockey player. He has zero trade value. Send him down to Portland and pray someone picks him up off waivers.

 

And by the way, I'm not excusing the rest of the team's play. I'm just saying that the book on Afinojerkoff has already been written.

All you get when he touches the puck is a wasted rush. I don't even care if he goes somewhere else and turns out to be great. I'm tired of watching him suck here.

[wjag]

Relax folks.. This one goes the Sabres way...

 

Feel free to quote me :thumbsup:

See I told you...

 

At least I'm in New Orleans... Stopped in to check the score... Heading back out for some entertainment.

[FogBat]

See I told you...

 

At least I'm in New Orleans... Stopped in to check the score... Heading back out for some entertainment.

Say Hi to reneging, I mean, Ray Nagin for me.

[Claude Balls]

Wow, totally unbelievable. This team is disgusting right now. Boston is going to throttle the Sabres come Wednesday night.

 

It was nice to see that benching Stafford has opened up his eyes............NOT! :angry:

 

The defense looks like a bunch of sissies after starting the year strong and physical.

 

They team has left the goalies hung out to dry the last two games as well.

 

These guys just plain suck right now.

[LabattBlue]

Game thoughts...

 

-First 50 minutes, pretty damn good road game after an embarrassment the night before.(That's it for the good).

 

-I have to believe that Lindy reminded the players several times in the locker room before the 2nd & the 3rd to stay out of the penalty box, yet Tallinder takes a ridiculous penalty(satan had already shot the puck into the corner). Pittsburgh scores on the PP and the floodgates opened.

 

-Mair had the puck along the boards in the Pens zone in the 3rd and had Paille WIDE OPEN in the corner. Instead of giving him the puck, he thought he woudl show Crosby that he also has mad skills and proceeded to lose the puck.

 

-I thought Miller was really slow reacting to Crosby's pass on the GTG.

 

-Pominville is really letting me down in his own zone. A complete drop off from where he was last year.

 

-I want to go to Pittsburgh and fight the horn operator. What an obnoxious a#$^$#!e.

 

-Teppo is doing nothing for me. Let Paetsch play for a game or two and if he isn't the answer, give Weber another shot.

 

-I'm not sure who is charge of the PP, but the word is out around the NHL to charge our point men and they will cough it up. Can't they counter this, by working the puck down low more?

 

-What a disappointment not to come away with a point after leading with 10 minutes to go.

 

:angry: :angry:

[Claude Balls]

-I want to go to Pittsburgh and fight the horn operator. What an obnoxious a#$^$#!e.

I'll drive. :thumbsup:

[nfreeman]

that took some skill to turn a 2-1 lead with 8 minutes left in the game into a 5-2 loss. That looked like something this team would have done last year....

We lost every GD one of these games (ie tight games against a good Eastern conference team) last year. When the pressure mounted, we folded. Every time. I know Darcy and Lindy saw the same thing I did, and I can't believe they thought one new defenseman plus the return of Teppo was enough.

 

I'll say it right now: if we don't make a trade for a good veteran forward who is a leader, this team is going nowhere this year.

 

One more thing: DeLuca -- are you still a fan of Derek Roy? Still think he's better than Briere? I don't think it's even close.

[carpandean]

OK, after watching the first 50 minutes (as previously mentioned, I got home during the PP with just under 10 minutes to go), I do feel a little better. They played 55 minutes of a pretty good road game, especially the first 40, then fell apart. Don't get me wrong, that last part is definitely concerning, but it wasn't all bad. They are definitely still capable of playing with the best teams in the league, but also definitely have some bad habits that are killing them. At least this time it was just part of one period and not the whole game like last night.

 

As a side note: if/when Timmy comes back, I would be really interested in seeing a Vanek/Connolly/Pommer line.

[carpandean]

Still think he's better than Briere?

Who?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

:nana:

[Two or less]

We lost every GD one of these games (ie tight games against a good Eastern conference team) last year. When the pressure mounted, we folded. Every time. I know Darcy and Lindy saw the same thing I did, and I can't believe they thought one new defenseman plus the return of Teppo was enough.

 

I'll say it right now: if we don't make a trade for a good veteran forward who is a leader, this team is going nowhere this year.

One more thing: DeLuca -- are you still a fan of Derek Roy? Still think he's better than Briere? I don't think it's even close.

 

Seriously, wtf is it with people on THIS forum, who can't get over Chris Drury or Daniel Briere? Come on. GET OVER IT.

 

Briere STINKS in Philly. He has been sucking for the past 2 seasons. He gets boooed at home. And recently, he's been a Connolly with his lower body injuries. The dude is 31 years old. Roy 25. Briere is an absolute joke in his own zone. Roy can hold his own.

 

Roy is a pretty good hockey player. There is many centers who are clear and above better then Roy. However, Briere, at their current state, is NOT. Briere is old, sucks in his own end, and keeps getting hurt.

 

Get over Briere. Get over Drury. Holy sh!t.

[Eleven]

I'll drive. :thumbsup:

 

I've gotta say this, and I know it will irritate just about everyone, but the same stuff happens with the horn at HSBC after a big goal...maybe a tying goal after a giant deficit, or an OT goal that wins it, or the seventh goal against the Flyers in a certain October game or whatever, but our horn can be just as annoying as Pittsburgh's was tonight. (Except for the time the Pitt dude hit the buzzer four seconds after the refs waved off Crosby's shot.) At HSBC, they'll lay on that horn for seven seconds if they want to.

[carpandean]

Thanks VM, couldn't have said it better myself. Derek is definitely off to a slow start, especially in terms of production, but it's not as bad as some are making it out to be. Go back to when Danny was his age in Phoenix (his last season) and his production wasn't great either coming off a 32-goal season (though only 60 points vs. Derek's 80 last year.) I'll still take Derek going forward. The bigger problem is that we still need a consistent second scoring-line center.

 

 

On an unrelated note, Vanek now has more goals than he had in the first half of last year (got his 13th in the 45th game on January 18.)

[Eleven]

We lost every GD one of these games (ie tight games against a good Eastern conference team) last year. When the pressure mounted, we folded. Every time. I know Darcy and Lindy saw the same thing I did, and I can't believe they thought one new defenseman plus the return of Teppo was enough.

 

I'll say it right now: if we don't make a trade for a good veteran forward who is a leader, this team is going nowhere this year.

 

One more thing: DeLuca -- are you still a fan of Derek Roy? Still think he's better than Briere? I don't think it's even close.

 

On the defensemen comment, what I noticed Friday night (against Columbus) wasn't so much an excess of fancy passing on offense by the Sabs, as it was a completely prepared Columbus D. The Ohio D was there for every pass through the slot (right in front of me in the first period), and broke all of 'em up. Hitchcock had his guys well prepared; they may have been watching Sabres film for all of November, considering his vendetta against Ruff. That's THEIR defensemen, and our offense, which I actually thought was good on Friday before they got depressed (at about 3-0).

 

Our D is NOT similarly well-prepared. It doesn't anticipate the opposing offensive moves as well as C-bus did on Friday, or as well as any Cup team I've ever seen, or even as well as the skeleton D did against Carolina in Game 7 in '06. Our D seems to stick to some sort of unwavering formulaic paradigm, and that's not going to work. It's too easily solved by NHL teams. The Sabres have a veteran blueline; with the exception of Sekera, it's not a young bunch. They should be forced to adapt to the offense they are facing, and for whatever reason, they are not. I don't think they are preparing like they should be; they definitely are not preparing like Columbus's defense prepared for Friday night.

 

As to the "good veteran forward," well, we got the "good veteran defenseman" during the offseason, and that (according to the post) didn't help. So that's maybe not the answer. What might be the answer is a little more consistency with the lines; I noticed tonight several instances where players nearly, or actually, skated into each other simply because they weren't familiar with the line. (That includes the run-in that produced the Cindies' GWG, although that was a defenseman pinching while the winger was expecting the D-man to take it to the corner and drop back. They were not on the same page, regardless.) If adding one guy to the D didn't do it, why would adding one guy to the O make a difference?

 

Roy is not better than Briere. But he isn't that far off, and he's a bit cheaper and has more of a future. Roy still needs to sharpen his freaking skates and realize that he plays better when not laying on the ice. His reputation as a diver--whether deserved or not--developed when he was younger is not helping; there's rarely a call when he goes down (which is often), even if there should be a call.

[carpandean]

Roy is not better offensively than Briere. But he isn't that far off, and he's a bit cheaper and has more of a future. Roy still needs to sharpen his freaking skates and realize that he plays better when not laying on the ice. His reputation as a diver--whether deserved or not--developed when he was younger is not helping; there's rarely a call when he goes down (which is often), even if there should be a call.

Fixed. 'Cause defensively it's never been close even with Roy's less consistent play this year. Faceoffs, too.

[Eleven]

Fixed. 'Cause defensively it's never been close even with Roy's less consistent play this year. Faceoffs, too.

 

Absolutely.

[frisky]

I think Lindy should start rotating the scratches all around the roster. I think everyone deserves it. Bring up a couple of the kids to play and make some of the veterans watch from the press box for a game or two so they can get their crap together by contemplating their defensive sins. Seems like the skaters hate their goalies and coaches.

[Kristian]

I think we should stop kidding ourselves here. Well, at least I know I should.

 

I mean, what really made us believe that dumping Kalinin for Rivet and getting a 40 year old d-man back from injury would change the makeup of this team? Everyone's talking about how this "looks like last years team" at times, when effectively this IS last years team, right down to the zamboni driver.

 

Nothing has changed. Sure, we picked a captain and everyone from the organisation likes to talk about these guys like it's a whole different situation this year, yet it's still last years team, except for ONE guy and a backup.

 

Or is it that we expected Lalime to be such a huge upgrade over T-Blo that he would automatically steal us the points we needed to make the playoffs last year?

 

I just don't get it though, how is it that they cannot see what a great team they become when they give a damn, opposed to how piss-poor they become when they take the night off?

 

Oh well, fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

 

Conclusion : Shame on me.

[Corp000085]

What a disaster this weekend has turned out to be. I'm of the opinion that they need to first healthy scratch max and/or some of the other worthless garbage skating around. See what that does to the boys, if that fails, package max and someone else, like mair, gaustad, kotalik (except he's injured... can't trade injured guys), or whomever, then make the call ups necessary. There's 14 forwards vying for 12 spots, and i'd stay 3 or 4 of those slots are up for grabs anyways. Trade away max and a big name and team guy like gaustad or even hecht, get something in return, and then see if that makes the guys concentrate on the ice rather than Chippewa st.

[deluca67]

We lost every GD one of these games (ie tight games against a good Eastern conference team) last year. When the pressure mounted, we folded. Every time. I know Darcy and Lindy saw the same thing I did, and I can't believe they thought one new defenseman plus the return of Teppo was enough.

 

I'll say it right now: if we don't make a trade for a good veteran forward who is a leader, this team is going nowhere this year.

 

One more thing: DeLuca -- are you still a fan of Derek Roy? Still think he's better than Briere? I don't think it's even close.

Yes and Yes. You are right it's not even close. Briere would have to change his game to catch up.

 

Roy is off to a slow start. Much like Vanek was last season. I'm sure Roy will pick his game up just like I am sure that Briere will get his PP points and disappear when the Flyers need him most like he did last season and like he did with the Sabres.

[Chief Enabler]

I think Lindy should start rotating the scratches all around the roster. I think everyone deserves it. Bring up a couple of the kids to play and make some of the veterans watch from the press box for a game or two so they can get their crap together by contemplating their defensive sins. Seems like the skaters hate their goalies and coaches.

Brilliant! :thumbsup:

 

We've gone from rotating captains to rotating scratches! :D

[deluca67]

What a disaster this weekend has turned out to be. I'm of the opinion that they need to first healthy scratch max and/or some of the other worthless garbage skating around. See what that does to the boys, if that fails, package max and someone else, like mair, gaustad, kotalik (except he's injured... can't trade injured guys), or whomever, then make the call ups necessary. There's 14 forwards vying for 12 spots, and i'd stay 3 or 4 of those slots are up for grabs anyways. Trade away max and a big name and team guy like gaustad or even hecht, get something in return, and then see if that makes the guys concentrate on the ice rather than Chippewa st.

I said since the preseason that the Sabres have zero depth in the forward ranks. I kept hearing how they had all these quality NHL forwards. I didn't see it then and I definitely don't see it now. After Roy, Vanek and Pominville there is a huge drop off. They are too small up front and their one forward with size plays like a wuss. My apologies to all the Gaustad fans but the last thing this team needs is a gentle giant.

[Corp000085]

I said since the preseason that the Sabres have zero depth in the forward ranks. I kept hearing how they had all these quality NHL forwards. I didn't see it then and I definitely don't see it now. After Roy, Vanek and Pominville there is a huge drop off. They are too small up front and their one forward with size plays like a wuss. My apologies to all the Gaustad fans but the last thing this team needs is a gentle giant.

 

 

I think there's plenty of talent, however, there's too much of the same talent. Undersized finesse guys who are pass happy need a giant cinder block with a quick shot to pass the puck TO. From top to bottom, t his is still a very talented roster, they just need to mix things up a bit.