GAME DISCUSSION THREAD

[Kristian]

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.

 

What this team needs, is for Darcy to realise that

 

a. The "New NHL" is gone.

b. It's not coming back.

[deluca67]

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.

IMO, the Sabres talent is vastly overrated. They dressed Matt Ellis for cry it out loud. That could change if Paille and Stafford find any consistency to their game. The same can be said for MacArthur. It's just right now I'm not sure if any of the three deserve to be in the NHL right now. Add in Max and Timmy along with Mair, Peters and Kaletta? That's eight huge question marks this team has in the lineup.

 

Someone posted earlier about Teppo. I didn't want to be the first because I was against the signing in the first place. He's not bringing anything to the Sabres they couldn't be getting out of one of the kids. He has been looking really old lately.

[LabattBlue]

My apologies to all the Gaustad fans but the last thing this team needs is a gentle giant.

Gaustad is a nice 4th line forward with no offensive game...NONE. He has also gone from being a warrior in the AHL to a sometimes physical forward in the NHL. At least I feel better that he is finally off the PP after me bitching about it all of last year.

 

He should be making around 1 to 1.5 mil a year. Instead LQ got caught up in "now we'll re-sign everybody after our major screwups of recent memory" and you have Gaustad at a 2.3 mil cap hit.

[stenbaro]

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.

Like anything else in BUffalo the Teardown of the AUD is in jeapardy as of now..The contractor is trrying to renegotiate the contract due to falling scrap prices..LOL...If he tears it down now he loses millions..He counted on scrap being worth much higher than it is now when he signed the contract...

[LabattBlue]

Like anything else in BUffalo the Teardown of the AUD is in jeapardy as of now..The contractor is trrying to renegotiate the contract due to falling scrap prices..LOL...If he tears it down now he loses millions..He counted on scrap being worth much higher than it is now when he signed the contract...

I saw that in the News. Pretty sad(or maybe just bad luck) when you can't even get buildings demolished, let alone something built in their place.

[stenbaro]

I saw that in the News. Pretty sad(or maybe just bad luck) when you can't even get buildings demolished, let alone something built in their place.

Well at least they got the HSBC built when they did..IT could be worse I guess...LOL

[DR HOLLIDAY]

Bottom line is almost every Sabre can play better and unless that happens we are going to be mediocre........... :thumbdown:

[carpandean]

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.

IMO, the Sabres talent is vastly overrated. They dressed Matt Ellis for cry it out loud. That could change if Paille and Stafford find any consistency to their game. The same can be said for MacArthur. It's just right now I'm not sure if any of the three deserve to be in the NHL right now. Add in Max and Timmy along with Mair, Peters and Kaletta? That's eight huge question marks this team has in the lineup.

The funny thing is that they did better with their depth guys playing than they've done playing with everyone else in the lineup. They got their full-time lineup back and everyone went back to play a run-and-gun, screw defense, "cute" offense game.

 

I'd say that MacArthur and Mair have stepped up enough that they don't belong on your question mark list. Mac has been one of our best forwards (not just statistically) and Mair has brought far more than most teams could expect from their league-minimum, fourth-line role players.

[kingcongkorab]

What this team needs is a bold move from the front office, not the lets trade Max and something else off of our scrap heap. I think we need to trade a young prospect like Stafford and maybe a good person in Portland. With Weber ready to step up we should include one of our D-men too. This team is in desperate need of a big shake up. We are stale and complacent and I do not see us making the playoffs if something is not done soon.

[R_Dudley]

Terrific third period. The Penguins putting together their best rendition of the '06-'07 Sabres (6-3 when trailing after 2 periods) and I get to listen to the Pittsburgh homers miss-pronouncing VOnek all night.

 

The Sabres haven't been a very physical team in recent memory, but this season they don't seem to take advantage of speed either. Way to often they have trouble getting the puck up ice. Their transition game made up for their inability to sustain a forecheck, but not so much this year.

Definitely true but you also have to realize the other teams figured that out as well and plan around that..

 

Is Dick Jauron coaching the Sabres now too? How many times has Ruff sat on a lead in Pittsburgh in the third period? It always turns out the same way. Coaching not to lose.

Now it's really starting to feel like 07-08.

Since I live here in PGh way to many times for me to remember, man I hate seeing us lose like that and hate more having my nose rubbed in it by all the Pens fans at work... :wallbash:

 

Gaustad is a nice 4th line forward with no offensive game...NONE. He has also gone from being a warrior in the AHL to a sometimes physical forward in the NHL. At least I feel better that he is finally off the PP after me bitching about it all of last year.

 

He should be making around 1 to 1.5 mil a year. Instead LQ got caught up in "now we'll re-sign everybody after our major screwups of recent memory" and you have Gaustad at a 2.3 mil cap hit.

Yeah but he's part of the brat pack from Rochester that came into their own :unsure: now to pull what I'll call an Inky

I just didn't realize that was Miller until recently. :o

[cilevel]

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.

 

Agree on pretty much everything. I think we are capable of playing with the best teams and think some of our problem has to do with getting out worked when playing "lesser teams" - when will they learn 60 minutes every freaking night is what it takes. I am concerned with how badly they fell apart after the GTG last night. I'm thinking playing TC with TV and Pommer is something we see when TC is back and am hoping it actually happens.

 

Also, I know TC's injuries get frustrating for all of us but I give the guy this credit - he got absolutely leveled by Tkachuk and yet played beastly minutes the next game. I would hope that would rub off on his teammates who looked on Friday like they were all playing with something broken. I really don't think Rivet is back to 100% because he looks slow since his return, but again, he's playing and giving it all he's got.

[cilevel]

Bottom line is almost every Sabre can play better and unless that happens we are going to be mediocre........... :thumbdown:

 

Post of the day, right here.

[FogBat]

What this team needs, is for Darcy to realise that

 

a. The "New NHL" is gone.

b. It's not coming back.

The "New NHL" lasted only one season - right after the lockout. After that, just about ever other team (except ours) went back to the old way of doing things. From what I've seen, the Minnesota Wild are a prime example of this with their suffocating defense. <_<

[2ForTripping]

Anyone else catch Lindy "whispering" in Max's ear last night while on the bench? He "whispered" for quite a while. I wonder what was said? Start packing your bags perhaps? Who knows, but it didn't seem to motivate 61.

[DR HOLLIDAY]

Anyone else catch Lindy "whispering" in Max's ear last night while on the bench? He "whispered" for quite a while. I wonder what was said? Start packing your bags perhaps? Who knows, but it didn't seem to motivate 61.

 

Lindy should have bit his ear off, Mike Tyson style, maybe he would have noticed........ :beer:

[wonderbread]

Anyone else catch Lindy "whispering" in Max's ear last night while on the bench? He "whispered" for quite a while. I wonder what was said? Start packing your bags perhaps? Who knows, but it didn't seem to motivate 61.

 

saw it! I think maybe he was trying to give him some encouragement. I noticed Max went out on the next shift and played more soundly with a short shift. Who knows what is going on there. Something needs to be done. What happed to our Capt. kicking some ass when its needed? This whole weekend of Hoceky was downright depressing.

[kingcongkorab]

saw it! I think maybe he was trying to give him some encouragement. I noticed Max went out on the next shift and played more soundly with a short shift. Who knows what is going on there. Something needs to be done. What happed to our Capt. kicking some ass when its needed? This whole weekend of Hoceky was downright depressing.

 

It was a friggin nightmare. I still can't get over how the Blue Jackets bitch slapped us at home like that.

[Hawerchuk]

Play hard for 60 minutes and good things will happen.

LETS GO BUFFALO!!

 

I said 60 minutes, GDammit! Not 50!! WTF?!?!

[carpandean]

The "New NHL" lasted only one season - right after the lockout. After that, just about ever other team (except ours) went back to the old way of doing things. From what I've seen, the Minnesota Wild are a prime example of this with their suffocating defense. <_<

Two regular seasons, 2005-06 and 2006-07, but no playoffs. It became very clear in the 2006-07 playoffs that what wins in the "new NHL" regular seasons, still wouldn't win in the playoffs; the rules change. We were the poster children for that.

[Kristian]

The "New NHL" lasted only one season - right after the lockout. After that, just about ever other team (except ours) went back to the old way of doing things. From what I've seen, the Minnesota Wild are a prime example of this with their suffocating defense. <_<

 

Care to copy and paste this post into Darcy's mailbox? Cause it seems the news of the "New NHL's Demise" hasn't reached his office yet.

[FogBat]

Two regular seasons, 2005-06 and 2006-07, but no playoffs. It became very clear in the 2006-07 playoffs that what wins in the "new NHL" regular seasons, still wouldn't win in the playoffs; the rules change. We were the poster children for that.

Even during the course of the 2006-07, it was already reverting back to the way things used to be.

[FogBat]

Care to copy and paste this post into Darcy's mailbox? Cause it seems the news of the "New NHL's Demise" hasn't reached his office yet.

How about we make it a collective effort? :thumbsup:

[spndnchz]

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.

Sorry, just catching up on my reading. After reading 147 posts this came across as one of the more sensible and truthful.

 

Like anything else in BUffalo the Teardown of the AUD is in jeapardy as of now..The contractor is trrying to renegotiate the contract due to falling scrap prices..LOL...If he tears it down now he loses millions..He counted on scrap being worth much higher than it is now when he signed the contract...

Word I heard, the lawyers for Buffalo were still running through the contracts and they weren't signed yet. So if this contractor wants to back out, he has every right to. Once again Bflo waiting around and not just gettin' 'er dun.

[Hawerchuk]

Word I heard, the lawyers for Buffalo were still running through the contracts and they weren't signed yet. So if this contractor wants to back out, he has every right to. Once again Bflo waiting around and not just gettin' 'er dun.

 

Buffalo and progress :wallbash:

[LabattBlue]

Sorry, just catching up on my reading. After reading 147 posts this came across as one of the more sensible and truthful.

Word I heard, the lawyers for Buffalo were still running through the contracts and they weren't signed yet. So if this contractor wants to back out, he has every right to. Once again Bflo waiting around and not just gettin' 'er dun.

This is exactly the case...

 

http://www.buffalonews.com/145/story/492145.html

?The bid was awarded to Ontario Specialty, the final contract is being reviewed by our parent agency in New York and should be ready for them to sign next week,? Levy said. ?I would hope they?ll sign it and get to work.?

 

The bid was awarded back in early October. I am not a lawyer, but why we are in mid-November and the contract has not been signed yet is beyond my comprehension.

 

Instead, just pay the low bidder the difference in the scrap metal price from where it was during the time of the bid and where it is at today and tell them to get their cranes onsite ASAP!!!!

 

What will really happen...It will be going out to bid all over again.