GDT Lightning at Sabres 11-29-17 7pm MSG GR

[TheAud]

In the last 2 games, the Sabres have played with an empty net for almost 10 minutes with no goals against.  That's better than when we have the goalie in.

Hell they are barely above water on goals for and against while in the power play for the season! 

[Mustache of God]

Man, shutout twice in a row. Home and home against the reigning cup champs next.

[Thorner]

It's not one of ours.The girlfriend in the Taco Bell commercial, the couple in the Fallsview commercial and the snotty girl in the iPad commercial need to all die in a car fire where passersby tried, but failed, to break the glass.

 

 

My mistake.

 

Remember all the Housley is the defenseman whisperer/next great coach? Wha happen?

Can't make chicken salad out of something something.

 

We have the worst roster in the league I think.

[WildCard]

We are...not good

[CallawaySabres]

No chance Buffalo scores tonight

 

Did not watch 1 minute and this was the easiest prediction of the night....

[Thorner]

It's not about this season anymore. It's not even about the draft. It's about what Botterill can do to remould this team.

 

Botterill is our only hope. I'm not saying I'm confident in him, but the team as currently constructed is, I believe, incapable of finding their way out of this mess on their own.

 

I also think we have found our Patrick Kane, but not our Jonathan Toews. We don't have a captain, the guy who represents the lifeblood of this team. Our identity. We need to find this player.

Edited November 29, 2017 by Thorny

[Tondas]

Got to be tough for the Sabres to go out there game after game knowing that their season is basically over with no playoffs again.  They have to feel that the games are pointless (again, it's pun night).

[Thorner]

Got to be tough for the Sabres to go out there game after game knowing that their season is basically over with no playoffs again.  They have to feel that the games are pointless (again, it's pun night).

Easy way to weed out the guys who don't have the competitive drive needed to succeed when it counts. If they aren't motivated by pride, and self respect, even in a losing situation, I don't like the odds they'll be iron men come playoff time, either.

[calti]

the once proud sabres franchise. what a clusterfrick

Edited November 29, 2017 by calti

[Tondas]

Easy way to weed out the guys who don't have the competitive drive needed to succeed when it counts. If they aren't motivated by pride, and self respect, even in a losing situation, I don't like the odds they'll be iron men come playoff time, either.

 

Good point.  Well said.

[Stoner]

Easy way to weed out the guys who don't have the competitive drive needed to succeed when it counts. If they aren't motivated by pride, and self respect, even in a losing situation, I don't like the odds they'll be iron men come playoff time, either.

I like this. Hope Botterill is watching closely.

[Bluto]

I think this group does really hustle and give their best in games - contrary to what the local media seems to state.  The problem is that their best is way below the NHL average.  It's a weak  and uninspiring line-up and that's the bottom line. 

[PalmTreeMafia]

Didn't see the game. Can someone tell me what the crowd was like? In terms of % attendance, noise factor, booing factor, etc...? Thanks!

 

I think it's time for fans to stop buying tickets and attending the games. But for those who already purchased tickets, go to the games and boo the out of these pieces of for all 60 minutes, if you can. Not sure this will wake up the players, but it will at least be cathartic for us all to see and hear.

Edited November 29, 2017 by FuhrFury

[Marvelo]

In the last 2 games, the Sabres have played with an empty net for almost 10 minutes with no goals against.  That's better than when they have the goalie in.

 

Maybe the Sabres should play without a goalie.

[Jacque Richard]

Didn't see the game. Can someone tell me what the crowd was like? In terms of % attendance, noise factor, booing factor, etc...? Thanks!

 

I think it's time for fans to stop buying tickets and attending the games. But for those who already purchased tickets, go to the games and boo the ###### out of these pieces of ###### for all 60 minutes, if you can. Not sure this will wake up the players, but it will at least be cathartic for us all to see and hear.

been saying that for years,

I think this group does really hustle and give their best in games - contrary to what the local media seems to state.  The problem is that their best is way below the NHL average.  It's a weak  and uninspiring line-up and that's the bottom line.

 

explain vegas knights then

Did not watch 1 minute and this was the easiest prediction of the night....

same ole song and dance

[Thorner]

I think this group does really hustle and give their best in games - contrary to what the local media seems to state. The problem is that their best is way below the NHL average. It's a weak and uninspiring line-up and that's the bottom line.

 

Good point. It's assuredly not our entire roster dogging it out there. The difficulty is trying to determine when it's a lack of effort, and when it's a lack of talent. I think with a lot of these guys, it's really just a lack of talent. And such a large combination of low talent players results in the tire fire we are witnessing.

 

But that's not everyone. There are some guys not giving it their all.

 

I can say that because as recently as a few games ago, we saw what Eichel can do. Flagg said it himself: Jack's speed is still there. But we were all thinking it was gone. That's concerning.

 

Luckily, the league isn't divided into people that work really hard, and those that don't at all. I'm comfortable saying that while Jack is not a guy with the highest motor out there, at least SOME of what we are seeing can be attributed to a youth-induced learning curve we didn't expect from him (when we should have) after being told he was generational. He's not. That's reserved for the Crosbys and McDavids and Matthews of the world.

 

Jack is a 21 year old number two overall pick, and that's what I'm viewing him as. He has the potential to become an elite player, after his (very normal) learning curve bears itself out.

 

Just like other elite or potentially elite players. He has a good chance of getting there, and luckily for us his floor is what his pace is now: a 60 point, top-line level centre. He's going to amount to more than that, assuredly.

 

I know, that contract. But we will have to be patient with him. It's not Eichel's fault he is going to soon get paid like he's the best of the best. Someone else handed him that deal.

 

The good news is that the potential offender in that case has the ability and opportunity to mould the roster into a successful franchise. I just hope he is up to the task.

Edited November 29, 2017 by Thorny

[Jacque Richard]

Hamilton said the Sabres have all perimeter players and nobody wants to go to the net and get dirty. Their fooked

How many fans are getting totally fed up with this crap. Not the ones that go to the rink and look at their cell phones the whole game

the once proud sabres franchise. what a clusterfrick

pegula has made the changes in hopes they would be better. Not his fault

[Thorner]

Hamilton said the Sabres have all perimeter players and nobody wants to go to the net and get dirty. Their fookedHow many fans are getting totally fed up with this crap. Not the ones that go to the rink and look at their cell phones the whole gamepegula has made the changes in hopes they would be better. Not his fault

That doesn't seem right. Reinhart, Girgensons, Kane, Moulson and even a few others have shown a willingness to go to the net.

 

To the tune of seemingly losing a goal a game due to goalie "interference".

 

(Though I certainly will not begrudge you having the opinion that those instances hardly constituted legitimate "interference". Cough - Price shutout bid -cough)

[WildCard]

Hamilton said the Sabres have all perimeter players and nobody wants to go to the net and get dirty. Their fooked

That doesn't seem right. Reinhart, Girgensons, Kane, Moulson and even a few others have shown a willingness to go to the net.

 

To the tune of seemingly losing a goal a game due to goalie "interference".

 

(Though I certainly will not begrudge you having the opinion that those instances hardly constituted legitimate "interference". Cough - Price shutout bid -cough)

Thorny has it right. Hamilton is a dinosaur stuck with dinosaur thoughts. It's not perimeter players or anything like that, it's just these guys believing in themselves and doing something about it. Right now, they're not

[Kruppstahl]

And why did the fire disco

Because he is f-ing god awful. 

 

I feel bad for the folks who go to the games to be entertained , so sad where the franchise is

I think  about that as I watch these games all the time.  I can't imagine driving down there on a cold winter night to see this product; it's not entertaining. 

 

Eichel is 21. He's playing against one of the best teams in the league. He's playing on the same ice as one of the great players of the game. He hates to lose. Or so we've been told. But he can't be bothered. There's your future.

Man, I was going to to respond harshly to this post until I got to the punchline.  Eichel is a huge concern for me; I think about trading him almost daily now.  It would have to be with a team prepared to give you a boatload of currency...but if you were ever going to do it, the time would be soon before the rest of the league catches up and realizes he's just not what was promised.  His ceiling is going to be a lot lower than we all thought.  I'm thinking of Craig Button saying Eichel would have been the #1 draft prospect in every single draft since Crosby, other than the one he actually went in with McDavid.  That is quite a statement, and it shows how highly Eichel was scouted.  He's nothing like that kind of a player.  

 

I want to know what is going keep the fans interested in this crappy team

 

Judging from the number of empty blue seats on my TV screen tonight, the answer is "nothing."

 

That building gets more and more empty for these games all the time; I keep reading that the secondary market for ticket sales has crashed.  The word is season ticket holders can't give them away.   I'm sure some here could chime in on that one. 

I'm not sure why I'm watching anymore. Not just this game but all Sabres games. It's just misery.

I've been asking myself this question for several years now.  The game of hockey has really changed since when I got hooked on it in the late '70s and early '80s.  I find it really boring most of the time now.  I don't just mean the lack of fighting/hitting...the '80s were freaking fantastic if you like end to end rushes, wild offensive hockey, and little concern for D, particularly among the Smythe division teams back then.  Hockey used to be really exciting, that's why I learned to watch it and play it.  Now? It's freaking boring. 

 

Good game so far. A lot of action.

Hoping Housely carries the positivity in to the post game presser......

:worthy:   This made me laugh out loud!  

 

did Jack do the eye roll look to the sky routine on the shot from the circle?

I have been homing in on this thing for quite some time now.  He does it all the time and it is the mark of a pouting loser.  I swear to God, I do not like what I see in Eichel almost all the time now.  His intangible grades are D- or F.  

 

It's not about this season anymore. It's not even about the draft. It's about what Botterill can do to remould this team.

 

Botterill is our only hope. I'm not saying I'm confident in him, but the team as currently constructed is, I believe, incapable of finding their way out of this mess on their own.

 

I also think we have found our Patrick Kane, but not our Jonathan Toews. We don't have a captain, the guy who represents the lifeblood of this team. Our identity. We need to find this player.

Great post. 

 

I have seen enough to boldly declare that the idea of Eichel ever becoming a Jonathan Toews is patently offensive, and comedic.  

 

He's just nowhere near that caliber of player.  Don't take my word for it, watch him play.  He turns it on when he feels like it, which isn't too often.  This is not a "lack of talent" thing.  He has plenty of that.  It's everything else that makes a player. 

 

Without question this entire experiment needs to start over.  I have zero faith in Botterill but he is the guy running the show now. I honestly can't wait to see this team be dismantled, b/c I have a feeling that is coming and it is what is needed.  I'm just wondering which blue chip cornerstones of the franchise will survive the bloodletting.  Maybe Eichel and no one else. 

 

 

the once proud sabres franchise. what a clusterfrick

 

This also made me laugh out loud!  When the hell was that pride period!?  

 

:lol:

 

This team is lifeless, disinterested, lazy, and unskilled.

 

Other than that, we have quite a foundation for that Cup run we've been hearing about!

 

:lol:

Edited November 29, 2017 by Kruppstahl

[Claude Balls]

A three and a half page GDT. How soon until these don't get to page two? What a chit show this team is. Players are starting to speak their true feelings in the post game interviews. Scandella looked like he wanted to kill someone during his. Wish these guys could be that intense on the ice.

[GASabresIUFAN]

Pathetic! Worst Sabres team ever. At least the tank teams tried.

Edited November 29, 2017 by GASabresIUFAN

[Jacque Richard]

Disco got a hell of a lot more wins than Phil. He did win a cup. Again

[Stoner]

pegula has made the changes in hopes they would be better. Not his fault

He does not have a good track record of making good decisions. Terry hired Jason and Jason hired Phil. If Phil is a disaster, it has to reflect poorly on Terry.

[Jacque Richard]

Hires a former player and an assistant from a Stanley cup finalist. It’s the players who don’t care enough. This is not a gritty group either.