GDT Sabres at The Islanders 7pm MSG

[Scottysabres]

59 minutes ago, Weave said:

 

Eeyore has a younger face now.  But because we threw away two seasons to get him we won't acknowledge it.  We're too emotionally invested in the idea that Jack is what is right with this team.

Jack shouldn't be focusing on we/us. He quit on this season (again) as much as anyone.  He needs to focus on his own performance right now.  It's not an acceptable level of performance.  Lead by example first.

 

Completely agree.

[eman]

10 hours ago, MillerVaive said:

just from watching this season progress (regress), it just feels to me that around christmas this team needed an injection of help. Whether it be Oloffson or Nylander or from a trade. And when that didnt happen, our top line slowly disintegrated, either from the pressure of having to carry the whole team or from exhaustion, or a combination of the 2. By the time the trade deadline came & went & no offensive help came this way, its been going thru the motions til this season was over.

I don't think PH is the reason our season has gone downhill. If anything I blame JBots for not recognizing you need more than 1 line that can create offense. He must really be firmly committed to his 3 - 5 year process of developing players thru the draft & Rochester, because there were opportunities out there I'm sure to bring in another forward or 2 to help with our secondary scoring & he trades a 1st for Montour.

I just hope with how bad this season has ended it'll light the fuse upstairs that we need to be more aggressive in adding more talent to this team. And if theres a better coach out there than PH then by all means i'll take it. I just don't know who that coach is atm.

Joel Quenneville, Guy Boucher & Alain Vigneault, take your pick! I'll take any one of them thank you! This folding the tent crap and going through the motions to close out this season crap needs to stop. 

[eman]

3 hours ago, nucci said:

Why? Remember when Leafs, Islanders, Flames and Jets were all as bad as we are?

It's only a slow process in Buffalo.

[eman]

1 hour ago, Scottysabres said:

Listening to Eichel's post game. He laid it all on the line when asked if the players have tuned Phil out.

He said this isn't on Phil, this is on us, for not executing on the ice. He said Phil's not out their playing the game, we are.

When your Captain speaks up, and in this fashion, you pay attention. He's saying exactly what we fans are seeing on the ice.

And you know something...…………………….he's correct.

Food for Thought!

They've tuned out Phil. Jack is being politically correct. In other words, he's lying.

[Stoner]

Jack also knows he can't be blamed for getting a second coach fired.

[Weave]

1 minute ago, PASabreFan said:

Jack also knows he can't be blamed for getting a second coach fired.

The questions will (or at least should) start if Jack's second coach is fired.  We shrugged of DDB's firing because most of us didn't like his gameplan.  But it appeared that Jack was instrumental in getting DDB's bags packed.  We should have questioned it more then.  We should definitely question it if it happens again.  It's the start of a pattern.  Like quitting on a season is a pattern now.

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, eman said:

Joel Quenneville, Guy Boucher & Alain Vigneault, take your pick! I'll take any one of them thank you! This folding the tent crap and going through the motions to close out this season crap needs to stop. 

Why the interest in Boucher? He’s a two-time failure.

He’s had good first seasons, then went from disappointing to disastrous and fired in the follow-ups.

He also plays a boring style of hockey.

[Weave]

1 minute ago, dudacek said:

Why the interest in Boucher? He’s a two-time failure.

He’s had good first seasons, then went from disappointing to disastrous and fired in the follow-ups.

He also plays a boring style of hockey.

Not directly (or even indirectly) related to Boucher, but I think we need to be less concerned with style and more concerned with results.  Style can adapt and change once we get the room back to focused on the end result.

Winning is entertaining.

[dudacek]

1 minute ago, Weave said:

Not directly (or even indirectly) related to Boucher, but I think we need to be less concerned with style and more concerned with results.  Style can adapt and change once we get the room back to focused on the end result.

Winning is entertaining.

How do you know?

 

?

[Weave]

2 minutes ago, dudacek said:

How do you know?

 

?

I read it on the internet so it must be true.

[jad1]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

Jack also knows he can't be blamed for getting a second coach fired.

There are 17 other players I'd blame on this team for getting the coach fired before Eichel (and one head coach).

 

[bunomatic]

Late to the party but man was that hard to watch. This all feels so familiar.

[bob_sauve28]

Risto and Bogo not being in the line up really mattered last night. Say what you want about them, but we don't get dominated like that when they play 

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

Why the interest in Boucher? He’s a two-time failure.

He’s had good first seasons, then went from disappointing to disastrous and fired in the follow-ups.

He also plays a boring style of hockey.

That boring style might be just what we need, lol 

[Kruppstahl]

3 hours ago, Weave said:

The questions will (or at least should) start if Jack's second coach is fired.  We shrugged of DDB's firing because most of us didn't like his gameplan.  But it appeared that Jack was instrumental in getting DDB's bags packed.  We should have questioned it more then.  We should definitely question it if it happens again.  It's the start of a pattern.  Like quitting on a season is a pattern now.

Some folks have been suggesting this for a long time, going back to that Paul Hamilton requested PC with Botterill...when Harrington mentioned to Jason that fans want to see a coaching change.  Botterill was caught off guard and said something like "What?  The fans want to see a coaching change?!  NO!"

He was incredulous and then emphatic.  Folks at that time were suggesting that Botterill will not allow a coaching change to go down on his watch.  That "NO!" was a message to the players that they are not going to be able to pick and choose who their coach is as they did with the last GM.

That's all just a theory, but it seems plausible.  It's part of why I have wanted us not just to lose, but look TERRIBLE in this last chapter of the season.  It has to be ugly enough that Botterill has no choice but to fire Phil, or so ugly that Pegula orders Botterill to fire Phil.

If there is any way Botterill can sneak out of it and retain Phil, I think he will try to do so.

 

 

 

[Kruppstahl]

12 hours ago, Zamboni said:

No matter what reason I give, you’ll disagree with because your mind is made up. 

I’m not saying he definitely will or definitely will not sign with the Sabres BTW.

i just commented about what Skinner (or any player) says in media scrums after losses as an indicator as to his intentions after the season ends. 

I’m not saying you’re doing this ... but Ive always found fans who try so hard to read between the lines, read into things, make more out of something that isn’t there, and create agendas based on nothing concrete, eat up anything negative and are usually overly dramatic. Yawn...

 

I totally agree that what athletes and people around the business of sports say in public in front of a microphone is not necessarily to be taken seriously.  But I also would now be surprised--regardless of anything he has said or failed to say--if Skinner would actively choose to return to the Sabres, unless we are going to give him some sort of bloated super K he can't find anywhere else. 

Even then, a certain kind of player might well ignore that last year of term or that last million or 2 in total compensation for the ability to play in a certain kind of city in a better atmosphere with a good chance of winning.  

Not sure Skinner can really taste the difference between $45 million and $50 million anyway...but he will definitely notice life in a different sort of environment free of a chronic losing problem.

Everything I have heard all season long suggested he and the Sabres were close to agreement and it was just a matter of time before the deal was signed.

Now, based on how this season has gone, I'd be surprised if he returns. I have no idea why he would.

It would be a pretty obvious decision to make for almost anyone who is not a lifelong Sabres fan.

 

 

 

 

 

 

2 hours ago, dudacek said:

Why the interest in Boucher? He’s a two-time failure.

He’s had good first seasons, then went from disappointing to disastrous and fired in the follow-ups.

He also plays a boring style of hockey.

I feel the same way about Vigneault.  Lots of Sabres fans seem to be in his corner these days...don't get that.

 

[bunomatic]

1 hour ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Risto and Bogo not being in the line up really mattered last night. Say what you want about them, but we don't get dominated like that when they play 

That boring style might be just what we need, lol 

Last night had me thinking that the G,M, has given up on the season so why wouldn't the players. Injuries aside they had to find room to play the young guys but I'm pretty sure some of the injured would have played through if we were chasing a spot. I agree on Risto and Bogo. Risto  generally makes the other team pay the price while most of our players just don't seem to have that in them . 

[Cheektorado]

6 hours ago, Scottysabres said:

Listening to Eichel's post game. He laid it all on the line when asked if the players have tuned Phil out.

He said this isn't on Phil, this is on us, for not executing on the ice. He said Phil's not out their playin the gameg, we are.

When your Captain speaks up, and in this fashion, you pay attention. He's saying exactly what we fans are seeing on the ice.

And you know something...…………………….he's correct.

Food for Thought!

I applaud Captain Jack for not throwing PH under the bus.  It's also his job as Captain to call out himself and the players...........................

BUT it's more on HC Phil Housley to do some "calling out".  Standing in front of the press every night giving lip service is way past done.

Standing on the bench game after game with ZERO emotion when the team plays bad is way past done.

Not trying something completely different in his "game planning" as the season crumbled around him is way past done.

He's done.

4 hours ago, eman said:

They've tuned out Phil. Jack is being politically correct. In other words, he's lying.

Yep.

4 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Jack also knows he can't be blamed for getting a second coach fired.

Double yep.

 

Jack's career is going to be in a tough spot next season.  How long can he stomach this organization?

[Doohicksie]

16 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

That's what I thought the who will be here next year thread was, not the team, but us. 

I don't have the discipline to stay away.... even for the rest of this year.  I'll be back next year for sure.

[Weave]

21 minutes ago, Cheektorado said:

 

Jack's career is going to be in a tough spot next season.  How long can he stomach this organization?

 

And how long are we going to stomach him as well?  He hasn't lived up to the hype.  That is a killer in this town.

[Stoner]

8 minutes ago, Weave said:

 

And how long are we going to stomach him as well?  He hasn't lived up to the hype.  That is a killer in this town.

I will never forget going to the scrimmage in the summer of 2015 and sitting up top. Eichel got it from a couple of leather lungs, one of whom kept yelling, "Move yer feet, Eichel!" I rolled my eyes. Four years later, I can't say the guy was wrong.

[Cheektorado]

4 minutes ago, Weave said:

 

And how long are we going to stomach him as well?  He hasn't lived up to the hype.  That is a killer in this town.

True.  The argument likens the chicken and the egg.  He can do more but there is a whole team with him.  A 5th year with no playoffs is unthinkable

if you went back in time.  This team NEEDS a no nonsense coach with a firm vision.  I wish we knew who that could be.

[PerreaultForever]

9 hours ago, nucci said:

Why? Remember when Leafs, Islanders, Flames and Jets were all as bad as we are?

Yup (and the Jets got better when they traded with us :)) but it's JBot's 2nd year. Leafs and Flames didn't get everybody in two years. They all have drafted better. 

[PerreaultForever]

22 minutes ago, Weave said:

 

And how long are we going to stomach him as well?  He hasn't lived up to the hype.  That is a killer in this town.

You want to just ditch our best player and start over yet again?  I mean sure, if you can get a magnificent trade why not but how is that going to happen? At best you get something like what the Bruins got for Seguin and that isn't going to make us better. 

People simply have to stop comparing him to McDavid and referring to him as elite or generational and just accept he's an offensively gifted player, an allstar in a good year and a potential 100 point guy in a good season. Very good, not great. Accept it and move on. We (and his linemates) have to stop expecting him to do everything.

[Weave]

55 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

You want to just ditch our best player and start over yet again?  I mean sure, if you can get a magnificent trade why not but how is that going to happen? At best you get something like what the Bruins got for Seguin and that isn't going to make us better. 

People simply have to stop comparing him to McDavid and referring to him as elite or generational and just accept he's an offensively gifted player, an allstar in a good year and a potential 100 point guy in a good season. Very good, not great. Accept it and move on. We (and his linemates) have to stop expecting him to do everything.

Its too bad we paid him like we expect him to do everything.

I don’t expect him to do everything.  I do expect him to NOT give up on seasons and lead by example.  We expected it of Ryan OReilly.  I don’t understand why Jack is above that expectation.

[North Buffalo]

Hughes is coming

Edited March 31, 2019 by North Buffalo