GDT: Colorado at Buffalo, Feb. 4, 2020, 7:08 p.m. ET (MSG)

[PerreaultForever]

3 hours ago, #freejame said:

Skinner has proven earlier in his career he doesn’t need to be surrounded by talent to perform. He also showed a ton of negative personality traits and hockey behaviors that shouldn’t have been rewarded with a $9m contract. 

Exactly. JBot ditched one goal scorer with some questionable baggage and attitudes (Kane) and opened the bank vault for a different one. Right now I think Kane has 20 goals or thereabouts with a weak San Jose team. So yay JBot, hell of an upgrade. 

[Huckleberry]

Sorry guys can't find the strength to stay up for games at night.   Also Colorado for me is a team that will compete for the cup the next 10 years.

Only positive outlook I got is looking towards next season when I expect Asplund and Ruotsolainen adding to our bottom 6 and we get Cozens in our top 6.

Trade Mittelstadt for another top 6 prospect winger and we should be good to go.

 

[Gatorman0519]

45 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

Sorry guys can't find the strength to stay up for games at night.   Also Colorado for me is a team that will compete for the cup the next 10 years.

Only positive outlook I got is looking towards next season when I expect Asplund and Ruotsolainen adding to our bottom 6 and we get Cozens in our top 6.

Trade Mittelstadt for another top 6 prospect winger and we should be good to go.

 

Well I’d suggest to stay up and watch the games.  You’ll see it’s going to take way more than that to fix this team. 

[Huckleberry]

10 minutes ago, Gatorman0519 said:

Well I’d suggest to stay up and watch the games.  You’ll see it’s going to take way more than that to fix this team. 

Yeah probably, I forgot we need a freaking goalie.

[ubkev]

This thread will keep me warm on many a cold night.

[LGR4GM]

6 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Exactly. JBot ditched one goal scorer with some questionable baggage and attitudes (Kane) and opened the bank vault for a different one. Right now I think Kane has 20 goals or thereabouts with a weak San Jose team. So yay JBot, hell of an upgrade. 

Kane has a center and linemates too I bet. Kane also has... 10 powerplay goals compared to Skinner's 0.  

Special teams. Goaltending. #2 center. Until these 3 things are addressed a player like Skinner could have 40 goals and it wouldn't much matter. 

[Doohicksie]

One thing that came out of this:  Larsson will get re-signed.  His absence was apparent.

 

As far as our 2C goes:  Mojo is a winger not a center, period.  When you see him carry the puck in, he does the same thing every time:  He carries the puck in wide from the right and just doesn't have the speed to ever get by the defenseman covering him to get the puck on goal... although he tries.  Unlike Jack, he doesn't have that extra gear.  Even then he could create more if he could pass it to the slot, but he never does and on every single rush he takes it below the goal line.  In the meantime he's got a winger or two in the slot with nothing to do.

Edited February 5, 2020 by Doohickie

[Torpedo Forecheck]

13 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

One thing that came out of this:  Larsson will get re-signed.  His absence was apparent.

 

As far as our 2C goes:  Mojo is a winger not a center, period.  When you see him carry the puck in, he does the same thing every time:  He carries the puck in wide from the right and just doesn't have the speed to ever get by the defenseman covering him to get the puck on goal... although he tries.  Unlike Jack, he doesn't have that extra gear.  Even then he could create more if he could pass it to the slot, but he never does and on every single rush he takes it below the goal line.  In the meantime he's got a winger or two in the slot with nothing to do.

Mojo has a pea-shooter shot, doesn't go to the dirty areas, and overhandles the puck. He had a nice run in the playoffs as a complimentary piece, he's not a lead dog as a player.

[LGR4GM]

Team speed is a major problem. That's one thing I like about Cozens and Pekar is that they are not slow. I just wish we had more of that in our system. 

[Mustache of God]

9 hours ago, WildCard said:

Is this rock bottom? Because it feels like rock bottom 

This is only the view from halfway down...

[LGR4GM]

I was trying to find the post when Ullmark got injured that said "season over"

[Scottysabres]

Botterill sucks.

Sorry, but he has been a part of the problem in this 9 year stretch of hockey hell.

[pastajoe]

They’re not going to get another goalie. Ullmark will get at least another season. And Hutton has another year and the players like him. UPL is the long-term solution in their eyes. The question is where can Johansson fit in the mix.

[Mustache of God]

If Hutton makes the roster next season we're going to have a problem. Something tells me he's not going to be improving.

[Stoner]

10 hours ago, WildCard said:

Reinhart called out the team too

Jesus this is pathetic. Good for that guy 

Good for him? Why? He's a bigger quitter than anyone on the team. Also, for what that jersey cost, Woody could feed a village somewhere for a month.

[Randall Flagg]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

Team speed is a major problem. That's one thing I like about Cozens and Pekar is that they are not slow. I just wish we had more of that in our system. 

Right? I hear all of our coaches and GMs talking about how we're building a lightning fast team with fast wingers who can score at ES. I was excited before I realized this meant "speedsters" that can't outskate anyone in today's NHL

1 hour ago, Doohickie said:

One thing that came out of this:  Larsson will get re-signed.  His absence was apparent.

 

As far as our 2C goes:  Mojo is a winger not a center, period.  When you see him carry the puck in, he does the same thing every time:  He carries the puck in wide from the right and just doesn't have the speed to ever get by the defenseman covering him to get the puck on goal... although he tries.  Unlike Jack, he doesn't have that extra gear.  Even then he could create more if he could pass it to the slot, but he never does and on every single rush he takes it below the goal line.  In the meantime he's got a winger or two in the slot with nothing to do.

Already having nightmares that part of the 'needed turnover' this offseason will be letting Z & Larry go under the guise that we all need to move on from each other and that it'll be easy/trivial to replace their impact, and then signing Josefson-level 4th liners that get cratered and thus only get used 6 minutes per game, back where we were with our 2013-2017 fourth lines

[Ruff Around The Edges]

We saw this with the Buffalo Bills for almost 2 decades that we are seeing right now with the Buffalo Sabres. Here are the various blames/excuses many of us have made:

We blamed coaches.
We blamed GM's (at this point I MISS Darcy Regier, and I can't believe I said that!)
We blamed the players. Not passionate enough!
We blamed the system.
We blamed the facilities, we need a new arena, that will fix it all!
We blamed the market they play in. Nobody wants to play here blah blah blah.
We blamed Russ Brandon. Once that snake is gone we will take off!
We blamed the owner (Rigas, Golisano)
Terry comes in as the 'savior' we all needed. NOW we will win big
We blame Kim Pegula (why not, just because!)
We blame P$E. they are greedy!
Hell, some of us have even blamed Jack Eichel. He is whiny, he is selfish
And my ultimate favorite whine/excuse: The players don't CARE. Here is a newsflash: Athletes care a LOT more then most realize.

There have been SO many changes I have lost count. Where is this coming from? Change the GM and it is fixed? No. Change the coach? No. Kruger is the issue? No he isn't.

Guys and gals, as a fan of this team since the early 80's I am lost. Lost as to what will truly fix this mess.

Pittsburgh tanked. Boom. Chicago tanked. Boom. LA Kings tanked. Boom. Buffalo tanked CORRECTLY and we are STILL a disaster!!!

Raising the white flag.

 

 

Edited February 5, 2020 by Ruff Around The Edges

[WildCard]

It's the same thing it was for the Bills. McBean came in, tore down a crap roster, filled it with guys that wanted to be there and were talented, and now have an incredible amount of cap space, young talent, and the playoffs 2/3 years. Botterill needs to go into this offseason and do the same: tear down a crap roster. Problem is, I don't think he can do that.

[triumph_communes]

Missing the process

 

Krueger needed a season to expose all the non process guys

Tho honestly when a team has no confidence in their goalie it all falls apart. And nobody has confidence in Hutton. Goalies problems are hard to fix mid season 

[LGR4GM]

If he needed a season I have serious questions for his judgement of players too. 

[darksabre]

21 minutes ago, Ruff Around The Edges said:

We saw this with the Buffalo Bills for almost 2 decades that we are seeing right now with the Buffalo Sabres. Here are the various blames/excuses many of us have made:

We blamed coaches.
We blamed GM's (at this point I MISS Darcy Regier, and I can't believe I said that!)
We blamed the players. Not passionate enough!
We blamed the system.
We blamed the facilities, we need a new arena, that will fix it all!
We blamed the market they play in. Nobody wants to play here blah blah blah.
We blamed Russ Brandon. Once that snake is gone we will take off!
We blamed the owner (Rigas, Golisano)
Terry comes in as the 'savior' we all needed. NOW we will win big
We blame Kim Pegula (why not, just because!)
We blame P$E. they are greedy!
Hell, some of us have even blamed Jack Eichel. He is whiny, he is selfish
And my ultimate favorite whine/excuse: The players don't CARE. Here is a newsflash: Athletes care a LOT more then most realize.

There have been SO many changes I have lost count. Where is this coming from? Change the GM and it is fixed? No. Change the coach? No. Kruger is the issue? No he isn't.

Guys and gals, as a fan of this team since the early 80's I am lost. Lost as to what will truly fix this mess.

Pittsburgh tanked. Boom. Chicago tanked. Boom. LA Kings tanked. Boom. Buffalo tanked CORRECTLY and we are STILL a disaster!!!

Raising the white flag.

 

 

Your first mistake is thinking that Buffalo tanked "correctly". They did not. They didn't have a farm system with some depth players ready to make the jump, they didn't keep any of the vets that you need during a tank recovery. Now they're playing catch-up because they didn't set themselves up for success. 

[LGR4GM]

4 minutes ago, darksabre said:

Your first mistake is thinking that Buffalo tanked "correctly". They did not. They didn't have a farm system with some depth players ready to make the jump, they didn't keep any of the vets that you need during a tank recovery. Now they're playing catch-up because they didn't set themselves up for success. 

They also used their assets from the tank selloff to get players that weren't good enough to keep or were traded for pennies on the dollar. 

[nucci]

22 minutes ago, WildCard said:

It's the same thing it was for the Bills. McBean came in, tore down a crap roster, filled it with guys that wanted to be there and were talented, and now have an incredible amount of cap space, young talent, and the playoffs 2/3 years. Botterill needs to go into this offseason and do the same: tear down a crap roster. Problem is, I don't think he can do that.

Pegula got lucky with Beane like Wilson did with Polian. Pegula kept Brandon and hired Ryan so it's not like he came in and fixed the Bills.  He somehow needs to get lucky with a qualified NHL GM

[WildCard]

18 minutes ago, nucci said:

Pegula got lucky with Beane like Wilson did with Polian. Pegula kept Brandon and hired Ryan so it's not like he came in and fixed the Bills.  He somehow needs to get lucky with a qualified NHL GM

I don't think it was lucky. Beane was trying to be hired by other teams, he wasn't some shot in the dark.

[Stoner]

Terry said he's a "football guy." He bragged about recruiting players to colleges. He had such a strong voice at PSU he tried to get their former coach a job at Pitt. Maybe he is a football guy and it's showing. Hockey? Not so much. (In the same "football guy" interview, Terry said something along the lines of, People think I'm a hockey guy. There just happened to be a hockey team for sale in this town first.

Sabres as prelude to the Bills is starting to make a lot of sense. (And to think, "Establishing his credentials as a pro sports owner" didn't even make the list of choices in my "Why did Terry buy the Sabres?" poll.)

Edited February 5, 2020 by PASabreFan