GDT: PENGUINS @ SABRES - 7 PM ET

[Pimlach]

34 minutes ago, Tondas said:

I'm no "modern" GM, but if Pegula gave me the  GM job, I would build a heavy team that was nasty in their character.  Teams would hate playing against us.  Teams would fear playing against us.  Eichel and Dahlin would not get touched without immediate retribution.  We may not win every game, but we would be loved and revered in Buffalo.  I could watch that team all year long.

Closest you get to that today is the Blues, Bruins, Caps ... 

Not many players today play that game.  Teams don’t have true enforcers either.  

[Tondas]

1 minute ago, Zamboni said:

I remember those days too. Even though i was in my pre-teens.  Unfortunately that part of the NHL we loved, is gone. The toughest heaviest guy in the NHL is who? Reaves, maybe? If he is, he would get his freakin clocked cleaned on a nightly basis by half the league if we time traveled him back to 1970’s NHL ?

I would love a Tom Wilson type. He has a nice mix of skill and heaviness. There are a few others we could litter our roster with. Perhaps if Borgen is ready? Hopefully JB or whoever can add one or two more “semi-heavy” players who have jam but also can pot 15-20 goals a year... or more.

Sign me up, Zamboni.  I'm all in!!!  I hear the Sabres may be looking for a new GM soon.  You have my vote.

[Tondas]

6 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Closest you get to that today is the Blues, Bruins, Caps ... 

Not many players today play that game.  Teams don’t have true enforcers either.  

Punch, you've evolved over the years from, "If you can't beat them in the alley, you can't beat them on the ice." ?

Edited March 6, 2020 by Tondas

[7+6=13]

23 minutes ago, Gatorman0519 said:

JBot acts like it is no big deal on his interview today on WGR

Oh yeah he was acting like things are right on track.  He's comfortable with the defenseman here now and just need to work on depth up front.

Is this dude serious? We're a defensive mess with 4th liners playing in the top 6-9.  He thinks we just need depth up front?  Wow

[bunomatic]

52 minutes ago, Tondas said:

I'm no "modern" GM, but if Pegula gave me the  GM job, I would build a heavy team that was nasty in their character.  Teams would hate playing against us.  Teams would fear playing against us.  Eichel and Dahlin would not get touched without immediate retribution.  We may not win every game, but we would be loved and revered in Buffalo.  I could watch that team all year long.

Amen

[Zamboni]

9 minutes ago, 7+6=13 said:

Oh yeah he was acting like things are right on track.  He's comfortable with the defenseman here now and just need to work on depth up front.

Is this dude serious? We're a defensive mess with 4th liners playing in the top 6-9.  He thinks we just need depth up front?  Wow

Has any GM in his position (his team out of the playoffs and on a losing streak) say in a radio interview something along the lines of ...

”this team I constructed sucks” 

or

”the team I constructed Is great, it’s the coaches fault”

or

”if I had a president of hockey ops instead of just an owner who knows nothing about the hockey side of running a team, things would be much much better”

I sure haven’t heard an NHL GM slam his team, or coach or owner. If you have please find the quotes, I’d love to read them. Especially if it’s commonplace and JB is the exception.

[bunomatic]

44 minutes ago, Gatorman0519 said:

JBot acts like it is no big deal on his interview today on WGR

All the more reason to shitcan his asss. The bar has been set so damn low for this franchise. Someone upthread mentioned that this is like another tank where we’re likely to pick top 5 again. With JBottoms moves this past year or his lack of moves I’m beginning to think thats been the plan. And that goes for the hiring of the most interesting man in the world.

Edited March 6, 2020 by bunomatic

[Tondas]

3 minutes ago, bunomatic said:

All the more reason to shitcan his asss. The bar has been set so damn low for this franchise. Someone upthread mentioned that this is like another tank where we’re likely to pick top 5 again. With JBottoms moves this past year or his lack of moves I’m beginning to think thats been the plan. And that goes for the hiring of the most interesting man in the world.

It is a sad state of affairs and the bar is set low.  It's not win the Stanley Cup, it's not make the playoffs, it's just try to get more points than the last failed year.  Buffalo has to be the most resilient fan base in the world.  Every year is, "Yes brother, can I have another."

[Kruppstahl]

59 minutes ago, Zamboni said:

Since that “nastiness” you speak of has been slowly coached out of the game on all levels for the past 15 years, you’ll be hard pressed to ice a team full of them AND not get caved  in offensively every. Single. Game. That kind of team would be lucky to get 1 goal every third game. And heaviness usually comes at a cost of speed in most instances. So it would be a slow heavy team who can hit and fight and scare a random team. But not nearly the firepower To compete in the NHL of 2020. What you seem to speak of went away long ago.

Some grit? Sure! Some heaviness? Sure! But the last 20+ Stanley cup winners were not full of those types of players. However those who weren’t that way in the regular season, played out of character (generalizing) and added some grit during the playoffs which helps the team overall. No one knows for sure which of our current lineup would play out of character and be gritty in the playoffs except Simmonds. Maybe Risto, maybe McCabe, maybe Larsson, maybe Girgs, maybe KO. Other than that ... not much. And too many who MAY add grit and heaviness when it counts. Can’t rely on a maybe.

The western conference has had big heavy teams for the last decade and it's been like a war over on that side of the brackets to get to the finals.  Chicago did it on raw talent, but the Kings team that won 2 cups is a great example of that style, St. Louis, Anaheim, etc.

And they aren't all slow, either.  When I think of good western conference playoff play for the last several years, I think big, heavy, fast.  We have a petite, finesse team minus the talent.  We'd get destroyed in a 7 game series against most of the good teams in the league from the "heavy" perspective. 

GMTM very much wanted to build a "heavy" team.  I wish it had worked.  It'd be a lot more fun than watching the ***** show we have now.

 

 

[7+6=13]

5 minutes ago, Zamboni said:

Has any GM in his position (his team out of the playoffs and on a losing streak) say in a radio interview something along the lines of ...

”this team I constructed sucks” 

or

”the team I constructed Is great, it’s the coaches fault”

or

”if I had a president of hockey ops instead of just an owner who knows nothing about the hockey side of running a team, things would be much much better”

I sure haven’t heard an NHL GM slam his team, or coach or owner. If you have please find the quotes, I’d love to read them. Especially if it’s commonplace and JB is the exception.

I hear what your saying and anyone would have to be an idiot to think you'd get true transparency from an interview.  However, he doesn't have to say things like I mentioned above in addition to "you have to be careful of signing players on July 1st in free agency and Buffalo has always had a better opportunity to sign their own players. It's the reason we brought in Simmonds right now."

That's just down right scary.

Say, we're not good enough and I we should be better than our record.  We have a lot of work to do to determine if this group can get the job done and I'm disappointed how we're playing.  This is an important off season and we'll make the tough decisions as we owe it to the players we see giving more effort than others.  The expectations aren't being met.

There's absolutely nothing inappropriate about saying that. The players and owner should hear him say it.

[bunomatic]

“ Buffalo has always had a better opportunity to sign their own players .” 

He might as well have said we have to overpay to get players to come here and our players who have lived in the city and understand the great things about Buffalo and its residents are easier to sign. 

I suppose thats what he meant ?

Damn straight its hard to pull players in. 9 years without a sniff with no sign its going to turn around anytime soon. Thats a hard sell.

Edited March 6, 2020 by bunomatic

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, Tondas said:

Fair enough.  I'm guilty of remembering  the game played by Schonfeld, Korab, Dudley, Foligno and Gare.  Skill and nastiness combined.  Today, it's a rare skill set mix.  Feel free to "OK Boomer" me.  I just can't stand a soft Buffalo Sabres Hockey team.  Win or lose.

Listing off some of my favorite Sabres there. Oh what used to be!

Don't listen to this idea that that is outdated and the game has changed. Playoffs last year? Boston. St. Louis. Washington. Top teams all have grit to spare and most of the cup winners are heavy and skilled. 

It'll be interesting to see what people here think of Philly coming up. They are exactly what we are not. Good in goal, deep down centre, scoring forwards, great PP, big and able to play heavy when needed. Quite the contrast in terms of a rebuild. 

[7+6=13]

3 minutes ago, bunomatic said:

“ Buffalo has always had a better opportunity to sign their own players .” 

He might as well have said we have to overpay to get players to come here and our players who have lived in the city and understand the great things about Buffalo and its residents are easier to sign. 

I suppose thats what he meant ?

Damn straight its hard to pull players in. 9 years without a sniff with no sign its going to turn around anytime soon. Thats a hard sell.

I think that's exactly what he meant and why it's so disturbing.  The right GM and coach have relationships with most if not all the player agents and need to sell a vision and how their clients specific role (hopefully bigger and better will have in that vision.

 

Of course it's a massive challenge to do that but when better than now with more money and this many players not under contract.  It's why Botterill must go.  He's already telling is he'll be careful in FA and press towards signing our own.  Yikes!!!

[bunomatic]

1 hour ago, 7+6=13 said:

I think that's exactly what he meant and why it's so disturbing.  The right GM and coach have relationships with most if not all the player agents and need to sell a vision and how their clients specific role (hopefully bigger and better will have in that vision.

 

Of course it's a massive challenge to do that but when better than now with more money and this many players not under contract.  It's why Botterill must go.  He's already telling is he'll be careful in FA and press towards signing our own.  Yikes!!!

I know yikes. By all accounts he is an intelligent guy but he comes off as the opposite when discussing the team make-up and what it’ll take to turn this around.

[nucci]

6 hours ago, Pimlach said:

Closest you get to that today is the Blues, Bruins, Caps ... 

Not many players today play that game.  Teams don’t have true enforcers either.  

and now when you do hit someone hard and legal there's always a fight...no one can take a hit anymore

[Sabre fan]

No grit left in hockey? Anyone who thinks or believes that should watch Boston/Florida last night. They were running each other and there were fights and the game had a playoff feel in intensity and pace. Win or lose, every team that plays Boston knows they were in a game. I totally agree this team (Sabres) needs to be far more aggreesive and assertive. Look on the bight side Ottawa has got rid of most of their better players yet are playing better and they may pass us yet so we may very well get that top 5 pick. Hell we're tanking and we are not even trying to...

[rakish]

I'm sure I'm the only one that thinks this, but Buffalo played very well last night. The puck moved horizontal in the offensive zone plenty of times, didn't go in, but enough opportunities to get maybe 4 goals. The Johansson line looked like a NHL quality line. Yeah, the Eichel line doesn't work unless Jack carries them and the goaltending isn't good enough.

One of the things I keep track of charting games is breakaways. Buffalo doesn't give any up. I'm not sure my charts are up to date, but the last one I see was against Columbus 3 weeks ago. Comparatively, Buffalo had 2 breakaways last night, Toronto against LA had 3. I think Sabrespace believes the Buffalo defensemen are good comes from the style of play rather than the quality of play.

[Gatorman0519]

It’s not really a game of grit anymore.  It’s pure skill.  Great skating, speed, passing, shot, analytics...all take precedence over “grit”.  Even For the goalies it’s an exact science.  We’ve developed such super athletes that old hockey is gone never to return.  

Edited March 6, 2020 by Gatorman0519

[Tondas]

10 hours ago, Gatorman0519 said:

JBot acts like it is no big deal on his interview today on WGR

  JBOT's name tag at the GM's Conference.

 

 

Edited March 6, 2020 by Tondas

[LTS]

Okay.. I am recovered from last night.  Easily the most tired I've been after a game and I didn't consume a drop of alcohol!

As we entered the arena last night the boys were greeted and asked if they wanted to be participants in Bubble Soccer between the 2nd and 3rd period.  At that moment I knew my night was going off the rails.

Okay, so for the game.  Unfortunately missed a good part of the 2nd period as we were escorted into the depths of KBC.  

Here's what I saw.. 

1. WTF is with that first Pens goal (no I have not read this thread)

2. Jack is into WGAF mode again. He floated.  He had a chance to lay a GREAT body check and did not.  He whined all night.  That's the wrong Jack.  That's the Jack that I want traded.  He's worthless and frankly I think that impacts the team overall.  I just think no one in the locker room wants to say it.

3. I know it's easy to blame the GM, but honestly, the team is quitting right now.  This is a team that has won games but not when they play like this.  One could argue that Botterrill needs to get guys who won't quit on a season and I'd agree, but right now it's the captain who appears to be that player.  Could he trade Eichel if he wanted to?  I don't think he'd be allowed to do it. The team needs talent, but it needs a reason to play.  They aren't good enough yet, so without that fire, they are going to get walked over.  Of course, I, personally, would use such a pro-Pens crowd to be motivated.... but that's me.

Overall the team had chances, but they are playing passive hockey again. They are backing out off the forecheck too soon.  If they have an opportunity they are trying to run a 2 man forecheck but there were plenty of times last night where I think they could pressure the puck on a forecheck and they simply moved out into a 1-4 blue.

That said... watching these idiots destroy each other on the ice was awesome.  My son is the blue player next to the red player.  One of the guys had to be on red.. ?

[Tondas]

7 minutes ago, LTS said:

Okay.. I am recovered from last night.  Easily the most tired I've been after a game and I didn't consume a drop of alcohol!

There's your problem.  I can't imagine watching this team without it.

[LTS]

4 minutes ago, Tondas said:

There's your problem.  I can't imagine watching this team without it.

Hah yeah.  Driving 4 kids last night.. there's no way I even consider it.  

I see you are in Lincoln.. I was planning on being there for work in the next month or so, but they just stopped all travel.  I'll let you know if I reschedule.

[Getpucksdeep]

40 minutes ago, LTS said:

Okay.. I am recovered from last night.  Easily the most tired I've been after a game and I didn't consume a drop of alcohol!

As we entered the arena last night the boys were greeted and asked if they wanted to be participants in Bubble Soccer between the 2nd and 3rd period.  At that moment I knew my night was going off the rails.

Okay, so for the game.  Unfortunately missed a good part of the 2nd period as we were escorted into the depths of KBC.  

Here's what I saw.. 

1. WTF is with that first Pens goal (no I have not read this thread)

2. Jack is into WGAF mode again. He floated.  He had a chance to lay a GREAT body check and did not.  He whined all night.  That's the wrong Jack.  That's the Jack that I want traded.  He's worthless and frankly I think that impacts the team overall.  I just think no one in the locker room wants to say it.

3. I know it's easy to blame the GM, but honestly, the team is quitting right now.  This is a team that has won games but not when they play like this.  One could argue that Botterrill needs to get guys who won't quit on a season and I'd agree, but right now it's the captain who appears to be that player.  Could he trade Eichel if he wanted to?  I don't think he'd be allowed to do it. The team needs talent, but it needs a reason to play.  They aren't good enough yet, so without that fire, they are going to get walked over.  Of course, I, personally, would use such a pro-Pens crowd to be motivated.... but that's me.

Overall the team had chances, but they are playing passive hockey again. They are backing out off the forecheck too soon.  If they have an opportunity they are trying to run a 2 man forecheck but there were plenty of times last night where I think they could pressure the puck on a forecheck and they simply moved out into a 1-4 blue.

That said... watching these idiots destroy each other on the ice was awesome.  My son is the blue player next to the red player.  One of the guys had to be on red.. ?

Ha the bubble soccer was the highlight of the game, they really got after it.  Nice work boys!

[Brawndo]

Sound off there is a F Bomb at the end 

Edited March 6, 2020 by Brawndo

[Tondas]

44 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Sound off there is a F Bomb at the end 

CLASSIC.  I showed my wife this video and she said it sounds just like me about 10 times per game.  She says I don't sound mean, just incredulous.  You nailed it.