Sabres Sign Ryan MacInnis to a One Year Deal

[Zamboni]

Maybe it’s time for Bruins followers and Bruins fans to be just that. And exorcise the demons and such horrible hardship of being a Sabres fan. Isn’t that kinda sorta what MODO is doing?

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:

says the guy with a chicken on his head..............

You know what, you're sort of right. It's more like a teenage tantrum than a 3 year old though. I have lots of actual thoughts rushing in from all directions combined with my frustration and angst even if they do get jumbled up now and again. 

Look, maybe you are used to losing like they are. Maybe they've broken you and you don't even realize it. You said it'll be "fun" next year and you can believe that if you want to, but I just might have had my fill. Like the old expression goes, "I'm getting too old for this s##t". 

It's gotten to a breaking point for me. Will I break? I don't know. Maybe. I probably need to step back and put some distance between me and the Sabres. Time to stop wishing and hoping and just wait for results and/or ignore them. If I was younger I'd find a new team. At my age, I don't know. I just know it isn't fun any more and if I lived in Buffalo there is not a chance I'd pay to see them and I certainly won't go to Vancouver or Seattle for a road game at this point. My frustration runneth over. 

Later. Or not. Don't know. Still deciding, but I will probably get there faster than their forever rebuild. 

The chicken on the head is to make sure no one takes me too seriously.  More often than not, it works.

I would just say that building a winning team in professional sports is not as easy as it looks, and I think fantasy sports has created a lot of armchair GMs.  I'm not saying you are... maybe I am... but I guess the point is that people think it's easier than it is.  The other thing is that finding the right GM isn't as easy as it looks either.

One thing I think has become pretty prominent on this forum and probably a lot of others, is the narratives that are nothing but speculation but are repeated often enough and consistently enough that people take them as fact.  A few examples include what has transpired between Jack and the team, and what other teams have offered (or not) for Jack.  There are posts from insiders and they are posts from total hacks, and the end up reflecting around like a kaleidoscope.

I have my ideas of what is going on with the team based on what's happened, what's been said, etc., but I try to keep in mind that they are just that:  ideas.  I have no clue what Kevyn is actually doing behind the scenes.

Like you, I too am getting two old for this ***** as I approach 60.  As a Buffalo expat, I could leave the Sabres for my local team (the Dallas Stars) but frankly I just don't see that happening. The closest I came to adopting another team was the Detroit Red Wings, when we lived in Detroit in the 1990s (and before I had Center Ice).  I actually was a big Wings fan when they won the Cup in '97; I touched the Cup at a display in downtown Detroit the day they won it.  But my hometown Sabres drew me back in.  I won't leave them now, come hell or high water.  The only thing that would have me abandon them is if they moved the franchise.

This could be just another failed build, but it feels different to me.  I feel like Kevyn has a different relationship with the Pegulas than other GMs have had.  I think they still exert their will over him, but they also trust him and give him the leeway he needs to execute his plan.  And I think he's smart enough to know he doesn't know everything, thus the addition of Karmanos, etc., to help him make decisions.  In his last conference he touched on talking points like wanting players who want to be here, not boxing out the youth, and exercising discipline.  Again, I don't *know* but it seems to me he's the executive, but not the key decision maker.  He hired people with more hockey smarts than he has, and runs interference for them with the Pegulas..... at least that's what it seems.  So I'm hoping this is finally the build that will work.  But when talking to the media, he doesn't talk about the inner workings of his staff, he just sticks to the talking points.  That is, to me, the sign of a good executive.

As for getting upset at the state of the team right now, I tell myself not to judge them until I see the product on the ice in October.  Am I disappointed and concerned that Ullmark and McCabe left?  Sure, but there's no sense in me carrying on about it.  I think the discipline Adams is referring to is looking at the result of the rebuild and players that are not part of it, offer them what we can but if the go elsewhere so be it.  I personally think Adams would have kept them both but I think the brain trust he hired advised him to only offer up to a certain limit and then let go.

I think it's entirely possible Adams is the team's savior, and I even think it's possible that we will know that by as early as Christmas this year, not that they will be in a playoff position, but just that the team will be playing with the right balance of system and creativity to be competitive, even with the best teams.  I don't think the team was as bad as they looked last year; it was more a question of key injuries (Eichel, McCabe, the goalies) coupled with the fact that Krueger was an awful coach for the NHL.

And finally, I'm sorry I snapped at you.  You've been around this forum a long time, and I hope that doesn't change.  Hang in there.  Great things are afoot.

[Srw1525]

“He previously played for Sabres coach Don Granato with the U.S. National Team Development Program in 2012-13.”

 

 

isn’t this the same exact thing  Krueger did and it backfired on the Sabres? Signed players who he coached previously. 

[Srw1525]

On YouTube all it shows of videos of him fighting people and most of them he loses the fights…we’re doomed. 

[PerreaultForever]

21 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

The chicken on the head is to make sure no one takes me too seriously.  More often than not, it works.

I would just say that building a winning team in professional sports is not as easy as it looks, and I think fantasy sports has created a lot of armchair GMs.  I'm not saying you are... maybe I am... but I guess the point is that people think it's easier than it is.  The other thing is that finding the right GM isn't as easy as it looks either.

One thing I think has become pretty prominent on this forum and probably a lot of others, is the narratives that are nothing but speculation but are repeated often enough and consistently enough that people take them as fact.  A few examples include what has transpired between Jack and the team, and what other teams have offered (or not) for Jack.  There are posts from insiders and they are posts from total hacks, and the end up reflecting around like a kaleidoscope.

I have my ideas of what is going on with the team based on what's happened, what's been said, etc., but I try to keep in mind that they are just that:  ideas.  I have no clue what Kevyn is actually doing behind the scenes.

Like you, I too am getting two old for this ***** as I approach 60.  As a Buffalo expat, I could leave the Sabres for my local team (the Dallas Stars) but frankly I just don't see that happening. The closest I came to adopting another team was the Detroit Red Wings, when we lived in Detroit in the 1990s (and before I had Center Ice).  I actually was a big Wings fan when they won the Cup in '97; I touched the Cup at a display in downtown Detroit the day they won it.  But my hometown Sabres drew me back in.  I won't leave them now, come hell or high water.  The only thing that would have me abandon them is if they moved the franchise.

This could be just another failed build, but it feels different to me.  I feel like Kevyn has a different relationship with the Pegulas than other GMs have had.  I think they still exert their will over him, but they also trust him and give him the leeway he needs to execute his plan.  And I think he's smart enough to know he doesn't know everything, thus the addition of Karmanos, etc., to help him make decisions.  In his last conference he touched on talking points like wanting players who want to be here, not boxing out the youth, and exercising discipline.  Again, I don't *know* but it seems to me he's the executive, but not the key decision maker.  He hired people with more hockey smarts than he has, and runs interference for them with the Pegulas..... at least that's what it seems.  So I'm hoping this is finally the build that will work.  But when talking to the media, he doesn't talk about the inner workings of his staff, he just sticks to the talking points.  That is, to me, the sign of a good executive.

As for getting upset at the state of the team right now, I tell myself not to judge them until I see the product on the ice in October.  Am I disappointed and concerned that Ullmark and McCabe left?  Sure, but there's no sense in me carrying on about it.  I think the discipline Adams is referring to is looking at the result of the rebuild and players that are not part of it, offer them what we can but if the go elsewhere so be it.  I personally think Adams would have kept them both but I think the brain trust he hired advised him to only offer up to a certain limit and then let go.

I think it's entirely possible Adams is the team's savior, and I even think it's possible that we will know that by as early as Christmas this year, not that they will be in a playoff position, but just that the team will be playing with the right balance of system and creativity to be competitive, even with the best teams.  I don't think the team was as bad as they looked last year; it was more a question of key injuries (Eichel, McCabe, the goalies) coupled with the fact that Krueger was an awful coach for the NHL.

And finally, I'm sorry I snapped at you.  You've been around this forum a long time, and I hope that doesn't change.  Hang in there.  Great things are afoot.

You should change your user name to Mr. Optimist because this is the absolute definition of that. Honestly, I hope you are right. 

At this point I'm the pessimist though and am going to need to see it to believe it. I haven't given up fully, but I think pulling back and caring less is probably good for my own state of mind. For the moment, that's the plan. 

 

[kas23]

17 minutes ago, Srw1525 said:

“He previously played for Sabres coach Don Granato with the U.S. National Team Development Program in 2012-13.”

 

 

isn’t this the same exact thing  Krueger did and it backfired on the Sabres? Signed players who he coached previously. 

This happens in every sport and with every coaching hire. I don’t think we can judge it at face value. 

[Flashsabre]

A good Rochester signing.  Rochester needs to be competitive. Quinn, Peterka, Laaksonan, Weissbach, Pekar, Rousek, UPL need to be in a winning environment.

[Curt]

1 hour ago, Srw1525 said:

“He previously played for Sabres coach Don Granato with the U.S. National Team Development Program in 2012-13.”

 

 

isn’t this the same exact thing  Krueger did and it backfired on the Sabres? Signed players who he coached previously. 

This is the same thing that almost every coach, good or bad, does.  Bring in a couple players they know well, who fit what they want to do.

[Pimlach]

2 hours ago, Srw1525 said:

On YouTube all it shows of videos of him fighting people and most of them he loses the fights…we’re doomed. 

We may be doomed, but not because of this signing.   This guy will play in Rochester.  

[Claude Balls]

10 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Still irrelevant. 

and I'm allowed to hate this team as much as I want to right now. You can chill all you want to, I hate what this franchise has turned into. and don't bother telling me I should leave, I'm already mulling it over. 

I'm with you 100% on this thought. I've been told to "stop freaking out" amongst other things. This franchise is a clown show that I have spent plenty of coin on. So if I wanna bitch about how much of a joke they are right now, that's my choice.

[gilbert11]

On 7/30/2021 at 10:47 AM, darksabre said:

 

He previously played for Sabres coach Don Granato with the U.S. National Team Development Program in 2012-13.”

Of course he did.

Edited August 1, 2021 by gilbert11
Lack of quote

[Andrew Amerk]

On 7/30/2021 at 8:53 PM, Flashsabre said:

A good Rochester signing.  Rochester needs to be competitive. Quinn, Peterka, Laaksonan, Weissbach, Pekar, Rousek, UPL need to be in a winning environment.

I’ll be excited to attend Amerks games this season. 

Will NOT be paying to watch the Sabres. 

[Huckleberry]

On 7/31/2021 at 2:37 AM, Srw1525 said:

On YouTube all it shows of videos of him fighting people and most of them he loses the fights…we’re doomed. 

As long as cozens/dahlin doesn't need to do the fighting I don't care who's face gets punched.