Elliotte Friedman is reporting Pegula will meet the team in Montreal

[PerreaultForever]

9 hours ago, Archie Lee said:

First of all, I agree with your post about how the players may have took the message. Indeed, I’ve been saying for some time now that the team culture, that had shifted to positive by the end of 22-23, has slid very badly and that the reason for this is that the owner and GM have not committed to winning. It’s been said by many an insider that there are times at the trade deadline that a team will slip if management doesn’t make a meaningful acquisition. The culture in the room can change to: “If this doesn’t matter to the GM, why should it matter to us?”.  I think we may have seen that last night. I do not blame the players for any of this. 

That said, everyone is making up what was said when Pegula met the team.  None of us were there. I just don’t think he said we are not making any changes the rest of the year.  I’m sure Pegula didn’t want to fire Krueger, but things got so bad he had no choice. We are more than 1/2 way there after last night.

Also, if we are going to take the literal approach, they only said not to expect a “big” trade. What is a big trade? Does that mean lots of players?  Or big name players?  Or lots of big name players?  And how long does this trade moratorium last. Until Christmas?  The trade deadline?  The draft?  Forever?  What was said exactly?

Well the point is he likely said something like "I believe in you or I have faith in you guys" but if I'm a competitive guy (and I'm not sure the Sabres have any of them but for the sake of argument let's say there's some in the room) I can sit there and think to myself "faith in us? why? we suck. We need help at wing and on the blueline. There's no hope without it. Screw this."

[That Aud Smell]

On 12/16/2024 at 11:08 PM, SDS said:

Weird that this non-buffalo guy looked at everything that has happened the past five years and did not describe Kevyn Adams as a historical piece of garbage that has proven to be one of the worst general manager in the history of sports.

On 12/17/2024 at 7:05 AM, That Aud Smell said:

This is such a weird take - especially given where the franchise is, where it’s been for the past ~14 years, and where it appears headed.

On 12/17/2024 at 3:45 PM, SDS said:

If you have a complaint for the guy in the video, he probably has a comment section underneath his YouTube video.

On 12/17/2024 at 5:37 PM, That Aud Smell said:

Nah, I meant your take.

I don't watch that guy. I tried once when a video of his was posted here. Not my cuppa.

On 12/17/2024 at 10:22 PM, SDS said:

Super weird. I watched the video and made note of what he said and what he didn’t say. It’s not an opinion at all.

Maybe we are talking past each other. Or maybe something else is going on. It's hard for me to tell.

My initial post above - "what a weird take" - was directed to what I read as your implicit (and snarky) endorsement of what some non-Sabre fan and hobbyist (professional?) hockey talker said about Adams and the Sabres.

I don't much care what the self-proclaimed Hockey Guy has to say about my team. Our team. Especially if it's in the nature of some Iraqi general's implausible denial of serious problems in Sabre land.

I know what's going on. Far better than the Hockey Guy does, I'll venture. I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take it anymore.

I can't fathom any Sabres fan feeling differently.

Edited Thursday at 09:51 AM by That Aud Smell

[Thorner]

6 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

The Bills success might be a negative this time.

Pegula can just ignore the mocking of the Sabres whenever he wants.  Everytime he feels any pressure or mocking based on his ownership of the Sabres, he just closes his eyes and plugs his ears until he can open up the "NFL" news page and look for the first article about the Bills, and then he is happy again.

I sometimes feel on an island as winnipeg dwelling Sabres fan. I don’t even have the bills to mitigate things 

[Thorner]

Friedman says to watch Buffalo and Detroit re: a move 

Hilariously, they are talking on the show about how there are more trades this year than normal 

[Thorner]

Interestingly, Friedman talking about how the trend is to pay players when they are young: but it turns out many aren’t ready for it at such a young age and it affects their play

hmm

[Archie Lee]

8 minutes ago, Thorner said:

Interestingly, Friedman talking about how the trend is to pay players when they are young: but it turns out many aren’t ready for it at such a young age and it affects their play

hmm

I will never find the quote, but I remember when our hands were forced on the big Vanek extension, Regier saying (and I’m definitely paraphrasing) that with the contract comes the pressure of being the face and leader of the franchise, whether the player is ready for it or not. 
 

 

[Thorner]

17 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

I will never find the quote, but I remember when our hands were forced on the big Vanek extension, Regier saying (and I’m definitely paraphrasing) that with the contract comes the pressure of being the face and leader of the franchise, whether the player is ready for it or not. 
 

 

In trying to find the quote (I’ve come close: “He was very hard on himself,” said Buffalo general manager Darcy Regier. “He put a lot of pressure on himself, and that's what we were concerned about when he got that deal.”) I did find a nice article by our own Brian Duff (while working for Hockey news) talking about how the deal set Thomas up for failure:

https://thehockeynews.com/news/brian-duffs-blog-thomas-vanek-set-up-for-failure

Probably wasn’t cackling as he wrote that one. 

Edited Thursday at 07:34 PM by Thorner

[Stoner]

6 minutes ago, Thorner said:

In trying to find the quote (I’ve come close: “He was very hard on himself,” said Buffalo general manager Darcy Regier. “He put a lot of pressure on himself, and that's what we were concerned about when he got that deal.”) I did find a nice article by our own Brian Duff (while working for Hockey news) talking about how the deal set Thomas up for failure:

https://thehockeynews.com/news/brian-duffs-blog-thomas-vanek-set-up-for-failure

Probably wasn’t cackling as he wrote that one. 

Before Duffer sold out. Very sad. That was a great piece full of truths about the Sabres.

[Thorner]

2 minutes ago, Stoner said:

Before Duffer sold out. Very sad. That was a great piece full of truths about the Sabres.

Was a fascinating read specifically because of the author 
 

A portrait of a soul before Joining Up

Edited Thursday at 07:44 PM by Thorner

[That Aud Smell]

17 minutes ago, Thorner said:

Was a fascinating read specifically because of the author 

A portrait of a soul before Joining Up

Man, people gotsta get paid. Don't begrudge Duff getting his bag.

Do begrudge the cackling, though. I can't not hear it now.

[ska-T Palmtown]

53 minutes ago, Thorner said:

Interestingly, Friedman talking about how the trend is to pay players when they are young: but it turns out many aren’t ready for it at such a young age and it affects their play

hmm

So afraid of having to pay Cozens $8M/yr in ... 3 years, that he panicked and signed him for $7M/7. If Cozens had continued to put up ~65 points all the way up to a year into UFA on bridge deals (probably around $4M) ... I doubt the cap-inflation adjusted number would have been that much more than $7M for that UFA contract. Meanwhile, they could have been stacking the lineup with GOOD-to-REALLY-GOOD vets to handle all the big minutes, allowing Cozens to continue to enjoy beneficial minutes, etc etc etc , ad nauseum ... Dahlin and Tage are the only two big contracts handed out that make sense.

If they had done it the "normal" way with vets leading the way, they probably make the playoffs a few times and then guess what ... UFA want to stay. If most of your team is on fair to slightly less than fair (for the team) deals, then figuring out how to pay a newly minted star is the best effing problem in the world to have! Trade a couple vets for picks or prospects, Restock the ROC! Or, you big-time newly minted star wants out ... great - get a king's ransom in return and carry on.

Something tells me Byram, JJP, and Quinn are not super excited about staying right now ...

[Thorner]

5 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

Man, people gotsta get paid. Don't begrudge Duff getting his bag.

Do begrudge the cackling, though. I can't not hear it now.

I don’t begrudge him at all. Don’t hate the player, hate the game