BillsFan4

Well.... that was not quite what I expected to read through when clicking on this thread... lol. Anyway... the video was nice. Allen seems like a great kid. Very easy to root for. Happy Mother’s Day to all the moms out there!

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/31-thoughts-intrigue-around-nhl-draft-starting-take-shape/ Friedman saying Tippett is the favorite in Edmonton, and Krueger potentially the favorite here. I would be ok with either. Like Tillett, I Never thought Krueger was a possibility. I actually think Krueger could be a really good fit here. He’s like a NHL head coach, a sports psychologist, a motivational speaker and self help guru all rolled up into one! (seriously) He’s a very well respected hockey mind (Babcock even specifically requested he be hired as an advisor for the 2014 olympics, and Babs is a tough guy to please), he’s had success as a head coach, he’s helped turn around multiple teams, he’s taught motivational seminars, He wrote a self help book on overcoming adversity (after his experience taking over a struggling German B team and then unexpectedly winning 5 consecutive championships with them). He’s also a very positive and very, very energetic person. Players say his energy rubs off on them. Ill always remember the job he did at the 2016 World Cup with team Europe (a team assembled from the countries with not enough players to field a national team roster). They were basically expected to get crushed and they upset almost everyone at that tournament to finish in 2nd.

Apparently during the intermission on hockey night in Canada, Elliotte Friedman said that Ralph Krueger is in the mix for the Sabres job, and possibly even a favorite along with Tippett. Now Ralph Krueger is a coaching hire that I could get excited about. I’ve been intrigued by him for years. I think he would be an excellent fit for this current Sabres team. Edit - here it is - https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/headlines-karlssons-health-affect-future-sharks/

Me too. I have never been less interested in an NHL playoff final 4. I don’t really want to see any of the teams win it. Definitely not Boston or Carolina. If ROR were not in STL I would totally root for them to win. They entered the NHL a couple years before Buffalo and have never won a Cup yet. But, screw ROR. I guess I am rooting for San Jose. They have never won a Cup either, and a bunch of guys on that team deserve one. I have little issue with Kane (outside of the accusations against those women). He actually really wanted to stay in buffalo and said as much. It’s not his fault the Sabres didn’t even attempt to negotiate with him. Plus, Logan Couture is a big Buffalo Bills fan. https://www.fearthefin.com/2016/9/5/12797186/the-daily-chum-logan-couture-and-the-buffalo-bills-a-love-story and Brent Burns randomly showed up at a Bison’s game a couple years ago, stayed to party in buffalo and spoke highly of the city. https://www.mercurynews.com/2017/10/28/three-things-to-know-how-sharks-burns-became-a-cult-figure-in-buffalo/

Both of the teams we traded with are playing each other in the conference finals, which is the absolute worst case scenario for us. Draft pick position goes by the regular season record until teams make the conference finals. So had STL lost in double OT against Dallas, Buffalo would have got pick #19 from them. Instead now we get pick #30 or #31 (31 is the last pick in the 1st). Thankfully we traded one of the picks for Montour (#28 or 29). We get the other. I said this in the playoff thread, but I’ll say it again. I still think it is just unbelievable that both teams we traded with made the conference finals. As I said, that was the disaster scenario at the time of both trades. That it actually happened feels like a perfect example of buffalo sports luck... lol

I really hope he is. It will be crucial to the Bills success this year, as well as Allen’s development.

I would be beyond disappointed with a Martin hire. He has a ton of experience and had some success as a head coach in Ottawa 20 years ago. But there is a reason why he hasn’t been a head coaching candidate for years.... I don’t think he is the right personality type for this current team either. Hes kind of soft spoken and passive. He’s not the type of guy that will command a locker room. I just don’t think he’s the type of leader this team needs. I could see the whole buy-in issue popping up again with Martin, similar to Bylsma. Plus he’s almost 70... There was a report that came out a while back (after the last time Martine was mentioned as a top candidate) saying that Martin was only being looked at in an assistant coaching type role. I am really hoping that is still true. Martin as an assistant would be a good thing. As a head coach? No thank you.

I really hope Tippett decides to come here, assuming White super secret source is right, which doesn’t seem to happen that often... but I really, really want to believe him this time! lol Jacques Martin would be a tough one to get behind.

https://www.buffalobills.com/video/mcdermott-there-s-a-lot-of-work-to-get-done here is a working link if you missed it live.

I still can’t believe that BOTH teams buffalo acquired 1st round picks from are playing against each other in the conference finals (giving them 2 of the last 4 picks in the 1st round). Thankfully we traded one one of the picks to Anaheim for Montour while it still had that value of the unknown. Unreal though. If that’s not buffalo luck, I don’t know what is. lol

Not a single NHL team was interested in him. He said himself he hasn’t been a full time head coach in 14 years. And hey, its only a 2 year deal with ZSC. So it will line up perfectly with the Sabres next coaching search 2 years from now! lol (only half joking...)

I am wondering if this may be what’s holding up any Tippett hire. Tim Liwicki hired him to help put together a hockey ops staff, and now that Tippett may be leaving I can see where Liwicki could’ve asked him to stay on long enough to at least help put a GM in place, who can then finish assembling the hockey ops.

Not as big a deal anymore with Ken Dorsey here, and Matt Barkley as well. Best of luck in retirement DA!

Hopefully this means that we are one step closer to an NHL backed professional women’s league (WNHL). And if/when that happens, I expect Kim Pegula to be involved and re-acquire a women’s hockey franchise for buffalo. Apparently the NHL has a plan for an NHL backed league but won’t do anything while there are other professional women’s leagues (NWHL). They don’t want to be seen as trying to kill a women’s hockey league, but don’t believe that the NWHL business model will work (so they won’t get involved).

Not the Sabres, according to Vogl. If anything, I’d guess he got interest for an assistant job in the NHL, not a head coaching job. IMO he just doesn’t have the experience yet to be in consideration for an NHL HCing gig. Edit - here is what Grönborg said - Edit again - 14 years is a long time. No way was he getting an NHL head coaching opportunity without taking this step first (or coming to the NHL as an assistant)

Gronborg is out. Why this move by Grönborg tells me s that he knows his big weakness is not having in-season head coaching experience. I think he knows that he needs to be a true head coach somewhere before he will get an NHL opportunity. clearly no NHL teams were interested in him as a head coach. Why is Tippett out? If this is from my comment earlier, I did some more research and Friedman just mentioned that he was one of the candidates. Far from a done deal.

It’s almost 2 hours long. I’ll post the start time when I know it. Edit - never mind, it starts right away 2:30). lol

https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/sabres-sign-ruotsalainen-entry-level-deal at first I figured this was just another Antipon type situation, where if he didn’t make the team and stick, we’d probably never see him again. Glad to see thats not the case at all. Gives me more hope that this kid can be a player for us someday. Edit - even better:

Apparently WGR said today that Friedman saying that Tippett is a favorite for the Edmonton job (Someone else posted this info. I am still trying to verify it for myself). If its true, Edmonton hasn’t even had a damn GM for the last few months. Holland was just out in place yesterday ffs. I will be so pissed if the oilers get Tippett. But I guess it’s my own fault for getting my heart set on him.

So... basically the same thing Housley just tried to do the last 2 years? Playing as a 5 man unit with d men joining the rush.

St. Louis winning tonight hurt the Sabres. Had they lost, Buffalo would’ve got pick # 17-19 from them (as part of the ROR trade). Now the Sabres will get a pick in the 28-31 range of the draft. Disappointing but expected...lol

https://www.si.com/nfl/2019/05/06/mike-mayock-clelin-ferrell-raiders-2019-draft-kyler-murray-daniel-jones-dwayne-haskins?utm_source=twitter.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=themmqb Wonder who the 11 teams were... (was the one vote for Jones from the Giants? lol) Interesting that Rosen and Trubisky only appeared on 3 of 11 ballots, and Haskins on just 1. Sucks seeing Darnold rated so high, but not surprising. As far as Allen goes, that is a bit scary to read but to be fair, many of us were down in Allen before the draft. I still have some doubts but I am a lot more hopeful about Allen now than I was on draft night. He has the attitude and work ethic to make it (IMO). Now he should hopefully have a much stronger run game, an o line that can pass protect and an improved WR corps. Plus a good veteran C to help him with protections (etc). He also has an experienced QB coach. Now Allen has to continue building on the end of last season and show some growth as a passer. If he takes a nice step forward this year he will get more respect. Many were down on him before the draft and most of them (outside of buffalo) want to be right. So it might take some time for them to come around. But Allen still has a lot to prove first. I have high hopes for him this season!

With St. Louis winning, the Sabres will now officially be getting a 1st in the 28-31 range. We just have to wait and see exactly where, but at this point it doesn’t really matter all that much if it’s 28-31. Obviously I prefer 28, but it’s 4 spots at the very end of the 1st. I look at it more like a 2nd than a 1st at this point. That ROR trade just keeps getting worse. Craig Button called it one of the worst trades we have seen in years and I tend to agree at this point. It all likely comes down to Thompson, as the odds of getting a good NHL player at 28-31 are not very good. Buffalo has done an unbelievably poor job with asset management for much of this rebuild.

I guess he wants to wear #91 (because 9+1 =10 (the # he wore in college)). But right now Kyle Peko has it (who?)

Hell yeah! Been looking forward to this album release for what feels like forever! Is there (finally) an actual release date set? Definitely one of my all time favorite bands.