BillsFan4

I take no joy in his firing. He seemed like a really great guy. But he was in over his head and his press conferences were starting to get embarrassing. He didn’t even know what to say anymore. He has to be a bit relieved. Now I just pray they don’t disappoint me with the new hire, but I know it’s coming. This team absolutely needs a proven, successful veteran NHL coach to teach them how to win more than any other team in the NHL. How can someone with no NHL experience teach you how to win in the NHL? We’re out of time for learning on the job. This is the LAST coach they get the chance to hire with Jack Eichel still a Sabre. That I am sure of. It seems insane to me to gamble on another inexperienced coach.

Best of luck to you Lee!

😂

ROR never said he wanted out or wouldn’t play hard for the Sabres. He said all the losing made him question his love for the game at multiple points during the season and that type of losing minds set had to change. He was 100% right. He also directly said that he did not want to be traded. He was saying that the losing mind set is unacceptable. Said that it even crept into his own game at times and it had to change. Called it out in the press and was immediately shipped out the door by the Pegulas (rumors from Sabres beat writers and Elliott Friedman are they demanded he be traded before the bonus was due). He went to St. Louis, was one of the main reasons they won a Cup and is now their team captain. He has since said that having some veteran leadership around him made all the difference. I never really questioned ROR’s effort on the ice, outside of maybe a few occasional shifts (but the same could be said of almost any player). He was usually the last guy on the ice at practice every day too. I agree with you that the players deserve much of the blame, but I disagree that this all stems from Eichel. He’s been about the only Sabre to consistently perform every season. Eichel wasn’t even in the lineup last night. How was he supposed to motivate the players to play? IMO What should have been done is surround ROR and Eichel with more veteran talent. The Sabres have had some type of organizational philosophy in place from the start of the rebuild that if they made any big trades or moves it had to be for guys 25 or younger (Tim Murray used to say this often). That sounds good in theory, but what did any of these 25yr old players know about winning in the NHL? ROR came from losing in Colorado. Kane & Bogosian came from losing in Winnipeg Eichel gets blamed for not being a good enough leader but who has he ever had to teach him or help him? Besides other young guys that came from losing or washed up veterans at the ends of their career? Eichel had an MVP worthy campaign last season and almost single handedly carrier the whole team the majority of the year. He’s been responsible for something like 60% of the Sabres offense in his career here. No other player in the NHL besides McDavid has carried play for their team more than Eichel. His attitude definitely isn’t the best at times. He doesn’t handle losing the greatest (because he hates to lose) and tends to show his frustrations (poor facial expressions, breaking his stick, etc) but he has improved in that area quite a bit as he’s matured. And he’s still a kid. He just recently turned 24. Who else has even been worthy of the captaincy in Eichel’s time here (since Gionta left)? Maybe ROR? There was a really good article over on the athletic where Tim Graham interviewed a bunch of the Sabres ex captains. It’s a good read if you have an athletic subscription. They sum up a lot of the issues with the Sabres pretty well. Heres some of what they had to say on Eichel and leadership: https://theathletic.com/2426679/2021/03/05/former-sabres-captains-weigh-in-on-teams-woes-a-whole-new-kind-of-unwatchable/ Another captain: They also said it is on coaching to correct this. One mentioned that Krueger looks in over his head and they have no idea what his system is supposed to be. I agree 100% that the core of this team needs to change, and drastically. I also agree that a lot of the blame rests with the players and that we can’t keep cycling through coaches. I think they need to find a good coach and stick with him. Changing philosophies every 2-3 years makes it impossible to build anything. But before we do something drastic like trade our young franchise player that we tanked 2 straight seasons to get, I’d sure like to see what this team looks like with an actual proven successful NHL coach like Bruce Boudreau (who would reportedly love to coach here) and some actual veteran talent around him. The Sabres have yet to hire a proven veteran coach since Dan Bylsma (who wasn’t exactly a top tier coach but still has the best overall record of any Sabres coach since Lindy ruff. No coach since has matched his 81pt season). If the Sabres hire someone like Boudreau, who’s improved + won with every team he’s ever coached and only missed the playoffs once (or twice) in his entire career, and this team still can’t improve then you know 100% it’s the players. Right now, coaching is just as big a question mark as the players, if not bigger. When every single solitary player on the team is underperforming it’s hard not to blame the coaching staff. Who else do you blame for an entire roster underperforming? Housley had no real experience. Krueger had no real experience. We now have a totally inexperienced rookie GM with no prior NHL front office experience who was running a junior hockey program a couple years ago. He has No assistant GMs. 1/2 a scouting staff. Inexperienced rookie heads of pro and amateur scouting. Id like to at least see what an experienced coach can do before this current rookie crew trades away our best players. He also designed + implemented the exact scouting system (in Carolina) the Sabres are now trying to put in place, and he knows how to maximize a small budget. He was actually interested in coming here too. But Like you said, for whatever reason the Pegulas decided not to bring him in. He really would have been the perfect hire (assuming he was empowered to make the changes that needed to be made).

No, I think Tom Brady leaving New England and winning the super bowl in his very first season with another team was a huge blow to Belichick’s ego. I remember reading Reports that Belichick has always felt he was much more responsible for the Pats dynasty than Brady. He felt it was the Patriots system that made Brady so successful and that he could plug in another QB and continue winning. Seeing the opposite happen has to be a blow to his ego. I also think he’s sending the message that losing will not be tolerated in New England and he’s willing to change the way he goes about adding talent to fix it. edit - I do think the bills contributed though, by sweeping the Pats and winning the division away from them.

Oh good lord the season isn’t even half over yet?? 🤢🤮

I heard that the upper body injury Eichel sustained at the beginning of training camp was 2-3 cracked ribs but I can’t find a source for it. This is the closest I can find: https://apnews.com/article/new-york-nhl-ralph-krueger-jack-eichel-coronavirus-pandemic-008ae1601b5d9394fcc16024814a97a0 AP confirms it was a rib injury but doesn’t go into detail. It would make sense why he was struggling If he was playing through a rib injury like that. Rib injuries are super painful. I fractured 3 ribs in a car accident a couple years ago and damn was it painful. It hurt to even breathe. Laughing or coughing was ridiculously painful. I couldn’t imagine having that injury and full grown pro athletes slamming into me.

Really nice deal for Roberts. Sucks to lose him but I’m happy he got a nice payday. He deserved it.

If Boudreau would love to coach in Buffalo it’s the easiest *&$#$&* decision in the world. Boudreau is legitimately one of the best coaches in the NHL. He’s improved every team he’s ever taken over. He just had some bad luck in the playoffs. But he’s a guy that actually knows how to win. If he can’t win with this core of players, then it’s definitely the players, not the coach. But I don’t expect the Pegulas to do it because he swears and is an experienced NHL veteran, which apparently they don’t trust anymore (after never hiring anyone that actually fits that description).

crazy. Worst points percentage in team history. 10 straight losses. No trades. No firings. Nothing, despite there being multiple good, experienced NHL coaches just sitting on the market. I guess Losing is acceptable.

reports (from unverified sources) on Twitter saying he’s likely out 8+ weeks. edit, now verified sources reporting the 8 week thing.

We tried. He wasn’t willing to sign here and since he was a college UFA there was nothing the Sabres could do about it. It still bothers me that he left. I viewed him as our next franchise goalie for years. Thought he would be our Miller replacement. Buffalo had just recently traded for Robin Lehner, so maybe he thought he wouldn’t get a chance to start here? But then he signed in LA, when quick was still viewed as their #1, so that theory seems less likely. Im not a very big fan of that college UFA rule. It doesn’t really seem fair to the team that drafted + helped develop that player. You out 4 years of work into a prospect then he can just walk. And Buffalo tried to sign him his junior year of college too iirc.

I forgot about him! I believe he’s only an RFA too, correct? hmm I wonder if maybe they think about letting Feliciano walk then, if they can’t bring him back on a reasonably cheap deal (meaning a deal they could still justify if he doesn’t end up starting). I know they love the toughness/nastiness he brings to the o line, and the versatility to play C. But I thought he struggled at times last season (though I’m not really a very good judge of o line play).

Yeah I was being too harsh. I don’t really have as strong of feelings on JuJu as that post made it seem. I don’t really pay much attention to him. But he does rub me the wrong way. It’s not just the dancing on its own (and dancing on a team’s logo is a bit different than just dancing). It’s about how he acted overall last season. It was the taunting other teams in interviews, even before important games (like “the browns is the browns”) and just all around arrogant, cocky attitude to the media (about other teams) before games. Even after his antics negatively impacted his team 2 weeks in a row he still kept doing it and When a reporter asked if he was going to stop he scoffed at them (I think he eventually stopped though). I don’t mind if a player is cocky on the field during a game. Emotions run high, I get it. I just have no interest in giving another team the type of bulletin board material JuJu did on a weekly basis, and I don’t know that he’s the type of team first player that would fit in here. Plus, like you said I don’t really think he fits what we need anyway. Id rather add cheap depth at WR and give Davis + Hodgins a chance.

If they re-sign Feliciano that only leaves 1 guard spot open and I would think Cody Ford will get every opportunity to earn it.

Vogl tweeted that it was actually even worse. Only 856 tickets sold so far. I’m surprised they were even able to sell 850! 😂

Less than No interest. He doesn’t fit the “humble and hungry” mindset/culture of this team. He’s constantly being a cocky prick and giving other teams bulletin board material. Maybe I’d feel differently if the Bills signed him but I can’t stand JuJu.

I agree that the Sabres NEED to score more goals. Goal scoring is a huge issue. But that doesn’t change the fact that goaltending is also an issue. When your goalies both have the bottom 3 worst save percentages in the league, goaltending is an issue. I don’t know why they ever thought Hutton or JJ were good enough. Hutton was one of the worst goalies in the league last year and JJ wasn’t even good in the AHL. He spent more time in the ECHL as he did in the AHL the last few years, and in the 6 games he started for Buffalo last year he had a similar sv% (.894). It seems like almost every time the Sabres are actually making a strong push in game, their goalie lets in a softie. Or two. Like yesterday. Or the game before that. Or the game before that one. Etc etc. You can literally see the team deflate + lose confidence (which is also an issue in and of itself). I think both the goaltending and goal scoring issues are feeding into each other. yeah you are right. Now that I re-read it that’s what he meant. Thanks!

Kevyn Adams: “goaltending isn’t the reason we are losing games”. It may not be the only reason, but it’s definitely part of the reason. Every game JJ or Hutton let in at least 1 soft, back breaking goal. Im not sure why Vogl is assuming that it means no tickets were bought by season ticket holders (just because there are tickets left to be sold to the general public doesn’t mean that season ticket holders didn’t buy some of the available tickets, unless he has other info he’s not sharing in this tweet), but it would be funny if true.

Nice! This was an unexpected surprise!

This short clip in the tweet is a Good listen. Our former captains were dead on. Krueger looks in over his head and The void in leadership has been a big issue since this rebuild started. If you want to listen to the entire interview, the part of the podcast with Tim Graham starts about 20mins in. Heres the article with our former captains: https://theathletic.com/2426679/2021/03/05/former-sabres-captains-weigh-in-on-teams-woes-a-whole-new-kind-of-unwatchable/ Former Sabres captains weigh in on team’s woes: ‘A whole new kind of unwatchable’ (athletic sub. req)

🤢🤮 I’ll never root for them to fail again. Especially a “complete failure” (which sounds bad). All of the failing has done too much damage. I don’t want to see Eichel demand out. I don’t want to see Dahlin and all our other young players continue to be ruined by all the losing. I don’t want to see all these guys spirits just absolutely broken. It’s honestly difficult to watch. This team is killing so many players and fans love for the game and it’s painful to see. Nothing good has come from all the losing. And this draft sucks *** anyway. There’s not even a top player. There’s like 5-10 different guys you could argue could be drafted #1. What are we even rooting for with the losing? Adams getting fired? Krueger getting fired? What gives you confidence that they’ll replace him with anyone better (and don’t say “well Anyone would be better” because that’s not true, as we’ve seen ourselves. We always think the next guy can’t be worse and he is.). I suggest indifference, instead. 😂

I’m proud of myself. I did not watch the game yesterday, even when I saw they were up 3-1 (and I’m glad I didn’t)! I’ve pretty much lost all interest at this point, which feels weird because hockey was always my favorite sport. I mean, I watched every single game even through the tank years. But at least then we had hope (of high draft picks and better days in the future). Now I have no hope for this team and I don’t see things getting better any time soon. About the only thing they could do to draw me back into this season would be to hire someone like Bruce Boudreau.

Oh man, can you believe this Sabres “BS” hat was designed by Pegulas daughter? 😂 how perfect is that? https://shoponebuffalo.com/products/new-era-kelly-pegula-designed-sabres-bs-9twenty-adjustable-cap