JohnC

Al Pacino is Al Pacino. His volcanic outbursts are part of his persona. What was compelling about this movie was the interplay between Pacino and Robert DeNiro. Although DeNiro isn't known to expansively talk in his movies his mannerisms and body movements are in a sense part of his dialogue.

After watching the Toronto game it became evident that Eichel and Reinhart need someone who can score added to their line. Eichel made a couple of nice passes to Nic Delauriers who was near the net but couldn't convert them into goals. Both Eichel and Reinhart are accomplished passers and both have great instincts and know how to create open spaces. Getting a deal with either Edmonton or Colorado for one of their young forwards would be very beneficial. I'm not being critical of Delauriers who in my mind is a fourth line banger. If Eichel would have had better finishers on his line he would have had at least 10 or more points to his scoring total.

I want to add One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest with Jack Nicholson to my list.

Godfather #1 Fargo Sparse is more effective than clutter Whenever I see a wood chipper I think of that movie. The Exorcist spooked me.

Maybe with them making an early pick we can work out a deal for Taylor Hall? With the addition of Casey Nelson I would be willing to deal Pysk (who I like a lot) and some picks to add Hall to our roster. They need defensive help and we can use a top six forward to add some juice to our offense.

Many people, including players, say that Mario dogged it on the field. If that was the case then why was he kept on the field? Mario's lackadaisical attitude and performances were inexcusable. Just as inexcusable, if not more egregious, was Ryan's passive response to the delinquent player. If a high end talent is deliberately playing at a third rate level then it is as an indictment on the HC's ability to lead the team he is coaching. You are not losing much production by replacing a malingering player with a less talented but more earnest player.

How is it known that the surgery was successful so soon after the cut? On the surface the surgery could go very well but the results still could be questionable. I'm just wondering if he being so big is a factor in him being injury prone? Not trading Chad Johnson has worked out very well.

What you are doing is conflating a number of issues to make a particular transaction look bad. If you want to criticize the Kujo pick (as I have often done) for not properly addressing an OL position that it is a reasonable argument to make. But it is unfair and unreasonable to put so much onus on the Watkins pick when in reality it worked out. Incognito was a marvelous pickup. It helped the OL. That doesn't disprove my position on the Watkins transaction, it reinforces it. We added a playmaker for an offense that didn't have many playmakers and an offensive weakness on the OL was addressed through free agency. There are a variety of avenues to improve the roster. You are attributing too many non-related deficiencies to this one transaction. When a somewhat risky transaction works out to the extent that this one has worked out it should be celebrated not diminished because there are other deficiencies on the roster. If Whaley hasn't adequately addressed those other problem areas then it is fair to criticize him for that. But it is unfair to blame the transaction that worked out well for the reason why there are other areas of need.

Whaley made a deal for a player who he thought was going to be an elite player. In my view that is what he is. Has his talents been maximized? No. But that is mostly due to the qb play. I don't understand the criticism Whaley is drawing for a player who turns out to be a top end talent. There are opportunities to fill in holes through the draft and free agency. But there are few opportunities to get elite players unless you are at the top of the draft. Watkins has demonstrated that he was well worth the cost. The argument that Becham was also available has some merit but I am not bothered by not taking that option because the player that Whaley targeted as special turned out to be the caliber of player he envisioned. I get tired of the argument that we gave up two first round picks for Watkins. That is not accurate characterization of that transaction. We gave up one first round pick for him. We moved up the draft in his draft year and we gave up a first in the next year. As it turned out our second round selection was worthy of a first round value. So the deal was on balance very fair and reasonable.

You are entitled to your opinion as are others. Don't let a condescending response bother you. Sometimes the room gets a little rough and tumble and punches are thrown below the belt. If you are wearing your cup you should be able to absorb the punches. If not, your balls could get bruised and turn blue. The injury in time will heal on its own.

Not really. It is rare where a prospect in any sport is in a position to choose where he wants to go to. He is exercising that right. He is simply taking advantage of a quirk in the system. Toronto is obviously in a rebuild mode as were the Sabres. We started the process a couple of years ago while they started it on a full blast mode this season. What they have done smartly is get rid of their big contracts such as Kessel to the Penguins last year and put them in a good cap situation so they can start bringing in the young players in their system. I get the sense that Toronto, as is Buffalo, is committed to their rebuilding plan. One way of accelerating the process is by acquiring talented college free agents. Although it isn't wise to jump to a conclusion on a young player we took advantage of the system by signing Casey Nelson.

I suspected that those teams would be enticing for him. However, the prospect for him of playing on the same line as Eichel and Reinhart would have to have some appeal to him.

I'm confident that the Pegulas and Whaley care more about the results than the entertainment value.

Casey Nelson was signed as a free agent from the college ranks. It's still very early but on first sight the pro game isn't too big for him. Are there other college free agent prospects who could be signed this year? I saw this article on the SI site mentioning Jimey Vesey out of Harvard. The article indicated that he is a serious Hobey Baker award prospect. He has a brother who was drafted by Toronto and his father works as a scout for the Maple Leafs. The Predators made a big push to sign him but were rebuffed by Vesey. The article mentioned that Buffalo, among many other teams, are good candidates to sign him. http://www.si.com/nhl/2016/03/29/jimmy-vesey-harvard-hockey-snubs-nashville-predators

I'll tell you what a generation of futility has to do with Rex: Last year we had a team good enough to make the playoffs. He squandered that opportunity with the mismatch between his talent and his scheme.. Last year's team had limitations as most teams do. But it was good enough to have garnered 2 to 3 more wins with a more competent HC who knew how to better utilize the talent he had on defense. Rex got fired from a team that won 4 games in his last year. The less talkative head coach who followed him won 10 games. Rex came to a team that won 9 game with the prior dour HC who had less talent to work with. With a weaker schedule he won less games with an offense that was upgraded from the prior year. His team underachieved. He was not only a bad hire he was a foolish hire. It made no sense then and it makes no sense now.

I would love for you to be right and I be wrong. But I doubt it. Being in the thick of a playoff race is not good enough for me. If Rex can't get this team into the playoffs then he has failed. You might be satisfied by lowering your expectations but I'm not going there, especially after 16 years of futility.

What this game against Detroit demonstrates is that there is a clear difference in intensity level in playoff contending games compared to non playoff implication games such as against Winnipeg. For the most part Detroit played with urgency compared to Buffalo. It wasn't until the end of the game where Buffalo turned it up. I'm very optimistic about the team's future prospects. But we are still a work in progress and have a way to go before becoming a serious team. It's been a long time since the Sabres have played an important playoff meaningful type game at the end of the season. I'm hoping next year the team will be in a position to do so at this time of year.

Your post was terrific. It was analytical and dispassionate in describing the situation. The core problem is not that he is without some good attributes that make him likable to the players but it is his limitations that undercut his chances of being a success. If a HC isn't able to adapt and adjust in an environment of constant change then the chances for success plummet. What was successful previously won't necessarily work in this particular shifting work environment. What is obvious is that Rex is doubling down in adhering to his coaching principles by bringing in his own players and additional coaches who can better get his players to fit his coaching philosophy.His lack of self-awareness and his belief that the problems lies elsewhere when it is the opposite is disturbing to me. He wants his players to respond to him when he should be moving more in the direction of responding to the players he has on hand. I don't believe Rex is smart enough and flexible enough to deviate from his coaching philosophy. (I'm not saying this in a way to ridicule him. That is not my intention.) A person can be very smart intellectually but still be incapable of modifying his approach to adapt to the changing landscape. There is this notion that Rex has a history of success. That is far from the truth. Over an extended stint with the Jets he had a losing record. In his first year with the Bills it is not unfair to say that his team underachieved. The bottom line is that he was a bad hire who has performed at the level he has mostly performed at before he even got to western NY.

Are you going to alert in advance the fire department that you are going to set your porch on fire?

Let's not get greedy. If the Sabres are drafting in the top five they will get an upper tier prospect. If they end up drafting in the range of 6-10 they should still get a good prospect who would require more time to develop. But that doesn't mean that the GM won't make a trade deal for a very good young NHL forward with scoring potential. There is a lot of talk that Edmonton and maybe Colorado are willing to trade one of their talented young forwards for defensive help. Also, Drouin from Tampa could be on the market with a discounted price because of his problems associated with immature behavior. The Sabres are in a good cap situation entering next year. A number of team are near the limit with their cap so there will be plenty of good players on the move due to contract issues. So there should be good opportunities to bolster the roster and add depth so this team can better be able to deal with injuries. I understand why Stamkos would be such an appealing free agent target for most people. But I would rather use that gargantuan amount of money to get a couple of very good players than use it on a long term contract to secure one elite player.

Schwartz didn't have perfect talent (your description) when he coached in Buffalo. That isn't an accurate characterization of the talent he had on hand. He maximized the talent he had on the defensive line and by doing so he covered up the weaknesses, most notably with our LBs. What it came down to is that he emphasized the defense's strengths and minimized its weaknesses. That is the opposite of what Rex did. He neutralized the defense's strengths of the d-line and exposed the weaknesses of our linebacking corps. The mistake that many people are making when discussing the coaches is associating them with schemes when that isn't the core issue. Smart coaches adjust to the talent that have to work with. Limited coaches adhere to their defensive philosophy even when they have too many players not suited to play the scheme they are overly attached to. Schwartz will not take the same approach with the Eagle defense that he did with Buffalo because his players have different talent levels and different skill sets. Of course there will be similarities but there will be modifications compared to what he did in Buffalo because he is a smarter coach than the bombastic and bloviating coach that works in western NY.

It would show whether he is smart enough to adjust his defensive approach to the talent he has on hand. Modifying one's favored scheme to suit the talent one has to work with is a quality that good coaches have. That trait was not demonstrated by Rex last year.

Not making a deal for Chad Johnson.was the best deal the GM made during the trade deadline period. He's a very good backup goalie who still gives you a good chance to win when he plays. There is little doubt that the GM favors Lehnerd as his starting goalie. But what is evident from his stint in Ottawa and with Buffalo is that he is injury prone. That makes Johnson even more valuable. What is becoming evident under Murray as he is constructing this roster is that this team is getting bigger. Bogosian, Foligno, Deslauriers, Risto, Fasching and Rocester's Bailey and others demonstrate that point. Clearly the team he is assembling is getting bigger and playing a tougher brand of game.

Rex had an overall losing record in his extended tenure with the Jets. In his last season with that team it won 4 games. He got fired.The next year with a new coach the team won 10 games, and did it with the absence of drama and conflict that is associated with a Rex Ryan coached team. It is not unfair to conclude that the Bills underachieved in Rex's first year in western NY. In summary, the team Rex leaves gets better and the team he comes to gets worse. What's the surprise? We got what we hired. As you indicated the hire set back a team that was making progress. Inevitably, he will be replaced with the necessity to make up ground that he lost for us. What is handcuffing this franchise is of its own doing. The worst part of it is, as you noted, the repetitious nature of the mistakes and the resulting waste of time. The cycle of futility is fueled by its own management foolishness.

It does relate to the discussion. When a GM makes a decision on a player and on a contract it impacts what his future options are on other players. If McCoy refused to report then what was his next option? Send out more moronic tweets about the coach that traded him?