Buffalo Sabres and NHL 2023-2024

[Gregg]

15 hours ago, BillsFan4 said:

Sabres officially picking at their original #11 I spot in the draft. We didn’t win a top 2 pick but at least we didn’t get pushed down.

 

 

 

 

 

Is this a strong draft? The Sabres already have a lot of prospects. I could see them entertaining offers to trade that pick for a good NHL player that could help the Sabres now rather than making the pick for their future. With this team the future needs to be now as it's been a long time since there was playoff hockey in Buffalo.

[BillsFan4]

3 hours ago, Gregg said:

 

Is this a strong draft? The Sabres already have a lot of prospects. I could see them entertaining offers to trade that pick for a good NHL player that could help the Sabres now rather than making the pick for their future. With this team the future needs to be now as it's been a long time since there was playoff hockey in Buffalo.

It looks like a decent draft, but nothing super special. There are a bunch of good right hand shot defenseman projected to go in the range of our pick (something we definitely need).

 

But I am also hoping they look into trading the pick for help now. I don’t want to see them give up #11 overall for a bottom 6 player or something. But if the right deal is there I hope they trade the pick. Like you said, the time is now to win.

[Gregg]

Toronto Maple Leafs on X: "Sheldon Keefe has been relieved of his role as head coach. The organization will immediately begin the search for a new head coach." / X (twitter.com)

[Nextmanup]

12 minutes ago, Gregg said:

Toronto Maple Leafs on X: "Sheldon Keefe has been relieved of his role as head coach. The organization will immediately begin the search for a new head coach." / X (twitter.com)

This has been widely reported for several days now as being imminent. 

The more interesting thing will be if Shanahan gets dumped too.

 

He's scheduled to publicly speak tomorrow with the other guys, so maybe he's going to survive. 

 

It's always a joy to watch chaos consume Leafs Land!

 

👍

 

 

 

 

 

 

[BillsFan4]

14 minutes ago, Gregg said:

Toronto Maple Leafs on X: "Sheldon Keefe has been relieved of his role as head coach. The organization will immediately begin the search for a new head coach." / X (twitter.com)

Not surprised.

 

It has been rumored Berube has been waiting for this job. Wonder if they hire him?

 

Id much rather they hire Berube than try to hire Joel Quenneville (who is still banned by the NHL, but I could see Toronto trying to get him reinstated). Quenneville would be a great coach for Toronto. I don’t think Berube would be nearly as good.

[Gregg]

1 minute ago, BillsFan4 said:

Not surprised.

 

It has been rumored Berube has been waiting for this job. Wonder if they hire him?

 

Id much rather they hire Berube than try to hire Joel Quenneville (who is still banned by the NHL, but I could see Toronto trying to get him reinstated). Quenneville would be a great coach for Toronto. I don’t think Berube would be nearly as good.

 

Berube did win the Cup with the Blues so I think that would be a decent hire for Toronto. Quenneville would be a great hire if he can get back into the league.

[BillsFan4]

4 hours ago, Gregg said:

 

Berube did win the Cup with the Blues so I think that would be a decent hire for Toronto. Quenneville would be a great hire if he can get back into the league.

Yeah, he won a cup. But I think a lot of it came down to circumstance vs. his skills as a head coach. He took over the team at their rock bottom. The locker room was reeling. He came in at the right time for his message to be effective. He got very good buy-in and the roster fit his play style. He also had a goalie playing crazy good the 2nd half of that season. Binnington really got on a roll and stole them a lot of games.

 

Outside of that 1/2 season as interim where he won the cup, his head coaching record is very mediocre. I also don’t think he’s a very good tactician or good at X’s and O’s.

 

He’s a hard nosed coach who likes to yell and demands his players play a strict defensive, grind-it-out style of game. I think he can be a good motivator with the right (veteran) team and he’s good at holding guys accountable. I just don’t think he’s a very good fit for Toronto. But they seemed determined to turn their highly skilled team into a “tough, defensive” Boston-lite and I’m fine with it. 😂

 

I think Keefe is a better coach on almost every level. I also don’t think he was lacking in the accountability department, and he had the leafs playing great defense in the playoffs. It’s not the reason they lost. I just don’t see where Berube improves on the areas I think they need to improve in.

 

Quenneville on the other hand would be amazing with Toronto. He would maximize every one of their guy’s best skills. I don’t want that hire to happen. lol

[PromoTheRobot]

Rochester Americans Game 5 tonight against Syracuse. Winner advances. Blue Cross Arena sold out (10K)

[BillsFan4]

I have a link to the game on YouTube if anyone wants it.

 

 

 

[Nextmanup]

Watched the whole Amerks game last night; a boring, disappointing affair.

Syracuse has a veteran team of older minor leaguers and it was too much for the kids in Rochester. 

 

I thought Levi performed well though, given the goals that were scored.

 

Oh well, losing in WNY is what we know how to do!  I took this one squarely on the chin and will keep going.

 

 

[ChevyVanMiller]

3 hours ago, Nextmanup said:

Watched the whole Amerks game last night; a boring, disappointing affair.

Syracuse has a veteran team of older minor leaguers and it was too much for the kids in Rochester. 

 

I thought Levi performed well though, given the goals that were scored.

 

Oh well, losing in WNY is what we know how to do!  I took this one squarely on the chin and will keep going.

 

 

I was disappointed on their showing last night, too. But hey, we do have one team that wins championships - Go Bandits!

[BillsFan4]

I dislike this because I don’t think Lindy chose any of these coaches, except maybe the video coach. The rest were all Kevyn Adams IMO.

 

Lindy said he wanted to put together the best assistant coaching staff he could. Then he doesn’t make any changes outside adding Kevyn’s boy Seth Appert to the staff? Come on now.

 

Does anyone actually think these are the people Lindy chose? I don’t.

 

edit - video coach is from Rochester staff, so even that wasn’t a Lindy hire. Appert gets to bring one of his assistants, but not Lindy. Makes no sense to me.

Edited May 13 by BillsFan4

[Nextmanup]

1 hour ago, BillsFan4 said:

I absolutely hate this because I don’t think Lindy chose any of these coaches, except maybe the video coach. The rest were all Kevyn Adams IMO.

 

Lindy said he wanted to put together the best assistant coaching staff he could. Then he doesn’t make any changes outside adding Kevyn’s boy Seth Appert to the staff? Come on now.

 

Does anyone actually think these are the people Lindy chose? I don’t.

 

edit - video coach is from Rochester staff, so even that wasn’t a Lindy hire. Appert gets to bring one of his assistants, but not Lindy. Makes no sense to me.

Lots of people have suspected for a while that the whole master plan here was to bring up Appert to the big team, and have him be tutored by Lindy for a year or 2.  Then Lindy retires and Seth is named the HC of the Sabres.

 

Appert has done really well in the AHL and this may not be a bad thing at all.  

 

With this news about Appert coming to Buffalo, I have no doubt this was the plan from the beginning, going back to Adams' PC announcing the firing of Granato.  Right then, he KNEW he would hire Lindy as the HC, tutor Appert, and then segue to Appert longer term as the HC.

 

Continued failure will see Adams fired anyway, and then anything he has planned will go in the toilet when the new guy comes in, so this is no big deal.  Now we have to see if it will actually work!

 

On a related note, I watched the Boston/FLA game last night.  Boston is light years ahead of the where the Sabres are now as a gritty, structured, defensively aware playoff team...and they are just straight up getting outclassed by the Panthers.

 

We have SO FAR TO GO, it is kind of daunting.

 

 

Edited May 13 by Nextmanup

[Jauronimo]

 

Quote

Appert will coach the Sabres’ power play, which was tied for 29th among 32 teams this season. The Amerks did not have as much success on the man-advantage the past two seasons, ranking 13th and 20th in 2022-23 and 2023-24, respectively. But they were third in the AHL with Quinn and Peterka in 2021-22. Wilford is going to resume his role coaching the penalty kill, which improved from 28th last season to 13th in 2023-24.

 

https://buffalonews.com/sports/professional/nhl/sabres/seth-appert-leaving-rochester-to-join-sabres-coaching-staff-under-lindy-ruff/article_ec32635a-1130-11ef-a0e9-5fba3ddefe5c.html

 

Edited May 13 by Jauronimo

[BillsFan4]

3 hours ago, Nextmanup said:

Lots of people have suspected for a while that the whole master plan here was to bring up Appert to the big team, and have him be tutored by Lindy for a year or 2.  Then Lindy retires and Seth is named the HC of the Sabres.

 

Appert has done really well in the AHL and this may not be a bad thing at all.  

 

With this news about Appert coming to Buffalo, I have no doubt this was the plan from the beginning, going back to Adams' PC announcing the firing of Granato.  Right then, he KNEW he would hire Lindy as the HC, tutor Appert, and then segue to Appert longer term as the HC.

 

Continued failure will see Adams fired anyway, and then anything he has planned will go in the toilet when the new guy comes in, so this is no big deal.  Now we have to see if it will actually work!

 

On a related note, I watched the Boston/FLA game last night.  Boston is light years ahead of the where the Sabres are now as a gritty, structured, defensively aware playoff team...and they are just straight up getting outclassed by the Panthers.

 

We have SO FAR TO GO, it is kind of daunting.

 

 

Yeah, that’s definitely been the talk for a while. I have never liked the talk. I guess I am just not as impressed with Appert as some others. The Amerks looked to have a lot of the same issues the Sabres did.

 

I don’t see Appert as some great coach in waiting that Buffalo had to promote or risk losing. I’ve never even heard him mentioned for head coaching interviews anywhere , or even NHL assistant coaching interviews. There’s AHL coaches that are always in the conversation for NHL jobs and Appert isn’t one of them. There’s also AHL coaches with much better, more proven track records. Nobody’s banging down the ******* door to steal Appert.

 

I also don’t understand even worrying about a succession plan. Good veteran NHL coaches are almost always available (head coaching turnover in the NHL is crazy), and “up and coming” assistant coaches are even more plentiful.

 

Focus on winning NOW ffs. Let Lindy put together the best staff he can with the goal of winning.

 

I have a hard time believing that Lindy thought the best staff happened to be all the guy’s already under contract + Appert and his video coach. Especially considering Lindy said he didn’t really even know anything about Seth Appert until the past few weeks (after being hired here).

 

Anyway, like you said it’s not worth worrying about. If Lindy has success I don’t see him deciding to retire within the next couple years and if he doesn’t have success Kevyn Adams is gone along with whatever plan he had (Appert).

 

I probably overreacted a bit to this news. 😂 

It just annoyed me when I read it because once again I was left questioning their process and motives.

[BillsPride12]

1 hour ago, BillsFan4 said:

Yeah, that’s definitely been the talk for a while. I have never liked the talk. I guess I am just not as impressed with Appert as some others. The Amerks looked to have a lot of the same issues the Sabres did.

 

I don’t see Appert as some great coach in waiting that Buffalo had to promote or risk losing. I’ve never even heard him mentioned for head coaching interviews anywhere , or even NHL assistant coaching interviews. There’s AHL coaches that are always in the conversation for NHL jobs and Appert isn’t one of them. There’s also AHL coaches with much better, more proven track records. Nobody’s banging down the ******* door to steal Appert.

 

I also don’t understand even worrying about a succession plan. Good veteran NHL coaches are almost always available (head coaching turnover in the NHL is crazy), and “up and coming” assistant coaches are even more plentiful.

 

Focus on winning NOW ffs. Let Lindy put together the best staff he can with the goal of winning.

 

I have a hard time believing that Lindy thought the best staff happened to be all the guy’s already under contract + Appert and his video coach. Especially considering Lindy said he didn’t really even know anything about Seth Appert until the past few weeks (after being hired here).

 

Anyway, like you said it’s not worth worrying about. If Lindy has success I don’t see him deciding to retire within the next couple years and if he doesn’t have success Kevyn Adams is gone along with whatever plan he had (Appert).

 

I probably overreacted a bit to this news. 😂 

It just annoyed me when I read it because once again I was left questioning their process and motives.

I'm not even sure how much coaching changes mean right now.  Watching these playoff games I can't help but think the Sabres are still so far away from being a legit NHL contender.  It's so disappointing 

[Dr. Who]

1 hour ago, BillsFan4 said:

Yeah, that’s definitely been the talk for a while. I have never liked the talk. I guess I am just not as impressed with Appert as some others. The Amerks looked to have a lot of the same issues the Sabres did.

 

I don’t see Appert as some great coach in waiting that Buffalo had to promote or risk losing. I’ve never even heard him mentioned for head coaching interviews anywhere , or even NHL assistant coaching interviews. There’s AHL coaches that are always in the conversation for NHL jobs and Appert isn’t one of them. There’s also AHL coaches with much better, more proven track records. Nobody’s banging down the ******* door to steal Appert.

 

I also don’t understand even worrying about a succession plan. Good veteran NHL coaches are almost always available (head coaching turnover in the NHL is crazy), and “up and coming” assistant coaches are even more plentiful.

 

Focus on winning NOW ffs. Let Lindy put together the best staff he can with the goal of winning.

 

I have a hard time believing that Lindy thought the best staff happened to be all the guy’s already under contract + Appert and his video coach. Especially considering Lindy said he didn’t really even know anything about Seth Appert until the past few weeks (after being hired here).

 

Anyway, like you said it’s not worth worrying about. If Lindy has success I don’t see him deciding to retire within the next couple years and if he doesn’t have success Kevyn Adams is gone along with whatever plan he had (Appert).

 

I probably overreacted a bit to this news. 😂 

It just annoyed me when I read it because once again I was left questioning their process and motives.

I wanted Peca to be the coach ready to take over. 

[Mr. WEO]

2 hours ago, BillsFan4 said:

Yeah, that’s definitely been the talk for a while. I have never liked the talk. I guess I am just not as impressed with Appert as some others. The Amerks looked to have a lot of the same issues the Sabres did.

 

I don’t see Appert as some great coach in waiting that Buffalo had to promote or risk losing. I’ve never even heard him mentioned for head coaching interviews anywhere , or even NHL assistant coaching interviews. There’s AHL coaches that are always in the conversation for NHL jobs and Appert isn’t one of them. There’s also AHL coaches with much better, more proven track records. Nobody’s banging down the ******* door to steal Appert.

 

I also don’t understand even worrying about a succession plan. Good veteran NHL coaches are almost always available (head coaching turnover in the NHL is crazy), and “up and coming” assistant coaches are even more plentiful.

 

Focus on winning NOW ffs. Let Lindy put together the best staff he can with the goal of winning.

 

I have a hard time believing that Lindy thought the best staff happened to be all the guy’s already under contract + Appert and his video coach. Especially considering Lindy said he didn’t really even know anything about Seth Appert until the past few weeks (after being hired here).

 

Anyway, like you said it’s not worth worrying about. If Lindy has success I don’t see him deciding to retire within the next couple years and if he doesn’t have success Kevyn Adams is gone along with whatever plan he had (Appert).

 

I probably overreacted a bit to this news. 😂 

It just annoyed me when I read it because once again I was left questioning their process and motives.

 

 

He'll likely be better than the last 4 bums they fired.  Veteran NHL coaches "are available" because they have been fired.  

 

Appert can't be worse than the previous.  Ruff won't re-sign in 2 years so there will be yet another HC change.  

 

Team needs to be sold.

[The Jokeman]

3 hours ago, Dr. Who said:

I wanted Peca to be the coach ready to take over. 

He should have been but he saw the writing was on the wall and jumped to the Rangers last year. 

[Dr. Who]

33 minutes ago, The Jokeman said:

He should have been but he saw the writing was on the wall and jumped to the Rangers last year. 

I know. I was hoping they would entice him to come back with a promise of taking over in a year or two, but that's not the way they roll.