I hope so, Cat. I hope so. When there is as much work as what needed to be done we can never feel truly confident until we start to see the results. Last year was obviously not the type of results you want to see; at least in Buffalo. Rochester was a bit more encouraging. The real problem seems to be more cultural (for lack of a better term) than structural. In other words, these players have really known nothing but failure in their professional careers, (there are a couple of exceptions such as elder-statesman J. Pomminville, and recent acquisition S. Wilson). But most everyone on the roster has one thing in common - they have been around to see a lot of L's. That can have a very insidious impact on a team and is much harder to repair than, for instance, getting more speed on D, or getting players that are more accurate shooters*. (* I saw an interesting analysis of the Sabres over the weekend. There paucity of secondary scoring is well-chronicled. It was not due to some bone-headed paly, but rather the inaccurate shooting o' the puck by many when they were properly positioned to pot the puck. The Sabres need some snipers! Or, at lease better shooters.)
go to the 21 second mark...losing is contagious Dan as you correctly said. It sucks. It drains players to wonder if they will ever win or when are they a FA to get the hell out of town-fast.
The Natural was filmed at the old Rock Pile in Buffalo, NY! The opening scene with Redford as a youth was filmed about a mile from my brother's house.
that's cool. Love the Natural. One of my favorite movies of all time, besides being a great sports movie. I believe either Knights Field is the old Rock Pile or the Field they use as "Wrigley Field" is in Buffalo or Rochester, NY. My brother's good friend from college won a AAA World Series Ring with Rochester in the 90's.
haha. but for a 1930's field, it was a great stadium for it. it had the look and feel of the old Yankees stadium.
I did not mind Rob Lehner, but he was very polarizing. A lot of Buffalo fans had a hard on, but for a reason he had zero control over. Many could not forgive him because Tim Murray traded #21 overall for him in 2015. Yes. That was a bad trade. Still, Lehner has a place in the NHL. As a pending RFA the Sabres would have to give him a qualifying offer if they wanted to retain his rights. Since he played for $4MM last season that was simply too much. He'll make a great back up someplace for half that rate. So, it's not so much an indictment of Lehner that he's being let go. He was on a last place team, with fans turning on him, and would have to be paid too much. His countryman Linus Ullmark is ready to step up as a part-time NHL starter. Buffalo has to find a goalie that is on the downside of his career to start 50-60% of the games. I'm hearing Crawford. It could make sense on a few levels. But, when it comes to goalies, I leave the speculating alone.
I think you put a decent D in front of Rob and he suddenly looks like a pretty good goalie. I hope his time in Buffalo doesn't derail a player with nice upside potential.
congrats Buffalo with an obvious #1 pick. Hope he's everything they say about him and he turns your franchise around ! Good luck !
BUFFALO -- Rasmus Dahlin, the No. 1 pick in the 2018 NHL Draft, should not be expected to revive the Buffalo Sabres by himself, general manager Jason Botterill said Monday. "He doesn't need to be the savior," Botterill said during the 18-year-old defenseman's introductory press conference in Buffalo. "It's a situation where we're excited about our young players such as Jack [Eichel], Sam [Reinhart], [defenseman] Rasmus Ristolainen. He can be part of this group and sort of grow together. "Look, we certainly have to have better results on the ice. But I think communicating and talking with other players, we're certainly excited to bring Rasmus into our group here and just [see] how they can grow together as a core." Dahlin joins forwards Eichel (No. 2 pick in 2015) and Reinhart (No. 2 pick in 2014) as part ofa core that was drafted either first or second by Buffalo in the past five years. Ristolainen was the No. 8 selection in 2013. If Dahlin, who played for Frolunda in the Swedish Hockey League this season, is feeling any pressure to help the Sabres return to the Stanley Cup Playoffs for the first time since 2011, he wasn't showing it Monday. "I'm just so motivated to win hockey games so I'll bring everything I can to this team and try to win hockey games," said Dahlin, who skated in a Sabres jersey for the first time. "That's what I think about. "I know how big this is to me. I'm super excited and super proud. I can't wait to get this season started." (NHL.com) _____________ _______________________________ Im excited for Buffalo and for you, Dan. This is going to be fun/interesting to watch how things unfold.
Man and Damn... I screwed up the alignment on that post, lol. Ive no clue how I did that or to what happened, but I guess its still readable.
Rasmus Dahlin is officially a Buffalo Sabre. His teammate in Frolunda, Viktor Olafsson, is also a Sabre. He was a seventh round steal a few years ago. He probably will start in Rochester since he's only 22 and may need to adjust to the smaller N.A. ice. Watch this guy, he has a wicked shot - his writers look like slapshots - which may help account for why he was the leading scorer in the SEL last year.
