The coaches.

where's Ron Rolston anyway?

 

He's scouting for Maloney or Nill I think.

 

He's in AZ

http://coyotes.nhl.com/club/news.htm?id=730756

 

good work bob.
i noticed that both Rolston and Roque are LSSU guys. i wonder where the Az connection is or if its just coincidental. although nothing is really coincidental in the NHL.

 

I have no idea where they tie together. Rolston is US, NCAA affiliated, and has been with USA hockey before the AHL and ultimately the Sabres.

Maloney was a Rags guy with Sather, in with Team Canada for a time, and now in AZ.

I'm not sure where the tie in is. This is a weird one.

 

I do not view drafting #1 or 2 as the goal. That will be the result of an abysmal failure, i.e., finishing in 29th or 30th. Granted, either of these players are likely to make whoever they play for in 2015-16 a better team, but that cannot - or should not - be the goal.

The goal is to get better. No one logically expected the Sabres to get better (as measured by the standings), but we should have expected the team to play better than this. It may be due to the evaluation process, but Nolan does not seem to be instilling good hockey traits. From a statistical view, the team has taken a step back from last year, and last year they were horrible.

We saw a nice run for about six weeks, and the young players got the feel for "winning" in the NHL. However that can easily be derailed by this current skein. A few players appear to have responded well to Nolan's style, but others clearly have not, and I think it's a matter of time before he loses much of the locker room.

The Sabres were destined to lose a lot this season regardless of who is behind the bench. If I saw a spark from this team I may have had a better opinion of the coach. I am seeing a bad team get worse, and the goal is to get better.

I do not question Bob; I was going to say that I have no idea where Rolston is now. He belongs in a FO or behind the bench in the Juniors; I doubt that he'll ever be a HC in the NHL again.

 

Duh, I remember how out how Rolston landed there.
http://www.azcentral.com/story/spor...darcy-regier-senior-vp-assistant-gm/12185993/

I would have been greatly disturbed if there wasn't some sort of incestuous hire.

 

Regier and Maloney were together in NYI btw.

 

I confused NYI and Hartford and edited it. I know both were in Hartford at various times though...because Pierre loves talking about all things Whalers.

 

Regier the culprit.

Dan, I think the goal should be getting one of those guys. With out one of them I don't see an eminent turnaround. Not saying it couldn't happen, just that it wouldn't assuredly happen. Not sold that Buffalo can lure stars through FA so the draft seems to be the best route. Maybe Reinhart will be great, maybe he'll just be good. With no star the Sabres could just become the Oilers East.

 

I haven't really looked at the numbers lately, but they blinded me and may have done Oilers-type damage to my vision from the last few Sabres games I saw.

Nolan tricked me once this year, it's not going to happen again.

 

This is impossible.
Nobody can do so little with so much talent, so much payroll, and so much effort as the Oilers have over the last 8 1/2 seasons.

 

The Oilers have a few potential stars. Reinhart should be very good, but he is not one that I expect to dazzle us with goals; rather I expect that once he grows up he will be a player that raises the level of play by everyone else on the team.

Matty, it's all a matter of what we emphasize when we say "the goal" of the Sabres. Getting McEichel will help the team get better, and that's the goal. However, BUF will "earn" the right to pick one of them because they suck hind tittie like no team I have ever seen. The current team is an unmitigated disaster, and I believe some/much of that falls on Nolan.

As for me, I would rather talk about Zemgus Girgensons. That he is in the All Star game is a Latvian joke, but he is going to be the future captain and leader of this team.

 

I wrote this and then I noticed that I had been promoted to team Captain. Now I feel very special.

 

u are special

attribute it to an inexplicable oversight on my part that just suddenly dawned on me. now i wonder how many others of these i've missed.

 

My point being that with out McDavid or Eichel I have a hard time seeing a future Cup contender in Buffalo. Don't be pretty bad now, be historically bad.
Assure yourselves one of those two guys and start it all "new" next season. New coach, new star, new attitude. its manufactured hope but something for everyone to latch on to. Put up 100 ft signs w/ Eichel's ugly afro on it or inundate the Buffalo local TV ads w/ Connor McDavid giving the "serious stare"

 

so maybe we're saying the same thing Dan, imo for Buffalo to get better they need to stay bad.

 

There's no doubt that one of the McEichels would speed the rebuild by at least one year. Having one on the team would certainly make it easier to win a SC in the future. However, Buffalo already possesses the best pipeline in the NHL, and they have five top-sixty picks in an outstanding draft. Buffalo is not dependent on getting a top-two pick to be good in 3 to 4 years.

As for Nolan and tanking, (which is just another way of stating what you've said above), you gotta understand that I am too passionate about the Sabres. And, I HATE to lose. While the Sabres don't really have anything to do with me, but my competitiveness and passion are too closely entwined. I would rather Nolan would coach to win now. BUF is bad enough to earn last place, but at least it would make the current team more palatable. I see aspects of the team digressing under him.

 

this is where we disagree. I'm not sold that a large quantity of good, not necessarily elite, prospects led by no real veteran presence is a recipe for a rebuild. Maybe Reinhart will be elite but thats still unknown at this point. many of the top NHL pipelines amount to nothing and stay the top pipelines for years while the NHL club just keeps spinning its tires. without a certified star it won't matter. i don't think a Buffalo rise to greatness is inevitable and w/out one of those 2 guys I'm not sure its even possible.

 

LA's lockerroom was built around Brown, Kopitar, and Doughty in 09' (dumpster)
Chicago was lead by Toews in 08' and Keith
Washington had the usually injured Chris Clark as the veteran leader guy, I don't think he was instrumental to their climb out of the dumpster for 5 straight PO appearances.

I believe that vets are important for the development of young players. I also think they can be very overrated when it comes to getting a team out of the dumpster. I think the coach and talent are far more important.