K-9

Nah, he was a practical joker in the room, but a genuinely good teammate. There was some friction between the old guard and Kelly and Co. for sure though, at least initially. Kelly came in and immediately asserted his leadership, but Smersls wasn’t one of the guys upset by that. It was the older offensive players like Devlin and Jones who resented him early on. But they worked it out.

Freddy was a great guy to have a beer with back in the day. Fun loving, especially in his earlier years. When he got into the media world, he became a bit more critical, almost cynical. As if he had to be that way to lend credibilty to his insights.

Yep. The players took the sails right out of Bullough’s wind. It’s old news though. Years ago Smerlas recounted stories of how he and other vets threatened younger players if they made a good play.

Willing to make him your whipping boy because of that?

I’ve never seen any of our fans, be it those I know personally or those I engage with in various forums and other media, say a bad word about Skinner. Do you actually know fans who aren’t happy with him? They should turn in their fan cards.

Zero chance he becomes a whipping boy. He plays with grit and Buffalo fans appreciate that. He gives an honest effort every night, plays hurt, and is hard to play against. He’s the antithesis of a whipping boy.

That roster was coming off a 4-12 record in '86 and was on its way to a 7-8 record in '87. That roster had plenty of holes and Bennett helped plug a huge one. Acquiring Bennett immediately shifted the balance of power in the AFC East. If Beane sees a comparable impact player to be had higher up in the first round, he should make the move, "assets" be damned.

I can certainly relate to my guys losing in such ugly fashion. It’s never easy. Anyway, TT is gonna be a tough out for anybody.

Poor Robin. He probably doesn’t realize that most of those boos were from opposing team fans who pack the building on a lot of game nights. Also may have helped if he could have stop a shootout attempt from time to time when he was here. As to the rest of it, he sounds like an ungrateful prick after all the support the Sabres organization gave to him while he was struggling with alcohol, etc.

Defensive much? Take a friceken chill pill. In the meantime, I suggest you rewatch TT’s perimeter defense.

I think a better explanation why they got run off the court is the tenacious defense played by one of the best defensive teams in the game. Holding your opponent to 16 points in a half and 44 for the game suggests a dominance that a good point guard, while mitigating it some, wouldn’t have made much of a difference.

Another futile GOAT argument. Like I always say, all the greats have a seat seat at the table. And it’s a round table.

Unpopular is not the word that springs to mind.

Yep. A very over hyped play. His left handed pass (vs. Denver?) was much more of an impressive play.

Then I’m no more “morose” than you as I’ve said it will be years as well. Minimum of 3.

Interesting stuff. It may point to how much more complex the game has become in the last twenty years on both sides of the ball. From schemes to sub packages, there’s a lot more moving parts that a QB needs to be aware of. Granted, they get far more help from the sidelines and booth on a play to play basis, but so do defenses. A difficult position that’s always been a challenge to play well, has become more challenging over the years.

Saw the lines from practice and it looks like Housely may have acquired a clue; Olofsson was paired with Eichel and Reinhart. Should have done the same with Nylander immediately, as well. I like the D pairing of Dahlin and Borgen, too. Didn’t take long for coach to see pairing him with Scandella was stupid.

Sounds like the team seeming to quit on Housley down the stretch was the final straw for you. Understandable. Much of the rest of your response strikes me as a bit equivocal, though. You’ve been a staunch defender of Housley all season. No matter. Water through the dam as they say. It’s gonna be years, YEARS, before we assemble and assimilate the talent necessary to become contenders.

That’s a complete 180 from where you were a few weeks ago when you were telling us Housely detractors to just accept the fact he was returning especially after Botts gave him a ringing public endorsement (and I certainly did resign myself to that fact, btw). Why the change in your opinion? Has the team shown anything different in the last month to sway you that they hadn’t shown in the previous three months? Just curious if there was a final straw for you.

Housley got off to a good start with that by pairing him with Scandella right away.

That sucks.

Let me be clear; in no way am I advocating getting rid of Eichel. He’s our best player and one of the better players in the league. I just think he shouldn’t be the captain nor do I think it’s that important to him. I get the impression he just wants to play hockey and not be burdened with having to be the locker room leader. And he takes too many shifts off to be an on ice leader. He’s just not a Drury-type of guy who is gonna toss a boom box out of the room after a loss or get in a guy’s grill when a practice is not going crisply. I’m worried about losing Skinner, too. This crap show is far worse than the crap show he left in Carolina. And I just don’t see how Housely can survive a collapse of historical proportions when he owns the worst record in the league for 133 out of the 158 games he’s coached. One thing that’s worse than changing coaches too soon is hiring the wrong coach in the first place. And color me concerned about Pegula’s clueless remark that something needs to change but “we don’t know what.” We are years away. Years. And that’s on top of the 8 years it’s been already.

.343 point pace over the last 51 games since the streak. Our tank year had us at a .329 point pace for the season. So yeah, you’re right, this season has been barely better than a team designed to lose on purpose. Now, the Housely devotees will point out that you can’t discount the streak and that our overall .467 pace for the season is better than the tank year, but I don’t give that streak any credence whatsoever. It is beyond obvious that this team far more resembles last year’s last place team than the first place team they were for five minutes back in November. On another note, the C needs to be taken away from Eichel. Ripped off his jersey like the stripes from Chuck Connors’s military uniform in the old tv show, “Branded.” He may be our best player, but he isn’t captain material. There is a huge leadership vacuum on this team, from the coaches on down.

Housley is downright cruel in pairing Borgen with Scandella.