BillsFan4

Especially with Diggs now being in a contract year. He’s not going to be happy if he’s not producing. I’ll be surprised if he will be satisfied with WR #2 or #3 targets.

Yeah that was 100% a goal. I thought that was a bad call right away and the replay showed it was. I don’t know how they let it stand. But to be honest, I also thought it would have been kind of funny if Dallas lost due to a bogus no-goal in overtime. Give them a little taste of what Buffalo fans felt in the ‘99 Stanley cup finals, losing on that “no goal” in triple overtime… 😂

Yeah, no surprise there. I still think it’s a downgrade from Keefe. I am really curious to see how he has the team play, and what changes the GM makes to the roster. Knowing the type of team Treliving and Berube prefer, I wonder if they’ll transition towards more of a “tough” team now (vs. skilled). I feel like his system is a poor fit for their current roster. He coaches a hard-nosed, hard forechecking, dump&chase + grind it out along the boards style of play. I don’t see that as a fit for this skilled leafs roster. Maybe I’m wrong though. Or maybe he changes up his preferred system (doubtful).

those are Butker’s remarks on women and their role. How much clearer could he make it? He is saying women’s purpose, according to not just him but God’s will, is in the home conceiving and raising children and being a “wife/homemaker” (and later attacks birth control, implying women should have children, or more children, whether it’s convenient for them or not). He said it was a “diabolical lie” that they were told they should have careers and that they would instead be happiest being homemakers. And then after defining how he views a woman’s role he says his advise is coming from experience and we need to stop pretending what we are seeing is normal (what he meant by “normal” is obviously left up to interpretation, but seeing as he was speaking directly to the women in the audience it doesn’t feel like a big leap to say he probably meant women having careers and not just pumping out kids as stay at home mom’s like they used to). And if all of that wasn’t clear enough, He then goes on to address the men in the audience with a much different message. He tells the men they set the tone of our culture and need to be unapologetically masculine and not allow themselves to be “emasculated”. Yes, he says they have a role as fathers but he doesn’t ever once tell them they’d be happier not having careers and staying home to raise kids. Just because he complimented the importance of a stay-at-home wife doesn’t mean what he said wasn’t misogynistic and demeaning. He was VERY clear about how he views a woman’s role. I don’t understand how anyone could say otherwise. He really didn’t leave it up for interpretation. Nobody that disagrees with Butker is attacking nuclear families either. I haven’t seen that even once. Disagreeing with his 1950’s misogynistic view of a woman’s role/purpose is not attacking nuclear families. And Yea, plenty of stay-at-home mom’s are happy with their lives. Nobody is saying otherwise, or that they shouldn’t be. A stay at home PARENT (not just woman, it can just as easily be a man’s role) is a very important job. If that’s what a woman wants, and they can afford to live on a single income, great! I’m happy for them. I don’t look down on them for not having/wanting a career. But I certainly don’t view that as a woman’s main role and I would never dare to tell a woman that she would be happiest as a stay at home mom, or that’s what she should aspire to be. if you agree with his views on a woman’s role, fine. Then own it. Don’t try to spin what he said into something it’s not.

I haven’t seen a single person taking issue with marriage or family. Disagreeing that a woman’s only place is at home raising kids does not mean you think the idea of marriage and family is wrong. In Butker’s views, it would be wrong for a woman to have a career. It would be wrong for a man to stay at home and raise the kids. thats not “pro family”. That’s misogyny.

I wouldn’t assume the 2 year contract has anything to do with how long Lindy wants to coach… The Devils gave him an extension late in 2023. It runs for 2 more years. So for the next 2 years the devils are paying a portion of Ruff’s salary. I think the 2 year contract likely has a lot more to do with that than how long Ruff wants to coach. He’s never even mentioned retirement.

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 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.

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

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

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.

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.

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.

I really didn’t care who won the Toronto/Boston series. I dislike both teams. But if I was forced to pick I probably would have chose Boston to lose once it got to game 7, just because I wanted to see them set that record for the first team in any American pro sport to lose back to back game 7’s 2 yrs in a row after being up in the series 3 games to 1. Before game 7 I was probably rooting more for Toronto to lose (and get swept in 5). I do actually feel bad for some Toronto fans though (not the a-holes but every fan base has those, including Buffalo). They must feel an awful lot like Bills fans feel with Kansas City eliminating us seemingly every year, even when we had the advantage (like this past year). On paper, the leafs should have crushed the bruins this year. The bruins top 2 centers retired. It was supposed to be a “reset” year for Boston and the leafs still couldn’t make it past them. It just feel like they are never going to get past Boston (kind of like how I feel about KC…lol 😢)

They traded their #1 WR and are eating a $31 million dead cap hit for it this year. I am not sure how realistic it is to expect the offense to be better this season. Maybe they are better as a whole because they distribute the ball around more, or because they have better chemistry/energy/team camaraderie (etc). But $31M is a massive amount of dead cap. I think it’s the largest dead cap hit in NFL history iirc? It 100% puts them at a competitive disadvantage this season. Adding a big money #1 WR most likely isn’t happening. That doesn’t mean this offseason is a failure. IMO this offseason was about the start of a roster retool - getting younger and cheaper at a # of positions. The old core wasn’t able to get it done. Time to try something new. Retooling this team wasn’t going to happen in one offseason. The cap situation looks a lot better starting next season, though.

Damn. Im starting to think a trade back makes sense. Get some extra day 2 picks and draft a couple WR’s.

He seemed to do fine with New Jersey’s young players. and he had a 50+ win season with Dallas and New Jersey. 3 of 4 years in the playoffs with Dallas. 3rd best team in the entire NHL last year with a young New Jersey team.

No point in trying to trade up anymore. Maybe a small, lower cost trade up at most. I’d almost rather see them trade back now and use the extra pick(s) to take two shots at WR in the top 3-4 rounds.

Pick is in. seems like they went with a QB. My guess is Maye, hoping he can be Josh Allen-lite. lol

I feel like this hire made too much sense not to happen. Lindy is a good fit for many reasons. - he’s an experienced veteran coach and a true leader. He’s forgotten more about hockey than most people will ever know. He has experience in just about every situation, from rebuilds to win-now and everything in between. And he has a great reputation in NHL circles. He’s well respected among NHL players and maybe now where more than Buffalo. I don’t think he will have any issue getting buy-in from the players. - He holds players accountable, as we all know. Every player said they needed more accountability. Well, they are getting it! lol - He is great at implementing structured defensive play. I have zero doubt this team will look much better in the defensive zone. There will be a defensive structure and it will be obvious to us (unlike under Granato…). - He just successfully coached pretty much the exact system Buffalo is designed to play. If Lindy gets the Sabres playing like the 2022/23 NJ Devils, every Sabres fan will be thrilled. That high speed rushing attack + taking away time & space on defense is exactly what Kevyn Adams wants. I think his system fits better than Berube. I think Gallant’s system would have fit too but he’s not really known for having good defensive structure. If you go listen to the NY rangers player exit interviews after Gallant was fired, there’s lots of talk about needing better structure (similar to Buffalo player exit interviews this season). - and I don’t think any coach will take more pride in coaching the Buffalo Sabres. Lindy is personally invested in this team + city. He’s lived here since 1979. He knows this town and fan base as good as anyone. He is one of us. I think he is going to help repair the broken relationship between Sabres fans + media and the team. I also don’t think this was just a nostalgia hire. Lindy was for sure one of the top veteran coaches available. I think a strong statistical argument could be made that he was the best veteran coach available of the top 3 big names (Ruff, Berube, Gallant or even Boudreau). Over the years, his teams have had better underlying stats in important categories vs. Berube and Gallant. He’s 4th or 5th all time in wins for NHL head coaches. He has at least one 50(+) win season with each team he’s coached. He’s gotten every team he’s coached to the playoffs, and he’s won playoff rounds. Berube has that one magical run to the Stanley cup, but otherwise has been mediocre. Gallant’s had success but his overall fit is more questionable. He’s not known for installing structure and I’ve read he relies on veteran players to lead, which Buffalo doesn’t really have. Of the coaches available, I think Ruff was the best fit. I don’t know if he’s the guy to win us a Stanley Cup. But the Sabres are nowhere near ready for a Cup run. Let’s get back to playoff contention first. I think at the very least Ruff can do that, and get these players playing the right way.

I watched him switch from a 1-2-2 defense to a 1-3-1 or a 2-1-2 in game. It happened frequently enough that I noticed it in multiple games. I remember noticing because it was something I wished the Sabres would do under Granato. I also watched him constantly making in game adjustments during his 16 year tenure in Buffalo. This isn’t some coach I barely know. you yourself said he switched up lines. That’s adjustment too. I have never met a fan that doesn’t have complaints about line combinations and favorite players. It’s a common complaint with even the best coaches. It’s a complaint I had when Lindy was in Buffalo, and a complaint I’ve had about every coach since. I agree Lindy had his favorites in NJ. He had his favorites in Buffalo too. Some don’t always make sense but there’s usually behind the scenes stuff we don’t know about. I think Smith was relied on more this year due to the losses on defense, and also to help put Luke Hughes in more favorable matchups. Smith ate a lot of D zone starts and went against tougher competition. Where as Hughes was given a lot of favorable o zone starts and matchups against lesser competition (and Hughes still struggled in the d zone). When you are down 3 of the top 4 from last year, that happens. But he was barely relied on more… He was still 8th in average time on ice per game among NJ defenseman this season and 21st among NJ skaters, and last season only averaged like 13 minutes a night. Luke Hughes being #1 in average ice time per game was a bigger problem for NJ’s defense in my opinion. He wasn’t ready for it. anyway… I get why you are not a Ruff fan. Your team just fired him. It’s totally understandable! lol. I’m sure I’d be doing similar if New Jersey just hired a coach Buffalo fired. Im happy Buffalo hired Lindy though. Of the veteran coaches available, I thought he was the best fit.

Because the devils took a step back this year and IMO Lindy was the scapegoat. I thought it was much more on the GM, and injuries. The GM refused to address goaltending in any meaningful way even though it was a glaring hole/weakness (it was bad even last year during their record breaking season) and unsurprisingly the devils ended up with terrible goaltending again. They didn’t have one goalie with even a 90% save percentage while Ruff was there. The GM also let two of the team’s top 4 veteran defenseman walk in free agency and didn’t replace them. Then early in the season the Devils lost their #1 defenseman to injury for the year. So they were down 3 of their top 4 defenseman from last season. That obviously negatively impacted the devils ability to defend, which exasperated the already bad goaltending. and their #1 C (and best player) was also hurt for a good amount of the year, along with a bunch of other guys. Devils were top 5 in injuries in the NHL this season. They only had like 5-6 players that didn’t get injured and miss games at some point in the season. I’m sure Lindy made some mistakes, but saying his system is “too old” and that he never made adjustments just isn’t true.

That’s just not true. I literally watched the devils make in game adjustments with my own eyes. How could you possibly watch that NJ/NY playoff series last year and think no adjustments were made by NJ?

He just broke the devils record for most wins and points in franchise history last year. The devils had the 3rd best record in the entire NHL for 2022/23, and the 4th most goals. Lindy is well known for constant in-game adjustments. He’s known as one of the better tacticians in the NHL. So many of his ex-players have talked about it. Devils players even talked about it. For ex: Tyler Toffoli said you have to be very smart to play for Lindy because he’s constantly making systems adjustments in game. You could see the Devils switch from a 1-2-2 to a 1-3-1 or a 2-1-2 on the fly in games. To say he didn’t make adjustments just isn’t true. Last year’s playoff series against the NYR is another good example. After losing the first 2 games of the series, Lindy completely changed the way the devils attacked and defended NY and Gallant had almost no answers for it the rest of the series. Lindy pretty thoroughly out-coached Gallant IMO. and to say his system is out-dated isn’t true either (I mean, we aren’t talking about the old trap system NJ ran under Lou…lol). Almost every coach+team in the NHL use similar systems. Some coaches just emphasize different aspects. The system the devils ran isn’t much different than what many other good NHL teams currently run. They were a very potent rushing attack under Lindy and were the best in the NHL at defending off the rush (last season). If anything, I would argue someone like Berube coaches a more out-dated style (heavy forecheck, dump & chase, grind it out hockey) than Lindy does (high powered offensive attack and taking away time & space on defense). As an outsider (who probably watched more devils games than Sabres games this past season), what I saw wrong with the Devils this year was goaltending, inexperienced defenseman and injuries. Y’all lost 2 of your veteran top 4 defenseman to free agency, then replaced them with inexperienced players. Then lost your #1 D for the season in November (which erased like 60+ points from the lineup). All of that exacerbated the already poor goaltending. Hughes also missed time with injuries too and just wasn’t as impactful (25 less points than last season). Devils were top 5 in injuries this season, but still actually had good underlying numbers for the most part. Plus, NJ got worse after Lindy left, and that was with significantly better goaltending! Most teams get a bump after firing a coach. Almost all of NJ’s underlying analytics got worse after Lindy left (which wasn’t true after Brunette leaving. The devils underlying analytics were good the season before Brunette was hired and good the season after he left. Until Lindy was fired, then we saw the numbers get worse 🤷‍♂️)