BillsFan4

I pre-ordered it but haven’t went to pick it up yet. I will sometime soon. i am currently playing Assassin’s Creed Odyssey and it is amazing. I just picked up a PS4 last year. I had always mainly 0layed Xbox but wanted a PS4 for some of their exclusive games. Spiderman is worth it, then? How long it is?

Anyone else notice Eichel telling Dahlin to pass it to Okposo on this goal? It happens right at the very start of this clip. Eichel points to Okposo with his stick. He (Eichel) impacts the game in a lot of subtle ways.

Totally agree with everything you said. It was great to see us win a game without Eichel carrying the team, or even getting a single point. He still had an impact on the game, though. I really like the way he’s developing. It seems like he’s really embraced the captaincy. He seems very proud to be the “C” and is really starting to take his game to the next level IMO. You aren’t seeing the guy that floated around on too many shifts like previous seasons. He looks like he is really working to become a complete 200ft player. I love the direction he is headed in. We are starting to see the kids true potential. Totally agree on Mittelstadt. It’s only a matter of time until he breaks out. You can see his confidence growing with each game. I love his work ethic on the ice. Kid gives 100% every shift. Man.... when Mittelstadt and Reinhart both really get going like they’re capable of, look out! The Sabres could be a team to be reckoned with. Hopefully this was the game that gets Reinhart consistently scoring again. He’s been playing really well and impacting the game. He just hasn’t scored yet. Hopefully he just needed to get that first one, kinda like Skinner. And Mitts is soo close. It’s coming. No idea what going on with Scandella. He started the year in a funk and it hasn’t gotten any better. He may actually be getting worse... I still have hope that he will pull out of it though. We know he’s a better defenseman than the way he’s playing. I am still trying to process the Sabres being a fun team to watch. It weird, in a good way. Honestly, these last couple games actually reminded me, just a little bit, of the ‘05-‘07 Drury/Briere teams. When they were down by a couple you just knew that they would score and tie it up. That’s how the past 2 games felt. I think these 2 games were HUGE for this team. They stick to the game plan/system and it really paid off. I think they needed to see that happen. There have been times in previous years where they played a good game, stuck to the system and lost. They seemed to quickly revert back to old ways after those types of games. These are the types of wins that can really teach the young guys how to win in the NHL. I think this rebuild is finally pointed in the right direction. Guys are buying in and it’s showing. On top of it all, Rochester is playing fantastic and a good number of our better prospects are preforming very well. It’s exciting! I applaud Jason Botterill what for he has done in a relatively short amount of time. I know people wanted him to come in and make big changes last year. But I think he was smart in the way he played it. IMO he did exactly what Brenden Shanahan did in Toronto during his first 2 years. That first year he sat back, watched and evaluated everything while his team had a disastrous season. People yelled for him to make changes. But he took the year to truly evaluate everything and not just make rash decisions. Then that next offseason he acted and made a couple of big changes (Kessel gone. Phaneuf next, etc). I think Botterill did similar. He sat back, watched and evaluated everything. He found out who needed to go, and what needed to change for this team to improve. Then he acted accordingly.

Wow, what a win!! They pretty much dominated the play from about the last 5 minutes of the 1st period. Have we possibly turned the corner in our rebuild? This really seems like a different team than last year. A 3 game win streak in October?! Is that allowed? lol

Hutton has not been good tonight. I feel like he should have made saves on all 3 of montreal’s goals. Buffalo has clearly been the better team tonight. Hutton has been the difference. Yeah I was getting more and more nervous the longer it took. lol

Pominville again! Montreal challenging. But Pominville was shoved into Niemi. This better be a goal.

Skinner to Pominville! Buffalo has really been thr better team since about the last 5 minutes of the 1st. Glad to see them sticking with it and getting rewarded.

They’re taking a lot of dumb shots from the perimeter so far tonight, that totally kill the offensive zone possession. They need to get back to what made them successful in Anaheim. Cycle the puck, shoot from the higher danger areas, get to the net.

Yes, I agree. In our conversation he also said that he put those types of practices on the coaching staff more than anything else and said that housley needs to start holding them accountable. I felt this article was a good example of housley holding them accountable. I agree 100%. There is only so much a Coach can do. Player leadership is extremely important. Chris Drury’s time in buffalo (and what happened to the team after he left) is a perfect example of the importance of good player leadership. This is a young team still learning their way. I expect there will be plenty of ups and downs. Hopefully we see continued progress throughout the season. They are a damn good team when they’re all working hard. Fingers crossed th consistency comes in that regard.

How does the team being bad explain, in any way, a person saying they are glad a player got injured, and that he deserved it?

Watch it again -

https://buffalonews.com/2018/10/24/sabres-coach-phil-housley-we-have-to-start-getting-our-head-and-mind-right/ As I said recently in this thread, Housley doesn’t tolerate this kind of stuff. He holds this team accountable and has no issue stopping practice to lay into the team if they are not doing what he asks.

Yeah, for sure. Heres what Elway said after drafting Chad - I’d be pretty pissed off right now if I were Jim Kelly... Chad appears to have a lot of growing up to do still. Sad part is that one day he will most likely look back and realize what he squandered. He is a good QB, has the talent and was probably afforded more opportunity than most because of his last name, yet he pissed it all away (so far, anyway...). I hope this kid wakes up before this all passes him by, if it hasn’t already.

Not sure if this was posted yet - https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/10/24/more-details-on-the-incident-that-prompted-chad-kellys-release/ WTF?

https://prospectpipeline.ca/2018/09/26/buffalo-sabres-farm-system-prospects/

Huh? The Bills already have like $90 million in cap space for next season. They are not going to use up all of that cap space next year. So Shady’s cap hit is a total non-issue. Trading our best player on offense for a 6th would be terrible.

Jim Kelly and the rest of his family have been trying to get through to Chad for YEARS and it hasn’t worked. I don’t see why it would be any different now if he came to buffalo.... The kid has been in trouble everywhere he goes, and especially in buffalo. Jim even had to vouch for Chad on draft night. John Elway called Jim before drafting him. Once again, Chad didn’t live up to his word. Buffalo isn’t bringing him in anyway so it’s not even worth thinking about.

PHT Q&A with Jack Eichel https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2018/10/23/jack-eichel-on-sabres-changes-dahlin-life-as-a-top-pick-pht-qa/

I completely disagree that it would make too much sense for the Bills to give up a 1st round pick, that could be top 5, for Amari Cooper.

Seeing as Todd Haley was a John Dorsey hire and Hue never wanted to give up control over the offensive play-calling in the first place, this is not a surprise.

I would have loved Amari Cooper, but there’s no way in the world I trade the Bills 1st rounder this year. I dont see how how anyone can actually be mad at Beane for not doing this... The only way I am trading the Bills 1st round pick this year is if it’s to trade down to pick up an extra 1st +.

Good article on the Athletic - https://theathletic.com/605329/2018/10/22/what-we-learned-about-rasmus-dahlin-and-the-rest-of-this-young-sabres-team-during-their-first-extended-road-trip/ They are a young team and are just learning what it takes to win on a nightly basis in the NHL. It appears to me that the players might finally be starting to buy in and committ to playing the way their coach is asking them to. I think that is huge for this team. It has been a definite issues in years past. I was so, so glad they won last night because I felt that it would go a long way in reinforcing the message that if they just stick to the plan and keep playing the right way all game, good things will happen.

Well, this is a strange, somewhat confusing feeling. It’s.... fun to watch the Sabres play? That went a long way toward making up for that terrible Bills game. I feel like this team might be making some real progress. Last year, that 2nd Anaheim goal that Hutton let in would have been a back breaker. Sabres were dominating play, then Anaheim takes one shot and Hutton lets in a somewhat questionable/soft goal. In years past, that whole heads hanging, “woe is me” attitude would have taken over. This is looks like a different team. They are finally starting to do a lot of the things that good hockey teams do. Just the little things that they didn’t do in years past. like cycling the puck well, reading off your teammates and getting to the open areas of the ice. Consistently winning their puck battles and working their butt off the whole game. Getting to the dirty areas of the ice, crashing the net on rebounds and having a net front presence on shot attempts. And probably biggest of all, they are playing as a team. It’s not everyone doing their own thing. You are finally starting to see what Housley’s system truly looks like. The D men are doing a nice job activating on the rush and in the O zone. The defense actually looks a lot like Nashville did in Housley’s last year there when they made that run to the finals. Obviously not on the same level as nashville’s D though. They are starting to play fast as a 5 man unit. It was a good reminder of how good Housley’s system can look (and did look in Nashville) if it’s executed properly.

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2018/10/21/jaguars-reportedly-fighting-amongst-themselves-after-loss/ Bortles was 6-of-12 for 51 yards and lost two fumbles. Got benched for Cody Kessler. Wonder what Jaylen Ramsey has to say... lol.

Ah, damn it.