Michael Pachla: A petulant Lindback? And, Is Ted Nolan ready to open things up? Sabres bench boss should consider taking a page out of Lindy Ruff's 2006-07 game plan

Hey all, how do we feel about Buffalos chances at McEichel? I'm very worried about Arizona more than EDM as they really stink. Better start praying now

Nice read (reed) Pachs !

It really is a bummer that the few "good" things that we're seeing cant be enjoyed due to the circumstances...

Let's get this puppy in the garage and move on.

Nice read (reed) Pachs !

It really is a bummer that the few "good" things that we're seeing cant be enjoyed due to the circumstances...

Let's get this puppy in the garage and move on.
- Pairo11

yeah...it's a really weird season full of strong, wide-ranging emotions...watched eichel last night...man...I really want to see the sabres bring it home

What Vogl misses is that many fans are loving Lindback's game lately, but at the same time we like being outshot 2:1 and losing 4-2 every time. We are not hoping for him to "fail", just for the team to lose.

Does this mean we get to see if Matt can Hackett tonight ?

Maybe the problem you are living is a contradiction. You want to tank so you get the first draft pick because that player plus supposedly all six hundred other high draft picks you have the next few years will get you enough talent to win the Cup.

But this is professional sports where wins and losses are all that matter, and nobody sees the future clearly. Intentionally tanking and getting the number one pick is no guarantee of success; the stud you get with the #1 or #2 is one major knee injury or concussion away from being an average NHL player, or even a so-called 'bust'. Lots of high draft picks do not reach their potential, or are ruined as supposedly Edmonton's are.

Even in Columbus we have a great young D-man, the #2 pick in the draft who plays great when he is not hurt. Problem is he has been nothing but hurt since singing his contract.

Buffalo is not investing in the stock market and holding the investments for forty years until they are ready to sell out. You are betting everything you have on a roll of the dice that somewhere in the future you will win big. Toronto is about to find out the same thing you are, this is not a very nice place to be. A tank is not easy to support your team through, because it is no sure thing that tanking will work.

It's not a good place to be in, and the article clearly shows it.

Nice work Mike.

I still believe.

Perfect blog for what us fans are going through. There's no denying that we want 1 of the first 2 picks. That said, seeing a glimmer of hope or progress through all this misery is something that is hard to accept. We laughed at the trade with Dallas and here we are, watching Lindback do just as good as Enroth or Neuvirth. I agree, goalies stats are sometimes a reflection of the system they're in.

As far as Nolan, I don't know what he'd do with a team featuring an abundance of talent. I guess it doesn't really matter because he will probably be gone after locker clean-out day.

Michael Pachla: A petulant Lindback? And, Is Ted Nolan ready to open things up?
Sabres bench boss should consider taking a page out of Lindy Ruff's 2006-07 game plan
- Michael Pachla

solid as always



please try to spell a few words wrong in the next blog so we can get comfortable

Hey all, how do we feel about Buffalos chances at McEichel? I'm very worried about Arizona more than EDM as they really stink. Better start praying now
- Beezer33

anytime a "lottery" is done behind closed doors, I expect the worst

leafs or yotes will win the lottery so we better hope for 30th so we get #2

What Vogl misses is that many fans are loving Lindback's game lately, but at the same time we like being outshot 2:1 and losing 4-2 every time. We are not hoping for him to "fail", just for the team to lose.
- LandlordTom

ironic, no matter who the sabres put in net, they hold their own

Nice work Mike.

I still believe.
- Der Kaiser

little sammy watkins

little sammy watkins
- homiedclown

He's black??!

Does this mean we get to see if Matt can Hackett tonight ?
- SabresFaninIndiana

he should play until they land matt O'Connell...then O'connell should play

ironic, no matter who the sabres put in net, they hold their own
- homiedclown

Common denominator is Irbe. Murray needs to lock him in long term for the good of this team.
He has proven that he can drive very good goaltending from less than stellar talent...that enables Murray to spend cap money elsewhere down the line...cap isn't the issue now, but will be in the future

Maybe the problem you are living is a contradiction. You want to tank so you get the first draft pick because that player plus supposedly all six hundred other high draft picks you have the next few years will get you enough talent to win the Cup.

But this is professional sports where wins and losses are all that matter, and nobody sees the future clearly. Intentionally tanking and getting the number one pick is no guarantee of success; the stud you get with the #1 or #2 is one major knee injury or concussion away from being an average NHL player, or even a so-called 'bust'. Lots of high draft picks do not reach their potential, or are ruined as supposedly Edmonton's are.

Even in Columbus we have a great young D-man, the #2 pick in the draft who plays great when he is not hurt. Problem is he has been nothing but hurt since singing his contract.

Buffalo is not investing in the stock market and holding the investments for forty years until they are ready to sell out. You are betting everything you have on a roll of the dice that somewhere in the future you will win big. Toronto is about to find out the same thing you are, this is not a very nice place to be. A tank is not easy to support your team through, because it is no sure thing that tanking will work.

It's not a good place to be in, and the article clearly shows it.
- jkumpire

first off, thanks for reading (reeding) and everything you wrote is pretty much right on...

this is an unusual spot for us fans so emotions are all over the place...the prospect pool is strong for buffalo so missing out won't kill them...

that being said, McDavid and eichel are two special players and the team has already come this far...they need to bring it on home

solid as always



please try to spell a few words wrong in the next blog so we can get comfortable
- homiedclown

this made me laugh

little sammy watkins
- homiedclown

MIke,the stats don't back up Nolan as a good coach. The same for REGIER,it is easy to be a coach and GM when you arguably had one of the top 5 greatest players in Dominik Hasek. i am sick of hearing how Nolans teams work hard. Has anyone ever looked at. He stats back when he was coach of the year. The only one that worked hard was Hasek.
Sabres record 96/97. 40 wins 30 losses 12 ties
Hasek. 37 wins 20 losses 10 ties ga 1.96. Save pct .930
Shields. 3 wins. 8 losses. Ga 2.97. Save pct .913
Trevilov. 0 wins. 2 losses

That's great coaching,come on people,stop with nolan. HE HAS NO SYSTEM,he watches no video ,he doesn't have a very high IQ. Here is the best stat
That year the sabres finished 6 th overall,see below

Detroit 38 wins 26 losses 18 ties. 5th overall. Shots for 2,726 against 2,014
Buffalo. 40 wins 30 losses 12 ties 6 th overAll shots for 2,090 against 2,722
Boston. 26 wins. 47 losses 9 ties last overall. 2,427 against 2,425
The hardest working team in hockey,are you serious. The sabres finished 2 points behind detroit had 10 fewer shots per game and gave up 10 shots more per game. I agree what great coaching. People in Buffalo could never get past that TED Nolan was a joke and just happened to have the best goalie ever
Wow,what a great job he did with team Latvia. They had 1 win 4 losses in olympics, were outshot 57 to 16 ,but nolan is a genius.
We want to say he is doing a great coaching job with the sabres again with no talent. There shot differential is the worst in the league by 12 a game. He has been lucky to get some great goaltending.Do we all see a history here. TeppoNumminem called TED Nolan a joke of a coach.

Common denominator is Irbe. Murray needs to lock him in long term for the good of this team.
He has proven that he can drive very good goaltending from less than stellar talent...that enables Murray to spend cap money elsewhere down the line...cap isn't the issue now, but will be in the future
- IonSabres

let's throw this out there...what if irbe didn't want to stay without Nolan as head coach?

let's throw this out there...what if irbe didn't want to stay without Nolan as head coach?
- Michael Pachla

Maybe its Irbe, maybe its just that we actually let our goalies play more than once a month and they get comfortable in the net. There is a lot to be said about consistently playing in games versus getting shots in practice as a backup.

Maybe the problem you are living is a contradiction. You want to tank so you get the first draft pick because that player plus supposedly all six hundred other high draft picks you have the next few years will get you enough talent to win the Cup.

But this is professional sports where wins and losses are all that matter, and nobody sees the future clearly. Intentionally tanking and getting the number one pick is no guarantee of success; the stud you get with the #1 or #2 is one major knee injury or concussion away from being an average NHL player, or even a so-called 'bust'. Lots of high draft picks do not reach their potential, or are ruined as supposedly Edmonton's are.

Even in Columbus we have a great young D-man, the #2 pick in the draft who plays great when he is not hurt. Problem is he has been nothing but hurt since singing his contract.

Buffalo is not investing in the stock market and holding the investments for forty years until they are ready to sell out. You are betting everything you have on a roll of the dice that somewhere in the future you will win big. Toronto is about to find out the same thing you are, this is not a very nice place to be. A tank is not easy to support your team through, because it is no sure thing that tanking will work.

It's not a good place to be in, and the article clearly shows it.
- jkumpire

McDavid is the biggest name since Crosby. Maybe Tavares? Regardless this is a year where tanking could actually workout really well. I wouldn't have been a fan of tanking if it was done in a year where there wasn't two generational talents. Plus its not like we got crap for rebuilding. We are loaded with prospects and an owner willing to spend. The future is bright regardless of us falling at tanking. Next year will be the start of something good. It only gets better from draft day

Maybe the problem you are living is a contradiction. You want to tank so you get the first draft pick because that player plus supposedly all six hundred other high draft picks you have the next few years will get you enough talent to win the Cup.

But this is professional sports where wins and losses are all that matter, and nobody sees the future clearly. Intentionally tanking and getting the number one pick is no guarantee of success; the stud you get with the #1 or #2 is one major knee injury or concussion away from being an average NHL player, or even a so-called 'bust'. Lots of high draft picks do not reach their potential, or are ruined as supposedly Edmonton's are.

Even in Columbus we have a great young D-man, the #2 pick in the draft who plays great when he is not hurt. Problem is he has been nothing but hurt since singing his contract.

Buffalo is not investing in the stock market and holding the investments for forty years until they are ready to sell out. You are betting everything you have on a roll of the dice that somewhere in the future you will win big. Toronto is about to find out the same thing you are, this is not a very nice place to be. A tank is not easy to support your team through, because it is no sure thing that tanking will work.

It's not a good place to be in, and the article clearly shows it.
- jkumpire

McDavid is the biggest name since Crosby. Maybe Tavares? Regardless this is a year where tanking could actually workout really well. I wouldn't have been a fan of tanking if it was done in a year where there wasn't two generational talents. Plus its not like we got crap for rebuilding. We are loaded with prospects and an owner willing to spend. The future is bright regardless of us falling at tanking. Next year will be the start of something good. It only gets better from draft day

MIke,the stats don't back up Nolan as a good coach. The same for REGIER,it is easy to be a coach and GM when you arguably had one of the top 5 greatest players in Dominik Hasek. i am sick of hearing how Nolans teams work hard. Has anyone ever looked at. He stats back when he was coach of the year. The only one that worked hard was Hasek.
Sabres record 96/97. 40 wins 30 losses 12 ties
Hasek. 37 wins 20 losses 10 ties ga 1.96. Save pct .930
Shields. 3 wins. 8 losses. Ga 2.97. Save pct .913
Trevilov. 0 wins. 2 losses

That's great coaching,come on people,stop with nolan. HE HAS NO SYSTEM,he watches no video ,he doesn't have a very high IQ. Here is the best stat
That year the sabres finished 6 th overall,see below

Detroit 38 wins 26 losses 18 ties. 5th overall. Shots for 2,726 against 2,014
Buffalo. 40 wins 30 losses 12 ties 6 th overAll shots for 2,090 against 2,722
Boston. 26 wins. 47 losses 9 ties last overall. 2,427 against 2,425
The hardest working team in hockey,are you serious. The sabres finished 2 points behind detroit had 10 fewer shots per game and gave up 10 shots more per game. I agree what great coaching. People in Buffalo could never get past that TED Nolan was a joke and just happened to have the best goalie ever
Wow,what a great job he did with team Latvia. They had 1 win 4 losses in olympics, were outshot 57 to 16 ,but nolan is a genius.
We want to say he is doing a great coaching job with the sabres again with no talent. There shot differential is the worst in the league by 12 a game. He has been lucky to get some great goaltending.Do we all see a history here. TeppoNumminem called TED Nolan a joke of a coach.
- Buffalo39

I guess i'm just looking at the talent he's been working with of which there's been very little, imo...

that Latvia team you mentioned would be akin to Hampton versus Kentucky or the 1974-74 Washington capitals versus the flying Frenchmen of that era....

*shrugs*


that's how I look at it...

I guess i'm just looking at the talent he's been working with of which there's been very little, imo...

that Latvia team you mentioned would be akin to Hampton versus Kentucky or the 1974-74 Washington capitals versus the flying Frenchmen of that era....

*shrugs*


that's how I look at it...
- Michael Pachla

Michael,honestly. Where does the great coaching come from what when get outshot 57 to 16? There goalie stood on his head,just like HASEK did for him. Latvia won one game against Switzerland. In the NHL,it doesn't matter how bad you are,you are going to win games. No team plays 82 games like it is the stanley cup. To be honest with you,there might be 3 games all year the sabres deserved to win,so that's great coaching that they were lucky