I Bleed Blue and Gold

This year has been a ridiculous roller coaster of emotions for Sabres fans. It goes way back to a little before free agency started, when they acquired Regehr and Ehrhoff. Then, on July 1st, when they got Leino. We were sure our beloved team was being built for greatness. They were being picked as favorites for the Cup. Expectations skyrocketed almost overnight.  Starting the excitement over in Europe, the Sabres won both games over there and our confidence as fans started to skyrocket as well. Their record was 10-5 before heading into the game that supposedly changed the entire season.

After the Boston game, it took months for Miller to get “right” again, and regain his focus. It also started the just insane, baffling string of injuries that I haven’t seen the likes of in a long time. And I hope to never see it again.  It started off with Miller getting a concussion and missing 9 games. Somewhere in that span, the team just fell apart, and started playing awful hockey.

The biggest notables for injuries were:

• A few days after Miller’s injury the team lost Tyler Myers for 19 games to a broken wrist.
• Ennis, missing two 17 game spans for a total of 34 games
• Ehrhoff was lost for 11 games
• Gerbe was out for 20 games
• Boyes and Sekera both missed 13
• Kaleta missed 15 due to injury, and another 4 from a suspension
• McCormick missed 25 games
• Weber missed 12 games
• And the longest was Hecht, with 60 games missed.

It was a long, long season. Only the Captain, Jason Pominville, and backup goalie Jhonas Enroth were dressed for all 82 games. At one point there were 9 AHL players on the starting roster for the Sabres.  Many of these injuries overlapped, and it showed in their record. Finally, everyone started to get healthy, and after being in last place in the Eastern Conference in February, the Sabres went on a run similar to last year’s. It looked to be going well again, with the Sabres making a hard push into the 8th spot. Then, as it had happened so many times earlier in the season, the injury bug showed it wasn’t done. The Sabres lost both Ehrhoff and Myers for the last 5 games of the season. They also lost Myers for 3 games earlier due to a suspension. Losing your two best defensemen seemed to be the final nail in the coffin for this team. They never quit ’til the end of the season, and kept hopes high in Buffalo until the 3rd period in game 81. (Ironically it took us until game 81 to clinch last year.) Some people are blasting the injury excuse, saying to ‘Look at Pittsburgh, they overcame it.” Pittsburgh has the juggernaut known as Evgeni Malkin, who has 107 points, with 49 goals. They also have Neal with 40 goals. Must be real tough to win with that on your team. They also have that Sidney Crosby kid, I hear he’s pretty good when healthy too. The Sabres don’t have those huge superstars on their team. In order to win, they need to play well as a team. It’s hard to do that when half of your team is hurt.

There were some positives to this season. When everyone WAS healthy, they look pretty damn good at times. It took a while for Ehrhoff to settle in, but down the stretch he played very well. I’m glad he’ll be around for years to come. We discovered what an absolute BEAST Marcus Foligno is. I know everyone that watches the Amerks already knew this. From the moment he was brought back up he had instant chemistry with Ennis and Drew Stafford. I cannot WAIT to see this for an entire season next year. That line was probably also something that helped save face for the Sabres awful season.  I hope Ennis gets a nice long contract – he deserves it. It was nice to see Miller back on his game after he got his head straight too.  I just wish Ruff would learn how to better utilize his backup goalie. It’s like if he falters once, he freaks out and doesn’t play Enroth for a month. Meanwhile Miller can let in 5 goals in a game and won’t get pulled. I don’t get it. Sometimes I wish he never got spoiled with Hasek. We got to see a lot of the youngsters this season. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing more of McNabb and Tropp next year. I really like what I’ve seen with most of the Amerks.  Who knows what’s gonna happen with Luke Adam. Kid’s confidence is just shot to hell, and I haven’t heard anything promising about him since he was sent back down.

I can’t help but wonder what’s going to happen to the roster in the offseason. Is this the last we’ve seen of Brad Boyes? Probably. Jochen Hecht? It’d be sad to see him go, but there’s a definite possibility there. What about Patrick Kaleta? This is the first year in  4 years that he’s played over 55 games. Is he too injury prone? I know the city loves him, but is that enough? Derek Roy is coming off his worst career year. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Darcy try to trade him, as I heard he had already been on the block earlier in the year. I’m still willing to give Leino another year. I mean, he does have 5 more to go. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised to see Stafford traded, but his late success with Ennis and Foligno may have saved him.

All in all, this season took about ten years off my life. I know I invest way too much into hockey, and it’s just a game, but it’s the game I love.  I honestly believe we are a top 5 team if they are healthy most of the year.  I guess we gotta wait til next year to see for sure.

Kick Boston’s ass tomorrow. Let’s go Buffalo!

I haven’t written anything in a while. I wanted to, but this whole losing fiasco has made me semi crazy and madly depressed. But then a certain event happened, and I couldn’t hold back any longer.

So, I wanted to write this last night, but I was also feeling like I was going to cry, so it had to wait until today. I watched the game at Pearl Street Brewery last night with some friends, so I couldn’t always hear everything that was going on during the game. The one thing heard loud and clear was the absolute sadness in Tyler Myers’ post-game interview last night. I barely heard anything he said, but his face said it all. He looked like he either: A) had just gotten done bawling his eyes out, or B) was holding back tears, ready to bawl his eyes out. I wanted to give him the biggest hug and tell him that everything would be alright.

I don’t think I’ve ever felt the way about a player like I did last night. It really brings you back down to Earth and makes you realize that hey, these “super awesome athletes” are people too. Now, Tyler didn’t have the strongest game either, and I’m sure he was partly blaming himself. But he just looked completely miserable, like someone ran over his puppies right in front of him. I’m sure he’s not the only one who feels like him, but he’s still a young kid, so of course he’s going to display his emotions a little bit more.

This team is completely void of confidence, and it’s showing.  I honestly hope that this slump doesn’t hurt the young players. People have been saying for weeks how Luke Adam should get sent down to Rochester for a few games so he can regain his. The thing is, it’s not just him. Sure he hasn’t been as great, but look who he’s been playing with. He finally got reunited with Vanek and Pominville last night. I’m really hoping that line stays together for a few games. It was great earlier in the season. It was said Lindy took him off because his defensive game wasn’t as good as he wants it to be. But what this team needs is OFFENSE, and badly. See if they can get clicking again and make something happen out there. We all know that Derek Roy needs to stay far, far away from Vanek. We all love Jochen Hecht, but his stone hands just can’t seem to keep up with the 1st line. Who else does that leave? Gaustad? No. McCor -no. Leino didn’t work with them either.  When Adam gets going he can be a slippery little sucker. Reminds me of Vanek, actually. (I went off on a little tangent here but anyways)

I honestly don’t even want to get into anything else because it is utterly depressing.

Hockey is supposed to be fun. Buffalo is supposed to be Hockey Heaven. Here’s to hoping that they win in New Jersey, and then take a little time off during the All Star break, and just get their heads on straight.

We still love you, Sabres. We just want you to play up to your potential. We know you can be a good squad. Now go shut everyone up and show them.

I took another break over the summer, but holy hell Sabres hockey did not! So let’s recap this summer. Pretty much one minute after the horn went off at the end of the 3rd period of Game 7 between the Sabres and Flyers our minds shifted straight to July 1st. We wondered just what kind of magic Pegula and Darcy had in store for us. Well, we didn’t even have to wait until free agency to start to get some new faces on the team.

In late June we heard word that the Calgary Flames had asked defenseman Robyn Regehr to waive his no trade clause to come to Buffalo. This naturally got us all sorts of excited. Regehr is a tough, hard hitter. I’m sure all of the players on the Sabres are glad he’s now on their side. I’m also sure the West Conference is breathing a little sigh of relief as well. Especially Ales Hemsky. REGEHR SMASH!

Now we were all a little scared at what we might have to give up for him.  It turns out that it was an awesome deal for our side.  We acquired Regehr, along with former Sabre Ales Kotalik, and a 2nd round pick for Chris Butler and Paul Byron. Butler was considered one of our weaker defensemen (and was my most disliked player, so I was ecstatic). Byron would have had quite the hard time trying to crack the Sabres lineup, so I hope he can have better luck on the Flames. I wish them both luck and can’t wait for Butler to undoubtedly score a hat trick his first game against the Sabres for karma against me.

Two days before free agency the Sabres acquired the rights to Christian Ehrhoff. This is the one defenseman I wanted the Sabres to pick up. I think I was running around my house doing cartwheels.  That same day they traded Steve Montador’s rights to Chicago for a 7th round pick. I didn’t think he was coming back, so I’m glad they got something in exchange for him, unlike recent years. The next day Ehrhoff was signed to a ten year – $40M contract. My jaw dropped when i heard that, how about yours? He has a great offensive upside to him, and I think he’ll fit in quite well here.

Fast forward to the next day: Free Agency!!!  What else could we possibly do!? All the talk has been about getting a true number 1 Center. Naturally everyone’s heads turned directly to Brad Richards, the best Center (or FA for that matter) on the open market. We kept our eyes tuned into Twitter and TSN to see where he and everyone else was going. Then finally at 4 pm the Sabres had news. They had signed Ville Leino, the villain  from Game 6 who scored the OT winner. My thoughts went from “First off, FUCK YOU for that” to “OMG please do that here! Welcome to Buffalo!”   Richards wasn’t coming to Buffalo, and I was perfectly fine with that. And then the next day he signed with the Rangers, and I automatically hated him anyways.

Cody McCormick was also re-signed to a multi-year deal.

With that ended all of the UFA signings. Now they had to focus on re-signing all their RFAs.

• Nathan Gerbe was the first to be signed. He got a 3 year deal for 1.4M per.

• Mike Weber was the next, signing a two year contract worth$ 1.9M.

• Matt Ellis and Andrej Sekera were up next, with Reggie thankfully avoiding arbitration.  Ellis signed for two years at $525,00 per year. Sekera signed for 4 years for $11M.

• That left two of the biggest pieces of the puzzle, Jhonas Enroth an Marc-Andre Gragnani. Enroth was proving himself to be quite the reliable backup. We could sense that Ruff was putting some trust into the young goalie.  Yes, you read that right, Ruff trusting a backup goaltender. We had to get him back.  He signed a couple of days later for $1.3M over two years. What we didn’t know is how close he came to signing with the KHL. Thankfully he didn’t.

• Around 3 weeks went by until the last piece of the puzzle fell into place. Grags signed for one year at $550,000. I’m hoping to see him really blossom this year. He was very impressive down the stretch last year, especially in the playoffs.

Now all of the signings put us about 3.5 million over the cap. The easiest solutions to that are to bury Shaone Morrisonn and Kotalik. That will free up $5 million in cap space. Will this happen? Only time will tell.

Patrick Lalime said farewell to the NHL this summer. He had a great career, and his last couple years shouldn’t overshadow it. Thank you Patrick, you were the best teammate anyone could ask for. I’ll miss seeing your yellow beanie on the bench.

The Sabres also parted ways with the Portland Pirates this summer, and welcomed back the Rochester Americans. This benefits both sides greatly, as the trip between both cities is only an hour car ride away. I’m so excited to see the Amerks be a part of this organization again.

That about sums it up for this summer so far. Training camp is only a few short weeks away and I know we’re all ready for a great season this year! Let’s go Buffalo!

For once I’m not overly pissed off and out of my mind upset after getting eliminated from the playoffs. This team showed so much character, grit, and heart over this season, that it is almost impossible to be upset at them. This is a team that pretty much overcame all the obstacles and battled back into playoff contention.

The future is very bright for this team. I, for one, cannot wait until July 1st to see what tricks Pegula and Darcy have up their sleeves. This team will be very exciting to watch the next few years. I have a feeling that we’ve only seen a glimpse of what’s to come.

The season’s only a few short months away. Until then, let’s sit back and enjoy the ride. Thank you for restoring some hope into the city. We can’t wait until next year.

I have been going through a tremendous amount of emotions today. I knew right after the Sabres game ended that I wanted to write tonight, but I didn’t want it to be about the game.

I would like to take some time right now to say how proud I am of this team.

We all know how much of a roller coaster season this has been. We were easily one of the worst teams in the beginning of the year, even hitting the rock bottom of the NHL standings at one point. After winning the division last year, not many of us could believe this. People were calling for Darcy and Lindy’s heads, saying we should blow the team up, get rid of Golisano. We couldn’t win at home. We could barely win on the road. Tyler Myers had about as bad a start to the season as possible. He looked nothing like the Calder trophy winner he was a few months ago. The same goes with Ryan Miller, who we later found out had been playing hurt since training camp. There were few bright spots in November. Finally winning a home game on November 13th against the Caps in OT, and again the following game against the Canucks, also in OT.

Things started to turn around a bit in December, at least fan-wise. We started to hear rumblings about Terry Pegula. It started to give us hope. As soon as we start to feel good about that, we get more bad news. Our leading scorer Derek Roy will be out for the rest of the regular season. Roy had been producing at a point-per-game pace this year. This was a HUGE blow to our team.

Or so we thought.

What happened in January I don’t think we’ll ever understand. The attitude of our beloved Sabres completely changed. Maybe it had something to do with Pegula, maybe they just were like, “screw it, what do we have to lose?” It all started on New Years Day with Stafford posting a huge hat trick against Boston, with his 3rd coming in the last 30 seconds of the 3rd period to tie the game. We went on to win in a shoot-out. It was his second hat trick in a row against the Bruins. Nate Gerbe made his name known for all the right reasons. Tyler Myers started playing like the Calder winner. January 21st was the last time we would see Patrick Lalime. We went 8-3-1 for the month, grabbing 17 out of 24 points.

Enter February. This was a historical month for the Sabres organization. Terry Pegula was announced as the new owner on Feb 22nd. The smiles on our faces only became wider, as we heard things such as “no financial restrictions.” My personal two favorite quotes were “Winning is not a goal, it is a belief,” and  “Starting today the reason for the Buffalo Sabres existence, is to win a Stanley Cup.” I was at the game against the Thrashers where Pegula was introduced, and it was magical for many reasons. One being the French Connection finally being reunited, unfortunately for the last time, as Rick Martin would pass away roughly 2 weeks later. I will never forget that game for that very reason.  Stafford went on to have two more hat tricks this month, bringing his season total to four. The Sabres kept a great point streak going of 7 games (5-0-2), not losing in regulation until March 8th.

March is where it really got interesting. Suddenly the Sabres had a shot at the playoffs. Something even two months earlier we thought was impossible. This team kept battling back, never quitting.  The Sabres were in a race for 8th place, along with the Rangers and Hurricanes. All of the sudden Toronto came out of nowhere an also threatened to challenge. Those were the games we needed to win, an failed to do so, getting beat by Toronto twice, and Carolina once in March. In the last Leafs game at the end of the month Ryan Miller took a hard shot off the collarbone. He would be day-to-day with an upper body injury.

That couldn’t have come at a worse time, right? Wrong. Jhonas Enroth to the rescue. His next game? At home against the New York Rangers. Enroth shut the door, earning his first shutout of the season, and two extremely vital points for his team. He had an alright game against the Caps, getting the loss in OT. His next game was once again, those pesky Canes. This could have easily been another shutout, had they not had one of the luckiest goals in recent memory. He also had probably one of the most bad ass moments i this game, where a shot hit him in the helmet and snapped a strap off. The refs didn’t notice it. He didn’t even blink, instead flipped his mask off, and made an incredible save to keep the game tied. I was officially impressed.He helped us earn points in all 4 games he played (3-0-1).

He might have saved our season.

Enroth and Miller split the last two games to close out the season.

At the end of the regular season the Sabres finished in 7th place. It’s been one hell of a ride. I’m not ready for it to end. I’m sure you’re not either.

Here’s to game 7, with a big addition to the team, the return of Derek Roy!

Bring it on. I believe in this team.

Go Sabres!

A couple entries ago, in early January (I know I’ve been slacking a lot), I wrote “Let’s face it, I do not think we are making the playoffs this year.”

The Buffalo Sabres are currently sitting in 8th place.

I just sat here for 3 minutes reading that last sentence over and over, trying to let in sink in. You can’t tell me one person in Buffalo would have predicted this in November. They went 3-7-2 in October. They didn’t win a game at home until November 13th. Home games were as pathetic as they could be, on the ice and in the crowd. The building had no energy in it. They might as well have been road games. You can’t blame the crowd. The team was frustrating as hell to watch. At times it looked as if they didn’t care, and were lazy.  Quite fitting for the team that sat last in the NHL.

Fast forward to today. Since Terry Pegula has taken over on Feb 22, the Sabres have not lost in regulation, going 5-0-2 in the last 7 games.  They went out the following night to a rocking arena with a special feeling in the air, and took down Atlanta in another huge game standings-wise. The team doesn’t quit. They don’t want to lose. And it shows. The Sabres of October would have laid down and gave up on Saturday after going down 2-0 to Philly.  Not this team. They came back and scored 3 unanswered goals.

As I watched Stafford circle around the defenseman in OT tonight I said two words out loud. “Holy shit.” I knew he was going to score that goal. I almost didn’t even celebrate the goal. My mind immediately went back to 05-06 with Pominville’s OT winner over Ottawa. Then I started to think about it more afterwards. I already said it on twitter, but I’ll say it on here too. There is a certain feeling around this team nowadays. I don’t know how to explain it. Believe me, I’ve been sitting here for over a half hour trying to think of a way to.

This team right now is motivated. It shows on the ice.  Yes, they do have their 2nd period breakdowns still, but they have found a way to overcome them.  I don’t want to get ahead of myself and predict some ridiculous ending to this season, because I still don’t believe it will happen. But that being said, it almost feels like this team can do anything right now.

And when Rob Niedermayer scores, you know it’s true.

That’s the name of my new favorite Swede. I’ve wanted him up here since his last stint in November, and this is why. He was stellar tonight in goal for the Sabres. There’s no way we win that game with Lalime in net. And you know it.  He has a little knack for the shootout too. The first two goals scored on him were lucky little tricklers that somehow just found their way in. But he was great for the rest, making the HUGE saves when he needed to. I’m praying that Lalime gets sent to Portland and Enroth backs up Miller. The team seems to trust Enroth more, and it shows the way they play in front of him.  Since the schedule gets a little ridiculous from now until the end, play him once every three games. That way everyone stays fresh and we don’t need to worry about fatigue setting in.

Enroth singlehandedly saved the game from being a blow out in the first period. He was peppered with 17 shots, and only one went in (on the PP). The team started off looking as disinterested  as I’ve seen them and it was torture to watch. On the 2nd Habs goal Desharnais blew by Sekera and sent off a pass to Pouliot that Myers couldn’t stop. Enroth had no chance on it. Buffalo cut the lead to one with who other than Drew Stafford after Vanek gave him a nifty pass between the legs. Pominville jammed home the tying goal in the 3rd. Now I’m not one to address the reffing a lot, but good god was it atrocious tonight. The last weak call on Weber with time dwindling in the 3rd sent me into a blackout rage. Luckily, the Sabres killed it off, and the game went into OT. Both goalies were great in the OT period, with Price making a GREAT save near the end.

Then came the shootout.  With Stafford missing the first attempt, Vanek and Ennis had to score to keep it going. And they delivered. Gerbe was the next Sabres to score, Habs did the same, and we had to wait until the nail-biting 10th round to see Jochen Hecht score the game winner.

After my heart stopped beating out of my chest I finally breathed for the first time in about 20 minutes.  Great game Sabres, way to not give up like you have in the past.

On to the Leafs tomorrow night, with Miller back in goal most likely.

It’s been a long time since I’ve written a post. Mostly because I felt I had nothing to write about. Everything pretty much stayed the same with the Sabres, and not in a good way. So I stepped away for a while, because watching them was so frustrating that I didn’t want to sit here after the game and go over it in my head again. After last night’s frustrating loss, I did nothing at work today but make notes about the team the entire day. So I’m going to play a little game called “What Needs To Happen To The Sabres in My Eyes.”

First off, what in the hell is wrong with Miller? He is letting in soft goal after soft goal. Now, I’m used to him letting in one per game or so, but these past few games have been out of control. I almost threw my remote through the tv screen during the Boston game alone. He has been caught out of position one more than one occasion lately, and it’s costing us games I don’t want to say that he is the only reason we win games, but come on. We all know that he’s the backbone of this team. You are silly if you think otherwise. This is no longer 2006. I don’t know if his whole engagement has him unfocused or something, but come on Ryan, we don’t pay you the big bucks to play like that. GET UNENGAGED!

Watching the game last night made it all too clear that this team isn’t the lightning fast team it used to be. Colorado was skating circles around us.  Now, I’m all for veteran leadership, but having TOO MANY vets is also a problem.  Players like Niedermayer, Rivet, and Grier… they just can’t catch up to some of the younger players such as Duchene. They are simply too slow in today’s NHL.  It is time to get some younger blood out on the ice. Players such as Vanek, Pominville, Montador should be held in the veteran status now. They should be able to help the younger kids and show them what needs to be done on the ice to help the team and themselves.

I wouldn’t mind seeing Lalime get waived and Enroth brought up. Let’s face it, I do not think we are making the playoffs this year. And if by some miracle we do, we aren’t getting anywhere in them. Why not give Miller some rest and time to get his head screwed on straight? It would be good for Enroth to get some playing time at the NHL level. He did a fantastic job the last stint he had up here, and while he does need to work on some of his positioning and such, now is the time to do it. Not next year when they are competing for a top spot in the conference. (Which I do believe will happen once we shed some dead weight.)

I wish that they would buyout Hecht and Goose. Both are having horrible seasons. Hecht has hands of stone, and the only goals he can score are when he’s practically on the goal line and shoots at the awkwardest angle possible. Goose might as well be invisible. The only thing he has been good at is face-offs. Buy them both out and you have 5.5 million to spend.

Next year I would love to see some fresh new faces. Kassian and Foligno have both impressed the hell out of me from what I have seen during the World Juniors. I’d personally love to see them both up next year. Gragnani too.  Give him a chance with the big club for a few games.

The guys that are safe with me are:

• Adam- He’s got a big body. I really like what I’ve seen from him so far.
• Ennis- Aside from last nights debacle he looks good. He can stick handle extremely well. I see flashes of Briere in him. He does need to learn how to handle it a bit better in some situations and get the turnovers down.
• Leopold- It is sooo nice to have a defenseman who can score goals. He and Montador took some time to get adjusted to each other, but have turned out to be a nice pairing.
• McCormick- He is one hell of a teammate. Will stand up for anyone, and is a very hard worker. I’d like to see an extension.
• Miller- As rough of a season as he is having is he still the face of this franchise. He just needs to get focused and get back on his game.
• Myers- He needs to let the pressure not get to him. He is going to be a great, great defenseman in the future, perhaps one of the best in the history of the franchise. He is still young, so don’t be so quick to jump on him. He still needs to learn.
• Pominville- He had a rough start to the season, so I let him slide a bit while coming back from his concussion. He is back on his game now with a nice point streak.
• Roy- His injury was a huge blow to this team. He was the leading scorer and was really coming into his own this year. He was usually the choice by the fans to give the “C” to.
• Sekera- He is having a nice comeback season. He and Myers make a fine 1st pairing. He has one hell of a shot, and needs to use it more.
• Stafford- Wow. Talk about a nice surprise. Has two hat tricks in two weeks, all against the Bruins. Has been a nice addition to the offense.
• Weber- He is fun to watch. Isn’t scared to hit someone, or go after them. Has had some defensive lapses, but he will learn.
• Vanek- Who else is gonna score goals?

The guys that are not safe:

• Butler- He has had so many chances to prove himself, and he has yet to do it. He’ll get another shot somewhere else.
• Connolly- The glass body just does not impress me.  Has only 17 points in 27 games. Not exactly one of the top 20 center in the league.
• Gaustad- Like I said earlier, he might as well be invisible. He just doesn’t really possess hockey skills.
• Gerbe- I don’t know if he is NHL caliber. If he is, I don’t think he fits on the Sabres.
• Hecht- I think we’ve seen enough of “zee german!” Time for a change of scenery.
• Kaleta- This is a hard one. And he is only here pretty much based on how much time he spends injured. He only played 55 games last year, and 51 the previous one. He is definitely one of the leagues top agitators, especially with his borderline hits. (Stop leaving your feet!)
• Lalime- He just does not have it anymore. And if he does we see it once every two months or so. It’s pretty clear Ruff has no confidence in him, and with a record like 9-25-5 in the past 3 years, who can blame him? He has no wins this year. Miller is the only reason he’s still here.
• Morrisonn- I had high hopes for this guy when he was signed. Those hopes are fading. He is a good hitter, but a pretty slow skater.  I had hoped to see him paired with Myers after he was with Green in Washington, but that was nothing short of a disaster.
• Niedermayer- Good god. Why is he still playing hockey? Has no goals in 30 games and is pretty much as useless as you can be. Moving on!
• Rivet- Ha. I left a good one for last.  As the captain of these misfits he has been scratched more times than I can count.  I really wish he would just relinquish the “C” and let one of the forwards run with it. He has pretty much close to no business being on the ice anymore.  He has horrible decision making, is slow to the puck, and I’ve seen him give up on the play more than one. It’s a pretty safe bet he will be retiring at the end of this season.
• We’ll just go ahead and throw this one in here too- Brian McCutcheon. SOMEONE has to be able to make the power play better. Because it sure as hell isn’t him. I’ve never seen 5 on 3’s look as bad as when we are on one. It’s straight up laughable.

Alright, I think that makes up for my two month absence.  It definitely helped me blow some steam off. What are your thoughts are to what should happen to this team?