Afternoon Disaster

by Ryan

Losers of five straight, you would think the Sabres would try and put together a solid performance on a Sunday afternoon against a sub par Thrashers team.



Those of you that would like to keep thinking that better avoid this post like the plague.

I'm not going to do a full game recap because, quite frankly, I don't want to throw up while watching football. Here are a few thoughts on my mind, though:

- The Sabres defense has 4 unrestricted free agents come July 1st. Are any of them playing like it? Yeah, two of them (Teppo and Nolan Pratt) aren't playing at all, but Brian Campbell and Dimitri Kalinin just look... meh out there. Campbell can cry all he wants, but he better show he wants that money for me to ever want us to re-sign him.

- Speaking of D, Nathan Paetsch is playing his way into a suit and a comfy seat in the press box. He may have had a giveaway per minute of ice time. Someone call Elias.

- As Chris said during the game, you can tell Pomminville played with Hecht today. How many chances does he need before he puts one in? Just one more, right? But hey, at least he got that assist.

- I like Timmy and Vanek playing together. I didn't think either had a bad game, but their level of talent on the ice at the same time just has to reap results. As nice as it was to see Sparky get a goal, when are we going to get primary line scoring?

- How does Colin Stuart go coast to coast and score? Did we have Darren Hatcher on the blueline? Good God.

- Rich has been away from Internet access for a bit, but he sent me an interesting text during the game on Friday: "It's sad, but Max is the perfect match for this team. If they got their s--t together, they could be real good. If he got his s--t together, he coulda been Bure."

I'm not sure what Max could have been, but I know that without him we look completely different, even when he's not playing well. With the slump a lot of people will be talking trades, but I just can't imagine Darcy getting anywhere near the value he should for Afinogenov.

Max is more of a "potential" player, even when he's performing well. It's hard when last season he averaged over a point per game, but he still does more for you when he's on the ice regardless of stats. Having a player like Max completely changes how people defend us, and I just don't think we can get that kind of value back in a trade.

- Peters looked great on the bench today. Glad he got some ice time in after Roy broke his purse strap.

- Thrashers unis look awful. The Pens make baby blue look good, Thrashers make it look like sewage.

- When is someone just going to say "Screw it, I'm taking this team on my shoulders"? Does anyone have the guts to do it? The consensus pick is Vanek, but he may be too young to really take that role on. I'm so tired of watching this team floundering around during the games they need. Yeah, it's only January, but this game could have been a huge win. Instead, we're three spots out of the playoffs and staring at Johan Hedburg's backside in the standings.

I certainly don't know how to fix this team, but someone downtown better figure it out fast. This season is starting to slip away.