I gotta disagree wholeheartedly with this post. First of all, are the Sabres good enough to win the cup right now? No, of course they're not, but it's early December, they've been racked with injuries, and have a lot of new pieces trying to find chemistry. But there's a reason the playoffs start in April, and they will be a more cohesive team by then.

Secondly, about the toughness... I think you are overreacting to the one Boston game. I don't think their lack of toughness has had much of anything to do with their current situation. I've witnessed a major lack of finish on scoring chances (not a lack of chances) and a litany of unforced turnovers and mental errors. To me, these are correctable deficits.

Third, you really think Vancouver, Philly, and Detroit lost the last 3 cups because they weren't tough enough? Boston won that series (in 7 games no less) largely because Thomas was a wall and Luongo sucked. Detroit also lost by a single goal in game 7, so you can't argue they weren't tough enough to win. I'll give you the Senators, but they're the only one on that list that was clearly dominated by a physically superior opponent.

Also, look at the Lightning last year, one game and one goal away from the finals, and against the big bad Bruins no less. If a team like Tampa, with limited skill and a 42 yo goaltender, can compete with Boston and be a contender for the cup, I can't look at this Sabres team and agree with your statement that they aren't even close. I think Myers, Regehr, and Ehrhoff are capable of carrying this team defensively, and if McNabb or Weber develop and contribute as stay at home, physical defensemen, I'm okay with this D moving forward.

I'm not saying that they should sit pat and not look to improve. And yeah, they've laid a few eggs this year, including against Detroit. But that's gonna happen over the course of a long season, there will be some really bad games. Let's see how they look in mid February.

I gotta disagree wholeheartedly with this post. First of all, are the Sabres good enough to win the cup right now? No, of course they're not, but it's early December, they've been racked with injuries, and have a lot of new pieces trying to find chemistry. But there's a reason the playoffs start in April, and they will be a more cohesive team by then.

Secondly, about the toughness... I think you are overreacting to the one Boston game. I don't think their lack of toughness has had much of anything to do with their current situation. I've witnessed a major lack of finish on scoring chances (not a lack of chances) and a litany of unforced turnovers and mental errors. To me, these are correctable deficits.

Third, you really think Vancouver, Philly, and Detroit lost the last 3 cups because they weren't tough enough? Boston won that series (in 7 games no less) largely because Thomas was a wall and Luongo sucked. Detroit also lost by a single goal in game 7, so you can't argue they weren't tough enough to win. I'll give you the Senators, but they're the only one on that list that was clearly dominated by a physically superior opponent.

Also, look at the Lightning last year, one game and one goal away from the finals, and against the big bad Bruins no less. If a team like Tampa, with limited skill and a 42 yo goaltender, can compete with Boston and be a contender for the cup, I can't look at this Sabres team and agree with your statement that they aren't even close. I think Myers, Regehr, and Ehrhoff are capable of carrying this team defensively, and if McNabb or Weber develop and contribute as stay at home, physical defensemen, I'm okay with this D moving forward.

I'm not saying that they should sit pat and not look to improve. And yeah, they've laid a few eggs this year, including against Detroit. But that's gonna happen over the course of a long season, there will be some really bad games. Let's see how they look in mid February.

I watched all of these cup finals games. Doesn't matter how many games each of these series went to, either. What matters is who won them. I don't want to build a roster than can almost win a cup. I want to build a roster that can win a cup. Teams with the physical edge always win the cup.

That's just not true. I'd argue that teams with the better goalies always win the cup but than you could point at the 99 series. You need a lot of things to win a cup, just having the physical edge won't do it. Flyers didn't win despite having the physical edge, Detroit has won several cups without being overly tough.
It is better to have toughness but building a tough, physical won't do it. 2 of the last 4 cup winners weren't extremely physical, so it's 50-50. See what I did there, finding patterns isn't enough to explain what we need for a cup.

Like DHF said. The only reason Boston won was Thomas. Without his Conn Smythe performance Canucks would have won against the more physical team.

BTW, I agree about the sabres d-corp. We are to soft and "skilled" at the blue line.

Chicago won a cup without Niemi playing like Tim Thomas. You know why? Because they were bigger and stronger than Philly.

And Boston didn't win just because of Tim Thomas. They completely dominated Vancouver on their own ice, and then they won game 7 in Vancouver 4-0.

Detroit won cups, not because they were bruisers, but because they had the size to dominate down low. They shielded the puck better than anyone else in the league. We saw it first hand on Friday.

Size and strength are extremely important in the playoffs. This team needs more of it.

Fuck Gragnani.

Holy fucking fuck...Boyes couldn't suck a dick if it landed in his mouth.

If I had decided to jerk off instead, I probably wouldn't be paying child support...

“Our guys compete. That’s one thing for sure. Around our net, they’re physical. They’re strong. They battle, the way that they go back for pucks, they take hits. They’ll do whatever it takes to get the puck out, to execute or to defend.”

Who said that?

I wish Lindy could say that about the Sabres, but it was Mike Yeo, the coach of the league leading Minnesota Wild, a team with no real super stars, but a hell of a work ethic.

Like the Sabres, they are a small market team who have had their share of injuries, but unlike the Sabres they block shots (1st in the league), play team defense, and have been getting solid goal tending.

They also don't quit on each other. The Wild won three straight road games after trailing by two goals.

They want it and work for it. We don't.