Sabres fan has had enough

[Ronaldoescobar]

Sabres will be fine.

 

Im sure there have been more that a few nucks fans that have gone through the same as its technically a tie with both franchises having two of the longest losing (without a championship) streaks in sports history. 

[ShawnAntoski]

On 2/2/2020 at 2:45 AM, iinatcc said:

 

But really I can only imagine how missing the playoffs so many consecutive seasons despite having high draft picks feels. 

Spoiled and entitled, include the Gilbert Perrault, "lottery" as well !

[ShawnAntoski]

On 2/3/2020 at 7:28 AM, ruilin96 said:

I give props to JB and Trevor Linden in keeping the Sedins, Edler Tanev and bring in veteran players like Dorsett, Sutter, Vanek, Beagle and Roussel onto the team for the rebuild. Yes, we overpaid some UFA to sign here but they establish a culture: losing is not acceptable. This is an important culture for young players like Horvat, Virtanen, Boeser, Gaudette and later Pettersson and Hughes to step into. Most of our young core stepped into the team when it was clearly a below average team. But these veteran players here show them we may not win most nights, but we are not going out without a fight. Losing culture is not acceptable, and this sets the tone for these young guys.

I blame this current Sabres situation on their former GM Tim Murray.
 

Sabres cleaned the house in 2013-14 season moving on from players like Pominville, Miller etc. In the 2014-15 season, they were doing everything in their power to try and lose every game in order to tank to then very bottom for the best odds at getting Connor McDavid. They literally trade away anybody who gives them a chance to win. A goalie wins 3 games in a row, he is sent packing to another organization the next day. Coach Ted Nolan called out the GM for this, he was fired the next day. Ted Nolan was a coach that was well liked and respected by the players in their locker room. They have moved out all the leaders who sets examples, and got rid off a well respected coach. By that point, the Sabres have no character in their room. It is not just a bad team that is set up to lose for the remainder of that season, but it is also a team full of misery with no heart.

 

Draft lottery screwed them over, they didn’t get McDavid, however, Eichel is a very solid consolation prize. Now the team needs to start to build their way up again. However, the GM has gotten rid off most veterans and leaders who would be there to establish culture, remaining players from last season has lost a lot passion for the game because of what the GM did. Remaining players were miserable and their misery rubs off to the young players and new players joining the team. He then hired Dan Bysma as the new head coach, and Bysma was such a bad fit that by the end of the 2016-17 season, it was rumoured that the entire Sabres team wanted him gone. Jack Eichel even said if Bysma remains as the coach, he won’t sign a contract extension. Murray’s response to this was, “Bysma is my guy and I won’t fire him.” So the result was the owner sent both him and Bysma packing. Jason Botteril was then hired as the new GM.

 

I recalled watching some behind the scenes video on the Sabres YouTube channel from 2014 and 2015. I did not like the way Murray talks or how he establishes himself. He doesn’t strike me as a guy who is liked/respected by the players at all. I personally don’t like his demeanour that was shown on camera. What the current GM needs to do is not just bring in skill, but bring in new players who are character guys to reinvent the culture. I think that’s the biggest problem in Buffalo.

 

I think Murray had destroyed the Sabres culture and that lost culture was never recovered. They never went out and get some of the character veteran guys who are well liked in the locker room to reinvent the culture. Once a team’s culture is destroyed, it is much harder to rebuild it. Rebuilding isn’t simply icing the worst possible line up to lose every game; it is to ice a less talented line up consist of players who do not accept losing at all. It is very hard to find the balance. Props for JB, who found that balance. We were also extremely fortunate to draft Horvat, Boeser, Pettersson and Hughes without getting any draft picks higher than 5th. Not only did we got the players with talent, but also players who are good people off the ice (much harder to find than most think). Horvat spent the majority of his career early on learning from the Sedins; Boeser spent his rookie season with the Sedins; Pettersson came into the league after the twins retired and JB brought in Beagle, Roussel etc. to replace the veteran presence. Now Hughes joins the team and he gets to be around  a good group of players. We are very fortunate to have come through our rebuild. 

 

I am not an avid follower of the Sabres, but from what I gather this is what I come up. Would love to hear from others especially @SabreFan1’s view on this.

 

 

Well said, this is what happens when a GM or executive forgets the human factor when running and building an organization.  I would argue, that this culture of complacency starts from the very top.  To a certain extent, the Canucks went through something like this during the McCaw years as owners - Mark Messier signing was done during his tenure as owner.

Edited February 6, 2020 by ShawnAntoski

[ShawnAntoski]

On 2/3/2020 at 9:03 AM, Alflives said:

Hughes is clearly the more impactful player.  Dahlin is a very good player.  Hughes is a phenom.  

Hughes, seems to have that fire and assertiveness to be the best.

[Alflives]

Sabres losing 2-0 to Detroit after period one.  Serious issues in that Sabre room.  

[BPA]

17 hours ago, Alflives said:

Sabres losing 2-0 to Detroit after period one.  Serious issues in that Sabre room.  

Ripe for the picking.

Reinhart maybe??

 

[Tre Mac]

On 2/4/2020 at 1:33 PM, Gollumpus said:

I'm feeling a bit reluctant to feel sorry for that fanbase, or for the franchise, because of their deliberate tanking in the McDavid/Eichel draft.

 

The team won the second prize, and they were happy enough with that, and the fanbase were (probably for the most part) elated, and are now pissed because things aren't working out as expected (similar to Oilers fans).

 

Yes it's tough, but I'm not crying for them.

 

                                                    regards,  G.

I absolutely feel bad for that fan base.  For starters the SCF loss to Dallas with Brett Hull's foot in the crease.  Yes, that rule was dumb but you still have to abide by the rule book.  The fans weren't the ones who tanked for McDavid but now they're the ones who are paying the price.  It's not that the team is playing poorly and the fans are upset, it's the fact that the whole organization is poorly managed with no hope in sight.  Look at the Rays, the Browns, the Redskins - poor ownership cannot be fixed unless a new owner comes in, until that time comes what's the point of buying tickets?  I am not happy with aspects of our ownership group but at least they have good intentions - they want to win a cup - I don't think any Sabre fan can honestly say the same about their ownership group, especially when it's second fiddle to the Bills.  

[Alflives]

2 hours ago, BPA said:

Ripe for the picking.

Reinhart maybe??

 

Jake and Stecher fir Sammy. 

[Squamfan]

 

 

 

I would be frustrated two if i had to live in a place called buffalo, where there are buffalo walking on the streets

[coastal.view]

On 2/3/2020 at 1:35 PM, Alflives said:

Sabres paid Skinner like he’s a core piece.  Now they’re stuck with a guy who is a borderline support top six winger for 8 years.  They are hooped. 

they were rebuilding like the nucks first tried to do

but did it more with a stronger steroid kinda move

if you think loui has been an anchor

welcome to skinner - more expensive for longer

and has more limited defensive ability to keep him useful when he no longer scores

[Monty]

19 hours ago, coastal.view said:

they were rebuilding like the nucks first tried to do

but did it more with a stronger steroid kinda move

if you think loui has been an anchor

welcome to skinner - more expensive for longer

and has more limited defensive ability to keep him useful when he no longer scores

No denying this. What’s more puzzling to me is how the Sabres are deploying him. It’s no secret that some players are far more offensive with either little defensive upside, or are just not good defensively. That’s not a bad thing, those players are still needed (just not necessarily at a $9M price tag). But AAV aside, teams draft/sign players knowing what they’re getting, for the most part. Same as any organization outside of sports. They are investing in the player’s strengths, and likely hoping that their weaknesses can be improved on, but knowing it will never be an area of strength.

 

But enough about that, back to his deployment. In his 8 seasons in Carolina, he was an even 60% deployed in offensive zone starts, 40% defensive zone starts. Clearly a player who’s more offensively gifted. Last season in Buffalo, he had 67.1% OZ starts, 32.9% DZ starts. Those starts led to, what is really not surprising, with 40 goals from a pure offensive player. This year, he has 52% OZ starts to 48% DZ starts; unsurprisingly, his offensive totals reflect that drastic change, which is also the lowest OZ starts since his 3rd year in the league, where he was also did not produce great offensively.

 

His AAV is insane, but the Sabres obviously couldn’t just let him walk, there were no better options in free agency for an offensive player. But you (see: the royal you) can’t expect someone to put up the same offensive numbers as he has historically, as a pure offensive player, when he’s deployed the way the Sabres have this season.

This is 100% on Buffalo. They had the historical data, prior to them extending him, which showed just how they needed to use Skinner. To change it this year is “fine”, but “fine” in the sense then that they should then be ok with his product dropping off a cliff. I wouldn’t be ok with that, though.

 

This is only one player, obviously, but I can see why Buffalo fans are angry.

[coastal.view]

4 hours ago, Monty said:

No denying this. What’s more puzzling to me is how the Sabres are deploying him. It’s no secret that some players are far more offensive with either little defensive upside, or are just not good defensively. That’s not a bad thing, those players are still needed (just not necessarily at a $9M price tag). But AAV aside, teams draft/sign players knowing what they’re getting, for the most part. Same as any organization outside of sports. They are investing in the player’s strengths, and likely hoping that their weaknesses can be improved on, but knowing it will never be an area of strength.

 

But enough about that, back to his deployment. In his 8 seasons in Carolina, he was an even 60% deployed in offensive zone starts, 40% defensive zone starts. Clearly a player who’s more offensively gifted. Last season in Buffalo, he had 67.1% OZ starts, 32.9% DZ starts. Those starts led to, what is really not surprising, with 40 goals from a pure offensive player. This year, he has 52% OZ starts to 48% DZ starts; unsurprisingly, his offensive totals reflect that drastic change, which is also the lowest OZ starts since his 3rd year in the league, where he was also did not produce great offensively.

 

His AAV is insane, but the Sabres obviously couldn’t just let him walk, there were no better options in free agency for an offensive player. But you (see: the royal you) can’t expect someone to put up the same offensive numbers as he has historically, as a pure offensive player, when he’s deployed the way the Sabres have this season.

This is 100% on Buffalo. They had the historical data, prior to them extending him, which showed just how they needed to use Skinner. To change it this year is “fine”, but “fine” in the sense then that they should then be ok with his product dropping off a cliff. I wouldn’t be ok with that, though.

 

This is only one player, obviously, but I can see why Buffalo fans are angry.

what i do not understand

is why when they signed him to that contract

they did not also commit as a team to playing him

100% with the top players on the team

 

why sign him to that massive deal if they did not see that quality in him

and commit to using him to maximize his talent

so i guess i'm saying the same thing as you

 

man it is barely 1/2 a season into his contract

sabres are just nuts

maybe they'll buy him out when the collective agreement is redone

 

he is going down the same career path as erhoff and hodgson

 

Edited February 8, 2020 by coastal.view

[Alflives]

Sabres down 3-0 early to the Ducks.  I’d love JB to make a big trade with Buffalo that gets us Risto.  We could absolutely use his meanness on our blue line.