Sabres fan has had enough

[DADDYROCK]

This is very close to home as a Canuck fan, I can relate to this poor dudes frustration.

At times it does make you just want to give up as a fan, and not even give a poop like some of the players, it seems.

As of late the Canucks have given us some hope for the future but a STANLEY CUP would do wonders for the whole province of B.C.

[Slegr]

Wow, that was like if Greta T was a Sabres fan.

[Junkyard Dog]

2 hours ago, Jimmy McGill said:

dunno, just thought the guy was a whiny little b*tch 

Given everything he said that @Sean Monahan retorted. Can you really blame the guy? 15 years of season ticket holder, Coaches for Hasek foundation, played hockey because of Hasek. Dude is the definition of a die-hard fan. They're going through the worse case scenario of tanking, a losing culture. On top of that the owners seem like crap. That whole alumni ripoff jerseys is pretty disgraceful for your all-time best players. Just an overall ugly situation to be in.

 

I only can imagine how some fans here would be here if we went through the woes Buffalo's fans are nowadays with the media. If we gave guys like Sedins/Mclean/Linden knock off jerseys at events. If we drafted Petey but after 5 years had zero signs of improvement with owners/management not facing the music. If the team as a whole developed a losing culture. You'd probably see a lot more die-hard fans act like  "whiny little bitches" being fed up with the product they're seeing. CDC would probably be as worse as HF. It would be pretty damn ugly IMO.

Edited February 2, 2020 by Junkyard Dog

[theo5789]

21 minutes ago, Junkyard Dog said:

Given everything he said that @Sean Monahan retorted. Can you really blame the guy? 15 years of season ticket holder, Coaches for Hasek foundation, played hockey because of Hasek. Dude is the definition of a die-hard fan. They're going through the worse case scenario of tanking, a losing culture. On top of that the owners seem like crap. That whole alumni ripoff jerseys is pretty disgraceful for your all-time best players. Just an overall ugly situation to be in.

 

I only can imagine how some fans here would be here if we went through the woes Buffalo's fans are nowadays with the media. If we gave guys like Sedins/Mclean/Linden knock off jerseys at events. If we drafted Petey but after 5 years had zero signs of improvement with owners/management not facing the music. If the team as a whole developed a losing culture. You'd probably see a lot more die-hard fans act like  "whiny little bitches" being fed up with the product they're seeing. CDC would probably be as worse as HF. It would be pretty damn ugly IMO.

Honestly even though this team has been trending upwards for years and all the signs of improvement have been showing and even with the early results this year, there have been plenty of so called die hards still acting this way here. They're only being shut up now.

 

The funny part is that most of these people are the pro tank crowd and would've wanted us in a losing culture to gather as many high end 1sts as possible and thinking we will suddenly turn it around over night at the flick of a switch.

[Junkyard Dog]

1 minute ago, theo5789 said:

Honestly even though this team has been trending upwards for years and all the signs of improvement have been showing and even with the early results this year, there have been plenty of so called die hards still acting this way here. They're only being shut up now.

 

The funny part is that most of these people are the pro tank crowd and would've wanted us in a losing culture to gather as many high end 1sts as possible and thinking we will suddenly turn it around over night at the flick of a switch.

For sure.

 

I only can imagine if you gave these guys any sense of warrant and/or credibility in what they say. If we had a losing culture and crappy owners/management. Especially here when we have only one big sports team. 

[Alflives]

44 minutes ago, Slegr said:

Wow, that was like if Greta T was a Sabres fan.

Maybe if the Sabres recycled they would win more?  Seriously they got shafted in the McDavid draft lotto.  Then, when they won the lotto, they picked Dahlin and missed on Hughes.  The hockey Gods hate Buffalo. 

[JM_]

2 hours ago, Junkyard Dog said:

Given everything he said that @Sean Monahan retorted. Can you really blame the guy? 15 years of season ticket holder, Coaches for Hasek foundation, played hockey because of Hasek. Dude is the definition of a die-hard fan. They're going through the worse case scenario of tanking, a losing culture. On top of that the owners seem like crap. That whole alumni ripoff jerseys is pretty disgraceful for your all-time best players. Just an overall ugly situation to be in.

 

I only can imagine how some fans here would be here if we went through the woes Buffalo's fans are nowadays with the media. If we gave guys like Sedins/Mclean/Linden knock off jerseys at events. If we drafted Petey but after 5 years had zero signs of improvement with owners/management not facing the music. If the team as a whole developed a losing culture. You'd probably see a lot more die-hard fans act like  "whiny little bitches" being fed up with the product they're seeing. CDC would probably be as worse as HF. It would be pretty damn ugly IMO.

you mean buying a ticket doesn't guarantee your team gets to win a cup? huh. 

 

Yes the guys an entitled whiner. He's lucky enough to have an NHL team to watch in person for starters. Nothing he's gone through, for lack of a better term, comes close to what the professionals have. 

[Alflives]

8 hours ago, Sean Monahan said:

I get where he's coming from. It's not that the time is bad, which they are- his frustration comes from the fact that they've been bad for quite some time and don't really show signs of much improvement. Points-wise, sure, they're better but they're still very, very far from being competitive. You have a top 10 forward in the league and you can't crawl back into a competitive window. You just signed Jeff Skinner to a boat anchor contract. The organization let Robin Lehner walk in 2018, only to watch him become a Vezina runner-up while you've put your eggs in  the Carter friggin Hutton basket. Arguably your best d-man has been the center of trade rumors for well over a year now. You traded ROR for scraps and watched him go on to become even better and win a SC after leaving town. One player (one of the scraps you acquired for ROR) was even so put off by the idea of playing in Buffalo that he just outright quit and walked away from millions after getting traded there. And to top it off, you have an owner who's too cheap to spend a little extra money for the greatest players in your franchise's history, who also happen to be members of the HHOF, to wear authentic jerseys.

 

 

I'd totally understand if any Sabres fan wanted out.

All true, but why was he on another team’s board?  Of course a lot of Canuck’s fans are going to hate the Sabres, and say bad things about that team, and their players.  

[DeNiro]

They need to stop picking 8th overall for one thing. That pick has been brutal to them.

 

Ristolainen, Nylander, and Middelstatd all looking like underwhelming top 10 picks.

 

Too many years of not developing starting goalies has been a problem too. But if UPL turns out they’ll be in much better shape.

 

Really just too much dead weight on their roster right now. They’re overspending in the wrong areas.

[BlueDragon23]

Wow, you can just feel the frustration from him in that rant. Can’t blame him really. 
The Sabres have the longest active playoff drought with 8, yes 8!!! seasons in a row, on pace for 9 this year. And by the looks of it, that probably won’t end anytime soon unless something changes. Me thinks, as others have stated, the losing culture is in full effect and they are wasting the talent of Eichel and Dahlin. They haven’t drafted smartly, (besides Dahlin obviously). They are overpaying players past their prime and filling space with a lot of plugs. 
 

Thank god we are arising out of our rebuild as legit playoff contenders and not stuck in mediocrity like our expansion cousins.

[Junkyard Dog]

8 hours ago, Jimmy McGill said:

you mean buying a ticket doesn't guarantee your team gets to win a cup? huh. 

 

Yes the guys an entitled whiner. He's lucky enough to have an NHL team to watch in person for starters. Nothing he's gone through, for lack of a better term, comes close to what the professionals have. 

Just because you have an NHL team doesn't mean you should be okay if the product on the ice has been trash for so long without anyone taking accountability. I only could imagine what would happened if we tanked and developed a losing culture. 5 years of nothing to show and have alumni wear knock off jerseys because the owners cheap. Management not ever facing the music. Would be a lot worse than this guy.

 

I don't recall him ever stating that having a ticket guaranteed a cup. In fact he stated that he was fine even without playoffs, implying that the product he is seeing is hot garbage and that he wanted to see some competitiveness. Nothing he says to me screams entitled, just angry with how the organization is as of now and rightfully so. 

 

[JM_]

4 hours ago, Junkyard Dog said:

Just because you have an NHL team doesn't mean you should be okay if the product on the ice has been trash for so long without anyone taking accountability. I only could imagine what would happened if we tanked and developed a losing culture. 5 years of nothing to show and have alumni wear knock off jerseys because the owners cheap. Management not ever facing the music. Would be a lot worse than this guy.

 

I don't recall him ever stating that having a ticket guaranteed a cup. In fact he stated that he was fine even without playoffs, implying that the product he is seeing is hot garbage and that he wanted to see some competitiveness. Nothing he says to me screams entitled, just angry with how the organization is as of now and rightfully so. 

 

meh. If you were impressed by this guy thats great. I found him to be whiny. I don't think either of us will change our minds. 

[ruilin96]

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.

 

 

[Alflives]

11 hours ago, DeNiro said:

They need to stop picking 8th overall for one thing. That pick has been brutal to them.

 

Ristolainen, Nylander, and Middelstatd all looking like underwhelming top 10 picks.

 

Too many years of not developing starting goalies has been a problem too. But if UPL turns out they’ll be in much better shape.

 

Really just too much dead weight on their roster right now. They’re overspending in the wrong areas.

IMO a team is as good as its core.  Sabres have Eichel, who is clearly great, and the a big drop off.  

[theo5789]

9 hours ago, BlueDragon23 said:

Wow, you can just feel the frustration from him in that rant. Can’t blame him really. 
The Sabres have the longest active playoff drought with 8, yes 8!!! seasons in a row, on pace for 9 this year. And by the looks of it, that probably won’t end anytime soon unless something changes. Me thinks, as others have stated, the losing culture is in full effect and they are wasting the talent of Eichel and Dahlin. They haven’t drafted smartly, (besides Dahlin obviously). They are overpaying players past their prime and filling space with a lot of plugs. 
 

Thank god we are arising out of our rebuild as legit playoff contenders and not stuck in mediocrity like our expansion cousins.

Another prime example for tank nation that we could get 10 1st overall picks, but that won't necessarily make a successful team. And also we don't have to constantly sell UFAs for picks. We can only have so many prospects and players in the system. At some point it's time to develop what we have and push forward rather than stay stagnant.

[Alflives]

4 minutes ago, theo5789 said:

Another prime example for tank nation that we could get 10 1st overall picks, but that won't necessarily make a successful team. And also we don't have to constantly sell UFAs for picks. We can only have so many prospects and players in the system. At some point it's time to develop what we have and push forward rather than stay stagnant.

Have to pick the right players with all those first overall picks.  Like I posted above, the Sabres have Eichel.  The rest of their top picks (supposed to be their young core group) weren’t the right guy to pick in the spot drafted.  It’s got to be extremely frustrating for fans of the Sabres watch guys drafted later than your own picks doing great, while your guys struggle.  

[Coconuts]

At this point Buffalo's pretty much Oilers east, I get why fans out there would be frustrated. That's the level of futility they've reached. Considering how loyal Buffalo's fanbase has been I get the frustration. They haven't been good since the 2000's. 

[Monty]

16 hours ago, Alflives said:

Then, when they won the lotto, they picked Dahlin and missed on Hughes.

 

WUT?

[Alflives]

22 minutes ago, Monty said:

 

WUT?

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

[theo5789]

1 hour ago, Alflives said:

Have to pick the right players with all those first overall picks.  Like I posted above, the Sabres have Eichel.  The rest of their top picks (supposed to be their young core group) weren’t the right guy to pick in the spot drafted.  It’s got to be extremely frustrating for fans of the Sabres watch guys drafted later than your own picks doing great, while your guys struggle.  

I think development and not having the expectation that every player is going to be a game changer as soon as they step on the ice are big factors. Benning brought in "overpaid" vets to insulate our your group and spent during our "rebuild" years to accomplish this and we are reaping the rewards. All top end picks are talented players, but almost all aside from actual generational talent will require a bit more development such as having another year or two before making the jump or not be relied upon heavy minutes until they work on aspects of their game that needs improvement.