Buffalo Sabres are in a free fall

EichHart

Registered User
Jul 3, 2011
14,380
4,707
Hamburg, NY
We're 0-20 in our last 20 PP attempts and are getting garbage goaltending. Yes, they still suck but are getting unlucky in some games too.
 
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Dr Jan Itor

Registered User
Dec 10, 2009
44,928
19,782
MinneSNOWta
Predictable. Schedule wise they had an easy October and a gauntlet of a November. But it is concerning when they get dummied by the worst team in the league. They're a bottom 10 team IMO, but you at least have to compete with and usually beat out the fellow bottom 10s.

We aren't quite as bad as our record shows. Extremely road-heavy schedule and terrible goaltending has us where we are right now.
 

koyvoo

Registered User
Nov 8, 2014
17,244
16,982
We're 0-20 in our last 20 PP attempts and are getting garbage goaltending. Yes, they still suck but are getting unlucky in some games too.
Goes both ways too. In the first 9-10 games the PP was clicking at a ridiculous clip.
 
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57special

Posting the right way since 2012.
Sep 5, 2012
47,622
19,461
MN
MN isn't great, but they are not as bad as their record. Parise is finally starting to heat up and score a bit, which helps, big time.

Sabres PP was awful.

Can't help by feel that getting a pro like MoJo back in the lineup will help. Don't know what to say about a guy like Risto. Don't know of he is ruined for good, or if he will get traded and turn back into a top pairing Dman. I can see a team like STL grabbing him for next to nothing.

Mittelstadt is still young, but he is way too passive...disappointing.

Like, but don't love Skinner. should be fine as Eichel's wingman.

Overall, besides Eichel, there is no clear hierarchy of players, especially on D. Who is their #1? who is their #3? What are their pairings?

They have also been ravaged by injuries.
 
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Raccoon Jesus

Todd McLellan is an inside agent
Oct 30, 2008
61,489
60,929
I.E.
It's a little wild how this keeps happening, though. Start out as one of the hottest teams/THE hottest team, then just crater.

Everyone has ebbs and flows though, they just have to learn how to recover before it spirals out of control.
 
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doorbag

Registered User
Jun 26, 2008
518
794
They weren't as good as their start to the season would indicate and they aren’t as bad as their current nose dive is showing. Those insane PP numbers were bound to regress and I imagine that they will end up somewhere in the middle of the two extremes they have displayed this season.
 

Not Sure

Registered User
Feb 8, 2016
4,918
1,146
Buffalo
Remember when Phil Housley was the problem?

Scoring is the problem. When we were winning games we were getting points from the other lines, there was a stretch in that streak where Eichels line was held off the board and the rest of the team picked up the slack. Now we have exactly 1 goal from anyone other then Eichel in 3 games and that was tonight in garbage time, and have been losing a player a game to injuries. I place this on the GM, not entirely the coaches fault when our GM is in an eternal wait and see mode as soon as hockey starts.
 

TheDawnOfANewTage

Dahlin, it’ll all be fine
Dec 17, 2018
12,023
17,502
1) Eichel is not the problem. He's up-and-down, hot and cold, but overall a very good player who carries the team some nights. It's like blaming Gaudreau or Matthews for their teams' struggles. Even when they aren't playing their best, if the team is consistently losing it's probably an issue larger than just themselves. Overall Eichel's been great this year, couple off games, I'm fine with him. Dahlin is struggling defensively, but that was kinda predictable.
2) Housley was a problem. The fact that they still have problems does not mean that Housley was not a problem. I like Krueger, I think he does some good things, but the team seems to be struggling with the system right now. They had some smart strategies to start the year, teams figured 'em out, now we just don't have a great roster. I do think Krueger could change the lines a bit, I'll fault him for that, but overall I think it's too early to see it as a coaching problem. It's not Eich, it's not the coach, it's basically all our forwards outside of Eichel, Skinner, Olofsson, Reinhart, and Johansson. And like, LOG (Larsson, Okposo, Girgensons) has looked like a great 4th line at times- but the problem is they're often asked to play above their station even when we're healthy. Now there are some injuries, and basically everyone is covering for the black hole that is our 3rd line.
3) So the insistence on icing Sobotka, Sheary, and especially Vesey- it's really frustrating. We swung and missed on Vesey, he f***ing sucks- move on. Trade him, bench him, wave him, whatever it takes- but we have better options is Rochester we're not using because we don't wanna make the GM look bad or something. Which is f***ing insane, because every time Vesey steps on the ice the decision looks worse, but somehow if you don't admit the mistake it's not a mistake.

Summary- Eich and Krueger are fine. Dahlin gets a pass. We have some good pieces, but 3-4 below replacement players are killing us. I think Krueger should change up the lines, but no matter how you slice it we lack a 2nd line player. Our 3rd line sucks. Our 4th line would be fine if they weren't covering for the 3rd, but the end result is that we have maybe 1 and 2/3rds of a good offense when healthy. Botts needs to make a f***ing trade, but for some reason we're the epitomy of the dog in the "this is fine" burning house meme.

PS- Sabres have 5 goals in their last 3 games. Eichel has 4 goals, 1 (primary) assist. So if you say Eich you just aren't watching. He wasn't great at points during the start of the streak, but he's been the entire offense the last few games. Once again, when ya see something like that.. the concern lays elsewhere. We get it, you don't like his face, find a real reason to dislike a player.
 
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valet

obviously adhd
Sponsor
Jan 26, 2017
8,975
5,144
buffalo
We also had our 8th d-man playing wing tonight, for anyone that's interested. Injuries have surely played a toll, but this team was probably hovering around bottom 10 finish before the season began, roster wise.
 

Shootica

Registered User
Jan 17, 2013
681
421
Utica, NY
Ralph Krueger is a great motivator unfortunately speeches only do so much, hes not a good NHL coach. He was the wrong choice for this team. Hes a nice guy. They need a torts type to light a fire under Eichel. Some players do well when challenged. Its funny but when Babcock gets fired hes hired in Buffalo immediately To do just that. An organization he said no to in the first place.

I have to ask how much of the Sabres you've watched this season, because effort level from Eichel hasn't been a problem this year. In fact, the overall team effort has been much improved even considering this recent slide.
 

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