Owning Our Mistakes

[tsujimoto74]

On the Sabres: While I hadn't written off UPL like a lot of people did (he was still a young goalie), I definitely didn't expect anything like the tear he's been on since the turn of the calendar year.

Around the NHL: I thought Boston would miss having any good centers a lot more than it has. I still don't think you can consider them a contender with that C spine, but I'm surprised they're #2 in the east.

 

[MeenOlViks]

I have made no mistakes yet.

Thanks for owning up to it

 

[Bobby Bottle Service]

Points
UPL mediocrity
Top-6 forwards improving
Granato being the man
Elder Johnson being a solid signing

That being said, the team seems to be turning a corner.

 

[TageGod]

Thanks for owning up to it

You're welcome, honesty is important. Well Krebs is looking like a hockey player so I guess that was exceeding my expectation.

I was wrong this year about the team being good and Granato being a good coach. However, I am not convinced the whole group can't get it done going forward.

 

[ClassicBusiness]

I never expected this drastic a fall off from last season's play. We are back to just not being able to score which is surprising considering they were elite last season. PP is atrocious.. I wanted Granato fired back in Nov/Dec.

UPL being legit - didn't see that coming at all.

Boston being good yet again..

 

[Selanne00008]

From a league stand point, seeing Vancouver dominate. Talk about taking the next step. I'm jealous, but also route for them.

Sabres? Has to be on the disappointing side of things. And the first that comes to mind is Cozens. And it's looking worse than I thought. He's projected for a 49 point year after a 68 point year in his 3rd season. He should be well experienced and strength building at age 23 to make the jump to a key 2nd line center that puts up a PPG.

Brutal. BUT, he still just turn 23, that's young.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Heh, fun thread, I was wrong about EVERYTHING except Mitts and Vic - I thought both would continue their second halves from a year ago, and both have.

Forwards:

• Skinner - Whether centered by Mitts or Tage, I thought he'd be able to keep up the elite production for another year
• Tuch - See Skinner above
• Tage - Thought he'd be a perennial 35-40 goal guy
• Cozens - Predicted a breakout; better 2-way play and more offense
• Peterka - Thought he'd develop into a 2-way PKer with a slight bump in points (~45 points)
• Quinn - Predicted a Tage like breakout, then when he got hurt predicted he would still be an impact forward and get 20 goals
• Greenway - Hoped for some solid defensive play, he's given way more than I expected though
• Benson - Didn't think he had the size or strength to stick, his tenacity and stick work at this level has far exceeded expectations
• Krebs - There might not be a player I want to succeed more than him, but he still looks like an AHL all-star level player trying to figure out what works at this level more often than not.
• Okposo - Thought we'd get more of the same, but the regression is real
• Girgs - Alright, he's been exactly what I thought he would be (in a good way)
• Kulich - Thought he would stick and make an impact
• Rosen - Thought he would be first call up and show some flashes

Defense:

• Dahlin - Thought he'd be a top 3 Norris candidate based on his pre-injured play from last year
• Power - Was looking for him to take that next step, but haven't seen much of an improvement
• Samuelsson - Last year's injuries were kind of freak occurrences (similar to Borgen's call ups with us), predicted a mostly healthy season and solid play as Dahlin's running mate
• Jokiharju - I was done with him, ready to trade, waive, whatever. Thought the vets would push him into healthy scratch territory, but he's far exceeded expectations
• Clifton - Thought he would take the opportunity for a larger role and run with it, becoming Power's steady partner with a very complimentary style of play. He was disappointing to start, but has been much better the last couple months. He's also a much faster skater than I thought he was.
• Erik Johnson - Eh, he's been pretty much as expected
• Ryan Johnson - Saw him in Rochester for the year, and maybe next year too. He's had very real rookie moments, but he's definitely exceeded expectations

Goalie:

• Levi - Thought he'd be ok with a split role. Inconsistent play and poor rebound control were exacerbated by the Sabres poor play in front of him.
• Comrie - Thought he'd be the other half of the split, but the dude can't stay healthy, and he's not good enough to overcome the poor systematic breakdowns that the Sabres are prone to
• UPL - Predicted waivers or a trade - Didn't think he was an NHL goalie, questioned if he could develop into one, and even if he did thought his ceiling was that of a backup. Oopsie...

Coaching: I'll just say that I never expected to start every game down 1-2 goals, and for the power play to be the thing that ultimately crushed our souls.

Amen to pretty much all of it. Ditto, samesies. I thought Tage would hit 100 points, I didn’t think Donny saying “ok, now defense!” would make everyone freeze up, including Donny himself. It’s like they all just looked around and said “oh, shoot, none of us know how that works, huh?” and have just spun wheels since, but I digress..

Tage was the one I was most wrong about for Sabres. The overdue demise of the cowardly Boston Bruins in another error I regret. Soon they shall fall, and Buffalo will rise once more. But, ya, thought that was this year, whoops.

 

[WiHockeyGuy]

I thought it was all coming together and they'd be pressing a playoff spot all season. I also felt good about Levi starting in the NHL.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

From a league stand point, seeing Vancouver dominate. Talk about taking the next step. I'm jealous, but also route for them.

Sabres? Has to be on the disappointing side of things. And the first that comes to mind is Cozens. And it's looking worse than I thought. He's projected for a 49 point year after a 68 point year in his 3rd season. He should be well experienced and strength building at age 23 to make the jump to a key 2nd line center that puts up a PPG.

Brutal. BUT, he still just turn 23, that's young.

Oof ya, talk about a roster that got mocked and then got good real quick- everyone was mocking that squad a year ago. New coach, hey, wadda ya know?

But ya, surprised me too. Them and Boston the big team surprises.

 

[sabres4ever]

For me, it's UPL. I wanted to pull the plug on him long ago. His performance recently has been nothing short of remarkable.

Time will tell, if he can continue to perform at this level with consistency. He's kept us in games giving us a chance to win, but with the lack of our offensive output, we ended up losing by a goal.

If we can ever get a new front office, new coaching, a solid, consistent D-corps, and a system that is defensive-minded, but attacking, we may just rise from the ashes.

 

[enthusiast]

Definitely didn’t think that UPL would ever take the next step here, if anywhere. Outside of that, I expected the defensive and offensive performance to be somewhat flipped.

 

[Push Dr Tracksuit]

I have made no mistakes yet.

How about the user name?

 

[KiwiGriff]

I thought I’d be able to watch more games. Work and family life have meant I’ve barely caught any.

Maybe if the results had’ve been better i’d’ve made more effort.

For the team, I thought

Levi would’ve been better.
Skinner would have two good seasons in a row (not do his one on one off thing).
This was the year we would step into the playoffs. I said it so positively so many times … until I couldn’t anymore.

 

[Gras]

My mistakes

 

[Sabre the Win]

I was wrong with Granato, I'm not sure he is the right coach going forward.

 

[TageGod]

How about the user name?

How is that a mistake though? His scoring drought?

 

[1point21Gigawatts]

Tage falling off a cliff production-wise. I assumed there would be some regression, but wow. He really f***ed my fantasy team.

Like @SnuggaRUDE pointed out, vancouver was this year's biggest surprise and no one could have seen that one coming.


This is going to sound dark, but it has caught my attention, the number of players that went into the PAP this year. I want to be optimistic and assume that players are finding the value in being healthy and living their best lives. Regardless, i hope all who have gone in can come out stronger and happier.

 

[Dreakon13]

The only expectation I had coming into this season was that this group would finally overcome the early season collapses that have tanked so many seasons throughout the drought. They caught on at the right time at the end of last year, all the kids were another year older and had an offseason to hone their games, I really believed our only issue was depth on D and EJ/Clifton were adequate answers to get us to the playoffs at least.

Instead almost every key player we needed to step up... either regressed hard, or got injured, or both. The season is being propped up by UPL and a few somewhat unexpected sources (mostly Mittelstadt).

Disappointing, but I wouldn't be a Sabres fan if I couldn't handle a metric shit-ton of disappointment.

 

[MeenOlViks]

I thought for sure y’all would pick it up this year. Scouting other farm teams, finding that hidden young RD that we need, perhaps another power forward. The proposals have been piss poor this year

 

[Ralonzo]

I was sour on UPL to begin with but after watching him live lose a game pretty much by himself (and the refs) vs the Caps, declared he'd never be more than an AHL/NHL tweener. Pretty sure I vented on that GBU but don't want to dig.

Edit: I dug anyway. Oh yeah I vented. I wonder what I drank that night, that was a rare combo of loquacious and venomous.

 

[toddkaz]

With yet another lost season winding down, what is something you as a poster were sure would happen this year that was the absolute opposite of your expectation? Think back to how some reacted to the Greenway deal or Luukkonen still being in net or Ryan Johnson's intentions or what have you.

Mine? That Pat Kane was washed. That guy looked so cooked and had a surgery that nobody has come back from to produce at a high level and yet, he's doing it with the Wings. I admit, I was wrong.







Just as a note, grandstanding on some hot take will probably get deleted. You want to take a victory lap on something, this isn't it. This is looking at what was held as so and turned out to be diametrically different in outcome.

I will admit when Ryan Johnson said he was going to see his options I thought he was a goner.

I am still surprised he signed here, pleasantly surprised.

Has to be one of the shocking reversals this team had this year.