Right here in Buffalo…the mentality of a winner and the mentality of a loser.

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Dec 4, 2010
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A article quoting Sean McDermott after he was hired to coach the Bills concerning their long playoff drought….


But rather than dismiss The Drought as something they had nothing to do with, which is entirely true, coach Sean McDermott, GM Brandon Beane and the 51 players they’ve brought in have taken The Drought by the armpits and lifted it onto their backs.

It’s called accountability.

“The day I was hired, you’ve got to own that,’’ said McDermott, 43, when camp kicked off and that rain cloud opened.


“When I signed my name on the dotted line and moved my family from North Carolina to Buffalo, that’s a part of us. What I’m focused in on is how we move this organization forward and how we give the fans what they’ve been looking for. I can’t wait, as we go through our process, to see this city on fire the way I remember watching it when I was growing up. We’ve got a lot of work to do between now and then, and that’s what we’ve got to focus on right now.’’


Then, here is Buffalo Sabres CAPTAIN Kyle Okposo speaking about 12 years of no playoff hockey for the Buffalo Sabres after getting buried by Columbus a couple weeks back…



“That’s 12 years for them (fans), not all of that’s on us.”

One organization wins. The other loses.

One takes accountability. The other doesn’t.

Both under same ownership but I think this goes to show how much leadership (players) and coaching matters.

The Sabres are severely lacking on and off the ice.
 
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SabresFan26

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May 28, 2003
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A article quoting Sean McDermott after he was hired to coach the Bills concerning their long playoff drought….


But rather than dismiss The Drought as something they had nothing to do with, which is entirely true, coach Sean McDermott, GM Brandon Beane and the 51 players they’ve brought in have taken The Drought by the armpits and lifted it onto their backs.

It’s called accountability.

“The day I was hired, you’ve got to own that,’’ said McDermott, 43, when camp kicked off and that rain cloud opened.


“When I signed my name on the dotted line and moved my family from North Carolina to Buffalo, that’s a part of us. What I’m focused in on is how we move this organization forward and how we give the fans what they’ve been looking for. I can’t wait, as we go through our process, to see this city on fire the way I remember watching it when I was growing up. We’ve got a lot of work to do between now and then, and that’s what we’ve got to focus on right now.’’


Then, here is Buffalo Sabres CAPTAIN Kyle Okposo speaking about 12 years of no playoff hockey for the Buffalo Sabres after getting buried by Columbus a couple weeks back…



“That’s 12 years for them (fans), not all of that’s on us.”

One organization wins. The other loses.

One takes accountability. The other doesn’t.

Both under same ownership but I think this goes to show how much leadership (players) and coaching matters.

The Sabres are severely lacking on and off the ice.

Or that Kyle’s been here for (checks hockeydb) 8 years!

After this year, Kyke will have been here for 61.5% of the longest playoff drought in pro sports.
 
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Beerz

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Jun 28, 2011
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A article quoting Sean McDermott after he was hired to coach the Bills concerning their long playoff drought….


But rather than dismiss The Drought as something they had nothing to do with, which is entirely true, coach Sean McDermott, GM Brandon Beane and the 51 players they’ve brought in have taken The Drought by the armpits and lifted it onto their backs.

It’s called accountability.

“The day I was hired, you’ve got to own that,’’ said McDermott, 43, when camp kicked off and that rain cloud opened.


“When I signed my name on the dotted line and moved my family from North Carolina to Buffalo, that’s a part of us. What I’m focused in on is how we move this organization forward and how we give the fans what they’ve been looking for. I can’t wait, as we go through our process, to see this city on fire the way I remember watching it when I was growing up. We’ve got a lot of work to do between now and then, and that’s what we’ve got to focus on right now.’’


Then, here is Buffalo Sabres CAPTAIN Kyle Okposo speaking about 12 years of no playoff hockey for the Buffalo Sabres after getting buried by Columbus a couple weeks back…



“That’s 12 years for them (fans), not all of that’s on us.”

One organization wins. The other loses.

One takes accountability. The other doesn’t.

Both under same ownership but I think this goes to show how much leadership (players) and coaching matters.

The Sabres are severely lacking on and off the ice.



And that comes from up above. When your GM and coach is showing no urgency... why would the players.
 

Sabre the Win

Joke of a Franchise
Jun 27, 2013
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Everyone has accused this team of having no accountability, even on air. That blowout loss with only 7 players in the dressing room was a sad look into this franchise.

There is nothing to be excited for. Our future are a bunch of sissies who can't take accountability and it will only gets worse as the generations continue with more participation trophies and ribbons given out to athletes from a young age and thru their life.
 

sabremike

Friend To All Giraffes And Lindy Ruff
Aug 30, 2010
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Brewster, NY
Kyle Okposo was an excellent player who ended up suffering a horrific freak injury that literally nearly killed him and essentially cause him to go insane (seriously, go read the Athletic article from several years back). The fact that he was able to fight back to become a useful NHL player was borderline miraculous and to see him used as the whipping boy for everything wrong with this franchise is just sad pathetic bullshit.
 

May Day 10

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Apr 19, 2006
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St Catharines, ON
I have said it in another thread, but this organization is built on a perpetual stall tactic. This is done to protect management, but it bleeds into everything. Always looking to some point in the future where we will reach the promised land (AKA the extremely low bar of being in the top 16 teams in a 32 team league).
Always learning, developing, figuring 'things' out, waiting to 'come out on the other side' as Adams put it. Meanwhile, it is an unwatchable mess and Tkachuk is punching players in the face up by 4 goals with zero signs of a pulse from this team.

No accountability. No need to win right now. Its OK. Donnie and Kevyn will run interference and say we need to "progress" to be more consistent on a nightly basis. Many key players are making lots of millions. Things are easy for them, and I worry the malaise will become more engrained and permanent on our young players the longer this continues.


Okposo blaming fans' frustration on the chronic ineptitude of our owner (the same owner as we have now!) is just another attempt at a stall tactic
 

Chainshot

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Feb 28, 2002
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I have said it in another thread, but this organization is built on a perpetual stall tactic. This is done to protect management, but it bleeds into everything. Always looking to some point in the future where we will reach the promised land (AKA the extremely low bar of being in the top 16 teams in a 32 team league).
Always learning, developing, figuring 'things' out, waiting to 'come out on the other side' as Adams put it. Meanwhile, it is an unwatchable mess and Tkachuk is punching players in the face up by 4 goals with zero signs of a pulse from this team.

No accountability. No need to win right now. Its OK. Donnie and Kevyn will run interference and say we need to "progress" to be more consistent on a nightly basis. Many key players are making lots of millions. Things are easy for them, and I worry the malaise will become more engrained and permanent on our young players the longer this continues.


Okposo blaming fans' frustration on the chronic ineptitude of our owner (the same owner as we have now!) is just another attempt at a stall tactic

That's the same tactic that Botterill used and had most of the local and national press carrying water for. So it's likely that it continues to come down from above.
 

buffalowing88

Registered User
Aug 11, 2008
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Charlotte, NC
There's been a cultural difference between the Bills and the Sabres for even longer than the Beane-McDermott Era/The Sabres Drought.

Even when the Bills were perpetually out of the playoffs, they fielded competitive teams. 2002, 2004, 2007, 2014, and 2015 were all very competitive teams and even in between those years, the Bills were making a lot of smart, under-the-radar FA signings and drafting pretty well that kept them from bottoming out like the Sabres have time and again.

The Sabres make some splashy FA signings here and there, never focus on their glaring holes, and are pretty hit-or-miss in their drafting.

I never really worried that the Bills fanbase would just lose interest but honestly, I can't say the same about the Sabres. I don't know how much longer this can go on at the level of dysfunction that currently exists in the organization and the stigma about a losing culture seems to be looming over things, making it all the harder.
 

Archie Lee

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Apr 13, 2018
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A article quoting Sean McDermott after he was hired to coach the Bills concerning their long playoff drought….


But rather than dismiss The Drought as something they had nothing to do with, which is entirely true, coach Sean McDermott, GM Brandon Beane and the 51 players they’ve brought in have taken The Drought by the armpits and lifted it onto their backs.

It’s called accountability.

“The day I was hired, you’ve got to own that,’’ said McDermott, 43, when camp kicked off and that rain cloud opened.


“When I signed my name on the dotted line and moved my family from North Carolina to Buffalo, that’s a part of us. What I’m focused in on is how we move this organization forward and how we give the fans what they’ve been looking for. I can’t wait, as we go through our process, to see this city on fire the way I remember watching it when I was growing up. We’ve got a lot of work to do between now and then, and that’s what we’ve got to focus on right now.’’


Then, here is Buffalo Sabres CAPTAIN Kyle Okposo speaking about 12 years of no playoff hockey for the Buffalo Sabres after getting buried by Columbus a couple weeks back…



“That’s 12 years for them (fans), not all of that’s on us.”

One organization wins. The other loses.

One takes accountability. The other doesn’t.

Both under same ownership but I think this goes to show how much leadership (players) and coaching matters.

The Sabres are severely lacking on and off the ice.

I think there is a difference between a well thought-out statement made after being hired into a new position and responding to a question in the aftermath of an embarrassing loss.

I think Okposo was, perhaps misguidedly, trying to prevent a chasm from developing between the fans and this year’s team by simultaneously giving them both an out. I don’t think for a minute that he does not take his portion of responsibility for where this team is at seriously.

McDermott well knows that it is possible to make bad word choices and references.
 
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Dreakon13

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Jun 28, 2010
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I don't necessarily want to defend it, but having to be "accountable" for the 12 year drought every year, every loss, for 82 games... sometimes not even getting a day to pick yourself back up before you're out there again... you probably just run out of things to say sometimes. Especially for the kids who don't necessarily deserve or need to get hit with the full extent of the fans and medias pent up wrath after a blowout.
 

Hins77

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Apr 2, 2013
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I’m wondering why the management don’t give assets to get good veterents or reliable goalie? At one point, you cannot win on regular basis with a core under 24 years old and without a reliable goalie. Management should make move, even if the core become older, or loosing assets. Something needs to be done
 
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Bobby Bottle Service

Win for Rick
Dec 15, 2005
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I’m wondering why the management don’t give assets to get good veterents or reliable goalie? At one point, you cannot win on regular basis with a core under 24 years old and without a reliable goalie. Management should make move, even if the core become older, or loosing assets. Something needs to be done

The hard part for GMKA is whomever they trade away is going to be successful in another organization. Then he has to shoulder the criticism of why did he trade "that" guy away.

Outgoing player succeeds, incoming player has initial success before becoming a disappointment.

The reality is that the Sabres have a lot of talent on the roster.

The organization as a whole is the problem.
 
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Mattilaus

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Sep 12, 2014
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Beyond the Wall
Imagine the Bills being so cheap that rather than fire McDermott they simply re-assign him to the Sabres.
Why re-assign? Just let him coach both teams at the same time. 2 for 1 coach sounds like a good deal. On nights where they both play he can coach the hockey team over zoom on an IPad from the sidelines.
 

DJN21

Registered User
Aug 8, 2011
9,474
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Rochester
Or that Kyle’s been here for (checks hockeydb) 8 years!

After this year, Kyke will have been here for 61.5% of the longest playoff drought in pro sports.
to be fair he shouldn't have been re-upped the last 2 times soooo Masochist
 

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