Sell me on the Buffalo Sabres

[EichHart]

Gotta say, it's mighty coincidental for our PP to get a lot better and for your PP to get a ton worse the same year our old PP coach becomes your head coach.

I had such high hopes for Housley, but he really is terrible. We need a veteran coach with tenacity in this locker room.

 

[Cats2TheCup]

This the face of the franchise?

 

[CantLoseWithMatthews]

they're a bad team with no end in sight really. Other teams like the Devils and Flyers have surpassed them already

 

[Lame Lambert]

This the face of the franchise?

No, that’s the GM.

 

[ucanthanzalthetruth]

Times are tough in Buffalo, their GM is their #1C

Bring this bad boy back and everything will change.

I raise you

 

[Lame Lambert]

Times are tough in Buffalo, their GM is their #1C



I raise you

 

[Wandering Cynic]

Eichel has absolutely no heart or drive. If your star player exhibits those qualities, you are quite screwed right off the bat. He may end up being the Ryan Leaf of hockey at this point.

Kane is the least disciplined player in the league. Takes the most hilariously bad penalties at the worst times of the game, consistently costing his team.

Reinhart is a disappointment personally. Really thought he would pan out better at this point.

Ristolainen has steadily become worse instead of better. So disappointed in his progression as well.

Lehner isn't a starting goalie in this league.

The team is just a big hole of no effort and lackluster play. And this is coming from someone who is a Sabres fan. And no it's not because I'm salty af that I drafted Eichel, Kane, Reinhart, and Lehner in my hockey pool (kill me plz).

 

[DJN21]

No, we suck. We all know it. Murray gutted this team to the ground by trading away futures/young prospects/picks for Kane, Bogo, and ROR. ROR has already lost a step, Bogo is always injured, Kane is the best player on the Sabres team, but is a pending FA. We have lazy Eichel and overrated Reinhart who can't drive offense on his own. It's a sad state of affairs. Murray really messed up our defenseman depth. Without the trades he did our defense would like this.

Risto-Scandella
Myers-Pysyk
Zadorov-McCabe
Antipin

Instead right now we have:

Scandella/Risto(Injured)
Bogo (injured) McCabe
Falk-Antipin
Beauleiu


That right there is a solid NHL level defense.

That defense while better is nothing to write home about either.

 

[EichHart]

That defense while better is nothing to write home about either.

I forgot to add Sekera who might be the best of the bunch. The Oilers are hurting badly without him. Myers has been doing great this year in Winnipeg if you've been watching.

Risto-Scandella
Myers-Sekera
Zadorov-Pysyk
Antipin-McCabe

This line-up is solid that is 4 top 4 dman there. We have 2 right now, but one is injured. The others don't even belong in the NHL.

 

[DJN21]

I forgot to add Sekera who might be the best of the bunch. The Oilers are hurting badly without him. Myers has been doing great this year in Winnipeg if you've been watching.

Risto-Scandella
Myers-Sekera
Zadorov-Pysyk
Antipin-McCabe

This line-up is solid that is 4 top 4 dman there. We have 2 right now, but one is injured. The others don't even belong in the NHL.

This is revisionist history at its finest. With sekera, pysyk, myers, zadorov the scandella trade never happens for starters. If we had all of them one would be gone via expansion draft to boot. So take away 2 of those defenders of the bat. Then take the net negative of not having ror and kane on our offense right now...if that' the case then kane and moulson wouldn't be the only bad free agent contracts wed have because our top 9 would be totaly devoid of goal scoring talent unless you think grigorenko and armia were the answers. To many ripple effects involved to look at things in the light that you have.

 

[EichHart]

This is revisionist history at its finest. With sekera, pysyk, myers, zadorov the scandella trade never happens for starters. If we had all of them one would be gone via expansion draft to boot. So take away 2 of those defenders of the bat. Then take the net negative of not having ror and kane on our offense right now...if that' the case then kane and moulson wouldn't be the only bad free agent contracts wed have because our top 9 would be totaly devoid of goal scoring talent unless you think grigorenko and armia were the answers. To many ripple effects involved to look at things in the light that you have.

Foligno/Ennis were traded for Scandella so we still would of had him. Murray also took Nylander over Serg who just scored on us tonight. Our defense could have easily been so much better if Murray didn't make so many terrible moves. A good defense makes a better offense, just look at Nashville, no dynamic offensive talents but they get it done. We don't know who Vegas would have taken in the expansion draft. Carrier is a great player.

 

[Chainshot]

 

[DJN21]

Not to mention that defense is worth at a quick eyeball test of what 28 or 30 million dollars? Brings an interesting salary cap question to light. That doesn' mention that all of the bottom 4 you listed would be in line for raises to those current salaries moving forward I e they would be moved regardless. Antipin would've never been signed with that depth and Guhle coming...to many flaws in this logic.

 

[DJN21]

Foligno/Ennis were traded for Scandella so we still would of had him. Murray also took Nylander over Serg who just scored on us tonight. Our defense could have easily been so much better if Murray didn't make so many terrible moves. A good defense makes a better offense, just look at Nashville, no dynamic offensive talents but they get it done. We don't know who Vegas would have taken in the expansion draft. Carrier is a great player.

I dont disagree with any of this at all. It' completely correct. But saying we could've had those 8 dmen all at the same time is nonsense.

 

[EichHart]

I dont disagree with any of this at all. It' completely correct. But saying we could've had those 8 dmen all at the same time is nonsense.

No I agree with you on some aspects as well. I just think this line-up is poorly put together. No one meshes well. We are not a team, just a bunch of players that have no chemistry together. This is a team game, individual talents can only bring you so far.

 

[naruto]

Sabres still have potential i guess..... but it's looking pretty bad..... need to turn it around or else retool/start rebuild 2.0

I can't believe Eichel hasn't turned out the way we thought he would. Great player but I remember 2015: McDavid vs Eichel.

 

[DJN21]

No I agree with you on some aspects as well. I just think this line-up is poorly put together. No one meshes well. We are not a team, just a bunch of players that have no chemistry together. This is a team game, individual talents can only bring you so far.

Right you are again. Won't disagree. That being said, gun to my head pick one player outside of the obvious eichel vote to start this team over with and I take orielly every single day of the week. Disregarding that trade would be a huge flaw to me.

Keep pysyk instead of getting kulikov...absolutely in hindsight granted pysyk likely wouldve been taken by Vegas but who knows.

I'll wait to see what we get for Kane before concluding the chapter of the jets sabres blockbuster. As of right now you'e right we lost it.

I am being lazy here so forgive me if my history is incorrect but the sekera swap was to trade up to get compher without whom maybe we don't have orielly. Also again I could be wrong but is sekera current contract a result after the trade? Can't really go down that road personally to assess that trade with those variables.

 

[Aladyyn]

Its the coaching, just like last year, and the year before, and the year before that......oh wait. Perhaps it's not the coaching after all.

Our last 4 coaches have been Ron Rolston, Ted Nolan, Dan Bylsma, Phil Housley. So um, yes, our coaching has ranged from awful to atrocious ever since Ruff was fired. That's just facts.

 

[MattMartin]

Our last 4 coaches have been Ron Rolston, Ted Nolan, Dan Bylsma, Phil Housley. So um, yes, our coaching has ranged from awful to atrocious ever since Ruff was fired. That's just facts.

Nolan was brought in to make sure of losses however. Actually he was the only one to deliver.

 

[Aladyyn]

Nolan was brought in to make sure of losses however.

Nolan was hired by LaFontaine, who stepped down months later because he didn't agree with Murray's plan to tank. Get your facts straight next time, thank you.

 

[Aladyyn]

It's year 3 of Sabres actually trying to win games. During that time, there have been 3 spots in the lineup that have never ever changed as long as the players were healthy.
X - O'Reilly - X
X - Eichel - X

X - Ristolainen

The top pairing has been significantly better this year. But the lineup structure up front needs to change, or we'll never be able to score goals.

 

[MattMartin]

Nolan was hired by LaFontaine, who stepped down months later because he didn't agree with Murray's plan to tank. Get your facts straight next time, thank you.

You are correct. I guess Murray kept him on because he believed he would lead them back to the promised land. So strange he was let go right after the tank ended. He was used as a pawn in the Murray great tank takeover. In terms of what was expected of him WHILE MURRAY WAS GM, he passed with flying colors.

 

[Aladyyn]

You are correct. I guess Murray kept him on because he believed he would lead them back to the promised land. So strange he was let go right after the tank ended. He was used as a pawn in the Murray great tank takeover. In terms of what was expected of him WHILE MURRAY WAS GM, he passed with flying colors.

How silly of Tim Murray to fire the head coach right before a top 5 coach was known to become available in the off-season! Nolan got millions of dollars and the requirement was to be bad at his job. That's a great deal tbh.

I also think after the 2 Bylsma years and 20 games of Housley, people have started to look at the Nolan era more fondly.

 

[MattMartin]

How silly of Tim Murray to fire the head coach right before a top 5 coach was known to become available in the off-season! Nolan got millions of dollars and the requirement was to be bad at his job. That's a great deal tbh.

I also think after the 2 Bylsma years and 20 games of Housley, people have started to look at the Nolan era more fondly.

This is true. Much funner when trying to lose for a better draft pick as opposed to losing because things aren't working out as expected.

 

[Isaac Nootin]

Our last 4 coaches have been Ron Rolston, Ted Nolan, Dan Bylsma, Phil Housley. So um, yes, our coaching has ranged from awful to atrocious ever since Ruff was fired. That's just facts.

The players on the ice also range from awful to atrocious. That's just facts.