What’s Going on with Buffalo?

[c9777666]

Like, what happened to the team that had a 10 game win streak?

Was that a mirage? A fluke?

They have gone TWO months without consecutive wins.

Click to read more...

 

[Dietpepsi]

They are playing to where their talent level is..

 

[Neuf]

 

[holy]

They were winning close games, their goal differential told the whole story.

 

[Tralfamadore]

They're just a mediocre hockey team and yes the streak was a fluke. They still seem to be trending in the right direction overall though.

 

[Habsrule]

I figured that this season would be a building season for them. They should not be the celler dwellers that they have been. I figured that they would miss the playoffs and draft in that #8-14 slot.

To start the year they had everything going right. Their top line was playing great and their depth was scoring. Now their top line is just playing good, their secondary scoring has slowed down and their real weakness which has been their defence is their weakness still.

 

[Pens x]

GM Eichel is destined to never make the playoffs.

 

[Peiskos]

Sabres are right where many pegged them to be, a wild card team to just under wild card caliber.

 

[BuffaloGooner]

GM Eichel is destined to never make the playoffs.

Get new material, bud.

 

[Tatre]

They're just not very good. It feels like every game you're lucky if you see a stroke of brilliance, but it will be outmatched by more breakdowns. You can list a lot of things that are wrong, but we already had a "Sabres in freefall" thread that covers it.
We're looking at TBL, Caps, Leafs, and Flyers to finish February; is there going to be a new thread after every game?

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

Our 2nd-3rd lines are trash and our coach sucks. Life, man.

All the breaks we got during the 10 game streak are goin the other way now as well. Goalies were above avg, lately slightly below, bad puck luck, untimely goals, etc. And Sobotka. Sheary. Okposo. Poms. Scandella. Trash. trash. trash...

 

[izzy]

not much for scoring depth and jeff skinner isnt some sort of franchise winger like he was playing as before

 

[Star Ocean]

Tage thompson should be in ahl and mittelstadt isnt ready

 

[PatriceBergeronFan]

They over achieved.

 

[13Hockey]

The Sabres won 7 out of those 10 games in OT or SO on there streak and 9 of the games where 1 goal games

They just got all the bounces for a month it was very flukey

 

[93LEAFS]

Same thing that happened to the Avs. They are overly reliant on one line. They lack scoring depth, and Hutton has reverted to what he previously was. They currently have 1 of the key 3 pieces they need, which is a franchise center. Dahlin is likely to be that anchoring franchise number 1 d, he just isn't there yet (no 18-year-old D-men are). They lack a clear #1 in net. They need Skinner or Reinhart to constantly drive a 2nd offensive unit.

Dahlin and Eichel will make solving this problem significantly easier, but they don't automatically solve everything. Losing ROR for what they got in return is a setback, as he would have helped reduce the offensive load. They've also misused cap space on guys like Okposo.

 

[Emerz]

Because Skinner scored 10 goals on 29 shots in that time frame and they were on the winning side of a ton of OT games.

 

[MayDayMayDay]

It's a myriad of issues.

1. Coaching. Housley is not an NHL quality head coach. Doesn't position his players for success, doesn't implement a sound structure, doesn't adjust on the fly, doesn't motivate his men and doesn't show any passion. As a result, the team has become Charmin soft.

2. Player utilization. Over reliance on one line. Casey Mittelstadt and Tage Thompson have been over exposed. Both are still very green. There's still a ton of potential there, but we need to pump the brakes on their development and dial back their roles. Sobotka is awful, and there is still a ton of dead weight on the roster. Help is on the way - we've got some quality on the farm and picks in this draft. But that dead weight needs to go and talent needs to develop to make it happen.

3. Reticence. GM didn't make a move to bolster our squad (picking up a 2C, Dman, etc.) When we were still in the hunt. He still could, but it's way later than it should have been.

4. Team defense. There is none.

There's more. But that's mainly it.

 

[HolyJumpin]

I'll never understand why they decided to move on from Berglund and keep Sobotka.

 

[johnnybbadd]

They need a better 2nd line.

 

[TheDawnOfANewTage]

They need a 2nd line.

Fixed.

 

[hatterson]

Sabres are right where many pegged them to be, a wild card team to just under wild card caliber.

Although that’s mainly due to the streak. Outside of the streak they’re playing at a level that would have them around 3rd worst in the league.

 

[dortt]

I'll never understand why they decided to move on from Berglund and keep Sobotka.

Berglund quit

 

[Skinnyjimmy08]

Its Buffalo.. I always expect this unfortunately

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

Like, what happened to the team that had a 10 game win streak?

Was that a mirage? A fluke?

They have gone TWO months without consecutive wins.

they were playing far above their talent level and like it always does, the team has regressed back to their level