What’s Going on with Buffalo?

[HolyJumpin]

Berglund quit

he doesn't quit if Buffalo treated him well. He's the third player in recent memory to talk about a toxic environment in Buffalo.

 

[KingBran]

Exactly what most people (non Sabre fans) thought would happen.

 

[Ivan13]

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.

This is such a lazy argument, which I find surprising coming from you given how well thought out you usually are. Avs problems aren't being too heavily reliant on one line. Their skid coincided with their goalies going below 85% in a two months span. They still played well most nights and outplayed the other team often outshooting them by the tune of 20 shots (losses to Jets 7-4 and Flames 5-3 come to mind immediately) quite a few times only to see their goalies allow 5 goals on 16 shots (Flames game). before their recent 4-1 win against the Jets they lost every single game in which they scored 3 or 4 goals, there were 10 of those during that stretch in Dec, Jan and early Feb. Scoring goals has been no problem.

 

[NextYear67]

They're Buffalo

 

[Gaylord Q Tinkledink]

I think Middestat not taking a step forward at all hurt them.

Trade O'Reilly away for a bunch of meh parts when compared to him.

Skinner is producing better than what people thought he would, which makes Sabres look a little better.

Their goaltending could be better/more consistent

And I'll probably get quoted the most for this, but Ristolainen is overrated.

 

[Pens x]

The O’Reilly trade was BRUTAL for the Sabres. I’m not sure how Botts wasn’t ridiculed more for that one. Luckily he found an even worse GM in Waddell to steal Skinner. But my god was that ROR deal awful.

 

[Team Cozens]

Sabres were in fantastic shape till December 15th, the day Berglund was suspended.
Botterill never replaced him and banked n Mittelstadt who was a year and half out of high school into
the 2C (maybe 2/3C) slot exclusively. Mittelstadt has really come on lately but he was overmatched the
first 4 months. Really looking forward to watch him out of the gate next year. Dahlin as well of course.

The Sabres are desperate for a 2/3C to replace Sobotka who has one goal in something like 33 games.
Patience seems to be the key with the 3 first round picks and some potential UFA signings available.

People keep saying "next year" with the Sabres but you can really see it lining up.

 

[Beezeral]

A 10 game win streak that was propped up by 7 one goal wins. They have been on a sub 80 point pace outside of that streak. They are a mediocre team whose position in the standings was artificially inflated by the streak.

 

[tsujimoto74]

- Goaltending was great at the beginning of the season but has been going downhill steadily since
- Most of the season, we've only had 2 competent forward lines (1 and 4). FFS, Sobotka has been our 2C for most of the season. He's not even a good 4th liner. And Mitts just didn't look ready for the pace of NHL hockey. Moving Reinhart to Mitts' line has made that line much better, and Mitts has looked vastly improved, but it's not enough to overcome the team's other problems.
- Our defense still gives up way too many chances, and with our goaltending going down the toilet + our lack of secondary scoring, that's a recipe for disaster.
- Botterill sat on his ass and did absolutely nothing to help the team as it slid from a comfortable playoff position to nearly certain to miss. There have been dozens of players rumored to be on trade blocks around the league who could've helped us, but there hasn't been so much as a whisper that he's inquired about even 1 of them. He couldn't even be bothered to look at internal options, e.g., calling up Olofsson.
- Housley is not good at his job. Can't line match. Prefers to play crappy, consistent vets over young guys who might actually provide some spark if given a real chance. Exhibits 0 emotion behind the bench.

I was so f***ing stoked just to have watchable, exciting Sabres hockey again.

 

[Gabrielor]

Basically everything.

Eichel is legit. Dahlin is legit. Reinhart is legit. Skinner is legit.

The rest, from the owner, to the depth players, has failed.

The Sabres, sans Edmonton, has to be the worst team in the league currently at developing young talent.

 

[BLNY]

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.

IMO their goal tending was punching above its weight class. Once it reverted to norm, things fell back to reality.

 

[Dogewow]

he doesn't quit if Buffalo treated him well. He's the third player in recent memory to talk about a toxic environment in Buffalo.

What a load of crap.

Buffalo has been understanding and supportive of guys like Lehner, who openly talked about his addiction issues and how supportive the organization was to them. Berglund's issues have to do with his own personal mental health. People with depression and other mental health issues can have tons of great things going for them in their life, but can still feel miserable on the inside (part of why mental health issues are so insidious).

Buffalo has not been successful on the ice as of late, and there's certainly evidence to show that there's something up with the competitiveness of the team. There's zero evidence that they've mistreated any players or treated Berglund terribly enough to force him to quit. There's evidence that the opposite is true.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

The same thing that's been going on for almost 4 years now they don't have a #1 goalie, except now it's worse because now not only do they not have a #1 goalie but now they don't have a #2 center .

Until they choose to actually do their jobs and fix that they won't make ANY progress

 

[Bixby Snyder]

Their gm is an idiot and no I'm not talking about Jack Eichel.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

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

They aren't even close to wildcard caliber they are tied for 11th in the east only a couple points ahead of 13th in the east and given the next 6 games are Tampa, Washington Toronto Philly, Pittsburgh , Toronto , they will hit 13th in the east and maybe lower than that

 

[Rastin]

he doesn't quit if Buffalo treated him well. He's the third player in recent memory to talk about a toxic environment in Buffalo.

Do you have a quote for that? The only quotes I've read from Berglund on the Termination were that Buffalo did the right thing, as did he. Depression is a nasty affliction (reading between the lines here, it certainly sounds like a depression issue)

That being said, Losing Berglund hurt us a lot more than my fellow Sabre fans want to admit. While he wasn't setting the world on fire, he was solid and I'm sure he could have grown into his normal production. I think that once it was obvious the CM wasn't ready he could have done well as an interim 2C. More importantly, he knocked Sobotka out of the C role to that of a 3/4 winger.

Short term (this year and probably next) losing Berglund smarts BUT I'm glad to be out from under the 3rd and 4th years remaining on that contract.

 

[Pizza!Pizza!]

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.

Regression to the mean. The Blues will be doing this exact same thing, except during the postseason.

 

[CanadianPensFan1]

I mean, it seems pretty obvious. People get so blinded by new shiny things.

Buffalo is a middling team. A 10 game streak doesn't change that.

 

[Royal Thunder]

-coaching is absolutely brutal. Housley is just as vanilla and uninspiring as Bylsma. The team is desperate for a respected coach who knows how to manage a bench. Every single opponent looks significantly more in sync than us.

-forward depth is non existent. Sobotka is our 2C by minutes played and he's on pace for like 15 points. Mittelstadt works his ass off but he is not ready to be playing the role he is playing. Pominville is beyond invisible and is the softest player in the league . Thompson isn't yet a consistent NHL calibre winger. These things have been obvious all year and we haven't made a single addition to try to remedy it.

-Dahlin is still really young and Risto is not close to being a #1D even though he's forced to take that role

 

[dasaybz]

I mean, it seems pretty obvious. People get so blinded by new shiny things.

Buffalo is a middling team. A 10 game streak doesn't change that.

Middling is being nice.

 

[sabresEH]

Exactly what most people (non Sabre fans) thought would happen.

Not exactly true. Some threads that were started about the sabres being improved during the ten game streak weren’t started by our fan base. And the knowledgeable posters came in and said exactly what people are saying now. We are riding a hot line and hotter goaltending. Bank the wins now because we will regress.

 

[CanadianPensFan1]

Middling is being nice.

Hmmm I guess? I think they have a solid foundation and they need some work but I think they are a bubble team. They COULD make the playoffs with a few good bounces but arent good enough to make a deep run.

 

[HolyJumpin]

I just think there's something strange that 3, 4 or the major stories about people's mental health in the NHL (Berglund, Ryan O'Reilly, Okoposo, Lehner) have all been coming out of Buffalo. Now, it could be that it's just there's good reporting going on around there. But it doesn't irk anyone that all these players are coming out of the same place? That just strikes me as odd.

 

[S E P H]

Not too worried about the Sabres, they were in the basement for the past couple of seasons. They started off hot, but still have a lot of holes in that line up which should come with time (FA's, trades, and draft picks). They still have a bright and fantastic future which was not going to be built overnight.

 

[Aladyyn]

Overachieved for a bit, built a cushion in the playoff race and then the GM sat on his hands and watched the team burn down.

Also the Ryan O'Reilly trade might be the worst move of the last 10 years.