Tribute Worst Sabre 2010-2020 The Vote

[HaNotsri]

• You are allowed to change your vote if you find a good argument for some other player
• Players have been listed in order of nomination (with some exemptions due to spelling check, not rigging this election- promise!)
• Some european names might have been translated to the swedish spelling, I tried to use english wikipedia but got lazy
• If you want to enter new players into the competition it can't be done for the no. 1 spot but if a runner up poll happens I'll include them.
• I promised to list games played etc. for the players but there are simply too many of them. I decided to enter the honorable mentions as well in case we continue the polling for lower spots.
• Nominations listed as quotes in separate post

Spoiler: Criterias listed previously

• On ice performance
• Off ice performance

Feel free to consider:

• Time spent on the Sabres roster
• Intangibles
• Cap hit
• Critical moments of failure

We ran out of space =( Too many nominees

Spoiler: Players left off the list

I've gone through the nominations again and removed joke nominations/simple dislike nominations/Honorable Mentions. I'm super sorry if any of these players are your pick for the no 1 spot as the worst Sabre but list them here for transparency:

Spoiler: The HM list

• Cal O'Reilly
• Tage Thompson
• Cody Hodgson
• Derek Whitmore
• Adam Pardy
• Benoît Pouliot
• Alexander Sulzer
• Jaime McBain
• Conor Sheary

Click to read more...

 

[Zman5778]

I really don't see how this isn't a runaway for Leino............

 

[HaNotsri]

Better off calling it the Ville Leino award and giving it to the runner-up.

Honestly Leino was the start of the cursed decade from the Sabres.

I don't see how this isn't Ville Leino.
Follow up post: Leino was basically useless right from day 1.

Player I dislike the most is still Marc Andre Gragnani, but he didn't last long enough for this award.
There's no perfect answer of on ice + off ice + cap except Leino.
Few names with a combination of these, but not all, are:
Moulson, Bogosian, Okposo, Skinner, Hodgson

Counter argument – Leino
With the amount of people saying Leino, I was beginning to think this was a question of the "worst investment vs return contract" for the timeline and not worst Sabres player. Leino, despite what he represented at the time, was a middle of the road player here at worst.
I understand people have an unhealthy obsession with their emotions and sports, but if you think Leino was the worst player during that time, then you are ignoring the absolute garbage that played here during the tank years, and the years that led the team to begin the rebuild in the first place.

 

[HaNotsri]

Leino cost us some UFA money. Skinner cost us cap space for the next decade. Tage cost us ROR.
But Bogosian is still the worst.
Follow up post:
Bogo was a beast for the first 20 games after we acquired him. He was complete waste of roster space for the next five seasons.
In terms of total cost (salary/assets given up in trade), disappointing seasons played, and overall frustration level, it's hands down Bogosian for me.

Here's my own nominee Zach Bogosian:
We dreamt of Dylan Larkin in exchange for Myers, instead we gave up a big package to get Bogo and Kane in return. As usual cognitive dissonance was our best friend as fans and we prized Bogo as a useful part of the return, to be fair his 21 games for us the season 14/15 was probably his best period as a Sabre.
Then the injuries hit and his level of play dropped. From being a useful physical presence to defensive liability, constantly behind the play and if we somehow recovered the puck you could count on Bogo to throw it away like a handgranade in his own zone. Bogo meant defensive mayhem in the worst possible sense.
This probably wouldn't have been that bad if it wasn't for our GM and coach somehow counting Bogo as an important part of the roster. Not a leading player but someone that was expected to bring something useful to our abysmal defense. Instead Bogo made an effort to be the absolute worst of the craptastic Buffalo defense.
The last year with us he was gifted minutes in what many perceived as an attempt to get him traded, instead he hurt the trade value of other players (Scandella). After being scratched and somehow scoring a goal he had no grace whatsoever and made a snarky comment about "knowing something about how to play in this league."
Once he collected most of his money from us it ended in triumph for Bogosian, a mutual contract termination and deal with the Tampa Bay Lightning.
His reward for being complete shit for the Sabres ended up being the Stanley Cup. Then he signed with the Leafs.
So, to summarize:

• Started out as part of bad trade
• Injuries
• Hade a pretty high cap hit
• Had a role on the roster that he never could fill
• Took no responsiblity for his shitty performance
• Gifted minutes and hurt the value/development of other players
• Collected his money and then got rewarded with the f***ing cup on another team
• Signed with the Leafs

It's like having a terrible ex that treated you bad and then somehow gets to live a life that you deserved but never got. I hate Bogo on every level and this makes him the WORST Sabre for me when considering on ice performance, off ice behaviour and what he respresented before and after his time here.

For me Leino began the misery which I was oblivious would last an entire decade. It was bad but I didn't know the terrible would last so long so it wasn't so suffering to see him.
Players like Benoit, Mezarhos, etc came at a time where we knew we were awful, and we were in full tanking. So it was suffering but I was palpable to it.
A player like Sobotka though... We experienced this dumpster fire between two garbage coaches. A player who put up some of the worst stats and metrics for players with his minutes under Housley. Who then for some reason became anchored to the 2nd line for Krueger in the start of year two. A player that despite both analytics and eye test coming together in a rare blessed union to show arguably the the worse Sabre to ever dress in a prominent role - somehow managed to be penciled in to top lines, the penalty kill and the powerplay via two coaches.
This player was involved in two seasons where the expectations were playoffs. He was the product of one of the most lopsided trades in our history. He epitomizes this organizations utter failure in not only assessing talent to bring in to the organization BUT also the organizations failure to create and role out a lineup with players in proper positions to succeed.
Sobotka to me will remain one of the worst experiences I have ever watched. He had no good element left to his game - his play was detrimental to any measure of success this team could have. Sobotka book ended the terrible decade of Sabres hockey in not only the way he was brought in but also how he played and how he was deployed.

It might be Josh Gorges. He constantly got top 4 for three seasons and was just obliterated constantly. His 4th season his TOI got cut. But my god.
And we gave up a 2nd rounder to get him.
Benoit/Mezaros/Strachan were also just absolute trash d-men. We paid Mezaros like 4M for 1 year. The tank team defense was just absolute garbage fire. We can hate on Leino, but that was us trying to be actually good. When we were actively trying to be bad, hoo boy.

Oh. Derrick Grant who had a season worth of games at the start of his career with no goals including 40 with the Sabres. And yet Tim Murray threw a fit when he was picked up off of waivers by Nashville. He’s carving out an ok career now. But the no goals thing was confounding. Both becaUse he had so many chances to score and so many chances in terms of games played

If skinner continues on his Leino like trajectory he'll be the worst player of 2010-2020 and 2020-2030 as he bridges both decades. His cap hit is literally double Leino's and the contract is 2 years longer.

The fact that the Sabres traded for Vesey twice must be added for consideration.

 

[HaNotsri]

I was only half serious with the Tage nomination since he's one of the main whipping boys currently.

If there isn't a min game limit then no one can possibly beat the uselessness of Dalton Smith being dressed right? The only nominee to beat that would be when we dressed Sam to sit on the bench and not play at all.

Thinking of guys that barely played, I have an unhealthy level of disdain for Cal O'Reilly

I'll say Shaone Morrisonn. I would say Scott, but his off-ice stuff and his presence in the locker room makes up the gap of him not being useless.

I nominate Luke Adam. After looking like he could top out as a high end 3C, he ended up busting hard. Like he looked like Cizikas but with more skill. I had him and Tropp as a great future 2/3 of a 3rd line and... nothing. They went from keepers in my BeAGM’s to dumping them with my first trades.

Matt Ellis had some of the worst offensive skills I've ever seen for an NHL regular. I get that he had "intangibles", but watching him with the puck on his stick was painful.
I'll go with him or Leino. Honorable mentions to Franson, Cal O'Reilly, and Carlo Colaiacovo.
Follow up post on Ellis: that’s fine but this is an arbitrary thread for the most part. I can honestly say that Matt Ellis, with the puck on his stick, was an automatic wasted possession 95 percent of the time.
The other purposes he filled weren’t great enough to wash that away. He wasn’t as good as our best defensive forwards, he couldn’t fight at all (although he was willing, I’ll give him that), and he had no presence in the offensive zone. His role was to be a high-energy guy, I guess, but all I ever saw were wasted plays. This is the hill im sadly willing to die on with this team.

I will offer up Lehner. He should be in the running solely based on the number of points we lost due to him almost literally letting in every single shot he faced in shootouts. Seriously, we should have started pulling him with a minute left in OT.

 

[HaNotsri]

Goalie

Hackett, Matt

2013–2015

13

1

10

—

2

0

3.71

.871

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

1 Win in 13 Starts (He claims he was rushed back from a ACL injury which I dont doubt)

HM.

Hutton, Carter

2018–2020

81

30

39

—

9

2

3.07

.904

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

He just sucks.

Forward

Sheary, Conor

LW

2018–2020

133

23

30

53

20

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

This bum was supposed to be a goal scorer, but he was next to useless. Leaching points off icetime with Eichel for a bit and otherwise useless.

HM

Whitmore, Derek

LW

2011–2012

2

0

0

0

0

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

I hated this guy for whatever reason and was shocked he played in the NHL for 2 games. Half the roster must have been out


Defense

Strachan, Tyson

D

2014–2015

46

0

5

5

44

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

The definition of trash. Thankfully he only played 46 games but that was 46 too many.

HM

Pardy, Adam

D

2012–2013

17

0

4

4

14

[TBODY] [/TBODY]

 

[joshjull]

The Pegulas

 

[Sabre the Win]

I really don't see how this isn't a runaway for Leino............

Some might not have been around for Leino?

 

[HaNotsri]

I really don't see how this isn't a runaway for Leino............

I think Leino will win but I don't know. We got rid of him with the compliance buyout so his impact was limited in my opinion but at the same time he was part of pushing Sabres into the abyss. He's a beacon of despair, that's for sure.

 

[jc17]

Fun fact:

Leino's p/60 of 1.12 with the sabres would be 4th on the current team.

 

[Caroline Says ll]

Leino is my runnerup. Sobotka is my main choice.

Sobotka for me is the perfect encapsilation for how the Sabres have been run for this past decade.
He was brought in through a God awful trade where serious lack of player evaluation was determined. He was identified and played by two different coaches terribly which really stresses how poor our lineup decisions have been. He played with no life, he was the rare blessed union where both the eye test, statistics and analystics showed him to be one of the worst players playing the minutes he was playing, and the situations he was playing.

For me I didn't suffer through Leino as I did not know he would be the start of a decade of awfulness. In hindsight it was such a bad signing and began it all. During the rebuild we thought we were building so there felt like there was positives in the darkness. But the last two years of the decade was when we needed to put up or shut up, and we had Sobotka playing in the penalty kill, on the powerplay and even in the top 6 with a former 40 goal scorer. Sobotka book ended the decade which killed this teams soul.

Others might not remember Sobotka the way I have. But to this day he is easily one of the worst hockey players who I have ever seen play hockey. He had nothing of what had him play well in Boston or is early days in St. Louis. He couldn't hit, he couldnt forecheck, he couldnt take a pass or keep possession. He was a waste of a roster spot - yet somehow was playing more minutes than Reinhart, Skinner, Girgs and Larsson most nights.

So through the all time awful trade that brought him in, the terrible way he was inserted into our lineup - in a time where we HAD to win and compete in the playoffs, that is why he is the worst Sabre of the decade.

 

[SackTastic]

How is Tage not even on this list ?!?!?!

 

[jc17]

Looking at some numbers Strachan had a GF% of 24% but played 46 games.

We did give Nic Deslauriers over 200 games with a GF% of 30%

 

[Hashbrown77]

The Pegulas

Agreed.....tho my vote goes to Berglund. Say what you want about the others, Berglund just quit like a punk.

 

[HaNotsri]

How is Tage not even on this list ?!?!?!

He was nominated early but the poster @EmeraldCitySabre then said it was a half joke. I had to pull some names since I couldn't fit all of them in the poll, you find them listed under the spoiler tag in the OP.

If you want to "mail vote for Thompson" I will count your vote manually since he was an actual nominee. Just make sure to not vote for some other name on the list.

 

[HaNotsri]

Looking at some numbers Strachan had a GF% of 24% but played 46 games.

We did give Nic Deslauriers over 200 games with a GF% of 30%

Krueger would reward Nic with some serious minutes for that.

 

[MarkusKetterer]

After looking at all the choices, I gotta go with Hutton. The top 4 contenders were him, Leino, Moulson and Bogosian. The players were overpaid and useless, but they were just one part of the time on ice. The goalie is there for 60 minutes.

This team plays more terrified with him in net than they do with anybody else in net, and that’s with an empty net included.

Hackett gets a pass for me because he was a young goalie on a tank team.

 

[EmeraldCitySabre]

He was nominated early but the poster @EmeraldCitySabre then said it was a half joke. I had to pull some names since I couldn't fit all of them in the poll, you find them listed under the spoiler tag in the OP.

If you want to "mail vote for Thompson" I will count your vote manually since he was an actual nominee. Just make sure to not vote for some other name on the list.

I think it's too early in Tage's career to put him on this list since it's 2010-2020. I have no doubt however, that he'll be on the 2020-2030 list. Dude just looks very clumsy out there.

 

[joshjull]

Fun fact:

Leino's p/60 of 1.12 with the sabres would be 4th on the current team.

There is nothing about that fact.

 

[Cirris]

I tried to buck the trend of Leino and went with Vesey, Because it took two 3rd round picks in separate trades to actually get him here, and for all the hype when we first tried to sign him. He eventually stunk it up, and quickly left.

 

[NotABadPeriod]

Leino is my runnerup. Sobotka is my main choice.

Sobotka for me is the perfect encapsilation for how the Sabres have been run for this past decade.
He was brought in through a God awful trade where serious lack of player evaluation was determined. He was identified and played by two different coaches terribly which really stresses how poor our lineup decisions have been. He played with no life, he was the rare blessed union where both the eye test, statistics and analystics showed him to be one of the worst players playing the minutes he was playing, and the situations he was playing.

For me I didn't suffer through Leino as I did not know he would be the start of a decade of awfulness. In hindsight it was such a bad signing and began it all. During the rebuild we thought we were building so there felt like there was positives in the darkness. But the last two years of the decade was when we needed to put up or shut up, and we had Sobotka playing in the penalty kill, on the powerplay and even in the top 6 with a former 40 goal scorer. Sobotka book ended the decade which killed this teams soul.

Others might not remember Sobotka the way I have. But to this day he is easily one of the worst hockey players who I have ever seen play hockey. He had nothing of what had him play well in Boston or is early days in St. Louis. He couldn't hit, he couldnt forecheck, he couldnt take a pass or keep possession. He was a waste of a roster spot - yet somehow was playing more minutes than Reinhart, Skinner, Girgs and Larsson most nights.

So through the all time awful trade that brought him in, the terrible way he was inserted into our lineup - in a time where we HAD to win and compete in the playoffs, that is why he is the worst Sabre of the decade.

Our 19-20 record with and without Sobotka begs to differ.

 

[itwasaforwardpass]

Should have left Leino off the list and made the vote for 2nd place.

 

[Caroline Says ll]

Our 19-20 record with and without Sobotka begs to differ.

Sobotka playing had nothing to do with this team's hot start last year and him getting out had nothing to do with the decline. We were the same unsystemed team last year as we are this year. We were the same team dressing and overplaying ineffective players as we do every game this year.

Sobotka being placed in the top 6 was a sign of things to come when he imagined Skinner Jo and Sobotka as some matchup specialist line similar to how he views our amazing third line this year.

 

[threeVo]

I know Leino is gonna win, but I voted for Strachan

 

[slip]

We knew Leino was a bust after his first year and over the next couple of seasons the tank was on so who really cared. His buyout was painless.

With Bogosian, we were counting on him to be a top 4 defender in the critical years coming out of the tank but suffered through 5 straight years of rank mediocrity.