Buffalo Sabres have lost 11 in a row.

[Lafleurs Guy]

The blueprint has pretty much been we hope guys who have never won in the NHL will figure out how to win. After awhile it doesn't work so they reset it again. Because value draft picks sooo much they don't bring in high quality veterans to help those guys they drafted before. You are promoting the same process

It’s a process that has worked repeatedly. Talent wins cups. The more you accumulate the better your odds. You can always get cheap vets to help.

But you don’t trade away key young pieces and picks for quick fixes. That is a disastrous way of building and has been shown not to work.

So I have a good friend who is a coach on a staff of professional sports team. This team was bad for many years. One of the first thing they talked about as a staff is they needed to change culture.

They dumped/traded some "hot" prospects and kept others. They then blended it with some culture building free agents. And traded some picks for other. Team is now a regular playoff contender

Great. They made quick fixes and are now fighting for a playoff spot. Good for them.

If you just want to make the playoffs - then sure, go that route. But you’re not going to build a cup winner that way.

Good GM's and coaches understand high drafting alone will not equal wins. You draft high cuz of 1 of 2 things

The team is poor at identifying talent, or your team lacks those guys who know what it takes to win games. And perhaps it can be a bit of both.

Good GMs recognize that the best talent is found at the top of the draft. They understand that a planned rebuild yields the greatest chance at winning cups. This has been proven over and over.

There’s no point going for quick fixes to fight for eight place. Bite the bullet, rebuild, draft high. Then get cheap vets to help you develop.

 

[fsanford]

It’s a process that has worked repeatedly. Talent wins cups. The more you accumulate the better your odds. You can always get cheap vets to help.

But you don’t trade away key young pieces and picks for quick fixes. That is a disastrous way of building and has been shown not to work.

Great. They made quick fixes and are now fighting for a playoff spot. Good for them.

If you just want to make the playoffs - then sure, go that route. But you’re not going to build a cup winner that way.

Good GMs recognize that the best talent is found at the top of the draft. They understand that a planned rebuild yields the greatest chance at winning cups. This has been proven over and over.

There’s no point going for quick fixes to fight for eight place. Bite the bullet, rebuild, draft high. Then get cheap vets to help you develop.

Right now the Sabres need to just make the playoffs. That is how you start building culture.

This culture thing is lost on you. And there is nothing I can say that will place a higher importance in your mind.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

Right now the Sabres need to just make the playoffs.

They’re not going to. They’re going to miss.

So miss hard and get a high pick. In the summer they can look at cheap vets to add for next year.

 

[BB79]

Right now the Sabres need to just make the playoffs.

We've been saying this for I don't know how long. They came close a couple years ago when they were in the hunt until the last week of the season but now seem to be regressing again.

 

[fsanford]

We've been saying this for I don't know how long. They came close a couple years ago when they were in the hunt until the last week of the season but now seem to be regressing again.

They could, with all their draft capital they could bring in some good quality players.

But they will continue to draft high and ignore the thing they are lacking

They need that Justin Williams kind of player. That player won't be cheap but his experience would be valuable in a young lockeroom

 

[BB79]

They could, with all their draft capital they could bring in some good quality players.

But they will continue to draft high and ignore the thing they are lacking

They need that Justin Williams kind of player. That player won't be cheap but his experience would be valuable in a young lockeroom

They've gone through every type of player that there is over the last 10+ years. It isn't lack of talent. It's absolutely everyone above the players. The Pegulas don't know what they're doing is the bottom line.

 

[DudeWhereIsMakar]

There's no fixing the Sabres. Only way I see it happening is if they draft a franchise player like Connor McDavid, but may be too far fetched considering Eichel is a hell of a player and is one of the many Sabres that left to win a cup.

 

[fsanford]

They've gone through every type of player that there is over the last 10+ years. It isn't lack of talent. It's absolutely everyone above the players. The Pegulas don't know what they're doing is the bottom line.

Pegulas are a joke will agree.

 

[sabremike]

 

[Warh1ppy]

That's

11 in a row so far.

Just wait

 

[Community]

Buffalo losing 11 in a row while the entire rest of the division is playing well with a .500 or better record over the last 10 games and 5 of the division's 8 teams being 7-3 or 7-2-1 right now is crazy.

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

A decade+ ago Sabres fans on this site and I went to the wall over whether we should trade an actual 1st round draft pick for Ryan Four Goal Miller. There were over two months of trade discussion before the deal happened at the deadline. My argument was the data predicted he would be bad in front of a stingy defense because there was such a mammoth mountain of that data. I was always clearly correct, and then it did happen the way I said it would happen. But it was a vile, abusive experience and before that season ended I left the site for five years.

And so the talk of them pissing away their assets for no value doesn't land the same way with me, nor does the fact they hadn't been in the playoffs for years back then and they still haven't since. Seeing a Columbus fan express genuine pity earlier in this thread was quite a thing

I am sorry to hear of the mental toll that participating in a prolonged argument about a professional hockey player on a hockey discussion board took on you.