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.

 

[Dirty Dog]

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

Yikes! I hope you received some treatment for that abuse and this helps you heal

 

[BFLO]

They have no culture. You can draft high all you want, but you need to find guys who understand what it takes to win.

If need be give up picks to find those culture guys.

The culture problem doesn't start with the players. It's because everyone above the players in this organization is a joke.

1. The assistant coaches are the same clowns as the previous years. Yes. That's right. Lindy Ruff has the same assistant coaching staff as his predecessor. Aside from Seth Appert, who was the AHL HC for the Rochester Amerks last year, and is the heir apparent to take over once Ruff is gone, despite not having the qualifications or track record to do so, they've been set on grooming him to be Sabres HC for like 3 years now. If there's one thing this organization loves doing above all else, it's promoting unqualified losers from within. Oh, and the Devils are still paying part of Ruff's salary.

2. The front office is a joke. If you look at their resumes, it's a bunch of guys who have spent their entire careers in Buffalo. They know nothing but Buffalo and Pegula, and the playoff drought. They aren't here for their expertise and winning experience, they are here because they are cheap, and they don't rock the boat. A bunch of yes men, who know how to please Pegula. They've only had 1 pro scout on staff for the past 5 years, they just added a second one last season.

3. Kevyn Adams is completely unqualified to work in an NHL front office, let alone be GM. He has no front office experience aside from his GM role. He was an asst coach for the Sabres a decade ago, got fired, and then promoted to buisness OPs. He ran the Harbor Center ice rink complex and Sabres youth hockey program before being promoted to GM.

4. Pegula, the ring leader. Every front office employee or coach or player who has spoken up against how he's been running things no longer works for him. He surrounds himself with Yes Men, and pinches pennies throughout the org, so that it will later cost him dimes. He saves himself $5 million a year on staff payroll and $10million on roster payroll to cost himself $10's of millions in lost gate revenue and playoff revenue.

 

[Fatass]

Man, I sure am glad Pegula talked to the team before the game in Montreal. Made all the difference in the world.

Fire Pegula.

Teams win or lose, mostly, with how their top paid guys play. Top paid guys have guaranteed, big money contracts. What’s the owner going to say that will affect their play? The GM can trade the players, but those guys still have their contracts. The club is perennially losing. Maybe some of these guys would even welcome getting traded?
Any change in attitude from a losing one to a winning one has to come from the core players in the room. They are the leaders and difference makers. It’s up to them. No outside agency will change that.

 

[MHO]

It's so Buffalo that they are nearing top overall pick territory and seemingly, the only guy worthy of top overall consideration is a left handed defensemen. Something Buffalo has way too many of.

 

[Ghost of Murph]

Top 5 teams in the East over the past 10 games are 7-3 or 7-2-1 while Buffalo is on an epic losing streak. Hell of the whole thing is the Sabres are still only 8 pts out of a WC spot with a lot of season left.

 

[Golden_Jet]

Top 5 teams in the East over the past 10 games are 7-3 or 7-2-1 while Buffalo is on an epic losing streak. Hell of the whole thing is the Sabres are still only 8 pts out of a WC spot with a lot of season left.

They are 9 games behind on the win/loss differential, that is a lot of ground to make up.

 

[Ratsreign]

It's so Buffalo that they are nearing top overall pick territory and seemingly, the only guy worthy of top overall consideration is a left handed defensemen. Something Buffalo has way too many of.

They could turn that pick into multiple assets that would immediately help fill in some holes.

But, I guess the question is if Terry would muck it up

 

[Rants Mulliniks]

That's

11 in a row so far.

Just wait

Worry pas. Here come the Leafs to help break that streak. Sabres generally always have Toronto's number (I was almost shocked Leafs won the last one).

 

[sinDer]

Top 5 teams in the East over the past 10 games are 7-3 or 7-2-1 while Buffalo is on an epic losing streak. Hell of the whole thing is the Sabres are still only 8 pts out of a WC spot with a lot of season left.

8 points is actually huge.

The main problem is not to be 8 pts out of WC spot, it's the fact that they have 8 teams ahead of them to catch.