Buffalo Sabres have lost 12 in a row.

[KeyserSoze81]

And if they’d stayed they would’ve had success together.

But they wouldn't have, specifically because they surrounded them with terrible coaching, substance abuse-addled veterans (ROR, Robin Lehner), and immature morons like Evander Kane. Buffalo had a limited window to turn things around with Eichel and Reinhart, and they missed it. Eichel wanted out, and Reinhart wanted out after Eichel was leaving.

They managed to alienate their best player by not listening to his wishes. The injury might have been unlucky, the way they handled it was idiotic.

Eichel had requested a trade a year before. It was already over. The injury was a vehicle by Eichel's camp to push the issue to a head - if they were on better ground, I guarantee that they would have reached a reasonable reconciliation (despite gross mismanagement by the Sabres).

I am not excusing the Sabres; indeed, I hate them and want the franchise to fold rather than ruining the few good memories of the sport that I still possess. But you cannot keep unhappy talent around forever and somehow achieve success.

 

[Schennanigans]

I don’t understand them struggling this mightily. You’d think they no talent on the team to suck this bad.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

What did Sakic's org do until getting their grubby little mitts on a certain Patrick Roy and Mike Keane? As a Habs fan I remember that trade. 29 years later and I still remember. Maybe you're just too young to remember.

I remember it well.

What they didn’t do was trade Joe Sakic.

 

[Lafleurs Guy]

But they wouldn't have, specifically because they surrounded them with terrible coaching, substance abuse-addled veterans (ROR, Robin Lehner), and immature morons like Evander Kane. Buffalo had a limited window to turn things around with Eichel and Reinhart, and they missed it. Eichel wanted out, and Reinhart wanted out after Eichel was leaving.

Okay. But giving away those players certainly didn’t help. So why would they want to repeat those mistakes?

Eichel had requested a trade a year before. It was already over. The injury was a vehicle by Eichel's camp to push the issue to a head - if they were on better ground, I guarantee that they would have reached a reasonable reconciliation (despite gross mismanagement by the Sabres).

Sure. Bad luck and they made it worse. I’m not defending what went down there. Just saying that people using this as an argument against rebuilding are missing the point- it’s not rebuilding if you trade your best player/prospects away. That’s an aborted rebuild and it sucks.

I am not excusing the Sabres; indeed, I hate them and want the franchise to fold rather than ruining the few good memories of the sport that I still possess. But you cannot keep unhappy talent around forever and somehow achieve success.

Sure. That was a unique case and as I said, it’s bad luck - whether they exacerbated it or not.

 

[Panthaz89]

Hey, I still remember Tim Murray's interview at the 2015 draft saying you can't be upset walking into the offseason with Eichel and newly acquired E. Kane and Ryan O'Reilly. This was after his rant about losing the McDavid lottery.

That 2014-2015 Buffalo tank was insane. Anyone who could make a save was shipped out immediately and Sabres players were visibly upset when Sabres fans were cheering goals against at home.

No they weren't they were traded shortly before the deadline and the Sabres lost like every game in January. Literally any other GM would have accepted those trades if the team offered it to them at that point of the season they shipped out two below average goalies and got another one back. People were just mad because McDavid was available that year.

 

[SensFactor]

11 in a row is insane...especially with the talent Buffalo has

 

[VaporTrail]

I don’t understand them struggling this mightily. You’d think they no talent on the team to suck this bad.

The losing culture runs deep.

 

[Boris Le Tigre]

Sabres need Dhalin back in the line up. The D has some bright spots with Power and Bryam but not experience and everyone of them has been outmatched trying to play above their station for like a month.

 

[Ghost of Murph]

Leafs tonight. Bruins tomorrow. Not an easy couple games to end the losing streak. Consolation prize as of today, BUF diff is still better than that of Boston. Maybe Pegula can give another speech to "fire up" the boys.

 

[Romang67]

Leafs tonight. Bruins tomorrow. Not an easy couple games to end the losing streak. Consolation prize as of today, BUF diff is still better than that of Boston. Maybe Pegula can give another speech to "fire up" the boys.

Don't the Sabres always beat the Leafs at home? Or is it the other way around?

 

[Louskoolaid89]

Don't the Sabres always beat the Leafs at home? Or is it the other way around?

The Sabres are never really home against Toronto. Toronto and their fans make themselves a home in Buffalo. Hopefully this fires up the Sabres enough and they get a super performance from UPL! If your team isn't playing the Sabres you gotta want to see them end this misery.

 

[JianYang]

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

Yeah, veterans don't really come "cheap" with the way the cba is designed. Any veteran that would be enticing probably doesn't want to sign up for a rebuild anyways.

 

[Mattilaus]

The Sabres are never really home against Toronto. Toronto and their fans make themselves a home in Buffalo. Hopefully this fires up the Sabres enough and they get a super performance from UPL! If your team isn't playing the Sabres you gotta want to see them end this misery.

Hopefully it fires them up as much as a speech from the owner....er wait.

But serious, I predict a well earned loss. The team has given up and just gave their worst performance of the streak against montreal after being told no help is coming and no trades are being made. They are demoralized and were just told management is not doing anything about it. I call leafs win by at least 3.

 

[Louskoolaid89]

Hopefully it fires them up as much as a speech from the owner....er wait.

But serious, I predict a well earned loss. The team has given up and just gave their worst performance of the streak against montreal after being told no help is coming and no trades are being made. They are demoralized and were just told management is not doing anything about it. I call leafs win by at least 3.

Logic and reality speak loudly here.

 

[BFLO]

Don't the Sabres always beat the Leafs at home? Or is it the other way around?

Historically the Sabres own the Leafs both home and away.

Regular Season Wins​

Sabres: 123 Maple Leafs : 89 Ties: 18​

Since Matthews joined the Leafs, the Sabres are still 12-14-3 against them. Not that bad considering how bad the Sabres have been during this stretch, and how good the Leafs have been.

 

[TheGroceryStick]

The ticket prices are tumbling. Don’t see tonight being a very pro-sabres friendly crowd - likely more so than ever.

 

[toddkaz]

Tonight baby! Bring back the memories...

 

[PattyLafontaine]

More Palm Trees ... yeesh they are not good.

 

[Dr Pepper]

*12

 

[DougBodger]

This team was in good shape at the quarter-point of the season.

What has happened since is hard to believe. I had thought they finally turned it around. They have too many of the same type of player on both offense and defense and are mentally weak.

 

[HaNotsri]

This team was in good shape at the quarter-point of the season.

What has happened since is hard to believe. I had thought they finally turned it around. They have too many of the same type of player on both offense and defense and are mentally weak.

They were never in good shape.

 

[olli]

This team was in good shape at the quarter-point of the season.

What has happened since is hard to believe. I had thought they finally turned it around. They have too many of the same type of player on both offense and defense and are mentally weak.

This is mostly a culture, team issue. The gm has done a bad job but the roster is pretty consistently better than the results they put up.

 

[toddkaz]

Players still in Buffalo after the trade deadline

 

[LeonDraisaitl]

11 in a row is insane...especially with the talent Buffalo has

About to make it 12 tonight and yeah it’s really quite something

 

[BB79]

This team was in good shape at the quarter-point of the season.

What has happened since is hard to believe.

Nah, they do this all the time. I no longer get my hopes up because the long losing streak isn't a matter of "if" but when. Kind of like the 8 game losing streak that ended up costing them a WC spot a couple years ago.