Chad Johnson- "For a lot of games, it just seemed like a mess"

[jetsforever]

I mean, he's not wrong
Might not be a good thing to be so open about though

 

[MattMartin]

Sabres sure did **** up their rebuild.

Reap what you sow. Fans cheering for other teams in their home building might not be such a good idea from now on.....

 

[Dreakon13]

Based on the comments recently from Ryan O'Reilly, I would say there is something to some of what Johnson said, although I still think he is an average backup goalie.

There's definitely something to what he's saying. The team is a mess and Botteril has his hands full this offseason figuring out how to fix it. That being said, he's an average 'at best' goalie in the league and this reflects poorly on him too. Which is a shame because Johnson always struck me as a team-first guy (or at least he was never as big of a whiner as Lehner). But he's gonna have a hard time finding an NHL job next season and he probably knows it... so the claws are out.

ROR I think just ran out of things to say after having to constantly explain so many losing games this year, that he dug a little too deep in his lockerroom cleanout interview. Though I do appreciate his honesty, some things may be better left behind closed doors.

 

[glovesave_35]

He’s a free agent and wants a contract. Needs to blame the team for him being a bad goalie.

And he'll get it. He played the exact same number of games last year on an average team and his stats were significantly better. I think no matter how bad he looked this year some GMs will give him the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Tobias Kahun]

My apologies, it wasn't Mike McKenna. It was Ben Scrivens.

Oscar Klefbom threw shade at Hall saying that he never showed up in important games, and Scrivens basically agreed.

Scrivens never showed up in any game, comical he said that

 

[Dr Pepper]

I feel for the Sabres, I really do.

Hopefully they finally get that top pick and don't get the short end of the stick yet again in the draft lottery.

But obviously Dahlin alone won't be enough, there's plenty of work to do to fix what's plaguing Buffalo.

 

[Pi]

I feel for the Sabres, I really do.

Hopefully they finally get that top pick and don't get the short end of the stick yet again in the draft lottery.

But obviously Dahlin alone won't be enough, there's plenty of work to do to fix what's plaguing Buffalo.

I don't feel sorry for them. Getting Eichel is not the short end of the stick. He's a franchise player stuck on a bad team who didn't build their team properly. No one told them to choose Reinhart over Draisaitl.

If they drafted better and didn't try to rush things, they might have been a good team by now.

 

[Zats Muccarello]

At least the Sabres can serve as an example of how not to rebuild. I used to dismiss the loser mentality comments on here but it’s becoming more and more clear that the organization’s psyche is absolutely broken.

 

[Royal Thunder]

I feel for the Sabres, I really do.

Hopefully they finally get that top pick and don't get the short end of the stick yet again in the draft lottery.

But obviously Dahlin alone won't be enough, there's plenty of work to do to fix what's plaguing Buffalo.

Don't feel sorry for us, we are fine. Our rebuild isn't going as fast as we hoped due to Tim Murray pissing assets away trying to cut corners, but we have an absolutely amazing player to build around and he's just 21. We have competent management now and are focusing on strong drafting AND development for the first time in decades. Our AHL team is much improved this year which is the first sign of that. The hardest part is getting elite talent and we have some of that, with more to come at the draft here. We just need to build a quality supporting cast.

I have a lot of hope for the future even if we pick #4. We discussed it on the Sabres board recently and most fans would do it all over again to secure Eichel rather than not tanking and getting a lesser player.

 

[Dr Pepper]

Don't feel sorry for us, we are fine. Our rebuild isn't going as fast as we hoped due to Tim Murray pissing assets away trying to cut corners, but we have an absolutely amazing player to build around and he's just 21. We have competent management now and are focusing on strong drafting AND development for the first time in decades. Our AHL team is much improved this year which is the first sign of that. The hardest part is getting elite talent and we have some of that, with more to come at the draft here. We just need to build a quality supporting cast.

I have a lot of hope for the future even if we pick #4. We discussed it on the Sabres board recently and most fans would do it all over again to secure Eichel rather than not tanking and getting a lesser player.

Well, good on ya. I admire the optimism. Hopefully your fanbase is equally on board, and who knows, maybe the Sabres will be the most improved next year compared to the other Atlantic bottom-feeders (Habs, Sens)

 

[Bleedred]

This is not a good look.

The guy's NHL career might already be on life support after the season he just had, it's best to keep his mouth shut right now and maybe air these grievances out to his loved ones and (non-Sabres teammate) friends, rather than to the media.

At the end of the day, he's a random and mediocre career backup, who's play fluctuate's quite a bit from season to season. This wouldn't be the first year he's had like this in the NHL. He was pretty dreadful for the Islanders in 14-15, before they traded him to Buffalo (the first time he was there) and he was able to prolong his career there.

 

[sabremike]

Reap what you sow. Fans cheering for other teams in their home building might not be such a good idea from now on.....

Cut the crap. If the Islanders were in that position their fans (and the fans of any other team) would've done the exact same thing. I could say more but I like the Isles and their fans and don't want to stir shit up.

 

[Panthaz89]

Johnson was worse than the defense...Lehner was only slightly better when he was at his best.

 

[ACLEVERNAME]

The virgin Sabre vs the Chad Johnson

 

[Panthaz89]

Not one for tanking, but...

I believe the Penguins traded up to get Fleury though right?

 

[Poulin 0n My St1ck]

My apologies, it wasn't Mike McKenna. It was Ben Scrivens.

Oscar Klefbom threw shade at Hall saying that he never showed up in important games, and Scrivens basically agreed.

The Oilers played in important games?

 

[Gurilla]

Buffalo needs to rebrand or something. Anything to try and shake the losing culture.

 

[sabremike]

This is what happens when teams tank. The franchise gets destroyed internally and it has long lasting effects. I say this as an Oiler fans whos seen it first time.

Its the exact reason why I thought the anti tank threads were so dumb. Fans of good teams who were mad and jealous for some reason because bad teams got the high picks were perplexing. I never got the argument "Well its so easy to tank, we need to eliminate the incentive". They didn't realize that when teams tanked, or sucked hard, the impact on psyche amongst the players and throughout the franchise is so long lasting and detrimental. The cost of tanking is so much higher than the benefits. Its why you see the tanking teams (Buffalo, Edmonton, NYI, Florida) continue to suck for so many years after. It took a complete overhaul and Matthews in Toronto to break up the cycle of suckage

Its also the reason why the new draft lotto is so horribly bad for the NHL. Itll just keep below average franchises in the bottom 10 for many years to come

You are aware Matthews didn't end up a Leaf by accident right? They absolutely tanked, the difference was they got lucky. And I'll always love the dual narratives that we were worse than Hitler for tanking while the Leafs were just being smart in doing so.

 

[983 others]

I'm sure Sabres fans care a lot about what Chad Johnson says lol.

 

[Brock Radunske]

That's not a very good way to get a contract with the team...

 

[biturbo19]

Bet the dressing room atmosphere in Buffalo is great

Yeah. The Sabres suck, their defence sucks, their team defence is a mess, their coaching and systems play is a mess...and Chad Johnson isn't a good goaltender. But more than that, i think this is the biggest takeaway. After tanking as openly as anyone has, and letting that attitude percolate through their organization, they're now still doing their darndest to epitomize a "Losing Culture". That stank doesn't wash off easy.

It's hard enough to pull out of that sort of organizational nosedive at the best of times. To try to do so when you clearly have this sort of disjointed locker room where the players don't believe in one another at all...it's nearly impossible. ROR's comments among others just continue to highlight the fact this team has a lot more wrong with it than just lacking a few good players from the draft to "fix" everything.

This guy has always been an enigma; I’ve seen him put up good numbers on defensively responsible teams, but can’t stop a beach ball on teams that slack on defense.

He was awful for the islanders in 2014-2015, after putting up good numbers with the bruins. Then puts up good numbers with defensively responsible Calgary after being with the islanders.

I see a correlation; he should have known his numbers would slide.

I mean, i wouldn't exactly call that enigmatic. It's pretty straightforward to see what's going on there. He's a backup calibre "system goaltender". He'll give you acceptable backup caliber play with a few little hot streaks behind a robust defensive system...and he'll be totally useless in any other capacity.

 

[CharasLazyWrister]

Yeah ummm.... I'm not sure what CHAD FRIGGIN' JOHNSON is doing thinking he can put himself on a pedestal and talk about how it wasn't his fault. Chad Johnson has played well enough to play on a bad NHL team. Weird victim playing quote from him.

 

[lawrence]

ryan O reilley recently came out and said that at one point it was ok to "lose"

what a sad sack of an organization.

 

[zbubble]

ryan O reilley recently came out and said that at one point it was ok to "lose"

what a sad sack of an organization.

That's not exactly what he said. He accused the Sabres (players, not organization) of adopting a mindset of “being OK with losing.”

 

[DJN21]

I don't feel sorry for them. Getting Eichel is not the short end of the stick. He's a franchise player stuck on a bad team who didn't build their team properly. No one told them to choose Reinhart over Draisaitl.

If they drafted better and didn't try to rush things, they might have been a good team by now.

If only we had drafted better in hindsight we'd be better...hmmm...said every team ever. Try again.

Who cares about drais versus reinhart? If you're going to go with a narrative at least pick one that makes sense like sabres taking forwards over dmen...the sabres have eichel, reinhart, ror, Mittelstadt and others among center options or at least forward options. You're limb to climb out on in a weak one my friend...