Sabres -- rhe Enigma

[Djp]

To understand what's going on we nerd as brief history lesson....

The sabres were s frequent playoff team in their histoty.

They made the fin as l in 1999 then dtopped a bit after trading Hasek but had good drafts and their farm team won AHL in the 04/05 lost sesson.

During this time the owners went in tu o bankruptcy and Gallissno aka scrooge took over.

Scrooge cut the scouting staff which curt their drafting in 2005-2011 period.

Also at this time the sabres made two playoff runs losing in conf finals. In these ccx off sessons th err y lost plsyers to free agency. And scrooge as owner. There were reports the sabres had agreed to terms with Brierre but Sctooge nixed it.

As a result buffalo started to trade UFAs to be to try and tank/rebuild.

The first time was 2013-15 targeting mcdavid.

They brought in a new gm to do this in tim Murray. Later they hired botterill. Both smat the time of hiring were leading candidates for gm jobs. Not much of a reach

Murray seemed to have s palan in mind. But the problem was buffalo did not have much in the system. What they did have got trsded aesy.

Murray ho fired, not for team, but because of media leaks by an asst gm

Botteril gog gired ffg pi r another reason as well that wasnt related to current team progress

They then hired kevin Adams.

Background' he was an NHL player who has his name on the cup (05/06 Hurricanes). After his hockey playing ended he did work in hockey area as an agent then under team management working his way in different areas of operation then taking over as GM.

He got GM because Pegula had a level of trust with him.

I dont know why people li e say he was unqualified. Hr has had similar experience as other former players.

The change occurred just before the draft a d free agency in 2020.

In 20/21 he signed Hsll and ss iij d let's have the sabres compete. It failed and eith rivhrl issues and Reinhart not resigning he went into s rrbuild plan.

He trsdedboff richelle, tejnhsrt, and ristolainrn and drafted


20/21 was bad, fired coach, picked 1OA

21/22 they finished strong. They had a statistically unusual schedule facing 20 of 21 top 20 teams in a 22 g stretch They finished thrir last 25 or so on a 100 pt pace


22/23 they had a 90+ pt sesson just outside the plsyoffs.. this could be blamed on an 8g losing streak where 5 of starting 6 D were out for some or all of these games. The team did have a top 10 PP

23/24. Scoring for went down but so did defense. They had a stretch ccx wherrc5 of top 6 F were out and many played with injury. Skm ef one in herr posted team advanced stats. Sabres s top d Tampa were nearly identical except ffg or PP/PK stats. Tampa p.o a was much better. Buffalo was bottom 5 in PP with the dame players

This season.......

the sabres went th rrg ough an 0-10-3 sresk. They go 5'5-3 they are in WC race.

Of the teams 35 L it OT/SOloses, 26 of them they were snd/or

1. Down 1 g in 3rd with por PP
2. Tied in 3rd but lisr in orbit OT
3. They had a late lead they lidt in reg/OT
4. One game they had a +2 g lead early in the gane

Their PP is bottom 5

Thry Can easily find 10 g they turn into Ws and ga im n 10-14 or so pts where they turn Ls into W around 4 times with 2pts in reg and other 5 or so extra pts earned from ties.

The Sabres were near top of the league in 1st period scoring

They likely also have a bad stat in record of those who score 1st or trans who blow 2+g leads

Buffalo had a bunch of extra picks in 21-23 drafts they had gotten 3 extra 1sts, and 2 extra 2nds. Got Levi, Krebs, Tuch. In trades and used a 2nd for greenway.

They also seemed to have done well drafting in 3rd or later

They dont need more picks and prosprcts. Thry want to ffg o hockey trsfes to improve their 23 m.j an next yr.

The team wants established players who would be under 27 with term. Their needs are in

1. Mid pair RD
2. 2nd line center who can play defense
3. Winger with size if they trade both greenway and Tuch

If they make nhl moves dont he surprised if they emerge ne t season

Click to read more...

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

I just hope Dahlin leaves , would be good for the league

 

[DFC]

Kind of reminds you of what Edmonton went through pre-McDavid.

 

[Zman5778]

To get ahead of the inevitable internet complainants:

djp is a regular poster on the Sabres boards and uses assistive technology that allows him to post on the boards. Yes, there are grammatical and spelling mistakes.

Move past them.

 

[HockeyVirus]

The Sabres have come full circle for me.

At first it was hilarious how bad they were, then I felt bad for them. Now i think it is hilarious again due to the absurdity. Someone else mentioned the Oilers pre McDavid, the Sabres are approaching double that length of time with no end in sight

 

[Mulletman]

I just hope Dahlin leaves , would be good for the league

Why?!
Dahlin is supposed to be the man!
You don't leave when you're the man!
It's time for Dahlin to man up, put on his big boy pants and lead the Sabres to playoff success!
No excuses for Dahlin anymore!

 

[Lt Dan]

Hang in there Sabres fans. It's gotta get better at some point. And when you eventually win that cup, it'll be that much sweeter

 

[Zman5778]

Hang in there Sabres fans. It's gotta get better at some point. And when you eventually win that cup, it'll be that much sweeter

I am honestly unsure if the Sabres win a Cup before the NHL shuts down.

 

[Lt Dan]

I am honestly unsure if the Sabres win a Cup before the NHL shuts down.

I was there as a Kings fan. Hang in there bro

 

[Beerz]

Hang in there Sabres fans. It's gotta get better at some point. And when you eventually win that cup, it'll be that much sweeter

I will be surprised if this organization is still in Buffalo in 5 years.

 

[wetcoast]

Kind of reminds you of what Edmonton went through pre-McDavid.

Except Buffalo, on paper, should have made the playoffs by now.

They have the wrong mix of players there and need a massive shakeup.

 

[The Gr8 Dane]

I will be surprised if this organization is still in Buffalo in 5 years.

Sad stuff because you guys have a great fanbase , It will NOT be the fans fault , I really hope it doesn't happen and that the damage Terry has done is not irreparable

 

[Zman5778]

I will be surprised if this organization is still in Buffalo in 5 years.

I won't be. I don't think Pegula sells anytime soon.............and if he does, I'm sure whoever he sells to will keep the team in Buffalo

 

[Beerz]

I won't be. I don't think Pegula sells anytime soon.............and if he does, I'm sure whoever he sells to will keep the team in Buffalo

I do not believe it is a viable market. With cap ballooning it would be hard for any owner to justify spending anywhere close to cap in order to be competitive... no winning means no fans.

 

[JESSEWENEEDTOCOOK]

I do not believe it is a viable market. With cap ballooning it would be hard for any owner to justify spending anywhere close to cap in order to be competitive... no winning means no fans.

if it wasn’t a viable market i’d imagine they’d have moved a long time ago considering how mediocre to bad the team has been for basically their entire existence. it’s clearly a viable market. they just arent good.

 

[Lt Dan]

I will be surprised if this organization is still in Buffalo in 5 years.

I would be shocked honestly.
The NHL doesn't move franchises easily. Let's look at the last 6 moves and how far out they were
The Coyotes had owner after owner after owner before the NHL ok'd a move.
Atlanta moved because their ownership literally gave up and the team was evicted. The others were all early in Bettman's tenure before he figured out what a black eye relocated franchises is.,

I do not believe it is a viable market. With cap ballooning it would be hard for any owner to justify spending anywhere close to cap in order to be competitive... no winning means no fans.

Buffalo is a viable market for the NHL and NFL . I know these are dark times, but Pegula (likely) isn't immortal.

 

[24 others]

So, any ideas on what could be that one big trade that could perhaps shake up the team?

 

[Nikolajs Sillers]

What's first. Buffalo makes PO or Leafs win a cup?

 

[chi777]

The thing with Buffalo, in addition to the endless losing, is that the areas lease is up in few years. It's an old arena in need of many improvements, from what I'm told. With the state, county, and owner all paying for the Bills new stadium, I doubt there will be much appetite for the funding for the dismal Sabres.

I get the impression that the long game that has been being played is to destroy the fanbase, blame them for not supporting the team, and move them to wherever. Ala Major League. Seems kind of dumb but things are lining up to make this seem more and more possible.

 

[LokiDog]

I want Buffalo to be good. I like all their players. The makeup of the team needs some tweaking, but I like them. The uniforms are gorgeous too. I just don’t know what it’s going to take short of Pegula selling at this point. Feel bad for Sabres fans - Buffalo is a great hockey town and fandom. Played my college hockey there 06-08. I’d love to see Dahlin somewhere else just to see what he’s truly capable of. But I also want him to have success in Buffalo.

 

[Raistlin]

Buffalo is like the Browns, or the Timberwolves/Clippers, one day, when they win the cup, like when the Angels did, it'll shake the world. Just don't do it before their expansion cousin Vancouver does.

 

[Strexvale]

if it wasn’t a viable market i’d imagine they’d have moved a long time ago considering how mediocre to bad the team has been for basically their entire existence. it’s clearly a viable market. they just arent good.

Sorry, have to correct this part, they were an extremely consistent franchise for MOST of their existence. Pre-Pegula, the Sabres had something like, the 4th winningest record in the league from their inception until 2011. They made the finals twice, were a bad stretch of luck/injuries from winning it in 05-06 and were a consistent playoff team.

One of the worst things about the Pegula era here is just how skewed people view the team when they were good to very good for most of their time in the league. We weren't always a laughingstock. I mean even WITH the 14 year disaster, they still rank 13th overall in league win percentage from 1917-2024.

 

[cowboy82nd]

Except Buffalo, on paper, should have made the playoffs by now.

They have the wrong mix of players there and need a massive shakeup.

How about new ownership? I think that be a good start.

 

[Gabrielor]

Owner wants his hands on the wheel, so no GM with experience wants the job.

Adams had no experience, and has been bullied around the league into fixing other peoples' problems, but not his own, for 5 years.


They're in a hopeless situation that only blind luck will fix.