What would it take to bring you back?

[ShaunCarier]

I'm not ashamed to be a Sabres fan, but I'm certainly not happy about it. Assuming most people feel the same way, what would it take for you to be excited to put on a Sabres jersey? Everything's on the table, just want to get a pulse on what's left of the fanbase.

 

[Taro Tsujimoto]

Make the playoffs. Winning cures everything.

 

[Selanne00008]

I'm not ashamed to be a Sabres fan, but I'm certainly not happy about it. Assuming most people feel the same way, what would it take for you to be excited to put on a Sabres jersey? Everything's on the table, just want to get a pulse on what's left of the fanbase.

First reply said it. Just win. But, IMO we need a Tkachuk like talent and fire (Not just one either). Whatever it takes.

 

[May Day 10]

For me, it's an apology and a poho from the owner. Playoffs don't do it for me. Being a WC is being average, and after a lopsided 4 or 5 game loss, another drought is probably more likely than linear progression. They are likely to double down on adams and start the Appert era at head coach.
This team and organization cannot compete in the long haul with teams in their division.

I am taking Pegula's treatment/neglect of the franchise and the fans personally. I feel like he has squandered nearly a quarter of RJ's career, and I know Sabres fans who have passed away during his selfish run here. Me, I have wasted most of my 30s and a good chunk of my 40s with a dead team. Pegula now is such a coward he hides and wont face the public. The fans need to hear from him on the direction, future, reassurances, etc.

As a result, I have turned against the Sabres, and specifically ownership and management. I wont spend a dime on them, nor support any of their sponsors if I am aware of them. Zero watching on television, and by June, I am going to no longer engage in online discussion. Utterly ruined franchise.

Its like a dead relative who everyone loved. But a cousin has the power to resurrect them. Unfortunately it is the deadbeat gutter-dwelling, undependable druggie wannabe DJ cousin who nobody has heard from in years.

 

[SundherDome]

Never left, things are dire but they still have my support and the come up will be incredible

 

[BFLO]

I have refused to buy any Sabres ticket for the past 2 seasons. But I did get dragged to 1 game each season either by work, or out of town friends.

I will not buy tickets again until we are a perennial playoff lock. Making the playoffs once is not enough. In all likelihood we break the drought by accident under Adams in the next few years, and then start a whole new drought beginning the very next season.

I do not believe we will be a perennial playoff lock again until there is a major overhaul of the organization from the top down. This won't happen until Terry dies, or has a massive change of heart over how he runs the Sabres. His death is far more likely.

I will buy season tickets if we are ever perennial cup contenders.

 

[Ace]

I’ll never give Terry Pegula another penny. He’s strategically and purposefully destroyed the thing I love over money…so he won’t see any more of mine in his lifetime. When he’s gone…I’ll still be here. Happier.

 

[enthusiast]

A free ticket tbh

 

[TehDoak]

I'll always be a Sabres fan. However, I no longer invest significant time/money to go to games and I probably watch ~35-40 games a year instead of 82+ Playoffs I used to.

The Adams hiring/COVID layoffs did a number on my opinion of the owner and the team as a whole. To see them just be cheap with the Sabres while raking in cash with the Bills was very much a betrayal of what the owner said when he bought the team.

I don't have the free time or patience to be at the same 'level' of fandom I once had for the Sabres. For me to really get back into it, the owner would have to sell it or step back from day to day and hire a professional to run the team.

 

[EichHart]

I’ll never give Terry Pegula another penny. He’s strategically and purposefully destroyed the thing I love over money…so he won’t see any more of mine in his lifetime. When he’s gone…I’ll still be here. Happier.

What if the team moves?

 

[michaelsaas]

What if the team moves?

For as awful as this team is I am more of a Sabres fan than I am an NHL fan. If they left I doubt I would continue to be as avid a hockey follower and would probably invest my fandom time and money into NLL and the Bandits tbh. I also don't think I am alone in this mindset.

 

[OkimLom]

Terry stepping away from the team, whether through management structure, or selling the team, firing Adams (who I have found to be snarky and belittles the fanbase that have invested so much time, emotion, and energy following a product that is clearly not at the level they(the fans) are), and 2-3 consistent playoff seasons in a row, though a competitive team without playoffs might bring me back if the first 2 issues are true.

 

[Zman5778]

Make the playoffs.

And then what?

Here's my thing:

I want to see the Sabres legitimately compete for and hopefully win a Cup. Not just "make the playoffs". I had enough of that shit post-Co-caps. Good enough to make the playoffs, never good enough to actually honestly compete for a Cup.

And if we "make the playoffs" -- that's exactly where we're going to be. In freaking purgatory. Outside of Dahlin and maybe Tage and Tuch......I don't see talent that will honestly compete to win a Cup. Hell, I don't see talent that will compete for a division win.....or even talent to get a top-3 divisional seed.

This is why I honestly don't care if the streak is broken. Yay, we get a few more games where we likely get whitewashed by an actual contender. MAYBE these numbnuts can put together enough games to win a series against a better opponent. But putting together TWENTY+ games? Nah, it ain't happening.

This current team is the Roy/Vanek/Connolly teams, but with one elite defenseman and not nearly Miller-level goaltending. And it isn't good enough. We wasted the opportunity we had with Eichel and Reinhart. We got GIFTED Dahlin on top of those 2 and couldn't capitalize.

I still love the Sabres. Always will.

But until I see a Cup-capable team......they'll always be at arm's length.

 

[Dubi Doo]

And then what?

Here's my thing:

I want to see the Sabres legitimately compete for and hopefully win a Cup. Not just "make the playoffs". I had enough of that shit post-Co-caps. Good enough to make the playoffs, never good enough to actually honestly compete for a Cup.

And if we "make the playoffs" -- that's exactly where we're going to be. In freaking purgatory. Outside of Dahlin and maybe Tage and Tuch......I don't see talent that will honestly compete to win a Cup. Hell, I don't see talent that will compete for a division win.....or even talent to get a top-3 divisional seed.

This is why I honestly don't care if the streak is broken. Yay, we get a few more games where we likely get whitewashed by an actual contender. MAYBE these numbnuts can put together enough games to win a series against a better opponent. But putting together TWENTY+ games? Nah, it ain't happening.

This current team is the Roy/Vanek/Connolly teams, but with one elite defenseman and not nearly Miller-level goaltending. And it isn't good enough. We wasted the opportunity we had with Eichel and Reinhart. We got GIFTED Dahlin on top of those 2 and couldn't capitalize.

I still love the Sabres. Always will.

But until I see a Cup-capable team......they'll always be at arm's length.

Boy, wording it that way just brings me pain. We really had a selke caliber 40+ goal scorer + a two-way beast of a center who had a playoff run worthy of a Conn Smythe + a budding elite defenseman, and fumbled that opportunity over and over again. It's so depressing to think about. Proper management wouldve turned that core into a perennial contender.

The best thing for me to do is just not care anymore. Ive drastically pulled away my support. I probably only watched 50-60 games the past three years. But it still hurts watching all these terrible decisions being made by Pegula. I just hope it doesn't pull me away from this site because you guys have become my internet homies.

 

[Chainshot]

Terry selling is a start. The reputation damage is too great to just forget. There is no forgive for this. There is just move on.

 

[Fezzy126]

opening day next season...

 

[oldgoalie]

Terry selling is a start. The reputation damage is too great to just forget. There is no forgive for this. There is just move on.

Amen.

 

[debaser66]

Watching all the games until 23/24.
The last 2 seasons I watched maybe a handful out of 164.

First of get rid of everyone on the coaching and management level.
Install a proven GM who builds a winning structure.

Maybe the luck into the playoffs once in a while.
But I cannot stand to see that smugface Adams or any of his staff, especially all the coaching personnel minus Ruff (he needs to go too but I do not have any grudge against Lindy yet).
Until they are all gone I keep my distance.
Of course the best would be another owner but till death we part I guess.

 

[old kummelweck]

Hard to say. The Bills pulled me back in, but it took almost 20 years.

I'm still consuming media and I love hockey, so probably not much.

 

[OkimLom]

Hard to say. The Bills pulled me back in, but it took almost 20 years.

I'm still consuming media and I love hockey, so probably not much.

The losing really isn’t even the biggest crime from this organization for me. I’ve gone through years of losing with an assortment of teams.

It’s what the organization has become. IMO, They have become the Fox News of the NHL in so many ways. From a PR image perspective they have guys like Duff to piss on our leg and tell us it’s raining. The absolute delusional reactions to games, treating a once educated fanbase like we’re all wearing wool over our eyes.

Then there’s the actual hockey management portion of the organization where I can feel the contempt for the fans from the GM seeping through the press conferences, limited as they are, as if WE are the ones that should be lucky to have them running the team, when reality says none of them probably are higher than a college level team job if the Sabres didn’t exist.

 

[Krieger Bot]

Removing the obvious amateurs in the organization. And I don't just mean Adams. Both the coaching staff and the front office are filled with guys who are simply not qualified to hold their positions, and will never be hired in the NHL again when they are finally fired by the Sabres. Then, replace them with serious hockey professionals.

 

[toddkaz]

I am about as passion for the sabres as Ryan O'Reilly was.

What would it take? Playoffs. That simple.

Same thing for Ryan O'Reilly and every other player and fan.

 

[sabremike]

Terry selling is a start. The reputation damage is too great to just forget. There is no forgive for this. There is just move on.

I never thought I could ever hate a human being more than I hate Peter Karmanos, but Terry has pulled it off.

 

[THUNDERBURST]

Honestly, I almost don't care about all this anymore, like I've lost the love for playing with this team. I haven't watched any games or even highlights in the last few months. I've even discovered a new sport and a new team, and at this point, this looks more interesting to me. I've been disappointed with the Sabres for a long time with this owner and this GM.

 

[Jim Bob]

Make decisions that look like decisions that quality NHL teams that win make.

It has been so long since they have made moves that looked like what a quality organization does...

They just seem to make moves that are cheap and appease the desires of the owner instead of placing winning as the sole reason for the team's existence.