Why do the Buffalo Sabres (always) keep sucking.. no matter what..

[Artorius Horus T]

Last season was very promising, right? They have been drafting well, also smart trades.
That roster is play-offs quality roster, right?

But once again, they give you the typical Buffalo Sabres season, .. currently 7th in the Atlantic
Only 3 worse teams in East this season so far.

What gives?.. 'cause i don't get it.

Good coaching
Good management
Good roster

Sure its early season but... yeah.

Click to read more...

 

[Killer Orcas]

Patience I know but they definitely have the talent need the confidence now. Stay strong Buffalo it will come together soon.

 

[KaN19]

They traded away Eichel, Reinhart, Ristolainen, and Montour in the past 2 seasons. Put those players back on the Sabres and they're cup contenders.

 

[Ace]

They traded away Eichel, Reinhart, Ristolainen, and Montour in the past 2 seasons. Put those players back on the Sabres and they're cup contenders.

They literally finished last with all of them

….

Anyway…this is the 13th full season that Terry Pegula has owned the team.

Remind me again what year of missing the playoffs this will be?

There is your answer.

….

Certainly does not help that Kevyn Adams takes a vacation for the entirety of every goddamned off-season.

 

[LEAFANFORLIFE23]

Last season was very promising, right? They have been drafting well, also smart trades.
That roster is play-offs quality roster, right?

But once again, they give you the typical Buffalo Sabres season, .. currently 7th in the Atlantic
Only 3 worse teams in East this season so far.

What gives?.. 'cause i don't get it.

Good coaching
Good management
Good roster

Sure its early season but... yeah.

Because at NO POINT in the last decade have they addressed their goaltending for real.

I have said it for a decade, until they actually address their goaltending they are going NOWHERE teams around them will enter and exit rebuild cycles before Buffalo is good again.

Unless Buffalo gets a real goaltender.

 

[hotcabbagesoup]

They're cursed!

They need a rebrand. Become the Buffalo Sabers.

Will allow them to cut through their demons and ride on to success for once.

 

[Luigi Lemieux]

Because at NO POINT in the last decade have they addressed their goaltending for real.

I have said it for a decade, until they actually address their goaltending they are going NOWHERE teams around them will enter and rebuild cycles before Buffalo is good again.

Unless Buffalo gets a real goaltender.

They had Linus Ullmark but they traded him. Then he magically becomes a stud with Boston. They just can't put it together for some reason.

 

[Irie]

Lack of patience which leads to no consistency and zero stability.

Since 2013, there have been 7..... SEVEN! different Sabres head coaches and four different general managers.

The Sabres are currently the youngest team in the league and are heading in the right direction, and some people are once against calling to fire the GM and burn it down and start over because the team may not make the playoffs this season.

You can't make this stuff up.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

Youngest team in the league. Lots of talent, prospects, and picks.

Goaltending will be an issue until Levi develops or UPL ever proves he can be a starter.

The Sabres have certainly improved under Granato, but there's no certainty he's the right guy to take them to the next level.

They have many big players - Power, Tage, Dahlin, Tuch, Greenway, Cozens - but are definitely not tough or even physical by league standards.

Adams has loads of assets, but seems hesitant to utilize them.

They're trending in the right direction, but this could very well be a year of regression.

Loads of question marks, but still a lot to give Sabres fans hope. But it's difficult to make a case for patience when the team has missed the playoffs for so many seasons. Many fans are just fed up.

 

[Tob]

I sense there's a bit of circa2010s pre-McDavid-itis. Too many young players and not enough veterans that can be counted on to push. That's how I usually move furniture. No concern with speed or efficiency so long as I get it done eventually and don't damage anything cus I'm not very good at it. but then if you're moving the furniture with someone who is very handy, they'll exert themselves and go at a faster pace forcing you to keep up so you're not dragging them down.

Right now, all their young players are happy to be going at 5 mph below speed limit because they're all figuring things out and they're happy to keep doing that. Team losing is a team failure which isn't everything because they're focused on their own game and careers. You don't see that with Marchand and Crosby and Kreider. They're past that stage and are all about team success.

 

[TimeZone]

Because neckbeards on this site continually vastly overestimate their prospect pool, how it will translate to the best league in the world.

 

[Zirakzigil]

Patience and goaltending. Team needs to grow together, coach included, cant keep changing up the message with young players. They also need a veteran goalie, that isnt the environment to try and bring in someone inexperienced in net.

 

[Bounces R Way]

Maybe handing out massive 8 year deals to a bunch of young guys who haven't even made the playoffs much less proven themselves in them yet isn't the 4D chess GMing this board seems to think it is.

What's the motivation to get better exactly? To put in the extra hours at the rink, in the gym, in the video room? Just a vague idea that winning would be nice? Everyone thinks winning would be nice, you need to have the edge and the drive to actually get there.

 

[Nipsey]

They have nobody on defence that can actually play defence. Their fans will blame the coach but in reality their players just aren’t what they are hyped to be.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

Maybe handing out massive 8 year deals to a bunch of young guys who haven't even made the playoffs much less proven themselves in them yet isn't the 4D chess GMing this board seems to think it is.

What's the motivation to get better exactly? To put in the extra hours at the rink, in the gym, in the video room? Just a vague idea that winning would be nice? Everyone thinks winning would be nice, you need to have the edge and the drive to actually get there.

I'm less concerned about the potential for apathy you imply than those players actually earning their contracts through ability.

Dahlin and Tage are pretty much known commodities at this point, but Samuelsson can't stay healthy, and Power and Cozens haven't proven themselves yet.

We'll know in a few years if it was a sound strategy, probably by whether or not Adams is still employed.

 

[Dread Clawz]

They should have gotten a real goalie in the off-season. Asking Levi to end the playoff drought is too much.

 

[nbwingsfan]

Because at NO POINT in the last decade have they addressed their goaltending for real.

I have said it for a decade, until they actually address their goaltending they are going NOWHERE teams around them will enter and rebuild cycles before Buffalo is good again.

Unless Buffalo gets a real goaltender.

Agreed. Levi will be good someday, but he isn’t there yet.

 

[JoVel]

Buffalo "this year is different" Sabres

 

[Breakers]

you think this is bad now, wait till later on in the season for Levi when the schedule starts to weigh on him

 

[Benedict Kovalchuk]

Because at NO POINT in the last decade have they addressed their goaltending for real.

I have said it for a decade, until they actually address their goaltending they are going NOWHERE teams around them will enter and rebuild cycles before Buffalo is good again.

Unless Buffalo gets a real goaltender.

It seriously goes such a very long way. The goalie doesn't even need to be spectacular, just someone the team has confidence in. I remember when the Isles got Nabokov they immediately started playing much better simply because they knew they had a goalie behind them that could be relied on to make routine saves, and not have to constantly bail out the mangled wrecks of DiPietro and god knows who else we called up from the minors.

 

[HaNotsri]

We overperformed the last two seasons. Granato is not a magician and they have to take a step back at some point.
We lost our best goalie (Anderson) and replaced him with a kid.
Talked about Power getting a veteran partner yet again (gave him Jokiharju).
On top of that we are pretty much a full line short when it comes to NHL forwards.
My guess is that Adams is waiting on prospects making the team, this season is a another punt.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

They have nobody on defence that can actually play defence. Their fans will blame the coach but in reality their players just aren’t what they are hyped to be.

Not true.

Dahlin is a sound defender who gets little credit for it. Samuelsson is a defense-first guy. EJ is fine defensively on the 3rd pairing at this point in his career. Jokiharju is much improved this season; we're hoping he's figured it out at the ripe old age of 24.

Ryan Johnson has been solid, but is only a few games into his career.

Power's defensive game definitely needs work. He turns 21 next week.

Clifton has been kinda meh, but he's still getting acquainted with a new team.

That's the top-7.

The Sabres are #16 in goals allowed per game. Dead middle of the pack. Goaltending has been inconsistent and forwards often fail to backcheck or lose opposing forwards in coverage.

Buffalo's defense isn't a trainwreck. With so many young guys it will only get better.

 

[Iwishihadaspacebar]

Considering where they were when Eichel was traded, this is far more advanced than you'd have thought. They have several holes that need sorting but they have the draft picks and prospects to be able to make some big moves without harming the team it they wished.

They'll be a good team for years to come but unfortunately, none of the teams in their division are free points.

 

[Deep Blue Metallic]

Goalies. Ahem.

Before the start of the season Adams assured everyone that he considered Buffalo's goaltending to be "a position of strength" and that the team would be carrying 3 goalies.

Levi oozes potential, but he's a kid with a superb college resume and only 14 games of NHL experience.

Comrie is a 28 year-old career fringe backup with only 50 games under his belt.

UPL has been their best goalie thus far, but, at age 24 has yet to demonstrate the consistency in his 54 career games that a starter needs.

Frankly, he's the goalie I hope to see take the reins. Levi needs to experience a professional workload in Rochester, not in the NHL.

We're still seeking clarification on the "position of strength" claim.

 

[DamonDRW]

It takes time. They'll be fine once their core matures a bit more. Take a look at Colorado. They also had that "growing" problem.