Will the Buffalo Sabres ever fix what's broken?

[Kegs]

They eventually have to figure it out no?

 

[crowi]

How do you throw the entire team culture out at once? You can't. Sadly they've not been progressing on that said culture either. Looking at what happened to Thompson, it's still "I'll just get my paycheck"-type. Sabres are just stuck.

 

[Lt Dan]

2 is not true. Every move, every coach, they were screaming about how amazing it is and then when one of their own needed something and their stupid team turned on him, they threw him out too. (John Eichel).

They deserve it.

that's called having hope and being a fan and rebellions are built on hope

p.s. every other fanbase does the exact same thing

 

[Mattilaus]

I dont. Ive spent a decade telling them what therye organization is doing wrong only to be met with aholes left and right.

You know what they say if you run into one ahole in the morning, you ran into an ahole. If you run into aholes all day.....

 

[Barrie22]

Jack asked to be traded. He then had to the audacity to come to camp hurt with what was reported to be a rib injury.

As for Buffalo's take on his medical treatment, their doctors advised the standard process of fusion that other players have gotten with varying results. No one in the NHL had gotten it previously and Eichel pushed for the surgery he wanted and got with the X block. The relationship was already broken before then.

Shocking that a player/human will go with the option that once it is done and works will never have to have another surgery for that same area over a surgery that is known to only last 5 to 10 years before needing to redo the surgery.

 

[Mattilaus]

Shocking that a player/human will go with the option that once it is done and works will never have to have another surgery for that same area over a surgery that is known to only last 5 to 10 years before needing to redo the surgery.

You mean the option that had never been done on an NHL player before and had several unknowns? Strange you would leave that part out. It's almost like you have an axe to grind.

 

[benfranklin]

You know what they say if you run into one ahole in the morning, you ran into an ahole. If you run into aholes all day.....

Its majority around here.Normal fans simply listen to 550 and thats all they know.

You mean the option that had never been done on an NHL player before and had several unknowns? Strange you would leave that part out. It's almost like you have an axe to grind.

Funny you add in "NHL player" and still are ignoring the thousands of other athletes that had it done no problems. Is that you Terry?

 

[Mattilaus]

Its majority around here.Normal fans simply listen to 550 and thats all they know.


Funny you add in "NHL player" and still are ignoring the thousands of other athletes that had it done no problems. Is that you Terry?

Hey, believe whatever makes you feel good about yourself I guess.

 

[Iwishihadaspacebar]

Nobody allocates more cap to defense than Buffalo and yet they are 27th in goals against, they don’t have any real RHD of note and none of their defensemen are top four on the team in scoring.

They are also 27th in shots blocked shots. Their best defenseman for shots blocked is Owen Power and 65th of all defensmen in the league. I'm pretty sure all 31 other teams have a defenseman higher than him in the list.

Connor Clifton is the only Buffal D-man in the top 50 for hits given out and yet they have 3 of their D in the top 50 for hits taken.

They need at least one physical top 4 D that blocks shots desperately.

 

[Barrie22]

Hey, believe whatever makes you feel good about yourself I guess.

I wonder why it is never been done before? Could it because nhl gm's are living in the dark ages where they hate change? Been done in every other sport known to man, and the athletes have not had to go back and redo the surgery years later. But the nhl has to have the surgery that has a quick recovery time and the athlete has to go back every 5 years even after the career is over to live a normal life.

 

[Rubi]

Am I wrong in thinking the Sabres are more interested in trading for draft picks and 3rd and 4th line players than making trades for impact players that will change the losing culture of the club?

 

[Fatass]

I'm saying right now, Byram and Power lean on Dahlin. It's not the other way around.

And as someone who thinks Power is going to amount to a very tall Phil Housley sort of defenseman in that he'll put up a lot of points and continue to completely disappear when games are hard, the focus of who to move is off.

And until such time that they use picks and prospects to make moves, they still have a lot of picks and prospects of their own that they haven't used to do anything yet. Your supposition is that they will move their best skater for futures to make moves that they aren't making now when they already have a full cupboard of prospects and a full suite of picks doesn't move them closer to being good. Using what they already have, including the tall candyass in Power, to put in players is something they can fully do without hamstringing themselves further.

Trading from a position of strength is how teams build a winner.

I wonder why it is never been done before? Could it because nhl gm's are living in the dark ages where they hate change? Been done in every other sport known to man, and the athletes have not had to go back and redo the surgery years later. But the nhl has to have the surgery that has a quick recovery time and the athlete has to go back every 5 years even after the career is over to live a normal life.

Have to agree. That whole Eichel surgery was screwed up badly by the club. Eichel is a clear elite 1C. He’s hyper competitive. Trust him. Support him. Don’t lose him.
Imo, even with the mistakes, the Sabres are not far from being a winning club.

 

[WarriorofTime]

They are also 27th in shots blocked shots. Their best defenseman for shots blocked is Owen Power and 65th of all defensmen in the league. I'm pretty sure all 31 other teams have a defenseman higher than him in the list.

Connor Clifton is the only Buffal D-man in the top 50 for hits given out and yet they have 3 of their D in the top 50 for hits taken.

They need at least one physical top 4 D that blocks shots desperately.

Yeah they're basically really weirdly built. Based on their cap allocation, they should be "set" as far as Defense goes, but they are far from it.. as they have a lot of holes there. They also have to make a decision on a non-locked in highly used guy coming off a bridge deal.

 

[Mattilaus]

I wonder why it is never been done before? Could it because nhl gm's are living in the dark ages where they hate change? Been done in every other sport known to man, and the athletes have not had to go back and redo the surgery years later. But the nhl has to have the surgery that has a quick recovery time and the athlete has to go back every 5 years even after the career is over to live a normal life.

Cool story

 

[LokiDog]

If they could get Byram locked up long-ish term, then I would say 110% use Powers at the chip to net a necessary big fish. They have plenty of young forward talent they can attach to go shopping for virtually anyone.

Right now, they can’t simply “choose” Byram as their long term #3 and move Powers, because they have no guarantee Byram will stay. I would absolutely keep Byram for my second pair and run a left side of Dahlin, Byram, Samuelsson and move Powers, who will have significantly greater value. Buffalo doesn’t need Powers, even at his full potential, because Dahlin will remain a top 10D in the league for years. Byram is a perfect #3 (or even #2, just playing on the 2nd pair). Powers potential is overkill and right now he isn’t helping them address any of their issues because despite being Tage size he’s charmin soft.

If I were Buffalo, I would be in a hurry to extend Byram and immediately package Powers with Peterka/Quinn, other prospects, etc. to go after a legitimate destiny altering piece.

 

[Ianturnedbull]

Yes. Nothing is forever...

 

[Bounces R Way]

Sounds a little too much like hard work.

 

[Panthaz89]

Now you're being ridiculous... asking for recepts. Sabre fans were going gaga over the chance to draft McDavid that particular tank year. I doubt you'll find any that weren't.

Enough of this. If you want to formally charge me trolling go ahead. Do your thing.

Along with every other fan of a lottery team during that year...

 

[Danarqhy]

It's Buffalo, that city is just plain cursed til the end of the days when it comes to sports.

 

[Panthaz89]

I dont. Ive spent a decade telling them what therye organization is doing wrong only to be met with aholes left and right. Ive been right about nearly everything and loved every minute of it. Its a team im actively rooting for to lose now, even though my heart wants them to do well because its my hometown.

I hope they either pay the f out of Byram or he asks out.View attachment 973439

Its pretty hilarious that you can call anyone an ahole without being self-conscious about it.....the perennial contending Jets being at the top of the list only proves how stupid the management is you don't need an ideal place to compete in this league.

 

[Mogo]

Florida also has ownership that doesn't meddle.

Oh, they did meddle. Remember the computer boys, Tom Rowe, Smith + Marchesssault fiasko

They learned tho

 

[biturbo19]

Who hires the rung down? We've seen the same thing over and over again with rookie GM's and very few quality voices in the front office to set the vision of what they want in a player and direction on how to get there. Pegula is the guy making those hires and putting his nose into the team's business. And that likely doesn't go away until he parts from his majority ownership and another voice comes in to set things to rights.

Realistically though, how many owners are actually good at hiring EVPs and GMs and building a stable organization? Most of the ones who have succeeded have been some degree of lucky and hit on "the right guys" below them, and had the sense to stay out of the hockey ops.


Pegula might be particularly useless at it, but plenty of other owners are equally clueless and have one way or another, put the right people in place to actually run the team effectively...sometimes.


That's probably where "fixing" the Sabres mess starts though. In finding someone who can be a big enough voice with a clear enough vision to step in and convince Pegula to back off and just sign the cheques. And for it to be someone actually competent this time. But that's where it starts imo...rather than pipedream nonsense about replacing the owners. It's the same story in Vancouver, to a slightly lesser degree. Aquaman isn't going anywhere, so it's about hoping that he happens upon some qualified management with a coherent plan like Ruthervin.

 

[WeThreeKings]

They should try using their first round picks on undersized skilled forwards. I don't think they've drafted enough of them yet.

 

[wunderpanda]

won't be fixed. no sympathy either. started way back with the lafontaine/murray feud and never got better. anyone with a connection to buffalo was sold off. vets that could have helped were dumped for the shiny new toys. it could go back to miller, ott & foligno. it was an issue with gorges & gionta. it absolutely peaked with ror, eichel & muffin leaving. entire problem started when they undermined nolan & drafted muffin instead of frycycle and they have never course corrected.

yes, i did advocate to win for hanifin all those years ago instead of tanking.

 

[majormajor]

The Sabres need to push in their chips and make it clear to everyone that they are a team that will spend the $$ they need to and expend the picks/ prospects they need to. Be a win now team. The ownership has to decide how badly they want to win.

Right now they're stuck in that spiral where no one will go there because they aren't good, and that's also largely why they aren't good. The team has amassed a ton of player/prospect value but that isn't going to translate into wins without a very visible change in strategy.