Stormin Norman

I was at the game last night and surveyed the crowd after every Chicago goal. Could not find a Sabres fan standing or cheering or clapping. There were a TON of Black Hawk fans there who were doing so. I myself sat and remained quiet....while inside thanked the Hockey Gods.

No rebuttal forthcoming.

You are both weirdos.

Proud of Ted Nolan. Proud of how the team played. Damn PROUD to be a SABRES FAN. ELATED THEY LOST. Thinking only about the future.

I just want them to clinch the Tank then win all the hell they want, no matter how many games are left after that.

I will argue forever that the Cup run in '99 had more to do with the team John Muckler had built than anything Darcy had to do with it. We went to the finals two years after Muckler left the organization. Darcy's influence was hardly the reason we got there. Of his own design, Darcy built a very good team which had a couple extremely fun years... the Drury/Briere years. You have to credit him with those rosters more than the '99 Cup run. Other than that, the organization was average at best and below average for many of Darcy's years.

Darcy isn't here to rebuild because he couldn't be trusted to do it. I for one couldn't stomach another year with him making player decisions for the long term... not after the house of cards came down when Lucic ran over Miller and the world found out what kind of a spineless team he had created. The only thing I agreed with Darcy on was the need to blow the thing up (and accept the "suffering" that goes with it)... as long as he wasn't the one putting Humpty Dumpty back together again.

Ummmm... No. I have tolerated the tank due to TWO generational players lying in wait for the Sabres. If we get neither of them, all bets are off. Patience used up. No more looking the other way as we go down the toilet. Next year is about winning... and every year thereafter. To think a franchise should be able to sell out a building for a third year while making no progress other than to take another shot at a promising draft pick is lunacy. (And that would be after we failed to do it in the second year!)

Good point. I think in an arena full of people it is nearly impossible to withhold passion and strong feelings. That's why I am not sure I could just "sit on my hands" when the OT goal was scored by Arizona. I don't trust my own self control to that degree.

Been to several games this year and had no trouble managing myself as follows. 1. Cheer loudly for all Sabres goals. 2. Quiet smirk when the other team scores. 3. Silently hope like hell the Sabres play well but lose. Can't guarantee I wouldn't have yelped out loud and clapped when Arizona scored the OT goal (as I did at the sports bar I was at). So I certainly understand those who let their emotions out. I have tickets to the Chicago game...hope the technique still works.

I have to really hold back here, because I typically enjoy reading all the posts, even ones I disagree with. I am hoping you mean we as a fan base deserve 30th place because of our long-standing dedication and devotion to this team (allowing us to draft a great player). If I read it the other way (I think wrongly), you are saying we deserve to have a last place team because of the kind of fans we are? Perhaps there are fans who are embarrassed by all this. Not me. I'll be drinking from my Stanley Cup replica and cheering at the ticker-tape parade in the future as the embarrassed folks shed tears and howl in disdain about how we came to win a championship.

Thank you, sir. This is exactly it. Exactly my feelings. Let me tell you, I have been a die-hard fan for the entire existence of the Sabres. I want the Cup badly...in the worst way. Winning games on principle right now only to decrease the odds of acquiring a McEichel is patently insane. We bemoan Sabres points now because they hurt our future not because we're against the franchise or the players. Is that hard to grasp? I want Buffalo to land one of these two guys. 30th place guarantees it. Period. And I hope Darcy the Weasel's team finishes 29th - only a point out of last place - and misses out on both of the top two guys in the draft.

Bucky was right in one way: the discord is because we're losing. I have followed the Sabres since their inception and Buffalo fans always demonstrate rabid support of the team when they win. We are CRAZY GOOD fans when the team has talent and demonstrates effort... and makes the playoffs. Traditionally, in down years, we understand some re-tooling is needed, but the expectation is that we're back on a playoff ride in short order. This situation is different. From the moment Ryan Miller was crushed by Lucic, the house of cards came down. Darcy's version of a core-less, near spineless "team" was revealed for all to see. I advocated then and advocate today the need to strip it all down and start over. Finish the tank. Get the pick. And then WIN. The love-fest of being a rabid Sabres fans gets re-ignited when we are competitive and make the playoffs again.

I feel like one of these things could happen: 1. We ride a McEichel to a Cup in some future year because he is indeed a generational player and we build a very solid cast around him. 2. We become very competitive, make the playoffs on a regular basis, but don't win the Cup despite having a McEichel. Draft picks and free agency acquisitions help make the Sabres strong for years. 3. McEichel is a bust or gets hurt and the whole tank thing was a waste of time. Tragic. Team ends up like in previous years... on the cusp of playoffs but not always there. This requires faith, folks. I feel very good that #2 is the likely scenario and #1 is not out of the question. But it's what GMTM does to build a TOTAL TEAM that dictates the outcome. End result: my support of the tank is founded on the idea that #3 doesn't happen. If #3 happens, I eat crow and admit being misguided throughout.

Here's a vision. I am curious as to whether you think the same as I do. There are many fans who desire to finish last to have a guarantee of drafting one or the other of McEichel. Others think the whole concept of tanking to get one of them sucks. Easy to understand both sides. (Disclosure: I happen to want one of them very badly). IF we end up last, I think the long path of discord among Sabres fans is over. For me, with one of those players, it is all about WINNING and only about WINNING from that point on. I do not anticipate an instant turnaround. But, dammit, I expect this team to make progress quickly and aggressively with all the prospects and draft picks we have. I will be angry if they do not show a lot of forward progress... and, like, next year. So I think we all reunite on common ground right after the draft. I think the bickering stops and we are all of one mind at that point. Agree?

Long time, highly devoted Sabres fan here (and ALWAYS will be). In my mind, I have set a timetable for getting this franchise on the right path. And this is the last year I offer my patience to the organization. I don't agree that a quick turnaround was possible. Instead, I wanted the complete dismantling of the team (particularly the core) and a new group of talent interjected. There was no way this was going to be pretty and no guarantees come with it. I understand this. At the forefront is the need to banish mediocrity for the LONG TERM, not the present. I see the Sabres doing that (again, no guarantees) with all the prospects and picks we have and the options they afford us. I have been willing to go through the process but that willingness ends after this year. Get one of the top two guys and then it's ONLY about winning. Going to the playoffs perennially is the expectation for years to come and getting to the finals is a must. It requires faith to feel this way...and that may be the toughest part.

While one may nitpick some of the points made, I will endorse this as one of the best and most accurate representations of the history leading to the current state of our hockey team. I could add my own takes, but they wouldn't necessarily enhance the essence of your point. Well done! If this was a prosecutor's summation, I would vote, "Guilty as Charged!" I am curious as to your point of view. Are you content / happy with the way things are? Do you view Darcy as the victim of external forces he could not control? I apologize for asking what appear to be very blunt questions (not my intent). I just see you refuting and/or blunting the arguments people are making about why this team sucks and how we got here. So my questions are really about what you deem to be the reasons this team has been mediocre at best save for a couple years? (To be honest, at times I wonder if you're Ted Black or Darcy himself behind the MadKat name).

Doesn't it come down to this: In any sport, there is a "window" of time during which a GM has an opportunity to build or maintain a competitive team and challenge for a championship. Certainly, some owners facilitate the push for a championship more than others, but generally speaking, the GM only has so much time to get it done regardless of the circumstances. What is the typical window of time? Hockey has much longer tenure at the GM position than coaches do. Believe it or not, Darcy is THIRD behind Lou Lamoriello (Devils) and Jim Rutherford (Hurricanes). Both are CUP winners. Only eight teams have a GM with more than 7 years with their team. Of those eight, four have never won a Cup, including Darcy. (Glen Sather has not yet won with the Rangers, but did so previously with the Oilers). So there are essentially THREE other GMs who have the distinction of abnormally long tenures without winning a Cup. And Buffalo has the head of that class. This deserves an opportunity to start all over again?

I second this. :thumbsup:

I've read the entire thread since I first posted it, and it's still legit in my view. Today, I feel more sorry for Ruff than anyone else. Sure, his voice might have grown stale and players weren't responding to him as in the past. But there is no doubt in my mind that year after year he got the most out of mediocre rosters put together by Regier. How Lindy must feel today knowing he was let go after bleeding Sabre blue and gold for over half his life. Meanwhile, the Wizard of Odd in charge of building the team finally pulls the plug on his futile roster -- and is near complete in dismantling the "leadership core" we've endured since the Drury-Briere bloodletting. Truth is, there was no leadership core left in place after '07. Regier's faith in Roy-Pomminstein-Connolly-Vanek as players ready to fill the void hastened our decline to mediocrity. Then Lucic made the ultimate mockery of the hollow core left behind.

Here's what I want: 1. I want the hardest working team in hockey back on the ice. Aside from having god in net, we were not the most talented team up front. But I thoroughly enjoyed the effort, the grit, and, at times, the bedlam that team brought to the rink EVERY NIGHT. I never enjoyed 2-1 and 3-2 losses more. Seriously! 2. I want leadership and a determined will to win. Drury - Briere - McKee - Dumont - Ray - Grier. Demonstrate to others who don't have those qualities what it takes to win. I think Ott's got it. Not enough on this squad do. 3. Some top flight talent. Not second and third line players (or worse) playing first and second line roles on our team. 4. A personality on this team. What do these guys stand for? I see milk toast. I want sand paper. 1 through 4 above means no Darcy.

Thought I'd throw this out there. I can't recall seeing Ryan smile, even when things were going well. Nice to see him smiling/laughing on the ice.

I am glad Miller is stepping up his performance in this difficult season. It shows leadership and commitment, so he should be credited for that.

Genny Cream? They still sell that toilet water? Love the Wardy's but why ruin it with swill?

Is it just me, or does anyone else feel the wins are hollow? The New Jersey win seems typical of what I am talking about. We're dominated in shots on goal and the defensive zone time was simply nauseating. The way I see it, without Miller's play of late, it could have or perhaps should have been three losses in a row. I think I heard he's around a .950 save percentage in the last several games... and he needed to be that good. It seems a bit delusional to me to think we have a good enough team to get to the playoffs, let alone make a run. An earlier post addressed the importance of Miller in this... if he "vacillates" from dominating play to WTF, we'll get drilled.