Thorner

They weren’t in a playoff spot the entire second half of last year and it was never close to mathematically likely. We had a crazy stretch to keep it merely within range during the last 10 games but that’s the CLOSEST we’ve come and it required an unsustainable stretch. “this team has been reasonably close” misses the mark for me. I do agree things can change fast. We could make the playoffs next year. That’s always the most frustrating thing, in fact: making the playoffs isn’t hard. We could absolutely do it if they chose to prioritize the now

Exceptional stuff. One of the best posts I’ve ever read on this board. - - - Exactly. A key, key factor of why we are never good is we have, being unable to measure ourselves versus the rest of the league at large, resorted to relative comparisons to our own franchise: which gets you into trouble when your franchise is the worst in pro sports. “If we run it back and just get a little lucky and everything goes to plan, that “good” Buffalo output can be had!” But like you said: that total we are aspiring for, in this case “second half play” is hardly good enough and because we’ve set the goal so incredibly low, falling short even a little results in what we seem to always see: finishes in the 20s

Great stat. And definitively why “patience” need not apply. The idea merely making the playoffs requires some gargantuan process is the largest bill of goods this franchise and regime has sold

We’ve been through this a million times dude. NMCs aren’t an excuse. Yes, you are darn right from a mathematics standpoint what I said is true. The LARGE majority don’t. The pool of players we have “access” to after accounting for these clauses still provides hypothetical options for improvement 100 times over relative to the amount of ground we are trying to make up, here. The ground to mediocre. Teams have an average of about 5/6 NMCs per team last i checked. I *understand* the players we are looking for you don’t need to keep telling me. I understand a lot have NMCs. I also understand we only need a few additions. The potential pool is vast. Over 75% of players, plus nhl ready prospects/guys on ELCs aren’t affected by the NMC issue - - - As for the Eichel thing, I feel like you just disagree with me on everything I say re Eichel on principle. The statement was about Jack. Leino and Berglund were LONG gone no one was thinking about them and even ROR was dealt by a previous GM. The quote was about Jack

That’s good. You can only get more couraged from here

I still give us ~ a 20% shot

“We want players who want to be here” was a thinly veiled shot at Jack Eichel. That’s it - that was its origin. It was merely a headline. A narrative. Every team wants guys who don’t actively want to be somewhere else. This doesn’t present the Sabres with a legitimate obstacle to making the playoffs in a league where half the teams make it: we only need to achieve mediocrity. Most players don’t have a NMC. We missed by 1 point last year with THAT owner AND the “no one wants buffalo” stigma. We can absolutely make it with competence. To think otherwise would be absurd: it was one point. A competent GM can bridge that gap. If we can field a winner, if we can get competent GM work, once we finally make the playoffs we’ll actually see some real culture change. Build it and they will come. Or, least, more will come. They have to sell-out to winning in the now, because THAT’S actually the building block for more wins in the future.

Yes

We will finish, at best, 6 points behind last year

Sorry boys. It’s already been 12 straight seasons missed, why not make it a baker’s dozen? So long from another disappointing season

I’ve heard most likely translate to wing. Think Rosen was even in junior And yes, it’s funny this team is always funny it’s the one thing we have

It’s funny cause we were literally saying around here a short year ago that we’d have the 05/06 “run 4 lines” set up comps to that team assuredly need to be barred until further notice

So dark..you sure you’re not from the DC universe?

If we can’t find a way to score another goal today, we are mathematically eliminated

Considering our goaltending “all set” for next year remains a likely mistake

My friend who’s a big flyers fan says they were young and ahead of schedule this year and have collapsed because their GT fell apart through overuse

People are definitely still doing the playoffs scenarios thing on twitter still

HEART

Things have sucked, and will suck, until they don’t. That’s it. That’s where we’re at. There’s no lower. We just are. We are the Buffalo Sabres.

So if we had removed Jeff skinner last season, we’d have been better? a top goal scorer in the league last year and you are claiming him to be a sizeable! net negative. To the tune of almost single handedly turning franchises around for the worse, which we know players in the nhl don’t do (nor for the better). something doesn’t jive. He either provided a ton of positive value last year or didn’t. There was a magical barrier stopping us from seizing one final point cause Jeff Skinner was here? none of it makes sense

Situation last year was the same with us needing to reel off a bunch of games in a row (we just nearly did it last year). It was still a situation where we left ourselves almost no room for error and our 8-2-1 finish or whatever it was wasn’t enough they aren’t crashing in key games, they are crashing in too many games *all season*. It’s a consistency issue, an overall output issue, not a “specifically plays bad in big games” issue. We’ve had like 20 “big games” in a row where we’ve said we needed to win like 16

It’s a matter of perspective Saying we have “crumbled” in the “playoff push” is a complete misreading of the situation. The real issue is that it wasn’t really a “playoff push” at all, the pace we needed to play at was ridiculous thus falling short isnt “crumbling” at all. The issue was by far the inconsistency over the course of the full season. We aren’t playing poorly in “must win” games we’ve just left ourselves zero margin for error. The Sabres have played at a playoff pace during the last couple months of the season, they haven’t “crumbled”, they just aren’t good enough overall. I mean, ya Coaches get changed because their message gets stale. Their particular strategy. Their X’s and O’s and the buttons they push. If the message that isn’t getting through is, “the score gets tabulated in the first period, too” that’s a PLAYER ISSUE