TageMVP

The Sabres are on pace to have less wins than 2 years ago when they had a measly 32 wins, with essentially the same team. That's gotta be the coach

Yeah, that was the joke.

Small steps. Get two wins in a row, then turn it into ten

Gotta add some grit. It's been lacking for too long. Even if the Sabres made the playoffs they'd get squashed in a hurry. Every team picks up their grit come playoff time. Although, I'd still take getting bounced early in the playoffs over the last 12 years any day of the week.

The Sabres didn't play well? Why, because they didn't win 8-2 instead? Lol

If the Jack Eichel team with Phil Housley as coach could win 10 games in a row, this team absolutely can. The time is now

Good points. I do think Granato has some qualities to him but that are much more aligned to being an assistant coach. It's okay to be upset as the head coach sometimes. Get mad at a ref, chew out a player, show me something that proves you care. Players rally from stuff like that. Pull the goalie after 2 goals, anything. I don't think I've ever seen him upset which is bizarre because he's the head coach. How the team plays is ultimately up to him. On another note, he can't fully be blamed either because the Sabres consist of players who are all too similar. You would think 12 years of this no grit crap would inspire a change but all the GMs, coaches and players have tried the exact same strategy for 12 years. It's lunacy

Starting to look like that. I mean, just by way of association, couldn't one argue that he was a bad hire to begin with because he was an assistant on Ralph's staff? That whole staff was terrible. Maybe this team was doomed with Granato no matter what.

Darcy was 10x the GM Adams is. Easily

Big time this. I remember back in the day a lot of fans grew tired of those Vanek teams. But, those teams were ALWAYS competitive. Always. Even when they missed the playoffs, they were not ever more than a few wins out. For several years, even after Briere and Drury left, they were a solid fringe playoff team. Even made the playoffs a few times. Yes, they weren't good enough to make any real noise in the playoffs. We all knew that. But those Vanek teams were 10x better than any of the last 12 years and I'd take those teams back in a mili-second heartbeat.

This is exactly it. I've been saying this for years. This roster is built to score, and to score fancy. No tough goals, no garbage goals. Highlight reel or nothing

I agree with this. I think every fan here would like to see a balanced team that hits, scores and plays defense with excellent goaltending. The problem is, everything else but scoring is a weakness. The Sabres do not have a roster built for a balanced team. So, you play to your strengths. I remember Ruff being mad at Vanek and instructed him to be more defensive minded. It didn't work, Vanek didn't like it and eventually Ruff was fired. Not for that reason alone, but he had lost the team overall. Besides, Vanek was a 40 goal scorer, defense was just not how he played. When you're that offensively gifted, the defensive lapses don't matter as much. Some guys can get away with that. I wouldn't care if Ovechkin was a bad defender because he scores 50 every year. My main point is that you have to play to your strengths, because that's what you're best at. This team is built for scoring. Trying anything else was probably a long shot anyway. I like Granato, he's done some great things, but it's looking more and more with each passing day that he's not the guy.

With all this talk about penalties against the Sabres I will say this. I've noticed while looking through the box scores of every game played, the Sabres seem to have twice as many penalties called against them. Not sure why, could be legitimate. However, I do not see how one team could always have more penalties than the other in every single game. That seems off. Having said that, is that a good excuse for not winning games? Of course not. The power play stinks anyway and losing to teams like Columbus and Arizona is unacceptable. Especially when they don't play hard. Which is exactly what they did. Bottom line, the Sabres need to start playing better and winning right now. This break is a perfect time to go on a winning streak, even a 4 to 5 game winning streak puts them right back into the playoff conversation.

He was a good GM. He knew that a rebuild was needed back then, traded guys Vanek to get it started. His welcome started to wear thin amongst a lot of Sabres fans, but I always liked the guy. He was starting the rebuild, even fired Ruff. I'm not entirely sure why he got fired. He turned nothing into something countless times. Maybe he needed to go, maybe he didn't. I know this, though. There is no way this team would be this bad for this long if Regier was still GM. Zero percent chance

He's been playing very well. Hopefully he keeps it up

Wow what a complete win against arguably the best team in the league. Put up 5 without their best forward, too UPL looked great, has looked solid all year Peterka seems to be taking a leap like Cozens took last year Just play tough solid hockey until guys recover from injuries. Still a long season ahead. Plenty of time to stack wins

Well, in late November they went on a 5 game win streak. Then in early December, they went on a 7 game win streak. So, I'd say around this time is when they rounded into form that year. That team also had a major injury kind of like Thompson this year. Briere missed 34 games but it did not seem to affect the Sabres. Hopefully Thompson is not out that long. What a team that 05-06 team was, definitely miss it. Still think that was their best chance at a cup

Sure. If you count progress as being better than the Eichel years. Unfathomable that they've stunk for this long. Make the playoffs

Referencing poster above me ^ I've been clamoring for Boone Jenner for the past year. Exactly the type of player the Sabres desperately need. The last guy we had like that was Marcus Foligno, what a fool trade that was

There's no respect given to Cozens for at least dropping the gloves? I think he deserves some credit there.

He lost a fight, that doesn't mean he can't be a complete player. I give him credit for dropping the gloves against a fighter anyway

Those numbers aren't even that great. So, basically he's 5-4 with a 2.87 GAA and a .916 SV%. The only stat that's solid there is the SV%. Not only that but Tampa Bay can score just as well as the Sabres plus they're a better team overall with more veterans and also have shut down guys. I'm not surprised Jonas' stats are better with the Lightning

Might have to fire Granato before it's another lost season. There is no excuse to miss the playoffs again this year. None

A few interesting things to me at least Everybody was a minus on the Avalanche besides three guys Jokiharju has 5 assists on the season. Previous career high is 16 assists. He should be able to top that Big win against a top tier team. Time to turn it into a 5 game winning streak

This could end up being the worst Stanley Cup final ever Carolina vs Dallas