PalmTreeMafia

The only two viable hockey markets that remain open in North America are Houston and Quebec City, but I think the Coyotes and Panthers will eventually move there. Toronto could also support a second team, but I doubt the NHL and the Maple Leafs will ever allow it. I can't even imagine a scenario where the Pegulas would sell or relocate the Sabres. They are very incompetent owners, but their loyalty and love toward the WNY community is genuine. They just need some sort of President of Hockey Operations to advise and oversee this mess. Buffalo is an outstanding pro hockey market. Any other U.S. hockey market would be playing games in front of 5k nightly crowds after subjecting their fanbase to what we've gone through over the past 20 years. This city will hold a parade for the Sabres the next time they make the playoffs.

The Dalton Smith signing is an open acknowledgment from management that this team needs more toughness and grit, but why is this acknowledgment occurring midway through the third year of our GM's tenure? Is our GM even more clueless than we imagined? At bare minimum, the entire fourth line plus at least two defensemen should be made up of Dalton Smith personalities. I see 3 main problems with this roster at the moment: 1. The aforementioned lack of toughness and grit. Start by replacing McCabe, Scandella, Sheary, Rodrigues, and Vesey with Dalton Smith personalities and see what happens. 2. Lack of second line scoring. Find two quality players to play with Skinner, even if rentals. 3. Bad goaltending. Replace Hutton with someone better. All of these moves should happen ASAP, because a 9th straight year without playoffs is really bad for the team's locker room culture.

Here are the standings point totals for the Eichel era: 2015-16: 81 2016-17: 78 2017-18: 62 2018-19: 76 2019-20: pacing at 86 after last night (and falling) So...essentially zero progress after five seasons since Eichel was drafted. Also, notice how our current GM may easily not even reach the Tim Murray/Dan Bylsma benchmark of 81 points after 3 seasons of trying. The level of organizational incompetence demonstrated here is absolutely outrageous and unparalleled in modern NHL history. I don't what else we as fans can do, other than complain on message boards and refuse to pay money for this product?! I'm convinced that Jason Botterill was given 4 full years to turn this around, so praying he gets fired this season may be a waste of energy. I'm not even sure his biggest mistakes (Housley hire, O'Reilly trade) were entirely his fault and not partly the fault of the most incompetent owner in the NHL.

The roster actually needs TWO second-line forwards in order to be playoff-competitive. Everything else seems okay to me on paper: Olofsson - Eichel - Reinhart Skinner - ??? - ??? Girgensons - Larsson - Okposo Johansson - Asplund - Thompson Ullmark Hutton Jokiharju - Dahlin Ristolainen - Scandella Montour - Miller The best we can hope for are probably 2C and 2W rentals while praying Cozens and Mittlestadt are ready next year. I would trade away McCabe, Bogosian, Sobotka, Rodrigues, Sheary, and Vesey for 3D/4F players with that ever-elusive "grit" which has been missing from this roster at least since the Twin Tank Years began.

They still might have late-round draft pick value at the trade deadline, when many injury-plagued teams just need warm bodies with NHL experience.

Actually, if you're trying to determine the significance of Buffalo's weather as a factor on QB performance, you would start by comparing the stats of every QB who played in Buffalo with their stats when not playing in Buffalo. This includes Josh's stats. I listed weather (mostly wind this season) as just one of 3 factors outside Josh Allen's control that affect completion percentage. Another is the team's abnormally high number of dropped passes. The biggest factor, however, is the type of offensive system run. For example, Lamar Jackson's completion percentage would likely drop in Daboll's system and Josh Allen's would likely rise in Roman's system. I also listed throwing mechanics and footwork as affecting completion percentage. Josh has improved in this aspect of his game since last season, but he still gets sloppy at times. One factor I forgot to add is pro experience. The more defensive looks a QB has seen in his lifetime, the better he should get at completing passes (though this will plateau after a certain number of games played...usually after about 3 full seasons). Yet another obvious factor I didn't initially mention is the type of defenses faced. Playing the Ravens and the Steelers in the AFC North will tend to lower completion percentage compared to playing the Giants and Skins in the NFC East. So basically, there are a number of factors (I've listed 6 now) that affect completion percentage, with weather being one factor but normally not the most important factor. I think it's reasonable to expect about 65% from Josh for his third season under Daboll, but the 58.8% right now isn't at all alarming. Like I said earlier, that's a difference of about 25 completed passes over 15 games. A true #1 WR, an upgrade at LG and RT, and an improvement over Gore are what we should expect from Buffalo this off-season to help Allen succeed. Of course, even if Josh Allen reaches 65%, I'm sure there will be another stat that many of you here will cling to in order to validate your preconceived opinion that he is a bust...

I can and will and just did. Wind, cold temperatures, rain, and snow affect completion percentage. New Era Field is easily the windiest stadium in the NFL. Cousins and Wilson play in domes. Flacco is a 12-year vet with a mediocre completion percentage. Rodgers in Green Bay might be a good counterpoint, but he's also well-known as being among the very greatest precision passers to have ever played the game.

I notice how Allen's critics constantly obsess over his completion percentage, which is currently at the very bottom of the league at 58.8%. The obvious problems with this singular statistic: 1. The type of offensive system significantly affects completion percentage. Josh Allen in Daboll's Erhardt-Perkins system can't be expected to have the same completion percentage as a QB in, say, a spread offense. 2. Weather affects completion percentage. You can't realistically expect a Buffalo Bills QB to routinely achieve completion percentages like Drew Brees, who plays in a dome. 3. Dropped passes affect completion percentage. The Bills are currently at the top of the league in this stat. I don't care how hard Josh Allen may be throwing the ball. If the ball hits your hands and if you're getting paid millions to catch a ball, then hold on to the ball. 4. Footwork and throwing mechanics affect completion percentage. Allen still needs to work on this aspect of his game, but it's all very correctable with more time and effort. This isn't an innate skill. My conclusion: take just 25 of Josh Allen's incompletions over the course of this 15-game season, convert them to completions, and then he's suddenly at the league median with 64.4%. He's already made a lot of progress since last year and since the beginning of this season. Find him a true #1 WR with a large catching radius, a power RB upgrade over Gore, maybe two new starters on the OL, and then sit back and enjoy the Super Bowl run next year.

MIND. BLOWN.

I have no idea. Can you tell me why Sheary, Vesey, Rodrigues, and McCabe are on this team? The most likely answer may be: grossly incompetent GM.

Yeah, that's not it.

I think he's been afraid to do anything ever since getting fleeced in the O'Reilly trade. If that's the case, then it's time to put him out of his misery for the good of the franchise. The next GM needs to be someone with proven experience.

Will I see a PLAYOFF BERTH in my lifetime?! I'm in my thirties.

Skinner should be on the same line as Eichel. That was the whole reason for signing him to that gigantic contract. Sheary, Vesey, and Rodrigues better be off this roster by May.

I think they're content with Wallace as the #2 CB. He did have a few bad games this season, but his overall two-season body of work has been excellent. As fans, we may tend to think he's worse than he really is simply because he doesn't look nearly as good as White. Having said that, Carolina's James Bradberry is a potential free agent #2 CB the Bills may very well target because they have the money to do so. Ahead of CB, my off-season wish list includes a #1 WR, a starting RT, a RB to replace Gore, a pass-rushing chess piece on the edge like Clowney, and an OLB to replace Alexander (in that order). So it looks to me like the most probable path to the Super Bowl is: Round 1: at Houston Round 2: at Baltimore Round 3: at KC (some might say at New England) That's an extremely intimidating path. But it's worth noting that this will be the best road team the franchise has ever had if they win Saturday (7-1 road record to surpass the 1964 Bills' 6-1 record).

Only to the subset of fans who have convinced themselves that the only way to win in the NFL is to have a passing offense that regularly surpasses 300 yards/game with a 70% completion percentage. I call them the "flag football" fans because that's what they want to see the entire league turn into. The rest of us who follow pro football know that a strong running game and a dominant defense will never go out of style. You'll find more of us in NFL cities on this list (https://weather.com/news/news/2019-09-12-nfl-worst-weather-cities).

Truth. It's happening even while Eichel remains hot. Two points currently separate the #2 seed and the #6 seed in the Atlantic division, with the Sabres having played more games than the Florida teams near the bottom. But there are still fans out there that think the team has turned a corner and that our GM is doing a good job....unreal...

I am willing to respect everyone's opinions here, but - like Hank posted above - I'm personally very happy with the way the Bills are being built: 1. An elite defense 2. A top-5 rushing offense. 3. $90+ million in cap space for 2020 4. A group of players who like each other, work hard at their profession, actually like the city of Buffalo, and have a bunch of unique personalities (see: White, Tre'Davious). 5. A constantly improving franchise-caliber QB who has already earned the respect of his teammates (and who, by the way, is currently tied with Russell Wilson for the league lead in both game-winning drives and 4th quarter comebacks...and is also 8th in rushing TD's, ahead of Lamar Jackson). 6. Perhaps most importantly: early results. 2 winning seasons already and 2 playoff appearances in 3 years. There are many fans frustrated with the passing game and the conservative play-calling on offense. Fair enough. And I will join you in voicing these frustrations if this is still a problem next season. But remember: $90+ million in cap space, a 2020 draft loaded with #1 WR talent, and a starting QB so raw coming out of college that it was almost universally assumed he'd sit for two years before ever seeing the field as an NFL starter. In other words: have patience. A lot of the playcalling issues may simply have to do with the current talent limitations (Gore as a power back is done, no 6-4 clutch possession WR's on the roster, Allen still learning how to read blitz packages, no starting right tackle, etc..). By the way, the criticism against McDermott and Co. for not drafting Mahomes, Watson, and Jackson is not entirely fair. McDermott has repeatedly stated that he wasn't comfortable making such a crucial franchise QB decision when he first got the job in early 2017 and was having to rely on Whaley's scouts. He was also anticipating the well-hyped 2018 QB class. Lamar Jackson is a unique case. He is probably a QB bust in any other offensive system other than the current one run by Roman and Harbaugh. Besides, a lot of other QB-needy teams passed on Mahomes, Watson, and Jackson. I'd wait another 2-3 full years anyway before assuming all 3 are definitively better than Allen. Finally, I don't understand the love affair for the Chiefs model of building a team. They should have won a Super Bowl last year with that offense, but they didn't because of a defense that couldn't stop a nosebleed...not to mention their proven playoff choker for a head coach and a couple of star talents who like beating women (Hill, Hunt). I still believe there are multiple ways of building a Super Bowl-caliber roster built for long term success in the modern NFL, one of which includes the current Bills model of an elite defense coupled with a strong running game and a clutch QB. It's also the model that the Patriots, Ravens, and Steelers have been trying to implement in the AFC. The Chiefs and the Texans are doing it a different way. We'll see which has more success in the playoffs this year!

Top 5. They're elite. But that doesn't excuse Singletary's 2 fumbles, all the drops, and the ultra-conservative playcalling. Allen could have played better as well. This offense is still a year away from being really good. Buffalo's D is Super-Bowl caliber right now. No doubt. They need to do a much better job on third quarter scripted opening drives, but otherwise I am comfortable calling them elite (in the Jack Eichel sense of the word).

It has, my friend. It certainly has. But I have at least provided a specific benchmark by which I am willing to reverse my negative outlook: making the playoffs. I also see a lot of this organization's fortune depending on the development of 4 specific players: Luukkonen, Dahlin, Mittelstadt, and Cozens. If all 4 reach their talent ceiling, we suddenly have a legitimate Cup contender.

I see a half-full glass of public water from Flint, Michigan; the yellowish-brown tint won't turn clear for me until a playoff spot is clinched.

Does this turd really believe playing will make a difference? Does he really think the rest of the NHL will ever see him as anything other than an injury-prone, low hockey-IQ, 3rd overall draft bust? Regardless of playing time, his NHL career trajectory is 2 or 3 more years max as a third-pair defenseman at the vet minimum. Just enjoy the $6-million-per-year you stole from the Sabres, Zach, relax in the warm confines of the press box for the next few months, and STFU until the coach calls your name you piece of ***** Tank Era locker room cancer.

We're also just a few bad games in a row from bouncing down from the #2 division playoff seed to #12 overall in the conference. I still don't think much has changed with this team. Our critical #2 center of the future is now a regular scratch, our $10 million-per-year left winger is pulling a Matt Moulson on us, and our comatose GM continues to waste away the prime years of Eichel without any urgency to make the playoffs. Or am I being overly negative?

I was just about to post the same thing. The lack of response to the Dahlin hit was my personal breaking point. I'll probably still check in a few times a week, though, to read the Bills thread and see what the very knowledgeable hockey people here think about any major Sabres news that comes up, like a firing or a big trade. But the bottom line is that I currently suffer from clinical depression, and following this franchise is not helping my condition at all. There is nothing even remotely fun or entertaining about Buffalo Sabres hockey anymore. I sincerely believe that this current collection of players will never win anything meaningful in the NHL. A team that can't stick up for a teammate will never succeed in the Stanley Cup playoffs.

This is likely only a temporary but necessary stage in his development as an NFL franchise QB. He simply doesn't have the experience (not just as a pro, but as a QB in general) to run a high-octane offense right now. To be honest, the current WR's and OL don't have the talent to do it either. But when you have a top-5 defense and a top-5 running game (partly due to Allen's own running skills), why not opt for the game-manager QB role a bit more? The team is a singular Steelers away game victory from an 80% chance of making the playoffs; they are an additional Jets home game victory from having their best record since 1999.