The tank is 1/2 over...

[Stoner]

 

It was my pleasure.

[LastPommerFan]

So, the Oilers have been bad for a while, they have many early 1st rounders already, and they still get to pick in this deep draft. I'm sure there are other teams as well. Aren't they ahead of the game and in a much better position than us? Why is there this blind faith that we're going to get it right.

 

It's not so much the tank as the giddiness for it. This f'n sucks and marks the lowest point in this franchise's history. There is nothing yet that shows me all of our wonderful prospects aren't going to be anything more than or last bunch of wonderful prospects. The team is going to have to do a whole lot better than "shoot for the bottom" for me to not be pissed off about where we are.

 

I didn't go to a game last year, and I had a hat in my hand that I put back on the shelf. They'll get my money and my enthusiasm when they deserve it.

 

To quote our illustious nFreeman:

 

nonsense.

 

Those prospects had an actual team of hockey players around them. This group has had an AHL roster at best.

 

How could there be any indication on the ice that this group of prospects is better than the Roy/TinMan/Pommer/Goose/Vanek group? So we have to look at what we have in terms of historical prospect success.

 

That group had exactly 2 first round forwards and 1 center. This group has 4 first round forwards and 3 first round centers and will likely add 2 more forwards and another center to that list next year. All of this is a result of dealing assets for picks and the resultant suckage (tanking).

 

We've essentially doubled the probability that the rebuild succeeds.

[SwampD]

Best. Marketing. Job. Ever.

[X. Benedict]

Best. Marketing. Job. Ever.

 

Marketing? How?

 

The team stinks, but beyond Buffalo's capacity to stay interested, I haven't seen any extraordinary efforts to market this as something it is not.

[nfreeman]

It goes back to my "ripe for the picking" comment. We trust that the people in charge of the Sabres are pure and think only of rewarding the loyal fan base with a Cup. Terry might be fairly close to pure, I have no idea. I know that the dirtbag lawyers and accountants and money-changers he's surrounded himself with aren't pure. Just how much does the bottom line of the franchise improve when you're at the cap floor?

 

This fan base has dropped the soap in the shower, and despite the advice they've always heard, they're bending over to pick it up. Best wishes.

 

So that's it? That's the grift that you've been hinting at that TP is running on the gullible WNY hockey fan base? Spending $5MM less than the cap this year? And presumably he's lining his pockets with that $5MM while rubbing his hands together with glee about his successful scam?

 

Weak sauce.

[LastPommerFan]

The Buffalo Sabres will not be profitable this season.

[Robviously]

Best. Marketing. Job. Ever.

So the Sabres' Marketing Department is manipulating the rankings of best farm systems that magazines and websites are putting out?

 

I KNEW IT!

[X. Benedict]

 

 

So that's it? That's the grift that you've been hinting at that TP is running on the gullible WNY hockey fan base? Spending $5MM less than the cap this year? And presumably he's lining his pockets with that $5MM while rubbing his hands together with glee about his successful scam?

 

Weak sauce.

 

Fans dumb. No understand hockey business. Hand over paycheck. Ape no kill ape.

[SwampD]

Marketing? How?

 

The team stinks, but beyond Buffalo's capacity to stay interested, I haven't seen any extraordinary efforts to market this as something it is not.

This team has stunk. This team stinks. This team will stink. Don't worry though, this is the #blueprint for greatness.

 

8K at a prospects game. How? Well, this is our Stanley Cup team in the making.

 

Don't want to keep your season tickets? Well, sucks for you when miss out the Stanley Cup years.

 

 

Why does this all sound so familiar? Oh, yeah. We just have to wait for our new core to mature. :wallbash:

[X. Benedict]

 

So the Sabres' Marketing Department is manipulating the rankings of best farm systems that magazines and websites are putting out?

 

I KNEW IT!

Yes.

 

I went to Canisius one day years back and Mike Gilbert sold me my own pants. They fit great. Years later Ted Black sold me the same pair. They fit great too. Man I love these pants. Where can I find pants like these?

 

 

 

 

This team has stunk. This team stinks. This team will stink. Don't worry though, this is the #blueprint for greatness.

 

8K at a prospects game. How? Well, this is our Stanley Cup team in the making.

 

Don't want to keep your season tickets? Well, sucks for you when miss out the Stanley Cup years.

 

 

Why does this all sound so familiar? Oh, yeah. We just have to wait for our new core to mature. :wallbash:

 

That was marketed to you? Baloney.

Edited July 20, 2014 by X. Benedict

[Eleven]

This team has stunk. This team stinks. This team will stink. Don't worry though, this is the #blueprint for greatness.

 

8K at a prospects game. How? Well, this is our Stanley Cup team in the making.

 

Don't want to keep your season tickets? Well, sucks for you when miss out the Stanley Cup years.

 

 

Why does this all sound so familiar? Oh, yeah. We just have to wait for our new core to mature. :wallbash:

 

That's not marketing, it's demand. And it's frustrating, on the season ticket side.

[SwampD]

Yes.

 

I went to Canisius one day years back and Mike Gilbert sold me my own pants. They fit great. Years later Ted Black sold me the same pair. They fit great too. Man I love these pants. Where can I find pants like these?

 

 

 

 

 

That was marketed to you? Baloney.

So Ted Black never said that we could be good this year, but we choose not to be because it will be better for the team in the long run? You mean this isn't the #blueprint for the SC?

 

k

[X. Benedict]

 

Yes.

 

I went to Canisius one day years back and Mike Gilbert sold me my own pants. They fit great. Years later Ted Black sold me the same pair. They fit great too. Man I love these pants. Where can I find pants like these?

 

 

 

 

 

That was marketed to you? Baloney.

 

Whoops bologna. Bad speller.

[SwampD]

That's not marketing, it's demand. And it's frustrating, on the season ticket side.

Marketing is more than just commercials and billboards.

[X. Benedict]

 

So Ted Black never said that we could be good this year, but we choose not to be because it will be better for the team in the long run? You mean this isn't the #blueprint for the SC?

 

k

 

He probably said it. Darcy called it suffering. It is pretty much the opposite of marketing.

 

Marketing is specifically to make money. There is very little evidence the Sabres are trying to maximize profits in this whole scheme. If they are they are 100% incompetent. Perhaps I'm quibbling with a word, but it ain't marketing.

Edited July 20, 2014 by X. Benedict

[Eleven]

Marketing is more than just commercials and billboards.

 

They did promote the prospects game.

 

What are they doing, marketing-wise, that results in the waiting list?

[X. Benedict]

 

 

They did promote the prospects game.

 

What are they doing, marketing-wise, that results in the waiting list?

 

He's frustrated with the losing. That's all. Understandable.

[SwampD]

They did promote the prospects game.

 

What are they doing, marketing-wise, that results in the waiting list?

Is this a real question? What have we been talking about?

 

#blueprint, and all that that entails.

 

If you don't get what I mean, then I have some unremediated, er, um, I mean virgin farmland adjacent to Love Canal ready for development. Very cheap. (sorry if this sounds snarky)

[Eleven]

Is this a real question? What have we been talking about?

 

#blueprint, and all that that entails.

 

If you don't get what I mean, then I have some unremediated, er, um, I mean virgin farmland adjacent to Love Canal ready for development. Very cheap. (sorry if this sounds snarky)

 

I can buy that virgin farmland anytime. There's no waiting list. Again, demand, not marketing, creates the waiting list. People want to have tickets in the future. You don't need marketing to get people to realize that teams aren't bad forever; they go in cycles.

[dudacek]

Last year was horrifically, hellishly bad.

The three previous years were a purgatory of stagnation because we weren't good enough and (false hope of Leino and Ehrhoff notwithstanding) we weren't getting better.

This year will be bad, but it will be better, because we will finally show some signs of moving forward.

 

You can call it marketing or fooling a gullible fan base. I think a scorched earth policy was overdue.

And the price of last season and the coming season is something that needed to be paid.

[SwampD]

I can buy that virgin farmland anytime. There's no waiting list. Again, demand, not marketing, creates the waiting list. People want to have tickets in the future. You don't need marketing to get people to realize that teams aren't bad forever; they go in cycles.

Some of those people on the waiting list would already have seasons, if people who have them now gave them up because they are fed up with this crap, but they didn't because we have been told (marketed) that this is the #blueprint for success. I don't really see what is so difficult by this.

[Claude_Verret]

Last year was horrifically, hellishly bad.

The three previous years were a purgatory of stagnation because we weren't good enough and (false hope of Leino and Ehrhoff notwithstanding) we weren't getting better.

This year will be bad, but it will be better, because we will finally show some signs of moving forward.

 

You can call it marketing or fooling a gullible fan base. I think a scorched earth policy was overdue.

And the price of last season and the coming season is something that needed to be paid.

 

Long, long, long overdue. I hate losing as much as the next fan, but this approach provides me with hope. Doing what we had always done, with a new GM or not, would have been duping fans more than an honest effort at tanking ever could.

[LastPommerFan]

Some of those people on the waiting list would already have seasons, if people who have them now gave them up because they are fed up with this crap, but they didn't because we have been told (marketed) that this is the #blueprint for success. I don't really see what is so difficult by this.

 

A good chunk of the STHes have been calling for this far longer than the Front Office has been willing to oblige.

[TrueBlueGED]

 

So, the Oilers have been bad for a while, they have many early 1st rounders already, and they still get to pick in this deep draft. I'm sure there are other teams as well. Aren't they ahead of the game and in a much better position than us? Why is there this blind faith that we're going to get it right.

 

It's not so much the tank as the giddiness for it. This f'n sucks and marks the lowest point in this franchise's history. There is nothing yet that shows me all of our wonderful prospects aren't going to be anything more than or last bunch of wonderful prospects. The team is going to have to do a whole lot better than "shoot for the bottom" for me to not be pissed off about where we are.

 

I didn't go to a game last year, and I had a hat in my hand that I put back on the shelf. They'll get my money and my enthusiasm when they deserve it.

 

These type of critiques could he lobbed at any and every approach to team building. UFA spending spree? Failed here and countless other places. Trades? Failed here and other places. I've seen nothing to show that this time these trades and free agent signings will vault us from 10th to 4th.

 

See how that works? Critiquing the tank strategy because it may not work and you're not convinced it will is the weakest argument against it that can be made because it can be said about every single thing any sports team in history has done. How many times to teams win the offseason and proceed to such balls when the real games start. No less frequently than teams draft high and fall flat.

 

If you or anyone else would rather watch a playoff bubble team than a bottom three team, that's fine. I disagree with its value, but it's a reasonable position. Taking the position that tanking sucks because it can fail is weak sauce.

[nfreeman]

This team has stunk. This team stinks. This team will stink. Don't worry though, this is the #blueprint for greatness.

 

8K at a prospects game. How? Well, this is our Stanley Cup team in the making.

 

Don't want to keep your season tickets? Well, sucks for you when miss out the Stanley Cup years.

 

 

Why does this all sound so familiar? Oh, yeah. We just have to wait for our new core to mature. :wallbash:

Some of those people on the waiting list would already have seasons, if people who have them now gave them up because they are fed up with this crap, but they didn't because we have been told (marketed) that this is the #blueprint for success. I don't really see what is so difficult by this.

 

What is the real point here? Do you think they are not trying to build a good team? Do you think they are somehow lying to us? Are you as outraged as PAFan is that they are spending $5MM below the cap this year?

 

Now, you can disagree with the bottom-out-and-rebuild-through-high-picks strategy -- I don't like it at all, myself -- but they've been very clear that that is the strategy they are pursuing.

 

And the complaints about the ST waiting list are from outer space. As 11 said, if the demand is there, the demand is there. The people on the waiting list are fully cognizant of how bad the team is. They are willing to pay for STs to a crappy team because they think the payoff will be worth it. That's a judgment they are entitled to make.