Sabres @ Rangers 1/25/16, 7:30 PM on NBCS

[Stoner]

I think many here have, and are doing so now. There's no shortage of potential answers, I think: Ennis MIA; Moulson falling off a cliff; Girgensons spinning his wheels; E. Kane playing as though he wished Ted Nolan were still the coach (NORTH! SOUTH! EVANDER GO THRU WALLZ!); not a whiff of a #1 goaltender; Hot Daniel's pairings; Hot Daniel's fondness for dump and chase.

 

And so on.

You know what I'm getting at. What else do I have? Panic! at the Disco is not going well. Eleven is more interested in Lindy than anything else. Shoulda known.

With the right coach, this team should be challenging for a playoff spot.  Not making it, but somewhere between 9 and 11 in the conference.  

 

It should not be "historically bad" for the second season in a row.

Now we're coming alive. I'll take Smell. You take some of the tougher crowd.

[That Aud Smell]

You know what I'm getting at. What else do I have? Panic! at the Disco is not going well. Eleven is more interested in Lindy than anything else. Shoulda known.

Now we're coming alive. I'll take Smell. You take some of the tougher crowd.

 

I chuckled, although I'm more than a little unclear on that.

[LGR4GM]

Dear god, ###### it. I'm done here. Enjoy your furious hatred session. "Oh god this team sucks.... oh yea it sucks so hard... TANK 3.0 makes me so hard oh yea daddy hates it so good. So glad I don't have lube, the chaffing makes it better! MMMM yes oooo yea oh yea suck suck suck suck suck harder harder harder!!!!! Pegula is evil, Disco dan is a moron and Tim Murray failed all the time... YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!! I"VE REACHED CLIMAX" 

 

You want to be pessimistic and say everything sucks and bitch about everything and focus on all the suck then enjoy.   Goodnight and good luck. Liger peacing the out.

 

Edited January 26, 2016 by LGR4GM

[TrueBlueGED]

Comparisons to last year's team should be banned. Your foresome dropped Lee Trevino and your gimp neighbor and added Rory McIlroy and the top college player in the U.S. And you're hitting two more greens in regulation. Who cares!!!! JFC I'm getting mad.

If we were in a bar, this comment would make me crack a pool cue and try to shiv you. You're basically criticizing and obese person for still being overweight even though they just started working out and dropped 50 pounds in two months. "Who cares if you're not as fat, you're still fat! You suck!"

 

The starting point matters.

[That Aud Smell]

Dear god, ###### it. I'm done here. Goodbye.

 

 

You're not going anywhere. Your .gif game is too amusing.

[TrueBlueGED]

I understand this sentiment, and tend to agree.

 

This team was intentionally horrific last season. The fact that they've improved from that doesn't advance the conversation, IMO.

Know what else doesn't advance the conversation? Pretending last year didn't happen.

[Claude_Verret]

I just don't see how anyone could think with how young this team is and all the new pieces having never played together, new coach and system would be anywhere close to the playoffs. 

[That Aud Smell]

If we were in a bar, this comment would make me crack a pool cue and try to shiv you. You're basically criticizing and obese person for still being overweight even though they just started working out and dropped 50 pounds in two months. "Who cares if you're not as fat, you're still fat! You suck!"

 

The starting point matters.

 

This also made me laugh, and think a bit.

 

But I'm not sure the metaphor is aptly deployed. The obese person in question may not have dropped 50 pounds. Maybe he hasn't dropped any weight. But maybe we're hearing: Yeah, he's still going about 350, but a lot of that is muscle now. And he may be making some healthy living/weight loss choices that are curious, or downright questionable.

Know what else doesn't advance the conversation? Pretending last year didn't happen.

 

Fair.

 

I just don't take much solace in the fact that we're noticeably better than one of the worst teams ever iced in modern league history.

[TrueBlueGED]

This also made me laugh, and think a bit.

 

But I'm not sure the metaphor is aptly deployed. The obese person in question may not have dropped 50 pounds. Maybe he hasn't dropped any weight. But maybe we're hearing: Yeah, he's still going about 350, but a lot of that is muscle now. And he may be making some healthy living/weight loss choices that are curious, or downright questionable.

 

 

Fair.

 

I just don't take much solace in the fact that we're noticeably better than one of the worst teams ever iced in modern league history.

I think the metaphor works because they are objectively better. On pace for more points, better goal differential, better possession stats, and if you're into this sort of thing we have an all-star who deserves to be an all-star. Yes, we're still fighting it out for the bottom of the league. No, I'm not asking anyone to be happy about that.

 

But in the average season 30th place is around 70 points (Carp probably has the exact number). Last year we had 54. So we had 16 points to make up to be as "good" as a typical last place team. Sixteen! Nobody needs to be happy with being in 29th, but ignoring this drives me batty and telling me it shouldn't even be considered makes me homicidal. I'm coming for you PA!

Edited January 26, 2016 by TrueBlueGED

[Randall Flagg]

Lmao liger

[Eleven]

I just don't see how anyone could think with how young this team is and all the new pieces having never played together, new coach and system would be anywhere close to the playoffs. 

 

Some of the players are young, I'll give you that.

 

The rest of it should not be an issue by now.  Tonight is game 50.

[That Aud Smell]

I think the metaphor works because they are objectively better. On pace for more points, better goal differential, better possession stats, and if you're into this sort of thing we have an all-star who deserves to be an all-star. Yes, we're still fighting it out for the bottom of the league. No, I'm not asking anyone to be happy about that.

 

But in the average season 30th place is around 70 points (Carp probably has the exact number). Last year we had 54. So we had 16 points to make up to be as "good" as a typical last place team. Sixteen! Nobody needs to be happy with being in 29th, but ignoring this drives me batty and telling me it shouldn't even be considered makes me homicidal. I'm coming for you PA!

 

[Taro T]

Some of the players are young, I'll give you that.

 

The rest of it should not be an issue by now.  Tonight is game 50.

This team should be winning 3 of 5 at this point. They aren't. And it's not because Ennis, Reinhart, & Gorges are injured.

[Claude_Verret]

Some of the players are young, I'll give you that.

 

The rest of it should not be an issue by now.  Tonight is game 50.

 

 

I do acknowledge that they are under performing, I just think sniffing or making the playoffs is too high a bar to hold this team to even if everything went right.  

[Hoss]

With the right coach, this team should be challenging for a playoff spot. Not making it, but somewhere between 9 and 11 in the conference.

 

It should not be "historically bad" for the second season in a row.

It would be the third season in a row but they're not going to be historically bad.

This team has improved. It's obvious to me. It's not a quantum leap that many seem to have wanted or expected despite how nearly impossible that has been in the HISTORY of hockey...

[pi2000]

This team should be winning 3 of 5 at this point. They aren't. And it's not because Ennis, Reinhart, & Gorges are injured.

4 of 10 maybe? With a healthy Ennis, and productive Moulson, this team would be 8-12 pts better. They've lost a lot of 1 goal games early on.

 

They lack speed on the back-end. Opposing teams attack this weakness and it translates into turnovers which lead to scoring chances. Replace Weber, Gorges Franson with better skaters and suddenly pucks are moving out of the zone on time and they spend less time defending.

[Stoner]

If we were in a bar, this comment would make me crack a pool cue and try to shiv you. You're basically criticizing and obese person for still being overweight even though they just started working out and dropped 50 pounds in two months. "Who cares if you're not as fat, you're still fat! You suck!"

 

The starting point matters.

Terrible analogy.

Dear god, ###### it. I'm done here. Enjoy your furious hatred ###### session. "Oh god this team sucks.... oh yea it sucks so hard... TANK 3.0 makes me so hard oh yea daddy hates it so good. So glad I don't have lube, the chaffing makes it better! MMMM yes oooo yea oh yea suck suck suck suck suck harder harder harder!!!!! Pegula is evil, Disco dan is a moron and Tim Murray failed all the time... YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!! I"VE REACHED CLIMAX" 

 

You want to be pessimistic and say everything sucks and bitch about everything and focus on all the suck then enjoy.   Goodnight and good luck. Liger peacing the ###### out.

 

Liger, I served with X. Benedict. I knew X. Benedict. X. Benedict was a friend of mine. Liger, you're no X. Benedict.

Edited January 26, 2016 by PASabreFan

[Weave]

Terrible analogy.

Liger, I served with X. Benedict. I knew X. Benedict. X. Benedict was a friend of mine. Liger, you're no X. Benedict.

 

LOL

[That Aud Smell]

You want to be pessimistic and say everything sucks and bitch about everything and focus on all the suck then enjoy.

 

Easy there, Tiger. Errr, Liger.

 

You want hopelessly negative? There's a guy on Twitter replying to the team's gif of that between the legs assist last night saying that Eichel just mistakenly stepped on the puck.

[WildCard]

This team should be winning 3 of 5 at this point. They aren't. And it's not because Ennis, Reinhart, & Gorges are injured.

3/5 is a 98 point season  :lol:

 

Easy there, Tiger. Errr, Liger.

 

You want hopelessly negative? There's a guy on Twitter replying to the team's gif of that between the legs assist last night saying that Eichel just mistakenly stepped on the puck.

I mean, I thought that too....

 

Terrible analogy.

Liger, I served with X. Benedict. I knew X. Benedict. X. Benedict was a friend of mine. Liger, you're no X. Benedict.

######, where is X? I miss that dude

 

I think the metaphor works because they are objectively better. On pace for more points, better goal differential, better possession stats, and if you're into this sort of thing we have an all-star who deserves to be an all-star. Yes, we're still fighting it out for the bottom of the league. No, I'm not asking anyone to be happy about that.

 

But in the average season 30th place is around 70 points (Carp probably has the exact number). Last year we had 54. So we had 16 points to make up to be as "good" as a typical last place team. Sixteen! Nobody needs to be happy with being in 29th, but ignoring this drives me batty and telling me it shouldn't even be considered makes me homicidal. I'm coming for you PA!

See, the bold is what gets me. Multiple teams tanked last year, so of course it looked terrible. We have 42 points this year, 11 better than where we were at the same time last year, and last year it would have been good enough to be tied for 25th in the league. Instead we've improved, considerably, and sit 1 point out of last this season. 

Edited January 26, 2016 by WildCard

[bob_sauve28]

4 of 10 maybe? With a healthy Ennis, and productive Moulson, this team would be 8-12 pts better. They've lost a lot of 1 goal games early on.

 

They lack speed on the back-end. Opposing teams attack this weakness and it translates into turnovers which lead to scoring chances. Replace Weber, Gorges Franson with better skaters and suddenly pucks are moving out of the zone on time and they spend less time defending.

Bingo 

[Taro T]

3/5 is a 98 point season  :lol:

 

 

I mean, I thought that too....

 

 

######, where is X? I miss that dude

 

 

See, the bold is what gets me. Multiple teams tanked last year, so of course it looked terrible. We have 42 points this year, 11 better than where we were at the same time last year, and last year it would have been good enough to be tied for 25th in the league. Instead we've improved, considerably, and sit 1 point out of last this season.

 

Never said they should have been there from October. They SHOULD be there now. Were they, 90-92 would have been doable. It isn't.

[WildCard]

Never said they should have been there from October. They SHOULD be there now. Were they, 90-92 would have been doable. It isn't.

We have 33 games left. (33*.6)*2 = 39.6, ~40+42 = 82 point season. So, basically where we thought they should be. Some, myself included, thought a 90-92 point season would be possible, but I'm also the guy that starts every gdt including the Sabres in the playoff race

[Taro T]

We have 33 games left. (33*.6)*2 = 39.6, ~40+42 = 82 point season. So, basically where we thought they should be. Some, myself included, thought a 90-92 point season would be possible, but I'm also the guy that starts every gdt including the Sabres in the playoff race

Not quite. This team should be at ~50 points today. Playing 0.600 for the 2nd 1/2 of the season. They haven't been, & unless something major changes, they won't.

[JJFIVEOH]

Seriously, it's the QS%.  :angel: