GDT: Buffalo at Toronto 7:30p ET 1/17/17

[TrueBlueGED]

He's made more mistakes than smart moves but, sure, maybe he'll be a completely different person moving forward....

 

I'm not sure I agree with this assessment, and I definitely don't agree with your opinion that every trade he's made outside of O'Reilly has been a disaster. I'll have to go visit the comprehensive list of moves, but I think he's at about 50/50 right now.

[Kruppstahl]

When does the run to a playoff spot begin????

Next season.

[thewookie1]

Can anyone still envision the Sabres ever winning a Stanley Cup with Bylsma as coach, Murray as GM, or Lehner as the no.1 goalie?

 

At this point I can't see us winning anything ever regardless. Our teams are cursed to forever be mediocre and when we dare to try and break said trend we either are made worse by injuries or are screwed twelve ways to Christmas. I honestly feeling like punching a ####### wall after this game. We have to beat Toronto, I'd take a 5-77 record with wins against the ####### Leafs and still feel better. ####, ####, ####, ####!!!!! ####

 

 

Bylsma should be drop kicked out the door, and Murray should be told if he doesn't fix this mess he'll be swimming with the ####### sharks, and I don't mean the team. 

[Tondas]

Next season.

 

I hope so.  But what gives us reason to believe?

[Wyldnwoody44]

I caught about 3 minutes of the game.... Pulled up a stream, saw bunkerman take a stupid penalty, saw Foligno get held with no call and watched nillson give up a terrible goal.... Game off!!!

 

Only 3 minutes of sabres hockey in over a week, and honestly don't miss it.... That's sad

[TrueBlueGED]

The great Lehner distraction controversy of 2017 has been solved!

 

Naomi Parness ‏@naomiparness  20m20 minutes ago

So it seems I caused commotion. @RobinLehner was doing nice thing -waving to my hockey player son who's home sick on FaceTime. @MapleLeafs

[Robviously]

 

The great Lehner distraction controversy of 2017 has been solved!

 

Naomi Parness ‏@naomiparness  20m20 minutes ago

So it seems I caused commotion. @RobinLehner was doing nice thing -waving to my hockey player son who's home sick on FaceTime. @MapleLeafs

 

I love this.  This actually makes me wish I was a Lehner fan. :(

[Jacque Richard]

Murray's buddy lehner is loose cannon

[Robviously]

I'm not sure I agree with this assessment, and I definitely don't agree with your opinion that every trade he's made outside of O'Reilly has been a disaster. I'll have to go visit the comprehensive list of moves, but I think he's at about 50/50 right now.

Only 3 teams in the league have a worse goal differential.  I'm no expert, but I think adding two no.2 overall picks to the roster and half your moves actually being good ones might lead to a better outcome than that.

 

I guess the good news is that we traded away a bunch of our draft picks in a stacked 2015 draft.  So that's awesome too.

[Kruppstahl]

I hope so.  But what gives us reason to believe?

I have faith Bylsma won't be HC at the start of next season.

 

That should help.

[SwampD]

Two thoughts on this game.

 

TO has better talent,... not by much, but enough.

 

Two really bad goals given up by Lehner and Nilsson were the difference.

 

 

 

Pretty entertaining game.

[darksabre]

Two thoughts on this game.

 

TO has better talent,... not by much, but enough.

 

Two really bad goals given up by Lehner and Nilsson were the difference.

 

 

 

Pretty entertaining game.

'

You literally have shell shock. 

[Jsixspd]

Depressing game.  Lehner gave up a softee for sure - after an unusual 1 goal game, he's back to his obligatory 3 GAA game.  Guy is definitely not elite.  And Bogosian....   

[Robviously]

Two thoughts on this game.

 

TO has better talent,... not by much, but enough.

 

Two really bad goals given up by Lehner and Nilsson were the difference.

 

 

 

Pretty entertaining game.

Like how sometimes something is so "entertaining" that it makes you want to stab yourself in the knee with a fork?  Entertaining like that.

[Jacque Richard]

Sabres have better forwards!! Goalies are average at best. The d might be equal

I have faith Bylsma won't be HC at the start of next season.

 

That should help.

Let's s hope so, ownership would get nuts

[SwampD]

'

You literally have shell shock.

 

How was it not entertaining?

[ubkev]

Positive takeaway from the game: Kane's goal was fun.

[darksabre]

How was it not entertaining?

You can't be serious.

[Jsixspd]

How was it not entertaining?

1st period, yes.  The rest, not so much.  2nd period was one of the Sabres' worst.  They sat back on their heels, let the puck stay in their zone far too much, and surrendered 3 goals in ~10 minutes of game time.  

[TrueBlueGED]

Only 3 teams in the league have a worse goal differential.  I'm no expert, but I think adding two no.2 overall picks to the roster and half your moves actually being good ones might lead to a better outcome than that.

 

I guess the good news is that we traded away a bunch of our draft picks in a stacked 2015 draft.  So that's awesome too.

 

I just don't think it's that simple. We were possibly the worst non-expansion team of all time for two years running...intentionally. We literally broke graphs and forced people to re-scale the axes. Given that low starting point, may it have been the wrong move to try and accelerate the rebuild through trades, to say nothing of the specifics of the trades? Sure, absolutely. Hell, without the O'Reilly trade, maybe we even finish bad enough last year to end up with Matthews or Laine. But I think two years of trying to improve the team from one of the worst ever is jumping the gun when he has done some good things. Setting aside the grand slam O'Reilly trade, the last two drafts look very good. He got solid returns in the sell-off for Miller and Ott. Okposo is a 1st line winger at a perfectly reasonable cap hit. McCabe is on a sweetheart deal. Gionta has played well since he was slotted into the proper role midway through last season. Fedun and Falk, contrary to everyone's expectations, have shown to be quality depth.

 

We know the bad, of course. Setting aside the Kane trade which has wildly varying opinions (you despise it, I think it was subpar, others like it, sooooooo who knows?), the Lehner trade was bad value, as was the Fasching/Deslauriers trade (which may turn into a total bust depending on how Fasching pans out). He failed to properly add depth to the forward ranks after swinging and missing on Vesey. His first draft was poor. Gorges is...turrible. The Moulson contract. 

 

The shine wore off for me this offseason (lots of lost opportunities there, methinks), but I think there's enough in the good column to give him time with another coach. Of course, if he hitches his wagon to Bylsma going into next season and fails to upgrade the blue line, then I'm out. On that note, if he makes a run and throws big money at Alzner I may lose my mind. Ultimately I think that two years to build up from a historically bad team is too soon to pull the trigger unless the GM has been a catastrophic failure...which is where I think our core disagreement resides. I get the sense you think 90% of what he's done has been terrible, whereas I think his hit/miss rate around 50% is probably pretty common if we were to do a deep dive analysis of GMs around the league.

 

Edit: I honestly believe Bylsma is so bad, some of what looks bad might not be. So part of my reluctance to toss Murray into the volcano is I don't think his roster can be fully evaluated without seeing a different coach.

Edited January 18, 2017 by TrueBlueGED

[SwampD]

You can't be serious.

The difference in this this game was two absolutely horrirrible goals allowed by our goalies. AHL level garbage. We still had a chance at the end to make it fun.

 

And all this anti Bylsma crap is just that. TO did just as much D+C as we did. They just scored more.

I just don't think it's that simple. We were possibly the worst non-expansion team of all time for two years running...intentionally. We literally broke graphs and forced people to re-scale the axes. Given that low starting point, may it have been the wrong move to try and accelerate the rebuild through trades, to say nothing of the specifics of the trades? Sure, absolutely. Hell, without the O'Reilly trade, maybe we even finish bad enough last year to end up with Matthews or Laine. But I think two years of trying to improve the team from one of the worst ever is jumping the gun when he has done some good things. Setting aside the grand slam O'Reilly trade, the last two drafts look very good. He got solid returns in the sell-off for Miller and Ott. Okposo is a 1st line winger at a perfectly reasonable cap hit. McCabe is on a sweetheart deal. Gionta has played well since he was slotted into the proper role midway through last season. Fedun and Falk, contrary to everyone's expectations, have shown to be quality depth.

 

We know the bad, of course. Setting aside the Kane trade which has wildly varying opinions (you despise it, I think it was subpar, others like it, sooooooo who knows?), the Lehner trade was bad value, as was the Fasching/Deslauriers trade (which may turn into a total bust depending on how Fasching pans out). He failed to properly add depth to the forward ranks after swinging and missing on Vesey. His first draft was poor. Gorges is...turrible. The Moulson contract. 

 

The shine wore off for me this offseason (lots of lost opportunities there, methinks), but I think there's enough in the good column to give him time with another coach. Of course, if he hitches his wagon to Bylsma going into next season and fails to upgrade the blue line, then I'm out. On that note, if he makes a run and throws big money at Alzner I may lose my mind. Ultimately I think that two years to build up from a historically bad team is too soon to pull the trigger unless the GM has been a catastrophic failure...which is where I think our core disagreement resides. I get the sense you think 90% of what he's done has been terrible, whereas I think his hit/miss rate around 50% is probably pretty common if we were to do a deep dive analysis of GMs around the league.

Words

[ubkev]

ROR had a drive to the net down the right side, about 5 minutes into the 3rd period that he took behind the net. That bothered me. Andersen was hugging the near post. Take the shot, you're left handed. You've got the whole far side of the cage to shoot at, sure its not a high percentage shot, but come on. You're a pro. You can hit that shot.

 

Then, about a minute later, someone, maybe Risto, threw a pass from the office into Sams feet on the doorstep. I may have woken my son up when i screamed a certain 4 letter f-word. 

[Two or less]

I hope so.  But what gives us reason to believe?

 

Every loss seems like doomsday.

 

Since Eichel has returned, the Sabres are the 9th best scoring team in the league. They are not that far away from putting out a good team. The defense needs much improving and that will probably be the toughest part to fix, as they'll need maybe 3 new dmen for next season if they want to turn this thing around. Also, the fourth line is filled with AHL talent. Cal O'Reilly? Nic Deslauriers? I thought the tank was over? We could really use a Torrey Mitchell or a Brian Flynn right about now..

[7+6=13]

Auston Matthews is the real deal.  22 goals is just simply amazing.  We just don't have that kind of luck. 

[Two or less]

Auston Matthews is the real deal.  22 goals is just simply amazing.  We just don't have that kind of luck. 

 

Lost the lottery twice, got played by the better coach and shown the middle finger by a prospect we tried to recruit away... yeah i agree, we've been pretty unlucky.