What Should The Sabres Goals Be For The Rest of The Season?

[LGR4GM]

It’s not about momentum.

It’s about convincing the beaten-down psyches of young players who have known nothing but losing that they can win, building a confidence that they can lean on entering next season.

They can win and the process required to win regularly. The hard work outside of games that is necessary to win. 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Win as many as we can and never look back

 

Exactly. 

 

GO SABRES!!

[Formerly Allan in MD]

Play like they've played the last three games.

[darksabre]

Play like they've played the last three games.

It'll be interesting to see how they come out for the NJ game on Tuesday after the all star break. 

 

It'll also be interesting to see how they respond to their next loss. 

[Brawndo]

Their next five games are all at home against The Devils, Panthers, Blues, Ducks And the Isles. This should give a good indication of where they are headed

[GASabresIUFAN]

1-3-1

[erickompositör72]

I think they're all believing they can play like this consistently, and are motivated to show the home fans they can.

Edited January 27, 2018 by erickompositör72

[Taro T]

I think they're all believing they can play like this consistently, and are motivated to show the home fans they can.

The Devils game will be very interesting.

 

Since the tank began, it seems the Sabres are bad 1st game home after a roadtrip & also after a break, so based on that they should come out flat. But the way they played out west, & the way Joisey's been playing say they should come out flying.

 

My guess is they're flat in that one but good after that.

[Crusader1969]

Two more games played since last update:

 

7 games played:

 

Team goal of 41 points in last 41 goals- just behind pace with 6 points in 7 games

 

Reinhart goal of 25 points in last 41 games - ahead of pace 6 points in last 7 games (.85 PPG)

 

8 games played. Team has 8 points and Samson has 7. Both goals on track!

[inkman]

So a week after their "bye week" the Sabres have a 5 day break. Anyone care to explain to me how this makes sense?

[Taro T]

So a week after their "bye week" the Sabres have a 5 day break. Anyone care to explain to me how this makes sense?

It's the NHL. Duh! :p

[Sabel79]

So a week after their "bye week" the Sabres have a 5 day break. Anyone care to explain to me how this makes sense?

Nope. None.

[GoPuckYourself]

This is pretty much like all of Buffalo sports teams, they were well on their way at picking up a complete stud like Dahlin or Svechnikov and now go on a meaningless win streak only to knock themselves out of contention, winning meaningless games at the end of the season will do nothing. The core guys have been playing together for 3 seasons now, how much time do they need to gel with one another? I get that it's a new system but they should know each other by now, obviously something is broken, Botteril needs to fix it.

[Weave]

This is pretty much like all of Buffalo sports teams, they were well on their way at picking up a complete stud like Dahlin or Svechnikov and now go on a meaningless win streak only to knock themselves out of contention, winning meaningless games at the end of the season will do nothing. The core guys have been playing together for 3 seasons now, how much time do they need to gel with one another? I get that it's a new system but they should know each other by now, obviously something is broken, Botteril needs to fix it.

 

Try enjoying watching them win games. 

[inkman]

Try enjoying watching them win games.

Not to mention they have dug themselves such a hole it'll be a damn miracle if they pass more than 2 teams in the standings. They will probably, although not definitely, be worse after the trade deadline.

[Sabre1974]

Just hope we still get a good pick but i am thinking that winning may be more important to the team now after the last few years.

[Crusader1969]

Not to mention they have dug themselves such a hole it'll be a damn miracle if they pass more than 2 teams in the standings. They will probably, although not definitely, be worse after the trade deadline.

Exactly plus 2 of the wins came against 2 teams disinterested in playing. The Oilers had just won 3 in a row prior to playing the Sabres. So things can turn bad again really quick. Let's not forget that just one week ago today, the Sabres were spanked by the stars. Overall they are still overmatched against most teams they play.

 

Bottom 3 is still the most likely result for them.

[erickompositör72]

Just hope we still get a good pick but i am thinking that winning may be more important to the team now after the last few years.

I hope more people here start to realize this. Some people here are like heroine addicts with their high-draft-pick fetish. You can beat this addiction. Winning will help. I know it's hard at first.

Edited January 27, 2018 by erickompositör72

[Drunkard]

I hope more people here start to realize this. Some people here are like heroine addicts with their high-draft-pick fetish. You can beat this addiction. Winning will help. I know it's hard at first.

 

Says a guy sporting a Stallin for Dahlin account name change. You might want to tuck your hypocrisy back in because it's hanging out.

 

We get it man, the Sabres have managed to string a few wins together and you're jumping ship. It doesn't make you better than us, though. You'll be back. The Sabres will hit a bump in the road, lose a few games, you'll check out the standings, and end up right back in the muck with us.

 

 

 

[dudacek]

The lottery in its current form has rendered tanking irrelevant.

You can draw an imaginary dropoff line and say “this year we need to be top 4” except you really don’t know that this year’s Drouin is actually better than this year’s Horvat

 

Sure you improve your chances on getting Dahlin finishing second instead of ninth - from 5.4 per cent to 12.1 per cent.

Not worth throwing away the season for.

 

Play to win and let the lottery balls fall where they may.

[Randall Flagg]

The lottery in its current form has rendered tanking irrelevant.

You can draw an imaginary dropoff line and say “this year we need to be top 4” except you really don’t know that this year’s Drouin is actually better than this year’s Horvat

 

Sure you improve your chances on getting Dahlin finishing second instead of ninth - from 5.4 per cent to 12.1 per cent.

Not worth throwing away the season for.

 

Play to win and let the lottery balls fall where they may.

If the NHL is rigged because we didn't win McDavid at 20%, is it the illuminati's fault when we don't win it at 12.1%?

[Drunkard]

The lottery in its current form has rendered tanking irrelevant.

You can draw an imaginary dropoff line and say “this year we need to be top 4” except you really don’t know that this year’s Drouin is actually better than this year’s Horvat

 

Sure you improve your chances on getting Dahlin finishing second instead of ninth - from 5.4 per cent to 12.1 per cent.

Not worth throwing away the season for.

 

Play to win and let the lottery balls fall where they may.

The Sabres already threw this season away with piss poor play in October, November, and December and the early part of January. Stringing together a few wins now that the pressure is off because the playoffs are out of reach doesn't mean they've turned some corner. I liken it more to trying to salvage the season from the garbage because we're not getting back into the playoffs race without winning 95% of their remaining games and even the best teams are not capable of winning that frequently.

 

Drafting 4th is still objectively better than drafting 8th or 10th. Drafting Zadina at 4 who can contribute next season is objectively better (at the very least for the 2018-2019 season) than drafting somebody like Bouchard or Dobson who probably won't play in Buffalo for at least 2 or 3 seasons. Sure there's a chance that those guys turn out to be better but I wouldn't bet money on it.

 

Being in favor of a high pick doesn't mean I want the Sabres themselves to throw games on purpose, sulk, or give up trying. I still want to see them improve at passing, defending, shooting, scoring, and forechecking. In a perfect world things will work out where they win some games now, gain confidence, and learn to play proficient hockey, then sell off every UFA with a pulse at the deadline, and run out the clock on this season in a prime position to pick up a game changer in the draft.

 

The fact of the matter is that how we feel about it is largely irrelevant. They'll finish however they finish regardless of any of our preferences or thoughts on the matter so go ahead and enjoy the wins if you want. I can only speak for myself but I don't begrudge anyone for being happy about how they've played recently. I just happen to see them as hollow victories because they the bed so badly early on. I'd rather see the improvement next season before the playoffs are completely out of reach is all.

[LGR4GM]

We have to build through the draft regardless of where we draft.

[7+6=13]

The lottery in its current form has rendered tanking irrelevant.

You can draw an imaginary dropoff line and say “this year we need to be top 4” except you really don’t know that this year’s Drouin is actually better than this year’s Horvat

 

Sure you improve your chances on getting Dahlin finishing second instead of ninth - from 5.4 per cent to 12.1 per cent.

Not worth throwing away the season for.

 

Play to win and let the lottery balls fall where they may.

 

Obviously fans hoping or not hoping for wins or losses is meaningless.  

 

The debate isn't what we want the players to do.  They should go out and play to win.  

 

The discussion is simple - either wins help this team down the road more or losses help more with the probability of a better draft pick.  

[erickompositör72]

The fact of the matter is that how we feel about it is largely irrelevant. They'll finish however they finish regardless of any of our preferences or thoughts on the matter so go ahead and enjoy the wins if you want. I can only speak for myself but I don't begrudge anyone for being happy about how they've played recently. I just happen to see them as hollow victories because they ###### the bed so badly early on. I'd rather see the improvement next season before the playoffs are completely out of reach is all.

 

Some of us begrudge people who call themselves "fans" who cannot enjoy a win. I'm on the fence between begrudging and attributing it to some minor psychosis...

 

 

Changing names to Swedish is fun. The fact you actually use it to try to call me a hypocrite is pretty weak. I hope I don't need to explain more why I'm not a hypocrite; I trust you're bright enough to figure it out.