Sabres in The Playoffs?

[Randall Flagg]

Just now, thewookie1 said:

Then use a system that goes 1-12 in each Conference or 1-24 league-wide not a 1-6 in all 4 divisions but well Buffalo is a little behind Montreal so they don't deserve it. We shouldn't be in an exception to the rule; that is where we are screwed. 

Also I would want full lottery privileges; why should we have to miss the playoffs yet again and yet still have no way of get #1. 

 

Just to make matters worse seeing as the Senators and Red Wings will be getting Top 5 talents while our team finds new ways to flounder. Can we do a vote of no confidence or something?  

I mean I'm with ya on scrapping the division idea in general. Because while eleven is correct that this does happen in the current format, I have never seen something approaching the egregiousness that would be the Sabres playing and the Rangers sitting. 

Also agreed about not changing the lottery stuff. There is zero point to that. 

[thewookie1]

We should at very least get the opportunity to play Montreal for Spot 24

[Eleven]

2 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

Because while eleven is correct that this does happen in the current format, I have never seen something approaching the egregiousness that would be the Sabres playing and the Rangers sitting. 

I actually meant the system in place in the 80s-90s.  Check out 1990-91 for an example.  Vancouver, 65 points, in.  Philadelphia, 76, out.

1 minute ago, thewookie1 said:

We should at very least get the opportunity to play Montreal for Spot 24

Why?  Should the Kings get the opportunity to play the Ducks as well?  If so, where does this stop, short of a 31-team tournament?

[thewookie1]

1 minute ago, Eleven said:

Why?  Should the Kings get the opportunity to play the Ducks as well?  If so, where does this stop, short of a 31-team tournament?

That was our next freaking game, we win and we'd of been 1 point back with 2 games in hand. Montreal has had enough happiness in the franchise history. We deserve it! 

[Eleven]

Even better example:  1987-88.  Toronto, 52 points, in.  Rangers AND Penguins, 82 and 81, out.

So I'm not going to feel particularly sorry for the Rags if the NHL sticks to top 6 in each division.

 

[Randall Flagg]

12 minutes ago, Eleven said:

I actually meant the system in place in the 80s-90s.  Check out 1990-91 for an example.  Vancouver, 65 points, in.  Philadelphia, 76, out.

 

Gotcha. Yeah, that is trash, as is the North Stars ever having the chance to get decimated in the finals with that horrendous regular season record 

2 minutes ago, Eleven said:

Even better example:  1987-88.  Toronto, 52 points, in.  Rangers AND Penguins, 82 and 81, out.

So I'm not going to feel particularly sorry for the Rags if the NHL sticks to top 6 in each division.

 

I'm grateful that the structure is at least fixed to the point where we don't see stuff like this anymore. This is so bad

[dudacek]

The NHL is littered with examples of teams being “screwed” by the playoff system over the years. How about #3 overall Buffalo forced to play #4 Overall Montreal in the 1st round in 1990?

This “we don’t deserve it” is less about justice than it is about schadenfreude. 

Edited May 8, 2020 by dudacek

[Randall Flagg]

11 minutes ago, dudacek said:

This “we don’t deserve it” is less about justice than it is about schadenfreude. 

It took me probably over 12 hours to make this post about "justice" in the NHL's playoff format: 

So maybe you're talking about PA and not me, but this is actually an important issue to me and isn't colored by how much I resent team management 

The solution we are talking about (which I don't actually believe will happen) would be a disgrace 

 

Edited May 8, 2020 by Randall Flagg

[Eleven]

21 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

he North Stars ever having the chance to get decimated in the finals with that horrendous regular season record 

The team that trashed them would have finished third, not first, in any of the other three divisions, too.

There really is no perfectly fair way.

[Randall Flagg]

Just now, Eleven said:

The team that trashed them would have finished third, not first, in any of the other three divisions, too.

There really is no perfectly fair way.

I agree, but I'm also glad that the current format severely limits the chances that a team that would have been competing with us for Dahlin in 2018 doesn't get a chance to play int he playoffs.

There are degrees of imperfection, and the current format is *acceptable if capable of being improved upon, while stuff like your other examples (and BUF over NYR theoretically) are abominations 

Edited May 8, 2020 by Randall Flagg

[Stoner]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

The NHL is littered with examples of teams being “screwed” by the playoff system over the years. How about #3 overall Buffalo forced to play #4 Overall Montreal in the 1st round in 1990?

This “we don’t deserve it” is less about justice than it is about schadenfreude. 

It's about honour.

[dudacek]

4 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

It's about honour.

It’s about winning fairly within the rules as they were drawn up at the time.

[thewookie1]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

It's about honour.

Tell that to the Dallas Stars in 99 or the Boston Bruins in 2010

Until we win, I don't care if its done by being the scum of the earth, I just want a championship. Then I'll worry about whether or not we are being honorable.

[Taro T]

4 hours ago, thewookie1 said:

1. I'll take any playoff berth we can get; until we win a Cup nothing is off limits to me in achieving that. I couldn't care less if ownership doesn't deserve because we as fans deserve it and some of the players do as well. The idea that the Rangers would get in solely because they have more points than us is ludicrous; they also have more points than Montreal and Florida; why do those two get in but not us? Montreal has 3 more points than we do but we were about to literally play them and have 2 games in hand; there is no reason we should be shafted for their sake.   

2. This will only further prove the large market bias even though Buffalo gets some of the best TV ratings in the US. I would hope Buffalo would boycott airing the NHL playoffs if they kick us out for NYR. 

3. We can't even win the freaking lottery, the best we can get is #3 which is effectively like getting #3 in the McDavid-Eichel draft. The Top 2 are a good bit better than the rest.

To point 3, pretty sure that most thought Marner was a distant 4 to the top 3 in his draft, and it turned out he was actually a distant 3 to the best 1-2 since the 1st post lockout draft.

If they end up 3, it'll be ok.

[Stoner]

It's May there's a pandemic there's a depression it's snowing we're debating whether it would be good if the Sabres won the Cup and murderous hornets are coming. Something ain't right here.

Edited May 9, 2020 by PASabreFan

[thewookie1]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

It's May there's a pandemic there's a depression it's snowing we're debating whether it would be good if the Sabres won the Cup and murderous hornets are coming. Something ain't right here.

Not really, why would we want to dwell on endless depressing situations. I can't personally end the pandemic or the depression caused by it, I can't end the snow nor kill murder hornets so we come here to talk about something more "normal"

[Ogre]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

Something ain't right here

This is slightly out of context but...the wife and I were announced as man-n-wife to this..I was 38 never married, she 34 and the same....Panic leads a fool...Yada yada but the vastness of the universe has the proof that this is true.....

 

 

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, Ogre said:

This is slightly out of context but...the wife and I were announced as man-n-wife to this..I was 38 never married, she 34 and the same....Panic leads a fool...Yada yada but the vastness of the universe has the proof that this is true.....

 

 

No idea where you're going with this.  Know people who chose "Sad but true" as their song.  Ours was "Together" by Chalk Circle.  (Not a Canuck but pretty much fail all the tests.)

Together Video

[rakish]

10 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

It's May there's a pandemic there's a depression it's snowing we're debating whether it would be good if the Sabres won the Cup and murderous hornets are coming. Something ain't right here.

It was the locust swarms that raised my eyebrow

[Ogre]

6 hours ago, Taro T said:

No idea where you're going with this.  Know people who chose "Sad but true" as their song.  Ours was "Together" by Chalk Circle.  (Not a Canuck but pretty much fail all the tests.)

Together Video

Too many people marry far too young because they've panicked that they'll miss out on the chance to be married. Panic leads a fool. We were both older and had separately come to the conclusion that finding someone worth that level of commitment wasn't going to be a thing, then we met. "Every little thing is gonna be alright".  We played this one as our first dance as Mr. and Mrs. iT.

 

[DarthEbriate]

20 hours ago, thewookie1 said:

Just to make matters worse seeing as the Senators and Red Wings will be getting Top 5 talents while our team finds new ways to flounder. Can we do a vote of no confidence or something? 

Just to add, the idea Montreal should get in over us when they lost 4 times to Detroit and have a nominal lead on us in a complete farce in of itself.

Where's Artoo Senator Amidala when we need her?

I think we would all agree that if the Sabres were in the playoffs we'd want them to win the Cup, asterisked or not. The things I don't like are changing the parameters of the playoffs or draft after playing the bulk of the season and completing the trade deadline. It's like moving a target at an archery tourney after the arrow is in flight. But before the shot is made, by all means, let everyone agree to whatever wild placement you want -- that's what makes sports sports.

Let's look at Montreal. The Sabres and Habs were tied with 66 points at the trade deadline. If the Habs had known all they had to do to get a playoff round vs. (most likely) Toronto and all that revenue and coverage, was to beat Buffalo down the stretch, would they have moved Kovalchuk and Scandella? It was good asset management to move them. But Buffalo had been stagnant for months and a better choice may have been to add pieces to beat out the Sabres. Likewise, a BUF-TOR series? JBot would have had to go after more than Kahun and Simmonds if he knows he doesn't have to catch Toronto (because of wildcards), he just has to stay ahead of a middling Montreal squad.

[Thorner]

On 5/7/2020 at 8:24 PM, dudacek said:

Interesting that the latest scuttlebutt on the 24-team playoffs would see the Rangers shift over to the Atlantic to replace Buffalo as the 6th seed. 

Will that really make some of you happy?

No, not happy, but there are seemingly zero scenarios that do, given the situation. 

It also bears to look at this objectively - the Rags are 11 points better than the Sabres. They definitely deserve to be in over us. I'm not going to whine if they tinker with an already ridiculously arbitrarily proposed format. 

Edited May 10, 2020 by Thorny

[Thorner]

On 5/8/2020 at 9:50 AM, DarthEbriate said:

I won't say happy. Rather, it would make me feel better because it's somewhat more consistent with the regular playoffs. For the record: I think they should follow the planned playoff qualification rules (16 teams, wildcards, and non-qualifiers get a lottery percentage). I don't like "altering the deal" once the season has started. If they go to 24 teams, and use a wild card layout -- then absolutely the Rangers should be in over the Sabres, just like if both teams were currently in 4th in their divisions and going after the wildcard. But, if the league wants 24 teams in, then only 7 teams should have a lottery percentage and they all should be available for #1. You either get playoffs (and revenue) or you get a lottery chance, not both.

Pretty much exactly this. 

[Thorner]

On 5/8/2020 at 10:48 AM, dudacek said:

Silly boy, anger is for Canucks fans.

Sabre fans know all systems are arbitrary and take comfort in the certainty of knowing that if the rules get bent, they will be bent for the benefit of others, so we can actually “earn” everything that comes to us.

But as with anything there are varying degrees and a system that has been in place for years, and agreed upon by all teams well prior to any season starting is far less arbitrary than whatever concoction they dream up here on the fly. 

I get your argument that we'd only be taking advantage of the rules imposed to all teams, that any system is chosen arbitrarily upon conception, but one can personally be within their right to weigh the amount the particular, specific, wild randomness around this situation may take away from the satisfaction of hypothetical winning without necessarily being classified as a jilted husband. 

Little details like that *always* stick in my craw it's not a hockey thing. It just depends on the person. The first post after the one Flagg just linked detailing his position is me saying the system sucks. Some of the details even in the current system have always bothered me, it's not really a viewpoint infused by my personal experience with the Sabres. 

Edited May 10, 2020 by Thorny

[Eleven]

38 minutes ago, Thorny said:

No, not happy, but there are seemingly zero scenarios that do, given the situation. 

It also bears to look at this objectively - the Rags are 11 points better than the Sabres. They definitely deserve to be in over us. I'm not going to whine if they tinker with an already ridiculously arbitrarily proposed format. 

Do the Wild also get to cross over and replace Anaheim?  Ten point difference there.