Sabres clinch last place...or did they?

[PromoTheRobot]

Ducks win tonight removes the only team they could have caught in the standings. They could tie points with ANA and VAN but would lose the tiebreaker.

Edited May 6, 2021 by PromoTheRobot

[Cal Naughton Jr]

 

Sums up the season

[WildCard]

They haven't clinched yet.

[Andrew Amerk]

Just now, WildCard said:

They haven't clinched yet.

According to PTR, the Sabres did. 

[WildCard]

1 minute ago, Andrew Amerk said:

According to PTR, the Sabres did. 

@Hoss claims otherwise

[Andrew Amerk]

5 minutes ago, WildCard said:

@Hoss claims otherwise

Well then, someone needs to give us the truth. 

[Hoss]

7 minutes ago, Andrew Amerk said:

According to PTR, the Sabres did. 

Idk what PTR is but they haven’t. They can still beat the tiebreaker.

Also there’s already an entire thread dedicated to this.

Edited May 6, 2021 by Hoss

[PromoTheRobot]

1 minute ago, Hoss said:

Idk what PTR is but they haven’t. They can still beat the tiebreaker.

Also there’s already an entire thread dedicated to this.

I thought ranking goes by points percentage, then wins? VAN and ANA have 41 points now. The Sabres can only get to 41, but can't get more wins, regulation or OT.

[FogBat]

Wow. It's been painful, to say the least.

Lesson learned: stick with this team through thick and thin. We've had good years, and we've had others. We will get back to our former glory someday, someway, somehow. Maybe the day will come when we finally get over the mountain and hoist Lord Stanley's Cup in Niagara Square.

[Hoss]

21 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

I thought ranking goes by points percentage, then wins? VAN and ANA have 41 points now. The Sabres can only get to 41, but can't get more wins, regulation or OT.

Vancouver is gone because they already clinched the tiebreaker over us. The Sabres CAN pass Anaheim - they don't have the Regulation Wins tiebreaker clinched over us yet (both teams have 11).

[bunomatic]

1 minute ago, Hoss said:

Vancouver is gone because they already clinched the tiebreaker over us. The Sabres CAN pass Anaheim - they don't have the Regulation Wins tiebreaker clinched over us yet (both teams have 11).

Wow I’ve been asleep. Is Vancouver that bad? I’ve been listening to the Aholes on Vancouver sportsradio  laugh at the Sabres ineptitude all season. Jerks

[Hoss]

5 minutes ago, bunomatic said:

Wow I’ve been asleep. Is Vancouver that bad? I’ve been listening to the Aholes on Vancouver sportsradio  laugh at the Sabres ineptitude all season. Jerks

Not exactly - it’s mostly because they’ve played 7/8 fewer games than anyone else.

[JoeSchmoe]

I said in another thread that this is not the worst team in the league. With a healthy Eichel, Ullmark, and another division to play in (but without Krueger), we probably would be just out of the playoffs... Possibly better if we played the ATM'ers all season.

The last place finish / high draft position for a team of our caliber is a nod from the hockey gods that our penance has been paid.

Edited May 6, 2021 by JoeSchmoe

[Hoss]

23 minutes ago, JoeSchmoe said:

I said in another thread that this is not the worst team in the league. With a healthy Eichel, Ullmark, and another division to play in (but without Krueger), we probably would be just out of the playoffs... Possibly better if we played the ATM'ers all season.

The last place finish / high draft position for a team of our caliber is a nod from the hockey gods that our penance has been paid.

I don't agree that we'd be just out of the playoffs. This team is still really bad, let's not get it twisted. Maybe not last-place bad if fully healthy but not a lot of teams are fully healthy.

[JoeSchmoe]

1 minute ago, Hoss said:

but not a lot of teams are fully healthy

How many of those less than healthy teams have lost their franchise player and starting goalie without a viable NHL backup? And of the teams on that list, how many are 9-9-2 in their last 20?

[thewookie1]

Technically if we remove the 18 game winless streak we’d be

15-16-5 for 35 pts in 36 games

Next let’s split the final 20 games

9-9-2

24-25-7 for 55 pts in 56 games.

Thus we played at nearly a pt per game while not in that streak.

You give us a healthy Eichel, McCabe and Ullmark and that’s approximately where we’d be

Edited May 6, 2021 by thewookie1

[Hoss]

11 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

Technically if we change the 18 game winless streak to 9-7-2 we’d be at about 56/57 points and just below the Rangers

If you took nine losses by any team and turned them into wins they'd be in much better shape.

[thewookie1]

Just now, Hoss said:

If you took nine losses by any team and turned them into wins they'd be in much better shape.

Edited my post lol

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, bunomatic said:

Wow I’ve been asleep. Is Vancouver that bad? I’ve been listening to the Aholes on Vancouver sportsradio  laugh at the Sabres ineptitude all season. Jerks

Covid hit them far worse than us (or any other team) and they've pretty much thrown in the towel with that. They have a bunch of games with Calgary at the end and they will be meaningless and pointless for both. League should just cancel them as there are no fans in Canada anyway. 

[carpandean]

8 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Ducks win tonight removes the only team they could have caught in the standings. They could tie points with ANA and VAN but would lose the tiebreaker.

From the "Not a tank" thread:

20 minutes ago, carpandean said:

No matter what, the Ducks have to lose both in regulation for the Sabres to possibly pass them. 

Likewise, the Sabres need to win both, but not necessarily both in regulation, to pass them:

• If at least one of the Sabres' two wins is in regulation, they pass the Duck based on RW tiebreaker.
• If both Sabres wins are in OT/SO, they would be tied in points and RW, but would trail the Ducks in the ROW tiebreaker (at most 13 vs. the Duck's 15.)

In summary, for the Sabres to not finish last, the Ducks have to lose both in regulation and the Sabres must win both with at least one coming in regulation.

 

 

[BuffalOhio]

Some good has come of this season:

We've found out that:

1. Reinhart is a very good center.

2. Mittelstadt is a bonafide NHL player

3. Dahlin needs to be set free to do as he will.

4. No worse than the 2nd overall pick.

5. We got rid of the worst coach and system in the NHL.

6. Our young D can be very solid over the next several years.  Bryson, Borgen and Samuelsson.

7. Dylan Cozens will be great for this franchise.

8. The Michael Houser Story - and NHL Network made for TV movie.

9. Anders Bjork looks very good on the Reinhart line.

[WildCard]

Guys we haven't clinched last place yet lol if I've ever seen a jinx it's this one 

6 minutes ago, BuffalOhio said:

No worse than the 2nd overall pick.

Even if we had clinched last this isn't true. Last can draft no worse than 3rd overall. 

[carpandean]

8 minutes ago, BuffalOhio said:

4. No worse than the 2nd overall pick.

Unfortunately, this won't even be true if we do finish behind Anaheim.  The first two picks are up for grabs (lottery) this year.  Right now, we're guaranteed one of the two highest odds of getting the first pick, but currently can pick as low as 4th overall.  If (still a big if) we finish behind Anaheim, we can still pick as low as 3rd overall.

[PromoTheRobot]

9 hours ago, Hoss said:

Vancouver is gone because they already clinched the tiebreaker over us. The Sabres CAN pass Anaheim - they don't have the Regulation Wins tiebreaker clinched over us yet (both teams have 11).

But they have more ROW wins than we can get.

[Pimlach]

44 minutes ago, BuffalOhio said:

Some good has come of this season:

We've found out that:

1. Reinhart is a very good center.

2. Mittelstadt is a bonafide NHL player

3. Dahlin needs to be set free to do as he will.

4. No worse than the 2nd overall pick.

5. We got rid of the worst coach and system in the NHL.

6. Our young D can be very solid over the next several years.  Bryson, Borgen and Samuelsson.

7. Dylan Cozens will be great for this franchise.

8. The Michael Houser Story - and NHL Network made for TV movie.

9. Anders Bjork looks very good on the Reinhart line.

I think we also found out that the young core is capable of playing inspired hockey.  No need to waste cap space on guys like Hall, or aging stalwarts like Staal.  
 

I hope our leadership/ownership has learned how critical the goalie position is.  The great teams have goalies that bail them out from time to time.