Why can't the Sabres be more like the Bruins?

[dudacek]

It's obvious what you need to do to be good this league, just create a great culture like they did in Boston and we'll be fine for a decade or more.

Just follow these easy steps:

• Go 13 years in a row without winning a playoff round, missing the playoffs entirely 6 of those years.
• Hire a top-notch awesome GM like Peter Chiarelli and a savvy hockey mind like Jim Benning to oversee your operation and turn things around
• Wisely invest your 1st round picks on such noted talents as Lars Jonsson, Martin Samuelsson, Hannu Toivenen, Marc Stuart, Shaone Morrisson, Matt Lashoff, Zach Hamill, Joe Colborne, Jordan Caron, Malcolm Subban, Jakub Zboril, Zach Senyshyn, Urho Vaakaninen and John Beecher
• Trade away your rare first-round mistakes like Phil Kessel, Dougie Hamilton and Tyler Seguin for notable building blocks like Louie Erickson and Joe Morrow
• Sign a 29-year-old never-was to be your minor league backup and watch him win a Stanley Cup
• Sign a 29-year-old free agent defenceman and expect him to not only play at an all-star level for the next decade, but also command your room like a five-star general
• Draft the player destined to become the best 2-way centre in the NHL in the middle of the 2nd round
• Draft the player destined to become maybe the best 2C in the NHL in the middle of the 2nd round
• Draft the player destined to become maybe the NHL's best left wing in the 3rd round
• Draft the player destined to become one of the NHL's premier goal scorers late in the 1st round
• Swap a goalie destined to be out of the NHL in three years for the goalie who will man your crease for the next 15
• Make sure all of the above sign contracts for under market value and continue to play well, or even improve for the duration of their contracts

Easy peasy. The road map is laid out perfectly, if only the Pegulas would follow it. Culture.

Edited May 30, 2021 by dudacek

[CallawaySabres]

That team is so clutch, it's crazy. Perfect team for this city...always find that next gear.

[Taro T]

4 minutes ago, dudacek said:

It's obvious what you need to do to be good this league, just create a great culture like they did in Boston and we'll be fine for a decade or more.

Just follow these easy steps:

• Go 13 years in a row without winning a playoff round, missing the playoffs entirely 6 of those years.
• Hire a top-notch awesome GM like Peter Chiarelli and a savvy hockey mind like Jim Benning to oversee your operation and turn things around
• Wisely invest your 1st round picks on such noted talents as Lars Jonsson, Martin Samuelsson, Hannu Toivenen, Marc Stuart, Shaone Morrisson, Matt Lashoff, Zach Hamill, Joe Colborne, Jordan Caron, Malcolm Subban, Jakub Zboril, Zach Senyshyn, Urho Vaakaninen and John Beecher
• Trade away your rare first-round mistakes like Phil Kessel, Dougie Hamilton and Tyler Seguin for notable building blocks like Louie Erickson and Joe Morrow
• Sign a 29-year-old never-was to be your minor league backup and watch him win a Stanley Cup
• Sign a 29-year-old free agent defenceman and expect him to not only play at an all-star level for the next decade, but also command your room like a five-star general
• Draft the player destined to become the best 2-way centre in the NHL in the middle of the 2nd round
• Draft the player destined to become maybe the best 2C in the NHL in the middle of the 2nd round
• Draft the player destined to become maybe the NHL's best left wing in the 3rd round
• Draft the player destined to become one of the NHL's premier goal scorers late in the 1st round
• Swap a goalie destined to be out of the NHL in three years for the goalie who will man your crease for the next 15
• Make sure all of the above sign contracts for under market value and continue to play well, or even improve for the duration of their contracts

Easy peasy. The road map is laid out perfectly, if only the Pegulas would follow it. Culture.

Obviously, the Pegulas haven't made the deal with the devil like Jacobs did.

Or, God forbid, maybe they did for the Bills & the Sabres were the price.  Hope not.

Edited May 30, 2021 by Taro T

[Stoner]

Oh, no, not the dastardly Bruins with that monster Marchand. No thanks.

[lost in dc]

Ownership

[GASabresIUFAN]

Better owner.  The Jacobs family, from Buffalo, allows the pros to run the franchise.  Jerry stays back and his money.

[PerreaultForever]

9 hours ago, dudacek said:

It's obvious what you need to do to be good this league, just create a great culture like they did in Boston and we'll be fine for a decade or more.

Just follow these easy steps:

• Go 13 years in a row without winning a playoff round, missing the playoffs entirely 6 of those years.
• Hire a top-notch awesome GM like Peter Chiarelli and a savvy hockey mind like Jim Benning to oversee your operation and turn things around
• Wisely invest your 1st round picks on such noted talents as Lars Jonsson, Martin Samuelsson, Hannu Toivenen, Marc Stuart, Shaone Morrisson, Matt Lashoff, Zach Hamill, Joe Colborne, Jordan Caron, Malcolm Subban, Jakub Zboril, Zach Senyshyn, Urho Vaakaninen and John Beecher
• Trade away your rare first-round mistakes like Phil Kessel, Dougie Hamilton and Tyler Seguin for notable building blocks like Louie Erickson and Joe Morrow
• Sign a 29-year-old never-was to be your minor league backup and watch him win a Stanley Cup
• Sign a 29-year-old free agent defenceman and expect him to not only play at an all-star level for the next decade, but also command your room like a five-star general
• Draft the player destined to become the best 2-way centre in the NHL in the middle of the 2nd round
• Draft the player destined to become maybe the best 2C in the NHL in the middle of the 2nd round
• Draft the player destined to become maybe the NHL's best left wing in the 3rd round
• Draft the player destined to become one of the NHL's premier goal scorers late in the 1st round
• Swap a goalie destined to be out of the NHL in three years for the goalie who will man your crease for the next 15
• Make sure all of the above sign contracts for under market value and continue to play well, or even improve for the duration of their contracts

Easy peasy. The road map is laid out perfectly, if only the Pegulas would follow it. Culture.

Oh I know where this is directed................

I can counter this easily. First, isn't it amazing that despite all those bad draft picks and trade mistakes they are consistently still that good? How does that happen? Where does it come from? I wonder.......

So I'm going to make it short and sweet. Cam F'n Neely.

Named Vice President in 2007 and President in 2010 and Bruins have been really good and had a great culture when exactly? 

So the solution here was simple. Rick F'n Dudley should have been given that role here and molded this team in his image the way Cam molded that one in his. Yes, it's that freakin' simple. 

This is where I drop the mic I think.............

[MODO Hockey]

15 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Oh I know where this is directed................

I can counter this easily. First, isn't it amazing that despite all those bad draft picks and trade mistakes they are consistently still that good? How does that happen? Where does it come from? I wonder.......

So I'm going to make it short and sweet. Cam F'n Neely.

Named Vice President in 2007 and President in 2010 and Bruins have been really good and had a great culture when exactly? 

So the solution here was simple. Rick F'n Dudley should have been given that role here and molded this team in his image the way Cam molded that one in his. Yes, it's that freakin' simple. 

This is where I drop the mic I think.............

 

[Weave]

12 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Better owner.  The Jacobs family, from Buffalo, allows the pros to run the franchise.  Jerry stays back and his money.

The Jacobs had been notorious cheapskates.  Wonder if they still are?  

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 hour ago, Weave said:

The Jacobs had been notorious cheapskates.  Wonder if they still are?  

Not sure.  The hockey organization doesn’t seem to be lacking resources

[Topshelf13]

I watch the Bruin and other teams in the playoffs and a few things stand out. Every player on that team will throw a check given the chance. The Sabres are constructed with many players who do not consider it starting with top picks Jack Eichel and Sam. I am not saying fighting just play in a way that says I will not be intimidated. The Bruins do not skate away when provoked as we have seen Eichel, Sam and Dahlin do all the time. Those are just the obvious players, you could throw in a bunch of other players. You can only have so many finesse players. You never see the Bruins fall down the way so many Sabres do. Again, it has nothing to do with fighting, playoff hockey requires physicality and great goaltending. The Sabres need both.     

[Sabres Fan in NS]

21 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Oh, no, not the dastardly Bruins with that monster Marchand. No thanks.

I love how you speak so goodly here, especially the dastardly part ... 😍

The only thing worse, well just as bad, is if someone were to suggest we try to more like the equally dastardly Flyers.

@dudacek should know better than to suggest such a dastardly thing as trying to be more like the most dastardly.

I really like the Avs, maybe we should try to be more like them?

MacKinnon!!

😎

[Marvin]

2 hours ago, Topshelf13 said:

I watch the Bruin and other teams in the playoffs and a few things stand out. Every player on that team will throw a check given the chance. The Sabres are constructed with many players who do not consider it starting with top picks Jack Eichel and Sam. I am not saying fighting just play in a way that says I will not be intimidated. The Bruins do not skate away when provoked as we have seen Eichel, Sam and Dahlin do all the time. Those are just the obvious players, you could throw in a bunch of other players. You can only have so many finesse players. You never see the Bruins fall down the way so many Sabres do. Again, it has nothing to do with fighting, playoff hockey requires physicality and great goaltending. The Sabres need both.     

This is Kevyn Adams's ideal.  Let us see if he can do it.

[Kong]

I seem to remember the Sabres were originally modeled after the Montreal Canadiens. An exciting finesse team. They almost made it in their 4-5 th year but fell short, and never got that close again for another 25 years. An interesting note was they were intimidated by the Flyers in that 74-75 finals. Possibly the most successful era of the Sabres was with Brad May, Rob Ray, Boughner and the gang. They specialized in the rough stuff.  Nobody wanted to come to Buffalo, let alone play them. When Muckler traded Mogilny for Peca, he said that people in Buffalo would relate to Peca, a smallish lunchbucket guy who hit hard and related to the character of the average blue collar Buffalonian. He saw a style that the fans would cheer for and he went out and got it. The team gelled. Muckler understood what makes Buffalo tick. Stealing Hasek didn't hurt.

This formula for success has become muddled over the years.

 

Edited May 31, 2021 by Kong

[PerreaultForever]

3 hours ago, New Scotland (NS) said:

I love how you speak so goodly here, especially the dastardly part ... 😍

The only thing worse, well just as bad, is if someone were to suggest we try to more like the equally dastardly Flyers.

@dudacek should know better than to suggest such a dastardly thing as trying to be more like the most dastardly.

I really like the Avs, maybe we should try to be more like them?

MacKinnon!!

😎

The Flyers need to try to be more like the dastardly Flyers. That team is a mess and might be a good trade partner for any number of possible deals. 

[DarthEbriate]

2 hours ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

This is Kevyn Adams's ideal.  Let us see if he can do it.

Which is why the inclusion of Lazar, a perfect Bruin, (I know I know, cap-balancing reasons) was so awful in the Hall trade. Getting those first-round potential guys who reinvent themselves and embrace bottom 6 roles on the cheap? That's the lifeblood of a good roster. Paille, Girgensons (until the current contract), Lazar, Angry Larry (high 2nd). Heck, even the Concept of Kassian. It takes them a few years to accept it, and then they're cheap, reliable, and can bounce up and down the lineup. Replaceable? Absolutely. But we have a capricious flavor-of-the-month owner. So when it comes time to replace a Girgensons... it's an overpay as a reward of service or worse, it's the reward for a guy who played above himself while bouncing around the roster (Kassian after playing with McDavid) or after a great playoffs (Beagle -- undrafted, not a 1st -- with Vancouver on a heinous contract after his big playoff with the Caps). When you have these ideal grinders, it's OK to keep them.

1 hour ago, Kong said:

Stealing Hasek didn't hurt.

This formula for success has become muddled over the years.

It really comes down to Hasek though, doesn't it? Until the final 1999 roster was in order (Barnaby out for Barnes; Juneau added; Wilson out for Warrener; Ray riding the pine) that team didn't have the depth to survive the playoffs without Hasek stealing 2 games per series. Shields and Roloson were both good enough to win playoff games for the Sabres while Hasek was out, but over the course of an entire season that's a borderline playoff bubble roster, and probably cannon fodder without Hasek in the opposition's heads.

[LGR4GM]

Holy ***** we really are out of ideas. 

Edited May 31, 2021 by LGR4GM