Worst Season Ever

[Curt]

Worst Thread Ever?

[bob_sauve28]

13 minutes ago, Curt said:

Worst Thread Ever?

Worse than my thread about Risto's hair cut? No way! 🤣

[JohnC]

10 hours ago, bunomatic said:

We didn’t lose on purpose. They lost on purpose. Ownership and management. It was out of my control. Once ownership made the decision to tank the fans were along for the ride regardless. Fans may have cheered for or against it but it is on the morons in charge. This ownership has been an absolutely pathetic placeholder of this franchise in every way. One day it will be in someone else’s hands and we can only hope they bring respect back to the brand because the Pegulas have failed in that regard. Anyways thats my rant. Not directed at you weave These owners piss me off.

Your critical sentiment represents the view of most of the fandom, including me. But waiting for a change in ownership is not going to happen anytime soon. So that avenue to a solution to this wretched malaise is not an option right now. What is? My hope is that the Pegulas learned from their experience with the Bills. When the owner first took over the football team he was scrambling around making foolish hiring decisions and intruding with his impulses. The disastrous results were predictable. What changed from being an entrenched mediocre franchise to now one that is recognized as one of the best run franchises? After a number of misses he finally hired the right people and empowered them. To their credit McDermott and Bean put together a talented staff that is so respected that other organizations poach from it.  The turnaround was fairly quickly.

 Right now most of us are talking about trades, acquisitions and draft selections. That's the fun part of hockey. But before good decisions are made about building a roster the owners have to build an organization and staff that is capable of making those complicated and tough decisions. That's the priority right now. I'm hoping that Granato is hired as the HC. And I'm hoping that KA surrounds himself with quality staff. I liked the hiring of Karmanos. It's imperative that the scouting department is rebuilt from the ashes. 

I'm just hoping that the Pegulas who should be humiliated with the product that they have put out on the ice during their ignominious tenure are chastened enough to follow the same blue print that they did with the Bills. Basically what I am saying is hire the right people and get out of the way. 

Edited June 14, 2021 by JohnC

[LGR4GM]

Just now, JohnC said:

Your critical sentiment represents the view of most of the fandom, including me. But waiting for a change in ownership is not going to happen anytime soon. So that avenue to a solution to this wretched malaise is not an option right now. What is? My hope is that the Pegulas learned from their experience with the Bills. When the owner first took over the football team he was scrambling around making foolish hiring decisions and intruding with his impulses. The disastrous results were predictable. What changed from being an entrenched mediocre franchise to now one that is recognized as one of the best run franchises? After a number of misses he finally hired the right people and empowered them. To their credit McDermott and Bean put together a talented staff that is so respected that other organizations poach from is  The turnaround was fairly quickly.

 Right now most of us are talking about trades, acquisitions and draft selections. That's the fun part of hockey. But before good decisions are made about building a roster the owners have to build an organization and staff that is capable of making those complicated and tough decisions. That's the priority right now. I'm hoping that Granato is hired as the HC. And I'm hoping that KA surrounds himself with quality staff. I liked the hiring of Karmanos. It's imperative that the scouting department is rebuilt from the ashes. 

I'm just hoping that the Pegulas who should be humiliated with the product that they have put out on the ice during their ignominious tenure are chastened enough to follow the same blue print that they did with the Bills. Basically what I am saying is hire the right people and get out of the way. 

My solution to get the Pegulas to understand they suck and need to stay out of hockey ops is to spend 0 dollars on this team. Just like the massive drop in viewership and the plummet in season tickets. The Pegulas understand the all mighty dollar, not fan sentiment. That has been made abundantly clear by Adams talking about getting fans back with players who want to be here... idc if a player loves the city, I care that the team is unwatchable and a bottom feeding trash heap due to the Pegulas constantly thinking they are smarter. 

[JohnC]

4 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

My solution to get the Pegulas to understand they suck and need to stay out of hockey ops is to spend 0 dollars on this team. Just like the massive drop in viewership and the plummet in season tickets. The Pegulas understand the all mighty dollar, not fan sentiment. That has been made abundantly clear by Adams talking about getting fans back with players who want to be here... idc if a player loves the city, I care that the team is unwatchable and a bottom feeding trash heap due to the Pegulas constantly thinking they are smarter. 

What you are describing is happening now. What's worse than anger is apathy toward your product. It's indisputable that the fanbase has withered. The organization couldn't even given away the few tickets that they were allowed to sell in the pandemic market.

As I pointed out in my prior post the Pegulas acted the same foolish and scrambling way when they took over the football team. The franchise was in a state of chaos. They belatedly hired the right people and empowered them. In relatively short order it worked to the extent that the team is considered a Super Bowl contending team. That same lesson has to be applied to the hockey operation. 

Needless to say this is a critical offseason. Although I am wary I'm not without hope.

[BMWR100RT]

Old timer watching since the start. I vote yes. Worst ever. Evidence:

• Realizing Eichel was never going to be the leadership guy I wanted.
• The L streak.
• The delay in pulling Krueger.
• RJ forced to create enthusiasm.
• Risto still getting big minutes.
• COVID games in morgue atmospheres.
• And then the resurgence with no games played for any meaning except another "next year".
• Then Eichel's press conference. F this guy.

I hated the tank years and I think they have never recovered from the stench, but this is rock bottom.

[Thorner]

Probably. Not in a vacuum or as a standalone, but at the end of a (so far) 10 year stretch of not making the playoffs, and especially when contrasted with the legit hope of the past offseason, ya - where we are in the journey right now feels the most dire, I'd say, from what I can remember. I've certainly never felt this level of malaise in the grand scheme.

If we are entering the Wright/Bedard "sweepstakes" and the Eichel trade reflects that, it'll probably be the closest I've ever come to debating taking a break. 

Edited June 14, 2021 by Thorny

[Stoner]

52 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

My solution to get the Pegulas to understand they suck and need to stay out of hockey ops is to spend 0 dollars on this team. Just like the massive drop in viewership and the plummet in season tickets. The Pegulas understand the all mighty dollar, not fan sentiment. That has been made abundantly clear by Adams talking about getting fans back with players who want to be here... idc if a player loves the city, I care that the team is unwatchable and a bottom feeding trash heap due to the Pegulas constantly thinking they are smarter. 

My solution would be to get Terry in a room and make him watch the video clips that are going around of Jon Ledecky, the Islanders owners, celebrating with the fans. His name being chanted. That's the ego stroke Terry should want. The other stroke he wants, to be the POHO of a Cup team ain't never gonna happen.

Of course we'd have to get Terry to put his wine glass down first.

[Mustache of God]

If the Sabres have taught me anything about life it is that the concept or "Rock Bottom" is a farce. It can always get worse and they've proven this to me many times throughout this draught. 

I vote, "Yes", for now...

At least with the tank there was a light at the end of a distant tunnel. Each failed season is another twist of the knife in the twilight of RJs career. I'm sure he just wants one more run before he retires.

There's always next year. I for one am looking forward to a healthy Girgensons taking up a roster spot, maybe he can play 1C again in Eichels void and rediscover how the Locomotive works.

There's a part of me thinks that with Eichel / Reino / Risto / the 1OA pick, a saavy GM can completely rebuild a team with a new identity and making the playoffs next year shouldn't be a stretch. There's a bigger part of me that realizes we have a GM with zero experience whose greatest hiring point was that he's a company "yes" man and I start to see new cracks appear on the rocky ground.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

10 hours ago, sabremike said:

There's a great chance the Eichel trade is to hockey in Buffalo what the Ron Francis trade is to hockey in Hartford.

So yeah, this is the worst.

I don't think this will be the case.  The Whale never had anywhere near the following in Hartford that the Sabres have in Buffalo.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

I have to agree with @Weave on this.  When your beloved team decides to lose on purpose there is no lower point than that.

Edited June 14, 2021 by New Scotland (NS)
my typing is not goodly

[bob_sauve28]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

My solution to get the Pegulas to understand they suck and need to stay out of hockey ops is to spend 0 dollars on this team. Just like the massive drop in viewership and the plummet in season tickets. The Pegulas understand the all mighty dollar, not fan sentiment. That has been made abundantly clear by Adams talking about getting fans back with players who want to be here... idc if a player loves the city, I care that the team is unwatchable and a bottom feeding trash heap due to the Pegulas constantly thinking they are smarter. 

How do we accomplish this? 

[Stoner]

29 minutes ago, New Scotland (NS) said:

I don't think this will be the case.  The Whale never had anywhere near the following in Hartford that the Sabres have in Buffalo.

I admit to starting to worry about what sabremike is hinting at. The first generation (I'll define generation as 20 years) of Sabres fans was actually seeded by the Bisons, then lots and lots of young-ish people fell in love with the team in the 70s. A second generation kicked in in the late 80s and early 90s with lots of skill and lots of fists and then Dom and playoff success. Even during tough times after Dom and during bankruptcy and losing seasons before 05-07, you still had a massive base of two generations that were keeping the faith and it almost paid  off for everybody. The problem comes with the third generation, which might remember good times but in the last 10 years has known nothing but disappointment. Where will these kids, the Randalls, the Wild Cards and the LGRs be in 10 years? Will they be dragging their kids along? Remember, now we're starting to lose that first generation and parts of the second.

The other thing is community viability in a new social and demographic and economic landscape. No one would think that Erie, PA could have an NHL franchise and be successful. Buffalo's a tier or two above Erie, but still...

In my darkest hour, I think Terry got the Sabres as prelude to the Bills, and the NHL was complicit in the franchise being weaned away from town to make way to burgeoning, booming (insert southern/western) population base.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

30 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

I admit to starting to worry about what sabremike is hinting at. The first generation (I'll define generation as 20 years) of Sabres fans was actually seeded by the Bisons, then lots and lots of young-ish people fell in love with the team in the 70s. A second generation kicked in in the late 80s and early 90s with lots of skill and lots of fists and then Dom and playoff success. Even during tough times after Dom and during bankruptcy and losing seasons before 05-07, you still had a massive base of two generations that were keeping the faith and it almost paid  off for everybody. The problem comes with the third generation, which might remember good times but in the last 10 years has known nothing but disappointment. Where will these kids, the Randalls, the Wild Cards and the LGRs be in 10 years? Will they be dragging their kids along? Remember, now we're starting to lose that first generation and parts of the second.

The other thing is community viability in a new social and demographic and economic landscape. No one would think that Erie, PA could have an NHL franchise and be successful. Buffalo's a tier or two above Erie, but still...

In my darkest hour, I think Terry got the Sabres as prelude to the Bills, and the NHL was complicit in the franchise being weaned away from town to make way to burgeoning, booming (insert southern/western) population base.

I understand all that.

That said, the Sabres will never leave Buffalo.

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, bob_sauve28 said:

How do we accomplish this? 

If you had kept reading you might have found out. 

[Kong]

To me, these last ten years have had a cumulative effect. The weight of ten straight years being a laughingstock has gotten to me. The organization cut costs during Covid and maybe they weren't expecting the season to really happen. In retrospect, it looks like that to me. They weren't prepared.

It's tempting to say this year was the absolute bottom but there were a number of circumstances that happened that torpedoed the Sabres chances of being competitive. The overpaid, unqualified psych guru coach who mesmerized the rube owners, the rash of  injuries to Eichel and other key players, Covid and the unfortunate mess caused by the Devils, placement in the toughest division in hockey when we have been the worst team for the last ten years, the inability of Taylor Hall and Eric Staal to mesh with the squad, the inability to come up with an NHL caliber goalie who stays healthy, all these things made this past season a perfect storm, which I don't think was entirely the players' fault. But the thread that goes through the last ten years is the butchered management led by the Pegulas, who really need to sell the team. Would it have killed the NHL to put the Sabres in an easier division for this one Covid year?

But the dishonest and toxic tanking was the absolute worst for me. The fans and players didn't know how to react when they were told to lose. It's so unnatural to ask this of players especially. We all knew it was happening on pupose so that they could draft Ekblad and McDavid but it didn't work out that way. What we got were scraps as usual...the Sabres instead drafted a couple really expensive guys who never delivered as advertised, were too young or didn't have the character to lead and were ruined by the experience. The owners wrongfully thought that they could cheat their way to the top but they have cheated their way to the bottom. 

 

Edited June 14, 2021 by Kong

[Skibum]

17 hours ago, Weave said:

The seasons we chose to lose on purpose are my all time lows.  It's still unconscionable to me that we lost on purpose.

To me, that's what makes this season the worst. The organization was actually trying to win, yet they played perhaps even worse hockey than they did during the tank. Also regarding the tank year(s), it was pretty evident at that time that a rebuild was the only viable option for the Sabres, so it really didn't bother me that they were tanking. I got so sick of watching the Bills go 7-9 every year and never get a blue chip prospect out of it. 

[Marvin]

My worst season individually was 2002-3 because of the cloud of the bankruptcy hanging over the team.

It is hard to separate this year from the last 9.  (In 2011-2, the team was trying to win and was in 8th place in the last week.)   Each subsequent season has the weight of all the previous ones in the background.  XHCRK's this year had the worst ensemble play of any in this era except for XHCRR.  IMHO, they were the worst to watch of the entire era.

What amazes me is how woefully deficient the teams have been in that span.  The Tank teams were largely talentless while the XGMTM's mercurial handling of excelling players laid the seeds for a toxic locker room.  XHCDB had locker room cliques, no 4th line, and almost non-existent hockey sense in the defence.  XHCPH inherited the cliques, had 1-2 lines of useless forwards each season, and a mediocre defence.  XHCRK did less with more than any of his predecessors had except in goal -- which is a big, big deal.  This is on the owners for allowing The Tank and the GMs for failing to ice adequate teams.

The odd reason I have any hope for even next year if we trade The Tanker Three is that for the first time since 2012-3, the Sabres iced a roster where I thought, "all the players on the ice are NHL quality" even if we were icing 2×4th lines and lower-end defence -- and this only happened with either Linus Ullmark or Ukka Pekka-Lukkonen.  But it happened.  If we can get 1 "now" centre from each of the Reinhart and Eichel trade, get a couple of veteran defencemen in FA, sign two goaltenders, and pick up solid prospects who can fill in when called up now and can grow into decent NHLers, we should be OK.  That is a lot of "if's", but that hardly looks unreasonable.

[ubkev]

Every season I watch this team is the worst season ever. I look forward to a new worst season ever next year.

[Randall Flagg]

For me its shortness (just under 4 months yeah?) Makes it a little more tolerable than 17-18, when we knew in game 2 that the season was DOA and had 80 more games to play. 

But that 18 game streak is easily the worst stretch of sabres hockey I've ever seen, the bits of it I watched anyway 

[sabremike]

5 hours ago, New Scotland (NS) said:

I don't think this will be the case.  The Whale never had anywhere near the following in Hartford that the Sabres have in Buffalo.

When the Whalers won our only playoff series in 1986 there was literally a parade attended by many multiples of people more than the Canes cup celebration. Then Rich Gordon and Ed Johnston happened...

[sabremike]

38 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

For me its shortness (just under 4 months yeah?) Makes it a little more tolerable than 17-18, when we knew in game 2 that the season was DOA and had 80 more games to play. 

But that 18 game streak is easily the worst stretch of sabres hockey I've ever seen, the bits of it I watched anyway 

The fact that it will end with Jack and Sam being traded for a pu pu platter of stuff easily makes this the worst most soul crushing season in team history. There isn't even going to be a Come To Jesus moment for this organization like there was on LI when they realized what was going to happen and brought in one of the greatest execs of all time and the undisputed best coach on the planet.

[Cal Naughton Jr]

Yes, for two reasons:

1. We stunk

2. We wasted a generational talent like Jack Eichel. This was the season that I accepted the fact that we have to move on from him

[OhMyDahlin]

19 hours ago, Weave said:

The seasons we chose to lose on purpose are my all time lows.  It's still unconscionable to me that we lost on purpose.

It's unconscionable to me how some people still don't understand the concept and that it actually worked.

It's everything after that that's been the problem.

[Randall Flagg]

2 minutes ago, OhMyDahlin said:

It's unconscionable to me how some people still don't understand the concept and that it actually worked.

It's everything after that that's been the problem.

Because those are definitely two decoupled and orthogonal events 

Edited June 14, 2021 by Randall Flagg