Is it too soon to think we might actually be good?

[PromoTheRobot]

11 hours ago, Let's Go B-Lo said:

Outshot like 26-3 in the 3rd and they might have held the puck for about a minute and a half the whole period. Oh yeah, it's totally on the right track. 🙄

#Scoreboard

[Taro T]

7 minutes ago, aristocrat said:

Can we please get healthy? Our purest goal scorer is out in Oloffson. And we need to see what Mitts is. Two of our top line guys we need desperately to hang in the playoff race. 

It would also be nice to see what Tuch can do on this squad.  They literally may have their entire 1st line out w/ injuries.  (And, technically their #1 goalie & 1/2 their top pairing, though still want to see Jokiharju & Dahlin separated when he returns.)

Hanging around/ above the NHL 0.500 mark is a nice accomplishment given the entire backstory of this squad though in a small sample size.

[Drag0nDan]

12 hours ago, Let's Go B-Lo said:

Outshot like 26-3 in the 3rd and they might have held the puck for about a minute and a half the whole period. Oh yeah, it's totally on the right track. 🙄

After about the 10 minute mark, I'd say Buffalo's chances were better than most of pittsburghs.  The first 10 minutes were just brutal.  After that we kind of kept them on the walls and created some scoring chances.

[jsb]

I think we are what we thought they were but that light at the end of the tunnel isn't a train coming at us again.

On another note, is this the artwork of a former poster Josie??   https://notedhockey.substack.com/p/subscriber-suggestion-whats-the-deal

If so she's still putting out quality work. 

 

 

Edited November 17, 2021 by jsb

[nucci]

13 hours ago, Let's Go B-Lo said:

Outshot like 26-3 in the 3rd and they might have held the puck for about a minute and a half the whole period. Oh yeah, it's totally on the right track. 🙄

Rob Ray said it was a great 3rd period and they learned how to close out the game

[PerreaultForever]

2 hours ago, Pimlach said:

I get your point.  The players desire to compete and win is there.  While some pride is returning, the talent is not all there yet.
 

We need to revisit this question when Mitts, VO, Tuch, and Joker are back.  Will Granato improve the sauce with these ingredients?  
 

Looking beyond this season we have the kids in Rochester.  We have the draft capital to make Rochester  exciting for quite awhile.   Player development is most critical.  
 

Get all this working together and in a few years good players will want to play for the Sabres.   

Oh ya, we definitely have a long way to go, and everything depends on the Rochester guys becoming at least decent NHL players but I think the tear down and futility pointlessness aspect is over. There's no more reliance on one star savior, it's a TEAM concept now and that imo is a better approach. 

Adams I think has successfully torn down the old rotting structure and now we are pouring concrete and starting to build it back up. As long as they keep adding piece by piece and don't rush it we will finally be a real hockey team again. 

[DarthEbriate]

12 minutes ago, nucci said:

Rob Ray said it was a great 3rd period and they learned how to close out the game

Errrr...  getting outshot by... 17 ("Seventeen thousand!") even if many from the perimeter, is full-on Alamo Death Star mode and is not sustainable for winning or holding 3rd period leads. Closing out the game is what we did to Tampa in the 3rd. Outshot them. Added the insurance goal. Then, patiently crushed them with empty netters to pad our stats.

[PromoTheRobot]

9 minutes ago, Let's Go B-Lo said:

The goalie playing out of his mind one night isn't indicative of systemic improvement. It was Alamo mode in the third. The topic isn't about whether we win a game, it's about whether we can call ourselves good. Good teams don't do Alamo mode and get outshot 26-3 in a period. So yeah, they won a game, no they still aren't good.

What did Dickie Dunn say?

You can spin anything. Do you think Pens fans are thrilled with their team's effort in a loss?  I seem to recall all those posters who didn't care how well the Sabres played under Granato last year because the were still losing. In the end only the W's matter. I'll take a season full of "bad wins" with a playoff berth.

Edited November 17, 2021 by PromoTheRobot

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, jsb said:

I think we are what we thought they were but that light at the end of the tunnel isn't a train coming at us again.

On another note, is this the artwork of a former poster Josie??   https://notedhockey.substack.com/p/subscriber-suggestion-whats-the-deal

If so she's still putting out quality work.

I also feel like the light at the end of the tunnel is much closer than we dared believe.  Seriously, if Toker can hold down the fort until reinforcements arrive to help the goaltending situation, we get our entire injured first line back, and/or the young talent busts out of Rochester, the Sabres could be a force to contend with as early as this season and quite probably by next season.

 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's @josie's work.  Those are her initials down in the corner.

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, The Ghost of Yuri said:

I also feel like the light at the end of the tunnel is much closer than we dared believe.  Seriously, if Toker can hold down the fort until reinforcements arrive to help the goaltending situation, we get our entire injured first line back, and/or the young talent busts out of Rochester, the Sabres could be a force to contend with as early as this season and quite probably by next season.

 

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's @josie's work.  Those are her initials down in the corner.

The author also explicitly states that she painted that at the end of the article.

[Pimlach]

2 hours ago, Let's Go B-Lo said:

The goalie playing out of his mind one night isn't indicative of systemic improvement. It was Alamo mode in the third. The topic isn't about whether we win a game, it's about whether we can call ourselves good. Good teams don't do Alamo mode and get outshot 26-3 in a period. So yeah, they won a game, no they still aren't good.

What did Dickie Dunn say?

Who is Dickie Dunn?  

[thewookie1]

25 minutes ago, Let's Go B-Lo said:

Except you won't get them, that's the point. You'll get some fool's gold like last night once in awhile but not routinely. If they play 10 games like last night they lose 9.5 of them. Again, yes they won a game. No that doesn't mean we can say they are good. They aren't. Regression to the mean is a bitch and it's coming in a big way.

Can it with the negative waves man. Lol

[GASabresIUFAN]

3 hours ago, nucci said:

Rob Ray said it was a great 3rd period and they learned how to close out the game

Rob has sadly taken just a few hit to the head over the years.

[Huckleberry]

You know I was watching an episode of after the whistle  ( rivet and peters).

Where they said that Okposo told them that they asked the team to go out after practice and 20 + guys showed up.
So basically the entire team, and Okpsoso told them  " this is the best team I ever been on ".

On which Peters said, "normally when you asked your team out 6-8 guys would show up, but all 20 guys being there I have never known"
I don't know but if the plan was to tank, this might be an owner worst nightmare 😄

[Gatorman0519]

No they are not good. But there are signs of a culture change. 

[nfreeman]

Well, they’ve now lost 7 out of 9, and one of those wins was due to Toker standing on his head while his team got outshot 45-19.

I hate to say it, but that is bottom echelon results.

We could feel very differently about this team by Christmas.  

[Buffalonill]

The  Wheels are slowly coming off and will be talking about the lottery in 2 months 

[LGR4GM]

19 minutes ago, Buffalonill said:

The  Wheels are slowly coming off and will be talking about the lottery in 2 months 

We have 6 forwards who will be gone by next year and 3 defenders. We're definitely a lottery team. 

Don't think the wheels are off, they've just always had minimal tread. 

[jsb]

1 hour ago, nfreeman said:

Well, they’ve now lost 7 out of 9, and one of those wins was due to Toker standing on his head while his team got outshot 45-19.

I hate to say it, but that is bottom echelon results.

We could feel very differently about this team by Christmas.  

Not to disagree with you but you didn't really think any differently even when the results were better did you?? This was always going to be a year where you hoped the team plays more inspired hockey than last year and that guys like Thompson, Asplund, Cozens, Mitts and Dahlin would continue last years uptick in productivity and development. As for a different team by Christmas, I'm going to take the kool-aid route and say the addition of Mitts-Olofsson and Tuch hopefully by then will make us more optimistic of things to come than not. I'm still taking the 🤞🤞🤞 pills. 

[nfreeman]

32 minutes ago, jsb said:

Not to disagree with you but you didn't really think any differently even when the results were better did you?? This was always going to be a year where you hoped the team plays more inspired hockey than last year and that guys like Thompson, Asplund, Cozens, Mitts and Dahlin would continue last years uptick in productivity and development. As for a different team by Christmas, I'm going to take the kool-aid route and say the addition of Mitts-Olofsson and Tuch hopefully by then will make us more optimistic of things to come than not. I'm still taking the 🤞🤞🤞 pills. 

I haven't thought they would get to playoff bubble status, but I have thought that they could be competitive in most games other than against, say, the top 10 teams in the NHL, and that the games would continue to be entertaining throughout most of the season.  If they lose 7 out of 9 regularly, though, they won't come close to that standard.

Pass the hopium, bro!  I need a taste.

[jsb]

12 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

Pass the hopium, bro!  I need a taste.

😀 Not to be bogarting but that's about all I have left

[Buffalonill]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

We have 6 forwards who will be gone by next year and 3 defenders. We're definitely a lottery team. 

Don't think the wheels are off, they've just always had minimal tread. 

Buffalo has a of record of 16-41 on  Month 3 in the last 4 years and it gets worse as the season continues.

 

[GASabresIUFAN]

So here we are at the quarter pole and the goaltending and defense have floundered.  Not a huge surprise but disappointing.

Still there is much to be hopefully for besides the domination of Quinn and JJP in the AHL.

Our offense has remained good despite losing Mitts for much of the season, VO for a long spell as well and having to play JAGs Hayden, Bjork, Eakin and Caggiula every night.

The Sabres currently are in the top 16 in GF with 64 or 2.9 per game.  That comes to about 240 goals for the season.  Last time the Sabres reached 240 was 2010-11.  

Skinner and KO finding themselves under DG has been great, but Thompson has been the real revelation.  Cozens is finally emerging as a good NHLer and Asplund is showing his growth from last year was no fluke.  EDIT:  I forgot to add the improvement in VO's overall game and that he's a point a game player YTD.

Now imagine what getting Mitts back now coupled with getting a healthy Tuch  in January will do for an already good offense.  

So how do we fix the other side of the equation? When Anderson was healthy we were a very good team.  Without him were are defensively challenged.  

How does it get fixed? We need an upgrade in goal.  Matt Murray seems like the target. Given his recent struggles and injury history he’s an expensive gamble but one we probably need to take if we can get him at 50% of his cap.  

I’d also like to see Miller and Butcher sent packing ASAP and upgraded.  Samuelsson in for Butcher would be step one.  

I doubt KA will replace Miller until the deadline but one can hope.  

I maybe in the minority, but with 60 games left there is still hope for this season.  

Edited December 1, 2021 by GASabresIUFAN

[darksabre]

I think this team has the ability to make a heroic run to 9th (nostalgic!) if they are simply given some NHL goaltending. They are scoring enough goals to do it, and they're doing it consistently. But it doesn't matter when they're giving up so much at the other end.

[Hank]

This team so far has exceeded my expectations.