This team's problem is not a lack of talent

[Doohicksie]

It's consistency.  Covid has wiped out any consistency among the skaters so the chemistry has been all over the place.  And once again, they have no continuity in goal.  They need decent (if not great) goaltending where they can get to know their goalie's tendencies and not have to think about too much and worry about it.  And they need to be able to ice their best players consistently.

That said, I think the rest of this season will be kind of a train wreck.  But since little was expected of this team I think if Covid was going to be a disruptive force, this is the season for that.

Probably next season will be up-and-down too with a lot of new players, a lot of young players.  Hopefully by a month or two into the season they'll be playing winning hockey.  And hopefully by next season Covid won't be so disruptive.

[PerreaultForever]

ideally I'd want a solid veteran core to lead and let the kids grow around (and slowly displace) but given where we were at, and needing to dismantle the so called core I don't really know if there was another way for Adams to do this. 

More stability is definitely needed, but it might take time.

[SwampD]

I disagree.

 

 

That's all I got.

[pi2000]

51 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

ideally I'd want a solid veteran core to lead and let the kids grow around (and slowly displace) but given where we were at, and needing to dismantle the so called core I don't really know if there was another way for Adams to do this. 

More stability is definitely needed, but it might take time.

One or two solid vets is enough.    Right now that's Okposo and probably Pysyk on the back-end, although I'd prefer bring in a higher quality veteran to mentor Power moving forward.   A former All-Star type who's won a Cup or at least has ample playoff experience.

[dudacek]

No, it’s talent.

I mean, the consistency thing is relevant; we’d certainly be better without so many of our most important players missing time. But it’s the difference between 60 points and 70.

We need more good players.

The good news is, I think they might be coming.

[LGR4GM]

It's talent. They literally won last night because they added Tuch and Okposo back which gave them just enough talent. Consistency will continue to be bad when guys like Eakin are important pieces and Jankowski is your 2nd line center, they don't have enough talent to be consistently good. 

Edited January 14, 2022 by LGR4GM

[Slack_in_MA]

With regard to Covid, is there a statistic somewhere out there that would demonstrate that Buffalo has been affected more adversely than most teams? Isn't everyone dealing with it to some degree?

[Dreams Burn Down]

16 minutes ago, Slack_in_MA said:

With regard to Covid, is there a statistic somewhere out there that would demonstrate that Buffalo has been affected more adversely than most teams? Isn't everyone dealing with it to some degree?

I think that, whatever the statistic, deeper, more talented teams will be able to weather COVID protocols better.  Every team is dealing with it to some degree, yes, but we simply do not yet have the depth to successfully overcome it.

[inkman]

37 minutes ago, Slack_in_MA said:

With regard to Covid, is there a statistic somewhere out there that would demonstrate that Buffalo has been affected more adversely than most teams? Isn't everyone dealing with it to some degree?

 

16 minutes ago, Dreams Burn Down said:

I think that, whatever the statistic, deeper, more talented teams will be able to weather COVID protocols better.  Every team is dealing with it to some degree, yes, but we simply do not yet have the depth to successfully overcome it.

Yep.  It’s talent which includes depth.  Add Tage, Mitts, Krebs, Quinn, Peterka to their roster next season; we might have something. 

[nucci]

7 hours ago, The Ghost of Yuri said:

It's consistency.  Covid has wiped out any consistency among the skaters so the chemistry has been all over the place.  And once again, they have no continuity in goal.  They need decent (if not great) goaltending where they can get to know their goalie's tendencies and not have to think about too much and worry about it.  And they need to be able to ice their best players consistently.

That said, I think the rest of this season will be kind of a train wreck.  But since little was expected of this team I think if Covid was going to be a disruptive force, this is the season for that.

Probably next season will be up-and-down too with a lot of new players, a lot of young players.  Hopefully by a month or two into the season they'll be playing winning hockey.  And hopefully by next season Covid won't be so disruptive.

better talent would mean more consistency...if your players are not that good lack of consistency is inevitable

[Buffalonill]

8 hours ago, The Ghost of Yuri said:

It's consistency.  Covid has wiped out any consistency among the skaters so the chemistry has been all over the place.  And once again, they have no continuity in goal.  They need decent (if not great) goaltending where they can get to know their goalie's tendencies and not have to think about too much and worry about it.  And they need to be able to ice their best players consistently.

That said, I think the rest of this season will be kind of a train wreck.  But since little was expected of this team I think if Covid was going to be a disruptive force, this is the season for that.

Probably next season will be up-and-down too with a lot of new players, a lot of young players.  Hopefully by a month or two into the season they'll be playing winning hockey.  And hopefully by next season Covid won't be so disruptive.

 I disagree with this we lack so much talent and  Obviously the Buffalo management agrees or they wouldn't have traded all our star players for draft picks.

 And they purposely wouldn't tank the season

[Crusader1969]

1 hour ago, inkman said:

 

Yep.  It’s talent which includes depth.  Add Tage, Mitts, Krebs, Quinn, Peterka to their roster next season; we might have something. 

I love the optimism!  That’s a lot of talent to be added for sure 

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, Crusader1969 said:

I love the optimism!  That’s a lot of talent to be added for sure 

And he didn’t mention the D (Power and Samuelsson)

[PromoTheRobot]

10 hours ago, The Ghost of Yuri said:

It's consistency.  Covid has wiped out any consistency among the skaters so the chemistry has been all over the place.  And once again, they have no continuity in goal.  They need decent (if not great) goaltending where they can get to know their goalie's tendencies and not have to think about too much and worry about it.  And they need to be able to ice their best players consistently.

That said, I think the rest of this season will be kind of a train wreck.  But since little was expected of this team I think if Covid was going to be a disruptive force, this is the season for that.

Probably next season will be up-and-down too with a lot of new players, a lot of young players.  Hopefully by a month or two into the season they'll be playing winning hockey.  And hopefully by next season Covid won't be so disruptive.

It will be nice to have a consistent roster play more than 2 games in a row.

[Dreams Burn Down]

11 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

It will be nice to have a consistent roster play more than 2 games in a row.

I love your new avatar. LOL!

[GASabresIUFAN]

Hayden , Eakin, Caggiula, Bjork, Butcher, Dell, Subban, Anderson, Tokarski, and Hagg have all played for us this season. It’s talent or the lack there of.

It’s called tanking and it was easily avoidable.  It all starts with a GM who didn’t think quality goaltending was important.

I believe this is the second season in a row we have utilized 5 or more goaltenders.  Like Ullmark before him, UPL has now suffered significant injuries in three of the last 4 seasons.  

If KA is serious about creating a winning organization he needs to acquire good goaltending.

[LGR4GM]

Some want it desperately to be about effort or coaching because those are easy fixes or at least fixes that could just happen like flipping a switch. Lacking talent is more complex and lengthy problem and might not have even a short term solution. 

It sucks but just where we are

[PromoTheRobot]

2 minutes ago, Dreams Burn Down said:

I love your new avatar. LOL!

#NashvilleTrout

[French Collection]

7 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

#NashvilleTrout

Sabres should have taken the fish from her, lucky charm.

[msw2112]

I think the roster, as currently constructed, is short on talent.  We have some good players, but not enough difference makers.  I have not watched a lot of Sabres games this year, but I did see the third period against Boston.  The Bruins entered the period down 3-1.  Boston controlled the play the entire 3rd period.  When their star players entered the zone, the defense backed up and you just knew the puck will be in the back of the net.  And it was.  They just took over the game.  They tied it up at 3 and won 4-3 in OT.

In contrast, I also watched the 3rd period of the San Jose game.  The Sabres entered the 3rd period down 3-1.  The Sabres controlled the entire period.  They skated hard, hit, controlled the puck, controlled the play, etc.  Most of the period was in the San Jose zone.  That said, they just didn't have enough talent to put the puck in the back on the net when they needed it and lost 3-2. 

All this said, I do believe that with the incoming talent:  Krebs, Peterka, Quinn, Power, Johnson, Samuelsson, Levi, Portillo, etc. and the further maturation of Thompson, Dahlin, Asplund, UPL, and others, and the large number of 1st and 2nd round draft picks in the bank, the Sabres WILL have that kind of talent in the next couple of upcoming season.

Trust the process....

Edited January 14, 2022 by msw2112

[Zamboni]

The team is not consistent… Because they lack the talent to be consistent at this point. The Sabres need to upgrade in a few key areas. 
 

Upgrade = more talented players

[JoeSchmoe]

3 hours ago, inkman said:

Yep.  It’s talent which includes depth.  Add Tage, Mitts, Krebs, Quinn, Peterka to their roster next season; we might have something. 

Not to mention competent goaltending. Hopefully UPL and/or Levi come through for us sooner than later. 

[French Collection]

The team lacks talent.

The GM is thinking long term and being patient. The coach is a good teacher for this stage of the rebuild.

Lack of talent really affects depth because the next man up is a JAG. JAGs cannot score at the NHL level, especially when paired up with other JAGs. You still need to outscore the other team to win. They don’t have Hasek in net so the team probably needs 3-4 goals to win consistently.

You can teach JAGs to play a trap, collapse to the net defensively and block shots but they will get caved in eventually because they can’t break out, lack hockey IQ, take penalties because of a lack of speed & mobility and being outmatched.

When your goalies are JAGs it just compounds the problems.

Next year, when  Quinn, Krebs, JJP, Mule, Power are ready to help, there will be more talent available. A decent goalie added for 1-2 years will allow Levi and/or Portillo get ready on the farm. Signing a key role veteran or two will help development and depth.

Edited January 14, 2022 by French Collection

[Slack_in_MA]

Is there a good recent analogy of another team that has successfully navigated a very similar strategy to the one we believe Adams is undertaking? How long did it take until they were a playoff contender? 
 

If  there’s another thread where this has already been discussed, let me know and I’ll read through it.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

I believe that it has always been about lack of talent, except when there was not a lack of talent ... 1975.

That said, some teams lacked talent, but made up the deficiency with great work ethic. 

That also said ... there was more talent on those hard working teams than the Sabres have now and at many other times in their history.

Bottom line is this team needs more talent at some key positions (goalie) and the supporting cast (bottom 6 forwards and 4 - 7 D).  It  seems that help is coming soon in all those areas of concern.