Sabres reveal season ticket, fan engagement plan

[Two or less]

 

I am not on the fan council, but as a former season ticket holder, the Sabres did call me and we spoke for a solid 30 minutes over the phone. They seemed genuine in listening to my thoughts. I told them how i felt. For example, the pint glass giveaway, i have 2 season tickets on one account (share with a friend) and you only got one set. Thought that was a cheap move.

Anyways, to butter me up and return, they are are giving me a private tour of the arena and also gave me 2 tickets to an upcoming game. Which i think is a pretty nice gesture.

[Curt]

4 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Who believes the Sabres chose to field a bad team? Seriously.

(Raises hand)  🙋🏻‍♂️

[Taro T]

3 minutes ago, Curt said:

(Raises hand)  🙋🏻‍♂️

Depends on how far back one wants to peel the onion apparently.  Adams absolutely willingly iced a worse team this year than necessary.  HE quite clearly believes that decision will  bear fruit eventually.

But the Sabres didn't intentionally get to the point where that was possibly necessary.  Which seems to be where the OP is finding some hair splitting definition.  (Still stand by the position that this team could've been heading in the right direction w/ some judicious moves, but that train left the station months ago.)

[dudacek]

5 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Who believes the Sabres chose to field a bad team? Seriously.

They have the league's lowest payroll, are using a retired player to reach the cap floor and have spent less than $4 million combined on their five! best goalies.

They traded or let go 3 of their 4 best defencemen, their 3 most talented forwards and their best goalie for players who have combined for 14 goals this year, and invested a grand total of $1.05 million in their biggest free agent signing.

Does anyone think they didn't choose to ice a bad team? Seriously.

Edited March 1, 2022 by dudacek

[sabremike]

They interviewed me and asked what I wanted. My answer:

[Eleven]

25 minutes ago, dudacek said:

They have the league's lowest payroll, are using a retired player to reach the cap floor and have spent less than $4 million combined on their five! best goalies.

They traded or let go 3 of their 4 best defencemen, their 3 most talented forwards and their best goalie for players who have combined for 14 goals this year, and invested a grand total of $1.05 million in their biggest free agent signing.

Does anyone think they didn't choose to ice a bad team? Seriously.

And it's Adams.  It was his decision, per *him*.  It's disgusting.  I've liked more than a few of his trades.  But this, and how he started the season in goal, are teeth-grinding material.

[Weave]

30 minutes ago, dudacek said:

They have the league's lowest payroll, are using a retired player to reach the cap floor and have spent less than $4 million combined on their five! best goalies.

They traded or let go 3 of their 4 best defencemen, their 3 most talented forwards and their best goalie for players who have combined for 14 goals this year, and invested a grand total of $1.05 million in their biggest free agent signing.

Does anyone think they didn't choose to ice a bad team? Seriously.

Man, you lay it out like that and it's no wonder my bitterness was extended another year.  I mean, I knew but..... I did not have a front of the brain consciousness of just how tank-y this season is.

[Thorner]

10 hours ago, The Ghost of Doohickie said:

Ice a good team.  The tickets will sell themselves.  They don't need a VP Ticket Sales & Fan Experience (what a lame title) for that.

Any of our ST holders part of the 25 fans council?  That's rich.

Pretty much. Mostly PR b.s. 

6 hours ago, Taro T said:

The REAL news from that article buried about 2/3's of the way down:

"and Luukkonnen is expected to be ready to be the team's top goalie come the fall."

 

HELLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Bedard sweepstakes.

As evidenced by this ^

Edited March 1, 2022 by Thorny

[Porous Five Hole]

6 hours ago, Taro T said:

The REAL news from that article buried about 2/3's of the way down:

"and Luukkonnen is expected to be ready to be the team's top goalie come the fall."

 

HELLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Bedard sweepstakes.

This is Harrington projecting. There’s no comment from Adams or Meatballs on this. 

I am not saying Adams is going to try to improve the position in the off-season, but after the last two seasons…it’s very possible he makes a move for a legitimate goalie to bridge the gap of the college kids.  The need is clear.

Actually, I would be willing to bet on it. So I guess I am saying he will improve the position in the off-season.  

Edited March 1, 2022 by Porous Five Hole

[Thorner]

Just now, Porous Five Hole said:

This is Harrington projecting. There’s no comment from Adams or Meatballs on this. 

I am not saying Adams is going to try to improve the position in the off-season, but after the last two seasons…it’s very possible he makes a move for a legitimate goalie to bridge the gap of the college kids.  The need is clear.

Actually, I would be willing to bet on it. 

If constructing a bet the difficult part is determining what counts as a “legitimate” goalie. 

Can start by agreeing on whether Craig Anderson represents/represented that 

[Porous Five Hole]

Just now, Thorny said:

If constructing a bet the difficult part is determining what counts as a “legitimate” goalie. 

Can start by agreeing on whether Craig Anderson represents/represented that 

Not to my eyes. He hasn’t been a reliable number one since 2018.  It might be a short term deal or it might be a trade for not much term remaining, but the move will be more legitimate than the above. 

[Thorner]

5 minutes ago, Porous Five Hole said:

Not to my eyes. He hasn’t been a reliable number one since 2018.  It might be a short term deal or it might be a trade for not much term remaining, but the move will be more legitimate than the above. 

If it so happens, we can confidently file that under “You love to see it.”

[Porous Five Hole]

2 minutes ago, Thorny said:

If it so happens, we can confidently file that under “You love to see it.”

I just cannot believe with an army of analytics staff, or his own eyeballs, that Adams (or Terry) are going to say, “let them get their heads kicked in by poor goaltending AGAIN.”

[Thorner]

1 minute ago, Porous Five Hole said:

I just cannot believe with an army of analytics staff, or his own eyeballs, that Adams (or Terry) are going to say, “let them get their heads kicked in by poor goaltending AGAIN.”

Botterill did it with regards to 2C 

So I can’t put it past him 

We’ve seen before an absurd reluctance to address a position in obvious and dire need - so until I see otherwise I’m skeptical 

Adams has to demonstrate an iota of proficiency at evaluating and addressing goaltending before I expect really anything from him on that front 

[Taro T]

6 minutes ago, Porous Five Hole said:

I just cannot believe with an army of analytics staff, or his own eyeballs, that Adams (or Terry) are going to say, “let them get their heads kicked in by poor goaltending AGAIN.”

Hope you're right.

Just not convinced the thought of possibly bringing in a Wright & Bedard with all the guys already here isn't overly tempting to the guy calling the shots.  Especially if the lottery balls don't pop up right this year.  (But there's THREE of them there.  There was only 1 this year.)

That empty barn might be our ace in the hole forcing him to play it straight.

Edited March 1, 2022 by Taro T

[Thorner]

1 minute ago, Taro T said:

Hope you're right.

Just not convinced the thought of possibly bringing in a Wright & Bedard with all the guys already here isn't overly tempting to the guy calling the shots.  Especially if the lottery balls don't pop up right this year.

That empty barn might be our ace in the hole forcing him to play it straight.

The two teams put together under General Manager Kevyn Adams have a combined 31 wins and 79 losses. He could easily assume the path to Bedard is his mode of least resistance 

He’s got a whopping source of data in his favour 

[Taro T]

3 minutes ago, Thorny said:

The two teams put together under General Manager Kevyn Adams have a combined 31 wins and 79 losses. He could easily assume the path to Bedard is his mode of least resistance 

He’s got a whopping source of data in his favour 

Again, that's the fear.  (Concern?)

And why getting a REAL goalie (or not) will be such a tell.  If they get a real goalie, they really are trying to not just develop but actually learn to win (which is, in itself, a huge part of development).  If they don't, well, hello darkness my old friend ...

[JohnC]

6 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Who believes the Sabres chose to field a bad team? Seriously.

I do. When you take on a contract for a player who was not going to be on the roster for the sole purpose of reaching the cap floor what does that tell you about the organization's intention to assemble a competitive roster? Look at the paltry money spent to address the goalie position? You don't have to be a MENSA member to figure out that this was from a competitive standpoint a deliberate throwaway year.

[Brawndo]

13 hours ago, dudacek said:

Had some references elsewhere on Sabrespace, figured it deserved its own thread.

https://buffalonews.com/sports/sabres/as-sabres-unveil-new-initiatives-for-season-tickets-theyre-mostly-holding-line-on-prices/article_938b3cd4-9727-11ec-bac9-eb84ea008c6b.html

The team has hired a new VP of ticket sales and created a 25-person fan council to advise them.

"Ultimately, we're going to take some of the experiences that I've had in other markets and see what works here and be able to listen to our fans. They've told us plenty of what they want to see and what they want to do, and we're going to look to execute on those items."

The VP worked for San Jose would are very good when it comes to fan experiences. Fan Giveaways, Theme Nights and such. Hopefully that translates to the Sabres

[\GoBillsInDallas/]

10 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Who believes the Sabres chose to field a bad team? Seriously.

 

[PromoTheRobot]

10 hours ago, dudacek said:

They have the league's lowest payroll, are using a retired player to reach the cap floor and have spent less than $4 million combined on their five! best goalies.

They traded or let go 3 of their 4 best defencemen, their 3 most talented forwards and their best goalie for players who have combined for 14 goals this year, and invested a grand total of $1.05 million in their biggest free agent signing.

Does anyone think they didn't choose to ice a bad team? Seriously.

I'm sorry. We were a winning franchise with all those talented players? No? Then why bring them up?

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:

I'm sorry. We were a winning franchise with all those talented players? No? Then why bring them up?

Deflection, in front!