The Sabres curse

[Doohicksie]

There are things that are unexplainable in sports, including runs of bad luck and futility.  Whether there is anything to it or not, a common term for such a run is to say the team is cursed. 

I think when Darcy said, "There will be suffering," he was making an accurate assessment.  But when he was let go for telling the truth, it became a curse.  The curse ended up emptying the Sabres cupboard resulting in moribund play we call The Tank.  The Tank brought on the curse and became the curse.  XGMTM embraced the curse and it clouded his judgment.  He thought that once the Sabres secured a couple of (almost) top draft picks, he could instantly make the team a winner by spending all the amassed draft and prospect capital to bring in the veterans he thought would bring the Sabres success.

But this turned out to be wrong.  He was blind to the intangibles.  He'd watched The Dirty Dozen too many times; he thought he could bring together a group of ne'er-do-wells and misfits and turn them into a successful team.  By bringing in the likes of ROR, Bogo and Kane he amplified the curse and gave it a form, a vehicle to transfer the curse to the tankfruit.

Thus John Eichel became the embodiment of the curse.  Not only that but he spread the curse to his buddy Sam Reinhart and others on the team.  They excelled at hockey, putting up good stats, but failed to improve the team in a substantive way and the futility of the team continued.

One tenuous link to the Sabres successful past remained though.  Originally hired by Lindy Ruff as an assistant coach, Kevyn Adams remained with the organization in various unobtrusive positions. 

He watched all that transpired and recognized the curse for what it was.  And he also realized Jack Eichel was the embodiment of the the curse.  Jack Eichel didn't start the curse, but as the result of the actions of those who brought on the curse- the strip down, the tank, the misguided rebuild, Jack become the very embodiment of the curse.

Kevyn saw this, and when he was eventually elevated to GM, he knew the curse needed to be eradicated.  He proposed a complete rebuild to TPegs but was rejected.  Terry was *not* the curse, but he was under the curse's spell.  So on the urging of ownership in the council of HCRK, he attempted a retooling, again bringing in veteran players to make one last attempt to make Jack happy and put a winning team on the ice. 

But what happened next could only be explained by a curse:  Goalie after goalie injured, Jack himself suffering a neck injury that doomed the retooling to failure.  The time had come:  TPegs bought in to Kevyn's plan to rebuild and it started in earnest.  The useless veterans were purged, the embodiment of the curse, Jack Eichel, was, after a protracted effort, traded.  And with him went the curse.

I am not a superstitious person by nature, but I can find no other explanation for the lifting of the Sabres fortunes, and just as suddenly, the descent of the fortunes of the Golden Knights.  Jack isn't at fault, he is simply cursed.

Edited March 23, 2022 by The Ghost of Yuri

[Sabres Fan in NS]

[SwampD]

Again,… counting chickens, or something.

Im going to wait until Vegas actually misses the playoffs, and we don’t suck in October to make a judgement about any curse being lifted.

[dudacek]

6 minutes ago, SwampD said:

Again,… counting chickens, or something.

Im going to wait until Vegas actually misses the playoffs, and we don’t suck in October to make a judgement about any curse being lifted.

So much this.

Not that I'm feeling any less glee about the Knights' struggles, but they are coming off games that could have easily been wins with a little puck luck and better goaltending.

Just like the current satisfaction with the Sabres is fed almost entirely by a pair of OT victories over unprepared teams.

These narratives could change with a bounce of a puck.

[Doohicksie]

10 minutes ago, SwampD said:

Again,… counting chickens, or something.

Im going to wait until Vegas actually misses the playoffs, and we don’t suck in October to make a judgement about any curse being lifted.

Agreed.  I know I'm getting ahead of myself.  I'm too much of an optimist.

But all this curse talk:  I don't there's a supernatural element behind it.  It's more of a case of a team getting into a collective slump and after trying to power out of it for a long time, some change is made that may or may not help them break the slump, but it *feels* like something has changed and it becomes kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

2 minutes ago, dudacek said:

they are coming off games that could have easily been wins with a little puck luck and better goaltending.

Right.  But luck... curse... whatever psychological trick you can play on yourself to put bad stuff behind you and keep good stuff going... that's what this is basically about.

[dudacek]

3 minutes ago, The Ghost of Yuri said:

Agreed.  I know I'm getting ahead of myself.  I'm too much of an optimist.

But all this curse talk:  I don't there's a supernatural element behind it.  It's more of a case of a team getting into a collective slump and after trying to power out of it for a long time, some change is made that may or may not help them break the slump, but it *feels* like something has changed and it becomes kind of a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Right.  But luck... curse... whatever psychological trick you can play on yourself to put bad stuff behind you and keep good stuff going... that's what this is basically about.

Something, something culture....

[Doohicksie]

Yes, culture is part of it.  Shipping Jack out, whether it's shipping out the curse or shipping out his attitude, is emblematic of the culture shift (even though Jack hadn't been with the team for a while due to his injury).

[pi2000]

[LGR4GM]

 

[Doohicksie]

18 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

pi, rockin' the attention span of a

Short version:

• Tank brought bad vibes.
• Eich is the product of and associated with those bad vibes.
• The bad vibes are now VGK's problem.

Edited March 23, 2022 by The Ghost of Yuri

[Stoner]

Terry is the suffering. Terry is the curse. Terry makes the Terror.

 

[Doohicksie]

Link?

Edited March 23, 2022 by The Ghost of Yuri

[PromoTheRobot]

7 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Terry is the suffering. Terry is the curse. Terry makes the Terror.

 

This guy calls bull***t.

[Stoner]

Lame-o.

[pi2000]

48 minutes ago, The Ghost of Yuri said:

pi, rockin' the attention span of a

Short version:

• Tank brought bad vibes.
• Eich is the product of and associated with those bad vibes.
• The bad vibes are now VGK's problem.

Haha... thanks for dumbing it down for me.

[GASabresIUFAN]

Is this becoming like the Cub Factor?  Thus whichever Cup finalist has the most ex-Sabres will lose the Cup?  Maybe that’s why KA couldn’t get a deal done at the deadline.

Edited March 23, 2022 by GASabresIUFAN

[Believer]

Curse??..  Nope… Bad decisions… for years… Starts at the top… 

[Doohicksie]

13 minutes ago, Believer said:

Curse??..  Nope… Bad decisions… for years… Starts at the top… 

Right, but how do you turn the tide?  I think KA/DG have (finally) managed to do it.

[Marvin]

This reminds me of an old sketch from "Dave Allen at Large":

It is approaching sunrise and Dracula is making haste back to his coffin.  He makes menacing noises and gestures at anything that disturbs him, like an owl hooting.

He makes it back to the crypt.  As he returns to lay in his coffin, on the screen, we see in horror-movie lettering, "The Curse of Dracula."  Then he closes the coffin, but accidently slams it on his hand.  Dracula flings the coffin open, grabs his wounded hand, and yells, "AH, <censored>!"

[mjd1001]

2 hours ago, SwampD said:

Again,… counting chickens, or something.

Im going to wait until Vegas actually misses the playoffs, and we don’t suck in October to make a judgement about any curse being lifted.

I agree with your sentiment, but I don't think of it as anything close to a curse.

Call it a tank, call it a teardown and rebuild, call it what you want but the Sabres tried it and it failed terribly, mostly because of poor execution. Bad trades. Bad decisions on contracts, bad coaching hires, bad draft picks, all of it.  

Things are looking up now, but that can change quickly. Not change long term, but in the ebbs and flow of a season, ANY team can have good weeks or months (where they exceed expectations) followed by bad weeks or months, and then back to good. I expect that to happen.

The main thing I expect to happen hasn't changed. I expect this team to GRADUALLY get better.  I know, I know, a lot of us are tired of waiting. A lot of people think they can make certain aggressive moves to take big steps and now is the time to do that.  I myself am happy seeing improvement, and I'll take a big move but not for any players you have to overpay, not for any players that are only coming here for the money, and not for any players you sign to long term deals that are over 30.

If there is a curse that has been lifted, to me it would  be the curse of impatience and bad decision making that results from rushing a rebuild. Now that things seem to be moving forward, I hope the team doesn't swerve off the current path.  Next years the goal should be 100% to win as many games as you can, but no shortcuts or temporary moves to do that.

Edited March 23, 2022 by mjd1001