Meaningful Hockey in April!

[JoeSchmoe]

Still work to do, and of course we still need help, but if you're not even a little excited, hand in your fan cards!

Edited April 2, 2023 by JoeSchmoe

[JoeSchmoe]

A healthy Tage and a "hot new goalie" could mean we could actually do something if we're lucky enough to grab that 7 spot. 8 spot will be a warm-up for next year.

[sabresouth]

I don't know what this feeling is🤣. It's been soooo long. Still in the hunt with just a handful of games left. Happy  camper here. 

[Scottysabres]

I haven't been excited since they went 2 - 6 - 2 in March. That's 4 out of a possible 20 points while they were right in tbe thick of a wildcard spot playoff race. Now, they're on the outside looking in. I hope they do find a way to make it in, but I am at peace within myself if they don't.

I am however, still excited about the growth of the individual players on the team. This team will be better next seadon for multiple reasons.

[PerreaultForever]

Yes, it's good to have meaningful hockey this late in a season, but it's also still looking like what I feared, a blown opportunity by management who underestimated this team going in to the season and then stubbornly stuck to their 3-5 year plan instead of giving this team the little nudge in the right direction they deserved. 

So many opportunities to just tweak that little bit and get us those handful of extra points.....................

[inkman]

It’s nice regardless of the outcome 

[caseydean]

And it is not just an illusion.  In the four-team race, NYI has 97-point potential, Pitt 96 and FLA and Sabres 95.  NYI and Pitt losses today, and its a complete toss-up.

[matter2003]

Sabres are like Rasputin they just won't die 

7 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Yes, it's good to have meaningful hockey this late in a season, but it's also still looking like what I feared, a blown opportunity by management who underestimated this team going in to the season and then stubbornly stuck to their 3-5 year plan instead of giving this team the little nudge in the right direction they deserved. 

So many opportunities to just tweak that little bit and get us those handful of extra points.....................

Simply not losing to the Flyers twice, Blackhawks and Blue Jackets would have given them the points they needed 

[Pimlach]

7 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Yes, it's good to have meaningful hockey this late in a season, but it's also still looking like what I feared, a blown opportunity by management who underestimated this team going in to the season and then stubbornly stuck to their 3-5 year plan instead of giving this team the little nudge in the right direction they deserved. 

So many opportunities to just tweak that little bit and get us those handful of extra points.....................

Edited April 2, 2023 by Pimlach

[SwampD]

7 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Yes, it's good to have meaningful hockey this late in a season, but it's also still looking like what I feared, a blown opportunity by management who underestimated this team going in to the season and then stubbornly stuck to their 3-5 year plan instead of giving this team the little nudge in the right direction they deserved. 

So many opportunities to just tweak that little bit and get us those handful of extra points.....................

There is absolutely no way to know if any moves could have gotten them farther than where they are now. It’s really easy to say, though, because you can’t be proven wrong, but there is no way to prove that this is true, either.

What if they end up making it? Will you take it back and say,”well, I guess they did just had they had to do to make the playoffs?”

Also, other than a good (we only needed average) home goalie, what moves that were possible, should have been made?

This is the exact year we knew we were getting. It was really tough to watch in spots as the kids matured, but damn, it’s turned out pretty darn nice.

[JohnC]

8 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Yes, it's good to have meaningful hockey this late in a season, but it's also still looking like what I feared, a blown opportunity by management who underestimated this team going in to the season and then stubbornly stuck to their 3-5 year plan instead of giving this team the little nudge in the right direction they deserved. 

So many opportunities to just tweak that little bit and get us those handful of extra points.....................

The GM did make a serious move to trade for Chycrun. It didn't work out. What moves are you hypothetically advocating for? 

[Flashsabre]

1) We need to realize that as fans we are looking at 11 years without playoffs. Adams is looking at year 2 of a rebuild and he has a plan and is sticking to it. He tried for Chychrun, he brought in Greenway and Stillman. He wasn’t giving up our young studs. He got our goalie of the future signed.

2) As Granato pointed out, every team involved in this race has had brutal March’s. It is what has allowed Buffalo to stick around. Hopefully the Sabres are in the middle of a run here and sneak in.

Edited April 2, 2023 by Flashsabre

[Night Train]

It's great.

More points indicates actual improvement with a lot more to work on. Now to work on fundamentals. Levi provides hope in goal. Maybe the others will improve but we'll see. 

I never expected to be in the playoff race this season, so I won't fall to pieces coming close. Too many warts that still need cures. Youth needs to hit the weight room and get tougher. Future looks bright. 

[Turbo44]

1 hour ago, matter2003 said:

Sabres are like Rasputin they just won't die 

Simply not losing to the Flyers twice, Blackhawks and Blue Jackets would have given them the points they needed 

And the other 3 teams have bad losses too. There are also games we shouldn’t have probably won and did

[dudacek]

11 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Yes, it's good to have meaningful hockey this late in a season, but it's also still looking like what I feared, a blown opportunity by management who underestimated this team going in to the season and then stubbornly stuck to their 3-5 year plan instead of giving this team the little nudge in the right direction they deserved. 

So many opportunities to just tweak that little bit and get us those handful of extra points.....................

Sure worked good for Ottawa. And the Penguins.

Each made moves at the deadline and has been worse than the Sabres since.

And Florida never would have climbed back into the race if they hadn’t traded for (checks notes) nobody.

Such a false narrative.

 

[Hank]

3 hours ago, JohnC said:

The GM did make a serious move to trade for Chycrun. It didn't work out. What moves are you hypothetically advocating for? 

I believe Tolvanen would be putting up monster numbers in this system. Not claiming him off waivers is my biggest gripe with Adams. 

[Taro T]

33 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Sure worked good for Ottawa. And the Penguins.

Each made moves at the deadline and has been worse than the Sabres since.

And Florida never would have climbed back into the race if they hadn’t traded for (checks notes) nobody.

Such a false narrative.

 

Bobrovsky getting sick and them having to run with the career AHLer might've been their best move down the stretch.

[PerreaultForever]

4 hours ago, matter2003 said:

Sabres are like Rasputin they just won't die 

Simply not losing to the Flyers twice, Blackhawks and Blue Jackets would have given them the points they needed 

Ya, I know. The big thing for me is the losing streak when Samuelsson was first injured and the lack of D depth just derailed us. All we needed likely was 1 or 2 wins in that stretch. 

[PerreaultForever]

4 hours ago, SwampD said:

There is absolutely no way to know if any moves could have gotten them farther than where they are now. It’s really easy to say, though, because you can’t be proven wrong, but there is no way to prove that this is true, either.

What if they end up making it? Will you take it back and say,”well, I guess they did just had they had to do to make the playoffs?”

Also, other than a good (we only needed average) home goalie, what moves that were possible, should have been made?

This is the exact year we knew we were getting. It was really tough to watch in spots as the kids matured, but damn, it’s turned out pretty darn nice.

It's the exact year YOU knew you were getting. If you go back you will see I have posted very early on that I think this team is at a point of change and management was moving too slowly. That they were going to miss an opportunity. 

Lack of D depth killed us. The losing streak didn't have to happen. 

Edited April 2, 2023 by PerreaultForever

[PerreaultForever]

4 hours ago, JohnC said:

The GM did make a serious move to trade for Chycrun. It didn't work out. What moves are you hypothetically advocating for? 

Team doesn't need to "win" every trade any more if the deal makes the team better. This is something KA has to learn. 

There were potential opportunities from Mike Reilly for free to trades for other better D men. It wasn't that hard to do. 

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

Sure worked good for Ottawa. And the Penguins.

Each made moves at the deadline and has been worse than the Sabres since.

And Florida never would have climbed back into the race if they hadn’t traded for (checks notes) nobody.

Such a false narrative.

 

Well Ottawa has a ton of injuries but is just about even with us when they were further behind and Pittsburgh will still likely be the WC but every team is different and has different needs and flaws. 

Are you seriously going to suggest that our lack of D depth DIDN'T create the losing streak when Samuelsson etc. went down? That losing streak is the difference. You don't even have to get into a discussion of how better goaltending could have saved a few more games, that streak was it right there.  

[nfreeman]

13 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Yes, it's good to have meaningful hockey this late in a season, but it's also still looking like what I feared, a blown opportunity by management who underestimated this team going in to the season and then stubbornly stuck to their 3-5 year plan instead of giving this team the little nudge in the right direction they deserved. 

So many opportunities to just tweak that little bit and get us those handful of extra points.....................

 

5 hours ago, SwampD said:

There is absolutely no way to know if any moves could have gotten them farther than where they are now. It’s really easy to say, though, because you can’t be proven wrong, but there is no way to prove that this is true, either.

What if they end up making it? Will you take it back and say,”well, I guess they did just had they had to do to make the playoffs?”

Also, other than a good (we only needed average) home goalie, what moves that were possible, should have been made?

This is the exact year we knew we were getting. It was really tough to watch in spots as the kids matured, but damn, it’s turned out pretty darn nice.

Well, as perreault and others have noted, the obvious item is a defenseman better than Stillman but not as good or expensive as Chycrun. It seems like a few of those changed hands during the season at points when it was obvious the Sabres needed a decent defenseman.  Of course we can’t know for sure whether a move like that would’ve delivered, say, 2 more wins but it seems reasonable to think so.

We also don’t know whether any of those defensemen would’ve had a good attitude about coming here, which I agree with KA is an absolute requirement for bringing guys in.

One other key factor in this debate IMHO is that I think most of their home struggles — which is where the season will have been lost if they don’t miraculously make the playoffs— are not due to lack of talent in goal or on D, but in coaching/mental toughness.  I’m kinda skeptical that any in-season move for a bottom 3 defenseman would’ve solved those issues.  

[SwampD]

45 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Well Ottawa has a ton of injuries but is just about even with us when they were further behind and Pittsburgh will still likely be the WC but every team is different and has different needs and flaws. 

Are you seriously going to suggest that our lack of D depth DIDN'T create the losing streak when Samuelsson etc. went down? That losing streak is the difference. You don't even have to get into a discussion of how better goaltending could have saved a few more games, that streak was it right there.  

Only,… it wasn't.

[JohnC]

47 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Team doesn't need to "win" every trade any more if the deal makes the team better. This is something KA has to learn. 

There were potential opportunities from Mike Reilly for free to trades for other better D men. It wasn't that hard to do. 

Every deal isn't going to be a major deal. The GM added Lyubushkin to the unit in the offseason. And during the season he added Spellman, a lower pairing player. In addition, there was a serious attempt to deal for Chycrun. It didn't materialize. Other additions were made during the season such as adding Jost and Greenway. None of the additions were significant deals but they were deals that improved the team and its depth. 

The major element to improving this team is going to be internal improvement from the young players and drawing players from within the system. That is the approach the GM said he was going to take when he took the job, and that is exactly what he is doing. From an overview perspective, the approach he laid out and is following is working. You may not disagree with that assessment but that's okay. 

[JohnC]

2 hours ago, Hank said:

I believe Tolvanen would be putting up monster numbers in this system. Not claiming him off waivers is my biggest gripe with Adams. 

He would have been an interesting consideration. He signed with the Predators for a 3 year and $4.35 M deal. The Sabres have  a large stable of forward prospects in their system. It's likely that the organization felt that it would be better grooming and sticking with the players in their own system.