How many days until the Sabres season

[Crusader1969]

As of august 3

[PerreaultForever]

too many. 

[Night Train]

Can't wait to start second guessing everything after each loss. 

[Pimlach]

13 minutes ago, Night Train said:

Can't wait to start second guessing everything after each loss. 

Part of being a fan.  
 

I have not been this excited to see this team in decades. 

[French Collection]

11 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Part of being a fan.  
 

I have not been this excited to see this team in decades. 

Hope springs eternal.

I really think they can assert themselves as a team others respect, and make the playoffs.

[USMCSnyper]

48 minutes ago, Night Train said:

Can't wait to start second guessing everything after each loss. 

Why wait? most people start now. lol

[mjd1001]

I don't NEED the regular season. I need training camp. I need preseason where some of the regular guys are playing. I need to see what young guys are sent down early and which ones are kept in camp just a bit longer.  Please give us SOME of those things. This offseason has been a lot more boring/uneventful and longer than I thought it would be.

[JohnC]

5 hours ago, Pimlach said:

Part of being a fan.  
 

I have not been this excited to see this team in decades. 

You are not the only one excited about the upcoming season. What makes the hometown hockey situation even more exciting is that this team is in a good situation to have sustained success. Also, there is the recognition that this franchise is being run in a very competent manner. There is a stability and solid foundation that now exists that didn't previously exit in this previously erratically run franchise. It took a while for the new owners to learn that there were no quick fixes in each of their franchises. It appears that the Pegulas have learned from their mistakes. It's a good time to be a Buffalo sports fan. 

[Crusader1969]

As of August 4th

days until puck drop

 

[SwampD]

9 hours ago, JohnC said:

You are not the only one excited about the upcoming season. What makes the hometown hockey situation even more exciting is that this team is in a good situation to have sustained success. Also, there is the recognition that this franchise is being run in a very competent manner. There is a stability and solid foundation that now exists that didn't previously exit in this previously erratically run franchise. It took a while for the new owners to learn that there were no quick fixes in each of their franchises. It appears that the Pegulas have learned from their mistakes. It's a good time to be a Buffalo sports fan. 

Wow. This harkens back to the "Multiple Stanley Cups" speech.

I think you need to slow your roll with the whole "sustained success" stuff. Can we at least wait until we get some,… any success, before we start anointing them? I only need for them to make it to A playoff appearance (yes, that's how low my threshold is) in order for me to be excited.

We'll all just have to wait to find out if a single thing you wrote is actually true.

At least we all, seemingly, have a reason to be optimistic.

[7+6=13]

2 hours ago, SwampD said:

Wow. This harkens back to the "Multiple Stanley Cups" speech.

I think you need to slow your roll with the whole "sustained success" stuff. Can we at least wait until we get some,… any success, before we start anointing them? I only need for them to make it to A playoff appearance (yes, that's how low my threshold is) in order for me to be excited.

We'll all just have to wait to find out if a single thing you wrote is actually true.

At least we all, seemingly, have a reason to be optimistic.

Just because you're not excited doesn't preclude another fan feeling we're in a good position for sustainable success. 

Not making the playoffs yet also doesn't define there hasn't been success. 

It's actually amazing to me that after all we've been through,  some fans can't see or maybe enjoy denying the fantastic position this team is in.  

[Zamboni]

As of August 5th …

days until puck drop

[Stoner]

There's been no success. There's been no competence shown, not in a league where half the teams make the playoffs.

Period.

As my dear friend SDS likes to say, stop trying to make fetch happen.

[Stoner]

7 hours ago, SwampD said:

Wow. This harkens back to the "Multiple Stanley Cups" speech.

I think you need to slow your roll with the whole "sustained success" stuff. Can we at least wait until we get some,… any success, before we start anointing them? I only need for them to make it to A playoff appearance (yes, that's how low my threshold is) in order for me to be excited.

We'll all just have to wait to find out if a single thing you wrote is actually true.

At least we all, seemingly, have a reason to be optimistic.

Truth.

For some reason it harkens me back this:

 

[JohnC]

7 hours ago, SwampD said:

Wow. This harkens back to the "Multiple Stanley Cups" speech.

I think you need to slow your roll with the whole "sustained success" stuff. Can we at least wait until we get some,… any success, before we start anointing them? I only need for them to make it to A playoff appearance (yes, that's how low my threshold is) in order for me to be excited.

We'll all just have to wait to find out if a single thing you wrote is actually true.

At least we all, seemingly, have a reason to be optimistic.

That's my point. Although I understand your caution. 

What I'm emphasizing in my previous response is that the front office hasn't pursued a quick-fix approach for a short-term gain. Rather, it is doing things the right way with a longer-term perspective. Draft picks are not being dealt for immediate help. Instead, players are being drafted and developed. I don't think it is unreasonable to say that under KA the operation has been well managed. 

Edited August 5, 2023 by JohnC

[SwampD]

1 hour ago, JohnC said:

That's my point. Although I understand your caution. 

What I'm emphasizing in my previous response is that the front office hasn't pursued a quick-fix approach for a short-term gain. Rather, it is doing things the right way with a longer-term perspective. Draft picks are not being dealt for immediate help. Instead, players are being drafted and developed. I don't think it is unreasonable to say that under KA the operation has been well managed. 

I honestly can’t believe that after 15 years,… sorry, I had to swallow down some vomit,… we are still basically saying we just have to wait for our core to develop.

[Stoner]

2 hours ago, JohnC said:

That's my point. Although I understand your caution. 

What I'm emphasizing in my previous response is that the front office hasn't pursued a quick-fix approach for a short-term gain. Rather, it is doing things the right way with a longer-term perspective. Draft picks are not being dealt for immediate help. Instead, players are being drafted and developed. I don't think it is unreasonable to say that under KA the operation has been well managed. 

Not to double team you with Swamp, but whether this has been the right way will be judged by history. Or the way that worked or didn't work.

Also can't another version of the right way lead to short term success, which can in turn seed longer term success?

Nothing would mean more to the franchise than making the playoffs. KA IMHO continues to play a dangerous game of not trying to make it happen.

[LGR4GM]

This place sucks. Every ***** thread is the same. Draft thread, season start thread, don't matter. All the same bitching. 

[JohnC]

4 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Not to double team you with Swamp, but whether this has been the right way will be judged by history. Or the way that worked or didn't work.

Also can't another version of the right way lead to short term success, which can in turn seed longer term success?

Nothing would mean more to the franchise than making the playoffs. KA IMHO continues to play a dangerous game of not trying to make it happen.

I have no problem being double-teamed. There's nothing wrong with that. What you are basically saying is that we won't know for sure what the best approach is until we see the results. That's like saying water is wet. Of course that is obvious and true. We are all giving opinions here. 

The notion that KA is playing a dangerous game is an odd thing to say. His team improved by 16 points from the previous season. And that was done by playing one of the youngest rosters in the league. This franchise is clearly on the right course. How anyone can say that the GM is playing a dangerous game is very befuddling.  

[JohnC]

30 minutes ago, SwampD said:

I honestly can’t believe that after 15 years,… sorry, I had to swallow down some vomit,… we are still basically saying we just have to wait for our core to develop.

Our core is for the most part developed. The team improved by 16 points from the previous season. The argument that this franchise has failed for 15 years so the GM has to take a radical route to pursue success is a bogus argument. Our current GM had full authority to run the organization for three years. (In his first year, Krueger had a lot of authority). Our GM has done a superb job in the short stint he has overseen the operation. What more do you want? If you want to see magic you should go to a magic show where creating an illusion is the act. That has nothing to do with the reality of pro sports. 

[Weave]

46 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Our core is for the most part developed. The team improved by 16 points from the previous season. The argument that this franchise has failed for 15 years so the GM has to take a radical route to pursue success is a bogus argument. Our current GM had full authority to run the organization for three years. (In his first year, Krueger had a lot of authority). Our GM has done a superb job in the short stint he has overseen the operation. What more do you want? If you want to see magic you should go to a magic show where creating an illusion is the act. That has nothing to do with the reality of pro sports. 

The bolded confuses me.  There is nothing radical about seizing an opportunity and going for it.  It would not have been radical leading up to last seasons trade deadline to give up some of what we have in excess for a playoff push.  We knew we were close then.  We can only assume we may be close again this time.
 

And the game KA playing, while appears to be low risk, actually has significant risk.  As I have been saying so frequently lately, the future is not guaranteed.  This season could be the season Tage develops career changing knee issues, or Dahlin, or our unproven goalie savior the we are leaning so heavily on.  Ottawa or Detroit could suddenly spit out an unexpected superstar (like we just did), making our task even more uphill than it already is.  KA is every bit as much rolling the dice by depending on a nearly fully team developing in unison as he would be by seizing the moment and moving some of what is collected to procure a more known quantity.

You can’t assume KA’s way is the right way until it actually bears fruit.  There are blossoms setting, but an unexpected frost or pestilence and there is no harvest.

There is still offseason left.  We’ll see what he does.  The time is right for a move that solidifies playoffs, just as it was at the deadline last season.

 

[Weave]

And we are way past references to the  failures of GMTM.

1. He made way more draft picks than anyone gives him credit for.

2.  The core is drafted already, and there is a bonafide surplus in the system.  We are way past risking losing prospect depth at this point.

[LabattBlue]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

This place sucks. Every ***** thread is the same. Draft thread, season start thread, don't matter. All the same bitching. 

…and yet you are still here….BITCHING.    Why not leave if all the “bitching” bothers you so much?

[dudacek]

It’s possible to think Adams has done a good job of fixing the culture, building the hockey department, acquiring and developing young talent, and resetting the team on the positive path over the past 2 years, yet still question the decisions he has made this so far summer.

 

Edited August 5, 2023 by dudacek

[Weave]

7 minutes ago, dudacek said:

It’s possible to think Adams has done a good job of fixing the culture, building the hockey department, acquiring and developing young talent, and resetting the team on the positive path over the past 2 years, yet still question the decisions he has made this so far summer.

 

Absolutely.  The task KA inherited was enormous.  

I think it is fairly safe to say that the team is improved, the culture improved, the prospect pool improved.

I think it is also fairly safe to say there is no success yet.  That level of improvement is yet to be determined.