January is THE Month We Find Out if This Team Has a Chance

[PerreaultForever]

7 hours ago, CallawaySabres said:

I agree they need to start winning some games now but the reason I picked January is that it's a HUGE opportunity to play almost the whole month vs lesser teams. They will need 75% of the points that month...minimum. 

I don't see a whole lot of "lesser" in January aside from the Sharks games. 

Have to beat Ottawa and Montreal in both months and most of all can't allow any loser points to the competition. 

I think it's a stretch to think they have a real chance. Not impossible, but very very unlikely. 

[Pimlach]

8 hours ago, Sabres Fan in NS said:

A great Historian once said ...

*it wasn't over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor and it aint over now .. who's with me .. LET'S GO !!*

[Pimlach]

8 hours ago, French Collection said:

Did he end up graduating?

 

Yes, Senator Blutarski graduated. 

 

[Alaska John]

This team has road wins against the Bruins and Rangers.  Why they hell can't they beat the weak teams?

[lowsabre]

7 hours ago, Alaska John said:

This team has road wins against the Bruins and Rangers.  Why they hell can't they beat the weak teams?

Probably the same reason we win more games away than at home.

[Marvin]

On 12/8/2023 at 12:09 PM, French Collection said:

Did he end up graduating?

Baby steps but I am liking the way they played, they need to stay at that level for a bit to get me back to not needing as much hopium.

 

On 12/8/2023 at 12:11 PM, Sabres Fan in NS said:

I doubt it, but he did ride off into the sunset with the babe.

 

On 12/8/2023 at 2:02 PM, JustOneParade said:

Zero. Point. Zero.

They did have Senator Blutarski's graduating class towards the end before the credits.

[Berg]

On 12/8/2023 at 10:47 PM, ska-T Chitown said:

There was a big article on ESPN+ a few weeks back. It varies, but the so far a maximum of 5 teams not in playoff positions by American Thanksgiving have made it in any given year.

So sad to see this...And all this sh.t not because of players...

[sabremike]

This season is dead, buried and the rest of the league is pissing on our grave. In a real organization complete humiliating failure such as this would result in the incompetent coach and equally incompetent staff being tossed out of the arena on their sorry ***** and actual professionals who don't completely suck and are actually good at their job would be hired. Sadly we are owned by a ridiculous simpleton incapable of learning from his neverending number of mistakes so such a thing has no chance of happening. 

[Wyldnwoody44]

January won't matter. December matters and you see what we are doing with it. 

I saw a slight glimmer of hope on these boards after the Boston win, but as always, they ripped that away by choking a team they really should (and frankly need to) beat. 

KA and DG simply need to be relieved of their duties and we need to move forward for the rest of the season with whatever prospective fill in until the off season when we need to get the best candidate available. 

[Scottysabres]

We may not make it to January.

[Norcal]

Ouch!

[WhenWillItEnd66]

Do not think you need to wait till january. Even with the infusion of Tuch, Greenway and Quinn coming back, it may be way too late to save this team. You can chalk it up to many things. Bad injury luck,  poor coaching,  team built wrong,  etc. This team has issues from GM on down.  

[Gatorman0519]

There would have to be a massive turnaround starting now because we are falling too far behind. Statistically, we are already on the wrong end of making the playoffs. I don’t see a consistent rebirth of this team to win 14 or 15 of our next 20, which is what HAS to happen. I think there is a greater chance we don’t make it much past 80 points this year. Has anyone took a good look at the 6 or 7 teams we are competing against? Yikes. 

Edited December 10, 2023 by Gatorman0519

[Doohicksie]

 

[Big Guava]

It sucks cause the Eastern Conference is extremely competitive this year with a lot of teams that have winning records.

I mean Sabres are 5 points ahead of the Sens now but Sens have 7!! Games in hand...I don't think I've ever seen a team with that many games in hand before...WTF is going on with the schedule maker?

[Big Guava]

On 12/10/2023 at 12:28 PM, Gatorman0519 said:

There would have to be a massive turnaround starting now because we are falling too far behind. Statistically, we are already on the wrong end of making the playoffs. I don’t see a consistent rebirth of this team to win 14 or 15 of our next 20, which is what HAS to happen. I think there is a greater chance we don’t make it much past 80 points this year. Has anyone took a good look at the 6 or 7 teams we are competing against? Yikes. 

Well...every year teams fall off after a fast start so thinking all those teams are going to continue at that pace is pretty unrealistic.

[LTS]

On 12/11/2023 at 10:58 PM, Big Guava said:

It sucks cause the Eastern Conference is extremely competitive this year with a lot of teams that have winning records.

I mean Sabres are 5 points ahead of the Sens now but Sens have 7!! Games in hand...I don't think I've ever seen a team with that many games in hand before...WTF is going on with the schedule maker?

The Sabres schedule by month:

October:      9 games (20 days)
November: 14 games
December: 15 games
January:     11 games
February:    11 games
March:        15 games
April:             7 games (15 days)

Ottawa's Schedule:

October:      8 games (21 days)
November:  9 games (They played in the Global Series)
December: 15 games
January:     15 games
February:    10 games
March:         16 games
April:            9 games (16 days)

The Global Series really takes a toll on the remainder of the schedule and hopefully it means those teams begin to fatigue a bit more.  They're almost playing a playoff schedule the last two months.    

Edited December 14, 2023 by LTS
Corrected their to they're.. 2 days later. Sigh

[lowsabre]

Interested to know. Is there a form of masochism in supporting the sabres on a regular basis?

I don't mean this in a bad way. Like if someone has been watching since we last made the playoffs. Watching losses on losses, and complaining about it, and then watching again. rejoicing in wins, but in a loss, feeling vindicated in pity? kind of like how your wife enjoys fighting for sport sometimes

Has this ever been studied by psychologists?

Edited December 12, 2023 by lowsabre
graduate students... this may be your come up

[Marvin]

Point of fact: the team that came from the furthest back on 1 January to make the playoffs was the 2010-1 Buffalo Sabres.  So one can always say that we did it before, so we can do it again.

[GASabresIUFAN]

On 12/12/2023 at 4:03 PM, Marvin said:

Point of fact: the team that came from the furthest back on 1 January to make the playoffs was the 2010-1 Buffalo Sabres.  So one can always say that we did it before, so we can do it again.

 

[CallawaySabres]

Unfortunately, it does not look like this team is actually going to stay afloat long enough to even see if January can save them. Is there any other team in the entire league that has only won two games in a row once?