What has to happen to turn the ship around this season?

[LGR4GM]

8 hours ago, Thorny said:

But we have the White Liger - that has to count for something 

Honestly taking the ring to Mordor sounds easier and more enjoyable than the 13yrs of no playoffs. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

Nice win last night.  

As I said in the OP, we needed our goalie to play well and our top forwards to be our top forwards for this ship to turn around.  Last night was a good first step.  Even the D was solid last night according to Levi, although the stats say LV actually out-chanced us and had more HDC.   

Now we have to continue to carry that good play going forward.  We are 3-1-1 in the last 5 but still haven’t won 2 in a row but once this season.  Levi has been the star of the last 5 games.  He has 4 starts and is 3-0-1 in those games with a .913 save% or better all 4 starts.  

[WhenWillItEnd66]

One word..... consistency! EFFORT!! GO TO THE DAMN NET!! Be a team hard to play against!!!

[Taro T]

Before this season started, expected they'd see ~3 - 3 game losing streaks and 3 or 4 - 4 game+ winning streaks.  IF they can make that reality, they really can get back into this.  Like they said back in '80 - the best is yet to come.  (Hopefully.)

[GASabresIUFAN]

Why can’t this team play two good games in a row?  It way too late in the season to be so consistently inconsistent.  Something has to change. 

 Matt Ellis, the PP coach, needs to fired and a true PP coach brought in.  Getting rid of Dorsey changed the Bills, maybe a similar move would help the Sabres? 

The move would also send a message to the entire organization that the current state of affairs isn’t acceptable without blowing things up completely.

 

[Taro T]

14 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Why can’t this team play two good games in a row?  It way too late in the season to be so consistently inconsistent.  Something has to change. 

 Matt Ellis, the PP coach, needs to fired and a true PP coach brought in.  Getting rid of Dorsey changed the Bills, maybe a similar move would help the Sabres? 

The move would also send a message to the entire organization that the current state of affairs isn’t acceptable without blowing things up completely.

 

The team HAS played two good games, even three, in a row on a few occassions.  But when they have in at least 1 of those games (excepting the single 2 game W streak) either they didn't go to the net hard enough, the goalie let in a bad goal, the PP completely imploded or a combination of these occurred.

Would love to see Ellis' duties adjusted to going back to being a development coach (or whatever the #### job he had before becoming a bench coach), but does anybody honestly expect to see it happen?  Fully expect him, and perhaps Wilford and Bales, gone at the end of the year.  But not expecting it in season.  Hoping a move gets made, but really not expecting one until the AS break at the absolute earliest and even that isn't likely IMHO.

[K-9]

Might wanna take it out of dry dock for starters.

[inkman]

A list of the Sabres peers 

 

[Hank]

On November 14th the Predators had won only six of their first 21 games. Since then they have the best record in the league, winning 13 of 16. They didn't make any changes to the roster or coaching staff. Saros found his game, the defense are clearing the crease and the bottom six are contributing. That's it. 

The Sabres have the talent to compete, and win, night in and night out. They just need to play like they give a damn. 

Edited December 19, 2023 by Hank

[JohninMinn.]

A hot goalie solves everything.

[Taro T]

Just now, JohninMinn. said:

A hot goalie solves everything.

Not necessarily everything, but he fixes a WHOLE LOT.  (The goalie ain't standing in front of the other crease on the PP.  Though that WOULD be something to see.  Would probably want to do that in a UPL game rather than a Levi game.  Better screen of the other goalie and not much fear of UPL getting in the way of it.  😉)

[K-9]

39 minutes ago, inkman said:

A list of the Sabres peers 

 

I guess it could be worse when I think of the San Marino soccer team that has only won ONE match in its 33 year history. And that was a friendly at that. But I guess being ranked last in the FIFA rankings is better than not being ranked at all. But I give them all the credit in the world because they compete their butts off every match, regardless.

[LTS]

1 hour ago, inkman said:

A list of the Sabres peers 

 

Once the Jets were eliminated I figured the pressure was off.. the Sabres can only tie the record.. no chance to break it.

[MattPie]

1 hour ago, LTS said:

Once the Jets were eliminated I figured the pressure was off.. the Sabres can only tie the record.. no chance to break it until 2025.

FTFY

Edited December 19, 2023 by MattPie

[Marvin]

Turn the heat around.

Love to hear the percussion.

Turn it upside down.

...

[DarthEbriate]

Quinn Solo: Turn her around! I'm gonna put all power on the front shield.
Levi: You're going to attack the entire NHL?
Muel-23PO: Sir, the odds of successfully making the playoffs with a points percentage of .906 after 32 games is ---
Levi: Shut up!

[MISabresFan]

On 12/15/2023 at 7:53 PM, #freejame said:

This is what I don’t understand. I know you played a lot of hockey. These are all obviously hockey player. Why do they refuse to play like a hockey team? They must know what’s not working. They must know they aren’t as strong. The only logical answer to me is they are scared. That’s not a knock, I’ve been scared plenty of times playing hockey. But you either play through it and go to the tough spots or you refuse to adapt. Our players have refused to adapt for years. It’s unhockeylike. One of the few things that makes sense is fear. They play like a team that knows they’re outsized and weaker every night. They don’t want to finish checks because someone else might finish a check on them. Losing is more acceptable than winning through punishment. 

Sounds Like George Pickens.  I wouldn't want to play on a team with that attitude.  Afraid? Don't want to get hurt?  Not much of a team player.  You might have hit the nail on the head.  A bunch or a few players not wanting to do the dirty work could cause a room or team issue.  You don't have my back, and I don't have yours...

This could explain the lack of consistency.  

[Scottysabres]

We need an exorcism.

[WhenWillItEnd66]

A new ship

[Pimlach]

On 12/16/2023 at 1:10 PM, Taro T said:

Before this season started, expected they'd see ~3 - 3 game losing streaks and 3 or 4 - 4 game+ winning streaks.  IF they can make that reality, they really can get back into this.  Like they said back in '80 - the best is yet to come.  (Hopefully.)

I admire your willingness to stick it out.  

Until we see the better players actually leading this team, and setting the tone, we will not get a single 4 game win streak.  

[Pimlach]

On 12/19/2023 at 1:43 PM, Hank said:

On November 14th the Predators had won only six of their first 21 games. Since then they have the best record in the league, winning 13 of 16. They didn't make any changes to the roster or coaching staff. Saros found his game, the defense are clearing the crease and the bottom six are contributing. That's it. 

The Sabres have the talent to compete, and win, night in and night out. They just need to play like they give a damn. 

You just names 3 things we do not have.   As for playing hard, forget it.  They should play all their games on the road, maybe that will help them stay focused for games.  

[Thorner]

On 12/19/2023 at 1:19 PM, inkman said:

A list of the Sabres peers 

 

We have no peers: harder to make playoffs in NFL.

- - - 

Honestly, when I woke up this morning and saw Lance posting the lines on twitter, the ho hum, I honest to goodness had a slight, fractional moment where I absurdly was surprised to see that, well…they were still going. Buffalo Sabres are still a thing?! Yesterday kinda did feel definitive for some reason. I thought maybe they’d just vanish into the ether and we’d all forget   

On 12/19/2023 at 2:49 PM, LTS said:

Once the Jets were eliminated I figured the pressure was off.. the Sabres can only tie the record.. no chance to break it.

Wut

[LTS]

2 hours ago, Thorny said:

We have no peers: harder to make playoffs in NFL.

- - - 

Honestly, when I woke up this morning and saw Lance posting the lines on twitter, the ho hum, I honest to goodness had a slight, fractional moment where I absurdly was surprised to see that, well…they were still going. Buffalo Sabres are still a thing?! Yesterday kinda did feel definitive for some reason. I thought maybe they’d just vanish into the ether and we’d all forget   

Wut

Wut.  How do I respond to that? So I guess I'll just say. "Wut"

[MISabresFan]

13 hours ago, Pimlach said:

You just names 3 things we do not have.   As for playing hard, forget it.  They should play all their games on the road, maybe that will help them stay focused for games.  

Sacrifice.  Players need to do what needs to be done.  Skating around in circles is easier than digging in the corner to get the puck.  It is easy to pass the puck up the boards to a covered/checked teammate.  Playing hot potato with the puck is easier than controlling it.  Standing 10 feet away from the net is easier than in front of it.   It is easy not to try and block a shot.  It is easy to skate back and allow the other team to skate into the zone.  It is easy to shoot the puck and not look where it is going.  Taking time off from playing is easy when you know your teammates don't have the same interest.  It is easy for the coach to play the players with the big contracts and longevity with the team.  It is easy for a GM to sit back and put a team together with just prospects.  It is easy for an owner to hire friends or give a person their first shot at a job.  It is easy not to call out/challenge teammates in the locker room on how they are playing.  Letting the whole thing play out this year rather than doing something now is easier.  This Sabres team is easy to play against.