On the DG interview today

[Second Line Center]

38 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Paul Hamilton (so take it for what it's worth) said on WBEN the other day that the atmosphere in Buffalo for the Sabres is the "most toxic" in the entire league. There's a lot of hate and the players feel it. Now you can be Mr. Tough Guy and tell them to suck it up and play better, but they are still human and that stuff hurts. Especially because they carry the sins of previous teams on their backs. It's pretty obvious why the p[lay better on the road. No pressure. At home they are worried about making a mistake and causing the arena to turn on them.

Then this group is never winning anything 

Their position in the standings is reflecting that.   

[PromoTheRobot]

41 minutes ago, Believer said:

Think most fans who boo are focused on this team’s effort and results, not past teams’ failures.

But it's amplified by "13 years."

[bunomatic]

I would hope that our coach rather than lead these guys to a safe space when they are challenged by a few boo birds would tell them to grow up and accept the challenge. Play better. Push back instead of running to coach or captain. Get angry but at the opposition who are all laughing at these guys too. But we don’t have that coach.

Edited February 21 by bunomatic

[Buffalonill]

1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Paul Hamilton (so take it for what it's worth) said on WBEN the other day that the atmosphere in Buffalo for the Sabres is the "most toxic" in the entire league. There's a lot of hate and the players feel it. Now you can be Mr. Tough Guy and tell them to suck it up and play better, but they are still human and that stuff hurts. Especially because they carry the sins of previous teams on their backs. It's pretty obvious why the p[lay better on the road. No pressure. At home they are worried about making a mistake and causing the arena to turn on them.

Let's get the tiny little violin out for the multi millionaires 

 

[Kristian]

2 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Paul Hamilton (so take it for what it's worth) said on WBEN the other day that the atmosphere in Buffalo for the Sabres is the "most toxic" in the entire league. There's a lot of hate and the players feel it. Now you can be Mr. Tough Guy and tell them to suck it up and play better, but they are still human and that stuff hurts. Especially because they carry the sins of previous teams on their backs. It's pretty obvious why the p[lay better on the road. No pressure. At home they are worried about making a mistake and causing the arena to turn on them.

The atmosphere is “toxic”? The team has been hot dogshit for over a decade, but the atmosphere is “toxic”?

If so, then it’s for a damn good reason. These guys are bums, nothing more. Always looking for excuses for being bums. Have been for over a decade.

[gomper]

DG is ridiculous.  If this team can't deal with the pressure of some well earned boos, then what the hell would they do with the pressure that comes with the playoffs? We'll definitely not know the answer this season.

[Second Line Center]

22 minutes ago, gomper said:

DG is ridiculous.  If this team can't deal with the pressure of some well earned boos, then what the hell would they do with the pressure that comes with the playoffs? We'll definitely not know the answer this season.

 

I know.  I consider this to be an infliction point moment for this organization. 
 

The head coach just publicly defended his players being negatively impacted by boos.  
 

BOOS!  Just let that sink in.  
 

And Adams needs to figure out who on the team is letting that mindset take over and get them out.  Don’t care who it is.  Dahlin, Thompson, Cozens - no one should be off limits.  
 

But in thinking about this the last few days I can’t help but wonder if Donnie is being defensive - feels the heat.  And maybe he was just taking the attention off him.  
 

Which of course is terrible imo.  He should be fired.  

[MDFan]

23 hours ago, Second Line Center said:

The most jarring thing for me to hear was this….

Donnie was discussing the boos and that the players don’t like being booed and it hurts.  
 

For me that’s a problem but whatever.  
 

In explaining it further he said this (essentially):  “Several of these guys decided on extensions before going to market because they want to be here…so it hurts.”

 

Ok.  I take that 100% to mean that came up in discussing this.
 

Someone legit said “we made a choice to stay in this dump of a city* and this is the thanks we get?”   

 

 

*Make no mistake - it isn’t the organization that gives this team a recruiting problem it’s the area.  We had problems during the Hasek days trying to convince guys to come here.  I think Geoff Sanderson comes to mind as a guy that wasn’t sure.   
 

 

Buffalo will always be my home despite having moved and I’ll defend it no matter what.  However the perception of the city is not good compared to other options in the league.  Maybe you’ll disagree but anyway…

 

Thoughts on this?  I’m completely blown away Donnie actually relayed that and that it was even said (presumably per DG).   

I listened to this interview and it was very depressing.  It is clear that Granato is just clueless as to how to right this ship.  He rambled incoherently and could not make a solid point.  He just does not have a clue what is going on with this team.  

[Pimlach]

4 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Paul Hamilton (so take it for what it's worth) said on WBEN the other day that the atmosphere in Buffalo for the Sabres is the "most toxic" in the entire league. There's a lot of hate and the players feel it. Now you can be Mr. Tough Guy and tell them to suck it up and play better, but they are still human and that stuff hurts. Especially because they carry the sins of previous teams on their backs. It's pretty obvious why the p[lay better on the road. No pressure. At home they are worried about making a mistake and causing the arena to turn on them.

Paul Hamilton can spare us.   Teams get booed and it happens all the time, all over the league.   Boston got booed a few days ago, they agreed with their fans.  

I’ve been to 4 games early this year, nothing toxic happened that I saw or heard.  There were no boos either and the Sabres still managed to lose every game I was at.   Happens when you are not ready to play, and your coach holds goalie tryouts for two months of the regular season.  

There is no hate.  Not buying it.  Hate is a word of these modern times, and it is over used and miss-used in this instance   

There is massive frustration with the way the franchise is run.  It is a joke and simply not up to NHL Caliber.  The hyper sensitive players need leadership, not coddling   No one hates them.   

The unwillingness of the GM, coach, and player to own this drought is comical.   They are not the cause for all of it, but they alone can end it if they would just own it and put the work in -  like McD and the Bills did.   They are like children with their comments about not being here for 13 years.  This team is 3 years old and they have regressed, do they at least own that?  That is not the fault of the paying customers.  

It is not obvious why they play better on the road. If it was the coach could have fixed it last year, or the year before.   Was it toxic last year?  Was there hate last year?   They were equally as bad at home last year too, but last year was a love fest.   Find another excuse for the bad home play. 

When they face the reality that the drought is theirs to fix, then they will finally do it.  They are being lead by people that don’t understand that.   

[Cityo'Rasmii]

1 hour ago, MDFan said:

I listened to this interview and it was very depressing.  It is clear that Granato is just clueless as to how to right this ship.  He rambled incoherently and could not make a solid point.  He just does not have a clue what is going on with this team.  

Sounds like his arse is covered, eh?

[Thorner]

21 hours ago, dudacek said:

The amount of hatred that has been directed their way and this surprises you?

I think Sabrespace feels like it has been shouting into the wind at this franchise for so long, it’s lost perspective on what it is actually putting out there right now, and that people are actually listening.

I’ve been here for the entire dark era - through far worse and more uncaring teams - and I don’t ever remember it feeling this personal. I think it’s far more of a reaction to the entire disastrous Pegula era than it is about these players, but they are paying big-time for the organization making us actually feel hope in September.

The fanbase may have turned on this franchise because of a decade of truly horrible hockey, but it turned on this particular group of players after less than 3 months of mediocrity. And, in my view, has treated them with a degree of disdain that far outstrips what their actual play and effort warrants.

What Donnie is saying is that in the past year or two, a number of players made a long-term good-faith commitment to fix this. And they did it not ‘in spite of the city being a dump” but because they believed in Kevyn Adams story of this wonderful city and fanbase and group of players who could build something special together.

But I know most of you just want to be mad and I’m the one shouting into the wind. It’s not really about the hockey on here anymore; we’ve given up on talking about that. It's just win, and ***** off until you do.

You guys may be entitled to your rage, and it’s clear you feel entitled to it, but that should not make you oblivious to its repercussions.

No, I’ve turned on the Sabres because of Adams’ regime. Specifically Adams’ regime. He’s taking way too long to make the playoffs 

[Thorner]

13 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

So you think they should present these players participation medals after every loss with the fans giving them a standing ovation as they skate off the ice?

This isn’t Peewee hockey. They signed multi million dollar, long term deals when most of them haven’t earned them yet. And they have 💩 the bed this season.

Grow up and earn your money like everyone else that has a job has to do.

Art from artist, I agree.

they are an entertainment product. None of it is personal: it can’t be. If they don’t understand that, anyone that doesn’t understand that, that’s on you/them 

[Thorner]

12 hours ago, Pimlach said:

Some very good observations and comments.  Some bad ones too 

To be clear, I have no hatred towards this group.  I even defend them - Power, Cozens, EJ, Zemgus, etc - it’s documented all over here.  I don’t boo, never have, but I don’t hear any boos that aren’t deserved either.  

I was ok with being a loyal Sabres fan and just accepting another losing season when all of a sudden the Harrington article hits the BN.  

The Secret Veteran interview rubs me wrong, why secret?  The veteran leaders side with the young millionaires who don’t like the coach being booed.  In Boston, the fans are right when they boo, their coach and their captain just said so.  Yet in Buffalo it’s different.  

It hurts their feelings to hear boos, that’s what our coach and captain have to say about it.  Look at the standings.  What do Boston fans have to complain about?  Marchand said they have the right to cheer or boo.  Such a progressive city, people exercising freedoms and all that stuff.  

 Granato tells us that the players feelings are hurt, and some signed extensions.  I have a hard time understanding why a coach of a professional sports team would tell us that.   Do they want to void the contracts now?  Are they not men?   Are they not professional hockey players?  

Is the fan base supposed to carry guilt now?    Should we feel bad?  

I wish I didn’t know about any of this.  I thought the franchise was heading up.  I just commented on off years happening in a rebuild (see Detroit last year).  Now I’m not sure about the direction of this team any more. 

It’s yet another issue for Kevyn Adams’ “hindsight need not apply” pile. Taking a long form rebuild was *a choice*. That choice was, AT THE TIME, a risk specifically because of how the fanbase might react: Adams KNEW the rebuild was being positioned in that reality. Following an already exceptionally trying stretch. The risks were known. Extending this out and measuring in half-decade chunks was a calculated mistake. 

To blame the fans is actually more absurd the more you think about it 

If he doesn’t like it, they could, ya know, win. Or employ a strategy that doesn’t take 5 years to do so.

*no one said they needed to do a 5-year long-form tear down rebuild *.  It is, entirely, on them.

Eichel asked out SPECIFICALLY because he got wind of Adams wanting to do this. 

Edited February 22 by Thorny

[Believer]

1 hour ago, MDFan said:

I listened to this interview and it was very depressing.  It is clear that Granato is just clueless as to how to right this ship.  He rambled incoherently and could not make a solid point.  He just does not have a clue what is going on with this team.  

Acts like a Den Mother of Cub Scouts… This team doesn’t need empathy… It needs a punch in the nose… 

[Thorner]

8 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

I don't even know where to start with that post. Maybe with the idea that fans should ignore context when evaluating each season. An argument could be made that the drought should be put to the side in fairness to the players who aren't responsible for all of it.

The fans' displeasure this season has a lot more to do with performance vs. last year IMHO. When the team started .500 over the first 20 games then had a terrible 10 game segment in late November and early December and THEN got routed by the woeful BJs at home, all bets were off with the fans. They chanted for Don's head once. He has gotten off easy.

I can't even believe we're having this discussion.

2011-2020 didn’t exist. Scrap it from the record.

This stretch from 2020-24, with our 31st, 24th, 20th, and 25th place seeding is objectively league relative terrible. Granting Adams a 5th year is absurd patience.

We literally do not need to even mention what came before. (WITH A MASSIVE OWNER COMMON DENOMINATOR, to boot)

[Pimlach]

6 minutes ago, Thorny said:

It’s yet another issue for Kevyn Adams’ “hindsight need not apply” pile. Taking a long form rebuild was *a choice*. That choice was, AT THE TIME, a risk specifically because of how the fanbase might react: Adams KNEW the rebuild was being positioned in that reality. Following an already exceptionally trying stretch. The risks were known. Extending this out and measuring in half-decade chunks was a calculated mistake. 

To blame the fans is actually more absurd the more you think about it 

If he doesn’t like it, they could, ya know, win. Or employ a strategy that doesn’t take 5 years to do so.

*no one said they needed to do a 5-year long-form tear down rebuild *.  It is, entirely, on them.

Eichel asked out SPECIFICALLY because he got wind of Adams wanting to do this. 

Did you see them show Adams at the game?   He is open for any discussions regarding players. 
 

Also the announcers claim that he said they are going with their young guys next year.  

[Thorner]

1 minute ago, Pimlach said:

Did you see them show Adams at the game?   He is open for any discussions regarding players. 
 

Also the announcers claim that he said they are going with their young guys next year.  

Kevyn Adams can only act like a Kevyn Adams does. If he didn’t, he couldn’t be Kevyn Adams at all 

Edited February 22 by Thorny

[SabresVet]

4 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Boo-hoo.

That arena turns to cheers quickly when they play well. Trouble is they play bad too often, simple as that. 

I have no doubt it's seen as the most toxic in the league but we can't reverse cause and effect can we? That's what they are trying to do. 

I am still amazed that the fan reaction calling for DG's firing did not motivate them to play harder for their coach.  If I recall, this happened during the brutal loss to CBJ on 12/20...and they're 11-10-1 since then.  

Instead they chose to focus their ire onto fans evidently.  Simply amazing that professional athletes think results shouldn't really matter to fans.  

[bunomatic]

If KA goes into next season without supplimenting with veteran help these guys will miss again. He knows it, we know it, the players know it. More youth will not get this team in. Reap what you sow.

[sabremike]

PHam isn't just a clown he's an entire three ring circus. 

[Buffalo Super Fan]

On 2/20/2024 at 8:54 PM, Mr. Allen said:

You’re fricken professionals playing a GAME for millions of dollars.  Shut up.  

I agree but just because the Buffalo Sabres have the physical talent to play NHL hockey at a young age. Many of these Sabres players have been coddled and are momma’s boys that basically have no clue or guts to understand that. Don Granato is a gut less leader less coach that is a groan man and doesn’t get it. That Sabres press conference is everything right in the open why Don Granato is a bush league coach way over his head that shouldn’t have been hired in the first place. Remember he was the assistant coach to another gut less leader less head coach in Ralph Krueger. The apple didn’t fall far from the tree and I would put Sabres GM Kevyn Adams and Sabres owner Terry Pegula in that category hence why the Buffalo Sabres as a organization are where they are today in my opinion. Go Sabres! Let’s Go Buffalo 

[PerreaultForever]

5 hours ago, Thorny said:

No, I’ve turned on the Sabres because of Adams’ regime. Specifically Adams’ regime. He’s taking way too long to make the playoffs 

This got my memory going. I can't remember what it was he said exactly but I seem to remember back when he first took the job there was something that made me think his timeline was much much longer than ours and playoffs was like 5 years away (or more). I think I posted that thought and hoped it wasn't true but I'm thinking now that maybe it was. 

[Dr. Who]

6 hours ago, Thorny said:

It’s yet another issue for Kevyn Adams’ “hindsight need not apply” pile. Taking a long form rebuild was *a choice*. That choice was, AT THE TIME, a risk specifically because of how the fanbase might react: Adams KNEW the rebuild was being positioned in that reality. Following an already exceptionally trying stretch. The risks were known. Extending this out and measuring in half-decade chunks was a calculated mistake. 

To blame the fans is actually more absurd the more you think about it 

If he doesn’t like it, they could, ya know, win. Or employ a strategy that doesn’t take 5 years to do so.

*no one said they needed to do a 5-year long-form tear down rebuild *.  It is, entirely, on them.

Eichel asked out SPECIFICALLY because he got wind of Adams wanting to do this. 

Honestly, all the malcontents have had success somewhere else. It was amusing (not for you) to bash Eichel as an entitled Boston chowder head, but in reality, the discontent has been vindicated, and now, ironically, the entitled continue to reside in blue collar Buffalo.

[Thorner]

This all reads incredibly funny, in light of recent developments:

“We have to embrace expectations,” general manager Kevyn Adams said Wednesday as the Sabres opened training camp. “I look at pressure as a privilege.”

“When I think about playoffs, our expectation of course is there but, honestly, our expectation is to win the Stanley Cup,” Adams said.

Buffalo captain Kyle Okposo declared the Sabres “can’t be scared of expectations” when he re-signed with the club over the summer.

“Last year, there was no expectations,” Okposo said. “And everybody’s writing rosy articles, this group is a good team, it’s becoming a good team. And that’s great. But how you do that with expectations?

https://www.wivb.com/sports/buffalo-sabres/sabres-windows-open-right-now-gm-kevyn-adams-says/amp/

- - - 

 

[Weave]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

This all reads incredibly funny, in light of recent developments:

“We have to embrace expectations,” general manager Kevyn Adams said Wednesday as the Sabres opened training camp. “I look at pressure as a privilege.”

“When I think about playoffs, our expectation of course is there but, honestly, our expectation is to win the Stanley Cup,” Adams said.

Buffalo captain Kyle Okposo declared the Sabres “can’t be scared of expectations” when he re-signed with the club over the summer.

“Last year, there was no expectations,” Okposo said. “And everybody’s writing rosy articles, this group is a good team, it’s becoming a good team. And that’s great. But how you do that with expectations?

https://www.wivb.com/sports/buffalo-sabres/sabres-windows-open-right-now-gm-kevyn-adams-says/amp/

- - - 

 

It certainly lends some credence to the idea that the team responds during “garbage time”.  No pressure.  No expectations.

Gat damn but this team sure has hurt badly over the last 13 yrs for a need of a bevy of leader types.

Edited February 22 by Weave