The Buffalo Sabres Are Officially Eliminated From Playoff Contention

[CallawaySabres]

This team will be worse next year. The goaltending will take a dive, prospects will be rushed into the lineup, and the coach's message will be even more tone deaf. The players are subpar, the coaching is awful, and I am starting to think that it could be until the 26 season when we see some hope. 

[Night Train]

1 hour ago, #freejame said:

I guess I just don't understand how people who felt the things I've felt during Sabres playoff runs can see any silver linings or have any optimism. 

They have a mantle at home with 45 participation trophies. 

[Doohicksie]

3 hours ago, RochesterExpat said:

I didn’t go this year and I’m quite happy with the decision considering ticket prices. The crazy bit for me is my parents didn’t even go after moving here this year—making this the first season they haven’t attended a single game since before Ryan Miller was drafted (excluding the COVID season). I know my mom dropped her season ticket package after 2020-21 and she has been pretty vocal about not liking the team, but it still blew my mind when my mom said they weren’t going because it wasn’t worth it.

We paid $21 per seat.  Granted we were in the 300s but it was a good view of the ice.

[Hawerchuk]

8 hours ago, triumph_communes said:

Fire the coaches. Send a message 

Fire Pegula. Send a message!

[Demoted]

No one circles the playoff drought like the Buffalo Sabres....

[Gatorman0519]

The sad thing is there is no end in sight. 

[Stoner]

30 minutes ago, Gatorman0519 said:

The sad thing is there is no end in sight. 

As pessimistic as I might come off, I never think this way. Even running everything back (they won't; things always change; 19 yo Benson is not 18 yo Benson). They could be a very good team. We are not used to it of late, but pro sports is full of could be's. Really we're just pining for the playoffs, and this team has been reasonably close. They can't miss again. They really can't.

[Doohicksie]

And I was there to see it in person.  The disappointing thing is they simply faded away as the game wore on.  No heroics at the end, no effort.

3 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

They can't miss again. They really can't.

They Hockey Gods are saying, "Hold my beer."

[Thorner]

9 hours ago, #freejame said:

“Since the Sabres last made the playoffs, every other team in the NHL has played at least 14 playoff games, 30 teams have played at least 25 playoff games and 20 teams have played at least 50. Six franchises have played 100 or more postseason games since the Sabres played their most recent playoff game in April 2011.”

-Matthew Fairburn, Athletic

Great stat. And definitively why “patience” need not apply. The idea merely making the playoffs requires some gargantuan process is the largest bill of goods this franchise and regime has sold 

[Thorner]

6 hours ago, #freejame said:

I'm tempted to make a new thread for this, but for the time being this can live here. 

41-32-6

That's the Sabres combined second half records over the past two years. That's good for 88 points. There are people within the organization and on this board that will tell you "if the Sabres can just bring their second half effort over the last two seasons for a full season, everything will be fine." No, it certainly will not. Over the course of 16ish years, this franchise and a great deal of the fanbase have forgotten what a winning hockey team looks and acts like. An 88 point place is not sunshine and rainbows, people. Even last year's second half, the justification used by our front office and rationalized by this fanbase for standing pat, is only a 94 point pace. That would have been good for SIXTH in the conference. Sixth in the conference would be good enough to stand pat? I would be clamoring to fire Adams if he held pat after making the playoffs a decade straight without making moves to upgrade. 

There is this beaten down, loser mentality that has infected every aspect of this organization. Sixth in the conference is mediocrity.  No fanbase should be happy with years of finishing sixth without progress. We are striving for mediocrity.

Terry defenders and supporters of Adams and Granato will tell you that they aren't striving for sixth place. That we are working towards sustained success and a prolonged run at Stanley Cups. Their actions don't show this. None of this is acceptable, yet as fans we have no options other than roll over and take it, or give up what is for many of us part of our identity. I've already seen comments here and elsewhere about excitement for next year or renewing seasons tickets. I just don't get it. What is it that others see that I'm missing? 

There isn't any anger behind this post. This season was finished almost as quickly as it began. I guess I just don't understand how people who felt the things I've felt during Sabres playoff runs can see any silver linings or have any optimism. Have we all forgotten what winners look like? Do we no longer remember how winning makes us feel? It sure seems like it. 

Exceptional stuff. One of the best posts I’ve ever read on this board.

- - - 

Exactly.

A key, key factor of why we are never good is we have, being unable to measure ourselves versus the rest of the league at large, resorted to relative comparisons to our own franchise: which gets you into trouble when your franchise is the worst in pro sports. “If we run it back and just get a little lucky and everything goes to plan, that “good” Buffalo output can be had!”

But like you said: that total we are aspiring for, in this case “second half play” is hardly good enough and because we’ve set the goal so incredibly low, falling short even a little results in what we seem to always see: finishes in the 20s

Edited April 10 by Thorny

[Thorner]

35 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

As pessimistic as I might come off, I never think this way. Even running everything back (they won't; things always change; 19 yo Benson is not 18 yo Benson). They could be a very good team. We are not used to it of late, but pro sports is full of could be's. Really we're just pining for the playoffs, and this team has been reasonably close. They can't miss again. They really can't.

They weren’t in a playoff spot the entire second half of last year and it was never close to mathematically likely. We had a crazy stretch to keep it merely within range during the last 10 games but that’s the CLOSEST we’ve come and it required an unsustainable stretch. “this team has been reasonably close” misses the mark for me.

I do agree things can change fast. We could make the playoffs next year. That’s always the most frustrating thing, in fact: making the playoffs isn’t hard. We could absolutely do it if they chose to prioritize the now 

Edited April 10 by Thorny

[Night Train]

2 hours ago, Hawerchuk said:

Fire Pegula. Send a message!

You do that by not returning the season ticket invoice.

[Sidc3000]

1 hour ago, Night Train said:

You do that by not returning the season ticket invoice.

Exactly! This fan base still supports them by buying tickets and merch. If that stops, Pegula with either sell or do something serious to make this team competitive quickly. 

[Stoner]

8 hours ago, Thorny said:

They weren’t in a playoff spot the entire second half of last year and it was never close to mathematically likely. We had a crazy stretch to keep it merely within range during the last 10 games but that’s the CLOSEST we’ve come and it required an unsustainable stretch. “this team has been reasonably close” misses the mark for me.

I do agree things can change fast. We could make the playoffs next year. That’s always the most frustrating thing, in fact: making the playoffs isn’t hard. We could absolutely do it if they chose to prioritize the now 

They are two or three wins over the course of the season from being right there. That's close enough to reasonably close for me.

I was responding to the idea there is no end in sight. It's sports. Teams can come from nowhere and have good seasons.

It's thin gruel, yes.

[PerreaultForever]

I have to admit I did laugh at Harrington's line that it had become a teenager. That was pretty funny. Sad, but funny. 

[Demoted]

17 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

As pessimistic as I might come off, I never think this way. Even running everything back (they won't; things always change; 19 yo Benson is not 18 yo Benson). They could be a very good team. We are not used to it of late, but pro sports is full of could be's. Really we're just pining for the playoffs, and this team has been reasonably close. They can't miss again. They really can't.

"Pro sports is full of could be's" and the a Sabres are an exception of "never will be"

They got this guy right where they want him. Hard to tell if you are trolling or not b.c you probably said the exact same thing last season.

Edited April 11 by Demoted

[Pimlach]

On 4/10/2024 at 7:40 AM, Buffalonill said:

Lets reward the players with more long-term deals 

 

At some point the Sabres players will be refusing long term deals.  

[Pimlach]

9 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

They are two or three wins over the course of the season from being right there. That's close enough to reasonably close for me.

I was responding to the idea there is no end in sight. It's sports. Teams can come from nowhere and have good seasons.

It's thin gruel, yes.

The came within 4 points of a wild card spot 6 times this season and came up with an 0-6 record on the next game.  
 

This is hard to do.   They choke under even slight pressure. 

[Stoner]

4 hours ago, Demoted said:

"Pro sports is full of could be's" and the a Sabres are an exception of "never will be"

They got this guy right where they want him. Hard to tell if you are trolling or not b.c you probably said the exact same thing last season.

I pretty much say the same thing every season. You won't find any record of me predicting out of the playoffs or 103.25478 points.

I am arguing against hopelessness bc in the realm of sports there should be no such thing. The Sabres are bad but could easily make the playoffs next season with a little tweaking or no tweaking at all.

It's a low bar. I've hardly been brainwashed by The Cackler.

[Kruppstahl]

On 4/10/2024 at 4:10 AM, triumph_communes said:

Fire the coaches. Send a message 

I just don't think Pegula will pay a coach to not work for him anymore.  

We'll find out in a few days.  Hope I'm wrong.

 

 

[bunomatic]

I think Thorny basically said the same thing but I agree 100% with it. The management and ownership for that matter set the goal of just squeeking in to the playoffs. They have for 13 years. If your goal is to just squeek in then you will miss more often than not. This is disfunctional in so many ways. The bar has to be set so much higher for everyone in the organization. We set a goal of mediocraty. Its not f***** good enough. Management and ownership need to do better. 

[MattPie]

30 minutes ago, Kruppstahl said:

I just don't think Pegula will pay a coach to not work for him anymore.  

We'll find out in a few days.  Hope I'm wrong.

He's done it before, right? LR and DB I'm pretty sure, probably others.

[Porous Five Hole]

[dudacek]

On 4/11/2024 at 9:10 AM, PASabreFan said:

I pretty much say the same thing every season. You won't find any record of me predicting out of the playoffs or 103.25478 points.

I am arguing against hopelessness bc in the realm of sports there should be no such thing. The Sabres are bad but could easily make the playoffs next season with a little tweaking or no tweaking at all.

It's a low bar. I've hardly been brainwashed by The Cackler.

This is amazing to me:

• The Sabres, Devils and Red Wings each have 38 wins.
• The Islanders, Flyers, Penguins and Capitals each have 37.

Three of those teams will make the playoffs. Four will not.

Anybody who watches hockey knows the difference between each of those teams is a few deflections here and a few bobbled passes there.

What’s been so confounding about the current team for me is not that they are terrible like most Sabres teams of the past decade, it’s that they are finally good enough to be part of the great band of mediocre that comprises about 40% of the NHL.

And they still didn’t make it. Twice.

It simply shouldn’t be that hard to find the one straw that pushes them to the front of that pack.

Edited April 12 by dudacek

[Getpucksdeep]

1 minute ago, dudacek said:

This is amazing to me:

• The Sabres, Devils and Red Wings each have 38 wins.
• The Islanders, Flyers, Penguins and Capitals each have 37.

Three of those teams will make the playoffs. Four will not.

Anybody who watches hockey knows the difference between each of those teams is a few deflections here and a bobbled passes there.

What’s been so confounding about the current team for me is not that they are terrible like most Sabres of the past decade, it’s that they are finally good enough to be part of the great band of mediocre that comprises about 40% of the NHL.

And they still didn’t make it. Twice.

It shouldn’t be that hard to find the tweak that pushes them to the front of that pack.

Jack Quinn