GDT: Colorado Avs @ Buffalo Sabres 12/3/24 --7 pm MSG

[Wyldnwoody44]

... And we had Ray Davis in the house. A man that knows toughness.... He probably thought he was in Wicked watching a sport in Munchkin land. Sorry Ray, that's just the hometown hockey team. 

Kindly leave the arena and head back to Highmark Stadium where real men play sports. Don't want you getting infected by the Buffalo Charmins

[...]

55 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

Give me one 22 year old dman you want out there defending Mackinnon.  If you can't see this is on Adams, I can't help you 

In this instance Hammy had said something to the effect that Adams needs to be fired. So, yes, Paul agrees with me that this is on Adams and, no, you don't need to help me regardless.

52 minutes ago, Carmel Corn said:

Must have gotten triggered from excessive panicking 

[...]

52 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Except, that should be enough shouldn't it? 

There's lots of NHL teams that don't have any more high end talent than that, but they do better. 

It's the makeup of the roster. On those other NHL teams - the ones that succeed (because there are also a lot of meh teams, too) there are fewer passengers. There are players who are some combination of smarter, more driven, more aggressive, more passionate. These latter types and the true talents either cancel out the passengers or lift them up.

We also, clearly, have the wrong mixture of player psychology. You don't target players who all want to be in a boys club with a bunch of good dudes - you want players who will do anything to win. A team will "love" each other if they all have the same desire to win; you don't need to select players because of that. You don't also want to ignore players "who don't want to be here" unless they're proven locker cancers because they're going to be motivated to play their way out of here. If, at the end of the season, the team has success, you're likely to keep more of them than lose them - which is a different kind of gamble but probably better than the gambles the Sabres have been taking.

We don't have a good roster regardless of how talented they are supposed to be or how their individual stats appear. The team itself is a black hole.

[Crusader1969]

9 minutes ago, ... said:

In this instance Hammy had said something to the effect that Adams needs to be fired. So, yes, Paul agrees with me that this is on Adams and, no, you don't need to help me regardless.

I agree it's on Adams and the owner

not one of us on this site would have come into this season with 10 and 78 on this team, not one.   How can we all know it but the GM doesn't ?   
if nothing else, hopefully the "fire Adams" chant rings out on Thurs night 

i won't know , cause im boycotting the team all together , including this site on Thurs.    

[Stoner]

7 hours ago, Pimlach said:

Dunno.  Not sure that matters.  

Not so sure. I'm either onto something or on something, but the Sabres clearly underperform when they follow the Bills.

[Thorner]

14 minutes ago, ... said:

It's the makeup of the roster. On those other NHL teams - the ones that succeed (because there are also a lot of meh teams, too) there are fewer passengers. There are players who are some combination of smarter, more driven, more aggressive, more passionate. These latter types and the true talents either cancel out the passengers or lift them up.

We also, clearly, have the wrong mixture of player psychology. You don't target players who all want to be in a boys club with a bunch of good dudes - you want players who will do anything to win. A team will "love" each other if they all have the same desire to win; you don't need to select players because of that. You don't also want to ignore players "who don't want to be here" unless they're proven locker cancers because they're going to be motivated to play their way out of here. If, at the end of the season, the team has success, you're likely to keep more of them than lose them - which is a different kind of gamble but probably better than the gambles the Sabres have been taking.

We don't have a good roster regardless of how talented they are supposed to be or how their individual stats appear. The team itself is a black hole.

Consider the affect of an organizational culture clearly not prioritizing winning on said psychology 

that’s the answer. I’ve only been saying it for 4 literal years 

Terry and Kevyn’s mandate was to fix the culture that resulted from not winning: their answer was to craft a team not focused on winning. I challenge anyone to find the issue with that. I’ll wait. 

Edited December 4 by Thorner

[#freejame]

2 hours ago, SabresBillsFan said:

The last 2 GM’s had the same problem 

Tim Murray wasn’t fired because his rebuild wasn’t making progress. He was fired because he called Kim a *****. GMTM would have had us in the playoffs year five. 

[gilbert11]

36 minutes ago, Stoner said:

Did UB play any starters? My Bradford boys kept the score respectable. Div. 3 vs. Div. 1 is a tough spot to be in.

Bradford’s style of play kept them in the game for awhile.  They’re like the Warriors and the Steve Nash Phoenix Suns; run and get up shots early in the shot clock.  They also played full court pressure defense the whole game.  UB had 26 turnovers and still got 100 points.  They had this guy Batchelor inbounding vs the press and he kept getting the ball stolen (7 TOs).  With Bradford’s style of play, they had 28 turnovers.

When UB got the ball inbounds and made the next pass, they usually broke the press and ended up with good shots.

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

It's not enough because the group is missing playmakers on offense and any D who are actually competent in the D zone.  Dahlin is the best of a sorry lot.

My point would be that there is enough high end talent. It's the culture that is broken. 

1 hour ago, ... said:

It's the makeup of the roster. On those other NHL teams - the ones that succeed (because there are also a lot of meh teams, too) there are fewer passengers. There are players who are some combination of smarter, more driven, more aggressive, more passionate. These latter types and the true talents either cancel out the passengers or lift them up.

We also, clearly, have the wrong mixture of player psychology. You don't target players who all want to be in a boys club with a bunch of good dudes - you want players who will do anything to win. A team will "love" each other if they all have the same desire to win; you don't need to select players because of that. You don't also want to ignore players "who don't want to be here" unless they're proven locker cancers because they're going to be motivated to play their way out of here. If, at the end of the season, the team has success, you're likely to keep more of them than lose them - which is a different kind of gamble but probably better than the gambles the Sabres have been taking.

We don't have a good roster regardless of how talented they are supposed to be or how their individual stats appear. The team itself is a black hole.

Yes, exactly. This is what I mean when I say the culture is broken. 

[PerreaultForever]

52 minutes ago, #freejame said:

Tim Murray wasn’t fired because his rebuild wasn’t making progress. He was fired because he called Kim a *****. GMTM would have had us in the playoffs year five. 

idk if that's true but Murray certainly recognized that the team needed more toughness then. He traded Zadorov away but he did add a number of tougher pieces to go around Eichel (who we know he wanted to be McDavid). I do wonder if we'd won that lottery if we wouldn't be where Edmonton is as although Eichel has won his cup and changed a lot, McDavid has always had more of an independent drive and work ethic. I think he would have been a better captain superstar (even if you don't look at the talent difference between them). On the downside, the D was in a shambles when he left and JBot was in a point of desperation trying to build any sort of competent D. 

[Kristian]

3 hours ago, jad1 said:

Thompson, another vet saying 'we thought it was going to be easy.' In post game comments

I’m oficially done with Tage. Biggest ***** ***** on the team after Power, floats like the absolute worst, and excudes “I’m too good for this team”, with every fiber of his being.

He and Power can ***** off already.

Edited December 4 by Kristian

[bunomatic]

Anyone that says we thought it was going to be easy after 13 years not even sniffing the playoffs should be shot out of a cannon. Sorry Tage🤷🏻‍♂️

[Wyldnwoody44]

I would love to see a full buy in boycott, like, zero people in the stands, miniscule TV ratings, just for one game. It would be hard to make it happen and get buy in, but I think if we could manage that.... We'd get the change we want 

[gilbert11]

21 minutes ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

I would love to see a full buy in boycott, like, zero people in the stands, miniscule TV ratings, just for one game. It would be hard to make it happen and get buy in, but I think if we could manage that.... We'd get the change we want 

Oakland A’s fans, by some logic, did a “reverse boycott” where they planned a sellout to prove they could fill the stadium.  Unfortunately, that made no difference to the A-Hole owner.  Gotta hit ‘em in the pocketbook I say.

The previous Golden State Warriors owner was booed mercilessly when he took the court with his young son to make a presentation.   A website was created urging him to sell the team.  A few months later, the team was up for sale.  Coincidence, or was he shamed to sell?

Shaming obviously didn’t work for the A’s owner despite all those ‘ Sell’. t-shirts visible at all their games.

Hasn’t Sabres attendance been at an all-time low anyways?  Lots of empty seats and shirts of other teams visible on telecasts.  Depending on the opponent, crowd seems louder for an opponent’s goal.

[Sidc3000]

5 hours ago, Crusader1969 said:

Both Bryson and Jokiharju need to be gone....tomorrow and a legit top 4 dman brought in via trade  

And what “legit” top 4 dman wants to come to the Sabres? 

[OverPowerYou]

5 hours ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

I would love to see a full buy in boycott, like, zero people in the stands, miniscule TV ratings, just for one game. It would be hard to make it happen and get buy in, but I think if we could manage that.... We'd get the change we want 

That was pretty much the Toronto game last year when it was 99% Toronto fans

 

[Stoner]

Despite having lofty salary goals, kickstarting their careers has proven difficult for Gen Z.

[GASabresIUFAN]

6 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

My point would be that there is enough high end talent. It's the culture that is broken. 

Yes, exactly. This is what I mean when I say the culture is broken. 

The culture is terrible, but we also don’t have enough or the right kind of talent.  

[Cityo'Rasmii]

[Carmel Corn]

6 hours ago, Kristian said:

I’m oficially done with Tage. Biggest ***** ***** on the team after Power, floats like the absolute worst, and excudes “I’m too good for this team”, with every fiber of his being.

He and Power can ***** off already.

Cozens is a bigger waste of $ than TNT.  Muel as well on D

[Eli Cash]

The passion on display in this thread is what makes the players’ apparent indifference even more infuriating.

 The WNY region would wholeheartedly embrace an emotional, engaged, hardworking, and/or successful hockey team.  The fact that the Sabres cannot meet any of those criteria is such an indictment on the ownership, the management, and the players.  With the exception of Ruff, there is no indication that anyone associated with the organization gets it.  Bizarre that the Bills organization is the total opposite; luck was clearly on their side when they hired McBeane and drafted Allen.

I cannot believe I still care so much about the Sabres.

Edited December 4 by Eli Cash

[Doohicksie]

22 minutes ago, Eli Cash said:

I cannot believe I still care so much about the Sabres.

I still can't believe they blew a four goal lead.  In regulation.  Dahell guys, you have one job...

Edited December 4 by Doohicksie

[Slack_in_MA]

7 minutes ago, Doohicksie said:

I still can't believe they blew a four goal lead.  In regulation.  Dahell guys, you have one job...

Fixed

[WhenWillItEnd66]

I am so numb to this team..... i watched and laughed when it was tied as we all knew what outcome was coming. You cannot just buy into this team when it is playing well as you know it is not going to last the REAL Sabres show up to crap all over the positive. WHat we have is another .500 season missing the playoffs with the same crappy owner, Same crappy GM and players that cannot play a heavy hard to play against style of hockey.

[SabresVet]

13 minutes ago, Eli Cash said:

The passion on display in this thread is what makes the players’ apparent indifference even more infuriating.

 The WNY region would wholeheartedly embrace an emotional, engaged, hardworking, and/or successful hockey team.  The fact that the Sabres cannot meet any of those criteria is such an indictment on the ownership, the management, and the players.  With the exception of Ruff, there is no indication that anyone associated with the organization gets it.  Bizarre that the Bills organization is the total opposite; luck was clearly on their side when they hired McBeane and drafted Allen.

I cannot believe I still care so much about the Sabres.

McDermott insisted on and received football control when he was hired almost 8 years ago.  Beane came on-board later that first off-season and operated within that framework as well.  Terry doesn't make decisions with the Bills, although getting a few hundred millions in tv money shared from the league makes that easier to stomach for him I'm sure.   

Yet, he meddles in the Sabres and has interfered in personnel decisions for years.  He considers himself knowledgeable enough about the game to do this.  When the Sabres aren't making money, he cuts back.  He has ruined the franchise's reputation to the degree that, were he to fire Adams I'm not sure who'd want to go there.  It's similar to where the Bills were around 2010 when they needed to hire a GM.  No one worth a darn wanted it because the franchise was toxic.    

Terry is the poison pill that pollutes the Sabres.  Thank goodness (and I'm not a huge McDermott fan) the current Bills HC and GM have full authority.  That franchise would be a mess without it.