Draft picks aside....this organization has no FA/Trade leverage

[erickompositör72]

6 hours ago, Kristian said:

I miss “the hardest working team in hockey”.

Teams used to literally hate playing against us. Not because we were big, bad, or particularly skilled, but because other teams knew, that every damn night, that goathead logo would be in your face from puckdrop to the final buzzer. And to win, they’d have to freakin’ earn it.

Now? Embarassing to watch.

Or because they knew they had to beat Hasek

 

Similarly, we were the hardest working team because all the players knew they were playing in front of the greatest goalie ever. That is pretty motivating.

[Kristian]

11 minutes ago, erickompositör72 said:

Or because they knew they had to beat Hasek

 

Similarly, we were the hardest working team because all the players knew they were playing in front of the greatest goalie ever. That is pretty motivating.

Doesn’t change the fact that people hated playing the Sabres either way.

But sure, you’re right. UPL is not Hasek, so why bother? Is that right?

[Broken Ankles]

On 12/7/2024 at 7:22 AM, EM88 said:

 

Adams may be a good GM, he may be a bad one that is getting better, or he may just be a bad one.

** Spoiler alert 🚨 

He’s a bad one.  

[SabresVet]

5 hours ago, LabattBlue said:

Even without the “parameters”, Adams was a total joke of a hire for the position of NHL GM.  He was previously running the kiddie hockey academy at the HarborCenter.  
 

“Real” NHL executives must have a really good laugh at our expense.  

I'm sure that laugh from real executives is about the same as Russ Brandon showing up to the NFL Combine in 2008-09 for the Bills.

And to think, Terry remains completely oblivious that his security hiring a known entity GM has completely hamstrung the entire organization.   

[mjd1001]

4 hours ago, erickompositör72 said:

Similarly, we were the hardest working team because all the players knew they were playing in front of the greatest goalie ever. That is pretty motivating.

I never understood that late 90's "hardest working team in hockey thing" at all

-They had the best goalie. They had some guys that could, and would fight.  They had a coach that 'talked' about hard work (tell me a coach that doesn't do that)

But what I saw was not the hardest working team ever. I saw a team that was outshot game after game after game and had their goalie bail them out. I saw a team that, to my memory, wasn't good at backchecking but had their goalie bail them out.  I think the 'hardest working team in hockey' would go all out, give up everything on the Penalty kill, and with the best goalie in the world, should be simply the best at it..but what I saw was a team that was good, but not great (nor at the top of the league) in penalty killing.

They were good. They had a great goalie. They would fight. They weren't LAZY, but 'hardest working team in hockey' was just marketing.

[Carmel Corn]

37 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

I never understood that late 90's "hardest working team in hockey thing" at all

-They had the best goalie. They had some guys that could, and would fight.  They had a coach that 'talked' about hard work (tell me a coach that doesn't do that)

But what I saw was not the hardest working team ever. I saw a team that was outshot game after game after game and had their goalie bail them out. I saw a team that, to my memory, wasn't good at backchecking but had their goalie bail them out.  I think the 'hardest working team in hockey' would go all out, give up everything on the Penalty kill, and with the best goalie in the world, should be simply the best at it..but what I saw was a team that was good, but not great (nor at the top of the league) in penalty killing.

They were good. They had a great goalie. They would fight. They weren't LAZY, but 'hardest working team in hockey' was just marketing.

IDK - but if this current team worked as hard as the 90's version, then they might actually be worth watching.  I might be able to be convinced that this current team is the "laziest" team in hockey.

[PerreaultForever]

11 hours ago, Kristian said:

Totally agree - You’re teaching the youngsters that “it’s ok to lose, because…”.

And as a result we keep losing, cause why not? At worst, you get traded to a better club. The Sabres keep playing you and resigning you, regardless how badly you perform.

It will be interesting to see what happens with the free agents this year. Assuming it's Adams. I don't expect any of the UFAs to be back. Maybe Bryson, Jokiharju if they overpay him but that would be nuts to do that. The 3 RFAs are the interesting ones. I suspect all 3 will want substantially more than they've earned with their play and what Adams does with them will tell you a lot. 

[PerreaultForever]

8 minutes ago, Carmel Corn said:

IDK - but if this current team worked as hard as the 90's version, then they might actually be worth watching.  I might be able to be convinced that this current team is the "laziest" team in hockey.

idk, we've had some pretty lazy players over the years. Drew Stafford jumps to the forefront of my brain right away. We seem to always have had some guys who were in the habit of taking nights off. Even some of the stars. 

[Kristian]

33 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

I never understood that late 90's "hardest working team in hockey thing" at all

-They had the best goalie. They had some guys that could, and would fight.  They had a coach that 'talked' about hard work (tell me a coach that doesn't do that)

But what I saw was not the hardest working team ever. I saw a team that was outshot game after game after game and had their goalie bail them out. I saw a team that, to my memory, wasn't good at backchecking but had their goalie bail them out.  I think the 'hardest working team in hockey' would go all out, give up everything on the Penalty kill, and with the best goalie in the world, should be simply the best at it..but what I saw was a team that was good, but not great (nor at the top of the league) in penalty killing.

They were good. They had a great goalie. They would fight. They weren't LAZY, but 'hardest working team in hockey' was just marketing.

Of course they were outshot, and badly most on nights.

Look at the roster - Derek Plante lead the team in points in 1997. The team was, for all intents and purposes, pretty mediocre at best. Yes, Hasek was amazing, no duscussion.

The 1996-1998 Sabres were a bad squad after Lafontaine went down. They had no business getting beyond the first round, let alone reach the conference finals. Hasek, or no Hasek. What you’ll notice in a lot of Doms highlight reels after he makes two crazy saves, is a Sabre clearing a fat juicy rebound in front of a wide open cage. You know, the ones we’ve seen banged home on every Sabre goalie again and again for the past 10 years. That’s how it looks when your skaters aren’t putting up an effort.

They started improving offensively in late 1997, by adding guys like Satan, Sanderson, eventually Stu Barnes and ended up a pretty rounded bunch for the 1999 run. But before that, the Sabres were Hasek and 18 skaters. Sadly, they lacked the offensive punch to overcome a stacked Stars team.

But while “the hardest working team in hockey” may have been a catch phrase, it was rooted in the scrappy Muckler/Nolan teams that eventually became the Regier/Ruff team that should’ve beaten the Pens in 2001. The Mucker/Nolan team being the hard working team, and the Regier/Ruff team slowly morphing into a pretty “stacked” 2001 squad, with more emphasis on a well rounded game.

[Crusader1969]

On 12/5/2024 at 10:45 PM, ASlugAbove said:

Ever since Lucic ran Miller this team has been desperate to find an identity. They tried to get tougher and brought in guys like John Scott (lol) and Steve Ott. It didn't work.

They tried to bring in talent with guys like Taylor Hall, Okposo, O'Reilly, Kane, Skinner, etc.  

They tried to strengthen the 3rd and 4th lines with guys like Sheary, Johannsen, Simmonds, Vesey, Greenway. And kept re-signing Girgs.

They tried to round out the D with a mix of tough and talent with players like Mountour, Bogosian, Scandella, Miller, Jokiharu.

None of it has really worked. The fact that none of these acquisitions and rosters could even crack the top 8 of 16 teams in the East is embarrassing from a management standpoint. 

They absolutely hit on picks with NHL caliber talent more than I can name (Reinhart, Eichel, etc.)

What's my point here? I just think this franchise is in a HORRIBLE spot with FA and trade partners. I don't know if we can recover. If within the last 10 years this is all we can muster, and it still isn't anywhere close to what we need - what do we do? 

Few side points - I think the Eichel surgery dispute hurt this franchise WAY more than they thought it would. Multiple star players saying they lost their love of hockey here hurt way more than we imagined. Vet's that came (or got traded and refused to come/retired...or IE Staal) and left has soured the players in the league on Buffalo. The vibe alone at games is so bad why would you even come here if you're a 3rd liner on another team? So many players across the league have NTC's and they are NOT waiving it to come here.

The answer might be to sit and pray the young core can figure it out and win - cuz at least they don't have as much a say in where they are. I'm not confident.

I agree that the Eichel surgery weighs heavily on them in attracting UFA's and getting off players NTCs.  Think it's now the biggest hurdle they face.   That's why I'm a proponent of getting rid of everyone involved in that situation, including the owner 

1 hour ago, mjd1001 said:

I never understood that late 90's "hardest working team in hockey thing" at all

-They had the best goalie. They had some guys that could, and would fight.  They had a coach that 'talked' about hard work (tell me a coach that doesn't do that)

But what I saw was not the hardest working team ever. I saw a team that was outshot game after game after game and had their goalie bail them out. I saw a team that, to my memory, wasn't good at backchecking but had their goalie bail them out.  I think the 'hardest working team in hockey' would go all out, give up everything on the Penalty kill, and with the best goalie in the world, should be simply the best at it..but what I saw was a team that was good, but not great (nor at the top of the league) in penalty killing.

They were good. They had a great goalie. They would fight. They weren't LAZY, but 'hardest working team in hockey' was just marketing.

100%.   The narrative would be completely different if they didn't have Hasek 

[Kristian]

11 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

 

100%.   The narrative would be completely different if they didn't have Hasek 

Fair point, but I think it’s also fair to say “Let prime Dom backstop the current team, and he’ll only have two Vezinas and no Hart trophies”.

[PerreaultForever]

13 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

100%.   The narrative would be completely different if they didn't have Hasek 

True, but that's also unfair. No team is good if you take away their star. Edmonton's not in the finals last year if they don't have McDavid. Pittsburgh doesn't win it's cups if they don't have Crosby. Hasek was our star in that era. Dahlin is a very good player, but right now we don't have a star player of that caliber.