Sabres losing streaks

[EM88]

Longest Sabres losing streaks of all time in their 54 year history:

 

18 games in 2021.  Coach: Ralph Krueger. GM: Kevyn Adams. Owner: Terry Pegula

14 games in 2014-15. Coach: Ted Nolan. GM: Tim Murray. Owner: Terry Pegula

10 games 2014 (2 seasons) Coach: Ted Nolan. GM: Tim Murray. Owner Terry Pegula

9 games current: Coach: Lindy Ruff. GM: Kevyn Adams. Owner Terry Pegula

8 games 2022:  Coach: Don Granato. GM Kevyn Adams. Owner, Terry Pegula

8 games in 2019: Coach: Phil Housley. GM Jason Botterill.  Owner, Terry Pegula

8 games in 2003:  Coach: Lindy Ruff. GM: Darcy Regier. Owner, N/A (NHL ownership, team in bankruptcy)

 

In 54 years, those are the 7 worst losing streaks this team has one gone though, all but one (the one where the team was coming out of bankruptcy) in the last 10-11 or so years. One very common thread among them:

5 different coaches.  4 different GM's. ONE single owner.

Edited December 16 by EM88

[Thorner]

Adams has the only 3 in the top 5 where the team wasn’t trying to lose on purpose. Adams occupies the majority of the list after removing those seasons. Adams is also putrid and a common denominator for the most extreme failings of this franchise 

[mjd1001]

Pegula is the only owner..... On every. Single. One.

[GoPuckYourself]

I don't know man, it's easy to blame the owner and he definitely has something to do with it but he's not out there on the ice so to me it's a team building issue. 

[SABRES 0311]

4 minutes ago, GoPuckYourself said:

I don't know man, it's easy to blame the owner and he definitely has something to do with it but he's not out there on the ice so to me it's a team building issue. 

I’ve said similar in other threads. I’ll add that the GM having daily conversations with the owner indicates micromanaging from someone who only knows what it’s like to be a fan.

Its the owner, GM, and players….for 14 years.

[GoPuckYourself]

4 minutes ago, SABRES 0311 said:

I’ve said similar in other threads. I’ll add that the GM having daily conversations with the owner indicates micromanaging from someone who only knows what it’s like to be a fan.

Its the owner, GM, and players….for 14 years.

Which could be true but it doesn't explain why players can't hit the net, players not hustling, no sense of urgency, not knowing how to play defense, not sticking up for teammates. What would micromanaging have to do with this?

[SABRES 0311]

10 minutes ago, GoPuckYourself said:

Which could be true but it doesn't explain why players can't hit the net, players not hustling, no sense of urgency, not knowing how to play defense, not sticking up for teammates. What would micromanaging have to do with this?

Completely agree with you. GM brings in the wrong players while sticking to whatever the owner says/wants/agrees to. Those players make up a terrible team physically, mentally, and culturally.

[shrader]

They also all come from an era where your definition of losing streak is more broad than the previous 75 years or so. 
 

Thats not to make an excuse for anything here, but of course all of these streaks are going to occur in the time period where the tie no longer exists. 

[OrangeSeatVertigo]

The Bills went through the same thing for more years and came out of it.  Seems when you draft high in the NHL, there needs to be a generation talent there (Lemieux, Crosby, McDavid) not the Dahlins/Powers of the world, or else you just continue in mediocrity.    Bills draft Rosen instead of Allen, and they still suck to this day.  Not sure the owner has a lot to do with it, or has a ton of input to it.  What does Pegula know about hockey?   What would you expect him to know about hockey?   His job was to save the franchise which was close to pulling out of town.. and he did that.  

[OrangeSeatVertigo]

Just now, OrangeSeatVertigo said:

The Bills went through the same thing for more years and came out of it.  Seems when you draft high in the NHL, there needs to be a generation talent there (Lemieux, Crosby, McDavid) not the Dahlins/Powers of the world, or else you just continue in mediocrity.    Bills draft Rosen instead of Allen, and they still suck to this day.  Not sure the owner has a lot to do with it, or has a ton of input to it.  What does Pegula know about hockey?   What would you expect him to know about hockey?   His job was to save the franchise which was close to pulling out of town.. and he did that.   

Plus, I agree with Adams; what single 20-something rock star NHL millionaire player wants to spend every winter in downtown f ing Buffalo and in NYS with its sky high taxes.  So they are have no trade clauses in their contract and Buffalo is almost always on the list.   

Sabres need a generational talent to walk through the door and save the franchise, a la Allen.  Not sure when that will happen.  Bills fans waited over 15 years.  So Sabres are probably due after the length of this drought

[Archie Lee]

8 minutes ago, OrangeSeatVertigo said:

The Bills went through the same thing for more years and came out of it.  Seems when you draft high in the NHL, there needs to be a generation talent there (Lemieux, Crosby, McDavid) not the Dahlins/Powers of the world, or else you just continue in mediocrity.    Bills draft Rosen instead of Allen, and they still suck to this day.  Not sure the owner has a lot to do with it, or has a ton of input to it.  What does Pegula know about hockey?   What would you expect him to know about hockey?   His job was to save the franchise which was close to pulling out of town.. and he did that.  

With Allen the Bills have become a team that wins games in the  double-digits annually and is a perennial contender. I think McDermott and Beane are smart though. Had they missed on Allen they would still have brought in a good veteran QB. Obviously not an elite level QB, but they would have brought in a Kirk Cousins, a Sam Darnold, or a Baker Mayfield, who they could make the playoffs with. With Beane and McDermott, I think the Bills are a team that more often than not is in the playoff hunt. 

[Kristian]

I hate Terry Pegula.

[Stoner]

1 hour ago, OrangeSeatVertigo said:

The Bills went through the same thing for more years and came out of it.  Seems when you draft high in the NHL, there needs to be a generation talent there (Lemieux, Crosby, McDavid) not the Dahlins/Powers of the world, or else you just continue in mediocrity.    Bills draft Rosen instead of Allen, and they still suck to this day.  Not sure the owner has a lot to do with it, or has a ton of input to it.  What does Pegula know about hockey?   What would you expect him to know about hockey?   His job was to save the franchise which was close to pulling out of town.. and he did that.  

The Buffalo Sabres were not for sale. What makes you think their departure was "close"?

Fine. He kept them from moving. And destroyed them. What's the difference?

1 hour ago, Kristian said:

I hate Terry Pegula.

I also hate Poutine Pegula.

[EM88]

19 hours ago, GoPuckYourself said:

Which could be true but it doesn't explain why players can't hit the net, players not hustling, no sense of urgency, not knowing how to play defense, not sticking up for teammates. What would micromanaging have to do with this?

The majority of his micromanagement comes in 2 forms:  Not paying guys/spending to the cap when good vets were needed alongside the young developing guys, and Terry Pegula actually input into roster construction in a way  that he does it so more as a fan than as a skilled, experienced hockey guy. A fantasy league hockey GM in essense.  He has his hockey department and GM do the leg work just like the guys who publish fantasy ratings on a website do the deep dives, and Pegula takes that, along with likeing what he sees in a player, and that is the limit of his input and skill.

There was a very long post by someone else a week ago that put it well.  The Sabres were in position to bring in some very good vets here, better than guys like Erik Johnson, but they would have had to likely 'overpay' to do so.  Having Cozens on a line with 2 good vets, not guys like Tyson Jost, or having both Power and Dahlin the past 2 years playing with 2 good Vet D-men would have helped their development.  Its not the GM that says he doesn't want to spend money, it has been well documented that Pegula put caps on spending, an owner cap the Sabres followed, not a league cap.

I think Cozens is a bad overall hockey player.  Cozens does not know how to play defense. Cozens is not clutch in anyway. Cozens makes mistakes that cost goals and seems to have no ability or desire to set up his teammates in the offensive zone. So why is he getting paid $7m long term? He only had goals to 'earn' that deal for half a season before it was offered to him, and he had no-where near a complete game?  There is a lot of smoke and some fire if you look back into that deal being signed that Pegula was behind it. There are other posters on this board that have documented that with quotes and/or article links in the past.

[jad1]

5 hours ago, EM88 said:

The majority of his micromanagement comes in 2 forms:  Not paying guys/spending to the cap when good vets were needed alongside the young developing guys, and Terry Pegula actually input into roster construction in a way  that he does it so more as a fan than as a skilled, experienced hockey guy. A fantasy league hockey GM in essense.  He has his hockey department and GM do the leg work just like the guys who publish fantasy ratings on a website do the deep dives, and Pegula takes that, along with likeing what he sees in a player, and that is the limit of his input and skill.

There was a very long post by someone else a week ago that put it well.  The Sabres were in position to bring in some very good vets here, better than guys like Erik Johnson, but they would have had to likely 'overpay' to do so.  Having Cozens on a line with 2 good vets, not guys like Tyson Jost, or having both Power and Dahlin the past 2 years playing with 2 good Vet D-men would have helped their development.  Its not the GM that says he doesn't want to spend money, it has been well documented that Pegula put caps on spending, an owner cap the Sabres followed, not a league cap.

I think Cozens is a bad overall hockey player.  Cozens does not know how to play defense. Cozens is not clutch in anyway. Cozens makes mistakes that cost goals and seems to have no ability or desire to set up his teammates in the offensive zone. So why is he getting paid $7m long term? He only had goals to 'earn' that deal for half a season before it was offered to him, and he had no-where near a complete game?  There is a lot of smoke and some fire if you look back into that deal being signed that Pegula was behind it. There are other posters on this board that have documented that with quotes and/or article links in the past.

So you are saying that the reason the Sabres aren't spending to the cap is that Terry Pegula, a man whose net worth is almost 8 billion dollars, wants to save roughly 7 million bucks?

If you understand Adams' long-term vision of roster-building, you would understand why he's signed Cozens and Power to long-term contracts. And the reason the team has unused cap space is because Adams is holding on to it to sign Quinn and Peterka to similar long-term contracts at the end of the season.

I don't agree with Adams' approach and believe it's flawed, but it's not an approach whose goal is to save the owner money.  

 

 

 

 

[mjd1001]

5 minutes ago, jad1 said:

So you are saying that the reason the Sabres aren't spending to the cap is that Terry Pegula, a man whose net worth is almost 8 billion dollars, wants to save roughly 7 million bucks?

If you understand Adams' long-term vision of roster-building, you would understand why he's signed Cozens and Power to long-term contracts. And the reason the team has unused cap space is because Adams is holding on to it to sign Quinn and Peterka to similar long-term contracts at the end of the season.

I don't agree with Adams' approach and believe it's flawed, but it's not an approach whose goal is to save the owner money.  

 

 

 

 

I can say that I personally....I think Terry Pegula looks at the balance sheet of the Buffalo Sabres, likely sees he is bleeding money on this franchise, and tells the GM no spending unless it is run by him, and as far as bringing in vet free agents, he will not 'overplay' to get someone valuable in the building.....hed rather just "wait" and "hope" the young guys gel so he can save those few $million dollars per year and it will happen 'eventually' by itself with that strategy. 

I think the Sabres were under the cap the last few years and Adams, along with any GM would love to use the cap space to spend it, even on one year or 2 year 'overpays' to bring in better talent.

I think Pegula, even with all his Billions, put that directive out to not do that.

I do not think that is unreasonable at all and I think that is likely what has and is currenlty happening.

When Adams is asked about anything cap and contract releated, if pushed he says something like they need to save money for the upcoming deals for the young guys.  Why?  He HAS to say that.  If the truth is what I layed about above...and beleive is what is happening...what is Adams going to say?  I want to bring in some othe guys with THIS years cap but I was given orders from above not to, so we are just going with the current Roster?"  Adams got this job becasue the last guy before him disagreed with Terry, and ALL his Billions, on spending. The last guy got fired for that.

[JohnC]

What has exhausted my patience with this franchise is not that this is a bottom feeding team as it is another season of lost opportunities due to the passivity of the front office. Even in this ignominious losing streak, and against many good teams, most of our losses are by one goal. The difference between success and failure is minimal. This staff simply didn't properly assess its own team and make the right adjustments to better balance out the roster. It's more of the "should have been" than that gets me agitated. Just a few more smart tweaks could have made a big difference. This team should have been on an up cycle while the some of the standard good teams are on the down cycle. 

[PerreaultForever]

Let's be fair, it's not a "losing streak" it's a winless streak 🙂

 

[EM88]

15 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Let's be fair, it's not a "losing streak" it's a winless streak 🙂

 

Disagree. Although I am sure if you are being sarcastic or not due to others calling it a winless streak or not.  If it is sarcasm I am missing, then this reply isn't needed.

It is not a pointless streak of course. They have earned some points.

Those OT losses are still losses. Hence, a losing streak.

[PerreaultForever]

3 hours ago, EM88 said:

Disagree. Although I am sure if you are being sarcastic or not due to others calling it a winless streak or not.  If it is sarcasm I am missing, then this reply isn't needed.

It is not a pointless streak of course. They have earned some points.

Those OT losses are still losses. Hence, a losing streak.

I am being really sarcastic and am likely to get even more sarcastic and facetious. Maybe point out irony, tell jokes, possibly even post memes (although that's pretty much spoken for territory for some others) and who knows what as this ship sinks again. I mean how can you take it seriously any more???

@thewookie1 gave me a red X on a joke earlier so I know it's off to a good start 🙂

 

[North Buffalo]

I think it is time to trade TT... losing streak started the minute he came back... valuable but not a leader... him and Power need to go... player to player trade... find another team that needs a shake up and make a hockey deal.

[Kristian]

On 12/17/2024 at 2:06 AM, PerreaultForever said:

Let's be fair, it's not a "losing streak" it's a winless streak 🙂

 

Sincerely, Larry Quinn 🤣🤣

[Andrew Amerk]

15 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

I am being really sarcastic and am likely to get even more sarcastic and facetious. Maybe point out irony, tell jokes, possibly even post memes (although that's pretty much spoken for territory for some others) and who knows what as this ship sinks again. I mean how can you take it seriously any more???

@thewookie1 gave me a red X on a joke earlier so I know it's off to a good start 🙂

 

Be careful, man. 
 

Pointing out ironies and telling jokes are also pretty much spoken for territories around here. 

[mjd1001]

9 hours ago, North Buffalo said:

I think it is time to trade TT... losing streak started the minute he came back... valuable but not a leader... him and Power need to go... player to player trade... find another team that needs a shake up and make a hockey deal.

If there is any truth to the rumors that there is interest in Cozens by other team and the Sabres are being called on him, there is no way at all I think of trading Thompson before Cozens.

[OverPowerYou]

Get a new coach, sometimes get a new gm, get a few new 3rd liners. This has been the cycle for the last 15 seasons