The Sabres issues in a nutshell

[inkman]

They don’t go to the net and they don’t stop anyone from going to the net.  Case in point, last game:

It’s a recipe for disaster.  They literally don’t do the two things that are required to win in this league.  The reason they lose from ahead so often is that other teams know if they really need to generate offense, just crash the net.  No one will stop you.  Every player on every team knows it.  It is unconscionable that the Sabres as an organization have failed to recognize the issue and address it.  
 

All the current players want to dangle.  None of them want the smoke that comes with crashing/protecting the net.  How a professional organization can be this far into their existence and not have these principles firmly established is unfathomable.  

[Cascade Youth]

Which is a symptom of the bigger problem of:

NOT WANTING TO CONSISTENTLY WORK

Which probably is a symptom of the bigger problem of not being held accountable.

[inkman]

16 minutes ago, Cascade Youth said:

Which is a symptom of the bigger problem of:

NOT WANTING TO CONSISTENTLY WORK

Which probably is a symptom of the bigger problem of not being held accountable.

I really need the accountability stuff to end.  They are stuck with who they got unless they make roster moves.  Benching your $7+ mill “best” players isn’t going to work for long. They need to get the guys to buy in or find ones that do.  Benching Dylan Cozens and Owen Power is a short term band aid.  You can’t sit these guys all season.  Bench them for a game or two, fine but what other recourse so they have.  Guaranteed contracts and limited roster space / transactions make this an impossible task.  

[mjd1001]

Just now, inkman said:

I really need the accountability stuff to end.  They are stuck with who they got unless they make roster moves.  Benching your $7+ mill “best” players isn’t going to work for long. They need to get the guys to buy in or find ones that do.  Benching Dylan Cozens and Owen Power is a short term band aid.  You can’t sit these guys all season.  Bench them for a game or two, fine but what other recourse so they have.  Guaranteed contracts and limited roster space / transactions make this an impossible task.  

Dylan Cozens does go to the net. He's getting a good number of his shots from the slot overall this year.

He's just not good. Most of his supporters are just holding onto one season where he shot better than he has in any other part of his career.

Now the rest of the team...Quinn...yeah, go to the net more.

[JP51]

57 minutes ago, inkman said:

They don’t go to the net and they don’t stop anyone from going to the net.  Case in point, last game:

It’s a recipe for disaster.  They literally don’t do the two things that are required to win in this league.  The reason they lose from ahead so often is that other teams know if they really need to generate offense, just crash the net.  No one will stop you.  Every player on every team knows it.  It is unconscionable that the Sabres as an organization have failed to recognize the issue and address it.  
 

All the current players want to dangle.  None of them want the smoke that comes with crashing/protecting the net.  How a professional organization can be this far into their existence and not have these principles firmly established is unfathomable.  

Going to the net and stopping people from going to the net requires physical contact... and of course we know these players are averse to anything involving contact, sweating, playing hockey, or otherwise doing their job. Figure skating perimeter golfers that wear shoulder pads and helmets.

[Cascade Youth]

6 hours ago, inkman said:

I really need the accountability stuff to end.  They are stuck with who they got unless they make roster moves.  Benching your $7+ mill “best” players isn’t going to work for long. They need to get the guys to buy in or find ones that do.  Benching Dylan Cozens and Owen Power is a short term band aid.  You can’t sit these guys all season.  Bench them for a game or two, fine but what other recourse so they have.  Guaranteed contracts and limited roster space / transactions make this an impossible task.  

I am more talking about the team administration up to the owner’s box.  When results don’t matter at the top of the organization - well, you know what they say about how a fish rots.

[PerreaultForever]

This is all summed up in the one word we've heard for years. Soft. 

[SDS]

7 hours ago, inkman said:

I really need the accountability stuff to end.

I thought I was the only one. 

[Archie Lee]

8 hours ago, inkman said:

I really need the accountability stuff to end.  They are stuck with who they got unless they make roster moves.  Benching your $7+ mill “best” players isn’t going to work for long. They need to get the guys to buy in or find ones that do.  Benching Dylan Cozens and Owen Power is a short term band aid.  You can’t sit these guys all season.  Bench them for a game or two, fine but what other recourse so they have.  Guaranteed contracts and limited roster space / transactions make this an impossible task.  

On a recent After The Whistle, Rivet made a great point. He spoke about the various times in the later portion of his career that he was teamed with a young or rookie defensive partner. He said his role was to show the kids how to play and be assertive and physical at the NHL level and to let them know that everything will be ok, cause he would be right there. If anything got out of hand, he would be at their side. Adams has not given anything that even remotely approaches that level of veteran support to Power or Cozens or Dahlin or Peterka or Quinn or any of our young players. 

[bunomatic]

1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:

This is all summed up in the one word we've heard for years. Soft. 

Whenever I talk to fans of other teams and I ask their opinion on the Sabres one word invariably comes up. Soft. The other thing that comes up are who are their leaders ? They sure are young.

[Thorner]

On 10/3/2024 at 4:06 PM, dudacek said:

1) Sabres point total?

81

2) Will the Sabres makes the playoffs? 

No

3) Sabres leading goal scorer?

Peterka 33

4) Sabres leader in total points?

Dahlin 62

5) Sabres MVP?

Dahlin

6) Sabres ROY?

N/A No rookie will play more than 20 games

7) Best off-season acquisition

Malenstyn won't score much, but he will be respected for his effort and hitting

8.) Worst off-season acquisition?

Zucker will be in and out of the lineup and fail to score 15 goals

9) Biggest surprise? (positive or negative)

Jack Quinn will fail to score 25 goals

10) Breakout player?

Peterka. He and Benson will be the only player to post career numbers, though neither will be much higher than this year

11) Will any Sabres players or coaches finish as finalists (win?) for any major awards such as the Norris or Selke?

No

12) Unsung Hero?

Jokiharju will again lead the team in plus/minus, but will be traded to a playoff team at the deadline

13) Who will be the first Sabre traded away this season?

Reimer will be claimed on waivers, if that counts

14) Will KA make any in-season acquisitions before the deadline?

LOL

15) Will the Sabres be buyers or sellers at the deadline?

Say goodbye to Greenway and Joker. Zucker won't get any takers

16) Other Bold prediction? {Such as KA gets fired mid-season ;)}

Bo Byram requests a trade

17) Any other thoughts?

Fat, unemployed bald men who live with their parents don't approach strange women

🤔

[OrangeSeatVertigo]

Yeah they're pretty much f'd with all the guaranteed contracts they've put out (not faulting them for it, as no FA will come to this franchise and all the players who can turn it around have no trade lists in their contract and B Lo is on all those no trade lists). 

So... it looks like this is akin to what McBeanes inherited with the Bills.   They need to simply dump anyone in the front office responsible for the Eichel debacle plus the contracts of all the Marcel Dareus' of the world (those who won't go to the net, for example), take the hits and start anew.  So a bunch of Eichel-type deals trading away the best figure skater talents (Quinn, etc) for tough guys.  Become a tough team. 

 So my guess is that Lindy takes Adams job and a new tough guy coach comes in.  Go win games 2-1.   The better FA talents in the league simply will simply not be willing to come to the Sabres for several years to come and all trades will be blocked by no trade contract terms.  

Pegs needs to see the similarities between his current hockey franchise and the Rex Ryan 2016 Bills; change it out  from the top down and start over.  

 

[JP51]

9 hours ago, Archie Lee said:

On a recent After The Whistle, Rivet made a great point. He spoke about the various times in the later portion of his career that he was teamed with a young or rookie defensive partner. He said his role was to show the kids how to play and be assertive and physical at the NHL level and to let them know that everything will be ok, cause he would be right there. If anything got out of hand, he would be at their side. Adams has not given anything that even remotely approaches that level of veteran support to Power or Cozens or Dahlin or Peterka or Quinn or any of our young players. 

Agreed here... the way this team is built and has been built for years is completely incompatible with playing the sport of Hockey.. and no... we dont need to go pull Jon Scott out of retirement... there needs to be a cavalcade of players that are willing to go into the difficult areas and play a difficult sport... there needs to be a cavalcade of players that are willing to make difficult areas for the other team to go into... and in the end... we havent seen the attritive nasty grind that is hockey in the latter portion of the year when teams really elevate their nasty sacrifice your body type of play.... as for the playoffs... I just laugh, I cannot imagine a team this soft entering a playoff arena and not ending up with several players a game either in the hospital or with PTSD... they wouldnt win a game... they wouldnt even remotely understand what it takes to win a game in the playoffs... maybe Zucker or Malenstyn  but after that... who? Greenway if he is not injured again...? 

[bob_sauve28]

They had almost no shots on goal in the first period, so there would of been no crashing the net, what would be the point, the puck is not even in the zone.

This isn't a tough or soft issue. A player being left wide open for a shot in the slot isn't about being soft, its about not playing hockey well.

Just look at their passing! Brutal. How many times do they miss easy passes and just turn the puck over?

Zone entries? 🤣 😩

Fore check? 🤷‍♂️

Any team chemistry? 💀

These are good players, but a bad hockey team.

 

[ska-T Palmtown]

5 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

They had almost no shots on goal in the first period, so there would of been no crashing the net, what would be the point, the puck is not even in the zone.

This isn't a tough or soft issue. A player being left wide open for a shot in the slot isn't about being soft, its about not playing hockey well.

Just look at their passing! Brutal. How many times do they miss easy passes and just turn the puck over?

Zone entries? 🤣 😩

Fore check? 🤷‍♂️

Any team chemistry? 💀

These are good players, but a bad hockey team.

 

This. Take Montreal - 3, 4, 5 passes as they enter the zone (barely contested) - and they rushed as a group. The Sabres are looking for the stretch passes, but other teams are onto it ... Quinn or JJ catches it, but there are two defenders and NO support. The other teams know if the Sabres don't have numbers, they pull up just inside the blueline and wait. The opposing D jumps that move most of the time ... turnover. Get. Pucks. Deep! Go get them! Build a numbers advantage. Ugh. All this stretch pass - turnover nonsense is getting super old. Most nights it looks like the first time they have played together ... maybe they should practice things?

Today: two hours of practicing "I swear to god, if you leave effing Laine open for a far-side one-time one more time, Cliffy - you are on waivers." Two hours of "JJ, i swear to fvck, you lose the puck two feet inside the blueline one more time ... YEET! waivers." Two hours of "The next time the puck carrier looks up and NO ONE is trying to screen the goalie - I am placing the entire team on waivers!"

[Green lightning]

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