Are we going to play this "in the hunt" game again?

[Stoner]

And of all people Harrington is going to lead the way?

I understand Lindy and Duffer and Marty stoking hope.

But reality check... they are DFL in the conference with 35 points at the halfway mark. You can spin it baseball style (3.5 games) or six points or points percentage, but you'd be wrong to suggest the Sabres are anywhere in the hunt.

Nine games left this 10 game segment. If they get 12 of the next 18 available points, maybe we can restart the conversation. For the segment that's the 70% point pace they'll probably need all the rest of the way.

Edited 22 hours ago by Stoner

[JP51]

I cant believe that its got legs... I think the Miracle on ice was a pedestrian win compared to what level of anomaly would be required for this team to leapfrog 7 teams and get 60 out of 80 points or something like that...  people want to hope.. we love hockey, we want our favorite to win ... we hate that there is seemingly no hope, it looks like no one cares... and when they do address our frustrations they belittle, push off, and talk to us like we aren't seeing what we are seeing. Talk about despair... but in the end any glimmer I think is going to be hung on too by some until it is ultimately dashed again... conversely, 1 loss will send folks into a tailspin of despair. The good news is people are so emotional about it... it means they care... but if things don't change, we are perilously close to mass apathy and that is when its over... 

Edited 21 hours ago by JP51

[thewookie1]

I'll just shrug and say who knows; this season has seen a Stanley Cup favorite dive bomb, a Capitals team go from accidently making the playoffs last year to leading the East and each of Buffalo, Ottawa, Montreal and Detroit have taken a turn as the 8 seed. Who the hell knows at this point.

[Mustache of God]

They need to win 10 in a row to get back to a spot to be in the hunt. This team is not shown us that they are capable of that.

The season died in December.

[LTS]

Anything to get eyeballs and readers...

Telling the truth is no longer in fashion and hasn't been for a long time.

[HumanSlinky39]

No.

The past two seasons have been littered with fits and starts, but they've shown zero ability to sustain any kind of positive momentum. And there's a reason for this - they're not a very good team. There is talent here, as we see on occasion like last night, but the roster is horribly constructed, lacks toughness & grit, and doesn't know HOW to win.

There is no reason whatsoever to believe this team has any shot at the playoffs. Not one. I cannot name one thing this team consistently does well.

Edited 21 hours ago by HumanSlinky39

[Weave]

I can’t even muster up the energy to come up with something witty and sarcastic.

[DarthEbriate]

[Stoner]

21 minutes ago, LTS said:

Anything to get eyeballs and readers...

Telling the truth is no longer in fashion and hasn't been for a long time.

I guess it just clicked why Mike is pushing it. It probably took this long bc I can't believe there are that many clueless people out there.

Edited 21 hours ago by Stoner

[Archie Lee]

29 minutes ago, Mustache of God said:

They need to win 10 in a row to get back to a spot to be in the hunt. This team is not shown us that they are capable of that.

The season died in December.

They are out of the picture.  It's not happening.  I'm not falling for it in any way.

But (heaven help me), they don't need to win 10 in a row.  Montreal is currently in WC2; they are 2 games below DeLuca .500.  Pittsburgh is in WC3; they are 7 games below DeLuca .500.  Ottawa sits at DeLuca .500.  We are 11 games below DeLuca .500.  It is possible that DeLuca .500 gets you in this year.  The Sabres need to win 26 of their last 41 to get to DeLuca .500.  With 3-4 OTL's, that's a 110 point pace.  At the end of 22-23, I could have bought that the Sabres were on verge of being a team that could do that.  Right now, I say that there is a near zero chance. 

Anyway, my point is you don't need to get there by winning 10 in a row over 3 weeks.  You can get there by picking up 9-10 points every 7 games.  Again though, there is no reason to think they will do this.  It perhaps highlights though, how very shameful it is that Adams has done nothing to try to improve the team since July.  

[JohnC]

26 minutes ago, LTS said:

Anything to get eyeballs and readers...

Telling the truth is no longer in fashion and hasn't been for a long time.

The issue isn't whether he is telling the truth or not. He's giving an opinion that I consider to be unrealistic. You make the point that he is writing to attract more attention. That's true and shouldn't be surprising. 

[DarthEbriate]

But we can play this game. They MUST pass the following teams: MTL, PIT, OTT, CLB, PHI, DET, NYR, and NYI

For the remainder of the season the Sabres play these teams 14 times.

So far, the Sabres have played these teams 13 times. The Sabres are 4-7-2. To push past them, the Sabres need to go at least 10-4, with the wins coming in regulation.

----

Broadly, they'll need to get to either 5 games over DeLuca .500 OR finish 5 games UNDER DeLuca .500 with a minimum of 15 loser points (they have 5). In either case, they'll need to be over NHL .500 by at least 5 games (which is the equivalent of winning 11 in a row at some point).

Go sell that.

[That Aud Smell]

In the hunt for a (new) POHO?

Yah, mah boy.

[pi2000]

They need to go on a run before I even consider it a possibility.    

Too many teams to jump. 

If they can close the gap from 6 down to 2 points over the next 20 games, then it gets interesting.... it might not seem like much, but there's 7 teams to jump, some will get hot and I believe it's much more likely Buffalo is closer to 10 points out after the next 20 games.

[Night Train]

The only thing they're seemingly in the hunt for is bonus $. 

Ex.  Power gets 100K if he can clear someone out of the crease. 

       Muel gets 100K if he plays 10 games in a row. 

[That Aud Smell]

When's the last time this team won 4 in a row?

Not this season.

Did they do it last season?

I presume they did so in 2022-2023.

[Archie Lee]

To put it in further perspective, they would basically need to have a 2nd half equivalent to the 1st half that Washington, currently in 1st place, had (56 points). And that probably wouldn’t do it.  

[Ctaeth]

8th in the east is so far below expectation that all eastern teams are "in the hunt".  I'd argue:  who cares if they are in the hunt or not?  If they somehow manage to miraculously make a run, it would be to 8th place and would still not show the improvement we expected and hoped for.  For Pete's sake, they lost 13 in a row.  No decent team does that.  Changes should be incoming regardless of how the remainder of the season turns out     

[Carmel Corn]

The only thing they are in the hunt for is to finish within earshot of the wildcard spots and then try to again portray that they are so very close to greatness….just need another year.  Wash, rinse and repeat and then to the “spin” cycle

[Flashsabre]

Sabres in the hunt when they have no chance of finishing the hunt. A tale as old as time.

[Archie Lee]

33 minutes ago, Ctaeth said:

8th in the east is so far below expectation that all eastern teams are "in the hunt".  I'd argue:  who cares if they are in the hunt or not?  If they somehow manage to miraculously make a run, it would be to 8th place and would still not show the improvement we expected and hoped for.  For Pete's sake, they lost 13 in a row.  No decent team does that.  Changes should be incoming regardless of how the remainder of the season turns out     

To make the playoffs would require the Sabres to be one of the league’s best teams from here out. If they do that (and to be clear, they won’t), they would go into the playoffs playing the sort of hockey that allows for a deep playoff run.

You are right, good teams don’t lose 13 in a row.  But bad teams don’t have 58 points in 42 games, either. If they make the playoffs (and they are not going to), it would only be because they stopped being bad and started being very good. 

[Taro T]

Just beat the mother ####ing Aisles.  Worry about the other 58 points they need out of the last 82 after that game.

One game at a time.  Win the next one.

Doubt they'll get the 60 they need.  (But, 56 could actually get it done the East is so bad.  And doubt they'll get that either.)  There's a reason they play 'em.  And after watching the Bills let players get about $8MM worth of incentives in the last RS game, we know ownership isn't that worried about penny pinching (at least not for that toy of theirs).  How about spending some of that $6MM in cap space they got from punting Skinner to Neptune so the next time Dahlin's back goes out they don't end up losing an additional 10 games waiting for him to recover?

Such a frustrating franchise.

And to Joe Buscalia's musings last night, no, 87 points for a full season won't get them into the playoffs.

[bob_sauve28]

 

 

 

 

[Broken Ankles]

1 hour ago, pi2000 said:

They need to go on a run before I even consider it a possibility.    

Too many teams to jump. 

If they can close the gap from 6 down to 2 points over the next 20 games, then it gets interesting.... it might not seem like much, but there's 7 teams to jump, some will get hot and I believe it's much more likely Buffalo is closer to 10 points out after the next 20 games.

If I recall, you wanted to wait until December before you would consider the team a viable playoff candidate and whether or not Ruff would be able to covert/improve the squad.  That time has come and gone and halfway through they are close to DFL and regressing.  What say you now on the Ruff hiring and state of the union? 

[Ctaeth]

24 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

To make the playoffs would require the Sabres to be one of the league’s best teams from here out. If they do that (and to be clear, they won’t), they would go into the playoffs playing the sort of hockey that allows for a deep playoff run.

You are right, good teams don’t lose 13 in a row.  But bad teams don’t have 58 points in 42 games, either. If they make the playoffs (and they are not going to), it would only be because they stopped being bad and started being very good. 

Even if they -by some miracle- get the points for making the playoffs this year, it would absolutely mean that they played well for part of a season.  They have done that before and falsely given hope...resulting in little to no changes in the offseason.  I don't believe it would significantly change how I view them in the macro... as an inconsistent team that doesn't -currently- have what it takes to succeed in the playoffs.  IMO, regardless of how the rest of the season plays out.. they should be changing how they are operating.  If they made a run, I would definitely be excited, but I've seen enough from this group to believe they don't have it -without some major changes-.  It's probably a moot point anyway.