Real issue with the Sabres

[Stoner]

1 minute ago, bob_sauve28 said:

First question: Will you resign with the team, and if yes, what will it take to get this done? 

I bet he wants out 

I bet he resigns.

[Archie Lee]

4 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

First question: Will you resign with the team, and if yes, what will it take to get this done? 

I bet he wants out 

Zucker has been a mercenary the past 2 seasons (and I type that with no disrespect).  If we offered him a 2 x $4.5, I think he would take it. There is lots of season left for things to go good or bad.  If he is traded at the deadline and doesn't thrive on a contender, he may not get the same deal in free agency.  

I don't think we re-sign him though.  Unless we trade a young player, Zucker and Greenway's money is going to Byram, McLeod, Peterka and Quinn (and to the additional $3 million in cap allotted to the Skinner buyout in 2025-26).

Edited Sunday at 05:41 PM by Archie Lee

[Flashsabre]

Over/Under on Adams having another media availability before the season ends🤪

There is no way in the world Adams, this front office or this entire coaching staff can be brought back.  Playoffs or bust and you are challenging for 1st OA pick.  The only way any of these clowns survive is simply money. Terry refuses to pay for new people and they bring the crew back and play in front of 3K people at the arena next season.

[GASabresIUFAN]

Guys we want to re-sign Zucker.  We also want Adams to resign.

[DarthEbriate]

20 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Guys we want to re-sign Zucker.  We also want Adams to resign.

GM Sheevyn wants to trade Zucker for a 3rd. Then, that following GM will retain salary and trade Zucker to a better contender for a 1st.

[erickompositör72]

I just wanted to put this out there: I do not buy this “lack of heart” argument in any way/shape/form. It is a lazy argument/a cop-out.

Heart is maybe what enables the 2nd-most-talented team to beat the most talented team to win a Stanley Cup. It’s not something that has anything to do with the Sabres’ problems.

The Sabres problems are very empirically observable, not esoteric.

[GASabresIUFAN]

39 minutes ago, erickompositör72 said:

I just wanted to put this out there: I do not buy this “lack of heart” argument in any way/shape/form. It is a lazy argument/a cop-out.

Heart is maybe what enables the 2nd-most-talented team to beat the most talented team to win a Stanley Cup. It’s not something that has anything to do with the Sabres’ problems.

The Sabres problems are very empirically observable, not esoteric.

A team that continues to blow 2 goal leads lacks heart.  

[steveoat87]

8 hours ago, LTS said:

As @LGR4GM said. You want a face to focus on for poor defense? Here it is.

But then again.. just go deeper.. and let's see what's really changed over the past few seasons:

• Marty Wilford: Coaches defense and penalty kill
• Seth Appert: Assistant coach and forwards and power play coach
• Matt Ellis: Coaches centermen and faceoff circle improvement

Seth Appert who ran the same PP in Rochester as Granato did in Buffalo.  No real change. Lately they are slightly different once they get in zone, but their zone entries are still horrible.

They are still horrible at face-offs.

Nothing really changed. Ruff was brought in as a consultant head coach to pave the way for Appert and I am sure Ruff's opinion now is that these guys should not be coaches.

Moe, Larry & Curly.

[Pimlach]

5 hours ago, Stoner said:

I bet he resigns.

resigns or re-signs?  

[Pimlach]

4 hours ago, DarthEbriate said:

GM Sheevyn wants to trade Zucker for a 3rd. Then, that following GM will retain salary and trade Zucker to a better contender for a 1st.

Sounds similar to the Marco Scandella trade.  We got a 4th from Montreal, once they fell out of the race they traded him to St Louis for a 2nd at the deadline.  Not sure any salary retention was involved.  Timing is everything.  

[Flashsabre]

14 years of no playoffs. No one connected to this organization has had any success here for going on a decade and a half.

This means there is not one person in this organization that can be looked at for any type of culture other than a losing culture. All this organization knows is systemic failure.

Why do you think they collapse so easily when they are up. No one knows what it’s like to win or what it takes to win.

And it all falls at Pegula’s feet. He damned this organization with his refusal to hire “seasoned, successful NHL people” to run the team. 
 

He wanted to spend money early, demanded big contracts for guys like Leino and  Erhoff and got burned.

Then he bought the Bills, then the pandemic hit and he shifted to running the Sabres on the cheap. Won’t spend to the cap, won’t do real searches for qualified GMs or coaches, bring back Lindy and won’t let him bring any coaches in.

These young players are thrown to the wolves and set up to fail. And the cycle will continue until Terry sells the team or brings in some seasoned NHL people and steps back and lets them work with no financial constraints.

Edited Monday at 12:20 AM by Flashsabre

[Archie Lee]

46 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Sounds similar to the Marco Scandella trade.  We got a 4th from Montreal, once they fell out of the race they traded him to St Louis for a 2nd at the deadline.  Not sure any salary retention was involved.  Timing is everything.  

That was one of the few years where the Sabres were a cap team, or close to it. We had some forward injuries as I recall. On the same day that we traded Scandella for a 4th, we also traded a 4th to Calgary for Michael Frolik. We needed to move Scandella for the cap space. 

[JP51]

7 hours ago, bob_sauve28 said:

First question: Will you resign with the team, and if yes, what will it take to get this done? 

I bet he wants out 

Anyone with a brain would want out 

[Crusader1969]

the real issue with the Sabres is the owner.  Full stop 

[PerreaultForever]

18 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

It's what Washington wanted until they brought in Trotz.  It was what NJ wanted until they added goaltending and Marino.  Until this team embraces both ends of the ice, this team will continue to fail.

Washington is a great example of how to rebuild properly. They didn't dump all their veterans. They kept a strong leadership core, sold a few pieces at deadlines, built a strong veteran AHL team to focus on defense and culture and they develop their prospects within that. Then they add a few UFAs each year and a few trades but they keep the team filled with veterans and pros and not all kids. Total contrast in style and method. 

[erickompositör72]

6 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

A team that continues to blow 2 goal leads lacks heart.  

Or they play an unsustainable combination of early bursts of offense complemented by defensive breakdowns. 

Edited Monday at 02:27 AM by erickompositör72

[PerreaultForever]

10 hours ago, Pimlach said:

Which was proven by the Byram for Mitts trade.  I really think we have the more impactful player in Byram over Mitts.  But our record shows that the trade didn't make the team better.   The team is very weak at center, and we have the luxury of three top 4 LHD puck movers.

Byram will want to get paid this off season.  If we had a GM that could flip him for center that is equal to better than Mitts I will let this go.  But I am still baffled by the way this roster is constructed. 

 

Agreed and a guy like Byram is a valuable player on your roster but not if you already have multiple versions of that guy. In this modern era you want 2 of those skilled offensive D men. One for each of your two PP units. When we already have Dahlin and Power wtf do we want Byram for? Meanwhile Jokiharju and Bryson are C grade versions of the same that are bottom end fill ins at best. Clifton and Samuelson are middle to bottom end mediocre D men and Gilbert is a tough guy but a marginal NHLer. Really a 7/8 guy on your roster. That's a very badly constructed D despite having 2 overall firsts and another first rounder on it. 

One of Power, Dahlin, Byram needs to be traded and since two are locked up and one wants a new fat deal that's the logical guy to move. Now if there's a great deal for Power out there maybe I make that and sign Byram. Details on that would matter. It seems unlikely in terms of the Sabres winning the deal. 

Just on the current last game, Byram was way out of position on several goals. The Dahlin Byram pairing is a really really bad idea. 

Edited Monday at 02:28 AM by PerreaultForever

[erickompositör72]

6 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

A team that continues to blow 2 goal leads lacks heart.  

We've had teams that "lacked heart," but had enough talent to get into the playoffs. I'd take that over what we have now. "Heart" is the least of our current problems. 

[ExWNYer]

11 hours ago, LTS said:

As @LGR4GM said. You want a face to focus on for poor defense? Here it is.

But then again.. just go deeper.. and let's see what's really changed over the past few seasons:

• Marty Wilford: Coaches defense and penalty kill
• Seth Appert: Assistant coach and forwards and power play coach
• Matt Ellis: Coaches centermen and faceoff circle improvement

Seth Appert who ran the same PP in Rochester as Granato did in Buffalo.  No real change. Lately they are slightly different once they get in zone, but their zone entries are still horrible.

They are still horrible at face-offs.

Nothing really changed. Ruff was brought in as a consultant head coach to pave the way for Appert and I am sure Ruff's opinion now is that these guys should not be coaches.

Is he the long lost brother of character actor Richard Kind? 😂

 

[GoPuckYourself]

Roster construction and coaching are killing us. We have a bunch of skilled players who have a knack for scoring goals but rely on others to go into the dirty areas of the ice (along the boards, in front of the net) for that skill to work and the only problem is we only have a select few players who are willing to do that and some of them just do it every now and again. 

As for the coaches, the entire assistant coaching staff should be let go (There is no way they're firing Appert as you can tell he is going to be our next HC) none of them should have kept their jobs to begin with. Also Seth Appert can't even get the power play going so why do they just want to hand this guy the next HC gig? I don't understand. 

 

[Stoner]

4 hours ago, Pimlach said:

resigns or re-signs?  

[sabremike]

4 hours ago, GoPuckYourself said:

Roster construction and coaching are killing us. We have a bunch of skilled players who have a knack for scoring goals but rely on others to go into the dirty areas of the ice (along the boards, in front of the net) for that skill to work and the only problem is we only have a select few players who are willing to do that and some of them just do it every now and again. 

As for the coaches, the entire assistant coaching staff should be let go (There is no way they're firing Appert as you can tell he is going to be our next HC) none of them should have kept their jobs to begin with. Also Seth Appert can't even get the power play going so why do they just want to hand this guy the next HC gig? I don't understand. 

 

The idea that the single biggest failure of an organization in hockey history keeps promoting from within is both mindblowing and explains perfectly why they are the single biggest failure of an organization in hockey history.

[JP51]

23 hours ago, bob_sauve28 said:

That's the issue, pure and simple. They don't hate to lose. It's not a big deal for them to lose

There is a few players that do... but they are slowly beating the fight out of them... a la Ryan Oreilly

[Thorner]

19 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

A team that continues to blow 2 goal leads lacks heart.  

The entire sabres organizational system down through every facet of the operation is infected by the lack of expectation that set in so thoroughly, owing to those in change too dangerously pushing the boundaries of how far winning in the now could be put off. They pushed and pushed and it broke: the players know the team isn’t really about winning. The players know the “playoffs or bust” mindset parroted coming in was bogus: too little, too late. At odds with operational spending and roster construction.

no one believes. I don’t know what term we want to use…people are throwing around heart…but it’s context based. People know the expectations are low in *buffalo*. Players know they can ease up here, and the worst case scenario is they get dealt to a better team 

Mike Tomlin always says the Steelers have a Standard. There’s no standard here, no embarrassment too low. There will be individual players that have a personal standard and push against this, but we know one talent can’t carry a lineup: much the same with one or two mindsets. Only a matter of time before they get swallowed up by the current

they are swimming against it: flowing powerfully from on high 

Edited Monday at 03:40 PM by Thorner

[bunomatic]

11 hours ago, GoPuckYourself said:

Roster construction and coaching are killing us. We have a bunch of skilled players who have a knack for scoring goals but rely on others to go into the dirty areas of the ice (along the boards, in front of the net) for that skill to work and the only problem is we only have a select few players who are willing to do that and some of them just do it every now and again. 

As for the coaches, the entire assistant coaching staff should be let go (There is no way they're firing Appert as you can tell he is going to be our next HC) none of them should have kept their jobs to begin with. Also Seth Appert can't even get the power play going so why do they just want to hand this guy the next HC gig? I don't understand. 

 

Tightwad Terry