GDT: Buffalo Sabres @ CalGARY Flames, 9 pm ET, 23 January 2025, TV SN1, MSG-B, Radio WGR AM 55

[Pimlach]

2 hours ago, inkman said:

I don’t think any player that left here “got better”.  I think most of them were good players who went from a dire situation to a competent organization.  
 

Eichel - unlikable schmuck but always been a great player 

Reinhart - Alway good player put into perfect situation in Florida

Montour - good player prior to Buffalo, good player after.  He played under Krueger, arguably the worst coach in the history of the team if not the league.

Skinner - good player before and during his stint in Buffalo. Career coming to a close.  
 

Bogosian - high draft pick finally found his niche as a 5/6 dman with Tampa and wherever he ended up 

O’Reilly - been the same player everywhere he’s been

Kane - POS that only plays when he feels like it. 

Rodrigues - nice role player who can play up and down your lineup.  A nice depth piece but isn’t really a difference maker. 
 

Ristolainen - not good here, not good in Philly

Foligno - good player here, same player in Minnesota

McCabe - above average player here, same everywhere else he’s been

Ullmark - good for Buffalo, great in super defensive oriented highly experienced team with some of the leagues best defensive players ever 

Okposo - same player here and in Florida

Carrier - 4th line grinder everywhere he’s been

Larsson- arguably Buffalo was his best performance 

Olofsson - One trick pony, hasn’t been better in Vegas 

Scandella - good player here, good player elsewhere

Girgensons - has 2 points this season. 
 

Mittlestadt- pretty much a 0.5 ppg player regardless of uni 

Sheary - ancillary piece that can be good in a supporting role but isn’t never a difference maker 

 

Maybe I’m missing someone but I just don’t buy the “players get better elsewhere” narrative.  

Mostly true although Eichel, Reinhart, ROR and others have played at a much higher level after they left.  They have the stats and the hardware to show it.    All three in Buffalo at once and they did little to elevate the team when they were here.  Which is why a frustrated ROR said “losing is acceptable here”, he didn’t like it and he wasn’t wrong.  

There is a list of players that were good and not given a shot like Zadarov and Compher were traded for ROR so I won’t count them but players like Braydon McNabb and Hagel are examples of GM changes that disrupt development of the roster.  

Edited Friday at 09:06 PM by Pimlach

[JohnC]

8 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Mostly true although Eichel, Reinhart, ROR and others have played at a much higher level after they left.  They have the stats and the hardware to show it.    All three in Buffalo at once and they did little to elevate the team when they were here.  Which is why a frustrated ROR said “losing is acceptable here”, he didn’t like it and he wasn’t wrong.  

There is a list of players that were good and not given a shot like Zadarov and Compher were traded for ROR so I won’t count them but players like Braydon McNabb and Hagel are examples of GM changes that disrupt development of the roster.  
 

Eichel, Reinhart, Montour, Ullmark

All these competitive fellows are happy that they got away from this shambolic organization that gave them little chance to experience success. I remember the torrent of criticisms Eichel received when he expressed a desire to go to a more competently run franchise. They were all right in their desire and determination to get out of dodge. 

[Stoner]

Geology is the study of time and pressure. Terry started East Resources in 74 and it didn't pay off in billions until 2010. I would bet 14 years without the making the playoffs doesn't bother in the least. His faith might play into it as well. 2028 or 2048, it shall come to pass. See also Terry describing himself as a calm, not too high not too low kinda fella.

[SwampD]

29 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

I wouldn't; I'd be incredibly depressed

Dude. It’s just entertainment, or, at least, it’s supposed to be. You need to find more meaning elsewhere in your life if losing the Sabres would make you depressed.

I’d be bummed for a little while, but I know it would go away quickly once I realized how much time I have been wasting on these spoiled losers.

[thewookie1]

27 minutes ago, SwampD said:

Dude. It’s just entertainment, or, at least, it’s supposed to be. You need to find more meaning elsewhere in your life if losing the Sabres would make you depressed.

I’d be bummed for a little while, but I know it would go away quickly once I realized how much time I have been wasting on these spoiled losers.

The Sabres mean quite a bit to me; in part as my great-grandparents were part of my original reason for becoming interested in the team.

[Thorner]

2 hours ago, Pimlach said:

Mostly true although Eichel, Reinhart, ROR and others have played at a much higher level after they left.  They have the stats and the hardware to show it.    All three in Buffalo at once and they did little to elevate the team when they were here.  Which is why a frustrated ROR said “losing is acceptable here”, he didn’t like it and he wasn’t wrong.  

There is a list of players that were good and not given a shot like Zadarov and Compher were traded for ROR so I won’t count them but players like Braydon McNabb and Hagel are examples of GM changes that disrupt development of the roster.  

People always say “how didn’t they win when they had all 3” but they never had all 3 when Jack and Sam weren’t fledgling players on their ELCs

it wasn’t nhl playoffs leading scorer and 2-way menace JACK EICHEL and 50 goal man SAMSON playing with ROR it was “on some nights he’s a negative overall impact” Yeichel, and on some nights “is he even an NHLer?” Reinhartdtt lining up with him. (Remember, have to think back to circa 2017-18: Reino was sitting at a cool 11 points headed into the January 1 winter classic; his third nhl season and 4th post draft)

11 points. 

At a crucial stage, those 2 coming off their ELCs and poised for the development we saw, Botterill traded ROR

At an even more crucial stage, Adams just gave up and traded the 2 of them 

none of the sabres failures are shrouded in mystery. They are all a poorly written open book to be perused and dissected by us fans and willingly ignored by management 

Edited Friday at 10:43 PM by Thorner

[PerreaultForever]

9 hours ago, Thorner said:

I don’t like to toot my own horn when I can avoid it (ok, who am I kidding), but, I was screaming this at the board 3 full years ago:

I told everyone exactly what was going to happen. Adams rode in on a purported (bogus - told you) mandate to fix the culture and in so doing cemented the sabres culture as “team that doesn’t care about winning” 

This is kind of true, and it's definitely what happened, but I don't think it was by design. 

I think the "plan" (likely discussed and agreed to by Pegula and Kevyn and whoever else was allowed in the room) was simple in their minds. They decided it is difficult if not impossible to get good players to come here, there are too many no trade clauses, so we will make a lot of draft picks and grow our own team with players who have to be here because of draft rules and they will evolve into a good team in time since we are clever drafters. That is the naive and stupid plan and that is what they did and this is what we get. 

[Pimlach]

16 hours ago, Thorner said:

People always say “how didn’t they win when they had all 3” but they never had all 3 when Jack and Sam weren’t fledgling players on their ELCs

it wasn’t nhl playoffs leading scorer and 2-way menace JACK EICHEL and 50 goal man SAMSON playing with ROR it was “on some nights he’s a negative overall impact” Yeichel, and on some nights “is he even an NHLer?” Reinhartdtt lining up with him. (Remember, have to think back to circa 2017-18: Reino was sitting at a cool 11 points headed into the January 1 winter classic; his third nhl season and 4th post draft)

11 points. 

At a crucial stage, those 2 coming off their ELCs and poised for the development we saw, Botterill traded ROR

At an even more crucial stage, Adams just gave up and traded the 2 of them 

none of the sabres failures are shrouded in mystery. They are all a poorly written open book to be perused and dissected by us fans and willingly ignored by management 

Sure I get that.  But they were not even going in a good direction with all three, which is why ROR said what he said.  We covered this, the tear down was too far and the GM apparently knew nothing about setting a winning culture or roster chemistry.  

I know Botterill traded ROR, and Adams traded the other two several years later, and I know why.   When you speak out against the Emperor or his kingdom then you get to go. 

We have not had a GM that is worth a dam since Regier.  

 

[Pimlach]

18 hours ago, Stoner said:

Geology is the study of time and pressure. Terry started East Resources in 74 and it didn't pay off in billions until 2010. I would bet 14 years without the making the playoffs doesn't bother in the least. His faith might play into it as well. 2028 or 2048, it shall come to pass. See also Terry describing himself as a calm, not too high not too low kinda fella.

But he didn't starve. The fan base is starving and will die of malnutrition. 

He made thousands, then hundreds of thousands, then millions, then hundreds of millions, then billions.   

Edited 14 hours ago by Pimlach

[Stoner]

1 minute ago, Pimlach said:

But he didn't starve. The fan base is starving and will die of malnutrition. 

He made thousands, then hundreds of thousands, then millions, then hundreds of millions, then billions.   

 

Now that's "continuous improvement"!

[Pimlach]

3 minutes ago, Stoner said:

Now that's "continuous improvement"!

Edited 14 hours ago by Pimlach

[Porous Five Hole]

21 hours ago, Mr Peabody said:

I don’t believe I’ve ever witnessed a special teams mismatch like last night when Sabres were on PP.  And I’ve seen bad. 

It was bad bad. The Sabres had more than eight minutes of power play time and were in the offensive zone for less than two and a half minutes. It’s bonkers. PP zone entries are coaching details and our coaches don’t have the chops for the job. 

 

21 hours ago, msw2112 said:

The sad thing is that the Sabres did play a pretty good game (outside of the abysmal PP), until the inevitable meltdown the 3rd period…They hustled, battled, scrapped, etc. during the 1st and 2nd periods and entered the 3rd tied 2-2 with a realistic chance to win.  Then the wheels came off, as they so often do.

It was the Sabres third game in four nights while the Flames didn’t play for the same four nights. The schedule didn’t do the Sabres any favors and that third period was predictable more than it was a meltdown. 

 

21 hours ago, Thorner said:

We traded Eichel and Reinhart JUST as they were entering their primes so a lot of the improvement in another environment we saw was going to happen here anyways. 

And this is why it’s frustrating to hear so many on this board wanting to trade out Byram, Power, or Cozens (ducks) like we didn’t learn our lesson with these previous trades. I’m fine if they move on from Dylan, but I’m not pushing my 22 and 23 year old guys out the door. 
 

Some have even turned on Tage in the GDTs. Granted he has trouble staying healthy, but he’s pacing for about 40 goals and he’s 27 and signed on a reasonable long term deal.  
 

Trading any of the above are hard trades to win/get better.  Launching everything into the sun because we are frustrated is not the correct approach. 

[Porous Five Hole]

18 hours ago, SwampD said:

Dude. It’s just entertainment, or, at least, it’s supposed to be. You need to find more meaning elsewhere in your life if losing the Sabres would make you depressed.

I’d be bummed for a little while, but I know it would go away quickly once I realized how much time I have been wasting on these spoiled losers.

Ever think about how your tastes change from childhood to adulthood and all the stops along the way? Want to know one thing that’s constant? I fist pump every time the Sabres score. I did when I was 15 and I do it now when I’m 45.
Don’t you dare make it OK to have that taken away from me. Go Sabres ⚔️

[SwampD]

25 minutes ago, Porous Five Hole said:

Ever think about how your tastes change from childhood to adulthood and all the stops along the way? Want to know one thing that’s constant? I fist pump every time the Sabres score. I did when I was 15 and I do it now when I’m 45.
Don’t you dare make it OK to have that taken away from me. Go Sabres ⚔️

I turn 56 tomorrow. The fist pumps have been few and far between these last couple of years.

If I don’t care, it’s their fault, not mine.

[Stoner]

When I was a teen, I'd fist bump two to three times.

[Porous Five Hole]

13 minutes ago, SwampD said:

I turn 56 tomorrow. The fist pumps have been few and far between these last couple of years.

If I don’t care, it’s their fault, not mine.

Happy birthday!