The Total Irrelevance of the Buffalo Sabres

[CallawaySabres]

I think we all know by now that Buffalo is consistently one of the worst teams in the NHL every single year. That alone will never get any headlines around the league. What I do find surprising is that there is not even a player on the team that is ever mentioned in the news either. Usually, on the worst teams in the NHL, there is at least a rising superstar that gains momentum as the team improves.

I think the tough part for fans is that there is no hope in the team overall, there is no highlight reel player to get you to watch, and there is absolutely ZERO identity to the team overall. I can't ever remember a Sabres team that was void in all 3 areas. This, to me, is why I see no hope in next year as well.

[JohnC]

2 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

I think we all know by now that Buffalo is consistently one of the worst teams in the NHL every single year. That alone will never get any headlines around the league. What I do find surprising is that there is not even a player on the team that is ever mentioned in the news either. Usually, on the worst teams in the NHL, there is at least a rising superstar that gains momentum as the team improves.

I think the tough part for fans is that there is no hope in the team overall, there is no highlight reel player to get you to watch, and there is absolutely ZERO identity to the team overall. I can't ever remember a Sabres team that was void in all 3 areas. This, to me, is why I see no hope in next year as well.

Dahlin is recognized all around the league to be an elite player. As the record shows, when he is not in the lineup, the team plummets even more than usual.  Dahlin's vast talents are not a secret to those who follow and are involved in the league. 

[CallawaySabres]

13 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Dahlin is recognized all around the league to be an elite player. As the record shows, when he is not in the lineup, the team plummets even more than usual.  Dahlin's vast talents are not a secret to those who follow and are involved in the league. 

Compared to what the hype was when he was drafted, he is nowhere near it (in my opinion). He is a top 10 defenseman for sure, but once again, it seems like he still has not reached that potential.

[GASabresIUFAN]

21 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

I think we all know by now that Buffalo is consistently one of the worst teams in the NHL every single year. That alone will never get any headlines around the league. What I do find surprising is that there is not even a player on the team that is ever mentioned in the news either. Usually, on the worst teams in the NHL, there is at least a rising superstar that gains momentum as the team improves.

I think the tough part for fans is that there is no hope in the team overall, there is no highlight reel player to get you to watch, and there is absolutely ZERO identity to the team overall. I can't ever remember a Sabres team that was void in all 3 areas. This, to me, is why I see no hope in next year as well.

Dahlin and Power were just recognized in the Athletic for being to of the best NHLers under 25.  https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6204329/2025/03/18/nhl-under-25-team-bedard-celebrini/

Don't forget that the Sabres are in one of the smaller markets in a relatively niche sport.  

Edited March 31 by GASabresIUFAN

[tom webster]

18 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

I think we all know by now that Buffalo is consistently one of the worst teams in the NHL every single year. That alone will never get any headlines around the league. What I do find surprising is that there is not even a player on the team that is ever mentioned in the news either. Usually, on the worst teams in the NHL, there is at least a rising superstar that gains momentum as the team improves.

I think the tough part for fans is that there is no hope in the team overall, there is no highlight reel player to get you to watch, and there is absolutely ZERO identity to the team overall. I can't ever remember a Sabres team that was void in all 3 areas. This, to me, is why I see no hope in next year as well.

I think you are letting your pessimism (well founded) cloud your judgment.

Dahlin and Power both regularly make list on the Athletic. Tage is considered and talked about often. JJP is discussed as an emerging talent and will probably mentioned heavily in off season trade talks. Alex Tuch was much sought after at the deadline.

[JohnC]

2 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

Compared to what the hype was when he was drafted, he is nowhere near it (in my opinion). He is a top 10 defenseman for sure, but once again, it seems like he still has not reached that potential.

Sabres don't win he is not in the lineup. That's a reflection of how good and important he is to this team. 

[DarthEbriate]

This seems to come up in every GDT when they win lately, so I got curious and I'll put it here. I know they did make a couple really heroic charges to 8th-9th place back with Ruff/Regier, but if you make the playoffs those are meaningful wins because they generate playoff revenue.

We keep saying "they always finish strong" and win a bunch at the end. This narrative needs to stop. Here are the Sabres' records in their final 20 games of each season for the last 10 years. There hasn't been a single "run" since they tanked. I simplified it to combine all losses, but it's not like there was ever a 10-1-9 record in there.

2023-24   10-10
2022-23   10-10
2021-22   11-9   
2020-21   8-12
2019-20   8-12
2018-19   4-16
2017-18   7-13
2016-17   7-13
2015-16   10-10

This '24-25 season could be their first heroic charge -- from last in the East to... 3rd-to-last? They're currently 7-4 with 9 games remaining.

[CallawaySabres]

2 minutes ago, tom webster said:

I think you are letting your pessimism (well founded) cloud your judgment.

Dahlin and Power both regularly make list on the Athletic. Tage is considered and talked about often. JJP is discussed as an emerging talent and will probably mentioned heavily in off season trade talks. Alex Tuch was much sought after at the deadline.

I guess what I am getting at is that at least Eichel gave me a reason to see something special each and every night. This team, eh.

[Jorcus]

41 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Sabres don't win he is not in the lineup. That's a reflection of how good and important he is to this team. 

Dahlin is very important but I do remember when that was said about Samuelsson. Dahlin was not going to win us the Flyer game if UPL is not going to stop pucks. It's not just an if then logic. He certainly helps our chances but the Sabres don't win for other reasons as well.  

[Weave]

52 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

This seems to come up in every GDT when they win lately, so I got curious and I'll put it here. I know they did make a couple really heroic charges to 8th-9th place back with Ruff/Regier, but if you make the playoffs those are meaningful wins because they generate playoff revenue.

We keep saying "they always finish strong" and win a bunch at the end. This narrative needs to stop. Here are the Sabres' records in their final 20 games of each season for the last 10 years. There hasn't been a single "run" since they tanked. I simplified it to combine all losses, but it's not like there was ever a 10-1-9 record in there.

2023-24   10-10
2022-23   10-10
2021-22   11-9   
2020-21   8-12
2019-20   8-12
2018-19   4-16
2017-18   7-13
2016-17   7-13
2015-16   10-10

This '24-25 season could be their first heroic charge -- from last in the East to... 3rd-to-last? They're currently 7-4 with 9 games remaining.

Compared to early to mid season records, those might be considered runs, lol.

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 hour ago, DarthEbriate said:

This seems to come up in every GDT when they win lately, so I got curious and I'll put it here. I know they did make a couple really heroic charges to 8th-9th place back with Ruff/Regier, but if you make the playoffs those are meaningful wins because they generate playoff revenue.

We keep saying "they always finish strong" and win a bunch at the end. This narrative needs to stop. Here are the Sabres' records in their final 20 games of each season for the last 10 years. There hasn't been a single "run" since they tanked. I simplified it to combine all losses, but it's not like there was ever a 10-1-9 record in there.

2023-24   10-10
2022-23   10-10
2021-22   11-9   
2020-21   8-12
2019-20   8-12
2018-19   4-16
2017-18   7-13
2016-17   7-13
2015-16   10-10

This '24-25 season could be their first heroic charge -- from last in the East to... 3rd-to-last? They're currently 7-4 with 9 games remaining.

Interesting.  What were their points per game in the 1st 62 games vs the last 20?

[tom webster]

52 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

I guess what I am getting at is that at least Eichel gave me a reason to see something special each and every night. This team, eh.

I really think the same way about Rasmus and Tage. Eichel is special but so are these two. I know it’s hard when we’ve been beaten down like this but this team has some special offensive talent.

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, CallawaySabres said:

Compared to what the hype was when he was drafted, he is nowhere near it (in my opinion). He is a top 10 defenseman for sure, but once again, it seems like he still has not reached that potential.

Rasmus Dahlin is a top 5 defender in the league. If he wasn't playing with a defense full of scrubs and on a team with no identity, he would be in the Norris conversation. Several analytics types in the social media sphere routinely marvel at what Dahlin does compared to his shitastic team. Rasmus Dahlin is awesome but Adams built a defense around him that is sub-par at best and gave him a goalie who's near or at last in the league for starters in goals saved above expected. 

[Pimlach]

1 hour ago, CallawaySabres said:

I think we all know by now that Buffalo is consistently one of the worst teams in the NHL every single year. That alone will never get any headlines around the league. What I do find surprising is that there is not even a player on the team that is ever mentioned in the news either. Usually, on the worst teams in the NHL, there is at least a rising superstar that gains momentum as the team improves.

I think the tough part for fans is that there is no hope in the team overall, there is no highlight reel player to get you to watch, and there is absolutely ZERO identity to the team overall. I can't ever remember a Sabres team that was void in all 3 areas. This, to me, is why I see no hope in next year as well.

My hockey experience is that the perennial losers in any decade are losers because they have the worst roster, dig deeper and it points to the ownership.  Losing all the time means no media coverage.  The Sabres have Dahlin and Thompson, both get respect around the league but they play on a losing team so it only goes so far.  The Sabres biggest news every year usually involves the poor hockey deals they make, the static nature of their FO, and the woeful product that the fans have to endure.  

My hockey friends around the country always ask  "why doesn't Pegula just do with the Sabres what he did with the Bills?"   If only it was that simple.  

[Sidc3000]

In the grand scheme of things does it matter?  They’re going to gown down as elite players who won nothing.  
 

Adams/Pegula took advantage of their young, naive minds and convinced them that the Sabres were on the precipice of something special. That they (Rasmus and Tage) will go down in NHL history as the two players who brought the Sabres out of the abyss. Dahlin maybe realizing that he could have been duped. time will tell.  I blame their agents who are supposed to be the voice of reason. They should have never signed long term deals. That gave the management a lot of breathing room to try and make the team relevant. If they agreed to four or five year deal then the pressure would have been on management to create a winning team.
 

Both of their agents should be fired. 

[PromoTheRobot]

So irrelevant we carry on about it every day. 🙄

[DarthEbriate]

48 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Interesting.  What were their points per game in the 1st 62 games vs the last 20?

This is a better way to look at it, but the results still aren't all that rosy. A few good closes in bold.

 

2015-16 
P% Before:    92%
P% Last 20:  120%    

This is the Eichel rookie season and it's a dramatic improvement and we'd probably all agree it wasn't in vain at all (at the time). Eichel/Reinhart and the Byslmas system all coming together. Bright future. (120% is still only a 98-point pace -- so typically 3rd in your division and a road playoff series. It's good and relatively great for the Sabres, but not on fire.)

2016-17
P% Before:    100%
P% Last 20:    80%

2017-18
P% Before:   76%
P% Last 20:  75%

2018-19
P% Before:    106%
P% Last 20:   50%

2019-20
P% Before:   104%
P% Last 20:   85%

2020-21
P% Before:    56%
P% Last 20:    85% 

This is also great relatively, but note that the entire 18-game losing streak that got HCRK fired is in the first portion. 85% is a 70-point pace and they'd already locked up #1 lottery odds for Power. You could also argue that it's not in vain because Granato is the new coach and he's actually a hockey coach.

2021-22
P% Before:     81%
P% Last 20:   125%  

This was a run. 125% is only 102-point pace, so not hottest-team-in-the-league, but it was a legitimate strong finish.  (Nothing like STL this season, which is 16-3-3 since the start of February.)

22-23
P% Before:    101%
P% Last 20:   102%

23-24
P% Before:    100%
P% Last 20:   101%

24-25
P% Before:   87%
P% Last 20:     7-4   off to a great start, but plenty of time remaining

This year's 62nd game is the final game of the 6-game losing streak, so games 63-82 should be better when omitting 19 consecutive losses.

[PickaPecaPickles]

Yeah, I think this is more of a frustration thread/post (warranted of course).  I appreciate watching the Sabres play when it's a nationally televised game like TNT, as you get a totally different perspective on the discussion, not all negative.

[LabattBlue]

3 hours ago, JohnC said:

Dahlin is recognized all around the league to be an elite player. As the record shows, when he is not in the lineup, the team plummets even more than usual.  Dahlin's vast talents are not a secret to those who follow and are involved in the league. 

He is not elite.   Nope. 

[dudacek]

I struggle with the duality of the two conversations that go on here simultaneously and constantly cause friction when they collide:

The first is about plays and news and trends and analysis of things that are going on in and around Sabredom on a given day.

The second is about 14 consecutive years of dismal failure.

I get why most seem to focus on the latter; we all cope with negative situations as best we can and it’s good for people to have a place to vent. But personally, I find conversations like this tedious. I feel like it’s obvious, I’ve heard it all, I share the frustration, I rarely have something new to add and it does nothing but put me somewhere I don’t want to be.

I still very much enjoy the other conversation stream but it’s hard when it inevitably moves into “none of this matters because the Sabres suck”. It sucks the joy out of hockey talk. It sucks the joy out of a debate over the merits of the Cozens trade, Lindy Ruff’s coaching job, or an 8-5 road win over the league’s top team.

Now to be clear, blame for this rests primarily with the Sabres, not Sabrespace.

But for me, whatever else the Sabres are, they remain primarily a hobby, entertainment, something I do for fun. The same applies to Sabrespace.

I made a point this year to take the Sabres game by game. As a result they’ve generally made me happy 31 times and unhappy 42 times. Not a great ratio, but I find it better than being unhappy all the time.

Threads like this are not fun. They embody why I havent spent as much time around here this year and probably won’t be in the weeks to come.

Edited March 31 by dudacek

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, LabattBlue said:

He is not elite.   Nope. 

He is elite. Yep. 

[CallawaySabres]

I suppose threads like this work for me to voice how far the organization has fallen and that it is hard to believe that such a thing could ever happen to a fanbase as rabid as Buffalo is. I don't see an end in sight and maybe part of my hope is for someone who matters in the organization to catch wind of how deep the rot has travelled throughout the fanbase.

If this is Phoenix Arizona, that 's one thing, but to have an organization wither into nothing in a market like Buffalo? Pegula has stolen joy for 14 years and crushed a lot of great moments that could have been with kids who are now going off to college without ever see what an incredible experience a hockey game could be like in Buffalo.

I'm sorry, but the whole thing sucks.

[Weave]

2 hours ago, DarthEbriate said:

This is a better way to look at it, but the results still aren't all that rosy. A few good closes in bold.

 

2015-16 
P% Before:    92%
P% Last 20:  120%    

This is the Eichel rookie season and it's a dramatic improvement and we'd probably all agree it wasn't in vain at all (at the time). Eichel/Reinhart and the Byslmas system all coming together. Bright future. (120% is still only a 98-point pace -- so typically 3rd in your division and a road playoff series. It's good and relatively great for the Sabres, but not on fire.)

2016-17
P% Before:    100%
P% Last 20:    80%

2017-18
P% Before:   76%
P% Last 20:  75%

2018-19
P% Before:    106%
P% Last 20:   50%

2019-20
P% Before:   104%
P% Last 20:   85%

2020-21
P% Before:    56%
P% Last 20:    85% 

This is also great relatively, but note that the entire 18-game losing streak that got HCRK fired is in the first portion. 85% is a 70-point pace and they'd already locked up #1 lottery odds for Power. You could also argue that it's not in vain because Granato is the new coach and he's actually a hockey coach.

2021-22
P% Before:     81%
P% Last 20:   125%  

This was a run. 125% is only 102-point pace, so not hottest-team-in-the-league, but it was a legitimate strong finish.  (Nothing like STL this season, which is 16-3-3 since the start of February.)

22-23
P% Before:    101%
P% Last 20:   102%

23-24
P% Before:    100%
P% Last 20:   101%

24-25
P% Before:   87%
P% Last 20:     7-4   off to a great start, but plenty of time remaining

This year's 62nd game is the final game of the 6-game losing streak, so games 63-82 should be better when omitting 19 consecutive losses.

Ok looking like 3 of the last 5 years they made a run.  I didn’t think it was an Adams era thing, but maybe it is.

[Thorny]

5 hours ago, DarthEbriate said:

This seems to come up in every GDT when they win lately, so I got curious and I'll put it here. I know they did make a couple really heroic charges to 8th-9th place back with Ruff/Regier, but if you make the playoffs those are meaningful wins because they generate playoff revenue.

We keep saying "they always finish strong" and win a bunch at the end. This narrative needs to stop. Here are the Sabres' records in their final 20 games of each season for the last 10 years. There hasn't been a single "run" since they tanked. I simplified it to combine all losses, but it's not like there was ever a 10-1-9 record in there.

2023-24   10-10
2022-23   10-10
2021-22   11-9   
2020-21   8-12
2019-20   8-12
2018-19   4-16
2017-18   7-13
2016-17   7-13
2015-16   10-10

This '24-25 season could be their first heroic charge -- from last in the East to... 3rd-to-last? They're currently 7-4 with 9 games remaining.

Exactly lol

it always seems like a heroic charge because relative to the rest of the season going 500 for a stretch feels amazing to everyone 

5 hours ago, CallawaySabres said:

I guess what I am getting at is that at least Eichel gave me a reason to see something special each and every night. This team, eh.

I love Dahlin but Tage does nothing for me as the lead scoring dog, fwiw

[mjd1001]

2 hours ago, LabattBlue said:

He is not elite.   Nope. 

I think Dahlin is borderline elite. If you want me to say is he or isn't he i'd say yes.  That doesn't mean he is perfect.

To me, this team truly has 3 top players. Dahlin is an almost-elite or elite D-man. Tuch is one of the most well rounded forwards in the entire league (no real weaknesses, a lot of ways he is very good) and Tage is an elite goal scorer.  

Beyond that this team is filled with a bunch of 'might be good eventually', 'is only here because no one else would pay them' or 'may have a role' guys.