The Buffalo Sabres have officially been eliminated for the 14th season

[Sidc3000]

I think I’m more angry at this team than I ever have been. This was the season they were supposed to make it. Just about every other team in the conference literally tried to will it by playing so bad. The last time it was this low or lower was the 90’s. It’s mind boggling.  
 

F*ck this team.

[HOUSE]

10 minutes ago, Sidc3000 said:

I think I’m more angry at this team than I ever have been. This was the season they were supposed to make it. Just about every other team in the conference literally tried to will it by playing so bad. The last time it was this low or lower was the 90’s. It’s mind boggling.  
 

F*ck this team.

Next year will be different 

[LGR4GM]

7 hours ago, Andrew Amerk said:

UPL is not the problem. 

From Dec. 30 until the end of the last season, he registered a 21-14-2 mark with a 2.30 goals-against average, a .918 save percentage and four shutouts in 37 games.

Just like when the board was screaming to get rid of Linus, and I was trying to say he was a good goalie on a bad team. It’s the same with UPL. 

I feel like part of this is Sabres fans that got spoiled with Hasek. He stole games and got teams into the playoffs that shouldn’t have been there. Hasek was a unicorn. UPL and Linus are not Hasek. Nobody ever will be. 

UPL is a good goalie - fix the leadership and improve the rest of the roster. 

Ullmark had and continues to have better numbers than UPL. 

UPL isn't good enough. He's not a good goalie and one 20 game stretch in 3 yrs doesn't make him one. 

6 hours ago, sabremike said:

Lindy's system is absolute death on goalies, ask the Stars and Devils fans and they'll tell you exactly that.

The entire coaching staff should be fired but the late winning will convince Adams not to do anything. Because Adams is not smart and he's easily influenced by recency bias. 

Also UPL isn't good. 

[Weave]

40 minutes ago, HOUSE said:

Next year will be different 

And the same.

[SouthernSabre]

8 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Congratulations to everyone who dreamt of this day. Your hard work, determination and commitment to negativity finally paid off. 

Love it!!

[SwampD]

 

[Pimlach]

8 hours ago, Andrew Amerk said:

UPL is not the problem. 

From Dec. 30 until the end of the last season, he registered a 21-14-2 mark with a 2.30 goals-against average, a .918 save percentage and four shutouts in 37 games.

Just like when the board was screaming to get rid of Linus, and I was trying to say he was a good goalie on a bad team. It’s the same with UPL. 

I feel like part of this is Sabres fans that got spoiled with Hasek. He stole games and got teams into the playoffs that shouldn’t have been there. Hasek was a unicorn. UPL and Linus are not Hasek. Nobody ever will be. 

UPL is a good goalie - fix the leadership and improve the rest of the roster. 

UPL was not the whole problem, but he has completely melted down during this late season stretch.  Right now his game is in shambles and he has no confidence.   His positioning is bad, he looks lost.  

He had a great November.  He was less consistent in December/January and he couldn’t carry them with Dahlin out.  Neither could Reimer for that matter.  
 

Currently he looks like the old UPL, the pre 2024 guy.   They need to sign a goalie but I expect we see the same two goalies back plus Levi making another push.  It’s Adams after all. 

[WhenWillItEnd66]

After another disappointing no playoff year, i see a definitive brighter future for this team. We have seen runs at the end of seasons but this one definitely looks a bit different. Chemistry is definitely being generated by the different lines as we move along which is something that took forever to develop this year. Here lies the problem though..... 3 players that are injured will be starters next year. Not to mention whatever token move KA makes (You all know he is not going anywhere) if going to affect the lineup. This team still needs a defensive RHD and a net front offensive presence.  Watching the kids growing up and playing more responsible will definitely benefit the team as well. JBD is looking like he may be a decent addition to the backend as well! Adams needs to trade some assets and finish the damn job!  

[Gatorman0519]

Don’t let the late season run fool you. This team is nowhere near a playoff team let alone contender. Adams will survive again. 

[dudacek]

According to Fairburn, this is one of 4 times in the past 14 years the Sabres have recorded 10 wins in 13 games.

[LabattBlue]

SELL THE TEAM!!

[Archie Lee]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Ullmark had and continues to have better numbers than UPL. 

UPL isn't good enough. He's not a good goalie and one 20 game stretch in 3 yrs doesn't make him one. 

The entire coaching staff should be fired but the late winning will convince Adams not to do anything. Because Adams is not smart and he's easily influenced by recency bias. 

Also UPL isn't good. 

UPL has not been consistently good in his pro-career.  I think it is fair to say that we can't simply rely on him bouncing back to a 23-24 level performance. In another thread you summed up my view on Ruff and goalies.  I'm not going to get the precise wording, but to paraphrase you said:  While it isn't clear if the goalies Ruff has had post-Miller are actually any good, what is clear is that Ruff's system does not help goalies. 

It is highly unlikely that we are going to trade for one of the 7-8 goalies in the league who are good year after year after year.  Whether UPL is back or not, we almost certainly will be rolling into next year with two goalies on the roster whose careers have been, at best, somewhat up and down. Ruff's post-Miller history as a head coach would support that it is unlikely to go well. 

[Pimlach]

4 hours ago, HOUSE said:

IF The Sabres just didn't play like s*** in October November December January February 

 

MARCH 

 

It's just like last season

I D E N T I C A L !!

[LabattBlue]

I’ll be honest, I haven’t watched more than a few minutes of any game since before Christmas. Is this cute little run more Reimer playing out of his mind, or is the team actually looking much better?

[Doohickie]

3 hours ago, HOUSE said:

Next year will be different 

And the check is in the mail.

And I won't **** ** **** *****.

Lies.  All of them.

[OverPowerYou]

6 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

I’ll be honest, I haven’t watched more than a few minutes of any game since before Christmas. Is this cute little run more Reimer playing out of his mind, or is the team actually looking much better?

I usually watch about 5 minutes of the 2nd and 3rd period of games. That’s about all I can handle 

[Doohickie]

4 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:

I’ll be honest, I haven’t watched more than a few minutes of any game since before Christmas. Is this cute little run more Reimer playing out of his mind, or is the team actually looking much better?

Last night was actually a pretty good effort by the Sabres against a top team.  Yes, Reimer makes a difference but in this last run they've been playing better.

One thing that stood out to me is it seems like the team is much more conscious of the blue line when entering the zone; notably few "careless" off sides calls.  The attention to detail seems to be different from earlier in the season.  If I thought that would carry over to October I'd be happy but we've read this book before and we know how it goes.

[CallawaySabres]

March and April are never the time to judge bad hockey teams. When October hits and teams need to get off to a fast start, Buffalo will be facing starting goalies, intensity will be higher, and our true colors will be revealed once again. These guys need to figure out what changes need to be done in order to survive the first half of the season while sticking in the top 8.

Florida, Toronto and Tampa will obviously be above them next year so once again, their goal has to be the 7/8 seed.

[JoeSchmoe]

10 hours ago, Andrew Amerk said:

UPL is not the problem. 

From Dec. 30 until the end of the last season, he registered a 21-14-2 mark with a 2.30 goals-against average, a .918 save percentage and four shutouts in 37 games.

Just like when the board was screaming to get rid of Linus, and I was trying to say he was a good goalie on a bad team. It’s the same with UPL. 

I feel like part of this is Sabres fans that got spoiled with Hasek. He stole games and got teams into the playoffs that shouldn’t have been there. Hasek was a unicorn. UPL and Linus are not Hasek. Nobody ever will be. 

UPL is a good goalie - fix the leadership and improve the rest of the roster. 

Classic case of telling me you're not watching the games without telling me you're not watching the games!

[JP51]

1 hour ago, Gatorman0519 said:

Don’t let the late season run fool you. This team is nowhere near a playoff team let alone contender. Adams will survive again. 

agreed... another year of adams running it back, no playoffs and bad trades... the hole gets deeper.

[PerreaultForever]

So really, the start of the year everyone everywhere was like Detroit, Ottawa, Buffalo, at least one of these three is set to step up and which one will it be? Some gave Columbus an outside shot and the Rags were expected to be in it but that final spot was there for one of Detroit, Ottawa, Buffalo. Ottawa got it. Montreal is the shocker and likewise the fall of the Rags (Bruins fall was overdue and expected. Just a question of how far and how fast).

So what's the difference? It's Ullmark. Ottawa isn't "better". We are just as good and beat them consistently but Ullmark stole games for them this year. He had several hot streaks and they won many games close that they had no business winning. Put Ullmark on Detroit and they are definitely in. Their goaltending was worse than ours. But Ottawa two years running now saw their biggest flaw and tried to fix it. First they tried with the guy available Korpisalo. That failed so they traded for Ullmark. They made the necessary moves. 

Adams? He failed to keep Ullmark. He ran with rookies and old cast offs. Our failure is totally on ADAMS. There is no organization in hockey that would let him keep his job for botching that except the Sabres, and that's your central problem. 

[Wyldnwoody44]

Hang the Banner. 

 

"NHL record 14th year of missing the playoffs" 

[HumanSlinky39]

If we didn't go a full calendar month without a win...

[Thorner]

15 hours ago, Kristian said:

Yup. Lindy is the one who was spoiled by Hasek, not this board.

If it’s true about Lindy’s system, hasek is literally indisputably the best ever. Not that I wasn’t already saying it 

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, Thorner said:

If it’s true about Lindy’s system, hasek is literally indisputably the best ever. Not that I wasn’t already saying it 

So ultimately, Adams not signing Ullmark leads to all of this. That's the biggest mistake. So why on earth does he still have a job???