Saw this



This season through 39gms -> 15-20-4 (34 points).
Last season through 39gms -> 14-22-3 (31 points).


- gerbe75pts

Dont forget we had that december panic when we won like 6 out of 7. Also, it's highly unlikely we go 0 for 12. Then again, seems like this time around we don't need to be that bad to stay at the bottom.

Saw this



This season through 39gms -> 15-20-4 (34 points).
Last season through 39gms -> 14-22-3 (31 points).


- gerbe75pts

The tank was accomplished in January.

Now that were practically at the halfway point we can talk about the truth about the Sabres this year and why they aren't better:

This isn't a youth issue. This isn't "We were 30th last year so 28th is an improvement". This has nothing to do with a trajectory towards being a Stanley Cup competitor. This is a dead weight issue.

Brian Gionta, Matt Moulson, Tennis, Deslauriers, Girgensons, Foligno, Larsson, are on pace for a combined 6.5 goals each(roughly adjusted) this season. That is supremely pathetic for players paid to play offense.

Sure you can argue that come of those guys have value outside of scoring. Deslauriers can fight, Larsson can be fiesty, Girgensons is still young. But at the end of the day you can only carry so many guys who bring "intangibles" when you have so many other guys like Moulson, Gionta, Ennis and such flat out poopting the bed. Unfortunately this isn't about Reinhart or Eichel "learning the game", this is about a poorly built, poorly performing team, who is flushing a potentially meaningfull(somewhat) season down the drain. The blame falls on the GM and coaching right now.

Now that were practically at the halfway point we can talk about the truth about the Sabres this year and why they aren't better:

This isn't a youth issue. This isn't "We were 30th last year so 28th is an improvement". This has nothing to do with a trajectory towards being a Stanley Cup competitor. This is a dead weight issue.

Brian Gionta, Matt Moulson, Tennis, Deslauriers, Girgensons, Foligno, Larsson, are on pace for a combined 6.5 goals each(roughly adjusted) this season. That is supremely pathetic for players paid to play offense.

Sure you can argue that come of those guys have value outside of scoring. Deslauriers can fight, Larsson can be fiesty, Girgensons is still young. But at the end of the day you can only carry so many guys who bring "intangibles" when you have so many other guys like Moulson, Gionta, Ennis and such flat out poopting the bed. Unfortunately this isn't about Reinhart or Eichel "learning the game", this is about a poorly built, poorly performing team, who is flushing a potentially meaningfull(somewhat) season down the drain. The blame falls on the GM and coaching right now.
- Buffalo--Sabres

this is a well thought out assessment

i dont know if i would put the blame on murrays shoulders like you have stated...at the time we signed both moulson and gionta, it must almost a must sign kind of thing. Moulson was the only free agent who could score goals that wanted to be here, gionta was a veteran locker room guy that wanted to be here because it was close to home. Theres multiple factors but in the long run we will get better next year by dropping some "dead weight" hopefully.

Now that were practically at the halfway point we can talk about the truth about the Sabres this year and why they aren't better:

This isn't a youth issue. This isn't "We were 30th last year so 28th is an improvement". This has nothing to do with a trajectory towards being a Stanley Cup competitor. This is a dead weight issue.

Brian Gionta, Matt Moulson, Tennis, Deslauriers, Girgensons, Foligno, Larsson, are on pace for a combined 6.5 goals each(roughly adjusted) this season. That is supremely pathetic for players paid to play offense.

Sure you can argue that come of those guys have value outside of scoring. Deslauriers can fight, Larsson can be fiesty, Girgensons is still young. But at the end of the day you can only carry so many guys who bring "intangibles" when you have so many other guys like Moulson, Gionta, Ennis and such flat out poopting the bed. Unfortunately this isn't about Reinhart or Eichel "learning the game", this is about a poorly built, poorly performing team, who is flushing a potentially meaningfull(somewhat) season down the drain. The blame falls on the GM and coaching right now.
- Buffalo--Sabres

This team is so much better than the one they iced over the last two years its actually quite unbelievable. Sure it doesn't show in the standings but honestly what did you expect the results to be? This is exactly how i thought it would play out, vastly improved team that will finish in the bottom 5 in the league.

We have a new coaching staff, half the roster is new and we have a lot of young talent. It takes time for everything to come together, if at this time next year we are sitting in 29th I think there is reason for concern but IMO, this was to be expected and I am not disappointed in the product on the ice as I see us moving in the right direction.

Like it or not you can't get rid of the dead weight in a single off season due to the fact that there is a minimum number you need to spend to get to the cap and we had to give guys inflated contracts just to get to that number during the two years we torn this thing down. Could we have given guys like Gionta and Moulson less length on their contracts, sure but that just didn't happen.

This team is so much better than the one they iced over the last two years its actually quite unbelievable. Sure it doesn't show in the standings but honestly what did you expect the results to be? This is exactly how i thought it would play out, vastly improved team that will finish in the bottom 5 in the league.

We have a new coaching staff, half the roster is new and we have a lot of young talent. It takes time for everything to come together, if at this time next year we are sitting in 29th I think there is reason for concern but IMO, this was to be expected and I am not disappointed in the product on the ice as I see us moving in the right direction.

Like it or not you can't get rid of the dead weight in a single off season due to the fact that there is a minimum number you need to spend to get to the cap and we had to give guys inflated contracts just to get to that number during the two years we torn this thing down. Could we have given guys like Gionta and Moulson less length on their contracts, sure but that just didn't happen.
- BigStew

Yeah, we needed to get to the floor, and those were the best deals those guys were going to get. I agree those two are playing very badly this year, but honestly guys, not you Stew, what would you have Murray do right now? Be realistic. You can't just say buy them out, that's a non-starter. Nobody is going to trade for them. We'd have to eat 80% of their salary and even then I doubt someone would take a flyer on one of them unless they had massive injury problems, and then there are much cheaper options. Like it or not they're here at least until the end of the season and probably next too.

As far as "not being good enough". I'm sorry, but are you (frank)ing kidding me? This team may as well have been in 40th place the last two years they were so bad, the fact that in only 39 games after all those changes we're actually ahead of teams and in the top half in some areas, to me is nothing short of miraculous. As has been said before, this is not an EA Sports game where you sign guys and your team is better. That's not how real life works. Did you even read the blog yesterday? The Sabres are -14 in goal differential so far. Not great numbers, but better than 7 other teams. Last year at this time they were minus fifty (frank)ing two!!! They were being outscored by an average of 1.5 goals per game. This year it's only .19 goals per game(basing off of yesterday's numbers since I'm too lazy to do the math, and I'm just copying Pach's numbers). That is massive improvement no matter how you want to slice it. Just because you had wildly fantastical expectations for the team this year doesn't make them worse. The GM himself said this is far from a playoff team, we're just trying to get a little better everyday. In order to win you first have to be competitive. The Sabres are competitive now for the first time in 3 years. It's going to take a while to learn how to win these close games like today. Sure we could use some better goaltending, but it's certainly not all on Johnson and Ullmark. Johnson, who's never played this much in his entire career is playing beyond most people's wildest expectations, and Ullmark, coming back early from double-hip surgery, playing his first games on North American ice and not looking totally lost is fantastic. This team will continue to improve. Ugh. Rant over.

You need to get in touch with reality . This is not dreamland . NHL is number four in America. You like hockey because you grew up on the border . Do you think even 10 % of America has a passion for hockey like you? Kid ,nice dream. If you brought Mr Matthews or Mr Eichels name up in Alabama , Louisiana, Arkansas , Georgia to name a few . Would folks recognize them . Great dream . But a long way from Happening . I would be happy if we could fill an arena in Phoenix or Miami
- Maximum Signal

Yea but to be fair we have more people in just the states that border Canada than Canada as a whole. So if Michigan, Mass, NY, Illinois, Pen, Ohio, Conn, Min gain even more interest in the development of the sport for minors it could easily take over. We really don't need states like Alabama to even know what hockey is.

Saw this



This season through 39gms -> 15-20-4 (34 points).
Last season through 39gms -> 14-22-3 (31 points).


- gerbe75pts

Thank your GM that everyone slobbered all over his knob and the coach he hired.

Much more talent on this roster (allegedly) and there is only a 3 point difference from last years roster?

If this continues again this year, that beady eyed little douche and Bylsma should be on the hot seat, or at least I hope they would be.

Speaking as a hardcore aging fan that isn't getting any younger, I am fvcking tired of hearing about next year especially when I am not seeing improvement from the year prior !!!

I'd bet my life that Ted Nolan would have this team sitting with more points than 31 right now, perhaps even over a .500 winning %.

Fvcking sick of hearing about next year from the Sabres, Bills and the Indians.

I was certainly born in the wrong city when it comes to enjoying my "sports life".

"Just one before I die" please, "just one before I die" seems to be getting further away rather than closer and its beyond fvcking annoying now!

Unfortunately this isn't about Reinhart or Eichel "learning the game", this is about a poorly built, poorly performing team, who is flushing a potentially meaningfull(somewhat) season down the drain. The blame falls on the GM and coaching right now.
- Buffalo--Sabres

This is 100% accurate.

Now that were practically at the halfway point we can talk about the truth about the Sabres this year and why they aren't better:

This isn't a youth issue. This isn't "We were 30th last year so 28th is an improvement". This has nothing to do with a trajectory towards being a Stanley Cup competitor. This is a dead weight issue.

Brian Gionta, Matt Moulson, Tennis, Deslauriers, Girgensons, Foligno, Larsson, are on pace for a combined 6.5 goals each(roughly adjusted) this season. That is supremely pathetic for players paid to play offense.

Sure you can argue that come of those guys have value outside of scoring. Deslauriers can fight, Larsson can be fiesty, Girgensons is still young. But at the end of the day you can only carry so many guys who bring "intangibles" when you have so many other guys like Moulson, Gionta, Ennis and such flat out poopting the bed. Unfortunately this isn't about Reinhart or Eichel "learning the game", this is about a poorly built, poorly performing team, who is flushing a potentially meaningfull(somewhat) season down the drain. The blame falls on the GM and coaching right now.
- Buffalo--Sabres

Two things I'll say to this.

One is I never thought this would be a meaningful season outside of seeing the important young players develop and get better. I had less than zero expectations when it came to a record the team would have at the end of the season.

Two is I have to think the names listed won't have 7 total goals each by the end of the season. I just can't imagine that'll be the case.

Two things I'll say to this.

One is I never thought this would be a meaningful season outside of seeing the important young players develop and get better. I had less than zero expectations when it came to a record the team would have at the end of the season.

Two is I have to think the names listed won't have a combined 7 total goals between them by the end of the season. I just can't imagine that'll be the case.
- kingcong39

Rome was beautiful the day after they started building it, I still can't believe they did all that in one afternoon!

Time to start calling out Bylsma if one believes players are playing way below their historical average. GMTM needs to stay the course IMO. Let's not make knee jerk reactions. The dead weight will be purged in due time...just not completely in one season...the young wingers in Rochester need the proper time to season their game.... It is up to Bylsma to start getting more from his players...maybe they could bring back The Motivator Extraodinaire Teddy Nolan for a couple games ... have him just coach the line of Larson, Moulson, Gionta ... He worked magic with them last year!
Seriously though, Bylsma needs to figure out a way to get the secondary scoring to kick in, along with a more productive PP....that is the coaches responsibility to get it from guys who have done it before.

Thank your GM that everyone slobbered all over his knob and the coach he hired.

Much more talent on this roster (allegedly) and there is only a 3 point difference from last years roster?

If this continues again this year, that beady eyed little douche and Bylsma should be on the hot seat, or at least I hope they would be.

Speaking as a hardcore aging fan that isn't getting any younger, I am fvcking tired of hearing about next year especially when I am not seeing improvement from the year prior !!!

I'd bet my life that Ted Nolan would have this team sitting with more points than 31 right now, perhaps even over a .500 winning %.

Fvcking sick of hearing about next year from the Sabres, Bills and the Indians.

I was certainly born in the wrong city when it comes to enjoying my "sports life".

"Just one before I die" please, "just one before I die" seems to be getting further away rather than closer and its beyond fvcking annoying now!
- BuffaloHardHat

I never cared for the Bylsma hire but I didn't think he'd be this bad. I just see a guy who does nothing and says even less. His comments yesterday "I can't beleive we aren't higher in the standings". Really Dan? No poop.

So much for creating a winning culture.

This year's team has O'Reilly, Eichel, Reinhart, Pysyk, McCabe, Franson, McGinn, Kane all added to the roster to replace players like Hodgson, Meszaros, Benoit, Torrey Mitchel, Dalpe, Flynn.

I think the big difference has been in goal. Last year we were getting outstanding goaltending performances from Enroth and Neuvirth, they stole us a lot of games.

Neuvirth now leads the league in Save Percentage.

Is the rumor that Lehner showed up to camp 40 lbs overweight true?

I never cared for the Bylsma hire but I didn't think he'd be this bad. I just see a guy who does nothing and says even less. His comments yesterday "I can't beleive we aren't higher in the standings". Really Dan? No poop.
- Buffalo--Sabres

The man has no fire.

Or if he does, it is very little.

When it comes to "beady eyed little douche" -Murray's trades IMO have straight up sucked!

Talked to my older brother last night about this also, "the Lehner trade", in particular.

If Lehner comes in and shats the bed the way I think he is going to, Murray should be in very hot water for trading away another first round pick for straight up garbage in one of the deepest drafts in recent memory.
His trades in TOTALITY have not improved this team and he should be held accountable for it.
Darcy's Phoenix Coyotes are 18-16-4 good for 2nd place in the Pacific division.
Let that sink in for a little bit.

edit : Murray's shouts to the world that he had a man crush on Evander Kane and has wanted him on his team ever since he first watched him tells me all I need to know about this douchebags eye for talent.
He will be fired before long as I said when he was hired and many of you wanted to anoint him as some kind of Guru.
I knew better.

Murray talks a big game.
Big game , small penis.

So much for creating a winning culture.

This year's team has O'Reilly, Eichel, Reinhart, Pysyk, McCabe, Franson, McGinn, Kane all added to the roster to replace players like Hodgson, Meszaros, Benoit, Torrey Mitchel, Dalpe, Flynn.

I think the big difference has been in goal. Last year we were getting outstanding goaltending performances from Enroth and Neuvirth, they stole us a lot of games.

Neuvirth now leads the league in Save Percentage.

Is the rumor that Lehner showed up to camp 40 lbs overweight true?
- SabresPanacea

You're right. Neuvirth stole quite a few games last year, and Teddy squeezed whatever glory he could from as many wins as he could, and would have squeezed more if he could.

And because of it, even after GMTM was forced to get rid of Neuvirth, it took through the last week of the season the clinch McEichel.

Who would you rather rebuild around: Neuvirth, or Jack?

This team is so much better than the one they iced over the last two years its actually quite unbelievable. Sure it doesn't show in the standings but honestly what did you expect the results to be? This is exactly how i thought it would play out, vastly improved team that will finish in the bottom 5 in the league.

We have a new coaching staff, half the roster is new and we have a lot of young talent. It takes time for everything to come together, if at this time next year we are sitting in 29th I think there is reason for concern but IMO, this was to be expected and I am not disappointed in the product on the ice as I see us moving in the right direction.

Like it or not you can't get rid of the dead weight in a single off season due to the fact that there is a minimum number you need to spend to get to the cap and we had to give guys inflated contracts just to get to that number during the two years we torn this thing down. Could we have given guys like Gionta and Moulson less length on their contracts, sure but that just didn't happen.
- BigStew

You completely ignored the point of my post. Just because they are higher in the standings(not to mention two spots and 3 points is pathetic) doesn't mean we get to apply a blanket, excuse laden narrative over everything.

Yes they did ice a better team, kind of. Actually they may have iced a worse one when you consider O'Reilly, Eichel and Reinhart are all playing pretty well. It takes a lot of poopty play to undo what they are accomplishing out there.

The man has no fire.

Or if he does, it is very little.

When it comes to "beady eyed little douche" -Murray's trades IMO have straight up sucked!

Talked to my older brother last night about this also, "the Lehner trade", in particular.

If Lehner comes in and shats the bed the way I think he is going to, Murray should be in very hot water for trading away another first round pick for straight up garbage in one of the deepest drafts in recent memory.
His trades in TOTALITY have not improved this team and he should be held accountable for it.
Darcy's Phoenix Coyotes are 18-16-4 good for 2nd place in the Pacific division.
Let that sink in for a little bit.

edit : Murray's shouts to the world that he had a man crush on Evander Kane and has wanted him on his team ever since he first watched him tells me all I need to know about this douchebags eye for talent.
He will be fired before long as I said when he was hired and many of you wanted to anoint him as some kind of Guru.
I knew better.

Murray talks a big game.
Big game , small penis.
- BuffaloHardHat

Think about the guys Murray brought in to mentor our future core in Eichel and Reinhart. A coked out goalie who shows up to camp out of shape and gets hurt in 20 minutes(after getting routinely lit up in pre-season), a guy who drove drunk into a Timmy Hoes, a guy under investigation for some sec thing. Eichels mentor in Moulsom who completely forgot how to play nhl hockey.

While I beleive O'Reilly's indiscretion can be overlooked, the bigger picture wreaks of problems.

If you haven't watched espns 30 for 30 doc 'the 4 falls of Buffalo", Based on the bills 4 straight super bowl runs; do yourself a favour and watch it

Pretty great
- HB77

Lived it, don't need to go through that misery again. I'm sure ESPN did a great job though.

You're right. Neuvirth stole quite a few games last year, and Teddy squeezed whatever glory he could from as many wins as he could, and would have squeezed more if he could.

And because of it, even after GMTM was forced to get rid of Neuvirth, it took through the last week of the season the clinch McEichel.

Who would you rather rebuild around: Neuvirth, or Jack?
- Der Kaiser

Definitely Eichel. He is awesome. I am not critical of the Neuvirth trade, I don't include the goalie trades for poor returns when I list the trades Murray has made that I disagree with. I understand why they did it.

I was just trying to explain why we are not better in regards to points over last year.

I know we are in hard times now, and will be until we get a few more pieces and figure out goaltending. But I think the way Eichel is playing, like the generational talent we expected, Reinhart living up to his draft status and Ristolainen becoming an offensive juggernaut from the blue line, we are in for some very good times ahead, just not there yet.

The man has no fire.

Or if he does, it is very little.

When it comes to "beady eyed little douche" -Murray's trades IMO have straight up sucked!

Talked to my older brother last night about this also, "the Lehner trade", in particular.

If Lehner comes in and shats the bed the way I think he is going to, Murray should be in very hot water for trading away another first round pick for straight up garbage in one of the deepest drafts in recent memory.
His trades in TOTALITY have not improved this team and he should be held accountable for it.
Darcy's Phoenix Coyotes are 18-16-4 good for 2nd place in the Pacific division.
Let that sink in for a little bit.

Murray talks a big game.
Big game , small penis.
- BuffaloHardHat

Why do you keep saying this was one of the deepest drafts in history? The 2012 draft and the 2013 draft were deeper.

Its more about the big picture than it is about winning games this season. If that makes any sense. Werent you sick of limping in the playoffs only to be knocked out by a team with dominant players? We are putting together a core of young players that ,one can argue, are dominant in their own right. Yeah were not winning games this season but we are competitive and you can see that our future core all stand out gor the good. We have dead weight on this team and a few holes. The dead weight was a necessary evil. Just be patient. i agree that the lehrner trade was pretty awful but i do like his pedigree.

Think about the guys Murray brought in to mentor our future core in Eichel and Reinhart. A coked out goalie who shows up to camp out of shape and gets hurt in 20 minutes(after getting routinely lit up in pre-season), a guy who drove drunk into a Timmy Hoes, a guy under investigation for some sec thing. Eichels mentor in Moulsom who completely forgot how to play nhl hockey.

While I beleive O'Reilly's indiscretion can be overlooked, the bigger picture wreaks of problems.
- Buffalo--Sabres

B-S, I am so with you, trust me on that!

Muray never wooed me, takes a lot to woo a man like me.

You need to show me before I respect you.

What he has shown me is that my initial instinct with him was that he was a "beady eyed little douche" , and that seems to be pretty fvcking accurate at this point.

I've met a lot of men like him, especially in my field, "that talk a big game" .
Then I put them to the test and within 1 hour the stench of failure fills my job site and I am sending them back to the Union hall and back to the "out of work list" where they belong.

Murray is "that guy" to me at least until he proves me wrong and earns my respect and for me to think differently of him.

If McCabe and Pysyk continue to improve, Guhle turns into a top four d, we get a high pick in this years draft to address scoring winger, and Lehner or Ulmark turns into a staring goaltender, then we are only a few tweaks away from being a really good team.

I have no problem taking the rest of the year

Just like last year was the right year to tank for a center this year's the right year to tank for a winger

Why do you keep saying this was one of the deepest drafts in history? The 2012 draft and the 2013 draft were deeper.

Its more about the big picture than it is about winning games this season. If that makes any sense. Werent you sick of limping in the playoffs only to be knocked out by a team with dominant players? We are putting together a core of young players that ,one can argue, are dominant in their own right. Yeah were not winning games this season but we are competitive and you can see that our future core all stand out gor the good. We have dead weight on this team and a few holes. The dead weight was a necessary evil. Just be patient. i agree that the lehrner trade was pretty awful but i do like his pedigree.
- joshs

We are 3 points better than last season with all of douche bag Murray's moves.

He sucks!

Sorry, for me, i'd rather be the Phoenix Coyotes right now.

I'd love to have a fvcking winning record for once and having serious thoughts about a playoff series and not just pipe dreams about them.

They have some young talent there right now as well, Domi is no slouch.