I never expect a big splash with this team.
- PrinceChill

Usually 3 splashes, followed by some bubbles.

if the play was good, effort was good perhaps

this slide should be giving both reason for concern
- homiedclown

But but but the injuries! 🙄

Usually 3 splashes, followed by some bubbles.
- IonSabres

Or one splash, followed by a flush?

if the play was good, effort was good perhaps

this slide should be giving both reason for concern
- homiedclown

The players seemed to all really buy in to what Krueger was saying, and they got off to a good start. Maybe teams at first were expecting last year's Sabres, and weren't ready for them. Now they have some tape to study and have adjusted. Are they just struggling to adjust to the opponent's adjustments, or do they just give up when facing adversity? It seems awful quick for Ralph's message to be going stale.
What could be the reason(s) for the poor effort that you are seeing?
Is this just a bump in the road that they learn from and are better for it? I could say things like, still kind of early in season, still learning Ralph's way, still coming together...etc, etc. But lack of effort makes all that moot, and is the one thing that is totally unacceptable.

still hear looking to shed a little salary for picks/prospects

right now dont expect a big splash
- homiedclown

Scandella Or e rod seem like good candidates for that.

When bogo comes back, the Sabres cap which is already a hot mess. Will be even worse

It's really obvious why this team is bad. They don't protect possession of the puck. The most basic example is when they have played a long defensive shift, every single time a forward gains the red line, dumps it in, and everyone changes. What actual NHL teams do is gain centre ice, throw it back to a defenseman who calmly waits behind his net or plays catch with his partner, and in 5 seconds you have fresh forwards AND the puck.

Similarly, they dump and chase like its 2003. Nobody does this anymore who is any good.

While I'm not the biggest faceoffs guy, they can't win those either so it's just another category they don't have possession in.

When they get in the zone finally, everyone is too quick to try to make the 'elite' pass, which is 9/10 a turnover. Blindly centering the puck is a turnover. It's much better to work it around with obvious safe passes and take a medium quality chance, than to just fire the puck into the slot blindly and hope for the best.

All of this except faceoffs is on the coach, who hasn't been in the league for some time, and it really shows.

Could the time be coming for a shake-up?
From the Sabres perspective I would submit that the time is entering the over-ripe phase.
But it takes two, sometimes three parties to make a trade.

Toronto is in its' own mess as we speak, way underperforming what most would have expected this far. Barrie is rumored to have expressed displeasure with his situation already, could he Express a trade request soon?
Calgary is also suffering, and fans sound alot like those in Saberland.

Seems like activity should be heating up soon as the season nears Thanksgiving.

Josh Allen had 5/7 of his 2019 INTs in 2 games.

Good boy.

It's really obvious why this team is bad. They don't protect possession of the puck. The most basic example is when they have played a long defensive shift, every single time a forward gains the red line, dumps it in, and everyone changes. What actual NHL teams do is gain centre ice, throw it back to a defenseman who calmly waits behind his net or plays catch with his partner, and in 5 seconds you have fresh forwards AND the puck.

Similarly, they dump and chase like its 2003. Nobody does this anymore who is any good.

While I'm not the biggest faceoffs guy, they can't win those either so it's just another category they don't have possession in.

When they get in the zone finally, everyone is too quick to try to make the 'elite' pass, which is 9/10 a turnover. Blindly centering the puck is a turnover. It's much better to work it around with obvious safe passes and take a medium quality chance, than to just fire the puck into the slot blindly and hope for the best.

All of this except faceoffs is on the coach, who hasn't been in the league for some time, and it really shows.
- matty12345

Interesting.
I was thinking the same yesterday and wondering why the team hasn't embraced a more European style of play which is very high on maintaining possession, much like we see during 3 on 3 play.

I rationalized that like other issues, the reason is one of lacking quality players.
That said, the LOG line, not exactly he most talented players, maintain possession with an aggressive cycle game. Their metrics show favorably, with high xG as an example...their issue is they can't bury the high danger shots they create.
Mitts, Vesey and Sheary try to play an aggressive forechecking game, but are quickly knocked off the puck physically. Jack and Sam. An win their share if battles, yet Olofsson is severely lacking in that regard.

In various ways, I still blame it on the roster construct. Not having enough skill to finish, not having enough physicality to maintain possession.

But, we are told the forwards are good enough.

Could the time be coming for a shake-up?
From the Sabres perspective I would submit that the time is entering the over-ripe phase.
But it takes two, sometimes three parties to make a trade.

Toronto is in its' own mess as we speak, way underperforming what most would have expected this far. Barrie is rumored to have expressed displeasure with his situation already, could he Express a trade request soon?
Calgary is also suffering, and fans sound alot like those in Saberland.

Seems like activity should be heating up soon as the season nears Thanksgiving.
- IonSabres

The only argument I can see the team making is that they are 6 points behind the Bruins, so they aren't "out of it." To me, that shouldn't be a reason to not try to improve your team.

It does take two to tango, and the east is all relatively close together, so it may take awhile for another team to budge.

I am impatient and want it to happen as soon as possible.

Josh Allen had 5/7 of his 2019 INTs in 2 games.

Good boy.
- TheSabresTaco

He looked good yesterday for the most part.
He had all day to set-up against a weak pass rush, and his targets seemed to have more space than normal. But he also hit on some very tight windows as well.
Glad to see he is learning to reduce turnovers by controlling the high risk plays.

I'll take the performance without a doubt.
Interested to see what next weekend brings.

looks like the new gm will be set up nicely

same for the new coach
- homiedclown

Fire Botterill, get Krueger some forwards. I dont care if no one is available and they have to bring back Darcy

Fire Botterill, get Krueger some forwards. I dont care if no one is available and they have to bring back Darcy
- jcragcrumple

🤢

looks like the new gm will be set up nicely

same for the new coach
- homiedclown

This is quite the paradox. So Botts’ tenure here would definitely point to long term success and setting up the next GM, but due to not finding success this season he is going to get canned for it ?

I always thought this team was not a bottom 10 team, but I didn’t think it was a playoff team either.

Looking at it now, we are playing like a team that is going to be picking in the latter half of the top 10 which would signify a mild disappointment (at least in my eyes but everyone has their own opinion and beliefs on what they thought this team would be)

Regardless of how you look at it though, the team is set up to compete 2020 and beyond as long as he doesn’t bring back 90% of our impending UFA’s and uses the cash to bring in useful hockey players.

Now, Botts did acquire a lot of those underperforming forwards moving out mid-round picks to do so, however at the cost of mid-round picks it was a lot better risk then swinging for the fences and missing and depleting an asset pool that to this day is still deficient. He tried to appease the win now crowd while also not overspending premium assets.

In the meantime his drafts have yielded some very interesting names and two guys that are already playing prominent roles on the club in Mitts and Dahlin.

Aside: If Botts gets the axe for our performance this year and last (bottoming out for Cozens) why does he not get credit for Fallin for Dahlin ? That I’ll never understand, but to each their own.

In conclusion, if the team is bottom 5 I think he gets the axe, if not he gets a playoff or bust year in 2020.

I’ll open it up to the floor. Have a good day folks.

At this point in time, I’m not really thinking about who should and shouldn’t get the credit, when or if the team ever becomes successful.

looks like the new gm will be set up nicely

same for the new coach
- homiedclown

There’s quite a few geniuses on here that should apply 😂😂😂

Fire Botterill, get Krueger some forwards. I dont care if no one is available and they have to bring back Darcy
- jcragcrumple

You’ve gone way off the deep edge dude