Part of the reason I’m not freaking out is because a TON of teams have issues in our conference

Florida - Goaltending is bad and they invested a ton

Lightning- goaltending, and their stars aren’t playing like stars

Toronto- is awful on D and has absolutely no backup goalie

Flyers - most inconsistent team. Not good on D

Hurricanes - Great roster, not playing well on D

Montreal - Nothing going well

Also, from the great "Boomer" Gordon on Tim Murray '15

- Thought the Sabres were a big loser on the Evander Kane trade

- Hated the RoR deal and claimed the Avs "wanted to get rid of him desperately"

- Says that you build a contender from the blue line and not down the middle

- Was saying the RoR contract was terrible and that he was nothing special

Part of the reason I’m not freaking out is because a TON of teams have issues in our conference

Florida - Goaltending is bad and they invested a ton

Lightning- goaltending, and their stars aren’t playing like stars

Toronto- is awful on D and has absolutely no backup goalie

Flyers - most inconsistent team. Not good on D

Hurricanes - Great roster, not playing well on D

Montreal - Nothing going well
- sbroads24

Just hit on this years pick and utilize our cap space well and watch Botts go from villain to hero.

We have an owner who wants to be part of the process. He doesn’t particularly know hockey any better than an average fan. He wants to make his wife happy by making her President of Operations when she has no experience. He wants the GMs to cater to his whims on personnel issues. And let’s be honest, the guy isn’t that sharp.

His hires for GM have been horrible, first hiring a narcissistic psychopath and following it up with a guy with a history of head trauma.

Everything science has learned about repeated concussions and head trauma show that CTE is much more common that previously thought. That it takes years to decades for the effects and symptoms to show. And that the symptoms include:

Difficulty thinking (cognitive impairment)

Depression or apathy

Short-term memory loss

Difficulty planning and carrying out tasks (executive function)

This isn’t exactly a risk worth taking on the person you hire to run your organization a decade after he was forced to retire from the sport due to multiple concussions. However it would explain what we see and label as “sitting on his hands” from the GM.

Pegula is a nice guy. But he isn’t qualified to run a hockey franchise. He bought this team as his little pet project and wants to be a part of the decision making process.

Other hockey teams have lifetime hockey people with experience, know how and networking in place making the decisions. We have a dimwit owner, his wife as president and a brain damaged GM who got the job because he was an assistant in Pittsburgh while they were good.

It’s a joke! Pat LaFontaine saw it and jumped ship after a few months when he realized neophytes would have equal or more say than he did.

Pegula said he would spare no expense in making this franchise a champion. The result is first time GMs, retread coaches, a morale problem with good players wanting out, players retiring and opting to play in Europe instead of here, ex goalies saying they were treated like garbage by the organization and fancy locker rooms.

We have the longest drought in playoff appearances. Pegula has owned the team for almost 9 years. While fans are blaming individual players and prospects for being busts, the real problem is at the top. Until that changes, we shouldn’t expect different results.

I am not advocating for Pegula to sell the team. I am asking that he not make himself and his family a part of its management and decision making. Hire the best and most experienced GM available because this isn’t a place where new GMs can cut their teeth. Especially when they are trying to appease an owner who wants to play GM too.
- Beethoven

You know you're in trouble when the GM is fixing his own mistakes. He tore down and rebuilt the forwards in his own image and now he needs to do it again. There's no reason to think he'll do a better job this time around

You know you're in trouble when the GM is fixing his own mistakes. He tore down and rebuilt the forwards in his own image and now he needs to do it again. There's no reason to think he'll do a better job this time around
- jcragcrumple

No, he traded mid round picks for stop gaps because he didn’t want to overspend for a quick fix before the infrastructure of the team was built.

He has made one move for a forward that will be here past 2021 and his name is Jeff Skinner.

He has rebuilt our entire d-corps which is looking quite strong for years to come (Dahlin, Joker, Pilut, Montour).

Hockey is so much harder to predict, it's not like other sports were you draft a player and they hit your roster pretty quickly. Unless you are a superstar most prospects in Hockey take 3 to 5 years to mature and help your franchise. Other then are top picks, we have not had that. And it really has hurt this Franchise from the bottom up.

Do ppl really think Botts isn’t trying to do anything???

It’s been reported by pretty much everyone in the know that he’s been trying to make multiple trades for months now

But no one wants our crap
And he’s not gonna make a sh!tty trade out of desperation
I have no issue with that
- jdfitz77

You mean the crap he brought in, resigned?
Vesey, Sheary, Girgs, Larry, Erod, Mitts, Tage, Mojo, Scandella.
This is his team now, shouldn't he be held accountable?

If the players he brought in are crap, and nobody wants as you stated, then should we feel comfortable in trusting him when the majority of the roster will need to he resigned or replaced?

I'll say it again, I want him back, yet at the same time he makes me nervous.
I like several of his moves, but also question enough to make me nervous.
Skinner- great trade, horrible contract ... does he rouble down on a horrible contract for Reinhart?
Miller, Montour, Joker trades...I like them, yet we now have 12 NHL Dmen of varying skills..depth is one thing, hoarding is another...poor asset management.

You know you're in trouble when the GM is fixing his own mistakes. He tore down and rebuilt the forwards in his own image and now he needs to do it again. There's no reason to think he'll do a better job this time around
- jcragcrumple

Don't really know what to say about this, have we been watching the same franchise for the last 5 or so years.

Part of the reason I’m not freaking out is because a TON of teams have issues in our conference

Florida - Goaltending is bad and they invested a ton

Lightning- goaltending, and their stars aren’t playing like stars

Toronto- is awful on D and has absolutely no backup goalie

Flyers - most inconsistent team. Not good on D

Hurricanes - Great roster, not playing well on D

Montreal - Nothing going well
- sbroads24

Meh, and yet ALL those teams are ahead of the Sabres

17-15-7
After starting 9-2-2
Making it 8-13-5 since then

And people clinging to we are still in it.
Technically, sure.
Realistically, hell no.
Eastern - tied for 12th
League - tied for 23rd
On pace for 83 pts.

We are still in IT
IT = Quinton Byfield race
- IonSabres

well said

Meh, and yet ALL those teams are ahead of the Sabres
- IonSabres

By a few points

And ALL of those teams were projected to be better than the Sabres

The Flyers just got pummeled by the Sharks, one of the leagues worst teams.


- sbroads24

and the flyers pummeled us

That didn't happen but okay, thanks for making me wait 3 days to completely ignore your response after this.

Got any Brokeback Mountain fishing trips planned for next summer? I sometimes feel like it's the only thing me and you have is this here mountain...

I wish I knew how to quit you.
- BeadyEyedDouche

This response starts out as an insult and by the end it feels like you're coming on to me. You still live in Lockport don't you...the land of the thirsty women.

You mean the crap he brought in, resigned?
Vesey, Sheary, Girgs, Larry, Erod, Mitts, Tage, Mojo, Scandella.
This is his team now, shouldn't he be held accountable?

If the players he brought in are crap, and nobody wants as you stated, then should we feel comfortable in trusting him when the majority of the roster will need to he resigned or replaced?

I'll say it again, I want him back, yet at the same time he makes me nervous.
I like several of his moves, but also question enough to make me nervous.
Skinner- great trade, horrible contract ... does he rouble down on a horrible contract for Reinhart?
Miller, Montour, Joker trades...I like them, yet we now have 12 NHL Dmen of varying skills..depth is one thing, hoarding is another...poor asset management.
- IonSabres

He's playing the long game.

He doesn't care what the fans think.

If the owner is on board with BUILDING IT CORRECTLY (through the draft), then that's all that matters to him.

Sabres credited with 28 high danger chances last two games. Have 1 goal. That’s incredibly unlucky
- sbroads24

And/or the bulk of their forwards aren't talented enough to actually cash in their high danger chances with any semblance of consistency?

And/or the bulk of their forwards aren't talented enough to actually cash in their high danger chances with any semblance of consistency?
- kingcong39

Do you really think that’s the case the past two games, and not the fact that both goalies were great?

By a few points

And ALL of those teams were projected to be better than the Sabres
- sbroads24

This is beginning to sound a lot like 9-2-2.

Let's watch the season play out.
I said in Sept the team projects to 78-84 points, depending on the impact of Krueger...might even be a few more if he has them playing on all cylinders.
I see nothing to tell me the expectations should be increased.

Do you really think that’s the case the past two games, and not the fact that both goalies were great?
- sbroads24

It's a mixture of both, IMO.

High danger chances are always a good thing to have happen, but the forward group, outside of a very few, are not talented enough to actually turn those chances into actual goals with any kind of regularity.

He's playing the long game.

He doesn't care what the fans think.

If the owner is on board with BUILDING IT CORRECTLY (through the draft), then that's all that matters to him.
- Powerslave

Darcy was building it correctly through the draft until the fans were chanting for him to be fired at home games. Guess what happened.

He's playing the long game.

He doesn't care what the fans think.

If the owner is on board with BUILDING IT CORRECTLY (through the draft), then that's all that matters to him.
- Powerslave

I would think building it correctly relies on a proper balance of FA, Trades, and Draft.

But since he is focused on the Draft route as you say, then how long before we should expect for these draft choices to be contributing enough so the Sabres are challenging for .. well let's say the Atlantic Division

It's a mixture of both, IMO.

High danger chances are always a good thing to have happen, but the forward group, outside of a very few, are not talented enough to actually turn those chances into actual goals with any kind of regularity.
- kingcong39

This is 75% of NHL teams.

The Sabres have 6-7 guys who can score double digit goals

That’s probably where most of the league is

We’re missing one more 25-30 goal guy. That’s the big issue

It's a mixture of both, IMO.

High danger chances are always a good thing to have happen, but the forward group, outside of a very few, are not talented enough to actually turn those chances into actual goals with any kind of regularity.
- kingcong39

Exactly.
This tells me more the Coaching Staff has the team playing their system relatively well, but the roster composition is lacking in scoring skills...except for a few.

Exactly.
This tells me more the Coaching Staff has the team playing their system relatively well, but the roster composition is lacking in scoring skills...except for a few.
- IonSabres

Could anyone predict Vesey would be where he's at after averaging 17 goals a year, Sheary has been poop, but the 2 years before he came here he averaged 20 goals, Mojo had 4 seasons in a row of 45pts or more before his injuries, is Botts supposed to have a magic ball telling him these guys would disappear

Darcy was building it correctly through the draft until the fans were chanting for him to be fired at home games. Guess what happened.
- Beethoven

And they've learned their lesson.

Stop listening to the fans who can't see the forest for the trees. And he was also here for 16 years.

Could anyone predict Vesey would be where he's at after averaging 17 goals a year, Sheary has been poop, but the 2 years before he came here he averaged 20 goals, Mojo had 4 seasons in a row of 45pts or more before his injuries, is Botts supposed to have a magic ball telling him these guys would disappear
- Buff36

He's supposed to be able to evaluate forward talent because that's his job