nfreeman

After Black Sunday, they missed the playoffs twice and then made the playoffs twice (2010 and 2011), including a division-winning season. In 2011, they were beating Philly 3-2 in the first round of the playoffs, and were winning game 6, in Buffalo, in the 3rd period, before falling apart and losing that game and then game 7. They then missed the playoffs in 2012, and, when they had a poor start in the following season, panicked, fired Lindy (instead of Darcy, which would've been the correct move) and commenced the tank in early 2013. I believe that the right GM/coach combo would've chosen not to tank and would've delivered MUCH better results for the 7 seasons from 2013 to present than what we've actually had. Do you disagree?

Correct. Would you rather have Jack, or have a good team? For example: St. Louis doesn't have anyone as good as Eichel. They missed the playoffs in 2010 and 2011, but didn't tank. Since then, they've made the playoffs 7 out of the last 8 years (8 out of 9 if you assume they make it this year) AND won the cup last year. Would you rather have their team or the Sabres?

You do understand that having Jack is not the same as having a good team, right?

It was 3-1 after 2. The Sabres had 13 shots on goal at that point. The Sabres did not record a shot on goal in the 3rd period until more than 8 minutes had elapsed. My interpretation of Jack's expression and body language: "JFC I can't believe I'm stuck here with this group of effing losers." Last night was the kind of game that can send a mentally weak team that's been suffused in losing ever since the idiotic tank into a major tailspin. Let's see whether RK can muscle them out of it.

Bump! Kind of a sad complaint: my wife's favorite aunt, who is in her 80s, has had an awful couple of years: her husband died, she broke her hip and can't walk much anymore, she has dementia and is losing mental capacity (but not so much that she doesn't understand that she's losing it, which must be very hard to live with) -- and last night, her house was destroyed by fire, and during the fire, her home health aide suffered a heart attack and is in the ICU. She's a nice woman who, perhaps partially because she didn't have kids of her own, was very kind to my wife when my wife was younger -- took her on trips, helped pay for her college, etc. She doesn't deserve this.

Cozens?

The Sabres are 2-13 in their last 15 road games. That needs to flip ASAP if they are going to get back into playoff bubble status.

And Lazar, I believe.

I think it’s also worth pointing out that the Sabres’ draft picks over the past 8 years have been in higher slots than average due to their consistently low finishes in the standings — so their hit rate on draft packs should be higher than average too.

He’s not visible, but it’s just a plain “C.” Kinda boring for a wild an exciting board like this one.

Got any data to support this? @Weave beat me to it on Chicago and Pittsburgh.

For the record: - The purpose of the tank was to end up with a cup contending team led by Eichel -- not just to end up with Eichel. - Saying "the tank worked but the rebuild failed" is sophistry. There is no tank in isolation without the post-tank rebuild -- i.e. they are 2 parts of the same strategy. No one would ever tank just to end up with Eichel and a crappy team that misses the playoffs every year. You ONLY tank because you think you will end up with a cup contender. - The reason the tank was a stupid idea is that as a contender-building strategy, it usually fails, and the team usually ends up in the basement for an extended period -- which is exactly what has happened to the Sabres. The tank has directly resulted in the worst extended period of the team's 50-year existence. - It's certainly true that GMTM and JB made quite a few mistakes during the rebuild phase -- but as many have pointed out, part of the reason that tanking is a stupid strategy is that mistakes are unavoidable, and burning the team to the ground leaves too small a margin for error. - As for the OP: certainly the Sabres would've been better IF Lehner had played to his potential instead of falling apart and IF Pettersson had fallen from #5 to #8 in 2017 (which of course would've required 3 more teams to pass on him) -- but those are 2 big ifs, and I don't think they make the Sabres a contender in any event -- more like a probable 1-and-done playoff team.

@CMDeDominicis Refresher from last season here are the numbers for 24-55 pair in 223 TOI at 5v5 (SVA) according to @EvolvingWild : Shot attempts (CF%) - 54.28% Shot quality (xGF%) - 53.78% Interesting part is their GF% was low @ 43.98%. Could be some bad luck as they had a 5% on-ice shooting% 1:10 PM · Jan 7, 2020·Twitter for iPhone

What? So now the NFL is taking orders from the sports books?

Then how did the Pats lose (at home!) to Tennessee?

I'm going to call NFW that the Sabres trade for Subban.

Correct. In other words: "I refuse to introduce any links, facts or data to support my half-baked conspiracy theories, but I think we discussed it on this board ten years ago, and the refs screwed us again, and the games are fixed, so you do the math." Calling this weak sauce would be an insult to weak sauce.

Please provide some examples of a "flat out fix." BTW, the Colin Campbell email story was in 2010, when some emails came out in which he protested calls made against his son, who was an NHL player at the time. It had nothing to do with fixing games. But hey! Your NFL team just lost a playoff game, in which they were outcoached and outplayed at QB -- so it must have been "the refs" perpetrating a "flat out fix." What a load of lazy psychobabble you've treated us to.

So — no link, no data, no facts — just “the refs screwed us like they always do, and I think I remember another time when something kinda like that happened?” Good stuff!

I'm glad you're back, but it's time to fix your avatar.

Yeah, @GASabresIUFAN -- we're glad you stayed up until 3:00 AM putting that post together, but now we need you to repeat the exercise for another 30 teams -- so get to it!

The Pats were down by 1 to Tennessee until there were 10 seconds left. If the fix had been in, there was ample opportunity. Got a link for the half-baked NHL conspiracy theory? And while we’re repeating questions: were “the refs” trying to help the Bills win vs Baltimore? Thank heavens for an adult in the room Yes, it is.

So the NFL just decided that Brady would go out with a whimper vs...the Titans? And Brees would go out vs Minnesota? It’s ridiculous on its face. And my recollection is that you’ve been a refs truther for quite a while now.

Of course. They miss plenty of fouls and they make plenty of mistakes. I’m simply disagreeing with the preposterous conspiracy theories that swampy traffics in.

Pommer’s hockey IQ was much better than Mitts’ is.