Jsixspd

Is Bylsma responsible for the Alternate Captain choices too? Astonishingly bad decision that Eichel wasn't wearing at least an "A" this season, if not "C". More stupidity by Bylsma?

Can we still call this train-wreck a 'rebuild'? 78 points. That's 7-8

Eichel, McDavid.... I'm reminded of a presser with Murray just prior to losing that draft lottery (and McDavid), and having to take Eichel instead... Murray, when asked his thoughts about the lottery; "I'd like to win SOMETHING" And of course, predictably, we didn't win. And McDavid went to Edmonton. This is the wrong city for winning, Murray, the wrong city.... lolololol!!!!! I think Murray with his big fat contract has now made himself more comfortable with the losing position. I wonder if we'd landed McDavid if Babcock might have been tempted to coach here, instead of Toronto? That lottery loss may be more profound than we realize?

Not necessarily - he fired Wrex via telephone.

Hahaha, we'll be taking a page from the New Orleans Aints fans playbook.

I'm getting there. I don't know if I'll be hating the Sabres yet - but IF we learn tomorrow (and it seems likely we will) that Abylsmal is retained for yet another year, then I'll be flat out hating on Murray as GM, - especially given the terrible contracts and dead wood the team is saddled with that he himself is responsible for, like Gorges, Ennis, Moulson, etc.

But perhaps not so good at figuring out in advance who he shouldn't offer jobs to? Gorges, Kulikov, Ennis, Moulson, ad nauseum as evidence of that fact? Didn't Flagg provide, a few months ago, some concrete stats on how statistically awful pairing Gorges with Risto is, and that Risto does much better with other pairings? If so that is indefensible decision making on Bylsma's part.

Isn't that about the worst strategy in the world? Commit to a coach that has a two full season track record of losing, ignore other available coaches all through the off season, then decide at Thanksgiving that, after 6, 7 weeks into the season, that we (we being team management) are totally shocked that the preceding 6 weeks have been exactly like the previous 2 full years of crap, and we need to make a coaching change right now and with likely no handy solution available. What then? Do the Pegulas and Murray anoint the next Roy Ruffton as interim? And how does 2017-18 end up being anything but another wasted season?

Buffalo media needs to hold Bylsma's, Murray's, and Pegula's feet to the fire if they start trotting out the tired and lame 'injury' excuse. "Well, Eichel missed the first couple months" "Well, Kane hurt his ribs" "O'Reilly was out..." Jeebus, all THREE of those guys were in the lineup pretty much every game since the All-Star break. The result has been terrible. And some of the veteran players like Kulikov, Gorges, Ennis, Bogosian, playing the worst hockey of their careers. Is that just a coincidence, or is it the system/coaching? The media should not let them get away with retaining Bylsma on such a lame excuse; "Injuries" my foot! What team DOESN'T have injuries in an 82 game season???

My theory is, and has been, that Babcock was turned off by the dysfunctional structure of the team; with the Pegulas ready, willing, and able to leave their HCs and GMs out in the cold and involving themselves too deeply in day to day operational decisions. And it's absolutely disgusting that Toronto is finishing the season at LEAST 15 pts higher than the Sabres - and in the playoffs - when we were SUPPOSED to be ahead of them by everyone's rebuild calculators. "Injuries" my foot! The Sabres have played at a 62 pt season pace since the All Star Break, with O'Reilly, Eichel and Kane in the roster.

I hated to do it, because IMHO Bylsma should have been fired months ago, but I voted "No". I just don't see it happening. As Regier would say we have more 'pain' to 'suffer'. :(

Quite true.

No matter how bad the player or coach is, someone will support them, their support defying all statistics and reason. I recall die-hard JP Losman supporters, and Trent Edwards supporters.... jeez!!! I bet the fan club is still out there; with knee jerk enthusiasm for those two.

LOL - that's pretty sad. He looked pretty surely guilty at that juncture. Sidebar - I loved how OJ Prime ceaselessly searched for the 'real killer' of Nicole after his acquittal - on the golf courses of America - until he was accused of yet another violent and dangerous crime.

That sounds tough, being limited on so many meats. Mine is fine with meats - she tries to avoid bread and carbs (potatoes, rice, etc). She follows this basic protocol; which has mixed reviews but she says it works for her. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guaifenesin_protocol

Not trying to be fair - feeling somewhat frustrated with the underwhelming results of this hugely disappointing Sabres' season. And of course, the poor decisions over the last several years that have led us to this sorry state. Some teams just make good decision after good decision - they brought in Quenneville as a glorified scout, when no one else apparently wanted him, and less than a month later moved him into the HC spot, where it's been all sunshine and smiles ever since.

Only a Buffalo team would have hired the next year a guy who coached the U.S. Olympic team to such an underwhelming performance, a performance where coaching and strategy was widely criticized, AND whom Pittsburgh was happy to see go. Kind of like the Bills, and Rex Ryan - smh/lol. Who couldn't have predicted the result of Ryan in Buffalo would be similar to his final couple years with the Jets? Quenneville was an assistant at Chicago - they didn't pluck him out of Thin Air; they moved him up thru the ranks. Where was Buffalo's depth of coaching? Roy Ruffton?

If Gionta is still wearing the "C" and Gorges an "A" - (both of them being BACK next season would be bad enough) - but if they're still holding those titles, the Sabres are a complete laughingstock. No Playoff for You! I voted O'Reilly for Captain, Eichel and Risto for As. I'm amenable to swapping Eichel for O'Reilly. I wonder how Eichel would react if he didn't get at least an A next season? McDavid is the friggin Captain already for the Oilers in his SECOND year!!! One Goal Gorges wearing an A this season and not Eichel is a travesty.

Terrible news about Okposo. I hope he enjoys a full recovery, or at least as much as possible. My wife suffers from the same thing - it sucks. At least she has a top shelf fibro specialist, and gets good meds/treatment path for it.

Someone in the press should ask Eichel what he thinks about his rookie rival McDavid's team clinching a playoff berth already, and McDavid, in his second season, going to the playoffs - while Eichel's team, in Jack's second season, is almost 20 points below even a Wildcard berth?

The Pegulas took over mid October, 2014. So we can't reasonably credit them with the 9-7 winning record the Bills posted that year. The first FULL season of ownership, they slid to 8-8, and then of course 7-9 last year. The defense, which was ranked in the top 5 in fall 2014, was one of the worst in the NFL last season. Special teams also took a tank. It doesn't make much sense to argue that 7-9 is better than 9-7. Looks like they're going backwards in a hurry. Now for the Sabres and injuries... O'Reilly, Eichel, and Kane have been in the lineup pretty regularly since the All Star Break. And the team has only made 14 pts in 19 games. They're 6-11-2 since the All Star Break. That's a 60 pt per year tank pace. What injuries are to blame for this latest slump? Okposo has been gone for a number of those games... but he was in the lineup for the first 3 back to back post All Star game losses; 2 of them against the 2 worst team in the NHL - Colorado and Arizona. We shouldn't let Bylsma, et al weasel out of this with the old 'injury excuse'. Every team is gonna have some injuries, and to some key personnel, during the October to April season. Part of the game. Sabres have been playing like a 60 pt team since the All Star break - that's all that really matters - and I want to see Bylsma and Murray with some ownership and accountability for this team's dismal performance this season.

The Bills were improving when the Pegulas took over. The Bills were 9-7 when Pegula took over mid-season; that was the first time the Bills had a winning record in decades. They've since gone 8-8 and now 7-9!! (Shades of Dick Jauron). Their defense, which was top 5 when Pegulas took over - is now one of the worst in the NFL. The first major decision the Pegulas made as owners was to hire that ass-clown Rex Ryan - whom intelligent savvy owners would have never been hired in FIRST PLACE! That led to the departure of Jim Schwartz, and there went the defense. Clearly the Bills have retrogressed since the Pegulas took over. Just like the Sabres!

The Buffalo sports media should start grilling Murray, Bylsma and Pegula, at every opportunity, about the State of The Rebuild. We're six years+ since the Pegulas bought the team, and will be going on 3 years since Murray was hired - and the team is mightily struggling to hit a meager 80 pts. And the media shouldn't let the 'injuries' excuse fly; "Oh, well Eichel and Kane were injured for the first part of the year" - BS - that doesn't fly and the sports media shouldn't allow them to pass it off for an excuse - it's not like the team has been on a points tear since both returned from injury - they've been averaging just under one point per game in the last couple months. A bunch of terrible games have been played while Eichel and Kane have been on the active roster. And every team has injuries - part of the game.

We already had our 50% roster turnovers during the early months of Tim Murray's regime. So did Chicago after Rocky Wirtz took over - but they saw some quick results. Sabres, OTOH.... The problem is - Sabres' management have replaced mediocre performance with mediocre performance. A rebuild is only successful if the talent improves; Moulson, Gionta, Ennis, Bogosian, Kulikov, Gorges, Lehner.... C'mon - does anyone see a push for the Cup happening with these guys being a key part of the roster? And they've all been added or extended by our supposedly super-competent, knowledgeable, Stanley Cup bound GM. Garbage in, Garbage out.

I don't know about 'ever' coming back - but clearly both teams the Pegulas have purchased (not where Terry ends and Kim begins, so I call it joint ownership) have declined since purchase. Unless the Pegulas themselves take a more hands off approach, and hire better management and give that management more autonomy, I don't see the teams ever rising above mediocrity. The Pegulas are clearly horribly naive and inept at making operational decisions for their teams. And it really shows. Folks forget the Pegulas have owned the Sabres for over 6 years now. The last season prior to the Pegula's purchase - the Sabres were a 100+ point team. Now they're struggling to hit 80 in a season, despite vast, unwise, and ineffective expenditures of funds. We saw, in early videos, shortly after purchasing the Sabres, the Pegulas' management 'style' - the Sabres would have these big meetings with Terry sitting there, with Regier, Ruff Ted Black, et al, in a room, and make 'committee' decisions; I remember Pegula stating that every decision is discussed by everyone prior to it happening. That is unless of course Terry or Kim just go 'rogue' and make a decision unilaterally, like the bungled and botched firing of Rex Ryan by El Solo Lobo T-Peg, which helped make the Bills the laughing stock of the NFL .... again. The Pegulas are like the middle aged couple who take up a hobby together and 'tinker' - like weekend gardeners. Only in this case, it's billion dollar sports franchises that are the hobby - and they putter and putz with them. A terrible management style - and the results speak for themselves. You need one person with a vision and a goal driving, leading towards excellence. I think the main reason quality NHL leadership has passed on Buffalo, is likely a top shelf GM or top shelf Coach wouldn't want to work under such a dysfunctional system. With the Bills for example, could you see a quality GM applying for the job after the humiliation and embarrassment Whaley was put through during the Ryan debacle? A quality GM would have immediately quit and not put up with that nonsense - and that's why I don't think Whaley is a quality GM - I doubt he thinks he'd enjoy such a lofty position on another NFL team. But that's another topic.