mjd1001

These first 2 games were the 'easy' ones...5 of the next 6 against playoff teams from last year.

Up to this point they have performed as the worst team in the league and its not even close. They have played 2 mediocre at best teams so far, can't score a goal and don't even look like they have the ability to play at the same level as them.

Trying to think of the long term future of this team....kinda glad, for the moment, they didn't throw $10m at Tuch for 8 years.

These gameday threads are pretty active when everyone is filled with rage. Only in the 2nd period and already closing in on 12 pages.

Well, Kesserling and Norris (Norris TECHNICALLY not offseason but he only played what, 2 games last year) are decent offseason changes....but they are both hurt by game #1.

Boston isn't all that special, but they appear to be on their way to 3-0, currently outscoring their opponents 9-4. At this point would we take a 'less talented' roster like Boston with that performance?

I still don't hate it because Cozens had to go. Unless you wanted 'futures' for him instead. I would have been OK with that to get him off the roster, but if I remember correctly a LOT of people on this very board didn't want that.

Or....a player who just isn't that good or doesn't care, makes a play that causes other bad things. Could be as much of a sympton of a bad player/bad roster as bad coaching.

Yeah, worst case scenario for me. If you aren't going to win the cup, or even with that many games, I can TOLERATE being entertained with high scoring. At least that is exciting. The absolute worst thing for me watching Hockey is no goals.

Losing to the Bruins and being outshot 17 to 1 in the first period? I'm not sure what is worse, only getting 1 shot on goal for an entire period...or allowing 17 to Boston. I'm still on my way home...for those watching the game, is it as BAD watching it as the shots and score make it out to be?

Not watching the game but just got out of a movie and checked how they are doing...outshot 12 to 1 so far and still in the first? Looking good!!

I have a hard time thinking if the sabers treated Eichel better that he still wouldn't be here. And I think if he was still here there's a good chance Reinhart would still be here. You'd still have Dahlin and Tage... All that was under the team's control. Add The possibility of Ulmark.... And not only is your playoff drought likely no longer here, you might very well be a contender for more. I personally believe the whole thing started with Pegula being cheap. If Eichel was going to get his own choice of surgery, I think there was a story that that wouldn't be covered under the team's insurance for his contract. Terry didn't want the chance of being on the hook for his contract if something went wrong... so he was traded, and that started the string of Domino's falling. That is what I choose to believe, reinforced after the "Pegula family lifestyle" incident.

I think the organization just doesn't beleieve people when they say they are so frustrated they are giving up their 'fandom' of the team. And in the past they have been mostly correct. Myself, 20 years ago I wouldn't believe that anyone could be a fan of a team and then 'give up' that team or sport. To me it was just something that people said when they were frustrated, but it wasn't true, so I thought. Things are different now, at least for me. As I have said many times I was a Bills season ticket holder for over a decade, never missed a game, memorized the entire rosters year after year, had jerseys, hats, all sorts of clothing and posters/banners. Now, I barely watch a game. And that is a team that is WINNING. It just gets to a point where its not worth it. Forget about the money, its not worth the time, its not worth feeling bad a lot more than you feel good after some games. With the Sabres I have gotten myself to not even thinking about the playoffs hardly, I think of it as a simple 'one night' entertainment. That is how I got through the last set of years. But I'm almost at the point of not even caring about that anymore. They are losing people/fans in a way that I think they still don't understand.

I get your point, but that isn't even doing it for me anymore (streaks of 7 points out of 10) They've done that in the past and nothing came of it.

I just posted in another thread... That I'm not watching live anymore until they win consistently. If they're not playing winning hockey by the end of October, I'm canceling cable and I'm pretty much done for the year.

For me it's getting beyond just pure frustration. Fire Kevin Adams? I don't care, keep him here or fire him... Just win some games. Dahlin and Tage might get frustrated and want to leave? I don't care anymore, let them leave, 16 teams have made the playoffs that didn't have those two guys on them. Tuch may or may not resign here? I don't care anymore. Just win some games. Keep the coaching staff or change them? Trade your prospects and picks or keep them and rebuild? I really, really don't care anymore... Just win some games. Under Pegulas ownership, The decisions don't really matter. There are no right or wrong decisions. I feel like as long as he's here as owner this is going to get turned around with nothing but random chance and luck. They've tried so many different things over the past decade and a half and none of it has worked. I really don't care if everything changes or if nothing changes. Find a way to win and I'll watch. Period

For the past few years I never understood people pushing Detroit and thinking they would be really good. I Look at their drafting, look at how many picks they've had, I look at the entire rebuild they've gone through.... I'm not saying they're an awful team... But they are one of the "lowest potential ceiling" teams after a rebuild that I can think of in recent memory across any sport.

I'm not that far behind you. I'm not going to watch the game on Saturday. I told my wife let's go see a movie, so we're going to see the new Tron movie Saturday night. It might be an awful movie, but with a nine inch nails soundtrack and a lot of explosions and sfx, it will be more stimulating than watching that home opener last night. As long as they have a negative goal differential... That's my metric... I'm not going to watch any live games. If they win, I'll watch the replay. They have until the end of this month to have a positive goal differential and to have more points than games played. If at the end of the month they don't reach that... I'm canceling cable... Because watching the sabres is the only reason I still have it. If they don't turn this around immediately... That's it for the year for me until they do.

We are less than 12 hours after the home opener... If you look at the NHL official standings they sort the teams based on points... And then beyond that it appears as if they sort them by goal differential to break any ties at the bottom of the standings. Again... Less than 12 hours after the home opener, the sabers are showing as team number 31 in a 32 team league. I get it's only one game. But winning versus losing your first game of the season... Probably meant more to this fan base than any other one in the league. And what do they do? Of course lose.

I have a very short leash with this team this year. Last night didn't help. I didn't even finish watching the game. If they don't score a few goals early against Boston, I'll likely be out before the 2nd period hits.

I'm not saying he isn't injury prone....Just no need to post something when you say "literally" and it is exactly not true...thus not 'literally'

so, opening night, and who are the players supposed to be here that weren't (or didn't finish game #1?) UPL Kesserling Benson Power Norris Not good, but am I missing anybody else? If not, game 2 is only 2 days away! Literally not true. He made it until just a few minutes left in the game. Well beyond "1 period of 1 game"

speaking of drivers, this has always been something bothering me but seems to happen more and more... I park across the street, and then get out of my car and walk across the street to the store I am going to. I am the person who parks across the street from the store, or in the way back of the parking lot and do the walking. There often seems to be drivers, speeding down the street I want to cross. Doesn't matter that they are going 10 or 15 over the speedlimit. Doesn't matter they didn't come to a complete stop at the stop sign or didn't stop when making the right on red. Doesn't matter that I have the right of way, IN the crosswalk. None of that matters. If they want to drive 45mph down a street after a rolling stop and I am ANYWHERE near them in the crosswalk, I get the horn and an obscene gesture from them. How dare I be a pedestrian walking across the street in a crosswalk and inconveneice their normal (illegal) driving patterns.

I thought about that the other day. That seems to be really popular in the arena on Red and Black jersey days, so why not keep it all the time? Its not like you have to only have it on '90's retro' days because its a 90's song. Goal songs from teams are from all different eras. Just keep Blur as the goal song all the time. I love Kickstart my heart, one of my favorite rock songs of all time, but its not a good 'goal song'. Its more of the song you play before the game starts, before the faceoff, coming out of the period. Leading into the game, leading into the powerplay. Kickstart my hear is a 'beginning' song, not a celebration song.

Or there is not one thing that is going to get him to sign here vs not sign here. Its a sliding scale with multiple inputs that you have to weigh against each other. Maybe he wants to sign here but at $10m+ per year. If the Sabres don't give in he MIGHT sign that deal 'later' but he's going to wait them out and see if they up the offer. Maybe he would rather play for a contender, so he got the $10m+ offer from the Sabres...and if the team is in contention half way through the season he'll sign it...if they are 10 points out of the playoffs come January he'll breathe a sigh of releif he didn't sign it. Maybe he wants to be here, but the Sabres are only offering something like 5 years at $8m per year. He told them no on that deal, and he's hoping for a hot start to get the team to 'up' the offer. If they don't, he'll reluctantly leave. Maybe the Sabres internally with the analytics department have decided he is worth a LOT less than Tuch, his agent, and even the fanbase think. Maybe the Sabres are putting a lower dollar ammount on Tuch, thinking the charts say a forward like him might start 'declining' before his next deal even starts. Both the Sabres and Tuch KNOW he will likely get a contract from SOMEONE who will pay for past performance, not future performance, and while Tuch would like to stay in Buffalo ultimately he is going to look for someone else to 'overpay' him. Probably 4 or 5 other scenarios other than what is listed above that can be in play too. If Tuch were 26 years old, I would be a lot more worried about this than I am now. For me, the WORST case scenario is they announce something like they extended him for 8 years at $11m-$12m per year. I would RATHER both sides let this play out than that.