jad1

In other words, he's turned into Ville Leino.

I'd choose "wistful." And now I feel like sitting next to a wishing well while staring into a meadow trying to recapture that euphoria of the Sabres spending a whole two hours of October in second place of the Atlantic division. Will I ever feel that way again?!?!?

They're not the last team in at this point. They've played 10 games, and are 4-5-1 for 9 points. They are tied with 5 other teams with 9 points, but all of those 5 teams have at least one game-in-hand. With tie breakers, they are 7th in the division, 12th in the conference, and 23rd in the league. They are on pace for 73.8 points this season. So at the 10 game mark, they are on par with where they finished last year, in terms of playoff positioning, and behind the pace of last season's 84 points.

After 5 years under Adams? Not ready for this type of test? Has any other GM in the history of the NHL held job for 5 years with no playoff appearances?

I'd say that the general consensus would be that if you had a GM who lasted 5 years with one team that would indicate that the team is probably one of the better teams in the league. What you say is true, so it's mind-boggling that we just shrug off a Monday night home loss early in the season as, eh, maybe they'll learn something from this. Meanwhile the architect of the malaise carries on with no accountability.

After 5 years of Adams, we still have no expectation that the Sabres can compete with the best teams in the league.

It already has impacted this game. The Sabres have shunned experienced coaching the last 13 years. The coaches that they did hire did not ingrain strong fundamental hockey into the core of young players on the team today. Instead they focused on individual development and life coaching. This has caused problems that we continue to see with Sabres playing today. On the first Wings goal, there were 3 Sabres behind the goal, and only one was challenging the puck, causing the Sabres to be outmanned in the slot. The 2nd goal, Dahlin was just outmuscled in front of his own net. On the shorthanded goal, Dahlin made a bone headed play on the point. These 3 plays are common to the Sabres general lack of urgency, structure and fundamentals that we have seen from the team last 13 years. And I was wrong to say the Sabres aren't addressing these issues. I believe the hiring of Ruff is a good attempt to address the issues. Fixing them is the next challenge. There is still a lot of work to do.

They need to address the issues that have caused them to suck for 13 years (and actually, it's longer than that). They haven't done that YET this season. When they do, they will no longer suck.

He's basically where most of us were back in 2018.

We're having the same conversations about Dahlin that we had when Krueger was coach.

Just terrible play by Dahlin.

Sabres still struggling in their own zone. They have poor positioning and lack physicality. On the other hand, the Thompson line is starting to consistently dominate shifts. Like to see McCloud and Cozens switch lines. It would help both guys and the team.

I don't think Benson can be sent down to Rochester unless it's a rehab/conditioning assignment.

It is according to Pegula math. It's the reason Adams still has a job.

Well anytime one of those players who hates to lose opens his mouth, the Sabres ship him out of town because he 'doesn't want to be here.' O'Reilly voices that he's sick of losing...GONE. Eichel and Reinhart don't want to be part of ANOTHER rebuild...GONE and GONE. At the first inkling that a player is sick of losing, Adams looks to ship them out because if you can't stand losing, then you don't want to be here. And that's why under Adams, being a loser is the definition of being a Buffalo Sabre.

It's how they were raised. Granato used to give them orange slices and star stickers when they scored 4 goals in a game.

Currently on a 41 point pace for the season.

Big mistake.

Adams has to be the worst GM in league history. How many other GMs have gone 5 seasons without making the playoffs?

If Ruff bag makes their next practice a 90 minute bag skate, I'd buy tickets to watch it.

Levi is f'n terrible. Good thing Adams didn't do something stupid, like trade a 50 goal scorer for him.

Can really see how Skinner was holding this team back last season

No urgency. No intensity. No attention to detail. They have the cohesion of a beer league pickup team.

11 minutes in, no shots on goal.