SabresVet

Donnie Meatballs sounds more like a politician after every debilitating loss. Whoever said it echoes Krueger was right.

"Father, I used a lot of bad language during the last Sabres game. A LOT." "Well, it is a sin, but God can forgive...and empathize."

We can only hope it was the kiss of death. Like Kim saying Botterill's job was safe and firing his 3 weeks later.

It's a common theme within the organization. Terry gets to feel comfortable and the result is the team sucks. Anyone remember the video during draft weekend of some front office exec practically breaking down in tears when they were talking how the culture was so much better under Adams? Yeah...

FIFY.

My point is there's a disconnect between ownership and the fans. They don't consider the lack of fan support as crucial to overall success because they're aloof. Always have been. Still, the apathy has been growing for several seasons now and that should drive change(s). We see that, but their main concern after the Murray and Botterill hirings is having a GM whom they can trust. And of course, there's major drawbacks to that being the prime job requirement.

Yeah, if players continued development then we could all say they're trending in the right direction. And even though they've had injuries, I did not expect to go from 3rd league-wide in scoring last year to 20th this season. To the point about defense, they're really not much improved if goals allowed are the metric. I do not see a coaching change being made and largely because fans have grown apathetic AND local media doesn't push back on the organization as much. That's a bad combination.

30 games is a solid sample size to conclude something is wrong, especially with some of the bad starts. They've given up the first goal 19 out of 30 games this year and are 3-14-2. In 14 games they've gone down 2 or more goals to start and are 1-12-1. After the Arizona games that Granato talked about how the compete has improved, but some players still are prioritizing skill. And he wants more of the former before the latter. But if 30 games in, the HC still has players doing prioritizing skill, it makes me wonder why they're tuning out the HC. Because all I heard back in the 2021 off-season from Adams was about "guys who want to be here." Stands to reason that they now have guys who want to be here, but they're doing their own thing deep into the season. Granato ain't reaching them, scoring is down, and the defense is as bad. You can't go down 2 or more goals to start in half your first 30 games and see this season staying on the rails.

Rob and Dan seem to preemptively defend their recent play at have those notes at the ready each game. The NYR game was 5 games and 10 days ago.

If 2021-22 was really Year 1 of this rebuild under KA and DG, then this is year 3 and the results are middling, highlighted by some outstanding efforts, but complemented by more games on the opposite end of the spectrum like last night at at New Jersey. Who pushes the players and gives them the internal competition to raise their game in this franchise? Neither the GM nor HC seemingly do. And I'm not referring to yelling and screaming at them, because that doesn't work at the pro level. To me, a shake-up is now warranted beyond sending a young goaltending prospect to Rochester. It won't happen. Firing the HC and replacing him is a bridge too far and reveals the plan is not working. Making a trade is difficult with cap implications. Benching a player? Not their style. And so the status quo continues resulting in the refrain of "they're young." I suppose it will take another year of this to make clear what more people are realizing: the plan is inherently flawed.

“It’s a young team and they’re going to make mistakes.” Next time. I hear that…

Donny clearly getting coaching lessons from Coach McClappy

Rob Ray with the kiss of death praise of Luukkonen.

Hate is a strong word to describe having Okposo on the roster. Question is with a team struggling to score and him at about a 15-16 point pace for the season whether those leadership qualities make up for the lack of production. The other element is whether Krebs' development is hindered by having him playing alongside him. Not a major issue, but a consideration to the subject.

It's concerning that they'll prominently feature young goalies like Levi and UPL behind a below-average team defense. For a team that talks about development (and rightly so) better team defense would have been something I'd expect KA and DG would have been emphasizing more knowing their offense can score.

It's fast...that's what I got. 😉

I like That Taco Place in Batavia. Just get it and eat in the parking lot. LOL. Ate at Mariachi de Oro today. So many superlatives to describe that restaurant, but outstanding every single time. And service is excellent as well. Highly recommend!

Jack Eichel: Stanley Cup Champion 🙂

I'm waiting for the NHL to begin embracing world religions as a demonstration of their diversity, equity, and inclusiveness. If they want to attract more fans, there are billions who adhere to a religion. They could even feature jerseys with religions symbols that would be auctioned off to support not just the monotheistic faiths, but others as well. Best part is, I doubt any foreign leader would object to just a diverse, equitable, and inclusive pursuit.

This is Grand Canyon quality reach. If you can't appreciate a 19 year old boy drafted in in 1967 to serve in Vietnam who is now 70-something the team honors it doesn't mean you supported the Vietnam War. But people recognize that guy or the others who served in subsequent (or even previous) wars. For the record, I served in a two way live fire and am firmly against wars waged for little purpose. And if you ask most veterans, they are not pro-war because of how bad the experience often is. Still, seeing some of the people the Sabres honor, especially PH recipients, should evoke something without meaning you pound the table for war. And you watch in the arena how universally the applause comes down for that man or woman. A First Responders night at KBC or by other professional team would be a great idea. Only thing is, that won't help the DEI rating because that's what Pride Night largely is: the NHL making public gestures to not be under criticism for a lack of DEI. Again, as evidenced by this board, the Pride night and other social justice (DEI) causes are muted in audience response. Because it's not about the audience...it's the corporation fending off the social justice warriors who will come.

The NHL scored low on DEI and therefore is taking steps to address that based on this report: https://www.nhl.com/news/nhl-releases-results-of-diversity-and-inclusion-report/c-336511848 DEI is very much political and organizations/corporations/businesses respond this way as an insurance policy by the entity against being accused of discrimination. The NHL cannot run the risk of that happening or revenue will take a hit. At the same time, fans are not overwhelmingly demanding more diversity, equity, or inclusion...so who is? Answering that question shines some light on the issue as a whole. And there is no similarity to military appreciation night. Recognizing people who served in the armed forces unites people in a way that DEI driven events do not, nor ever will. As evidenced right here, there is a high likelihood of increased division between players and league administration not to mention among fans.

Correct. I mis-read your post originally, so my apologies.

Athletes signed to long term multi-million dollar contracts possess slightly more leverage than do lesser paid associates working within a large corporation. I really wish social and cultural debates would not occur on a professional sports team message board, but this is 2023 and understand it will invariably happen.

I'll put it this way: even if it's 600k in new spending on analytics, that's a pittance for a franchise that has a budget probably approaching or beyond 75M. That includes all coaches, players, front office employees, etc. Pretty confident that's a low-end budget estimate as well. In other words, less than 1% of new spending.