Robviously

It's not disgusting and it's actually one of the older analogies that people use. Everyone knows what a Pyrrhic victory. You can win a "battle" that does more damage for you in the long run, and that concept exists in all walks of life (not just warfare).

OK, why? We saw Ruff's teams make late runs that were better than this. We had all the same "they've turned a corner" chatter and we used all the same words: culture, character, "no quit". What about these meaningless wins is different than the meaningless wins in 2012? If you're comparing this to Ruff's last season, that was a completely different scenario since we a bunch of veterans waiting to be traded after their GM announced "Suffering" was his plan. And I'm not sure what is impressive from a culture standpoint about AHLers going all out when they get a rare shot in the NHL. These are guys who might not get another shot; what else would they do?

Even if we draft 3rd (still my best guess), we're six months away from the most exciting and interesting team we've had since early 2007. It's not that long until we have a fun team to watch again. The only long-term damage I expect to see from this season would be to Buffalo reporters like Mike Harrington and Bucky Gleason who decided this was a great opportunity to argue with fans on Twitter and tell them all how morally corrupt they are for hoping the team drafts McDavid or Eichel. Note to Mike, Bucky, and all the other professional sports watchers in town: A sports team can anger its fans by playing poorly and doing stupid things, but it can make up for that by also thrilling its fans and giving them something exciting. A sports reporter can alienate all the fans in town too, but they don't have the same levers for bringing them back in. Print media is already dying and once you're a local joke, you don't come back.

Personality, culture, character, "no quit" -- I see these words a lot lately and I'm not buying it. I'd love to believe that this is a young team learning the amount of effort and hard work it takes night in, night out to compete in the NHL but this late push feels more like the "Oh yeah?" mindset you see in road rage incidents where someone gets cut off and they decide it can't go unanswered so it's time to speed up and try to cut off that other driver in response. Or when you see a fight outside a bar it always boils down to "I got disrespected. I had to do something." There's no benefit to doing these things but they're "important" in the moment. Like finishing 29th versus 30th. The Sabres mailed in plenty of games earlier this season. They couldn't learn how to work when it might have turned their season around? And there's a reason every time we see a frantic late season push, that urgency and culture and character NEVER carries over into the next season. Because it's not culture and character. It was just a gesture they wanted to make before they left winning the Cup to the elite teams. Unfortunately for Buffalo, Nolan has the team in a "We'll show them!" mindset. Don't be surprised if that evaporates by the time they're 0-0-0 again.

Worth posting again: Buffalo Sabres @BuffaloSabres · 57 minutes ago The #Sabres have outshot their opponents in 4 straight games for the 1st time since Nov. 2 to 8, 2011. #CHIvsBUF Now that the fans are close to having something to be excited about, Teddy and the boys want to send a message. Of course. Four games left in what will probably go down as the most "Buffalo" season in the history of Buffalo sports.

Good Lord. Buffalo Sabres ‏@BuffaloSabres 3m 3 minutes ago The #Sabres have outshot their opponents in 4 straight games for the 1st time since Nov. 2 to 8, 2011. #CHIvsBUF Equal parts sickening and completely predictable.

Chalk it up to the Blackhawks landing in Buffalo at 2am this morning, but the Sabres were the better team tonight. Is it so much to ask that the 30th place team plays like a 30th place team for four more games?

Yep.

Unfortunately, the lottery is going to be mandatory viewing for Sabres fans.

Tim Murray. Supposedly this is the season where we're trying to finish last and he breaks the bank to bring back Moulson and trades draft picks for Gorges. He has two good goalies in Enroth and Neuvirth, and he waits forever to trade them. And, worst of all, he's using a coach who is completely philosophically opposed to what the team is doing. When this goes sideways -- and I assume it's "when" at this point as I watch the Sabres take the lead against the Blackhawks late in the 3rd period -- it's time to think about what grade we'd give Murray for his first year and a half. Other than Reinhart, his first draft sucked. And if the Tank fails, then what has he done right? You can blame Nolan for being a moron who can't work with any NHL GM ever. And you can blame Pegula for not being ruthless enough to pull this off. He got wobbly halfway through last season, fired everyone, and brought in old fan favorites because rebuilding felt too icky for him. Whatever. It's Buffalo. Did you expect things to work out?

But the Jets need him!

It's come to this.

That's a thing, but that's not what I was referring to. I mean that Buffalonians are super sensitive about their area. Buffalo doesn't get the same respect culturally that a lot of the "cool" cities get, and we're on the wrong end of a lot of jokes. Pro sports is our ticket to national relevance and even that has worked against us most of this century. We're very close to landing a player that could make us the center of the hockey universe for the next 10 years. McDavid would mean more to Buffalo than just hockey. Even Eichel would. And that's before you even think about a potential championship at some point. I think it'd be the first time ever that Buffalo had the biggest star in the league.

Probably the worst thing we could have heard after last night. :( That said, I guess I'm skeptical. How many more PPG will Eichel have then Marner or Strome? I might take the two PPG first-liners versus the single generational guy. (The Sabres don't have this option so it doesn't matter.)

OK, time to step away from the computer for a while, Dr. Freud. I think the frustration is a manifestation of (1) we suck, (2) we've sucked for a really long time, and (3) we're really close to landing a special player and we might screw it up by, get this, winning meaningless games when all we have to do is lose. Like, we suck but we can't even do that right. And if you want you can mix in everything that comes with growing up in Buffalo as to why sports are so important culturally. Plus, as someone else wisely pointed out last night (can't remember who), there's a lot that comes with being in 30th so long only to lose it at the end. If we were Arizona and falling in the standings only to come up short at 29th overall, we'd be a lot less miserable than if we were 30th for a couple months and lost it in the last week of the season. There's an "anchoring" that has already taken place where we started this negotiation at 30th and can't back off now.

No idea why you keep using the word "entitled." Is anyone saying we are "owed" this or we "deserve" this? I haven't but I also haven't been looking for that. All I'm seeing are fans that have been frustrated for years, sometimes decades, who want to see light at the end of the tunnel. That's not an "entitlement" attitude.

Regardless of how the next 5 games go, I want as much roster turnover as possible from this year to next year.

I'm also hoping Strome is no.3 on GMTM's list. But I'm used to disappointment.

Perfectly said.

Every trade *is* a hockey trade, and most trades (especially at the deadline) are inter temporal. Someone is giving up something now to get something later, or vice versa. I really doubt taking options away from GMs is going to make the sport more interesting.

I was willing to give drafting 12th overall every June another 40-50 years. We were due.

Take your excitement where you can get it. It's been nearly 10 years since we have a real hockey team in this city, and over 15 for football.

Weave does.

The "player pride" is hilarious. Way to go, guys. Nice job sending the league a message that your first 70 games of sucking actually *did* have to do with the fact that you never gave a crap. Enjoy the big contracts and bright NHL futures that are surely on their way to you.

This. The post-Black Sunday seasons felt like the middle of nowhere. Of course, maybe 2012 deserves a second look. There was a lot of freedom in not having any hope at all. We could convince ourselves to be excited that we landed Grigorenko at no.12 overall. Fans were literally buying his jersey and taking pictures of it draped over the base of the French Connection statue outside the arena. It wasn't bad having absolutely zero standards for hockey excitement.