Sabres Curse

[rickshaw]

Been awhile so I figured I'd start a thread. 

 

I have been onboard with the team being 30th all year long because obviously it's very good for our future. 

 

But I can't help but think we are in serious jeopardy of not finishing last. And I know, I think we all know, that if we don't finish last, we will not end up with the first or second pick and this lost season will be a waste.

 

I have been watching the other teams trying to tank and catch the Sabres and one thing I see is the Sabres do put in the effort, while the Coyotes and Oilers not so much.

 

I know they are all "pros" but my gut is telling me we aren't going to finish last.

 

I hope I'm wrong because either McDavid or Eichel can help this team move forward faster to respectability. 

 

This season has been all NO stress because there is no playoff picture, but I have a feeling the STRESS will come in the final 10 games as we crawl to the finish line. Let's hope we crawl slower than the Yotes and Oil.

 

But one can't help but wonder if the Sabres are cursed. 

[IKnowPhysics]

DON'T JUMP

[Randall Flagg]

It would suck if we fell out of last place, but curses aren't real. Hope the Oil and Yotes can string some games together to make it easy.

[PASabreFan]

Everything was going fine until Jim Lorentz killed that bat.

[SabresFanInRochester]

I don't believe in curses, but conspiracy theories are another thing. We could finish 30th and lose the lottery and although the odds say 80% chance of losing, I will be convinced that Bettman did something to sabotage the lottery. I hate the lack of transparency and that silly system that they use. If you were to give Buffalo more balls than the 29th team, and the 29th was skewed to have more than the 28th. ,,, then you pick a ball and they pick first. Seems pretty simple. The countdown sucks.

[Derrico]

If you haven't been stressed yet then you haven't really been onboard yet.  The stress is worse than any playoff race I can remember....

 

I haven't really watched the Yotes play but reading comments from those that do, I don't think they have been giving no effort.  In fact, I heard they played the Ducks pretty darn tough two nights ago.  The game was 2-1 and the shots were tied with 14 min left in the game.  One of the Yotes main problems is their goaltending is horrendous.  But that's different than the players not trying.  With a guy like Shane Doan on the team I refuse to believe their players are just giving up. 

[rickshaw]

I don't believe in curses either but one can't just figure we won't get one of the top two "prizes"

 

And no, I haven't watched many games this year, they aren't on TV in my part very often. I just know that when a team isn't very good, my stress is low because there are no expectations. It's when they are a playoff team that it's stressful. Thankfully this current cycle of sports for me has most of my teams in rebuild mode. So I worry very little. But this 3 team race has me worried. 

[Claude_Verret]

Will it be disappointing if we don't land McEichel? Yes.

 

Will the tank be a "waste" if we only pick 3/4/5? Absolutely not.

[dudacek]

Head to head:

 

Erat Chipchura Doan                vs    Moulson Varone Ennis

Reider Arcobello Gagner          vs    Foligno Girgorenko Gionta

Korpikoski Cunnngham Moss  vs    Hodgson Larsson Deslauriers

McGinn Vitale Crombeen         vs    D'Amigo Ellis Schaller

 

Ekman-Larsson Stone             vs         Bogosian Benoit

Moore Murphy                         vs         Ristolainen Zadorov

Dahlbeck Campbell                 vs         Weber Meszaros
 

              Smith/Domingue       vs    Lindback Johnson
 

 

I think we might have a better collection of players  :sick:

[Jsixspd]

GMTM needs to get  lot more aggressive in assisting the Tank, and make sure Nolan is in on it.   Arizona has lost 10 in a row -  we need a nice 7 or 8 game losing streak in Buffalo.  And if Nolan doesn't agree or resists, then sideline him.  He's not the long term solution for the team anyway, IMO.    

These next 18 games are absolutely meaningless, other than in the context of our draft picks for next year.   

Anyone that's a good player - give them a few games in Rochester to "help them out down there".  Make the 4th liners the 1st liners.    LOL

[calti]

Darcy .....looking for the ultimate revenge.

[inkman]

GMTM needs to get lot more aggressive in assisting the Tank, and make sure Nolan is in on it. Arizona has lost 10 in a row - we need a nice 7 or 8 game losing streak in Buffalo. And if Nolan doesn't agree or resists, then sideline him.

This is a joke right. Murray will not tell Nolan to play to lose nor would Ted do it. What you are asking for is fixing games. People get lifetime bans and go to jail for that kinda thing.

Darcy .....looking for the ultimate revenge.

It might be funny if I thought you were kidding

[TrueBlueGED]

Head to head:

 

Erat Chipchura Doan vs Moulson Varone Ennis

Reider Arcobello Gagner vs Foligno Girgorenko Gionta

Korpikoski Cunnngham Moss vs Hodgson Larsson Deslauriers

McGinn Vitale Crombeen vs D'Amigo Ellis Schaller

 

Ekman-Larsson Stone vs Bogosian Benoit

Moore Murphy vs Ristolainen Zadorov

Dahlbeck Campbell vs Weber Meszaros

 

Smith/Domingue vs Lindback Johnson

 

 

I think we might have a better collection of players :sick:

Diarrhea is diarrhea. Even if we're a tiny bit better, and I don't think we are, it's not enough to distinguish on the ice in competitive games. We also have the lead.

 

And need I mention they have Dave Tippet while we have Teddy Nolan's soul? Tippet will put players in the best position to succeed while Nolan gives power play time to Brian Flynn's ghost.

[Doohickie]

Jsix has it right:

 

 

I ain't skeered.

[Brennan Huff]

Yes being a buffalo sports fan tends to make you a paranoid person. I'm pretty much convinced that we'll be picking 3rd this year

[Jsixspd]

This is a joke right. Murray will not tell Nolan to play to lose nor would Ted do it. What you are asking for is fixing games. People get lifetime bans and go to jail for that kinda thing.

 

It might be funny if I thought you were kidding

Doesn't have to 'fix' the game, but Murray can just start moving personnel though, and if Nolan doesn't like it, he can lump it.   As I said, when this team becomes a playoff contender, I don't see Nolan being coach anyway.   At most, maybe part of next season?

 

If Arizona can play lifelessly, why can't we?   IF the skill level is reduced sufficiently, t'will not matter what the players try or want to do. 

Edited March 5, 2015 by Jsixspd

[MattPie]

I don't believe in curses, but conspiracy theories are another thing. We could finish 30th and lose the lottery and although the odds say 80% chance of losing, I will be convinced that Bettman did something to sabotage the lottery. I hate the lack of transparency and that silly system that they use. If you were to give Buffalo more balls than the 29th team, and the 29th was skewed to have more than the 28th. ,,, then you pick a ball and they pick first. Seems pretty simple. The countdown sucks.

 

The main problem with using the "pull the ball, look at the logo on it" system is the set of percentages that the NHL is using doesn't lend itself to it. Actually, this year's odds look a bit easier: EDIT: Ooof, that's supposed to be a table. first number is the lottery position, second is the 2015 odds and the second number is the 2014 odds.

1

20.00%

25.00%

2

13.50%

18.80%

3

11.50%

14.20%

4

9.50%

10.70%

5

8.50%

8.10%

6

7.50%

6.20%

7

6.50%

4.70%

8

6.00%

3.60%

9

5.00%

2.70%

10

3.50%

2.10%

11

3.00%

1.50%

12

2.50%

1.10%

13

2.00%

0.80%

14

1.00%

0.50%

 

So this year, each ball would count for 0.50%, so there would have be 200 balls in the machine (40 for #30, 72 for #29, etc.). It's entirely possible you can't buy a certified random machine that handles that many balls (ooo, er), or the NHL hasn't thought it. From the looks of it, the previous system would require balls for each 0.10% so you'd have 250 for #30, 188 for #29, etc. and a total of 1000 balls.

 

I think the current system picks a 4 (?) digit number, and numbers are randomly assigned numbers for the list to teams. If it is 4, the Sabres have 2000 numbers assigned to them (20%), and so on. Someone else mentioned that they could show the numbers being picked and people could be ooo-ing and ahhh-ing if they're still in the race. You'd have to either block out numbers (0-1999 are #1, 2000-3350 are #2, etc.) but the first ball could eliminate or confirm a lot of teams that way. I think the only way televising this works is you start with a list of all fourteen teams on-screen. After the first ball, the computer removes the teams that can't win based on the possible numbers remaining. Actually, that doesn't sound so bad. For #30, one of five numbers are in play so odds are they'd make it through at least 2 balls before getting eliminated.

Edited March 6, 2015 by Met'yuPirog