Are the Sabres out of the running for the playoffs?

[Pimlach]

26 minutes ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

It just sucks because the Isles were without Barzal, I wish we woulda taken advantage of that. 

Other than their PP, they have been playing good hockey without him.  With the style that they play they can plug another grinder in.  

[dudacek]

The game was a textbook example of an old-school middle-of-the-ice fortress defence, throw-the-puck-at-the-net-and-swarm the crease game versus an uptempo attack-the-puck-in-both-ends game.

Old school forced new school to play old school and that’s why they won.

Owen Power got a lesson in what it means to fight for your ice in the NHL level.

Did he and the other kids learn anything? 

We can hope.

[Thorny]

1 hour ago, Weave said:

I’m going to repeat myself, any team losing their #1 RW, #2 D, #6 D, lose their #1 D and have him hobbled for a number of games after is going to struggle mightily again opponents equal to them or better.  Boston or Carolina doesn’t do well i. That scenario either.

Losing under our curee t situation isn’t indicative of lack of depth.  It’s indicative of top tier players all getting hurt at the same time.

At least as far as the Islanders are concerned, I didn’t see Barzal out there, or Pageau. Their 2nd and 5th leading scorers 

Tuch and Samuelsson isn’t any worse than Barzal and Pageau. Things only got serious when / for as long as Dahlin is hobbled 

Edited March 8, 2023 by Thorny

[Wyldnwoody44]

I am hoping that this off-season shows a measured amount of moves made. We have cap space, picks and an actual direction to go. I think we miss, but these games are still very important to the young guys, it's the first taste of even coming close and the games have been ramped up to display that, it will show what it's going to take at a bare minimum to make/succeed in the dance. Maybe they go off and we squeak in, but I think that is a less than 10% chance of happening. 

I need to see something from KA in the off-season and not just expect to rely on improvement because some players have a birthday, we need some tangible evidence in the form of veteran leadership, grinding physical players and a goalie that can be trusted to mix into our current team. 

[dudacek]

35 minutes ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

I am hoping that this off-season shows a measured amount of moves made. We have cap space, picks and an actual direction to go. I think we miss, but these games are still very important to the young guys, it's the first taste of even coming close and the games have been ramped up to display that, it will show what it's going to take at a bare minimum to make/succeed in the dance. Maybe they go off and we squeak in, but I think that is a less than 10% chance of happening. 

I need to see something from KA in the off-season and not just expect to rely on improvement because some players have a birthday, we need some tangible evidence in the form of veteran leadership, grinding physical players and a goalie that can be trusted to mix into our current team. 

The bold is very much eye-of-the-beholder stuff.

Because Adams made it explicitly clear in his deadline presser that is where he is counting on the bulk of improvement to come from.

At the same time, he just traded a 2nd for a big, grinding forward, acquired an edgy depth defenceman, and was prepared to pay big for a top-3 defenceman.

I’ll say it again: most of these guys are going to back next year; he is not going to bring in a top six forward; he will bring in another good defenceman; I have no idea what he will do in goal.

Whether this season is what we are, or whether it is effectively what the lost lockout season would have been for the ‘06 team, we will have to wait and see.

Edited March 9, 2023 by dudacek

[Thorny]

Don’t really think those takes are very far off ^

The vet leadership and physical play can be found by way of the good defensemen, the main thing is the goalie. That would certainly represent a “need to see something” move. And I tend to agree on the GT add: if the reasonable expectation next season is playoffs, even with the internal improvement we’re looking for i don’t think status quo in net would put us in a safe spot in that regard. Short of Levi coming in this year and looking stellar right off the bat 

More than any specific designation of what we should expect to achieve, there’s simply the matter of a lot of the rest of the roster being ready to take a run at it, to the point where failing to supplement that with good goaltending would be an awful waste 

Edited March 9, 2023 by Thorny

[PerreaultForever]

8 hours ago, Weave said:

I’m going to repeat myself, any team losing their #1 RW, #2 D, #6 D, lose their #1 D and have him hobbled for a number of games after is going to struggle mightily again opponents equal to them or better.  Boston or Carolina doesn’t do well i. That scenario either.

Losing under our curee t situation isn’t indicative of lack of depth.  It’s indicative of top tier players all getting hurt at the same time.

Boston started the season without McAvoy and Marchand. They are currently without Hall and Foligno and Marchand is banged up and playing at half speed. They have 2 D men who could both play in the Sabres line up that can't even get in a game, They call up Lauko or another Providence guy and they don't miss a beat on any of it. With the deadline adds they could play 6 or 7 men out and still basically be the same team. 

Now I wouldn't expect the Sabres to be able to compete with that level of depth, but you brought them up. It's lack of depth. Big time. 

[thewookie1]

9 hours ago, dudacek said:

The bold is very much eye-of-the-beholder stuff.

Because Adams made it explicitly clear in his deadline presser that is where he is counting on the bulk of improvement to come from.

At the same time, he just traded a 2nd for a big, grinding forward, acquired an edgy depth defenceman, and was prepared to pay big for a top-3 defenceman.

I’ll say it again: most of these guys are going to back next year; he is not going to bring in a top six forward; he will bring in another good defenceman; I have no idea what he will do in goal.

Whether this season is what we are, or whether it is effectively what the lost lockout season would have been for the ‘06 team, we will have to wait and see.

I could certainly see that being the case, the 04-05 team would of likely been similar to this one potentially with a mass quantity of younger players. The main difference being we had Biron as a starter with Miller on the way. 

[John Tucker]

[French Collection]

Not mathematically but pretty darn close.

Isles vs Pens goes to OT of course.

[Goldseatsaud]

Sabres are done 2022-2023 

[pi2000]

Well that was fun.

[Gatorman0519]

45 minutes ago, Goldseatsaud said:

Sabres are done 2022-2023 

I said they were done a month ago.  A team that has to score 5 or 6 a night to win is not a playoff team.  It is the backend that must develop first.  Ours is not only bad it is atrocious. 

[Thorny]

Starting to look like we might not get that really cool “down to the wire” feeling where we are playing games right up until the end that could get us in. 

But it’s still possible. Really need to reel off that 6 gamer any time, now, though...certainly looks more unlikely after that performance, and admission from KO* tonight. 

*Dallas 10

 Buffalo 4

10-4 = “OK” 

KO = 4-10. Not okay. 

 

 

 

[Believer]

Will take a miracle run after tonight… Rooting for it… Would be betting against it… Smartly, not a gambler…

[DarthEbriate]

"Not out!" yells RJ, but now you can hear the alarmed strain in his voice. You can see the hand gripping the mic and the eyes starting to just bulge ever so slightly. This time it was a wimp backhand on a rolling puck that just sent the puck dribbling up past the dots right to the pinching D-man who has whipped it 'cross-ice to his partner who has an open lane to move in toward the goal -- primed to shoot again or pass. The defense is collapsing back toward the net as the shift surpasses 70 seconds.

[Thorny]

12 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

"Not out!" yells RJ, but now you can hear the alarmed strain in his voice. You can see the hand gripping the mic and the eyes starting to just bulge ever so slightly. This time it was a wimp backhand on a rolling puck that just sent the puck dribbling up past the dots right to the pinching D-man who has whipped it 'cross-ice to his partner who has an open lane to move in toward the goal -- primed to shoot again or pass. The defense is collapsing back toward the net as the shift surpasses 70 seconds.

I’m honestly glad he moved in towards the net cause I feel like these almost ALWAYS ended with point shot goals back in the day 😂

[PerreaultForever]

2 hours ago, French Collection said:

Not mathematically but pretty darn close.

Isles vs Pens goes to OT of course.

I think that result plus the Sabres loss pretty much ends it. 

[In The Buff]

we were out of the playoffs when our GM decided it wasnt that important.

Did he make a concerted effort to accomplish that goal? Was it even a goal in the 1st place?

If the answer isn't yes to both of those then therein lies the problem i guess?

ps; yes i know all about the long term plan

[Thorny]

Aaaand Ottawa gets the W. one final kick for today 

[Thorny]

On 2/19/2023 at 2:00 AM, Thorny said:

I’m about 18 games from sitting back and putting my feet up. If, a mere 18 games from today, we are sitting, hypothetically, in the same relative position:

I‘m hanging a banner.

Shoot me: I don’t care. That’s called meaningful games in March. It’s a playoff chase.

It’d be the first 82-game season in a f*cking age that was......*actually 82 games* as an entertainment product.

Who knows how expectations change or don’t moving forward but for the time being, I’d be pretty damn satisfied to realize I wasn’t completely full of sh*t for the last decade in saying I just wanted an NHL hockey team back - that’s it. It’s been way too long. Don’t worry Sabres, we kept the lights on for ya.

I missed you dearly.

Well, I said this 10 games ago. We’ve gone 4-6 since. 8 more games to go (I was setting the mark at 10 games remaining in the season) 

“Same relative position.“ we can still do it, but it looks like we may come up a bit short 😞

I’m not sure we’ll be sitting on the bubble with 10 games remaining. On the bubble with a realistic shot, that’s where I wanted to be at that stage, that’s where we were when I made the statement. To me, that would classify as “in it” for the full year - was gonna spot them the final 10.

Gotta string together a few here in these next 8 to get us back to being “in it” at the begging of that final 10. Looking mighty dicey.

Edited March 10, 2023 by Thorny

[Night Train]

10 goals isn't because a lack of a trade for 1-2 guys. That might have cut last nights GA to 8 or 9 instead of 10.  It's the team as a whole. Get real. 

[LGR4GM]

1 minute ago, Night Train said:

10 goals isn't because a lack of a trade for 1-2 guys. That might have cut last nights GA to 8 or 9 instead of 10.  It's the team as a whole. Get real. 

1-2 guys would have us 2-4 wins higher in the standings right now meaning that this past week would have mattered slightly less. Trees meet forest 

[Buffalonill]

 

Another year Where the playoffs are the draft . 

 I'm so over this b*******

[mjd1001]

1 hour ago, Night Train said:

10 goals isn't because a lack of a trade for 1-2 guys. That might have cut last nights GA to 8 or 9 instead of 10.  It's the team as a whole. Get real. 

Everyone seems to want to think a D-man would have made the difference.  I STILL see the D-zone coverage by the Forwards as the biggest issue this team has when allowing goals.  I am not a coach, never played anything close to high level hockey, but I see D-men, even the 3rd pair guys, doing "OK" with their coverage. I do NOT see forwards holding their position in the D-zone though. When a D-man goes to the boards, I often don't see a Forward drop down into coverage.  I see forwards vacting their spot to chase pucks when D-men are already there.   

The D-men aren't perfect, but it is often the forwards, the Forward most of us LIKE (Tage, Cozens, the young guys like Quinn and Petera) who are a bigger issue. A trade for a D-man isn't going to fix that. Experience will. Those guys getting older will. Those guys WANTING to watch video and put the mental work in will. But that will take time.