Do you care about the Sabres anymore?

[LTS]

12 hours ago, inkman said:

I find it odd that a midseason loss to the best team in hockey, with a depleted lineup, is causing so much despair.  

You've been here long enough... you should know better 🙂

[mjd1001]

13 hours ago, inkman said:

I find it odd that a midseason loss to the best team in hockey, with a depleted lineup, is causing so much despair.  

Its not the one game, it is where they are cumulatively.  it is just much easier to speak up about how many feel after a bad loss.  Many of us feel the 'despair' but its a lot easier to post about it after a multi-goal loss rather than a multi-goal win.

[mjd1001]

13 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

I think the organization needs a fresh start. 13 years of no playoffs on Pegula’s watch is simple incompetence from the top down. There is no way tickets sales for next season will be anything but ugly. The arena needs repair.
 

 

Many will say the Arena doesn't matter, but it does. I have had the opportunity in the past few years to visit a few other arenas and its pretty bad here.  If you say it shouldn't matter, the game is what matters, well, I can watch the game, replays, different angles a LOT better at home now than I can at the Arena. I go there for the things beyond the game, and in Buffalo, its not even close to many other places.

[mjd1001]

5 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

The drought has entirely been under Pegula's watch. They've missed the playoffs for 12 straight seasons.

A lot of things can determine your odds for making/missing the playoffs. For example, the Bills drought...much of it was contributed to by Brady being in the division, but in Hockey its different.

Statistically, you can say you have a 50% chance of making or missing the playoffs in a given year.  For any time, after 2 years, the 'odds' are 25% you miss both years, 25% you make it both years, and 50% chance you miss one year and make it the next...and so on and so on.

So, what are the pure statistical odds that any hockey team would take a 12 year period and not make the playoffs even once?  0.018% chance.  Or, in other words, a 1 in 5,531 chance that, over the last 12 years, any team in the Sabres division/conference would not make the playoffs one time.  If you 'simulated' an average team through 12 seasons, 5,531 times, only ONE of those times, on average, would a team miss 12 years in a row.

If the Sabres miss this year, with half the conference making the playoffs again, the odds of missing 13 years in a row would be 1 in 11,062.

So yes, they made the decision to tank, but again, those are the numbers for ANY team with a few years of 8 out of 15 teams making the playoffs and most other years 8 or 16 making it.

Hockey Heaven? The sole reason for them existing is to win the Stanley cup? You would think that even if you TRIED to be that bad it would be hard to do so.  That can't be all bad luck..or it can't be a new owner 'learning curve', there has to be a whole lot of ineptitude in there.

Edited December 15, 2023 by mjd1001

[PASabreFan]

2 hours ago, LTS said:

You've been here long enough... you should know better 🙂

***** THE SABRES NOT THE SPACE

Merch available in the lobby.

Stop attacking the fans.

[wsam4031]

Im 44 and been a huge hockey fan for a long time. I dont care anymore about this team. Bad efforts and they seem to not care. Tough to keep cheering on a lazy undisciplined team making pee wee errors and turning over pucks. We bet every year on the sabres at my fantasy football draft and i took them under 500 again this year. They were 1 game over last year 

[Taro T]

20 hours ago, inkman said:

I find it odd that a midseason loss to the best team in hockey, with a depleted lineup, is causing so much despair.  

Why do you find that odd?  Have you been here the past 2 weeks?

[mjd1001]

Tonights game is a good example....if this team was in playoff position, or very close, there would be no way I'd miss tonights game. 

But with where they are, and how they are playing..there is no way I'm staying up late to watch it.

[Alaska John]

And now the Sabres beat the Golden Knights.  What on earth is going on?  Why can't they play better against the weaker teams?

[Porous Five Hole]

6 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

Tonights game is a good example....if this team was in playoff position, or very close, there would be no way I'd miss tonights game. 

But with where they are, and how they are playing..there is no way I'm staying up late to watch it.

You may have regrets 

[mjd1001]

4 hours ago, Porous Five Hole said:

You may have regrets 

Not really. I can watch the highlights this morning.

The fun of watching hockey for me is not just the end result, but looking forward to the game before it starts. I don't have that anymore.

[Huckleberry]

19 hours ago, hockey said:

I'm glad that we still have you and SteveOath from Scotland as foreign fans (Canadians don't count, they breathe hockey to exist) - I still remember that flapjack cooking dork who lost his mind when Ullmark ditched the team.  Screw that guy.

Ah he wasn't a bad dude, Ullmark was his main reason for being on this board and watching the sabres. he could have been more graceful leaving and not throwing this board or the sabres under the bus like that.

[MISabresFan]

21 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

Its not the one game, it is where they are cumulatively.  it is just much easier to speak up about how many feel after a bad loss.  Many of us feel the 'despair' but its a lot easier to post about it after a multi-goal loss rather than a multi-goal win.

It is easier - everyone gets to blow off steam!

[hockey]

3 hours ago, Huckleberry said:

Ah he wasn't a bad dude, Ullmark was his main reason for being on this board and watching the sabres. he could have been more graceful leaving and not throwing this board or the sabres under the bus like that.

Fair enough.

Well, screw Ullmark in any case.

[MISabresFan]

14 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

Tonights game is a good example....if this team was in playoff position, or very close, there would be no way I'd miss tonights game. 

But with where they are, and how they are playing..there is no way I'm staying up late to watch it.

I understand completely.  After the 13-second loss, I had a hard time even watching the Super Bowl.  However, I have been a fan since I grew up in Lackawanna.  I watch when they are on.  I go to games when I can.  Enjoy the current arena and its appeal.  There are different levels of "fandom"  (too much Dr. Pepper).  Some jump on the bus while it drives by; others take it daily.  You never know the outcome of a game.  As a fan that's why I watch.

[PromoTheRobot]

You all know what the deal is rooting for Buffalo teams.

[Thorny]

10 hours ago, Huckleberry said:

Ah he wasn't a bad dude, Ullmark was his main reason for being on this board and watching the sabres. he could have been more graceful leaving and not throwing this board or the sabres under the bus like that.

Legendary exit tbf

[Wyldnwoody44]

Another bad loss, to a team that can't even secure an NHL arena. 

[ExWNYer]

15 hours ago, PromoTheRobot said:

You all know what the deal is rooting for Buffalo teams.

It seemed like a good idea at the time as a little kid in 1970 to sell my soul to the devil for these teams. I had no concept of how long eternity really is...

[mjd1001]

In terms of point percentage, right now Jersey has the 8th spot in the conference with 59% of available points. That is a 97 point pace.

Sabres, want to make the playoffs, right how shoot for 98 points.

50 games left, that means you need to aim for 69 points. Simply, 69% of available points. To get the 8th spot.

Last year, Carolina was close, but do you know how many teams got 69% of available points (or more) for the Season?  ONE, Boston.  The year before that, 4 teams did.

So basically, starting tomorrow, Buffalo has to play like a top 5 team in the NHL, every game, till the end of the year, to give them a good shot at a wildcard.

Its VERY hard to get behind this team or show much interest when we are less than half way, only about 2 months into the season and at this point already. Maybe we can HOPE for playoffs in 2025?

But hey, Ottawa has been thought of to be the 'next big team' on the rise, and we finished ahead of them last year and are still ahead of them this year.

Edited December 17, 2023 by mjd1001

[Night Train]

We care or we'd be long gone from here. 

If only the owner wasn't MIA and actually cared. 

[Goldseatsaud]

On 12/16/2023 at 12:10 AM, Alaska John said:

And now the Sabres beat the Golden Knights.  What on earth is going on?  Why can't they play better against the weaker teams?

Leadership 

[PASabreFan]

On 12/16/2023 at 1:10 AM, Alaska John said:

And now the Sabres beat the Golden Knights.  What on earth is going on?  Why can't they play better against the weaker teams?

You mean against their fellow weak teams, right? Because it's hard to argue the Sabres aren't squarely in the weak tier of NHL teams.

If and it's a big if the Sabres view themselves as Better Than, that's a problem. They might. How many times have you heard this... "There's so much talent in this room."

Maybe but it doesn't matter. The league is full of talent.

[Pimlach]

1 hour ago, mjd1001 said:

In terms of point percentage, right now Jersey has the 8th spot in the conference with 59% of available points. That is a 97 point pace.

Sabres, want to make the playoffs, right how shoot for 98 points.

50 games left, that means you need to aim for 69 points. Simply, 69% of available points. To get the 8th spot.

Last year, Carolina was close, but do you know how many teams got 69% of available points (or more) for the Season?  ONE, Boston.  The year before that, 4 teams did.

So basically, starting tomorrow, Buffalo has to play like a top 5 team in the NHL, every game, till the end of the year, to give them a good shot at a wildcard.

Its VERY hard to get behind this team or show much interest when we are less than half way, only about 2 months into the season and at this point already. Maybe we can HOPE for playoffs in 2025?

But hey, Ottawa has been thought of to be the 'next big team' on the rise, and we finished ahead of them last year and are still ahead of them this year.

.690 is not going to happen    .600 is not going to happen   .550 is not going to happen.  

Detroit passes us this year. So far Detroit, Montreal and Philly all passing us in rebuild progress. 
 

Esstern Conference is tough. 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

2 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

.690 is not going to happen    .600 is not going to happen   .550 is not going to happen.  

Detroit passes us this year. So far Detroit, Montreal and Philly all passing us in rebuild progress. 
 

Esstern Conference is tough. 

Not the Habs.  Not yet passing the Sabres.  Just about even, I think.

I'd argue the dastardly ones are not more talented, but coached *differently*.  The Red Wings are further along the rebuilding process and they are GMed *differently*.