Konsta Helenius getting some accolades

[Archie Lee]

39 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

We haven't won a playoff series since 2007. So yes, it's not gotten us much. 

You think we should be trading for more 1st rd picks?

[DarthEbriate]

Once upon a time, Florida sucked, and it was beginning to look dire for their new core. Like...when were they gonna get good? All they had was a lost bubble qualifying round (and one good blip season several years prior with Gallant). And they had, seemingly, a horrible contract in Bobrovsky getting $10M to be non-Vezina level.

But when Zito came in, he didn't convince the owner and immediately trade away former 1st (Ekbald) and 2nd (Barkov) overall picks to reset the core. Instead, he built around them with fantastic acquisitions (Verhaege, Bennett for that 2020-21 season) culminating in the Tkachuk trade in 2022. And now players want to go there.

By contrast, Adams unloaded Eichel and Reinhart for Tuch and futures.

[LGR4GM]

17 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

You think we should be trading for more 1st rd picks?

No

[Taro T]

2 hours ago, DarthEbriate said:

Once upon a time, Florida sucked, and it was beginning to look dire for their new core. Like...when were they gonna get good? All they had was a lost bubble qualifying round (and one good blip season several years prior with Gallant). And they had, seemingly, a horrible contract in Bobrovsky getting $10M to be non-Vezina level.

But when Zito came in, he didn't convince the owner and immediately trade away former 1st (Ekbald) and 2nd (Barkov) overall picks to reset the core. Instead, he built around them with fantastic acquisitions (Verhaege, Bennett for that 2020-21 season) culminating in the Tkachuk trade in 2022. And now players want to go there.

By contrast, Adams unloaded Eichel and Reinhart for Tuch and futures.

And, the FLA experience shows it CAN be done.  But you have to have the right person in the driver's seat and more than a little bit of luck.  (Had Fasching not kneed that puck into the net in a game that FLA wasn't involved in and that games ends with a Sabres OT victory, then FLA likely misses the playoffs (not positive who'd have the tiebreaker between them and the Aisles with NY having 1 less point as they'd then both have the same points and same ROW).

Sadly, the Sabres don't seem to have either.  But maybe Jarmo can whisper some magic and this off-season becomes another inflecion point for this franchise.

[PerreaultForever]

11 hours ago, Mr. Allen said:

No.  You stop thinking your way. lol.  
Look, I get it.  It’s been way too long since we’ve been in the playoffs and people are getting impatient.  But you can’t sacrifice your entire future just to put up a winning team finally.  Because that success will be short lived.  I’m young enough where I plan on being a fan in 10-20 years still.  I hate seeing all these old and impatient fans getting mad when we might dare draft a player in the top 10 when he might not help us win “right now”.  It’s ok if a player needs 2-3 years.  We need those type of players too.  Every successful franchise does. 

Okay look, the prospect cupboard is full. There's almost too many of them. Trading some of them to start winning now and creating a winning culture where players will want to be here again is NOT going to sacrifice your future. The future never comes if you stay this course. Trust the old fans. We've seen these things before. 

[PerreaultForever]

10 hours ago, JP51 said:

I agree here, I believe this year, this summer is critical... if you dont make the playoffs this year... (and we must remember that the people we are in the cellar with are lapping us with improvement)  then I cannot see Dahlin and Thompson standing for going into year 9 or 10 of no playoffs...  and even if Tuch signs... when will he want to have a functional career with a functional franchise...  and quite honestly with the lack of change at the helm and committment to transforming the FO,  the difficulty  of luring free agents with the win or die attitude to help improve the team, the battle we have with no trade clauses in player for player trades making it almost impossible to get the best player in the trade... or one who will help up transform the team. I think we are closer to a rebuild then we are the playoffs at this point. This summer and our performance next year will ultimately tell the tale...  but I fear we are ultimately looking at a massive overhaul in the FO with a potential tear down or at least a major re tool involving current core players that are late 20s and up

I agree with you and that's a further point on the problem with not firing Adams and turning it over to a new (experienced) NHL GM. With Adams kept people around the league scratch their heads and think how does he keep his job, and players in free agency aren't going to think Buffalo's got it right now I'm interested. They're going to think same old loser franchise no thank you. A new guy could at least announce "the losing stops now and we will fully commit to winning now" etc. and even if it's bs it at least might set the tone and some people might buy in. 

[JP51]

12 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

I agree with you and that's a further point on the problem with not firing Adams and turning it over to a new (experienced) NHL GM. With Adams kept people around the league scratch their heads and think how does he keep his job, and players in free agency aren't going to think Buffalo's got it right now I'm interested. They're going to think same old loser franchise no thank you. A new guy could at least announce "the losing stops now and we will fully commit to winning now" etc. and even if it's bs it at least might set the tone and some people might buy in. 

Exactly, like I hate to be the doomer... but in the end... nothing they can really do at this point matters... the organization is so broken and has burned so many bridges all but eradicated their brand and any respect or goodwill it had...  I just dont see a way that they fix it or improve when ultimately, the players that we need wont come here... and those that are the ones that are core are starting to percolate they want another option...  like I literally think the current FO is a crime... but in the end... I dont know what people expect them to do... they are incompetent beyond belief .... how could they possibly be successful navigating out of this situation...  and even greater is Pegula that clueless that he cannot see the obvious... ? Just how I see it... maybe I have just given up and am too jaded... but the last thing I want is Adams in charge of our current assets... but here we are... the damage he has done to this team is going to get worse before it gets better...  cause what does he care... he knows if there is no improvement he is likely gone, so he gonna take a swing... and that swing could set us back years... 

[LGR4GM]

So he's not another undersized finesse player? Who knew? 

Who. Knew. 

[Thorny]

On 6/12/2025 at 7:57 AM, Mr. Allen said:

No.  You stop thinking your way. lol.  
Look, I get it.  It’s been way too long since we’ve been in the playoffs and people are getting impatient.  But you can’t sacrifice your entire future just to put up a winning team finally.  Because that success will be short lived.  I’m young enough where I plan on being a fan in 10-20 years still.  I hate seeing all these old and impatient fans getting mad when we might dare draft a player in the top 10 when he might not help us win “right now”.  It’s ok if a player needs 2-3 years.  We need those type of players too.  Every successful franchise does. 

There is no future until they ice a winning team, finally 

you have it backwards 

On 6/12/2025 at 8:17 AM, JohnC said:

The situation that this franchise is currently in has to be put in context. A generation has passed by where this franchise has been an irrelevant NHL franchise. The time frame in which this franchise has not been in the playoffs is at a historical level. The fanbase has steadily eroded to the point there are games in which the opposition fans outnumber the hometown fans. If that isn't a call for a demonstration of some urgency by this front office, then what would it take? 

No one is suggesting that the organization should make a number of deals that deplete the system in order to squeak into a playoff spot that turns out to be a meaningless one-shot accomplishment. But that is not to say that a number of smart deals can't be constructed that improve this team in the short term (now) without mortgaging the future. There are tradeoffs between addressing the now at the expense of the future. All teams wrestle with that issue. This is an offseason where our usual leisurely pace of action needs to turn out to be accelerated to boost a fading franchise. And let's be clear, this isn't an issue of old timers vs youngsters differing perspectives on the direction of the franchise. It's about an abnormally run failed franchise becoming a normally run successful franchise. If not now, then when?  

The idea that a single playoff berth, when we haven’t had one in a decade and a half, is meaningless is truly absurd logic 

Like, absurd of the highest order. devoid of logic? What words are strong enough, here? HOW THOROUGHLY do we need to prove how special making the playoffs is? We never f*cking make it lol. “One meaningless berth”. One meaningless lottery win. 

ay caramba 

Edited 2 hours ago by Thorny

[Thorny]

Beyond the actual experience of it, how anyone could doubt that they literally need the berth as a functional building block to BUILDING said future is well beyond me 

[JohnC]

22 minutes ago, Thorny said:

There is no future until they ice a winning team, finally 

you have it backwards 

The idea that a single playoff berth, when we haven’t had one in a decade and a half, is meaningless is truly absurd logic 

Like, absurd of the highest order. devoid of logic? What words are strong enough, here? HOW THOROUGHLY do we need to prove how special making the playoffs is? We never f*cking make it lol. “One meaningless berth”. One meaningless lottery win. 

ay caramba 

You totally misread my response. Accomplishing the low bar of playoff qualification can be done without depleting its assets. With some wise decisions and a greater exhibition of more urgency that which we all want to attain can be attained. 
 

I say this with politeness that it might serve you better if you respond to what was said and not reactively to what you think was  said. 

[Thorny]

2 minutes ago, JohnC said:

You totally misread my response. Accomplishing the low bar of playoff qualification can be done without depleting its assets. With some wise decisions and a greater exhibition of more urgency that which we all want to attain can be attained. 
 

I say this with politeness that it might serve you better if you respond to what was said and not reactively to what you think was  said. 

I wasn’t disagreeing with you I was branching 

I say it with politeness - don’t assume you are being disagreed with just because you’ve been quoted 

you proposed the idea a playoff berth is being or could be construed as meaningless and I responded 

Edited 2 hours ago by Thorny

[JohnC]

4 minutes ago, Thorny said:

I wasn’t disagreeing with you I was branching 

I say it with politeness - don’t assume you are being disagreed with just because you’ve been quoted 

you proposed the idea a playoff berth is being or could be construed as meaningless and I responded 

In the grand scheme of things when compared to seriously run franchises, I would still say yes that it is far from being a significant accomplishment. For this puny franchise it is an accomplishment. 

[Thorny]

3 minutes ago, JohnC said:

In the grand scheme of things when compared to seriously run franchises, I would still say yes that it is far from being a significant accomplishment. For this puny franchise it is an accomplishment. 

People can belittle it all they want, but “throwing away the future for a single playoff berth” shouldn’t be a stance that shares headspace with “we have to acknowledge the difficulties of team building in a market no one wants to go to”

both are frequently used as defence for why we aren’t winning, and not infrequently by the same author.

Winning begets winning. Want to have an easier time attracting players? Want to win more in the future? Win now 

if you can’t do it by ordinary means, sell out to do it. You aren’t going to win later without winning now so you have no choice 

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

People can belittle it all they want, but “throwing away the future for a single playoff berth” shouldn’t be a stance that shares headspace with “we have to acknowledge the difficulties of team building in a market no one wants to go to”

both are frequently used as defence for why we aren’t winning, and not infrequently by the same author.

Winning begets winning. Want to have an easier time attracting players? Want to win more in the future? Win now 

if you can’t do it by ordinary means, sell out to do it. You aren’t going to win later without winning now so you have no choice 

The main reason that the Sabres don’t win is because we have the worst owner in the league who hired a sycophantic GM who is the worst GM in the league. Compound incompetence presiding over a franchise stuck in the muck of mediocrity of their own creation. 

[PerreaultForever]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

So he's not another undersized finesse player? Who knew? 

Who. Knew. 

Stop talking about E-Rod. Get over it . 🙂