Abandon all hopium, ye who enter here: 1,001 reasons why the Sabres won't be better this year — or probably ever

[Believer]

Then there is this given reality offered up by an unnamed NHL Coach speaking about Dahlin:

“The team he’s on is such a downer, man. They’re so bad,” a coach said.

Yet Adams remains in place. Five years and counting?

Wake up, Pegula.

[Andrew Amerk]

The team sucks because there is no identity of who they want to be and how they want to play. 

I don’t remember which coach it was, maybe Granato, made them an offensive team that sucked on defense. That team was fun to watch. Then I suppose the plan for year 2 was to make them more defensive? Which didn’t work or happen, and the team hasn’t seemed to have any plan or identity since that season. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

10 hours ago, Thorny said:

In which 

To this day I’ve managed to avoid ever watching this clip 

TO THIS DAY

NFL

[JP51]

Nice write up thanks for taking the time...  I also noticed you said "Could" regress...  not predicting they WILL regress, but making the statement these are all possible outcomes... and with that I agree with all as possibilities...  

 

 

[CallawaySabres]

This team made me tired of hockey. My passion, which was equivalent to the Bills, has all but disappeared. That never happened, not even one year during the Bills 17 year drought.

There is something very rotten about this team from top to bottom and I don't think it ever gets fixed. I didn't lose the passion because the team has been bad, I lost it because from the GM down to the players, they are about as unlikeable as a team can get. They lack talent, heart, and the in-game experience is practically unwatchable. 

Edited Monday at 06:57 PM by CallawaySabres

[PerreaultForever]

The lack of hope stems from one central idea and that is that Terry Pegula is stuck on one idea, one vision, and he won't relinquish power to actual hockey people who know better. Terry thinks he knows better and he is the de facto GM or director of hockey operations. As long as that remains this will continue as is with a little up then a little down but all on the outside of the playoffs as players leave or get dumped in rebuilds periodically. 

Everything else is just icing on a cake that was baked with salt instead of sugar. 

 

[GASabresIUFAN]

59 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

The lack of hope stems from one central idea and that is that Terry Pegula is stuck on one idea, one vision, and he won't relinquish power to actual hockey people who know better. Terry thinks he knows better and he is the de facto GM or director of hockey operations. As long as that remains this will continue as is with a little up then a little down but all on the outside of the playoffs as players leave or get dumped in rebuilds periodically. 

Everything else is just icing on a cake that was baked with salt instead of sugar. 

 

Terry Pegula, the Jerry Jones of the NHL.

 

1 hour ago, CallawaySabres said:

This team made me tired of hockey. My passion, which was equivalent to the Bills, has all but disappeared. That never happened, not even one year during the Bills 17 year drought.

There is something very rotten about this team from top to bottom and I don't think it ever gets fixed. I didn't lose the passion because the team has been bad, I lost it because from the GM down to the players, they are about as unlikeable as a team can get. They lack talent, heart, and the in-game experience is practically unwatchable. 

Apathy.  The Sabres players, owners, management and coaches have made many of us apathetic about the team we all once adored.  

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Terry Pegula, the Jerry Jones of the NHL.

 

Apathy.  The Sabres players, owners, management and coaches have made many of us apathetic about the team we all once adored.  

A fair comparison. Although Jerry Jones (for all his errors) might be more competent than Terry. 

There's also that thing we heard earlier that "Buffalo was hard to deal with" in terms of trading. I think that was on 32 thoughts around the time of the Byram rumors or Peterka trade. I tend to forget as I'm less invested these days but it was around there. So you have to think two things. One, Kevyn does not have good relationships with other GMs and two, I wonder if part of that is Kevyn constantly having to get the okay from Terry. Whatever the case it isn't good. We need an experienced GM who already has league relationships and he needs to be given free reign and that won't happen with Terry. 

Apathy? I guess so. I've been in the prove it on the ice mode for a few years already and now I'm really deeply in the skeptical prove it camp. Even a 10 game out of the gate win streak won't get me out of that. It'll take a lot to get me back on the bandwagon. So I guess I'd say not apathetic (as I will still watch) but definitely cynically skeptical. 

I will say this is the first year I am not interested in the rookie camp or prospects and I don't plan to watch preseason unless I'm really bored or multitasking. The "future" stuff is a big pile of whatever. 

[HILLsabre]

If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got. - Henry Ford

[GASabresIUFAN]

This graphic encapsulates the Sabres perfectly.  

15 years and they are no closer to contending than the year they started the rebuild.  Disgusting.  

[JohnC]

On 9/15/2025 at 4:21 PM, GASabresIUFAN said:

Terry Pegula, the Jerry Jones of the NHL.

 

 

Jerry Jones talks too much, and Terry Pegula doesn't talk at all. The ying and yang of bad ownership. 

[DarthEbriate]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

This graphic encapsulates the Sabres perfectly.  

15 years and they are no closer to contending than the year they started the rebuild.  Disgusting.  

And their little arrow shows that they were near where Detroit was the previous year. Just spinning.

The best outcome of the season would seem to get back to the Detroit - window opening - this season. And the other outcome is they slide to where Nashville is.

[LGR4GM]

2 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

This graphic encapsulates the Sabres perfectly.  

15 years and they are no closer to contending than the year they started the rebuild.  Disgusting.  

Yea

... no Detroits window isn't opening

[DarthEbriate]

15 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Yea

... no Detroits window isn't opening

Agreed. Just going by the label on the chart. I can see Detroit and Buffalo swapping positions this season, and again after next season, depending on how UFAs play out. They're both in 1C purgatory. (Yes, Larkin looks good on Team Canada and he plays with speed. But... he's not striking fear into any championship contender in the playoffs.)