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

[MISabresFan]

There is always hope.  Nothing can be accomplished without it.  

Expectation, on the other hand, is low.

As a fan I always have hope.

[Demoted]

2 hours ago, ndirish1978 said:

I got excited to get back into watching hockey a few years back. This team stunk so much I barely watched last season, are we terrible yet again? 

Don't be surprised if by November we are looking at draft orders. We do start 0-0 like the rest of the teams so it should be  good October.

Edited Friday at 06:53 PM by Demoted

[GASabresIUFAN]

3 hours ago, ndirish1978 said:

I got excited to get back into watching hockey a few years back. This team stunk so much I barely watched last season, are we terrible yet again? 

Sadly probably!

So far key players like UPL, Kesselring (the big off-season acquisition) and Samuelsson are already injured "week to week"

So far this pre-season, the PP looks just as terrible as last season, the defense is suspect and the goaltending bad.  

[Gatorman0519]

We are in semi permanent limbo. Even if we got Zito to take over, it could be 3-4 years. Looks like this season is shaping up to be like the last 14. 

[Pimlach]

I’m not judging this season by the preseason. 

If we get real NHL goaltending we should still be in it at Christmas and then we make a better assessment. 

The needs were Goaltending, a top 4 defender, and a power play.  Our GM brought in Lyon/Georgie, Kesserlring, and some bottom 6 guys.  

Let the games begin. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

12 hours ago, Pimlach said:

The needs were Goaltending, a top 4 defender, and a power play.  Our GM brought in Lyon/Georgie, Kesserlring, and some bottom 6 guys.  

Rinse, wash, repeat.  

[PerreaultForever]

12 hours ago, Pimlach said:

I’m not judging this season by the preseason. 

If we get real NHL goaltending we should still be in it at Christmas and then we make a better assessment. 

The needs were Goaltending, a top 4 defender, and a power play.  Our GM brought in Lyon/Georgie, Kesserlring, and some bottom 6 guys.  

Let the games begin. 

You're forgetting that he lost a top 6 goal scorer. 

Norris has to stay healthy and be much better than Cozens (which is possible) and Quinn has to produce like Peterka did. Without that, your top 6 is substantially worse. 

I find it hard to hope when we are banking on the goalie Detroit decided was part of their problem and the one nobody wanted after Colorado shipped him out of town desperately. Doesn't exactly scream top level. 

The D? idk, with all the early injuries who can say. Aside from Dahlin playing well and Mrtka maybe ahead of the predicted development curve there was no real way to evaluate it. We shall see. 

The bottom 6 is weak. A lot of the competition went arms race on beefing up the bottom. I don't think we can compete but again, we shall see. 

[inkman]

7 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

You're forgetting that he lost a top 6 goal scorer. 

Norris has to stay healthy and be much better than Cozens (which is possible) and Quinn has to produce like Peterka did. Without that, your top 6 is substantially worse. 

I find it hard to hope when we are banking on the goalie Detroit decided was part of their problem and the one nobody wanted after Colorado shipped him out of town desperately. Doesn't exactly scream top level. 

The D? idk, with all the early injuries who can say. Aside from Dahlin playing well and Mrtka maybe ahead of the predicted development curve there was no real way to evaluate it. We shall see. 

The bottom 6 is weak. A lot of the competition went arms race on beefing up the bottom. I don't think we can compete but again, we shall see. 

The only thing Norris has to do to be better than Cozens is play.  He’s a bonafide top 6 NHL talent.  Dylan is a net negative.  He made everyone worse that he played with. Quinn is a big question mark. I was his biggest supporter at one point but his transition to the NHL has been poor.  

[Gatorman0519]

Looks to be a sub 90 point team again. Defense slightly better but could not keep Peterka, a home grown talent. 

[DarthEbriate]

5 minutes ago, Gatorman0519 said:

Looks to be a sub 90 point team again. Defense slightly better but could not keep Peterka, a home grown talent. 

There's a 7.5% chance that Norris and Thompson both meet or exceed 74 games played this season (provided the league has a full 82-game slate). If someone (Benson at the moment) manages to stick on their line all season and they're all healthy, I'd wager that player would out-point Peterka's 68 from last year.

Note: Benson would be hard-pressed to get 68 until he gets meaningful PP time, but I'd think he'd easily eclipse Peterka's 29 EV assists from last season with a healthy Norris/TNT.

But of course, this is the abandon hopium thread, and that 92.5% is much, much more likely to happen.

[Thorny]

On 10/4/2025 at 4:19 PM, Gatorman0519 said:

We are in semi permanent limbo. Even if we got Zito to take over, it could be 3-4 years. Looks like this season is shaping up to be like the last 14. 

If/when the Sabres switch GMs, they claim/act like it’s a multi-year process, they’ll have already lost. That’s what happened when Adams took over. Didn’t even need hindsight back when he did to claim that - with the next guy it should be blindingly obvious 

[Thorny]

On 10/5/2025 at 1:03 PM, Pimlach said:

I’m not judging this season by the preseason. 

If we get real NHL goaltending we should still be in it at Christmas and then we make a better assessment. 

The needs were Goaltending, a top 4 defender, and a power play.  Our GM brought in Lyon/Georgie, Kesserlring, and some bottom 6 guys.  

Let the games begin. 

Frankly I also thought they needed scoring help and that was before moving JJ.

The moves definitely made with an eye towards, “if all goes right, we can scratch 8th” rather than, “things would have to torpedo for us to miss” 

I personally believe a team that’s missed for one and a half decades straight deserved the latter approach 

 

5 hours ago, inkman said:

The only thing Norris has to do to be better than Cozens is play.  He’s a bonafide top 6 NHL talent.  Dylan is a net negative.  He made everyone worse that he played with. Quinn is a big question mark. I was his biggest supporter at one point but his transition to the NHL has been poor.  

Agree, but again, being better than Dylan Cozens isn’t the relevant bar

[JP51]

On 10/5/2025 at 1:03 PM, Pimlach said:

I’m not judging this season by the preseason. 

If we get real NHL goaltending we should still be in it at Christmas and then we make a better assessment. 

The needs were Goaltending, a top 4 defender, and a power play.  Our GM brought in Lyon/Georgie, Kesserlring, and some bottom 6 guys.  

Let the games begin. 

and now Matt Ellis... er Colton Ellis... we have Solid AHL tenders... 

[Pimlach]

1 hour ago, JP51 said:

and now Matt Ellis... er Colton Ellis... we have Solid AHL tenders... 

While the NHL team has a bunch of backups and unproven goalies.