3 games in, the Sabres are literally the worst team

[LGR4GM]

and shockingly goaltending isn't the problem. 

 

[Carmel Corn]

The season may be realistically over by HALLOWEEN vs. the normal Thanksgiving timeline.

[bob_sauve28]

Well, it’s better to be bad at the start of a season than at the end. Still lots and lots of time turn this barge around 

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 hour ago, Carmel Corn said:

The season may be realistically over by HALLOWEEN vs. the normal Thanksgiving timeline.

The season is over by Thanksgiving, Canadian Thanksgiving.

[Sidc3000]

8 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Well, it’s better to be bad at the start of a season than at the end. Still lots and lots of time turn this barge around 

Yes but also not necessarily. If they are this bad for the remainder of October, they could be out of the race by early November. At least it would be a near insurmountable task to get there. Having a supposedly weak division this season may help. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

16 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Well, it’s better to be bad at the start of a season than at the end. Still lots and lots of time turn this barge around 

What exactly do you think, with the same failed players, coaches and GM, will suddenly trigger a willingness to work hard and win?  I genuinely would like to know?  As @LGR4GM properly points out, Terry and his $ are focused elsewhere.  It’s therefore unlikely Ruff, the coaches and Adams will be fired unless they lose 12 straight and maybe not even then.  The soonish returning players aren’t really scorers.  Benson alone what change the terrible offense.  Kesselring won’t be enough to help the miserable D zone effort.  What will convince these lazy players to play hard?
 

Sorry, I went to the Bills/Falcons game last night and I’m in a terrible mood.   

Edited 7 hours ago by GASabresIUFAN

[SabresBillsFan]

1 hour ago, Carmel Corn said:

The season may be realistically over by HALLOWEEN vs. the normal Thanksgiving timeline.

This

[matter2003]

The only positive is that there are only 79 games left and not 81 right now like there will be next year.

And thankfully, the Bandits are only about 2 months away from starting their season so we can focus on something meaningful after the Bills season ends in late January or February.

 

[K012010]

Adams shipped out too much offensive firepower in an effort to bolster the defense, which he now touts as elite.

A remotely competent GM would not have done this. If he was gonna make those moves like shipping out Peterka and Cozens and Middlestadt, the return would’ve needed to create an actual elite defense. A truly shut down defense with rock, solid goaltending and depth in goal. As OP stated goaltending hasn’t even been an issue—yet— but I don’t think any of us is overly confident in that situation. But what we have now is really just a middling D paired with a very mediocre offense. He has failed repeatedly to create a top line that can change games.

I know that Cozens really fell off, but that is not rare for young players in this organization, so I’m not putting it all on the player. He showed at times that he could’ve been quite solid for us for a long time. Personally, I would not have paid him so early, but now look at our offensive output.

It’s honestly just mind blowing that only three years ago we were a top three scoring team for a full season. Somebody corrected me if I’m wrong, but it’s at least top five. From there all you needed to do was use our extensive pipeline of assets and some future picks to bolster the defense and land somebody between the pipes that could carry the load as a true number one goalie. Putting all your eggs in UPL was a massive mistake. He has shown that he can be the real deal, but it’s only in flashes so that doesn’t actually help us. 

Another poster mentioned Silovs and how making a move for him last year made so much sense for us and the cost would’ve been VERY reasonable. I actually took notice of him too. I’m sure like many of you and saw what he did during that playoff run. He’s just not a smart GM. 

And although I’m still willing to give Owen power more time, because he really does probably need another couple seasons to see if he can be that guy, he is a miss as of right now and that is killing us. 

I think what bothers me the most is again the fact that we had the fire power and we had them rolling together really well, and we just completely blew that up. You didn’t need to blow that up in order to make our defense in goaltending situations better.

I don’t see any way that he can turn this around. And it is disappointing that this team is as bad as many of us pretty much knew they were going to be, and whatever inkling of hope that we held is already gone after three games. Yeah they can start to play better and stuff like that and guys can come back, but this team is noticeably worse and lacking compared to even the last three iterations.

just a completely sad situation for a once proud franchise

[Brawndo]

Kulich a healthy scratch? 

[LGR4GM]

23 minutes ago, K012010 said:

Adams shipped out too much offensive firepower in an effort to bolster the defense, which he now touts as elite.

A remotely competent GM would not have done this. If he was gonna make those moves like shipping out Peterka and Cozens and Middlestadt, the return would’ve needed to create an actual elite defense. A truly shut down defense with rock, solid goaltending and depth in goal. As OP stated goaltending hasn’t even been an issue—yet— but I don’t think any of us is overly confident in that situation. But what we have now is really just a middling D paired with a very mediocre offense. He has failed repeatedly to create a top line that can change games.

I know that Cozens really fell off, but that is not rare for young players in this organization, so I’m not putting it all on the player. He showed at times that he could’ve been quite solid for us for a long time. Personally, I would not have paid him so early, but now look at our offensive output.

It’s honestly just mind blowing that only three years ago we were a top three scoring team for a full season. Somebody corrected me if I’m wrong, but it’s at least top five. From there all you needed to do was use our extensive pipeline of assets and some future picks to bolster the defense and land somebody between the pipes that could carry the load as a true number one goalie. Putting all your eggs in UPL was a massive mistake. He has shown that he can be the real deal, but it’s only in flashes so that doesn’t actually help us. 

Another poster mentioned Silovs and how making a move for him last year made so much sense for us and the cost would’ve been VERY reasonable. I actually took notice of him too. I’m sure like many of you and saw what he did during that playoff run. He’s just not a smart GM. 

And although I’m still willing to give Owen power more time, because he really does probably need another couple seasons to see if he can be that guy, he is a miss as of right now and that is killing us. 

I think what bothers me the most is again the fact that we had the fire power and we had them rolling together really well, and we just completely blew that up. You didn’t need to blow that up in order to make our defense in goaltending situations better.

I don’t see any way that he can turn this around. And it is disappointing that this team is as bad as many of us pretty much knew they were going to be, and whatever inkling of hope that we held is already gone after three games. Yeah they can start to play better and stuff like that and guys can come back, but this team is noticeably worse and lacking compared to even the last three iterations.

just a completely sad situation for a once proud franchise

I'm sorry but Cozens is bad and so is Mittelstadt. 

4 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Kulich a healthy scratch? 

Fantastic. Lol 😆 

[inkman]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

and shockingly goaltending isn't the problem. 

 

Sometimes I’m really surprised by some of the stuff I read here. This wasn’t one of those times.  

[DarthEbriate]

5 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Kulich a healthy scratch? 

He had an injury in the preseason and hasn't fully healed yet is what I've heard through Fairburn. He definitely hasn't looked as gritty as he had last year in board battles. I haven't seen him really rip a shot yet either.

[Brawndo]

Kulich was not on a PP in practice. 
 

 

[Carmel Corn]

13 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Kulich was not on a PP in practice. 
 

 

So much for our 1C experiment…it was unrealistic to expect him to be our top line center.  Now it appears he can’t even handle special teams.

[bob_sauve28]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

What exactly do you think, with the same failed players, coaches and GM, will suddenly trigger a willingness to work hard and win?  I genuinely would like to know?  As @LGR4GM properly points out, Terry and his $ are focused elsewhere.  It’s therefore unlikely Ruff, the coaches and Adams will be fired unless they lose 12 straight and maybe not even then.  The soonish returning players aren’t really scorers.  Benson alone what change the terrible offense.  Kesselring won’t be enough to help the miserable D zone effort.  What will convince these lazy players to play hard?
 

Sorry, I went to the Bills/Falcons game last night and I’m in a terrible mood.   

That must have been tough to watch last night! 

I'm of the opinion that the problem is chemistry in some way. Everyone being on the same mental plane and things like that can work themselves out. Sports is crazy and crazy things happen. I believe in the talent on the team, for the most part, just not sure the leadership is there to get everyone pulling on the oars together in harmony. 

In 1980 team USA lost to the Russians 10-3 before the Olympics before the glorious Miracle happened. So hopefully our Sabres turn it around. I'm just not ready for the season to be over already with all these games left. They just have to turn it around! 

 

[Flashsabre]

[Alaska John]

I'll start paying attention when they start playing.

[Porous Five Hole]

22 minutes ago, Flashsabre said:

I would prefer Kulich to wing and Quinn to the press box. It might be like shifting chairs on the Titanic, but Quinn has been INVISIBLE.  He’s averaged about 16 min a night so far and this is his stat line:

Zero points, 2 SOG (9 SOG against), zero hits, 2 shot blocks, 3 giveaways.  
 

But sure Lindy, punish the kid instead of the guy cashing checks at 3.375MM

[Gatorman0519]

They should beat Ottawa. They are pretty bad as well and just lost their top player. 

[MDFan]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

and shockingly goaltending isn't the problem. 

 

If they win a game anytime soon it will be accidental.  This is the least completive team I have seen.  

[Pimlach]

1 hour ago, DarthEbriate said:

He had an injury in the preseason and hasn't fully healed yet is what I've heard through Fairburn. He definitely hasn't looked as gritty as he had last year in board battles. I haven't seen him really rip a shot yet either.

Are you saying Kulich had an injury?

He doesn't look good.  If he is hurt then rest him.

What is Quinn's excuse?

[inkman]

15 minutes ago, Gatorman0519 said:

They should beat Ottawa. They are pretty bad as well and just lost their top player. 

This team shouldn’t beat anyone 

[DarthEbriate]

9 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Are you saying Kulich had an injury?

He doesn't look good.  If he is hurt then rest him.

What is Quinn's excuse?

Kulich had a muscle injury of some sort in preseason and missed 4 practices and a game or two. He was probably going to play through it (like Dahlin did at the start of last season) and it'd be OK if he's got Norris/McLeod above him on the depth chart taking most of the ice time. Out goes Norris and now he's exposed.

Definitely rest him.

Quinn has no more excuses and is the most disappointing Sabre forward (even more so than Tuch or McLeod who at least have the history of performing). With Benson hurt the first three games, Quinn should've been running around like a madman to get all the ice time and cement himself as a top line wing option for Norris-Thompson or at worst the opposite wing for Tuch. Instead, he's looked as exciting as Geertsen. Rookie Quinn is MIA and if it keeps up it will be Change of Scenery Quinn -- with Adams in charge of the transaction.

[Thorny]

Consider the ass bit.

smart dude. Whoever that is