ESPN Thanksgiving Panic Index—Sabres

[FrenchConnection44]

This was the Sabres. 😂 
 

Existential Dread

Buffalo Sabres

When things went poorly for the Sabres in their first 22 games, like when they dropped eight of nine games, the reaction was "here we go again."

When things go well for the Sabres, like when they won four of five games heading into Thanksgiving, the reaction was the most guarded optimism imaginable with an impending sense of doom -- which is understandable when every season since the last playoff appearance in 2011 has either been a tease or a tank.

Through 22 games, Money Puck gave the Sabres a 7.5% chance of making the playoffs. But Stathletes put their odds at a robust 33.4%.

There's no better example of the divergent paths ahead for this Buffalo team.

If Tage Thompson continues to dominate, if Mattias Samuelsson and Rasmus Dahlin remain a bedrock duo, if they can squeeze out enough goaltending success ... maybe the drought ends?

Or maybe this ends up being the 15th consecutive

"wait 'til next year."

[Eleven]

Who cares about ESPN?  I'd put as much faith in its hockey reporting as I would in the reporting of Rodong Sinmun.

[Porous Five Hole]

1 hour ago, Eleven said:

Who cares about ESPN?  I'd put as much faith in its hockey reporting as I would in the reporting of Rodong Sinmun.

Not defending ESPN, but slightly defending the author Greg Wyshynski. He has been a great writer (formerly Yahoo & The Athletic). 
 

I enjoyed this one. 
https://www.espn.com/nhl/story/_/id/47100079/nhl-2025-26-thanksgiving-playoffs-standings-panic-rankings-index

 

[Night Train]

The only panic yesterday was running low on mashed potatoes. 

[LGR4GM]

Why panic? The are almost exactly the team most of the board thought. 

[Big Guava]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Why panic? The are almost exactly the team most of the board thought. 

[Thorny]

18 hours ago, Eleven said:

Who cares about ESPN?  I'd put as much faith in its hockey reporting as I would in the reporting of Rodong Sinmun.

They are as capable of reading the standings as anyone 

[Thorny]

18 hours ago, FrenchConnection44 said:

This was the Sabres. 😂 
 

Existential Dread

Buffalo Sabres

When things went poorly for the Sabres in their first 22 games, like when they dropped eight of nine games, the reaction was "here we go again."

When things go well for the Sabres, like when they won four of five games heading into Thanksgiving, the reaction was the most guarded optimism imaginable with an impending sense of doom -- which is understandable when every season since the last playoff appearance in 2011 has either been a tease or a tank.

Through 22 games, Money Puck gave the Sabres a 7.5% chance of making the playoffs. But Stathletes put their odds at a robust 33.4%.

There's no better example of the divergent paths ahead for this Buffalo team.

If Tage Thompson continues to dominate, if Mattias Samuelsson and Rasmus Dahlin remain a bedrock duo, if they can squeeze out enough goaltending success ... maybe the drought ends?

Or maybe this ends up being the 15th consecutive

"wait 'til next year."

And I thought Stathletes was a joke for claiming to be a “hockey account” and literally only retweeting pictures of Meghan Chayka

- - - 

If anything the article is kind, speaking of “divergent paths ahead” as if it’s some sort of 50/50

[Big Guava]

7 minutes ago, Thorny said:

And I thought Stathletes was a joke for claiming to be a “hockey account” and literally only retweeting pictures of Meghan Chayka

- - - 

If anything the article is kind, speaking of “divergent paths ahead” as if it’s some sort of 50/50

Divergent was an amazing movie!

[Thorny]

6 minutes ago, Big Guava said:

Divergent was an amazing movie!

It was decent. I liked the part where they ran around in a big group screaming and doing parkour for 20 minutes for no apparent reason 

[Big Guava]

2 hours ago, Thorny said:

It was decent. I liked the part where they ran around in a big group screaming and doing parkour for 20 minutes for no apparent reason 

It was to find out who was too afraid to be in Dauntless because they were supposed to be fearless and if they refused to do it they automatically failed and were kicked out.

Edited 8 hours ago by Big Guava

[Spoonman]

21 hours ago, FrenchConnection44 said:

This was the Sabres. 😂 
 

Existential Dread

Buffalo Sabres

When things went poorly for the Sabres in their first 22 games, like when they dropped eight of nine games, the reaction was "here we go again."

When things go well for the Sabres, like when they won four of five games heading into Thanksgiving, the reaction was the most guarded optimism imaginable with an impending sense of doom -- which is understandable when every season since the last playoff appearance in 2011 has either been a tease or a tank.

Through 22 games, Money Puck gave the Sabres a 7.5% chance of making the playoffs. But Stathletes put their odds at a robust 33.4%.

There's no better example of the divergent paths ahead for this Buffalo team.

If Tage Thompson continues to dominate, if Mattias Samuelsson and Rasmus Dahlin remain a bedrock duo, if they can squeeze out enough goaltending success ... maybe the drought ends?

Or maybe this ends up being the 15th consecutive

"wait 'til next year."

Read this also. Fire everyone. 

[DarthEbriate]

Wyshynski tries to stay humorous which is important. It's also correct. There's never panic with the Sabres any longer. It is simply existential dread. They're in their own category for a reason. 14 reasons, going on 15.

[HumanSlinky39]

Do any Sabres fans really "panic" anymore? Seems like we mostly just shrug our shoulders.

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, HumanSlinky39 said:

Do any Sabres fans really "panic" anymore? Seems like we mostly just shrug our shoulders.

Getting to the point we are more shocked when they win. 

[Forecheck]

No more panic. It’s over. They are done. 

[HumanSlinky39]

2 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Getting to the point we are more shocked when they win. 

I just refer to any wins over good teams as "inexplicable" and have for a long time.