Will the Sabres make the playoffs?

[#freejame]

Simple black and white. I say Yes, no, yes 

[Taro T]

Yikes, 100% (so far) saying the Sabres make the dance.  Considering they look like they're one of the bubble teams but should be on the good side of it, that's a little concerning.

[Doohickie]

I will say this about losing Byram:

Zellweger + Crevier will prove to be > Byram + Kesselring (or Bryson or whoever).  The weak link is now Timmins and he's not half bad.  They're replacing a 9 and a 4 with two 8s.

I can see where the forward lines will be a little scrambly in the beginning without Tuch.  He did play a lot of all purpose minutes that will be tough to fill, but that will eventually get sorted and I think it will be at worst a break even proposition as far as the forward ranks go.

Edited September 29 by Doohickie

[mjd1001]

I'm at no, no, and no.  I'm hoping to change that first 'no' to a yes by the Halloween, but right now I'm going with no.

Right now I'm really 50/50 on whether they make the playoffs or not. So, since I am more pessimistic than most I voted no for the purpose of the poll.

2 factors right now.  1.)  Can the goalies repeat last years performance?  2.) can the young guys continue to improve over last year (Benson, Doan, Quinn, Helenius, Östlund).

I think they will miss Bryam and Tuch, but not as much as others may fear.  Bryam I always thought was 'decent' but not good, let alone great. He was an "OK" top 4 guy.  Tuch I thought, despite his numbers, took a step back in his overall play. To me he was the worst of the regular penalty killers, and he startet to make more and more mistakes (positionally defensively) as the season wore on.

If they get both of those they are in the playoffs. If they get neither they miss. If they get 1 of them but not both, its a toss up.

I'm at 50/50 now like I said, but I think I'll have a more concrete opinion in short order. I don't need the usually 15-20 games to figure it out.  5-10 games in, seeing how they play, should give me most of the answers I need.

Edited September 29 by mjd1001

[oddoublee]

No, yes, yes. I expect goaltending to not be as good. I suspect Jarmo feels the same based on his chase of helle

[HumanSlinky39]

Yes, yes, no.

[dudacek]

I can buy into Crevier/Zellweger being better than Kesselring/Byram because Kess was not good last year and the new guys have impressive tools.

I can also buy into an Östlund Benson Quinn glow-up easily making up the difference between Tuch and Kulich/Helenius because most of those 5 returning Sabres will be better than they were last year.

I have serious trouble seeing our goaltending being as good as it was last year and I really worry about Mule repeating. 

It’s the latter two items that got us into the playoffs last year.

Couple that with Lindy’s history, an improved Florida squad, and the inevitable bounces that go the other way the year after a big leap and the playoffs might be tough.

But on paper I put the over/under at 100 points 

[...]

3 hours ago, Taro T said:

Yikes, 100% (so far) saying the Sabres make the dance.  Considering they look like they're one of the bubble teams but should be on the good side of it, that's a little concerning.

IMHO, There are many, many other things posted on this site that warrant a "yikes" and are concerning, but that the class all believes the Sabres will make it is not one of them.

[Scottysabres]

I’m not overly concerned about making the playoffs, not enough of the metro has improved where we can’t secure a wild card spot.

I am concerned about the production loses of Tuch and Byram. Jarmo did nothing to address it and it will most certainly be a dog fight in the Atlantic again this season. The boys had a great run from December through to the divisional round, but lost offensive production numbers in Tuch and Byram without any move(s) to improve on that.

Hoping the youth makes up for it?

As ET Mike Williams likes to say……Hope ain’t a tactic, Don…..

 

[Archie Lee]

I think that every time goaltending regression is brought up as the most likely culprit in the Sabres potentially  backsliding to bubble-team-level, or worse, there should be a qualifier attached that clarifies:  Regression in goaltending might be an issue, because the organization did pretty much not a single tangible thing* to improve in any other area that might mitigate the potential negative outcome of the high-probability of goaltending regression.

*Unless one considers banking on internal growth as a tangible thing. 

I’m optimistic for the future of the team. If we backslide because of goaltending, it will be an indictment of Kekalainen and Ruff, not the goalies. 

[Night Train]

Of course I'm going to say yes to the playoffs NOW !  

Season hasn't started yet and I'm a clueless fan. That allows me to live in my dream world of Free tickets, free beer and having Kate Upton and Jennifer Lawrence fighting over me.

By November, I might be complaining about ticket and beer prices while Kathy Bates ignores me. 

Reality is hard to deal with...

 

[GoPuckYourself]

I said no we won't make the playoffs, I don't think we will get the same goalie play that we had last year unless Ellis turns out to be the man (that would be awesome), we lost alot of toughness in Greenway/Tuch and never really replaced it. Crevier perhaps but you cannot ask 1 guy to stand up for the entire team, Carrick can scrap but you saw what happens with him. Also Tuch brought a ton of leadership which you don't get with the young kids at least not right away. The defense is a mixed bag for me right now especially since the Samuelsson injury (that dude just can't stay healthy) and is now looking like he'll miss at least the first 2 games possibly more. So we're down UPL/Lyon/Samuelsson/Tucker to start the year which isn't ideal.

 

I said losing Tuch is goiing to definitely be felt. He brought toughness, he was a top tier penalty killer who lead in short handed goals and our I believe 2nd leading points getter. Anyone says that he won't be missed I think is just coping at this point but that's just my opinion. 

 

I put Byram will be missed but I should state last years Byram for sure, he played well above his means and was a big part of our success last year, it sucks that he wanted to bolt but at that price tag I would not have wanted him anyhow. He played in alot of key situations for us and to think Zellweger is going to just come in and take off where Byram level of play was is alot of hopium and wishful thinking although there is nothing wrong with thinking like that but I'm trying to be more realistic. He was benched at times for the Ducks and in the playoffs as well from what I read so I think there will be some games for sure where we'll miss Byram much more when watching Zellweger.

[PASabreFan]

As the late David Byrne once sang, "Well, how did we get here?"

Nice job, Jarmo.

[Taro T]

53 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

As the late David Byrne once sang, "Well, how did we get here?"

Nice job, Jarmo.

Late?

 

What, he still hasn't shown up for your dinner party yet?

[LTS]

No, No, No. for me.  I think the Sabres will be a good team but as we've pointed out they are in a stacked division. Unless they can show success against the Atlantic this year it's a no go and on paper.... they won't.

They realized stuff and I think they will remain improved but the difference is when you are riding the wave versus needing to get back onto it. Much like their zone entries on power plays, I question their ability to get onto that wave and then stay on.

 

[PASabreFan]

Pod alert.

[Jorcus]

We are the 8th place team in wagering to make the playoffs at the moment. The wagering has flipped a lot of teams in and out from last year. Carolina, Florida, Tampa, Washington, Montreal, New Jersey, Toronto, Then Buffalo. We are followed by Ottawa, Philadelphia. Columbus, Rangers, Pittsburgh, Bruins, Islanders, Detroit. If the Panthers, Lightning, Canadiens, and Toronto all finish ahead of us we are probably not making it. 

https://sportsbook.fanduel.com/navigation/nhl?tab=playoffs

The other thing of worry is that although we are not the youngest team anymore we are in 30th place in game experience. That includes our players on IR so it might be 31st. 

https://www.eliteprospects.com/league/nhl/teams-physical-stats

If they make the playoffs this year I think a lot will have go right unless a lot of other teams go wrong again. It could get bad in that locker room if we miss. Would not be surprised if there was ask outs. 

[RETURNTOGLORY]

The Sabres have regressed on paper so far, especially up front. They lost 108 regular-season points between them: Tuch had 66, and Byram had 42.

Last year was a fluke, sad to say. 

Management is expecting a Ton from our youngsters. 

Our Power-less Play still sucks and were still weak in the net. 

We shall see. 

[muppy]

It's why they play the games. so Much pessimism

 

I vote Yes and I'm sticking to it

 

signed Homer muppy

[mjd1001]

15 minutes ago, muppy said:

It's why they play the games. so Much pessimism

 

I vote Yes and I'm sticking to it

 

signed Homer muppy

To some its pessimism, to other its realism.  But thats why the play the game still applies

[dudacek]

To me the question is this:

Did last season mark the return of the Sabres to NHL relevance, or their return to NHL contention?

Whatever side of the playoff bubble they land this year, I don’t see last season as a fluke.

I kinda expect this team to be good for the next 6 or 8 years.

[wjag]

Tuch no.  Byram yes.  I’m optimistic they can compete with the young’ins

[Taro T]

13 hours ago, dudacek said:

To me the question is this:

Did last season mark the return of the Sabres to NHL relevance, or their return to NHL contention?

Whatever side of the playoff bubble they land this year, I don’t see last season as a fluke.

I kinda expect this team to be good for the next 6 or 8 years.

IF they can get good (not necessarily great, but good) GTing, yes.

[Demoted]

I am not worried about who we lost. I like young guys stepping up. The one thing about the NHL I dont like is how long it takes to get a player to start in the NHL. 

I hate drafting a guy and going "I hope he will be good in 3 years when he might start a game."

[LTS]

17 hours ago, muppy said:

It's why they play the games. so Much pessimism

 

I vote Yes and I'm sticking to it

 

signed Homer muppy

Optimism is hoping for something that is not statistically likely to occur.  Hope is a **** strategy.

Pessimism is just expecting the worst to occur (also not statistically likely). 

I'm dialed in on realism.  What's realistically likely to happen?  I'll take better than that and I'll deal with worse than that.

Not expecting them to make the playoffs is different than not wanting them to.  

(Also, at least with pessimism people can be pleasantly surprised).