May Day 10

This hire means nothing. Until they get something right at least. To me, analytics in hockey seems to be have a lower value than the other 4 major north american sports. The nature of hockey doesnt lend itself to the world of analytics. It seems Im always hearing about players' performances going against what their analytics say, or 'analytics darlings' not doing much at all (Mark Pysyk comes to mind). I do think it is a tool to be used for sure. But you aren't going to moneyball hockey. There are too many variables. Mental makeup, playing hurt/b2b nights, chemistry, line partners, bounces. Not to mention the amateurs are playing in very different leagues/levels, and in some cases different rules/playing surface. Valuable data comes out of advanced numbers for sure... but I really hope the Sabres arent going to stake the basis of their amateur and pro scouting on analytics.

If I'm Watson, I'm 100% trying to facilitate pittsburgh.

I don't think anybody is doing that because they haven't lost yet

If you mean by this style of hockey = outplaying the other teams? Sure. That would likely mean more than bottom-5 wins though unless the goaltending craters, in which case I guess it would be nice that the skaters are looking so good... but on the other hand, maddening because after 2 offseasons, why does Adyms have this as our goaltending tandem?, especially if the skaters played playoff-caliber hockey. Not to sound too Neanderthal, but the goal is winning. Im not going to buy off that we are in year 1 or 2 of a 5 year rebuilding plan, because that is what the Sabres have been selling for about 8 years now. They ran out of that currency/patience with me and many others. I get that they cant go 82-0-0.... and even if everything clicks, a playoff spot is a long-shot... But IMO, a successful season would be finishing ahead of Ottawa, Detroit, and Montreal for starters, along with this upside we have seen in the first 3 games on a somewhat consistent basis. To their credit, they have taken care of the first 3 games of the road. Im not going to give them any sort of pass that they have a terrible roster. It is their fault they have a terrible roster. It isnt/wasnt brought on them by some external force, and certainly not the fans' fault. Kevyn Adams is into his second season, and the Sabres have not interviewed anyone for the General Manager position since the Spring of 2017 (2 last overall finishes ago).

While I am also a skeptic... The bright side, is maybe we can look at multiple teams who are worse than Buffalo. That is an improvement. Most seasons the Sabres cant look down on anybody

It isnt fair to criticize Sabres fans for being disenfranchised at this point. To answer your Bills question, the Bills situation was much different. While it was infuriating at times during the days of juggling Russ Brandon around the front office, they at least were able to remain pretty average and relevant. Outside of maybe 2 seasons in the drought, they never really bottomed out (and 1 of those seasons was really early in said drought). The Sabres keep carving out new lows. They have been the worst team in the NHL 4 (or is it 5?) times in the past 7 seasons. They have shown very little urgency on the ownership side to get it right and make significant change (or at least change that includes bona fide NHL experience and credibility). The NHL as an 82 game slog also is a lot harder to stay engaged in than an NFL season. Meaningless NHL games are the worst entertainment product post-fighting era. I was a 20 year STH and would rarely miss any game from about 1987-2013. I just cannot justify the >$100 for one meaningless, boring NHL game after another, let-alone the 3 hour time investment. So this start is encouraging. I like how they have played. I really like the idea of Okposo's re-birth. Most of the performers so far are veterans who probably arent in the long term plans (Okposo, Girgensons, Anderson, Tokarski), but id say Tage Thompson has stood out from what I have seen. If nothing else, hopefully this can reset the toxic culture and cloud that has enveloped this organization. It'll be interesting to see how they look against Boston. I am still skeptical though as they have looked sharp at the beginning other seasons only to carve new lows. It would be amazing if they can sustain this.

I said it before, maybe another step down the line is some of the lower-tier power teams get bounced (or voluntarily leave) their conferences. It would be really cool if we could see some sort of birth of a Big East type of conference that includes Buffalo. Would be pretty strong, especially formidable in basketball, but not quite close to the SEC or Big10 (or ACC) in football Buffalo, Syracuse, Pitt, BC, Rutgers, UConn, UMass, Temple, West Virginia, Army, Toledo? Possibly some Basketball-onlies like Georgetown, St Johns, etc. *I know there are 20 reasons this wont/cant happen now. But let's see how everything shifts in the next decade. 10 years ago, I wouldnt believe the current Conference alignment exists.

The Bills came a couple yards away from having a track to waltz to the #1 seed. Now, they'll have to work at it. Maybe that isn't a bad thing in the big picture.

It looks like the AAU is taking Florida Atlantic, Charlotte, North Texas, UTSA, Rice and UAB. You can clearly see the direction they intended on going there. This move wouldnt have made sense for either the AAU or Buffalo, unless the AAU made some sort of committment to the NE/Mid West with their expansion, which wasnt happening.

I'll stand with the decision to go for it all day.

No problem with it here

After watching 8 guys go down, Vrabel the rock head gives his franchise player the ball and runs into the defense for no reason

What's with Spencer brown?

Spencer brown not having a great evening

He had no choice but to send Risto and Reinhart (and Eichel) out. Due to organizational ineptitude, they walked Reinhart right to his UFA year (they are doing the same with Dahlin). They also did the same with Ullmark leaving them with zero goalies. Risto's (who seemed at the point of malaise here in this situation) return was OK I guess, although 1st round picks this year weren't worth much, especially looking at the Sabres' threadbare scouting staff and lack of data last season. Reinhart's deal surprised me, I thought they could get more for him. We will see how the Eichel thing pans out. Common sense says he has the least value right now because any contending team doesnt have the cap room and doesnt want to wait until rehab is done. Maybe Im wrong. Don Granato doesnt move the needle for me. Happy for him to get a chance, but if/when the Sabres ever get good, he should be long-gone. One of the Sabres' problems and miscalculations is, they always seem to be looking for a life-partner in a head coach. These guys are thrown away all the time based on the whims of the players and flipped as a motivational tool. Also, with development, they have another coach in Rochester with a rather dubious resume (Appert), and also just promoted everyone from the Harborcenter/Jr Sabres as their development staff (Mair, Ellis, Kennedy, etc). This all has a huge Bills 2000 vibe to it. An inner trusted circle, while the Earth turns and the benchmark of success is a 'team that tries'. The 2 wins are nice, and its nice to see Okposo play like ovechkin for a couple games... but the crowds of about 5-6K speak volumes of the damage done and the amount of buzz around this team. There is a lack of talent. They are going to need to keep getting results, but I feel like we are going to go through some more bizarre ineptitude like failing to score more than 2 goals in a game for an entire month and stuff like that. I really do hope they succeed. Honestly. I just see no signs of it. I was a season ticket holder for over 20 years up until last year. Its terrible, they have crushed my will as a fan.

They jumped off the page in Kruger's 1st home game and blew a New Jersey team (who on paper loaded up) right out of the building. That was off of winning at Pittsburgh opening night. They started off like 9-2-1. Its a long season. The two games were encouraging (I watched most of the Montreal game).

Basically, yes. Beane came after McDermott, hand-picked for being willing to work in cohesion. It works out great No doubt, that is what the Pegulas were going for with the Sabres. The Bills' model was working, so they decided to empower the head coach at the top of the Hockey department (as we see in the NFL). The problem is, NHL coaches are all temporary mercenaries, whose time runs out as quick as it starts, with very few exceptions. And the guy they empowered was completely out of his depth. NHL front offices/ops are a bit more tricky than the NFL. In the NHL, you are scouting 18 year old players across the world playing against/with apples to oranges competition. You need to properly develop. You also have a rigid, unforgiving salary cap where mistakes are amplified. In the NFL you can churn the whole organization in 1-2 years, grabbing several starters in 1 draft class. Adams, I have my doubts. He has zero NHL executive experience, and if he hit the streets now, he would get Zero offers or probably zero interviews to be a GM for any NHL team. He has been GM for 16? months now and brought the worst or second-worst team in franchise history... While the 2-0-0 start is encouraging, this team will also contend for worst in franchise history. He neglected the goaltender position since he got the job (did they even interview anybody for that?). I guess I can be patient and wait 5 years or however long it takes to definitively declare 'failure'. I would be much more comfortable being patient if the team was being run by somebody with some track-record.

Not for the Patriots. They lived in a fan fantasy land for 20 years. Championships, perpetual comebacks, every single bounce going their way, etc... They have a lot to make up for. I wont feel bad for them for a long time.

They did their job hiring Botterill and sitting there while he did (more) damage in the first place (as well as Housley, refusing to fire him while funding his wife's silly Senate campaign). They actually gave Botterill a vote of confidence and were prepared to retain him, only until Krueger made some sort of powerplay, they demanded the entire hockey staff must be fired, and Botterill wouldnt do it (but lackey from the Jr Sabres Kevyn Adyms was more than willing..... So Kruger, another disaster mistake. They actually made that guy the 4th highest paid coach in the NHL with term when they hired him. They dont play the games, but man. They have made terrible decisions. I am about 0% convinced about Adams and the current front office at this point.

I was scared of the Dolphins/Flores. I saw what they did when they started out like 0-5 and looked historically bad 0-16 candidate and started to play for their coach and very respectable. It felt McDermott-like. Then you saw they were going to have (a few) cracks at franchise quarterbacks as well as an embarrassment of riches as far as premium draft picks go. Some really good pieces on defense too. Im surprised it has gone so far off the rails.

The answer is yes. Very obnoxious, but in a different way. Boston fans in general are grating. They were lovable and easy to root for pre-2000, and even a little after. The whole thing is summed up in that annoying kid's sign who attends parades. The kid is like 15 now and has enjoyed like 12 championships. They are a bit entitled to their championships now, not unlike the Yankees fans of the late 90s that they loathed so much. Buffalo fans are like ooze that gets in everywhere. Part obsession, part inferiority complex. Someone on the telecast says an off-handed remark in good fun about Buffalo and he gets swamped with letters. A columnist dares rate Buffalo too low in the power rankings, he gets swamped with letters. We travel (and also have many, many expatriots) to away games and loudly tell everyone how great they are and make a big mess. During the 05-07 run, the Sabres and their fans were hated by a number of other fanbases, mainly in the Southern markets. We would flood their arenas and forums, tell them how terrible their fan bases were, and be loud and obnoxious (like Leafs fans do to us).

At least we don't need to hear a week where Mac jones' 10-12 for 100 yards tracks him to be the next brady

Okposo looks visibly happy that Hockey-Joffrey is out of the picture

I watched a lot of the game last night. Was pretty good. They played well and took advantage of a sub-NHL goalie. Effort was there though. Okposo was a beast. It reminds me of when they blew New Jersey out of the building in the opener a couple years ago

It is honestly the only hope at this point, other than an epiphany and they decide to bring someone in (with experience and credibility), grant them autonomy and budget to build the team from the top down, and restore credibility (which is at zero) as well as relevance (which will be at zero once they trade Eichel). I really don't understand what the goal and end-game for this current path. They are going to run Dahlin through misery right to his UFA year just like these previous guys. Nobody worth anything is going to voluntarily sign here, as I'm sure their dealings with Eichel carries a very negative perception within the NHLPA. They really lack any top/high-end prospects other than Dahlin, and maybe Power really. Cozens is all well and good, but I would trade him for many teams' top prospects without thinking. I also have zero faith in their ability to develop anybody. Their development staff is just their former loser players who worked in Harbor Center.