Sabres beat writer absolutely shreds the team

[transplant99]

Phil Housley was about a half-minute into his news conference after the Sabres' offered little resistance Saturday in a 7-1 loss to the Stars, when he provided a startling assessment. It made you wonder if he watched the same embarrassing performance the fans did before they booed his team off the ice.

It tells you something about the standards in Buffalo when that passes for pretty good hockey, but Housley wasn't kidding the sellout crowd in KeyBank Center or anyone watching from home. It was that bad, an utter waste of time and energy spent on a listless team and a first-year coach who appears to be over his head.

If you're looking for sympathy for the Sabres, or their fans, and suggestions of better days ahead, you came to the wrong place. The Sabres are a terrible hockey team in a terrible place, thanks to terrible ownership and a terrible rebuilding plan that was implemented before this long, terrible season.

The Sabres are getting exactly what they deserve after bungling one decision after another since Terry and Kim Pegula purchased the team in 2011. The Sabres will miss the playoff for a seventh full season under the Pegulas, which is hardly a coincidence given the sample size.

For years, fans have continued drinking the Kool-Aid and clinging to the idea a savior is coming while enabling the very problems they've wanted fixed. The vast majority embraced the tank even though it made little sense. Years later, ownership continues cashing your checks.

Tell us how you really feel Bucky.

Just a complete undressing of the entire organization.

http://buffalonews.com/2018/01/20/bu...to-be-kidding/

[Toonage]

All you need to know about Buffalo is written all over Eichel's face. Kid is miserable.

[EVERLAST]

I'd love getting Eichel out of there. I wonder how much of Kane's just being around has to do with how bad they are.

Housley obviously wearing the horse blinders as well. I'd love to hear Rob Ray talk openly about the issues there.

[GioforPM]

Originally Posted by EVERLAST

I'd love getting Eichel out of there. I wonder how much of Kane's just being around has to do with how bad they are.

Housley obviously wearing the horse blinders as well. I'd love to hear Rob Ray talk openly about the issues there.

Ray was on this morning and mentioned several players who were not playing to their contracts.

[Yoho]

I wish this came out three days later.

[Locke]

Originally Posted by Yoho

I wish this came out three days later.

Ditto. Now they're going to be all riled up right as they play Calgary. Great. Thanks.

[bubbsy]

seems to me, their big rebuilding plan has been to tank to grab Mcdavid and then Mathews. When the lottery balls didn't give them the #1 picks in those drafts, they were left with some decent high picks, but not of the generational variety.

They tried to use the formula of getting some good vets to round out the roster, but the guys they get are overpaid, and not great players (okposo, pomminville, kane, ROR??).

They haven't really done anything to build from the net out throughout the years, so the D and goaltending has been pretty poor, which is detrimental for any team, let alone a young rebuilding one.

Throw in any coach, let alone a rookie coach, and it's a recipe for disaster.

Things would have been very different if they won either of those draft lotteries, but putting all your hope there as the means to get out of the league basement is a poor strategy.

I really hope Dahlin goes to the Sabres. It would really help rounding out their roster, but more importantly keeps him out east, an improvement to a Leaf foe, which is a win-win in my books!

[Bourque's Twin]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

seems to me, their big rebuilding plan has been to tank to grab Mcdavid and then Mathews. When the lottery balls didn't give them the #1 picks in those drafts, they were left with some decent high picks, but not of the generational variety.

They tried to use the formula of getting some good vets to round out the roster, but the guys they get are overpaid, and not great players (okposo, pomminville, kane, ROR??).

They haven't really done anything to build from the net out throughout the years, so the D and goaltending has been pretty poor, which is detrimental for any team, let alone a young rebuilding one.

Throw in any coach, let alone a rookie coach, and it's a recipe for disaster.

Things would have been very different if they won either of those draft lotteries, but putting all your hope there as the means to get out of the league basement is a poor strategy.

I really hope Dahlin goes to the Sabres. It would really help rounding out their roster, but more importantly keeps him out east, an improvement to a Leaf foe, which is a win-win in my books!

You can "hope" all you want by the Oilers are gonna Oil.

[Samonadreau]

The Oilers of the East.

[Gaskal]

Originally Posted by Yoho

I wish this came out three days later.

Originally Posted by Locke

Ditto. Now they're going to be all riled up right as they play Calgary. Great. Thanks.

At this point I'm willing to believe that they're either too depressed to read the media... or even better, too depressed to care about this season anymore. Hey, another year of tanking for a high pick right? Deja vu.

It certainly sounds like the care cup is nearing close to empty. Plus, the guy spends a fair amount of words ripping on the Sabres ownership and management - probably an assessment some players privately agree with.

[Calgary4LIfe]

This just makes me so thankful to be a Flames' fan and not a Sabres fan, or (much worse) an Oilers' fan.

Say what you will about Feaster's tenure here (and I myself don't say many positive things), the one thing he did was ensure that this team doesn't allow rebuilding to become an excuse for losing. Say what you will about Hartley, but he made his rosters work hard and not simply go belly-up and roll over.

Calgary was exciting and fun to watch during their rebuild. They have transitioned into competing rather smoothly (well, relatively anyway), and as a fan I never really felt embarrassed by their performance on the ice.

Oilers and Sabres (and Arizona, in my opinion) are getting what they deserve. Allow yourselves (or even worse, purposefully try) to be that bad, and you will have a heck of a time breaking out of it. Stay there and rot you lousy organizations.

[GordonBlue]

Originally Posted by Samonadreau

The Oilers of the East.

I wish the oilers would years ago would have had someone in the media willing to slap down the unvarnished truth.

oilers will suck as long as katz owns the team and treats it as his play toy for his 80's fandom.

[devo22]

at one point, their own fans cheered against them back then I believe, right?

They deserve misery for their embarrassing tanking. They truly are Edmonton East.

[Erick Estrada]

I think the Kane for Myers swap really hurt their progression. Jets got the best player in the deal in Myers for a player in Kane the team can't wait to trade and Bogosian has been a total disaster. They could have really used Myers on their thin blue line group.

[KootenayFlamesFan]

Man, if you’re going to rip into a team that’s how you do it.

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Samonadreau

The Oilers of the East.

You could replace every name and title in that piece with an Oilers personnel and it would be seamless.

[Five-hole]

Originally Posted by Locke

Ditto. Now they're going to be all riled up right as they play Calgary. Great. Thanks.

Getting ripped doesn't change the fact that the team sucks.

If we can't beat Buffalo in our own building because a beat writer wrote a negative article about them, that says a lot about us.

[albertGQ]

Originally Posted by bubbsy

seems to me, their big rebuilding plan has been to tank to grab Mcdavid and then Mathews. When the lottery balls didn't give them the #1 picks in those drafts, they were left with some decent high picks, but not of the generational variety.

They tried to use the formula of getting some good vets to round out the roster, but the guys they get are overpaid, and not great players (okposo, pomminville, kane, ROR??).

They haven't really done anything to build from the net out throughout the years, so the D and goaltending has been pretty poor, which is detrimental for any team, let alone a young rebuilding one.

Throw in any coach, let alone a rookie coach, and it's a recipe for disaster.

Things would have been very different if they won either of those draft lotteries, but putting all your hope there as the means to get out of the league basement is a poor strategy.

I really hope Dahlin goes to the Sabres. It would really help rounding out their roster, but more importantly keeps him out east, an improvement to a Leaf foe, which is a win-win in my books!

I think you mean the 2014 and 2015 draft. Matthews was the 2016 draft where they didn't tank and ended up drafting Nylander.

Would things be different if they had Ekblad and McDavid vs Reinhart and Eichel? Probably.

[Corral]

phil housley as coach surprised me in Buffalo. When he played here, i didn't see him as coaching material - too many soft nights.

[OutOfTheCube]

Yep, we suck.

I couldn't even get inspired to buy tickets to tonight's game. First time I've missed their trip to Calgary in a long time. I just don't care any more, and probably won't until they show some reasonable progression into being a winning team.