Shutdown Pair

Tag: NHL

  • On Bandwagons

    On Bandwagons

    I know, I know. It’s been a minute since a blog with this name existed. How’s your family? A whole heck of a lot has happened around Buffalo sports since I last regularly updated the ol’ sports blog. The Bills are Super Bowl contenders with a generational talent at QB. It’s not all great (we’re still talking about questionable ownership decisions around coaches and GMs) but they are nationally relevant. Ask the version of me writing here back in 2013 whether I thought the Bills would be able to do that (well into a seventeen year playoff drought).

    The Buffalo Sabres have gone out of their way to try and match that level of suffering. After firing Lindy Ruff, there was a revolving door of odd choices and coaching retreads (Ted Nolan again, really? Dan Bylsma? Who the fuck is Ralph Krueger?) and somehow they landed back on Lindy. Their playoff drought sits at 14 seasons (18 since they won a round) and the beginning of this season seemed like more of the same. The Sabres were 11-14-4 after a December 8th loss in Calgary, and despite winning a few games at the end of that road trip, the vibes were still bad enough that the GM was canned.

    I ended up with tickets to the game (thanks Turkeys for Tickets!) after they got back and went with my daughter. We had an absolute blast and that experience got me paying attention to the Sabres again. Buffalo ended up going on a 10 game win streak, and have only lost back to back games twice in the months since.

    That brings us back around to the concept of a bandwagon. Both the Bills and now the Sabres are attracting attention and with that, massive numbers of new and returning fans. There’s an inclination with some people to try and gatekeep, to say “I’ve been here the whole time why haven’t you” but we have to try and push that down. Sports is supposed to be fun, and it’s more fun with more people! Remember parties in the plaza? Packing the building for an open practice? Meeting the team plane at 3am? Why would you want to keep people from that?? Greg Bauch says it well:

    Yes. Everyone is welcome. I don't care if the earth tips on its axis from the bandwagon overflow, everyone's welcome. I will haul you up by the cuffs of your jacket to make sure you're safely aboard. If someone makes you feel less than amazing for liking what the Sabres are doing, they're dumb.

    — Greg Bauch (@gregbauch.bsky.social) 2026-03-21T22:57:36.487Z

    We’re about to experience what the Bills and the Bills Mafia experienced back in 2017 – an end to a massive playoff drought. And hopefully like the Bills, the Sabres can carry this forward to many years of relevance. I’d like to end with a line in the post where I talked about bandwagon fans before: “We can’t control the team on the ice or field, or what the media writes, but we are in charge of ourselves.  Be happy.  Have fun.”

    Go Sabres.

  • Welcome to Pominville! Again!

    I know, I know, Marco Scandella is the important part of this deal.  The Sabres needed to upgrade their defense, and this is a solid step in that direction.  BUT don’t discount the positive emotions that seeing Pominville back in town will have.

    What a great time to be a fan, right?  I happened to go to one of Pommer’s first games in that magical 2005-2006 season, and ended up waiting in line behind Jason’s mom.  She had a huge bundle of Pominville sweaters, and she asked the cashier something like “the player’s family gets a discount, right?”.  It was fun being there at the beginning of it all.

    So yeah, he may no longer be a 30 goal guy, but for a little while, Buffalo sports fans were thinking about something cool.  I’m all for it.

  • Positive Forward Momentum

    The difficulty with being a Buffalo sports fan, is knowing when to be excited.  And then when you DO get excited, something happens at the worst time to dampen your enthusiasm (Eichel gets injured, or your favorite football player mows down a pedestrian, or the Bills get put in a position to have their destiny in their hands and then eff it up).  BUT, right now, it feels like a good time to flex those positive feelings about the Buffalo Sabres.

    Since Eichel has returned from his injury, Buffalo has been building some momentum.  They are 5-3-2 in the last 10, goals are actually being scored, and they are edging slowly up the standings.  Perhaps the best part is the fact that they’ve won some games at home, which is a nice change from last season.  That the Sabres can be 4 points away from a playoff spot while scoring the least number of goals in the Eastern conference is a great sign for their chances to actually make the playoffs.  If they can stay top 10 in the league in goals allowed and keep improving in goal scoring (and a healthy Jack/ROR/Ennis will help with this), we should be in the race at the end of the year and not wondering whether or not we tanked hard enough.

    Is there a chance things could still go wrong?  Sure, this is Buffalo.  There’s always another level of suck possible.  The Sabres, at least seem less likely to go there than in the past few years, and that’s worth celebrating.

  • My only thought for last night

    It sucks for Matt Moulson that because of the ending, nobody’s talking about him scoring twice.

  • Dynamic Pricing

    The Sabres announced they are implementing a “Dynamic Pricing” structure for their tickets, with a higher base price (quite a bit higher in some cases) but the ability for the pricing on games to be adjusted on the fly as demand dictates.  Like airline seats, but I’m not sure that’s an association I’d want if I was a business.

    As you can imagine, that went over like the proverbial lead balloon, especially with a fanbase that’s been suffering through some tough years to try and get better.  I’m more curious than anything, as I can’t afford to spend big on tickets no matter what, but if this can get me in cheap on a non-marquee matchup, dynamic pricing might actually benefit me.  The difficult aspect is not knowing what to budget to go.  Is my ticket going to be $30, $50, more?  I’m afraid that if the team is performing well the “dynamic pricing” will price us right out of the arena.  There’s already plenty of reasons to stay home (more comfortable seats, my own food, no commute), and the Sabres don’t need another reason on top of that.

    But I’m willing to see how it works here before I go out and set fire to my Sabres gear.  How the pricing scheme is implemented is the key point, I just wish I had more more faith in the parameters that the people in charge in Buffalo will put in place.

  • Jimmy Vesey? Sure, why not?

    Tim Murray has it exactly right.  You trade for the rights to a player who played with your hot young player, Jack Eichel.  You’ve successfully negotiated with his agent in the past, as he also reps Eichel.  You had an abundance of picks in the third round, which only produce NHL players (50 games or more in a career, so a low bar at that) at about a 30% clip.   GMTM takes a small risk that he and Jack Eichel will be more persuasive than David Poile.  No matter what happens, it’s worth it to give it a spin.  Something else that might help is using all of that cap room to snag one of he biggest trade targets/free agents coming up.  Since the exclusive negotiating period extends after July 1, Vesey seeing Buffalo making more savvy moves at the draft or in free agency could be the tipping point in his decision, no matter what he says now.

  • The 2016 Draft

    The NHL draft is less than a week away, and the Buffalo Sabres have a number of picks, including the 8th overall.  It’s no #2 like last year but it’s still a nice place to be.  Now, I haven’t been watching Junior Hockey, so instead of waxing on at length about stride length or showing you the same video you’ve probably seen everywhere else, I’m going to judge these guys on the next most important thing – their answers to the dumb questions you get asked at pre-draft.

    1. Auston Matthews – Presumptive number one overall pick Auston had some solid answers, but negative 1000 points for “I dream of:  winning the Stanley Cup”.  Contrast that with…
    2. Patrick Laine – …who said he wants to be the best player in the world.  He loves Ovechkin and is ‘afraid of nothing’.  Can’t think of any alarm bells here!
    3. Jesse Puljujarvi – Puljujarvi is top 5 for 2016 draftees whose names will be misspelled on jerseys.
    4. Matthew Tkachuk – One of the possible targets for the Sabres, the son of Keith Tkachuk, Matt nevertheless gets negative one million points for having Tom Brady as his most admired athlete.  It’s a good thing nobody can navigate the shitty NHL website and find this.
    5. Alexander Nylander – Another player following in his father’s footsteps, at the buffet, Alex goes for…sushi?  If I saw a buffet that had sushi, I’m turning around and getting out of there.  Regular buffet food is bad enough.
    6. Jakob Chychrun – Another legacy player, with a dad and uncle who made the show, Jakob at least showed some effort on his answers.  His karaoke song is “Call me maybe”, I’m proud of him for admitting that.
    7. Charles McAvoy – The coolest person he’s ever met is…Auston Matthews?  Boston U can’t find a celebrity to hit the locker room?  Also, Charles McAvoy is definitely the name of a kid in witness protection who really loves the X-Men movies.

    In general, I question kids today and their judgement of comedy.  Too many list Adam Sandler as the celebrity that always makes them laugh.  Sandler hasn’t been funny since most of these prospect were five years old.

  • The Sabres in 2016

    Tanking is done.  Suffering is out the window.  Your Buffalo Sabres are now at peak ‘put up or shut up’.  Eichel is here and seems to be exactly as advertised.  While there are guys yet to sign, there is room to maneuver, with a GM willing to do it.  The draft is approaching, and that’s the perfect time to stop coasting on the goodwill generated by drafting a possible generational talent, and to make the moves that will put this team back in the playoffs where they belong.

    Am I back blogging the Sabres for good?  That remains to be seen, but I want be able to be excited again this year.

  • A New Season, A New Hope

    The Buffalo Sabres open camp today with three sessions open to the public.  The Sabres site has your full details, but it feels too soon, strangely.  There’s been some turnover in players and coaches – Miller’s really gone? – and there’s a new hope in Sam Reinhart.  Despite all the change (and Darcy Regier being gone) many expect the Sabres to have another year of suffering, to get a shot at Connor McDavid.  Though presumptive captain Brian Gionta and other players say the right things about wanting to win and sneaking up on teams, but they are in an odd spot where many fans would be cool with it if they just didn’t.

    For my part, I just want to watch fun hockey games.  I can see the draw of tanking for McDavid, but if this team gels and makes a playoff run, I’d be happy.  Here’s to fun, and a return to blogging activity this season.  Go Sabres.

  • An End to Suffering?

    So the Sabres season is finally over.  It’s a relief, to be honest, even for someone like me who had tried to keep a lighter level of interest.  John Vogl’s column has the grim details – 2-16-2 through the last 20, 150 goals on the season, clear of the 29th place team by 14 points – but to hear the media tell it, it will never be so bad again.

    Will that be true, though?  The turnover will be immense, especially if you count the moves going back to the deadline.  Captains, goaltenders, coaches, execs, nowhere has been immune to the tectonic shifts in the Sabres franchise.  That’s not a recipe for success.  Next season is going to involve a large number of new players which will need time to gel.  The main thing going for them is it would be nearly impossible to be this bad again.  You could just about accidently score more than 150 goals if you swap in a few players that actually shoot the puck.

    What does that mean, though?  26th place next year?  A slight chance at a playoff spot?  It may not be suffering, but it isn’t exactly set up for a season of joy.  I’m curious to see how attendance works out next season, whether fans can get excited about seeing more of the young kids, or if there are any new surprising vets to watch.  We’ve got a non-Darcy offseason to look forward to – we don’t know much about Tim Murray and what’s going to happen, so this might just be the most interesting part of 2014 for the Sabres as a team and fans.  See you at the draft lottery.