QCity

Well, after tonight's game, yes. But if things went differently tonight and somehow won in regulation, we would have had to sweat the next meetup in Arizona. Now, it's not really that big of a deal. I think Sports Club Stats 95% chance is spot-on. It's going to take a shocking turn of events for us to blow the tank now. Basically, the magic number is now representing how much longer we have to wait until we can all put this behind us, and start rooting 100% for the Sabres again. Would have been a 7 pt spread in the standings, magic number would have still been 5.

It's not about cynics, it's about math. Of course you should bet money we don't get the #1 pick - there's only a 20% we get it even if we finish last. It's been said over and over in this thread - there are 2 players in this draft that are considered to be generational talents.

Magic number has dropped from 7 to 5 with that OT loss! Edit: According to Sports Club Stats, tonight's loss also increased our chances to 95%, up from 88%.

Thank god we drafted Glenn over him.

It's not about finishing 29th, it's about not losing your team. Finishing in last place is one thing, but having your players quit on you is an entirely different animal. If he starts sending out a lineup that doesn't give them the best chance to win, the players would pick up on it in a heartbeat. The guy's got a front office that is deliberately trying to lose and everyone knows it, yet the team is still going out and playing hard. Most of the anger towards Nolan is misdirected. If you have an issue with Nolan from the past, that's fine, but blaming him for trying to win is silly. If the Sabres somehow wind up blowing this tank and finish 29th, the entirety of the blame will be on the shoulders of GMTM. He could have fired Nolan long ago and brought in some puppet to coach.

Betting odds: ARI -125 / BUF +115

While not mathematically eliminated, their odds of finishing last are so low it's not worth mentioning.

Meh, can't even get excited over an EDM win anymore.

According to Sports Club Stats, tonight's EDM win increased our chances 1% up to 88%.

When Detroit scored 18 seconds into that powerplay with like 5 minutes left I almost turned it off. That was a huuuge win. We need to chip-in and buy Jimmy Howard a case of beer for that horrendous performance in net.

Yeah, I agree, keep the discussion there. I just wanted people to have a quick way to know the status of the tank without sifting through all the pages in that thread. One click, 1st post -- and you immediately know all the tank details. BTW tonight's Arizona win caused Sports Club Stats to raise our chances of finishing last to 87% (it was 79% previously).

Watching Arizona hold on at the end of regulation was the most intense 5 minutes of hockey I have watched all season. I jumped up when they scored the winner in OT. What a crazy season. That Arizona win reduces the Sabres Magic Number to 7 losses to guarantee last place!! Edit: BTW we all need to thank Jimmy Howard for that atrocious performance in net.

We can keep the discussion in the other thread if you prefer. This thread has merit as a quick reference to easily find the current "state of the tank" over these last 2 weeks.

Last Updated Fri 4/10 9:26 PM THE TANK IS COMPLETE! THE LOTTERY IS APRIL 18th Sabres Magic Number (Losses): 0 Chance to finish last (Sports Club Stats): 100% Current Standings (Pts) Buffalo: 54 Arizona: 56 Games Remaining Buffalo: (1) vs. Pittsburgh Arizona: (1) vs. Anaheim Tiebreaker Procedure Arizona is guaranteed the tiebreaker (i.e. if BUF and ARI are tied, BUF finishes in last place)

We're not doomed without a QB. We're just not going to win without one. All I heard last season was how crazy Sammy would be if he had a QB like ODB.

Arizona has a chance to win two more games on it's schedule -- the two games against us. If we don't lose both those games, we are probably done. The 'yotes are truly All-Star Tankers.

Probably makes the most sense since Pettine has already done the show with NY. Plus the QB situation of course.

Arizona has dropped 17 of their last 18 games.

That was a huge home loss. Two more road games played in three days could make for a great weekend.

.857 save % last night. Looks like Arizona's secret weapon for when they play us

This is actually a pretty accurate breakdown. There are a few avenues to lower the hit next year he didn't explore (i.e. signing Gilmore long term), but it does illustrate some of the issues we'll face in the near future. More importantly, it illustrates these issues are, in fact, real -- and they won't go away by pretending Pegula has some mythical accounting powers that the other 30 billionaire owners in the league don't possess. The most glaring problem to me is that while we will be fighting to stay under the cap in the upcoming years, these figures don't allocate any future spending for anything more than a stopgap QB.

Holy crap Lindback was a beast tonight. Wowwww.

Yeah, the Isles were certainly not expected to make the playoffs this year.

Stunning

How can anyone judge a QB after 14 starts though? He was always a project coming into the NFL. QB's can get better, right? His first coach was clearly an idiot that ruined him.