BillsFan4

“When we were in detailed discussions with Jason and how we felt we needed to move forward — effectively, efficiently and economically running this franchise — we felt that there were too many differences in opinion,” Pegula said then. He then added, “I’m not going to sit here and, you know, dish on Jason Botterill, but we have a vision and we want to see our vision succeed.” —— Terry Pegula is the root of the problems with this team. Nothing will change until he does.

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6000113/2024/12/17/sabres-terry-pegula-meeting/ Nothing is going to change until Pegula decides to take a step back and hire experienced people to run hockey ops. but he won’t. And now to add to the above, they are playing maybe their worst game of this 11 game losing streak after a speech from Terry Pegula where he professed confidence in the Adams, the coaches and players. Not sure what that says/means, if anything.

Amazing article by Michael Silver on the athletic: “Josh Allen making MVP case with run of play that has teammates in awe: ‘He’s mythical’ “ https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5997141/2024/12/16/josh-allen-bills-lions-mythical-play/ I found this part interesting

I bet Lindy is wishing he would have stuck to that “no” he gave Kevyn Adams when Adams first tried to hire him… I don’t think he really realized just how broken this team is. I actually feel bad for him, especially because like he said it really does seem like it is all on him. He doesn’t have a GM that’s willing to do anything to try and help stop all the losing. I mean, how can he? We don’t have palm trees… and maybe there truly aren’t any worthwhile trades out there right now. I’m sure every GM is trying to throw him an anchor or steal a good young player. But he’s also in year FIVE. If he hadn’t waited until this past offseason to start trying to improve the team, maybe he wouldn’t be backed into a corner right now.

I think the tailgating parties + drinking are a big part of what kept Bills fans engaged. A big part of going to Bills games all those years they sucked was the tailgating scene for a lot of fans. Not sure how you replicate that at the downtown arena. You can’t even get drunk at the games unless you want to spend insane $ on beers. 😂 although the bandits sure do well at that same arena. But they win. I do think the atmosphere at the arena adds to the issues, for sure. Sabres players have talked about it for years and years now, how the arena is so quiet and dead, or how easily fans boo. The Sabres definitely play worse at home than on the road.

So on brand for this 🤡organization to be more concerned about inflatable palm trees than the results on the ice. Yep. Basically the entire roster all had career years and Adams banked on them not only repeating it, but improving upon it. I feel like that one stupid season has set this team back because it seems to have made the front office believe that this roster and “core” is good enough to be perennial playoff contenders even though they’ve never made the playoffs.

You could literally see the panic set into their game in the 3rd period, even before Detroit scored to make it a 1 goal game. 4 shots on goal in the entire 3rd period. Zucker looked like one of the only players not *****ing his pants in the 3rd. Just hammers home the point that this team needs more good veteran players. And zucker’s not even that great, but he’s been one of their best players. its criminal that more good veteran players haven’t been brought in to surround this “core”.

Ever since the pandemic, the car market has been insane. my leased vehicle was totaled earlier this year while parked in a parking lot and I had to replace it. I almost **** a brick when I saw current lease prices. My previous payment was $179 a month for a pretty decent SUV. I couldn’t find anything even remotely close, even with a ton of money down. I ended up buying an older 2013 Buick SUV with low mileage. I put $8k down just to get the payment to even be in the mid/high $200’s. Then less than 3 months after buying it, some idiot kid with terrible insurance rear ended me and that SUV was totaled too. He at least admitted 100% fault but His insurance didn’t even cover the damage to my vehicle (and since he hit another vehicle too, I got even less) so I lost the $ I had into it, and now my insurance is dropping me because they had to pay out for 2 totaled cars in 3-4 months (even though neither accident was my fault) and I’m getting quoted ridiculous amounts for new insurance. Ended up just buying a cheap $3k used car for now. I don’t see the car market improving any time soon either. If anything, prices are likely to get even worse.

It’s not Keith Pierson by any chance, is it?

Nah, **** that. I still don’t want the team to be sold and moved. The team belongs to Buffalo, just as much as the Bills. This is a great hockey market. Its just been put through 14 years of crap. Literally all Pegula needs to do is just take a ******* step back, hire competent experienced hockey people and stay out of their way. If he truly wants to win as bad as he supposedly says he does, he would do it.

yep, there are palm trees in Utah, so you can’t expect the Sabres to win. 😂😢

Wow, that press conference was even worse than I thought it would be. I’m annoyed I even wasted time listening to it. I should have known better.

Yep, it’s going to be a bunch of nothing…

Yeah it was announced yesterday that Kevyn Adams would be meeting with the media today at 11:30am. I am guessing it will be a mostly nothing press conference. It’ll just be him trying to appease an angry fan base. I’d love to be wrong though. saw this over on Reddit: 😂

Yep, that’s where I’m at too. They are out of excuses. It’s not coaching. It’s not goaltending. It’s not the age of the roster. This team is just mediocre at best. i keep hearing that stupid line of Adams from the summer repeating in my head- “I’m not worried about scoring goals. This team has plenty of talent”. oh yeah? They do? Where’s this supposed “talent” at Kevyn? We’ve been tanking for a f’n decade and it still seems like we are void of actual game breaking talent. While we watch players we used to have become game breaking talents for other teams while winning Stanley cups. something is just seriously wrong in Buffalo.

He actually got demoted to QB4. https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5938588/2024/11/21/giants-daniel-jones-addresses-benching-bids-farewell/ they put him in a red no contact jersey and he was taking reps at scout team safety.

It had to happen. He doesn’t look ready for the NHL. I don’t understand why they’ve seemed so intent on forcing him into the NHL so quickly, especially after UPL established himself as the starter and they signed him to that new 5yr deal. They have a young starter who’s just emerging and is signed for half a decade. Like, wtf is the rush on Levi? I don't get it. All I can think is that they promised him a fast track to the NHL to get him to sign here out of college. Otherwise I don’t understand why they’d handle him they way they have. Hopefully UPL is back to full health soon and Reimer can be a competent backup. He didn’t look good in Anaheim but he’s an experienced veteran. All we need is him to be an average backup that can play an occasional game. Unless he’s needed due to injury, I want Levi in Rochester for at least the rest of the season. Hopefully Kevyn Adams doesn’t keep repeating this same mistake.

Saying Woody is a problem is putting it lightly. Holy cow… https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/5933929/2024/11/19/joe-douglas-new-york-jets-gm-fired/ Good luck hiring a new GM. Why would any potential GM or head coaching candidate with options even take an interview there?

Same here. That’s how I took it as well.

I agree. They need to show more consistency game to game and even sometimes period to period. I am hoping that more time under Lindy will bring more consistency to their game. They look good when they play the way Lindy wants them to. But there’s still a lot of dumb mistakes in their game that need to continue to be coached out. And yes I think Lindy is done being patient. Him benching Samuelsson seems to have woken the team back up. you should listen to some of ruff’s press conferences. He pulls no punches. I love it.

2 very good games in a row for them. They just need to keep playing that way! I am really hoping that ass kicking of the rangers boosts their confidence and they can get into a groove. They need to start stacking some wins before Thanksgiving. Historically, the teams in a playoff spot by Thanksgiving usually make it. They are currently only 2 points back of 3rd in the division even though they sit in the 6th wildcard spot right now.

The -9 isn’t great (if you put stock in plus/minus) but the 15 points would be 2nd on the Sabres in scoring right now, only 1 point behind Tage Thompson (16pts) for the lead. and at the time I posted that he was, or had just been, in the top 10-15 in the NHL in total points (ahead of all Sabres players iirc). edit - but I was being over-emotional to call it a “terrible, terrible” trade. Byram is a good player, is younger and probably has a higher ceiling than Mittelstadt. I just didn’t think it made sense to trade for another left handed offensive defenseman with already having Dahlin + power and paying them both big money. Are they going to pay Byram too? They didn’t want to pay another center $7M but they’ll give a third LH defenseman $7+M?

Same here. Any fan of any team would be nervous in that moment. No kicker is a lock from 61 yards. But they drafted Bass in part because he has a big leg. That was the moment to use it. The wind had died down and a field goal wins the game. What other choice was there but to attempt a kick? I would have been so beyond pissed if McDermott punted it. and the announcers saying they should have tried a Hail Mary are idiots. I immediately said “f no” when they said that. Yeah, Allen has a great arm but hail Mary’s are such low percentage plays. To attempt one when they only needed a field goal to win would have been dumb AF.

To be fair, Mittelstadt was our leading scorer when he was traded, and had been for a while. that was just a terrible, terrible trade. The last thing they needed was another left handed offensive defenseman. It made zero sense as soon as it happened. and it’s not just Mittelstadt who’s looking great after leaving Buffalo. It’s been a consistent thing going all the way back to Botterill. ROR, Montour, Reinhart, Eichel, Hagel, Rodrigues. Even Bogosian won a cup the year he left Buffalo. It seems like literally everyone they trade away blossoms. To me, that clearly shows the issue is with the Sabres organization.