Buffalo Sabres and the NHL: 2025 - 2026. Changes are needed. Don't we say that every year?

[Gregg]

The Panthers and Rangers jerseys for the 2026 winter classic.

 

 

[jayg]

This effing team...Calgary?!?!

[QCity]

Got demolished by the cellar-dwelling Flames, who had to travel for an east coast road trip, and who also played last night. This game was setup on a tee to build a lot of goodwill from the fans.

[That's No Moon]

Just now, QCity said:

Got demolished by the cellar-dwelling Flames, who had to travel for an east coast road trip, and who also played last night. This game was setup on a tee to build a lot of goodwill from the fans.

Are they aware that the game is 3 periods long?

1 minute ago, QCity said:

Got demolished by the cellar-dwelling Flames, who had to travel for an east coast road trip, and who also played last night. This game was setup on a tee to build a lot of goodwill from the fans.

It's our fault that we boo though.

[zow2]

Bad night for Buffalo teams at home as i sat and flipped between the Sabres and UB Bulls

football. blech 

[BillsFan4]

Why do they always seem to play so poorly against teams at the bottom of the standings? It’s been going on for years now. I don’t get it.

 

I don’t know how they could possibly think they’re good enough to take any opponent lightly. 

[That's No Moon]

2 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

Why do they always seem to play so poorly against teams at the bottom of the standings? It’s been going on for years now. I don’t get it.

 

I don’t know how they could possibly think they’re good enough to take any opponent lightly. 

Because they are also a team at the bottom of the standings that isn't very good? Where does anyone get the expectation that this team should beat anyone? The games they win the other team is saying to themselves, "How did we lose to the Sabres?"  

Edited 16 hours ago by That's No Moon

[Dr. Who]

Yes, well, they've had going on fifteen years now to rise to the heights of mediocrity. The eighth seed is like Mt. Everest to that bunch. They are bad. At their best, they offer the barest glimmers of hope, which they consistently dash with an execrable and embarrassing performance like tonight. And the chucklehead owner does nothing. He, and the team, are a disgrace.

[QCity]

48 minutes ago, That's No Moon said:

 

It's our fault that we boo though.

 

They should be very grateful there's anyone in the seats at all.

[Rockpile233]

Love Lindy but need to wipe the slate again. Adams having a job is pure comedy at this point.

[Gregg]

56 minutes ago, Rockpile233 said:

Love Lindy but need to wipe the slate again. Adams having a job is pure comedy at this point.

 

What this tells me is Beane and McDermott will have jobs for life with the Bills.

[BillsFan4]

9 hours ago, That's No Moon said:

Because they are also a team at the bottom of the standings that isn't very good? Where does anyone get the expectation that this team should beat anyone? The games they win the other team is saying to themselves, "How did we lose to the Sabres?"  

But they tend to play well against the better teams.

 

And that was my point - they are a team consistently at the bottom of the standings. They shouldn’t ever be thinking they can take a night off. But they seem to pretty consistently play up or down to their competition. 

 

They just played probably their best game of the year against Edmonton the game before this. Totally shut McDavid and Draisaitl down. Then they follow it up with one of their worst performances of the year against the current last place team in the NHL.

[May Day 10]

They have 5 regulation wins in 20 games.  A quarter of the season.  They arent good.  They havent been good for as long as I can remember.  They made no changes and we are expected to keep an open mind.

 

 

The NHL is random.  Random results every night.  It is more like MLB and not the NFL in that way.    It is a marathon and you look at the body of work.  1/4 of the season has been a complete failure.  They have to go 35-20-7 the rest of the way to even make the playoffs.

[That's No Moon]

30 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

But they tend to play well against the better teams.

 

And that was my point - they are a team consistently at the bottom of the standings. They shouldn’t ever be thinking they can take a night off. But they seem to pretty consistently play up or down to their competition. 

 

They just played probably their best game of the year against Edmonton the game before this. Totally shut McDavid and Draisaitl down. Then they follow it up with one of their worst performances of the year against the current last place team in the NHL.

Do they play better against good teams or do good teams lose their focus and/or play their backup goalie when they play the Sabres?

[BillsPride12]

22 minutes ago, May Day 10 said:

They have 5 regulation wins in 20 games.  A quarter of the season.  They arent good.  They havent been good for as long as I can remember.  They made no changes and we are expected to keep an open mind.

 

 

The NHL is random.  Random results every night.  It is more like MLB and not the NFL in that way.    It is a marathon and you look at the body of work.  1/4 of the season has been a complete failure.  They have to go 35-20-7 the rest of the way to even make the playoffs.

 

[BillsFan4]

4 hours ago, That's No Moon said:

Do they play better against good teams or do good teams lose their focus and/or play their backup goalie when they play the Sabres?

Yeah I definitely think that is some of it. But there also tends to be a big difference in the way the Sabres play. Watch how engaged they were playing Edmonton, then watch the Calgary game. You can see the difference in effort level and engagement clear as day.

They hustled to every puck and tried to win every battle against Edmonton. Against Calgary it was the total opposite. They looked slow to every puck. Barely tried to battle. Let Calgary camp in front of the net. etc etc.

 

Then you have Sabres players saying stuff like this after the game:

Tage Thompson:

Quote

“I think we get a little too high on ourselves after a couple of wins,” Thompson said. “We think we’re better than we are instead of remembering what got us those wins. I thought, looking back at the other game against Edmonton, I thought we were really hard to play against. And I thought tonight we were really easy, really light on the puck. Anytime you’re doing that, you’re going to lose games.”

 

“I think it doesn’t matter who you’re playing. You can win on any given night, you can lose on any given night; it doesn’t matter who you line up across,” Thompson said. “I think it’s just a lack of respect for the game of hockey, thinking you’re just going to go out there casual and the puck’s just going to find you. It’s not the case.”

Samuelsson:

 

Quote

“There’s some games where we put it together and everybody’s rolling and you see the potential. And then there’s some games where maybe guys are just passengers or not enough guys pulling the same way. Tonight I thought it was a little discombobulated out there.”

and Ruff:
 

Quote

Sabres coach Lindy Ruff said he thought his team didn’t respect the opponent, but should have known the Flames would be desperate.

 

That’s been the Sabres of the past few seasons in a nutshell. Ruff is in his second season of trying to coach this type of inconsistency out of this group, and he’s running out of ways to say the same things after games.

 

“I mean, as a group, there wasn’t a lot of players to like in the game,” Ruff said. “If you want to break down every goal, somebody got outmuscled somewhere, somebody got beat back up ice. Didn’t really see that coming.”

https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6822312/2025/11/20/sabres-loss-flames-red-flag-thoughts/
 

This about sums it up…

 

Quote

The Sabres came into the game last in the Eastern Conference. They should have been as desperate as the Flames while trying to make up lost ground in the standings. But that’s why Buffalo already has three winless streaks of three games or more. And the Sabres have not managed to string more than two wins together all season. That is a trait of an NHL bottom feeder, not a contender.

 

Edited 1 hour ago by BillsFan4

[May Day 10]

Edmonton stinks right now too