The Sabres are running out of time

The Sabres are running out of time

I get the point that like it is just three games and there’s still plenty of time, but to act like there isn’t more context to this is ridiculous. I Let’s talk Buffalo Sabres. We did a little bit of it yesterday, but that was before the Sabres lost 3-1 to the ABS Monday and fell to 03 and 0 on the season. They are one of two teams who have yet to record a point this season. The other being the New York Islanders. Sabres have never led this season. That will not surprise you when you learn that they have scored two goals in three games. Every other team, including teams who have only played two games, have at least five goals, including the Seattle Kraken. Shout out them offensive monsters. They’ve only scored five. They’ve only scored five goals, the Kraken in two games, and they’re still they’ve still won them both. So, you don’t need to score a million goals to win, but you got to do something right. And right now, the Sabres don’t really do anything right. As I said, Lindy Ruff 2025 tors after the game against Boston saying worst compete he’s ever seen. Not getting the feet moving. Really? I was talking to Shawn about it before the game. It was as though he saw what Tors did late in the season and was like, “So, I can’t say that. I know that that’s too far, but how else can I say I don’t love doing this right now?” And not to be the podcast that talks about other hockey podcasts all the time, but like like when we when I was listening to the Elliot thing and like you know how Elliot chooses his words very carefully. He talked a lot about how Lindy kind of sound res sounded resigned in in that moment. Can’t be on the hot seat if he resigns. That’s true. He can’t get fired. Um it’s so the the thing about the Sabres here is that like yes it’s three games. Yes, maybe this is kind of like overreacting and we’ll have some sound bites from some of the Saber Star players talking about this is overreactions. You’re acting like the sky is falling. You you can’t you that doesn’t get put in place when you’re talking about the Buffalo Sabers because they’re following a script and this is a continuation of something that has existed for a long time and like we already had our concerns about Lindy Ruff and his ability to draw the most out of this group. So, like I don’t feel like it’s too early to say that like [ __ ] is really bad there. And yeah, like they have a ton of injury issues right now. Josh Norris is going to be out for a long time. Michael Kesser Kessler hasn’t come back. Um, who else in their forward group is missing? Samson got hurt yesterday. Samson got hurt, but they have another Benson’s missing. Yeah, Benson, Greenway, and UPL are all on the ice today, though. Yeah, they’re all on the ice today. Don’t let get hot. That’s because Ta Thompson said get your ass out there. Uh, no. Like, so there there’s a lot going wrong with this team and there is time for them to turn it around, but I don’t think you can wait too long if you’re Buffalo. Like that’s why the discussion about maybe a coach firing, maybe some changes above that, maybe some changes below that in terms of like everything should be on the table because the Sabres can’t [ __ ] afford to have this season look the same as seasons past. Here’s Rasmine and Taage Thompson after the game on Monday. We got to get out of this uh bull. It’s a mix of everything. Um not good enough on the ice. Uh a lot of injuries. um we have to step up. This is uh not acceptable. That’s for sure. I’m a big believer that negativity breeds negativity and um that’s kind of how we’ve snowballed things in the past. So, we can’t let um three games be the the end of the world. Uh like I said, like obviously that sucks. No one wants to lose their first three games, but we got an opportunity Wednesday to to turn it around. And I think that’s all we got to start doing is just look at the next game. um can’t keep looking back. I mean, the last three games, the last four seasons, the last 14 seasons, whatever you want to do, um we just got to keep our our sights set on what’s next. And for us, that’s Ottawa. And we have a day tomorrow to come in and get better as a group and work on things and and move forward. What’s done is done. So, I’m tired of talking about the past and tired of talking about we’re in three games. So, um we’ll take some questions on on Wednesday if you got them. Okay, Sean, pop yourself up. It’s three games and we’re talking about the past, says Taage Thompson. Is he missing the mark? Uh, partially. I mean, I get what he’s saying. Like, I agree cuz I’ve always been this way, too, where like it seems like like we’ll be like a month or two into the season, people being like, “Ah, this team’s no shot.” Like, there’s still a lot of season. There’s still there is definitely a lot of hockey still to be played like he says, but there is an energy there being like I don’t know why we’re talking about last year or why we’re acting like this is more than just three games. Like I I understand as a hockey player wanting to take take it a game as a time game at a time and just focus on the next game. But like pretending as though there isn’t a reason for alarm and being like why is the media asking us all these questions about this slow start as if it’s more than just three games seems tonedeaf to me. like you are the best player or second best player. Shout out Rasmine on and that also the energies between their two comments were very different to me. Uh but like you’re the you’re the best offensive player on a team that hasn’t been in the playoffs for 14 years. You have to acknowledge the fact that like this isn’t just a slow start. This was this is losing three straight games in embarrassing fashion in a season in which everybody’s jobs are on the line. And and we haven’t really mentioned it, but like what Elliot said about Delene and Taage wanting to leave if this doesn’t work out. For you to sit here and to be Tae Thompson and be like, “It’s just three games. Why are people freaking out?” It’s like, well, because we’re getting signals that you’re going to [ __ ] leave if you your team doesn’t turn it around. So, like, the energy behind it bothered me. I get the point that like it is just three games and there’s still plenty of time. But to act like there isn’t more context to this is ridiculous. I think he has to say that, but I also think he has to feel that because he’s not saying trade me to our knowledge. He’s saying this needs to get better or I got to reassess and then maybe I’m saying trade me. So, if you are giving this team every chance to figure it out, and you’re right, Elliott says, and I’ll get to that quote in a minute, like that it’s a short runway. During this runway, they he has to be as positive as possible and be like, “No, no, like we are going to turn it around.” I get that maybe you wish he could phrase it differently, but he would seem like he had his head in the sand if he was like, “We’re going to figure this out.” Like, “We’re building.” If you Bill Bichc, I don’t know if you heard, was asked by a reporter in North Carolina, which is amazing, was like, “How do you are you really saying that with this program’s getting worse that you’re building something?” And he was like, “Absolutely, I’m saying that.” Or it’s going to it’s going to be a process. It’s going to be this, it’s going to be that. And you hear that and you’re like, “Oh god.” So if he said that, we’d be mfing him for that. We’d be like, “He’s got his head in the clouds.” But I think it’s two situations like basketball book reference that situation is not the same as the Sabres because like even if you take away the fact that Bill Bich and UNCC have [ __ ] sucked. It is year one there. So like if they are saying that we are committed into building something, you say all right that they have a plan. The Sabres, they don’t have the the the excuse of saying we’re building something because it has been built. This is what they’ve been building. And so like Ta is almost in a no-win situation because if he stays calm and like acts like it’s business as usual, I feel like people will look at him and look at the Sabres and be like losers mindset like you should be pissed off and he is pissed off now and people are kind of picking it apart. And I do get like the don’t blame the media element of it. But I I I like that at least after three games, Ta and Dene are pissed and maybe the anger could be directed in a better way. It doesn’t seem It doesn’t seem like they’re pissed the right things cuz it seems like they’re pissed off that people are talking about it. Not that they like they acknowledge the fact that they suck, but in that same breath they’re being like, “But it’s only three games. Like, we’ve got time. We’ve got the next game.” And it’s like, yeah, that’s true. But you’re you’re presenting that with an energy of like, why are people worried about this? Like why are we talking about this? a valid reason. Like we’re not pulling Lindy Ruff potentially getting fired by the end of the [ __ ] month out of nowhere. Like I mean the month now seems generous. Yeah, I know. We are in the sense that like we don’t it’s not like we’re getting information but but like the stakes are high for this team. The stakes are high for the front office, for the coaching staff, for the players. Like uh yeah, I mean we can’t I don’t I just don’t like like 99% of what Paige said there I’m completely fine with. But at the end being like, I’m tired of talking about this. It’s like, well, the only way that’s going to change is if you win [ __ ] hockey games. Yeah. Okay. Starts with you. I especially too because like how often do we look back at a Saber season and like point to a like eight game stretch or something and say this is why they missed the playoffs. So like to say it’s a long season, like we’ve got so much hockey left to be played. Don’t freak out. The the sky is not falling. That doesn’t work for the Sabres because like, yeah, they could get it together in a in three weeks from now and then miss the playoffs by four, five, six points and then we look back at October and say, well, if they didn’t start the season with their heads up their asses, maybe they’d be in the playoffs and the drought would be over. And the last couple of years, I think TA and some guys on this team could could make the argument that being like, yeah, it’s been it’s been 12 years, whatever. But that wasn’t us. Like, this is new. Like now we’ve got Captain Rasmos Stallene and Taage is hitting his stride like but no now we are a few years into the Tage Thompson Rasmine Alex Tuck UPL like that obviously UPL hasn’t played yet this year but like we are in that era now this drought now is on your shoulders there is no like that was a different time a different team like you are a Buffalo Saber in the long lineage of Buffalo Sabres who have not lived up to expectations to a certain extent because at the same time expectations are always for them to fail. Yeah, I I don’t read pissed from those guys. I read exasperated from Dalene and I just read annoyed from Thompson. But like you said, not really annoyed with the team. More that like [ __ ] we have to do this again. We have to talk about this again. Here’s Elliot on 32 thoughts. He said, “Knowing what’s on the line with two of your franchise players, it’s a short runway. It really is a short runway.” He adds, “We basically know two of their franchise players, Dalene and Thompson, have indicated it has to get better this year. We just need to see improvement. We need to see something to believe in. That’s why I think the Sabres don’t have a long runway for this.” I’ve already started to see, and he also mentions Yarmmo, which we’ve been talking about since last year, that Yarmmo maybe eventually takes over for Kevin Adams. I don’t know how that hasn’t happened already, but that’s neither here nor there. Uh, I’m already starting to see fans of other teams try to pick at the carcass of the Buffalo Sabres. And that’s where I’m Tage Thompson mode. I’m like, yo, it’s three games and these men are signed. I saw I saw a Tage Thompson Utah Mammoth uh photoshop last night and it’s like the the the JJ Purka body is not even cold yet and you’re trying to steal another Savers forward. I mean, it’s crazy. It’d be I think he’d like Utah. I mean, Cage would love Utah. But yeah, I mean I understand it like Taige Thompson and Rasmus, especially Rasmine, like I think if Rasmine, you put him on a real team, people are talking about him as like a top three defenseman in hockey and Ta is going to be an Olympian. Maybe hopefully we’ll see how the season goes. But like I understand why teams want him, but like the Oilers fans that are being like we’re getting Tage Thompson for who and for what? Like where’s that happening? But your best young player is a Buffalo Sabres prospect and I I don’t know like unless you want to give us a year and a half of Conor McDavid. No, dude. Like I honestly not kidding. This would never happen. But if the Buffalo Sabres are trading a a Tae Thompson to a team with superstars, they at this point have to be like, “No, we’re not. will. And again, not saying this happens, but th this is like what they should be thinking. If we’re trading Tae Thompson, we’re trading Tage Thompson and a bunch of stuff for Leon Dryside. Like like we’re like we’re leveling up and getting like one superstar like face of the franchise guy that’s next to Dene. They can’t keep doing the we’ll trade this guy for two guys in a pick. I mean like you can’t trade a dollar for three nickel or three quarters is what those sabers keep doing. But even if they trade Tage for three 50 cent pieces they like even if the value there’s only so many top bottom six like studs even if they only have a few of them they need to this is so sad but they almost need to get back to where they were when they had Jack Eel which is the saddest thing I’ve ever Well I mean the only thing I will say is if you’re if you’re trading Raspene and Paige Thompson you’re rebuilding. I don’t think you’re you’re not finding I I just don’t know where you’re making a trade. Should they be allowed to rebuild anymore, though? Like they [ __ ] stink at it, baby. And it’s rebuilding is super hard, but damn, do they stay do they max out at mid when they rebuild? All right, instead of rebuild talk, can we do runway talk because the runway talk is more interesting to me. Uh the Sabres next five games, can I say this before you get there? What’s up? Like I said yesterday that they could maybe not win five games. I said I I I don’t like there’s a situation in which they don’t have a like a single regulation win by the end of this month. Okay. So their next games they’re playing they’re at home against the Senators one two and0. They’re at home against the Florida Panthers 3-1 and0. They’re on the road against the Canadians 2-1 and0. They’re on they’re at home against the Red Wings 2 and0. At home against the Toronto Maple Leafs and then on the road against the Toronto Maple Leafs. So that’s their next six games over the next this week and then next week. They’ll be dogs in every single one. Those are difficult games to win. Like what does this team and this outlook look like by next Sunday? And if they don’t turn it around, like what is the first domino to fall? You can beat Ottawa at home. I don’t know if they will. And you can win one of the Maple Leafs games. And yeah, [ __ ] like you could be they’ve they beat the Panthers last year. I feel like it’s the thing ultimately that is difficult about this team is like they haven’t even though they’re 0 and3 and like the least successful team in hockey through the first week. They have not looked like the worst team in hockey. Like they have looked good at they’ve also like the worst team. They’ve looked like the first period they looked like the worst team in hockey. But they almost they like they made that a game by the end of it. Alex Lion has played out of his mind and they do have very good players. So, it’s like it’s it’s like little things. It’s like a lack of effort. It’s not a lack of talent and a lack of like having a respectable power play. Um, but like yeah, they can win any game. And that’s what I think is so frustrating is it’s not that their roster is complete dog [ __ ] It’s that they are good and still like like the Buffalo Bills, a lot of good players. It’s just like there’s clearly things not working and it’s kind of hard to figure out what those are. Do you think there’s any chance that by the end of next week at least one of Lindy Ruff or Kevin Adams are fired? I think that Lindy Ruff being fired is since Saturday has been entirely possible to me because he didn’t go tors mode, but he went right up to the line where you could say even if they tread water for a little bit like this guy sounds very I said exasperated with Dene. Darlene’s allowed to be exasperated. Lindy Ruff sounded very Elliot used the word resigned. I don’t want to say checked out, but kind of like I only heard the audio, but it seemed like this I’m an old man. I don’t have time. Like I it was like it was like the torch thing where it’s just like like and I think the torch thing was taken wildly out of context and like he was kind of grilled in a way that he shouldn’t have been. But like his energy was very much like I’ve been doing this a long time. I’ve had success to a certain extent. Like I did I didn’t become a coach at [ __ ] 90 years old to coach a bad team. I mean he took the Buffalo Sabres job so he kind of but like despite I mean ignoring the fact that he was once the Buffalo Sabres coach and a Buffalo Sabres player so we should know what being a Buffalo Saber means. Like when he took that job there was reason to believe that like within a few years they could be a cup contender. Like if things had gone well, obviously there’s no reason to ever believe the Sabres are going to find success. But like it obviously just hasn’t turned out that way and again who saw that coming. I just think right now we are putting the Buffalo Sabres on much mustwatch TV basically every single night because every game means so much already. But yeah, always have. October 14, three games into the season, we were putting the Buffalo Sabres on like mustwatch TV because of stakes. And but and also like as much as much as Lindy Ruff and Kevin Adams probably need to lose their jobs, like Pete Dbor should have some self-respect and not take this job. And like what do you what do you do from there? Like I like I don’t think a GM or a coach is going to come. Like a coach can come in and maybe get this team some wins, but like the roster is still I don’t think is good enough for them to like and I know this is not the next step. Like they’re clearly not a cup contender right now. They don’t have like there’s holes. Is a GM going to come in and fix that right now? Especially if this season does not turn around and they have to get rid of Tage and or Dene. Like it just is uh a dark time.

It didn’t take long for the Buffalo Sabres to once again find themselves in troubled waters. Tage Thompson and Rasmus Dahlin are clearly frustrated with Buffalo’s slow start to the season and there’s buzz around whether they could be the next Sabres stars on the way out.

Can this thing still be saved?

00:00 Intro
03:11 Dahlin & Thompson comments
08:50 What are the stakes?
13:45 Runway talk
JOIN OUR DISCORD: https://discord.gg/3brHQ2q5V2

Follow us on Twitter:
Tweets by WhatChaosShow
Tweets by DJ_Bean
Tweets by PeteBlackburn
Tweets by shawn_depaz