Positivity in a Train Wreck

First, I would like to echo the sentiments of Andrew, the Sabres are awful.  After the “effort” put forth in Chicago on national television, the Sabres have become THE preeminent story in the NHL.  Puck Daddy is talking about us, we received a lashing from stand up guy and legendary general manager Mike Milbury, and Tim Graham called us fascinating on Twitter.

So, congrats Sabres players, coaches, GM, and owner; you guys are an embarrassment.  I’m young, so I can’t recall most of our atrocious years, but this has got to be high up on the misery scale for people that have been following the team since 1970.  What I can say is that this is far and away the most interesting Sabre season that I have witnessed.  Who would have thought we would sink to such lows!?  It is quite incredible to watch and be a part of.  The Sabres cannot score, they cannot play defense, the powerplay is atrocious, the penalty kill has gone sour, hell they can’t even do line change properly.  The fundamentals of hockey seem to be lost on this team, and there is no quick answer for turning the team around.

The sky just continues to fall on the remnants of what could have been a great season.  To compare on a world scale, I would say the Sabres are basically Greece right now.  The people were promised great new things and economic prosperity, but our faulty credit caught up with us and now Athens is on fire (note: I am not expert on the state of the Euro, the EU or the financial dealings that led to the collapse in Greece, nor is a sports teams failings in the same arena as a complete collapse of the economy of a country that could cripple the largest economies in the world, but when your favorite team is drowning, it can feel monumental.).  But, unlike Greece, I think the Sabres problems are temporary.  The season is a train wreck and I don’t see us putting the fire out in time to make the playoffs but to quote every Bills fan ever (including myself) “there is always next season”.

Positive notes for a possibly respectable team in the 2012-2013 season:

First, I think our defensive pick ups this off season are paying off well.  Myers, Erhoff and Regehr all need to be playing for the Sabres to win.  The team plays well when all of them are in the line up.  We just haven’t seen all of them in the line up since early November.

Second, Pominville and Vanek are elite wingers in the NHL.  Do I need to back this up?

Third, Kassian might mature to become a great player, although I hold my breath for that.

On that note, Kassian, Adam and Leino looked like a great line when they played together (right?).  I can’t tell if it was because the rest of the team was so bad and they were decent together, or if they could be a potential threat of a line someday.

Fourth, someone will take our dead weight at some point (hopefully).

Fifth, we have some great young players be it McNabb, Tropp, Adam, Kassian, Brennan or Foligno.  Add that to Myers, Pominville and Vanek, this could be a respectable core going forward.

Sixth, Terry Pegula is not Scrooge McDuck.  He will demand the Sabres do something this off season to become a more competitive team. The Sabres will shop and buy something worthwhile (maybe).

So, lets just sit back and enjoy the fire.  The great thing about sports is that teams can pick up the pieces and start again.  The Sabres play again tomorrow against the St. Louis Blues. We will probably lose.