Dear Buffalo Sabres fans: Just stop it with the negativity
By Sion Fawkes
The Buffalo Sabres fanbase needs to chill and trust general manager Kevyn Adams and head coach Don Granato’s process that will build a winner.
Far too often across social media and fan forums, you will see Buffalo Sabres faithful young and old castigating general manager Kevyn Adams and head coach Don Granato.
Following a 7-3-0 start, expectations grew, as they should have. Problem is, given the constant bashing of Adams and Granato amidst a seven-game losing streak, it’s clear that many in the fanbase let their expectations go too far.
I’m not sure what part of Youngest Team in the NHL this cluster of fans fail to understand, but if they expected this team defying odds and skating their way into a playoff position, then they gave themselves false hope. Now, they’re angry about it, and are pinning the blame on Granato and Adams for once again bringing a losing team to town.
And they end up saying something like this: Who cares if they’re young or inexperienced? They owe us the playoffs! They GOT to make the playoffs! We’ve only been suffering for 11 seasons!
I once heard a wise man say that most people fail pursuing the career they initially wanted to pursue in life and ended up in a dramatically different career path. The reason behind this? They lacked patience and persistence.
Last night during the broadcast, I heard the phrase Persistence pays off, and I can tell you from experience that such a claim is indeed a correct one. And yeah, obstacles and setbacks are so common that there are times you want to throw in the towel and give up. But when you don’t give up and stay the course, amazing things happen.
Losing isn’t easy. It’s frustrating, and it wears on you. But when you are a team with an average age between 24 and 26, depending who is currently on the active roster, growing pains are a natural part of the process.
The Buffalo Sabres faithful HAS GOT to be patient
While Don Granato has made some questionable decisions regarding the lineup, getting a young team to win within what is arguably the toughest division in hockey with the league’s youngest team isn’t going to happen. Sure, they will have some solid runs, but there will also be times when they look like an expansion team.
But there is also talent galore on this team. Look how well Owen Power has come along. J.J. Peterka seems to be creating opportunities for himself in seemingly every game. Rasmus Dahlin is playing like a serious contender for the Norris Trophy. Tage Thompson has 22 points and is currently third in the league in goals scored.
When Mattias Samuelsson is on the ice, the team has seen more W’s than L’s since March 2022. Dylan Cozens is growing into one of the league’s more tenacious players. Heck, even Casey Mittelstadt is making himself useful in the faceoff category. Let me know if I’ve forgotten anyone.
Anyway, the point is, Adams has built a very good hockey team, and yes, this is a good team when you break things down. They just lack experience and refinement, as we’ve seen plenty of times over the past two weeks, which is why they look like a bad team now, and probably will for most of the season.
We have players that we know will be here for four, five, six, seven seasons, unless these negative clusters of fans get their wish to nix Adams and Granato, meaning a new regime will come in, tear everything down, and attempt yet another rebuild, setting the Sabres back even further. If that’s what you want, then by all means, keep wishing owners Terry and Kim Pegula eventually fire the duo.
Under Adams, the Buffalo Sabres have built the league’s best prospects pool. Under Granato, players like Rasmus Dahlin and Tage Thompson have transformed from perennial busts to perennial All-Star candidates. Jeff Skinner is a far better player under Granato.
And so are many other youngsters on the team like Cozens, Samuelsson, and Power. But by all means, keep ignoring the sheer progress this team has made, and will continue to make, even as the losses mount.
light. Hot. Tage is almost single-handedly saving the Sabres
The wins will come, perhaps even sometime this season. But once the Sabres refine their many issues, issues that are going to spring up because this is such a young team, those wins will start trickling back in. And the faster they can identify and remedy those issues, the sooner we will see a few more W’s, and maybe a massive upset or two.
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