andydrmm

Canandaigua, NY • United States • 29 Years Old • Male

The 2013-2014 Season Approaches

I know I’ve been quiet for awhile. I have been racking my brain as to what is going on with the Sabres, and whether anything is even taking place at First Niagara Center. Unfortunately, not much is going on aside from a few signings of restricted free agents.

However, as July comes to a close, a sense of hockey is in the air. The Sabres development camp has come to a close, and we are less than 2 months away from pre-season starting for the Sabres. Before we know it, Buffalo will be taking the ice in Detroit for the start of the 2013-2014.

I’ve always maintained that it’s tough not to get excited at the start of a fresh NHL, or any other sport, season. The opportunities are endless, and you never know whether or not this could be the year that your team wins it all.

Except in this case. I think we can all agree Buffalo won’t win the Cup this year.

As much as I’m excited for Sabres hockey to come back, there’s not a lot of hope for the season. What is there to really get excited for? It seems right now that the excitement is for the new third jersey’s for the Sabres. No big moves have been made, and it’s slowly looking more and more like Ryan Miller, Thomas Vanek, and Drew Stafford will be in blue and gold at the start of the season (rumor has it the asking price is too high, which doesn’t surprise me).

Right now, there are several questions facing the Buffalo Sabres looking at the start of the season. Some of these include; Can Grigorenko get it together this year? Who will step up and be a leading scorer for the Sabres? How many defensemen does Buffalo really need? What will line combinations look like? How will young players like Girgensons and Ristolainen handle life in the NHL? How will the chemistry be on the team?

There’s a lot more questions, but I think we all get the point.

First and foremost, while I feel that the outlook for this season is bleak, I’d love nothing more than to see the Sabres defy the odds and do well this year. While I have said in the past that making the playoffs isn’t good enough for Buffalo anymore, we are now facing a different situation. If Buffalo were to make the playoffs with the squad they are shaping up to put on the ice, I think that would be an accomplishment.

That being said, probably not going to happen.

My concern, the status quo for the Buffalo Sabres has become acceptable. This comes back to a couple things with the Sabres. I feel front office work in Buffalo has been lacking for quite sometime, and in the end, this all plays off of what moves they make.

Ron Rolston can only do so much. Someone stated that he did the most with what he had in Buffalo last season. It’s starting to look like that’s how this season is going for Buffalo this year. It doesn’t have to be this way. I would love to know the relationship with Rolston and Regier. I think that a coach and GM ned to be on the same page. The GM needs to go out and bring in players that fit into what the coaches game plan is. I’ve felt for quite awhile that the coach and GM in Buffalo have been on 2 separate pages when it comes to bringing in new talent. I hope I’m wrong.

My biggest issue isn’t necessarily just Darcy. Everyone knows that I think he is, well, you fill in the blank.

Darcy has been general manager of the Buffalo Sabres since July 1997. What do the Sabres have to show for it? 3 trips to the Eastern Conference Finals, and 1 trip to the Stanley Cup Finals. 0 Stanley Cups. That wouldn’t be that bad if say these things happened from 2008 to the present. Unfortunately, this is from 1997 until the present.

That’s just not good enough.

When it comes to sports, if someone is going to keep their job, they have to deliver. If GM can’t put winning teams on the ice, they’re fired. If a coach fails to win after a certain amount of time, they’re released by the team. It’s the way of the NHL, and other sports teams alike. It’s not just winning championships, because we all know that’s tough. However, you have to demonstrate that you’re moving towards that goal.

What proof does Buffalo have right now that they’re working towards the goal of a Stanley Cup? I’m not seeing it. As a fan, I’m to put my faith in a general manager who has repeatedly come up short when he is trying to put a competitive hockey team on the ice. It’s hard to believe in a team when they continue to stick with someone who is unproven to design a team. It’s even more difficult when this has been going on for 16 years and counting.

As this season approaches, all that keeps running through my mind is how can we expect different results with the same man at the helm? Personally, I can’t. It appears that the Buffalo Sabres are expecting different results, while continuing to do the same thing.

Didn’t Albert Einstein say that that’s the definition of insanity?

Follow me on Twitter- @SabresBTB

As always, Thanks for reading.

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