Mike Bundt

It’s fatiguing seeing all of the comments about the Sabres being just as bad if they still had Alex Tuch or traded for Connor Hellebuyck.

It’s never been about one singular thing making them better.

It’s the cumulative effect of not addressing any of their pressing needs after letting Tuch go.

Would having Tuch or Hellebuyck fixed all of their issues? No, they wouldn’t have been saviors but the team would be in a better spot than they currently are.

Downplaying one by saying it didn’t make an impact is to deny that it absolutely did even if it’s not the main reason why the team is struggling.

I was fine not re-signing Tuch for the term and money he wanted. However, we knew there’d be a short term hit in production with him gone.

Additionally, there were already worrying signs in the Sabres underlying numbers last season during their magical run which is why their offseason plan was unacceptable.

Let’s keep things in a proper perspective and stop making everything black and white just to support our prior narratives.

It’s still early in the season but you can already see the Sabres point pace and projected point totals dropping behind their peers.

Their playoffs odds of 41% is a 16% decline from where they were before the season so it’s clear the predictive models are losing confidence based on their early metrics.

I think what’s clear in hindsight is that many Sabres fans wanted to believe that last year was symbolic of them taking a giant leap.

The metrics always pointed to regression which is why the predictive models indicated a 50-60% shot at playoffs with a high likelihood of under 100 points.

The Sabres scored at a higher rate than expected last season and received unbelievable goaltending that was clearly not sustainable based on the career track records of their three netminders.

Pair that with letting two important players walk and not addressing their most important holes and this is what you get.

Several players have taken a step back including Norris, McLeod, Doan and Zucker.

Dahlin hasn’t been himself.

Guys like Kulich and Helenius have either been hurt or struggling and you have a young team struggling to find itself early in the season.

They can certainly recover from this BUT it’s very unlikely they’ll be even close to what they were last year. They’re gonna have to battle just to try to make the playoffs.

The Sabres had clear issues entering the offseason and did next to nothing to address them.

What we’re seeing now is the result of a flawed approach this summer!

The Sabres should be f***ing embarrassed losing to the Blackhawks that entered today with 9 points in 18 games!