For the most part, the 2016-17 Buffalo Sabres season has gone okay, I guess. Well, unless you were expecting them to make the playoffs. If you were expecting that this would be a playoff year for the Sabres, their first since 2011, well I have some bad news for you.
Sitting sixth in the Atlantic Division with 54 points and just 29 games left to go, the Sabres are probably not going to make the playoffs. And that’s okay, really. Remember that this team is just two years removed from one of the worst campaigns in NHL history. Rebuilds take a long time, but they can feel like a flight from New York to New Zealand when you’re trying to rebuild one of the worst squads ever to skate out onto NHL ice. That the Sabres are still looking up at playoff teams just two years later is not a surprise, even with Jack Eichel, Sam Reinhart, Evander Kane, Ryan O’Reilly, and Kyle Okposo all added to the lineup.
Really, all realistic hopes for the playoffs should have been put away when Eichel crumpled to the ice during practice at the KeyBank Center just one day before the regular season opener. Eichel missed the first 21 games of the season and the Sabres went just 7-9-5 without him. They are 15-12-5 since he returned to the lineup. Extrapolate that over a full 82 games, and the Sabres would have a 38-30-14 record if Eichel had played the full season. That would be 90 points and an 8-point improvement from last season. Considering the deficiencies with the Sabres’ bottom six and defense core, that’s a pretty good year. It also highlights how important Eichel is to this team.
Speaking of Eichel, is it just me or are some Sabres fans starting to have a weird relationship with this guy? I mean, when you are the face of a franchise, I guess you become a lightning rod. But Christ, why do some people get upset about everything?
Case in point, after Eichel set up the game-winning goal in overtime Tuesday night on a rush with Evander Kane, Eichel made some throwaway comment about the crowd in the postgame media scrum. Eichel mentioned how the crowd booed the Sabres at the end of the second period, when the team trailed by two goals. Here’s Eichel’s quote in its entirety:
“Kaner scores one at the end of the power play, got the building going, get some energy in here after they were booing us off the ice. We win a game in overtime and everyone loves us again. It’s interesting how that works.”
So Jack was a little miffed it seems that the fans voiced their frustrations about the team’s performance during a sluggish effort, their second in two nights. But all’s well that ends well, right? I didn’t see this quote as much of a big deal. Remember that the players will have a different mindset about the game and their effort than fans watching at home and waiting for a Buffalo sports team to make the playoffs for the first time in over half a decade.
Also, Eichel is hardly the first player to get upset about Sabres fans booing. Steve Ott did it. Jake McCabe talked about it earlier this year. Of course the most famous instance of fan/player animosity was when Sabres fans cheered…for Arizona during an important “loss” that helped secure 30th place. Mike Weber was less than thrilled with the crowd that night.
I’m kind of indifferent to booing. Let’s be honest, it does nothing. I’ve showed up drunk to several December Bills’ home games and have booed my ass off, along with thousands of other fans. Nothing has changed (except several coaches and starting quarterbacks). It can show that your fan base is engaged and paying attention. The booing Steve Ott mentioned may have contributed to Terry Pegula’s decision to fire Lindy Ruff in 2013. Booing is often the only outlet fans have.
As for last night’s game, the booing was understandable, but not really necessary. The team was playing poorly and it was frustrating to watch, but that’s kind of where they are right now in their rebuild. It’s not quite there yet. They will have games where they play like that, especially in the second half of a back-to-back. They stormed back and won, so this is all kind of moot. Yesterday’s game shows where they are in their rebuild and the potential for what they could be very shortly.
You can boo the team when they play poorly, that’s ok. You might want to understand the situation, though. It’s year two of a rebuild. The roster is still under construction. Dan Bylsma and Tim Murray aren’t going anywhere, at least I don’t think. So booing seems kinda pointless in that scenario.
Circling back to Eichel, if you’re mad that he called the fans out in sort of a tongue and cheek way last night, I mean just go away. You and I just cannot be friends. Eichel wasn’t even mad; he was kinda just joking about it. This is such a “who cares?” storyline that is getting blown out of proportion.
Also, delete your Twitter app right now if you are one of the people who tweeted at Eichel after his Tom Brady tweet on Sunday night. Eichel, just like anyone else, can support whichever football team he wants. In case you didn’t know, he is from North Chelmsford, Massachusetts. That town is just 48 miles away (about an hour drive) from Gillette Stadium in Foxborough. Why wouldn’t he be a Patriots fan? And why should he have to pledge allegiance to a new team now that he works in a new town?
Do all the Buffalo expats who live out of town have to root for their new hometown team? If you got a job in Boston, would you suddenly have to root for the Patriots? Would you do that? Of course not.
Too goddamn bad if you don’t like reading Eichel’s tweets about the Patriots. Like that’s different from any of you constantly tweeting about the Bills or Sabres? You can bet damn well that if I played for the Boston Bruins, I’d still be a Bills fan and would be openly tweeting my enthusiasm if they ever made it to the Super Bowl (which will never happen again, but I digress).
Hey guys, don’t think that Jack isn’t adding all this stuff up in his head. The last thing I want is for him to associate our fans with the meatheads on Twitter who have a problem with his football team. I hope that isn’t his perception of our fan base. Maybe this is too over the top, but anything that might give him some trepidation about playing here long term NEEDS TO BE STOPPED. I doubt Twitter would factor into his decision, but come on guys, let’s not take the chance. Right now, you could make the case that Jack sees our fan base as overly emotional, ready to swear at him for talking about Tom Brady or ready to boo the team for a bad second period. That’s not even getting to a discussion about the crowds at the KeyBank Center, which are mostly either dead or filled with the opposing team’s fans in the lower bowl.
Tuesday night’s third period was good, though. The team scored and scored often and the crowd was into it. I enjoyed that. Let’s do more of that and kinda just shut up about everything else for now.
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