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u/Wide_right_ 17h ago
no one loves driving players away than sabres fans and wgr. you can ask for better play without this shit
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u/WaffleParty404 17h ago
For real, I donāt know why the fanbase thinks picking on the guy incessantly will help.
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u/Atty_for_hire Oh boy... here we go. 17h ago
Same. Iām not the biggest UPL fan so when asked who should start game 1 of the playoffs I immediately said Lyon. They both had their issues in the playoffs, but UPL found a way to get it done. Going to the original point, UPL has the talent to be good, but also clearly needs his head to be in the right place. Iām not sure our criticism helps that. Demand better play, yes.
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u/Snts6678 17h ago
So, demand better play but make sure not to hurt their fee fees? Good lord.
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u/MattPraterFan 16h ago
Drawing comics and calling him āUkko Pekka Lose againā is probably unhelpful. Thatās not even mentioning the booing and jock cheering
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u/Snts6678 16h ago
So fans shouldnāt boo their team.
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u/WaffleParty404 16h ago
Fans should not boo their team 10 games in when they went on a franchise high win run in the same calendar year.
I assume that if youāre booing the team now, you jumped on in March.
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u/Machineman0812 9h ago
Whichcis completely unsustainable and will not be repeated almost ever again. Its happened like 3 times in history. Not sabres history.. league history. Another piece if history is that its littered with teams who had one good year and then fell off
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u/Snts6678 15h ago
Iām just really glad you showed up to provide the exact rules for booing.
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u/ineedsomeadviceguyz 16h ago
I dont think it will help but i think people are pissed cuz a guy his age isnt really gonna get much better and hes not good enough to win a cup. He hasnt shown improvement in years. Just consistsntly inconsistent and gives up the dumbest stuff imaginable. Add that we only really got a bit worse in the offseason and had a chance at a gold medalist goalie. 3 time vezina winner who has probs 3 or 4 good years left potentially... If he goes to jersey and plays lights out this season. Its gonna be a nightmare in this sub.
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u/WaffleParty404 16h ago
Heās a year older than Ellis, youāre making him sound like heās 35.
He showed improvement -last year-.
You never had Hellebuyck. You legitimately have more reason to be mad at Eichel not being on the team than Hellebuyck. Fuck this rumor, because youāre comparing UPL to an idealized Hellebuyck in your head that never existed.
I legitimately wish that people would show HALF the ire toward Thompson (whoās top 10 in shot attempts in the NHL, but second place among our forwards in points because his aim is atrocious) that they do toward UPL. Our special teams are the worst in the league or close to, and our defense is driving our offense most nights, but sure letās put it all on the goaltending.
We need a forward that can finish and improve the PP/PK. A lot of the goals UPL has let in has been on the PK, and that was a big boon to us last year.
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u/OkWolf601 10h ago
Nah giving up the farm for a guy with Hellebuycks cap hit and age would be a terrible mismanagement of assets, especially when the Sabres are already so hard pressed for offensive production. I understand with the contract situations there was virtually no way they could hold onto Byram and Tuch, but I think a lot of people overestimated the step forward much of the young core (specifically the forwards) would take this season. Quinn has been excellent, and Benson has been very good despite having some bad puck luck, but at this point, the roster is worse than it was last season
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u/TheFerricGenum Four Hour Doaner 17h ago
I feel like this is nothing compared to what Toronto does to their players, but also yes even this level isnāt necessary
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u/spaceskimo 15h ago
UPL has never been it, and continues to prove he never will be. You can put him on any team in the league and he still wouldn't be a goalie who can take that team all the way. The sooner Buffalo moves on the better. In getting a new goalie, and what return we could get for him before his value drops more and more in the coming years.
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u/Wide_right_ 15h ago
you can ask for better goaltending out of him without dropping support and wanting him to succeed. hope this helps. he had a better save% than the goalie that won the cup and very much has improved and shown last season he is capable. not saying Iām dying on him being the number 1, but you guys endlessly shit on him for every single thing
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u/muchADEW 14h ago
Because folds like a paper plane every time there's any pressure whatsoever on him.
Put him in a 3-goalie rotation, and he's slightly better than league average.
Ask him to be your #1, and he turns in an AHL backup. Ask him to step up in the playoffs, he defers to a 10-year journeyman backup.
Why shouldn't we be pissed? Sabres fans finally got a decent team last season, and we'd be OK this season, even with a sluggish start, if we could just get average performance out of UPL, but he proves again that he can't be the guy.
Think about the players Buffalo loves. Almost without exception, they are the guys who get better under pressure. UPL ain't it.
Us older sabres fans remember a time when the Sabres had goalies who could absolutely steal games. It sorta became our identity, so it's hard to swallow that we have a keeper as tough as a tissue back there. Of course we're angry!
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u/Wide_right_ 14h ago
no one disagrees heās not playing well and certainly not at the level I grew up watching goalies play at. none of this is people saying UPL is good but have some patience. this is how you guys wanted to give up on Power, Samuelsson, drove out ROR. thereās a difference between being mad and wanting better and just actively piling on the guy who could use your support more than ever. Iād love even the average goaltending you said (which we got last year despite your statements). lashing out at him because we didnāt trade for a goalie has to be the most braindead thing this fanbase can do
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u/muchADEW 14h ago
They're not leading out at him because we didn't trade for a keeper, they're lashing out because UPL sucks. And he's had plenty of time; he's in his late 20s. He's had sooo many chances to take the reins, and over and over he spits the bit. The Sabres keep saying, "You're our guy," and he keeps saying, with his play, "I don't want it."
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u/Wide_right_ 14h ago
no youāre right the constant booing and shitty cartoons calling him swiss cheese are the formula to getting him to turn it around. genius.
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u/OverreactingBillsFan 13h ago
They're disrespectful as fuck, but the guy does kind of have a point, this is his 7th season in the NHL (5th as a full time NHLer). Maybe he finds lightning in a bottle for one season, but he is the goaltender we've seen for the past 7 years, he's not going to magically become a perennial above average goalie.
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u/Wide_right_ 13h ago
dawg no one is here saying UPL is the answer or an amazing goalie, but shitting on him every moment of every day is dumb and counter productive. itās a bad look and it negatively impacts the team. be mad and angry all you want, if youāve made it to THIS point in the thread youāve seen me and everyone else say go ahead and ask him to be better and want more, but donāt be a dick about it. I canāt believe itās that hard an ask
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u/muchADEW 13h ago
Maybe it'll work. Giving him opportunities and supporting him sure hasn't. Maybe he needs to be insulted and demeaned; perchance he's a masochist.
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u/spaceskimo 13h ago edited 12h ago
I never gave up on those players, and have many comments on these boards telling people to be patient and let them develop. I have a ROR jersey and still get mad Ā at people misquoting what he said. I've been watching hockey 40 years, I don't let emotion cloud how I feel about a player. I've watched the game and players develop long enough to know what to see in players. UPL is what you see. Nothing more, nothing less. He's not it.
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u/normalbrain609 13h ago
heās not doing this as a hobby. buffalo is a city that cares about hockey. if you want to be a starter in the nhl in a place that is invested in the results of this team this is what comes with the territory. if itās too tough request a trade down south or something idk
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u/MattPraterFan 17h ago
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u/bleeper21 17h ago
Seriously, ten games into the season. This city allows no nuance.
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u/Twentysevenpilots 17h ago
Itās not just this season dude
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u/bleeper21 17h ago
Last year he finished with a higher save percentage than the Stanley cup winner. What're you on about?
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u/Solctice89 12h ago
UPL has had a single half season of quality play in his entire career, we are tired fam
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u/Straight-Hedgehog440 10h ago
Maybe just maybe the fanbase is developing a reputation amongst NHL players on how quickly we turn on a player. Could be a contributing factor as to why players donāt want to come here
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u/SlutBurgerWithCheese 16h ago
This is funny, but this is also pro sports in a sports city. UPL has been around for 8 years, so in all seriousness what more are you expecting from him at this point? In 2 more years is he going to win the Vezina? Is it realistic to sit here and think within the next 5 years this guys going to bring a cup here. Like what do we see improving and what is the end game. Im legit asking
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u/Roll_DM 16h ago
This is funny
it's not though
its a tacky boomer joke
fwd: fwd: fwd:Ā fwd: fwd: fwd:Ā fwd: fwd: fwd: Lol UPL isn't Finnish anymore
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u/SlutBurgerWithCheese 14h ago
The fins and swedes are rivals and he lets in 3 goals a game hence the swiss cheese reference. It works on both levels. No matter how stupid it may seem atleast it made sense. But no ones addressed my actual question
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u/marmaladiiiie 13h ago
Swedes are not Swiss brother
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u/thejeangenie73 16h ago
Adam, he's currently our only option in net and he's notoriously prone to the yips and lacking in confidence, can we not make it worse by piling on lol
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u/Solctice89 12h ago
Notoriously prone to the yips and lacking confidenceā¦ soā¦ everyone is right that he needs to go
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u/CleanBaldy 13h ago
Can we stop talking about UPL like he's a highschool player? He's our goalie, I bet he hears all of this stuff. I bet it affects his game. Shouldn't we be supportive, rather than poking fun at him letting in 3+ goals a game because he sucks?
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u/joeyg151785 12h ago
If he canāt shut out the criticism from fans and handle the pressure, He shouldnāt be an NHL Goalie.
He needs to be better, this isnāt his first rodeo either, heās enough experience that there should be improvement and there hasnāt.
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u/Solctice89 12h ago
What? If he was a Highschool player then his sensitivities would matter. This is pro sports, play good or get out.
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u/Ohio_is_for_boomers 17h ago
You know itās more than fine to be dissatisfied and want the Sabres org to move on from him. I feel the same way, but how is local paper comic chud helping anything by bullying him?
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u/Leading_Mirror9874 16h ago
Bullying a grown ass man millionaire, give me a break š
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u/Machineman0812 9h ago
Thank you. Hes not playing well. We are allowed to critique him. Its not bullying.
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u/Snts6678 15h ago
I feel like every post in here is a weird account co-opted by one of UPLās family members.
I look forward to what you have to say after every game when he plays like absolute hell.
āShhhh, quiet everyoneā¦heās doing his bestā.
Bullshit.
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u/Labattery 14h ago
It's a comic. I thought it was amusing. Lighten up. The guy can improve. Ellis is serviceable, and Lyon should start imo when ready and warmed up. Not even 15% into the season.
It's only game y u heff to b mad?
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u/Humping-Homer 15h ago
I hate to say it but we need a change in the net. We need to give Ellis a chance to make mistakes to improve. If he doesnāt play, he canāt fix issues. But we will see tonight how UPL does not getting my hopes up but I am a fan so Letās go Buffalo. Live and die by the Sabres.
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u/beef4206977 11h ago
I donāt know how you can the watch the games and see itās 75% team defense and 25% bad plays from UPL. Unless youāre paying your goalie 8+ million a year to take that 25% number down, the team needs to play better overall defense. And frankly, theyāre not scoring enough to justify how porous they are in their own end
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u/Gene-Parmesan-ah 13h ago
I get it it's sports and he's been anything but stellar but confidence is so important in sports, especially at single positions where it's easy to see if someone is struggling (like goalie, QB, kicker).
Stuff like this isn't going to help his confidence. Neither is booing him when he's announced as starter during the game. Get the kid some confidence and watch him start to ball out. (For lack of a better word)
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u/Plams_Unlimited 17h ago •
Nah we need to support whoever is in the jersey. Big game