No Deals For Buffalo Sabres at Trade Deadline

Wednesday's 3 pm NHL trading deadline came and went with the Buffalo Sabres standing pat.  They didn't acquire any players or draft picks and didn't trade an away.  With the way they're playing some people think it would have made sense for them to just give some players away but that didn't happen either.

So, losers of their last four games including two against the two worst teams in the league and two games where they gave up 2-goal leads in the third period, this is the team Buffalo fans are stuck with.  And when I say stuck with I mean stuck in the mud with.

This team just doesn't have the fortitude, the mentality or the ability to force their will on another team.  They have their moments, but they're often outweighed by head-scratching, bone-head plays or sometimes a whole period of them.  And those few moments are enough to lose games.

Rasmus Ristolanenin, arguably the Sabres best defenseman gave away the puck in the slot during Sunday's game in Arizona and it directly led to Arizona's first goal.  The Sabres just fell apart from there.  Risto for some reason backed off Nashville's best scorer in overtime leading to the winning goal.  Why?

Dmitri Kulikov has been an absolute slug defensively for the Sabres this year and general manager Tim Murray gave up a good defenseman to get him.  Kulikov has hurt the Sabres more often than help them.

During a press conference following the trade deadline Murray says he would have liked to have completed a few deals, but things just didn't work out.  Other general managers aren't stupid.  They know the Sabres want to unload some players but who would want them?  Murray says he has a plan, it might not be the same timeline that the fans have, but it does require patience.

This will be the sixth year out of the playoffs for the Sabres.  How much patience can the team possibly ask the fans to have?  The Toronto Maple Leafs were way behind the Sabres last year, but they've moved way past them this year.  That's the kind of progress Sabres fans are looking for but the team has fallen far, far short for way too long.