Tage Thompson is Changing the Buffalo Sabres Mindset
Having the Right Mindset is Necessary for the Buffalo Sabres to Win
It’s the same old story for the Buffalo Sabres. While it is only three games, it is getting late early in Buffalo as the franchise is heading toward a 15th straight year of not making the playoffs.
It is currently a 14-year drought. The last time the Buffalo Sabres made the Stanley Cup Playoffs was in 2011. That is not good for any franchise in the National Hockey League. The Buffalo Sabres have been the butt of jokes, and no team should be irrelevant for this long.
It wears on the entire organization. It also wears on the fan base because they know what this team is capable of. But it doesn’t appear to be an end in sight. However, there might be a light at the end of the tunnel with the way Tage Thompson spoke after the Sabres’ loss on Monday afternoon to the Colorado Avalanche.
He is tired of the losing culture that became acceptable in Buffalo. It is clear that the right mindset was needed, and it may have changed when he discussed how the world isn’t ending and a long season lies ahead.
“We have a long season to go. You guys are acting like the world is ending right now. We just have to find a way to claw ourselves out of this,” Thompson told the media. “We’re obviously in a hole we don’t want to be in and we have to find our way out of it.”
That prevailing losing mindset that had become acceptable had to change somewhere. Too many top players left this organization to find success elsewhere. But there is a reason why Thompson is one of the leaders, and the team and the organization don’t want to move on from him.
Remember, Tage Thompson led Team USA to its first Gold Medal since 1933 at the IIHF World Championship this past spring. So, having that winning mindset is precisely what the franchise needs.
But as Thompson said, there is still a long way to go because too many people are feeding on the past instead of looking ahead or taking it one game at a time.
I’m a big believer that negativity breeds negativity, and that’s kind of how we’ve snowballed things in the past. So we can’t let three games be the end of the world. Like I said, like, obviously that sucks. No one wants to lose their first three games, but we got an opportunity Wednesday to turn it around, and I think that’s all we got to start doing, is just look at the next game. Can’t keep looking back. I mean, the last three games, the last four seasons, the last 14 season, whatever you want to do, we just got to keep our sights set on what’s next. And for us, that’s Ottawa. So I’m tired of talking about the past and tired of talking about where we are in three games.
That is what is hurting the room and the players the most. The outside noise is affecting the room and the players. It is affecting their play on the ice. You can see they are gripping the sticks a little more. Once something goes wrong, everything goes wrong, and they can’t stop it.
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However, it is up to them to stop it. However, these players haven’t been able to stop it. They are allowing the outside noise or the “rat poison” to seep inside the room. That can’t happen, as Connor McDavid of the Edmonton Oilers stated when he was asked at the beginning of training, before he signed his contract extension, about his contract negotiation being a distraction.
“If guys can’t play hockey because people are talking outside the room, then I said yesterday it’s probably not the line of work for you,” McDavid said. “So it’s a loud market. So it’s your guys’ job to talk and write stories, and everybody understands that, and it’s our job to play hockey. And if we can’t do our job because you guys have to do your job, then what are we really doing here?”
Like the Edmonton Oilers, the Buffalo Sabres have endured GM changes, coaching changes, winning streaks, and losing streaks, including periods where they couldn’t win a single game. While Edmonton is a louder market than Buffalo, the same mentality applies.
There is too much talk about what hasn’t happened instead of what is going to happen. Every time this team struggles, the past is brought up, and the team is constantly playing catch-up.
Look, it doesn’t help that the Buffalo Bills are having success under the same owner. It also doesn’t help that former Sabres players like Sam Reinhart, Ryan O’Reilly, Brandon Montour, Evan Rodrigues, Dmitry Kulikov, and most notably Jack Eichel are having success elsewhere.
Not to mention, it feels like the Buffalo Sabres have been in a constant state of rebuilding, with teams like the Montreal Canadiens, Detroit Red Wings, and Ottawa Senators passing them by. Oh yeah, the Boston Bruins may have retooled on the fly while the Sabres are stuck in first gear.
Yes, there might be an ownership issue, a general manager and coaching problem, but the team has a lot of good, young, talented players. It’s up to the players to change their mindset and put forth the right effort for things to turn around. The team needs to force people to write positive stories instead of negative ones.
The Buffalo Sabres are usually out of playoff contention by November, and then they find a way to climb back up the standings at the end when the games don’t matter. But that momentum never carries over into the next season.
There is so much hope in Buffalo each year, and once this team starts losing, it feels like all hope is lost. Again, it is only three games, but this team can’t let things spiral out of control.
It has and will always be on the Buffalo Sabres players to change the mindset in their room.
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