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I think a lot of it comes down to strategy rather than execution. Has Adams done a BAD job implementing a build through the draft, acquire nearly exclusively young talent, low cost, long form rebuild? The problem is apparent nearly just from reading the sentence: I mean sure he hasn’t been GREAT at the execution but when you are asking him, or sorry, he’s choosing to implement a plan that has the focus (clearly) of being young, and cheap, how can you possibly begin to separate poor execution from poor strategy? if more of the players we drafted were taking bigger strides right now, Quinn, Cozens et al, wouldn’t the results be better and the strategy justified? That may sound dim and obvious but think about it: did we dislike the picks Adams has made, at the time? Not really. They seemed fine Now you may say wow Thorny you hypocrite you always say hindsight doesn’t matter it’s the results, you dope. And to that I say: well, yes, that’s true. Adams is still responsible though as we all know, because as people say: it’s more about what he doesn’t do. The McLeod move sure looked good. But that’s important in a macro sense: it’s not that he made really bad picks or really bad trades, he just *implemented a type of strategy* that puts things behind the 8 ball from day one. It never had a high likelihood of success. At least in terms of how we as FANS might define success. Example being - If you have to be a consistently *great* drafter to make up any ground at all, due to lack of other notable action, you are choosing a dive with one too many twists and turns: drafting is largely a crapshoot. Draft nuts don’t jump on that, I’m not saying there’s no skill. But when luck is undeniably a SIZEABLE variable and factor in the result it’s exceptionally difficult to make up ground vs other teams when so much necessarily must be left to chance by nature. And, again, you are already choosing to largely not use other aspects of team building to your favour. It’s like trying to build your strategy around one building point Superstar. You need depth. And it’s NOT a strategy we have to implement because “no one will come here.” Demonstrably wrong. McLeod and Zucker are here and they are better than most of the guys we drafted That sort of “behind the 8 ball from the get go” thinking is the same with the tank, the nonsense of “well it succeeded”. Right, and if you rob a bank at gun point you may successfully get away with the money. Are you going to get to spend it? The circumstances by which you seized the cash matter. If you have to create a situation with the parameters of a Kobayashi Maru to “achieve your goal” your are likely going to lose the war. That’s what the tank was. - - - And in my opinion, every day we continue to operate without winning being the priority, even if it’s not to the extent of the tank, is more egregiously offensive as a fan than the last because there’s only more mounting evidence to suggest it doesn’t work

We were talking a while back about how several teams this year were leaving cap space and we speculated it was for next year's big list of FAs but now I'm wondering if one or more team was anticipating this result.

I mean how much blowback has Anaheim gotten about hiring Quenville?

Fantastic post. (Doesnt apply to JJ Peterka in the slightest, but I digress 😘) You’ve taken my post in a very different but thoughtful direction. I was musing at the executive level: I think Bylsma won a cup mostly because he’s lucky and Zito mostly because he’s good. I think most GMs and coaches are smart; they have to be to reach the apex of a highly competitive profession. I think the smartest coaches and executives are in the NHL but the 64 in the NHL aren’t the 64 smartest. How good do they have to be to win? How bad do they have to be not to have a chance? Because at some point they’ll be facing the very best. What is the Jay Feaster line and where are Kevyn Adams and Lindy Ruff in relation to it?

Well then you have to factor Cozens back in too.

Right along those lines, what gets underplayed often is for how many of these players it’s a CAREER, a job, a way to make money: they have a life to live, after. They have a life to live, now. They are rounded human beings like Kyrie Irving said: “do you think I walk around with a basketball?” far, far more players than people would care to admit pursue their career and work so hard and diligently and to your point smartly at it because they are GOOD at it, rather than because it’s their undying passion. They are far more similar to other career folk than some think that’s of course not everyone. And lots of actors love acting. And lots of pilots love being a pilot and lots of retail sales associates love being retail sales associates: but, you don’t have to take my word for it, countless numbers of players have spoken to the nature of this. Players aren’t routinely candid about this stuff in front of the media; they’ll get torched like Scottie scheffler a lot of fans can’t reckon with this, many people even around these parts: they aren’t amendable to the loyalty we show, as fans, they aren’t fans. They are professionals. Their primary concern is a career sometimes they just ask out because they think they have a good chance of a better career elsewhere. If you turn against them knowing what we know, and knowing they know more, and knowing that our prime interests aren’t the same…I mean there’s probably nothing I could say if it’s still being ignored

This is why I always say: the players aren’t stupid. They understand as well as we do the overall situation - they aren’t blind to Pegula. We don’t draft a bunch of quitters - we bring them up in an environment where they are fully aware of the owner’s lack of commitment to winning. The players understand and are aware and can keenly perceive the lack of expectation, far more potently than we can. It’s why I always scoff at the reaction to those asking out. they know

RIP Hulkster. I stopped watching after 13 years old...but prior to that...he was a hero to me. "I am a real American"

Cops get free coffee and Tim Hortons get added security. Punks and thieves are inclined to avoid the establishment because men in uniforms who drive cars with lights on the roof frequent the place.

I just listened to a podcast of Rick Tocchet talking hockey, not in front of post-game media crowd, or on a intermission panel, but honestly breaking down the game nerd-fashion with a couple other hockey nerds. I’ve listened to Donnie Granato and other pros in similar settings and it gave me the same vibe. My takeaway in general is that the pros are by and large not the idiots fans make them out to be. They get where they are because they’re smart and they’re passionate. My Habs fan buddy always talks about pissed off he’d get with Marc Bergevin. And then he’d listen to him explain himself and 10 minutes later he’d be “wow, that totally makes sense! We’re gonna be fine!” it really makes me curious as to how overmatched our brain trust really is.

Maybe. Personally, believe their drafting has been bad because until the last year or 2 they've ALWAYS tried to find that true diamond in the rough with their late round picks and even some of their bonus early picks (Rosen, the goalie @LGR4GM and @Brawndo despise, etc.). It's cool that they reach for those sort of players some of the time; but not EVERY time. (And again, they seem to have gotten out of that habit a bit in the last couple of years.) Yes, occassionally, you will find the Datsyuk or even the less impressive Olofsson swinging for the fences in the late rounds. But the team could use grinders too, and taking some (not entirely, but some) guys that look like they'll grade out to bottom 6 if all goes well but have the temprament and build for that game might result in them having more home grown fill out the roster guys than potentially just Kozak. Because sometimes those guys that look like bottom 6 end up middle 6. And the Sabres could use a lot more of them with mean.

Putting aside how morally bankrupt it would be to sign any of these douchebags, Bettman said they're not eligible to play in the NHL. Whether that's just this year or longer wasn't said.

I sort of understand that, Tim Hortons always gives cops free coffee, I typically don't get tickets as I work in the local hospital and the cops have come to me and received care. It's sucks, and it's BS, but tis the way the world unfortunately works

Trust me, I would absolutely be able to stop watching.

I don't think their drafting, especially in the first round, has been awful. Yeah, they could have made some better picks, but that is true with anyone. Its not like year after year they have been picking a player who turns out to be a bust AND in the next guy or two there is someone THAT much better. And even if there was/is someone that turns out to be better, a lot of that might be just as much development once you draft them than the wrong pick. They Nylander pick was really the only first round pick that ended up being really bad compared to what else was out there.

I actually just noticed the cancer reference. Dude, that’s neither here nor there an an awful comp to draw Seriously guy, reconfigurate a bit. Me saying you are wrong about a professional sports club you follow as a hobby to pass the time is not the same thing, good grief my man, good grief. It’s not life and death. The other, well it f*ckin is

Apologies to anyone who is a police officer if you are offended by this (My father, uncle, and cousin were/are all officers) but there is an HOA issue at my in-laws house in Florida. They have a pretty strict HOA. The board members walk around the neighborhood once per month, write a list of 'violations' and send them out (weeds visible on your front lawn, moss/mold on the roof, not cleaning spiderwebs off of lights on the house, etc.) Once you get a notice, you have a short period of time (until they do the next walk) and if you don't fix the issues, you are fined. Well, there is ONE person in the neighborbood who is a police officer, and apparently that person never has to correct anything. More weeds on the lawn than any other house in the neighborhood, and even broken roof tiles/shingles (they have those ceramic-looking rounded ones.) They give out a newsletter and at the end of the year that they stuff in your mailbox, they somehow note who in the neighborhood has received notices (yes, they do that as a way of shaming neighbors I guess...I have seen a copy of it), and the person who is the police officer, and of course the board members of the HOA never receive any warnings or fines.

I comprehend what you're saying as it relates to Norris vs Norris. To say the total team difference is losing JJ for Kesselring isn't accurate - factoring in Norris is 100% part of the discussion.

Dude why don’t you just block me? Not saying this in snark. Like, just for personally peace? You constantly constantly quote me taking issue with merely the macro issue of how it is I am a fan. How are you even a fan, Thorny. Regardless of the fact the forum is filled with evidence for 10 years explaining why if you cared to look - I’m not answerable to you. And I’m specifically not going to explain it to you right now because you’ve proven it won’t be worth my time as I’ve explained it to you before we are not the same. I talk about, and have posted before that I’m jealous you can be so relatively seemingly unaffected by the constant losing, how I truly wish that was me - you post questioning why I’m a fan at all, and on more than one occasion have told me to leave - don’t get me wrong: I’m not offended by it. I truly do not care what you think about my loyalty as a fan. But like I said, for your own piece of mind.. why don’t you follow my twitter and peruse my blue jays tweets? Would give anyone a pretty good preview of what I’m like when a team displays basic competence I’m sorry but wookie - if you can’t make the logical leap to think that maybe, like, JUST MAYBE MAYBE I am being honest when I say the historical ineptitude leads to historical disenfranchisement, I’m telling the truth? Is it that inconceivable I could be speaking honestly? That maybe, just MAYBE, if the team made the playoffs once it would be reflected in the way I post? I am frequently floored by the fact that logical leap can’t be made - the idea it can’t just be the team that makes me post this way. That I have to have some other agenda can’t you just, in the name of science, test your theory once? Like, just once see what my reaction is once we achieve something?

RiP Ozzy, Hulk and Chuck. Tough few days

My question is how do we know they haven’t done all they could? From the outside we can certainly pick them apart but how do we know that we aren’t just ***** this offseason thanks to a combination of a lack of good UFAs, NMCs/NTCs, a general dislike among other players/coaches/management candidates, etc? While I don’t think they’ve exhausted every search or turned over every rock to anyone’s satisfaction; that doesn’t mean they aren’t doing anything. I can’t quite wrap my head around how you are even a fan of the Sabres or any sports team for that matter. You want to take the hardline logical and cynical approach to everything and fandom is neither at the core of it. No matter the hopeless situation that may appear; fans will always find some means to make cheering meaningful. Your need to give anyone here a cynical diatribe about how we are delusional about this team because we want to manufacture hope is just not needed. It’s akin to telling a Stage 4 cancer patient, “yeah, you’re going almost certainly die” and even when you’re likely 99% factual with that statement that doesn’t mean you’re required to tell them that. You aren’t their doctor, you are just the person’s acquaintance from across the street. Maybe we even deserve some divine providence at this point; we’ve been royally screwed so many times and yet somehow never get to fall ass backwards into even a semblance of success.

Proud to share my home town with him. He was a very giving guy and loved ROC. In 2000, he raised over $50,000 for St. John's Nursing Home at his 60th-birthday concert at the Eastman Theatre. He also graduated and taught at the Eastman School of Music. He was known to play local high school orchestras and bands for the fun of it. A tip of the brown felt hat to a legend.

Well rarely do you see anyone garner kudos for standing firm on the idea of “innocent until proven guilty” when accusations are dished out. You only either get hammered for not doing anything, hammered for not doing something fast enough, or ignored/ridiculed for acting at all.

I think it’s going to take some time, but they’ll eventually sign. The team signing them will then have to navigate a media storm for a bit.