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It’s fun to see it, but I kind of wish it was left private. We’re too spoiled sometimes.

The first name that always pops into my head is Patrice Bergeron, and he made that leap as a second round pick. I wonder if anyone can even find another second rounder doing that. He wound up in the AHL for his second season thanks to the lockout. I don’t mean to suggest that Benson could use that time in the AHL, it’s just a crazy scenario for Bergeron.

My hatred of the Leafs goes to the Sabres first season in 1970. Start Punch Imlach as our GM and coach, add the close proximity, Toronto was an immediate rival. The Sabres won the first ever meeting between the teams, 7-2 in Maple Leaf Garden, and that was the start of it. I went to the first Leafs game ever in the Aud. The Sabres lost and I got my first taste of Leafs fans in our building. The Leafs fans were loud, maybe 20% of the crowd, and that was the start of my anti-Leaf journey. Fortunately the Sabres quickly past the Leafs as an Eastern Conference contender. The league kept expanding and went to 4 divisions. Toronto moved out of our division, putting them into the weaker Norris division to help them. It was a move that the Leafs irrepressible owner Harold Ballard favored as it thought it would help them, but it didn't. That moved failed as Detroit and St Louis and Chicago all got better and Toronto lagged. As a result the Sabre and Leafs have only played ONE playoff series ever. Sabres won that series 4-1 back in 1999. Amazing to think that or closest rival has only played us once in the playoffs. That is Sabrey.

On paper yes, and they have a huge goaltending hole but the comparison still holds until one of the two make the playoffs. Completely antithetical rebuild plans. neither has worked yet. The verdict remains to be seen on which plan is best.

This is pretty much the truth, but all of that is on Adams and yet Adams is still here. Why do we not have more bodies in place? We don't spend to the cap, Adams didn't add players. There were waiver wire players even that could have been added here and there. AJ Greer was a waiver guy playing for Florida and they also got Boquist that way. In terms of roster construction the Florida lines fit the bill better. What they have done is cobbled together a 4th line that has toughness and grit but also doesn't yield too much and so isn't a liability. If the top 2 lines in the playoffs cancel out the game falls on that third line and that's where they killed Toronto. Post deadline they have the best 3rd line in hockey. Sabres 3rd line? Constantly cobbled together leftover pieces that didn't fit elsewhere. This will never happen but if they added Marchand and Bennett and then traded Norris for a top 4 D man to play with Power then they might actually have the basis of a good competitive roster. Byram could also be moved for another D man or solid winger. The "core" of this team just isn't a solid competitive core.

Teams WERE aware of him. But still, he was sliding down the draft board. He went 13th overall. AND he was selected by the team that almost definitely had more interaction with him and watched him more than any other team. And the Sabres didn't just have their scouts watch him. Their development people were watching him too as he was Savoie's linemate. You will be hard pressed to convince me that he still would've been the Sabres selection had they not drafted Savoie one season earlier. This is a kid that did the Ryan O'Reilly and made the NHL straight out of junior in his draft year and WASN'T a top 2 or 3 pick. THAT doesn't happen often. ROR at least is a really big guy. Benson slid because of his physical measurements. The Sabres took the chance on him because they actually knew him.

Actually, they needed to do that at the trade deadline 2 years ago BEFORE missing the playoffs by 1 point. Could they have traded maybe say Rosen and a 2nd or 3rd for a W that could've helped them gain exactly 2 points out of their last 35-40 points that year? They needed exactly 1 single regulation loss to turn into a W to have gotten to the dance. Yeah, with that small of a move, they'd still be looking at possilby heading to year 3 of a new playoffless drought, but most all teams suffer those stretches. Going for 15 is friggin' epic and not in a good way.

Weren’t they the top team in the WHL that year? I think it’s very hard to not be incredibly aware of him at that high profile of a position. I’d be more willing to consider it if he was somewhere out in Sweden.

I don't think he's comparable to either of those two and he's not at that level. He's a goal scorer but he is primarily a perimeter player but also in fairness that is who the Sabres are. That is how they play. It's not a good way, but it is their way. Peterka imo is a 20 goal guy but he's weak defensively and often too soft (although I think that could be coached out of him if done right). He should be paid accordingly but not more.

Because they wouldn't have seen him play live anywhere near as often as they did watching Savoie's development in his D+1 year. And, honestly, that isn't a putdown on the scouting department. I believe that they watched this kid way more than they would've otherwise and they also even more importantly interacted with him, his coach, those around him way more than they would've otherwise. And those interactions swung them towards the kid that had the talent to be top 3, but lacked both the size and skating which went a long way towards scaring other teams off. They might've taken him if he could skate like lightning or if he were an inch or 2 taller; but that kid got drafted for the intangibles that come together and let him be effective even though he really shouldn't be as his only physical trait that's pretty much at the top of the scale is his passing. And the intangibles don't fully come through unless you actually interact with him. My 2 cents. YMMV.

I believe it’s called the bro. Or are you one of those manzier guys?

And it’s exactly what they needed to start doing 2 years ago after missing the playoffs by one point: start moving some of the futures for todays.

Can you advice this undulating to buy a bra? He can get one for a discount. https://www.google.com/search?q=bra&oq=bra&aqs=chrome..69i57j46i131i433i512j0i433i512l2j46i512j46i433i512j0i512j46i433i512j46i340i512.1678j0j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

I think your point has been proven

By AHL standards he's a star. It makes a huge difference.

Well maybe if we had a lights out Hasek type goalie but "fixing" with anything viable is doubtful to have changed anything. We picked up a lot of late season garbage points as a loose team taken lightly. It was, as every year, meaningless. We might have gotten a little closer like Detroit at best.

It's a race to get to two goals. Really depends on who gets to their game first. Get ready for a few OT games in this series.

You kind of ruined your point with the last statement. Yes. Winning is the goal. Make the playoffs, you get knocked out and you learn from it and build off the winning. Fine tune a young playoff team into a veteran contender but the only way to establish a winning culture is to win. Adams was trying to build what he calls a "sustainable winner", thinking of the future so much that every year he is banking on too many unknowns while paying fairly big salaries to unproven players. We are seeing that this plan is not going to work.

Will my proposed line of Quinn/Kulich/JJP work next season? We won't know for sure until tried. However, what I'm not going to do is dismiss the possibility based on the prior season's play. Most people will agree that all three players need to get stronger and tougher. Will they physically mature and toughen up their style of play? That's yet to be determined. What I'm not going to do is have a predetermined view on the possibility. Assuming that none of the three listed players are dealt, and that is not a safe assumption because Quinn and JJP could be dangled on the market, I can see the possibility of this young line. I'm not saying you are wrong. or your stance is invalid because it is certainly reasonable. We shall see. TBD.

2 of 4 Conference Finalists from Tax Haven Markets. What a $hock

Benson was Savoie’s linemate with the JNR team (Winnipeg ice?)

Yeah I'm not sure how Benson is connected here...I must be missing something.

If this is true... the Sabres scouting department is incompetent.

Likely correct. But that's why these are a best out of 7 and not 1 and done like in the NFL.

True, but because the Sabres drafted him they ended up with 2 very useful players - McLeod and Benson. Really doubt they have either if they hadn't drafted Savoie. So, some good came out of that selection.