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Nah, may be old, but ain't anywhere's near PA old. 😉

We do agree that the playoff drought would've ended. How much more than that they'd accomplish is pretty much impossible to say. Were Botterill still the GM, and in a world where he doesn't punt O'Reilly (as he did with ownership's blessing at a minimum if not their prodding) he very likely would've been retained longer, doubt the team would be a true contender though do expect they'd've won at least a series or 2 by now. It's a team that would have a perennial Selke candidate on it, a perennial Norris candidate on it, a Vezina candidate on it, and as it turns out 2 other F's that can play pretty responsibly in their own end now that they're actually adults. But ownership very well may have tired of Botterill. Thing is, with all that on the roster, you aren't compelled to move Kevyn Adams into that role when Kim and Terry decide it's time to move on from J-Botts. If we get lucky and they tire of him when they did, Bill Zito is still available, and considering he was interested 3 years earlier and the Sabres "tank fruit" are finally ripening there's no reason to believe he wouldn't still be intertested in the job. (We know he likes a BUNCH of Sabres from that era.) It's all what ifs and conjecture and there really isn't much point to the exercise, but not much else going on now as we have absolutely no idea what Kekalainen is recommending to Adams and likely won't until close to the end of the month when the draft finally arrives. (And am VERY much looking forward to the day when the draft is something that we don't really put a whole lot of energy nor interest in as picks in the 20's and 30's definitely aren't expected to help out for at minimum 2 more years and more likely 3 or 4 more years.

Agreed. The Sabres started last season with a top 6 of: Peterka / Thompson / Tuch Benson / Cozens / Quinn It is not that any of those players were not NHL ready, it is that 4 of them were 23 and under. Then, when the first injury happened, we called up 20 year old Kulich. And Krebs was our 4th line C. And Byram and Power were in our top 4 D. And Levi was our back-up goalie. Most of these guys were ready for a role. All of them on the roster, in key positions, at the same time, was not a plan for success. It was a GM in over his head.

You haven't addressed a long term answer top 4 RD. I can't buy into it as honestly outside of draft picks I don't like much of anything San Jose could offer that we could than move in another move to get a mid 20 that either on a longer dealer or be a RFA in a year or two for either top 6 forward or top 4 RD.

The only way I move UPL is if we acquire a legitimate #1 G, I know some have suggested Oettinger which is nice except he under contract til 2033. That's a super commitment and I am not comfortable with it as this team, I don't know if system/players or combo of both but worry he won't live up to that contract here.

https://puckgm.puckpedia.com/rosters/612790 We'd need to jump through some hoops next offseason but we'd be in the clear in 27-28. Using some deferred salary I gave Tuch 8.35mil cap hit Robertson we give 1x9.5mil with the intention to offer 8x11.5mil the following year. Essentially we'd just have to convince him that are tight this offseason but great in 2 years.

This I agree with. Each regime since Eichel didn't know how to - or wasn't allowed to - build a competitive team. Those players you mentioned, none of them were going to be placed in the correct environment with a competent roster which, as history has proven, is exactly what they needed to succeed (who doesn't?). We know Pegula has been meddling. Strike one. Therefore, we know they would never assemble a proper roster. Strike two. And, we also know a capable coaching/front-office regime would never manifest during this period. Strike three. All of the above aside, IMHO none of those players is the kind of character that can drag a team into the SCFs, let alone the play-offs (history proves this, too). And, sorry, we've also seen what Ullmark would look like in a play-off series. Assuming one of the players in question remained with the team and we made it into the play-offs with Ullmark, we'd still be talking about goal-tending. The only thing we'd have is a break in the play-off drought. We'd also have a roster and regime that no one wants to mess with because - at least - it got us a round in the play-offs despite its faults. I suppose my error here - my "perfect world" failure - is that I'm thinking of this as if we had an owner that learns from past mistakes.

You don't believe that Beane is implementing Pegula's vision with the Bills do you? Beane is implementing his own vision (along with McDermott's) and it happens to be one that Terry agrees with. Luckily, Terry's son did not play Pop Warner Football.

If Tage isn't a center than we need a viable 2C assuming that Norris is your 1C but with his injury history think that a scary though. We can agree from a talent point Robertson is better than JPP, it's just a matter of how we fill other needs.

I was shown how to get access to the article. Adams is defensive on his qualifications for the job but there is no doubt he has been way over his head and that Terry hired him to control everything. From the Fairburn article: On Oct. 11, 2020, five months after hiring Adams, Pegula stood inside his new general manager’s office. At that point, Adams had no assistant GMs. His director of scouting was Jeremiah Crowe, who had three years of pro scouting experience before getting elevated to that role. The analytics department was Jason Nightengale. This was the first day of NHL free agency. Pegula and Adams discussed the possibility of signing Taylor Hall to a one-year, $8 million contract. Hall had won the Hart Trophy two years earlier with a 39-goal, 54-assist season for the New Jersey Devils. The Sabres had failed to qualify for the expanded 24-team playoff during the pandemic, extending their playoff drought to nine seasons. "We sign this guy,” Pegula said to Adams in a behind-the-scenes video released by the Sabres, “we’re not only trying to make the playoffs. We’re trying to win the Cup.” “Yeah,” Adams said. “I mean this is … yeah.” This is dysfunction at the highest levels. Terry was clueless to think that signing Taylor Hall, and underachiever for most of his career, made his Oct 2020 roster a playoff roster, yet he thinks it made them a cup contender. This would be laughable if it wasn't so sad.

Jarmo doesn't thrill me. But I could actually see this scenario playing out with one change: I don't think Jarmo accepts Appert as his HC. I think Adams likes Appert, and I think Appert is seen as a potential replacement for Ruff, but I don't think it's an etched in stone thing. If we see Jarmo ascend to GM, I think he picks his own coach. I actually think that Lindy Ruff would be the sort of coach that Kekalainan would hire (which is not a positive for me).

Well, there's one UFA the Sabres won't sign. Marcus Johansson signs a 1-year $800k extension with the Wild. He'll be 35 this season, but last year he was 11-23-34 in 72 gp. Functional 3/4 winger last season, but the contract is to be their 13th forward. For comparison, at this time, Josh Dunne will be the only NHL contract in the Sabres organization that would make less than MoJo next season. Any of the draft picks will make more if they happen to make the NHL roster.

fwiw, he was spotted about a mile north of that. maybe he loves SPoT coffee?

Danny got there early to check out Canalside.

Initially I did not like the idea of trading Peterka but if we can package him for Robertson I am definitely interested. Dallas would like a young top 6 guy like Peterka and he would like the glamour and glitz of Dallas. (They gotta lotta' nice girls, yeah.) Robertson improves our top 6 and gives us options. Send in Jarmo!

... d'oh. Combine?!

Buffalo, man. I'm fairly sure that you would have helped care for a family friend's kid who just graduated at the top of her high school class locally. (She's a 2006-born kid who was red-shirted before starting school - owing in large part to some challenges she faced early in life.) Big stick taps to you.

I'm not gonna start a new thread for this. I've had 2 people who work in downtown Buffalo text me to say either that they saw Danny Briere this morning or spoke to someone who claims to have seen Danny Briere in downtown Buffalo this morning. Is this just some real-time Mandela Effect bullspit? I have no idea what Briere would be doing in town.

Can we send Adams to GM their team while he gets an on campus MBA? 🤣

I believe the delay is due to arena bookings from the previous round. They book and assume each series will go 7 games. If things end earlier, they don’t seem to change any dates.

The GM position has so many varied aspects to it. It is the like being the head of a multi-company corporation. One required trait you have to have to be successful is that you have to hire quality support staff. Another critical trait is that you have to have a broader vision than if you worked in one of the departments in the company. KA is a fine fellow. He’s playing checkers in a chess match. I say this with no malice intended: He’s simply in over his head.

Worth the listen/watch about 25 min in the get to the article

As you point out, it isn’t a startling revelation that the organization reeks of dysfunction. However, anything that might give some insight to where this non-talking owner’s head is at has some interest. My attitude of contempt for this arrogant billionaire who has degraded this once proud franchise to a laughed at and scorned franchise has not changed. On a positive note, the addition of an experienced hockey person to the staff is a positive step. It’s so sad that when this stubborn owner does something that should normally be expected it becomes a cause for celebration.