Taro T

Just seeing this now. Thing that stuck out to me was Chad saying he expects none of the UFAs back. Figured they'd be open to bringing Girgensons & Larsson both back (he said they'd like Larry back but don't expect it) & should be able to get at least 1 of them back. Glad to see no Simmonds or Sobotka though. (Neither SHOULD be back, but Botterill would've brought back Wayne.)

The sweaters were sharp. Non traditional, but that was ok. Throwing a logo that made the Gorton's Fisherman on a clown sweater look downright well thought out onto it ruined it. Could never get past that horrible logo.

My original guess as to the driving force of the trade itself put in at 90% ownership & 10% GM with the deadline being 100% on ownership. Am now giving more weight to the reports that Botterill felt it would be "easier to tear down to the studs" if the Sabres won the Dahlin lottery as moving it to 40% ownership & 60% GM. (And the deadline for the deal still has to be 100% ownership.) Never gave credence to O'Reilly being pouty face in interviews as souring the owners on him but did think that the Timmy Ho's incident combined with his brother hazing Murray's non top 2 #1 draft pick as leading them to believe that they could finish in last place without those headaches just as easily & if the GM told him he could get a great haul for him if he had to trade him led them to say 'make it happen #2.' Have definitely shifted my guess in the past couple of months. Thanks for the input.

Has to be that weird toxic gold color of the slugs. That thing will still be that bright 2,000 years from now. It's easier to dispose of PCBs from old power transformers than THAT.

Understatement of the week. Might be in the running for the entire off-season. (Sabres off-season that is, not the NHL's on-again off-again off-season.)

Saying that the Sabres picked a guy with very little FO experience, similar to what TB would've gotten back about 1 year after Yzerman hung up his skates. Would that younger Yzerman have had the same results that the 1 who learned from 1 of the absolute best had? Perhaps. But that's highly debatable & TB was smart enough to not try to find out. They waited until he was ready. Is Adams ready? We have to hope so. Dudley being around would've improved the likelihood he is.

No. Do we know he isn't? No. But based on everything we've heard about how the Pegulas feel "burned" by advice from league insiders is there any other experienced "hockey guy" that would have more reason for them to trust he wants the Sabres to be successful? Outside of possibly Gerry Meehan, can't think of any ottomh. Do we have any reason to believe there is anyone else out there on the radar screen who they'd consider bringing in at a VP or advisory level?

1st off, he's stubborn & driven; pretty sure Adam's that way too, so they'd definitely clash some, but overall would expect those disagreements to turn productive. 2nd, he has that innate ability to judge talent; not sure how much of that would rub off, but based on the Buffalo junior/youth Sabres program results since Adams' been there, he might just have some of that himself & talking regularly with Dudley wouldn't hurt it any. 3rd, he's coming from an organization that does scouting & analytics right and is presumably the model the Sabres are hoping to follow & improve upon. And the GM of that organization is a moron. But since he's had Duds & the analytics guy with him he's been far more of a savant than the idiot he is. 4th, he's been a part of low budget organizations that have been successful beyond what their budget should allow pretty much his entire time working in FO's around the league. This is a good thing & he knows a bit about how to be successful in a constrained environment. 5th, he's been in the league since the 70's & has held a wide variety of different jobs, so he understands how all the parts fit together. Adams has a similar array of backgrounds, but has never been an NHL HC & afaik has never done player evaluation above a junior level. Duds background can help bridge gaps there. 5B, because he's been in the league so long, he knows EVERYONE. He knows which guys you have to work the soft sell and which ones you can pretend you're George Armstrong negotiating with Jason Botterill. Simply bringing in that knowledge has a great value. Adams knows many in the business. Duds knows everybody in the business. 6th, Duds still bleeds Sabres blue (royal or navy, don't matter). Having that kind of a background & wanting the Sabres to succeed is also invaluable coming from someone with his background. There's probably a couple of other reasons, like this likely being his last hurrah before heading into the sunset, but that should suffice. EDIT: And not necessarily saying he'd be a "tutor," but as an "advisor," heck yeah, sign him up.

To a degree, but the Sabres hired the Yzerman that didn't spend years looking over Holland's shoulder figuring out how it gets done. They hired the 1 essentially 1 year removed from retiring. Would Stevie Y have been the FO guy he became without that tutelage? We're about to find out. But we shouldn't have to.

Exactly. Go get a guy that we know can actually play 2C & then if Cozens beats him out you might even be able to make the playoffs with last year's goaltending. As you will then have a C spine of Eichel, Cozens (who would have earned that 2C spot), 2C, Larsson (or Lazar if Johan walks) with guys that can fill in in a pinch of Johansson, Mittelstadt, Kahun at minimum. But go in with no additional 2C help & have Cozens play like a rookie who should be 3C at best as the 2C & then the C spine becomes Eichel, Cozens/Johansson/Mittelstadt/Kahun, 2nd best of those, Larsson/Lazar. Does that really inspire a belief that the draught doesn't stretch to 10 years?

Wawrow is (& IIRC others are) on record saying Dudley was interested in joining the Sabres. In what field would somebody find out that a big wig at a competitor was leaving the competitor & moving (figuratively) just down the street & wouldn't have anybody interested in at minimum talking to the guy. The NHL is a very insular community & Dudley is well respected and has had success especially in the FO of low budget teams. (You know, the kind of "do more with less" situation that we hear the Sabres are looking to be at least for the short term.) Regardless of the ownership's views of NHL "insiders" & their recommendations, this isn't just some random NHL insider. This is a guy who has been in & out of the organization multiple times & still considers the team special to him. To believe nobody in the upper echelon of the "flat structure" even contemplated talking to him defies credulity.

In some matters, would totally agree. But on what level would/ could Eichel take issue with bringing in Dudley? Both Krueger & Adams could have issues (either LT or ST) w/ having a guy effectively looking over their shoulders. But Jack's role is soooo different than either of the other 2 that what his issue would be aren't intuitively obvious.

As long as Krueger is the HC, would expect Ristolainen & Jokiharju are here for the duration. But would expect Miller traded out before Montour was. (Even though Montour brings back a larger haul & still believe Risto has more value than any of those 4. Really think Risto needs to be part of the 2C package to get a guy that adequately fills that hole.)

Duda has it.

Good for him. Not happy he's coming back to the Wales Conference. Would prefer he be out west.