Taro T

Or, they'll say, see, if you'd've held the course there was enough support available around Eichel & Reinhart 4 years ago that you should've been here 2 years ago. 😉

Hoping you're right.

But there's 2 levels of chemistry here. The chemistry that Murray clearly failed & the chemistrythat he hopefully could've lucked into but never did? Maybe a thread for later in the season is what happens if Black wins the power struggle rather than the self promoter that brought Buffalo sports fans an annual TO Bills acme, Rex Ryan, & Phil Housley?

That absolutely was a big part of why he was brought in. But what happens if Chevaldayoff (sp?) decides he 's not i terested in everything Murray threw at him? Does the team end up as cliques & non-clicking? Does Murray still throw a ton of value into a different trade for his coveted power winger. Do Reinhart& Eichel end up rehearsing in an Emo band & drinking Canadian beer in their downtime or are they still into buying friends ridiculously expensive bottles of Scotch?

Don't know those answers. And said yesterday that really wanted him to answer Q's about Eichel though fully expected he wouldn't. And the ideal scenario IMHO would be him answering as you propose. Just see this expected selling off of "the big 3" as resetting the clock back once again on this rebuild. Am still hoping everybody is off base on the expectations, but every day that seems less & less likely. And do realize that at some point, this team will end up with enough talent to be relevant, whether by design or merely lucking into it. Heck, even the Loafs made it to the semifinals once in the Ballard years proving that blind nuts can find squirrels every now & then. But this team has pieces now and they don't have to step back to step forward. We're on the verge of a 3rd rebuild from close to scratch in 7 years. At some point they have stop stepping back.

Funny. Keep Eichel & Reinhart, re-sign McCabe & Ullmark, add Danault & another goalie and that can start THIS season rather than hopefully in a couple.

Define "few."

To the bolded, have you honestly never seen this crew in action? For you to think they wouldn't continue to pursue it in that scenario is very interesting.

Agree to disagree. With it pretty obvious the Sabres are shopping Eichel, any response that yes, he has spoken to Eichel, turns the entire call into one about Eichel. This way there are still questions about other aspects of his taking over. IMHO.

You honestly don't expect that he'd then get asked that followup about 15 times by these pros?

But that opens up the can of worms as to what specifically they spoke about asked by several questioners. Personally, annoyed that Eichel is as good as gone.

Don't recall Lehner having injury issues other than the major concussion he suffered in '15. So, there was that. But other injuries didn't seem to be a problem until the fluke ankle injury on opening night. If the Kane trade weren't made, then the Sabres have 1 more 1st rounder (& possibly 2 if Myers brings one back in whatever deal he goes out in). That pick sent to the 'Peg probably would've been good enough to land Lehner, but the Sabres then likely lose 21 as the Avs are going to want that for O'Reilly. So, Samsonov is gone from the picture as a down the road option regardless. Keeping Neuvirth probably costs the Sabres Eichel. Wasn't going to happen & very likely even your boy Botterill would've sent him packing when he did. Had Lehner not suffered the ankle injury his time in Buffalo might have gone very differently as he doesn't end up separated from his new team right after his lengthy recovery from the concussion. Maybe he has time to build up confidences/ friendships on the Sabres and his mental health doesn't have the huge nosedive. If he stays firmly centered, as he's he's shown post-Sabres, he IS worth that 21st pick. (And Legwand is noise. Yes, he was a salary dump, but Murray WANTED him & he actually was very good in that 4C / top PKer role.) That said, this thread is for what might have been minus the Kane trade. Threads dedicated towards what might have been minus McNabb or Lehner might be interesting, but not really fitting here IMHO as McNabb had already happened & Lehner still happens if Kane doesn't happen.

Doubt it as well. But COULD see that sort of deal happen before Seattle takes guys. The rest of the moves though, liked you'd stated, would be really surprised if they happened prior to the expansion draft.

Nope. Give them the Price from the Vegas series & Moe-ray-all wins tonight 2-0 with the 2nd an empty netter.

But with the Lehner deal had Murray given up 31 for him, nobody would've batted an eye. And if 21 were included in the O'Reilly deal, nobody would've cared either. IMHO.

Price didn't have his A game. That therefore, by definition, wasn't the best Moe-ray-all could throw at the Bolts.

3 goals that deflected (to a degree) off Price. How long do you have to go back to find him get a piece of 3 pucks that ended up in the net?

Due to the intangibles that came with the trade agree that it was bad. But at the time & even in hindsight it was equivalent value. But, thinking about how much differently things could have been in the next 1/2 dozen seasons had the intangibles that now seem to have come with that trade been avoided, ...

The Lehner trade, in & of itself, wasn't bad. Murray & everybody else having no idea about his personal issues & thus not providing him any support to work through them made it horrible.

OK.

Vancouver, Columbus, ???.

IF the Habs aren't going to come back want Danault to have more of those plays. Really want the Habs to not re-sign him and see him in B&G next season. But, whens the last time Price had 2 goals go in off his blocker?

We all know Murray's 1st real restructuring for key pieces to be in the rebuild was the trade that (along with the Enroth to Dallas deal) pretty much sealed the Tank and landed Eichel rather than Strome or Marner. But what if GMTM hadn't sent that whole package to the Jets, but instead merely sent Stafford somewhere for a 2nd and sent Myers somewhere else for a 1st or 2nd so that season still follows the same trajectory? They keep Armia & the rights to Lemieux. Does that end up leaving Eichel & Reinhart being influenced more by the vets than their best 2 buds? Maybe even ending up more in O'Reilly's orbit so that horrible trade to St. Louis never happens as there's no concern over Jack & Ryan "hating each other" (ha!). Does that leave Murray still desperate for a Kane-esque power forward and giving up other assets to land him, possibly even more than he gave up for Kane? Do the Sabres braintrust figure out that Armia is a defensive specialist with some offensive upside rather than a key top 6 scoring winger that he was touted as? Does Lemieux follow through on his threat to not sign an ELC in Buffalo? Is the late 1st the Sabres theoretically get for Myers good enough that the Sabres can offer that to Ottawa in the Lehner deal & keep & actually use the pick they sent to the Otters? Pretty sure that was the 1st of the trades that Murray made that demonstrated how he truly didn't care about chemistry but merely physical skills. If it doesn't happen, are we lost in the desert for at minimum 6 more years? What other dominoes don't fall?

The one deal that MIGHT happen prior to the draft is IF Ristolainen will get traded in a package that brings back a goalie as the key piece of the package. Tbat would let the Sabres keep Borgen and allow the other team to lose their 4th D-man rather than their 2nd goalie. Depending on how the rest of their trade partner's D shapes up, it might make sense to both sides.

IF Eichel is gone, they'd better be offering Dahlin a legit 8 year deal (similar to the Chabot deal) the next ####ing day.