...

Reads like another Montour. If they were going to pick a D man, can we not get a big hitter? Not thrilled, but I'm willing to give the guy a chance to surprise me. What choice do I have?

Just watch the interview with Duff. He did well in math in school and likes "math". Just a little - I say, little - insight into his psychology.

Have to agree with this take. The guy might turn into a solid defender, but we know what it's like to be scraping out the cupboards looking for scoring.

I'd say the take-aways from that are the math, prefers documentaries, and likes Country music.

You know what, watching these interviews, he strikes me as a tall, thin Sidney Crosby. Obviously not as a player, but in looks, sound, and demeanor.

If for nothing else, he's a monster-sized center. If all of the positive attributes pan out, he'll be a hell of a good pick for the Sabres.

I've seen equal 4th overall and 7th to the Sabres in mock drafts. I just finished watching the video from earlier in the thread. Nothing flashy, but positionally sound with a solid shot. Too bad his buddy Jake Elmer is signed to the Rangers. In the scouting reports there's some disagreement on his hockey IQ/sense. Some say it's great, others say it's lacking. I think the video makes it look like his hockey IQ is fine.

I need details on this opinion. Please.

Sounds like ROR 2.0

They said his hockey IQ needs work. What does that mean (I know what it means generally)?

Explain what's good about this guy. Why was he your guy? I know this info is buried in the draft thread...let's start fresh.

If I'm being honest, I can't get past he compares to Sheary.

I don't blame you. I'm pretty much there myself. However, I don't know if I can handle yet another idiot GM for this team. I don't want that to be true. So, until the off-season moves are complete, I'm trying not to look at it that way.

I see more value in a pick - any pick - than I do in Vesey. I could see a 1:1 trade Scandella for Vesey as interesting and likely useful as a means to manage the cap. In fact, if they did that trade and then dumped Vesey in Rochester for the rest of his contract, I would applaud Botterill. This is quite unlikely to happen.

I guess that's a fair metric. I fail to see how this translates into Botterill seeing value in trading for Vesey, unless you think part of the reason for the team's place in the standings is because Botterill is an idiot. And I sincerely mean that, no snark. Because, if we do trade anything for Vesey, I will fully and completely agree that Botterill is a legit idiot.

I thought the consensus was that he only screwed up one trade, and there's not consensus on whether he was forced to make it..? But, seriously, even JBot must know trading anything more than a 7th for Vesey is stupid.

Do we not trust Botterill to recognize this, too?

Sabres were #12 in the PK. That's Girgs and Angry Larry for the most part.

The audacity! Pulling out numbers. Shamefull.

I'm very torn on Risto. On the one hand, the numbers back up a trade, on the other, if he can get his D game sorted out, he'd be the guy we'd want back in a trade.

Vesey? WTH. FWIW, I agree with your sentiment on Friedman, @LGR4GM. I don't believe the source(s) who confirm trades or contracts are the same feeding him info on trade talks. The former are likely league sources while the latter are team sources. He likely gets a sense of the landscape from the team sources and extrapolates from there/that.

Isn't that Binnington's story? When he came in, he played well enough to lift the Blues out of the dumps, but by the time the playoffs got here, if their D broke down, he was 50/50 on being able to carry the games.

The text equivalent to Angry Birds.

I don't see the validity of these evaluations without first knowing the actual reasons for the ROR trade. Without facts, it's all speculation, and these "evaluations" are built on gossamer wings, worth nothing, watering down...nay...destroying...the quality of the subsequent discussions. This is why we're stuck in this circle of ROR nonsense, because everyone knows no one knows a thing other than what happened superficially, and some are happy to exclude facts and context for the sake of discussion, while others know a fundamentally worthless discussion is made even more worthless by the exclusion of the facts and context.