PotentPowerPlay22

I am not opposed to trading ROR, but I would have hoped for better and younger prospects coming the other way. Two 30 year olds? WTF? I guess the GM wants to have veterans around some of the young players to guide them with their experience. We'll have to wait and see. I am not a fan of Housley as a head coach. He showed me nothing in his first year. Why would he suddenly get better?

It would be fun to look back at all the people who posted here defending and supporting Tim Murray for his great trades. He was an abject failure as a GM. However, I would guess over 90% of the posters here supported him.

You're right about Fasching. I thought the trade was horrible back then, but I was hoping Fasching would become a top forward in the NHL and salvage that trade. As it turns out the trade still looks terrible. Fasching looks like an AHL regular. Murray gambled too much on hope and not enough on reality. He really set this team back years.

He was an arrogant miserable sour puss who thought he was a genius. He squandered all the draft capital that Darcy Regier acquired before him. He overpaid on virtually every trade. He doesn't deserve any credit for drafting Jack Eichel since that was obvious. He gave up a 1st round choice for Lehner which was atrocious. Mark Pysyk was traded for a useless bag of pucks. The team and organization is worse off because of him. And by the way, the team is still in last place. His grade is clearly an "F"

Evander Kane is a very good hockey player. The Sabres were a bad team. He did pretty well on a very bad team. There might be a separate thread for this subject, but why has Phil Housley been given a free pass for the Sabres demise this year? I've heard virtually nothing pointing the blame at him. Maybe I just haven't noticed amidst all the other failures.

With the first pick in the 2018 NHL draft the Edmonton Oilers select .... Last place and you only get an 18.5% chance of getting the top pick? This is not right. Does the NHL want the worst teams to improve? Apparently not. The NFL system is still the best in many areas including the draft order.

No, Kane is gone. Also,I highly doubt San Jose signs him. San Jose just got a quality rental and didn't give up too much. On paper, the Sabres lost this trade. I'm disappointed. It's not hard to be a bottom feeder every year when your GM's keep losing trades. Let's face it: the Sabres are where they are for a reason.

OUCH! Sam -5 Does he have a future with the Sabres? Just wondering.

I hope for much more from Sam. However, I am skeptical he will ever achieve his potential. I don't see the fire or ambition necessary to be a great one. I see another Tim Connolly.

What I like from the new GM is the emphasis on building the team from the bottom up. The previous failed GM sacrificed the foundation by trying to build from the top down. The utter failure in Rochester was a sign that any success (which never happened anyway) under the previous GM would only be temporary. The foundation was neglected. The new GM understands the importance of building the farm system! I said repeatedly that the Sabres would never achieve success until the Amerks were good and they never were good under Murray. Any conclusions about Botterill are clearly premature, but I like the general direction and philosophy so far. If he can build the structure of the organization to be sustainable over many years by developing and acquiring good talent, I am cautiously optimistic for the future. I was never optimistic about the surly and negative demeanor of Tim Murray.

Almost every trade that the Sabres have made over the years is praised on this board. It's just human nature. Go back and look them up and you will find unbridled optimism on the trades. Even Kulikov for Pysyk was praised.

This is an interesting trade. Minnesota dumped 34 yr old Pominville's huge contract and Scandella coming off hip surgery to Buffalo for 27 yr old concussion prone Ennis and 25 yr old power forward Foligno. Plus Buffalo gives up a 3rd round pick and Minn gives up a 4th round pick. Personally, I believe Pominville's best days are way behind him so adding his huge salary for two more years is puzzling to me. Scandella is a question mark based on his hip problem. Ennis is also a question mark based on his concussions. If Ennis avoids further injury he has the potential to be the best player in this deal. He has the most upside. Foligno apparently does not fit the style of play the new Sabres are planning to employ. There is no way to know how this trade eventually works out at this point. If Scandella becomes a solid top 4 defenseman for many years, I believe the Sabres will be pleased with the deal.

Just say NO. He is not good value for money.

I think Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News had it exactly right. Vegas probably told Buffalo that they would take Ullmark. The Sabres asked what would you need to leave Ullmark alone? The Sabres can't afford to lose Ullmark since they are not deep at goaltender and are likely to lose Cal Petersen to free agency. The answer from Vegas was we will take Carrier. As a result, the Sabres protected Ennis and left Carrier unprotected to satisfy Vegas. Carrier is easier to lose than Ullmark at this point. This explains why the Sabres protected Ennis instead of Carrier. There is no way Vegas is taking one of the Sabres' bad salaries! (Ennis, Moulson or Bogo) Vegas looks like they could have a goalie and defense better than Buffalo next year. It will be interesting nontheless.

Housely is a big question mark to me. Honestly, I think it's a big gamble to hire someone with no NHL head coaching experience. I hope he is very successful in Buffalo. Time will tell if this was a good hire. I hope he recruits some top level assistant coaches. Good luck Phil.

Throw in Sidney Crosby, Malkin, Kessel and you might have something to work with. I wonder how those guys would do with Gionta, Girgensons, etc.?

I am afraid this will end exactly like Vesey. Petersen holds all the cards. Why wouldn't he give himself the choice of signing with any team rather than just one team?

Surely this isn't a serious topic. I thought the Vanek nightmare ended years ago. Please stop the madness. BTW, Andrew Peters is a repository of bad ideas.

Leave it to the NHL to come up with such a ridiculous system. How can they not give the first pick to an expansion team? What the hell is wrong with the worst team getting the top pick? BTW, Buffalo is a jinxed city apparently. WTF!!!

Never underestimate the value of luck. In the lottery system, luck can change your fortune immensely. The Sabres never caught a big break at the right time. Edmonton caught lightning in a bottle with McDavid. Winnipeg did the same with Laine. You can go back a few years to Pittsburgh to Crosby and Malkin for more luck. I'd rather be lucky. Will Buffalo ever get lucky? I guess they did once when they got Gil Perreault, but that was almost 50 years ago. They're due!!!

Contrary to the masses, I think Murray deserved to be fired. What exactly has he achieved? The Sabres were the 5th worst team in the NHL this year. They were getting worse, not better. Horrible! He even made Rochester a worse team. Murray hired Dan Bylsma. Horrible! I honestly think Murray got the worst end of most of the trades he made. He came into the organization with a pile of assets (draft picks) and he dealt them away freely with little to show for it. The organizational depth wasn't very good under Murray. His results were not good enough period. The team needs a new direction. The coach/GM combination wasn't working. I think Murray was very unpopular with the players and staff. He has a harsh and sour disposition most of the time and I'm guessing people didn't like to work for him. It's history now. Time to move on.

Bogosian, Kulikov, Franson and Gorges cost about $16.7 million. Holy crap! Is it any wonder the team stunk. How can this be the foundation of a good team? Thank you Tim Murray for acquiring these gems!

There have been many seasons harder on the fans. I've seen them all and this season is not even in the top 10. What is most disappointing to me about this season is that both the Sabres and the Amerks were worse than last year. Tim Murray is clearly not the genius many people thought he was. I guess several of the bad deals he has made are now being reflected in the standings. Clearly, something must change.

Keep or trade? The question can't be answered without knowing what would come back in the trade.

There are several good points here. I get the impression GMTM was so anxious to clear out all the Darcy Regier players and draft picks that he made several significant mistakes doing so. He hated Regier so much he has never even spoken his name aloud since he took over as GM. As a whole (to this point), Tim Murray has largely failed. I don't think he will be fired soon, but Bylsma might be used as his scapegoat and get canned.