nfreeman

As I said earlier, “the decision” would refer to signing off on the tank after it was proposed by Darcy — which is qualitatively different from TP deciding to tank and instructing Darcy to implement it. IMHO the former is much more likely than the latter. More to the point — no one here knows, despite PA’s dogged attempts to turn theory into fact.

Awesome Josie, as always — and hopefully a harbinger!

I think you mean "If we believe PAFan..." Again: Darcy didn't say any of this in the Vogl article. If you have facts that support this narrative, please post links and quotes. Otherwise you're just repeating your theories.

You misused the term. More to the point: would you prefer a new stadium, with the attendant substantial increase in cost of attendance and upper deck a mile away from the action? There's no system that will eliminate the unavoidable facts that the money to build a stadium needs to come from somewhere, and the only sources are the public or the owner.

Here's something very positive (IMHO) from new team president Kim P.: a new stadium is far from a sure thing -- http://buffalonews.com/2018/05/23/kim-pegula-orchard-park-new-era-field-bills-stadium/?utm_campaign=puma&utm_medium=social&utm_source=Twitter#link_time=1527106286 I hope they stay in the Ralph forever.

I hope youse are right. I can't help feeling like he's just a Larsson replacement and will add similar (lack of) value. OTOH... Whoa.

I have no doubt that TP signed off on the tank, as this would be required by pretty much any owner of any pro sports team. But that is a far cry from TP ordering a certain course of action. This of course goes back to my original point, which is that no one here has any idea how much or how little TP has been involved in the various decisions that have been made since he's been on the scene -- and thus our information in that regard is far scantier than our information on Dahlin's likelihood of success in the NHL.

Thanks.

That's not what Darcy said. He said that TP has been very clear that the Cup is the goal, not just making the playoffs. Here is the link: http://buffalonews.com/2018/04/28/inside-the-sabres-day-of-suffering-lingers-five-years-later/ It's impossible to have a conversation if one side is so obsessed with sticking to a narrative that it bends the facts.

Link? I don't see it on their site. FWIW, I enjoy Deadspin. Their writers think they know a lot more than they actually do, but they are generally pretty talented and funny.

I’m kinda disappointed to learn that the Sabres don’t get the pick next year if SJ is in the lottery — I thought that only happened if SJ won the lottery.

Wow. That is quite a bit more than I was expecting him to get. Good for him, and good for the Sabres.

Harrington is "relatively mild" enough that Elliotte Friedman, a real hockey writer, unfollowed him on twitter AND publicly rebuked him for being the opposite of "relatively mild."

But they did use 2 AHL defensemen and an AHL forward instead of the guys you're referring to. They waived Moulson, Bogosian played 18 games and Gorges played 34 games. No one is disagreeing with the premise that the Sabres would be better off without those 3 contracts. I just think you're well underestimating the difficulty/price involved in unloading them and well overestimating the harm suffered by failing to ditch them.

Actually, you have zero information about this. You (and all of us) have a ton of speculation, but zero knowledge as to any action whatsoever that they've taken, other than retaining Darcy, firing GMTM and DDB and hiring JBott. OTOH, there is video showing Dahlin's abilities, as well as the informed opinions of literally dozens of knowledgeable hockey observers who have witnessed him in person, both on and off the ice, all of which is highly probative as to how Dahlin will do in the NHL. While I agree that the logical move is not to assume that Dahlin will be an NHL star, it's a bit silly to draw a line in the sand and insist that there is no reason to think that he will be.

Speaking of the Buffalo Star: https://www.thebuffalostar.com/2018/05/player-profile-rasmus-dahlin/

The last sentence sounds like he might be joining the Athletic.

Now, the Buffalo Star writers are guys that I wouldn't be surprised to be picked off by the Athletic.

No. Living with a couple of bad contracts -- like every team in the NHL does -- doesn't mean that the Sabres are writing off the season. It just means that JBott has determined that the team is better off living with those contracts than it would be if it paid the price to another team to take those contracts. If teams were unable to win with a couple of bad contracts, then no team would win.

I'll admit to not being terribly familiar with Yerdon's work, as I don't read much of NHL.com.

I don't think any of the WNY media names in this thread is at the Athletic's level of quality.

Exactly. And once the price drops below a 2nd, McPhee probably has no interest in taking a lower pick plus Gorges -- he'd rather have Carrier. Boom!

But saying that JBott missed an opportunity means that the price wasn’t too high — ie if the price was too high, it wasn’t an opportunity. If the price to acquire Karlsson from Ottawa this summer is Eichel, Dahlin and Mittelstadt, is JBott missing an opportunity to get Karlsson if he says no?

You keep saying JBott missed an opportunity like it’s a fact. As if paying Vegas to take Moulson or Bogo never occurred to him, despite him being an NHL GM and literally the entire hockey world acutely interested in which teams were going to be able to make exactly that kind of deal. Do you not think JBott asked McPhee about this? It’s almost certain that he did and the price was too high.

The guy is and has always been a Sabres fan. He's also a fan of his city's new team, which plays in the WC and has zero history with the Sabres or any other team, and is excited about their success, especially given the years of relentless suckitude that his hometown team have visited upon all of us. That doesn't make him a troll or a DB or anything else, and certainly doesn't justify grown men getting their panties in a wringer and telling him to leave their pity party. I've been called a lot of things on this board, but PC hasn't been one of them until now.