nfreeman

I agree with all of this, and I'm not trying to be argumentative (although I may be kidding myself there), but if you still think (i.e. you said "I'll likely always think...") that the Sabres gave up too much, doesn't that necessarily mean that you think one of the 2 possibilities I posted? No big deal either way, of course.

I'm disappointed in this losing streak too, and I'm deeply concerned, as I've said many times before, that the tank will end up making the team worse, not better, in the long run, by ingraining a culture of losing. However, before we break out the tar and feathers for DDB, we should consider the following: The eye test clearly indicates that the Sabres are a zillion times more competitive than they have been for the prior 2 seasons. The fancystats bear this out. ROR and Eichel are young, sure-fire building blocks, with Reinhart and Risto either at the same level or just below. The Sabres haven't had their #1 goalie all year. We all knew before the season started that the defensemen were questionable. 2 of their top 4 forwards and 1 of their top 3 defensemen have missed significant time with injuries. They are integrating a ton of new pieces, including 4 of their top forwards and a new coaching staff. A number of their important players are very young -- young enough that a franchise like Detroit would still have some or most of them in the AHL. Some of the vets they were counting on for both leadership and production (Moulson, Gionta, Bogo, Ennis) have fallen off the table. Contrast that with, say, what Florida is getting from Jagr, Willie Mitchell and Soupy -- and the risks of giving big contracts to older players become a bit more apparent. My bottom line: I will be as disappointed as anyone if they end up DFL or close to it, and I will re-assess my expected time frame to get to contender status. But we're not even half a season into the putative renaissance. It's far too soon to come to any conclusions.

Absolutely, but the sample size is still pretty small. Troof.

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes. The fans, savagely and cruelly burned too many times already, aren't going to buy in emotionally until they believe that the payoff is coming in return.

Are you saying you wouldn't have made the trade if the price the Sabres paid was the price the Jets were demanding? Or are you saying that you think the Jets would've taken less in exchange? If it's the former, I disagree, but I think your view is certainly reasonable. If it's the latter, I disagree and generally object to this sentiment (which many here have expressed from time to time, about this and other trades). No one here has any idea what the Jets would've taken, and many if not most here consistently overvalue the Sabres' assets in terms of what they would bring back in trade. The Roy-for-Malkin proposals haunt me to this day. All we know is what the Jets did accept, and it's quite likely that if GMTM had offered less, the Jets would've shopped around for a better deal and perhaps found it.

Definitely. Me too.

There are a lot of pants being removed far too early here. Let's remember that Drury was money in all situations, including the playoffs, and played the biggest role in muscling a terrible team into mature contender status. ROR reminds me of Drury like no other Sabre has since Black Sunday, but ROR hasn't yet come close to delivering what Drury delivered. And, speaking of money, let's also remember that Briere retired as #3 in post-lockout NHL playoff scoring. Until you've done it, you haven't done it.

Well, Jackie boy and ROR have a loooooooonnnnngg way to go before they can match Briere and Drury, and if Reino is ever mentioned in the same sentence as Roy again on this board, someone's going into the SabreSpace dungeon.

There are clearly some folks with axes to grind at OBD. Did anyone hear White and Capaccio discuss this? In particular, I'm wondering whether they disagree that the one-year ultimatum was given -- or are they just inferring that from DW's extension?

Awesome.

Are there any specifics on Ennis?

Yes -- I think both guys have played their best games of the season over the past week or so.

Me too. Both of these. And this is why I and many others opposed the tank. Very often, it doesn't work, and the results are catastrophic. I'm far from concluding that the Sabres have reached that point, but no one should kid himself about the risk of a generation in the desert.

It's been a while since you uncorked one of these. Strangely refreshing. Interesting comparables, but not quite analogous. Drouin is fresher and was a higher pick. I think the roster player coming back for him -- as indicated by your proposal -- has to be better than Rundblad or Clutterbuck. I think you're right about Zemgus or Pysyk, but I can see them being interested in Ennis, who is a fairly proven commodity as a top-6 NHL forward who can score and has speed and sandpaper in his game. The Zemgus/Pysyk idea is kinda interesting. Drouin put up a ton of points in the Q, was drafted high, got sent back to juniors in his first season post-draft, played 70 games in the NHL in his 2nd season post-draft, putting up respectable numbers, and is now in the doghouse in his 3rd season post-draft. His ceiling is more or less unknown. OTOH, Pysyk's ceiling is probably solid 2nd-pairing D, and Zemgus' ceiling is probably solid #3 center. Both of those are valuable assets to an NHL team, but not as precious as a 70+-point LW, which is what Drouin MIGHT develop into. Would GMTM be interested in trading known assets for unknown potential? I tend to guess that he wouldn't in this case, because Drouin doesn't play the "heavy" game that GMTM likes. This seems overstated. Their D group isn't like Nashville's. TB could easily view Pysyk as an upgrade at #4.

I like Schaller and think he could develop into a pretty solid 2-way player.

I'll say it: I think the Sabres played pretty GD well in all 3 of their losses vs the Caps and Isles. I also think we saw the best out of Eichel and Zemgus we've seen all year. I also saw Reino make an extremely sweet pass vs the Isles that made me think he has star potential. And Risto increasingly appears to have the same potential. So I'm not unhappy with this team and I'm psyched to have another game to watch. Great GDT, as usual, WC. Game on!

I agree on the Sabres, and frankly it's hard to see why anyone would be complaining at this point about TP's stewardship of that franchise. Regarding the Bills, while the results are certainly disappointing, and while I have been advocating for changes at the top, I don't think that either bringing in Rex or keeping Whaley, Brandon and the other holdovers can be fairly described as rash or foolish or neophyte decisions. TP wanted to give everyone a fair chance to prove himself. He didn't have that opportunity at coach because Marrone bailed, so he brought in probably the hottest available coaching candidate, and he kept everyone else on. The results have been disappointing. Now we need to see what he does. It seems like there is a distinct possibility that there will be another PLF-type move that results in a quality addition to the front office. I don't either, but I don't think they will do any better next year unless there are some meaningful changes.

Well, I'm not outraged about the 2nd and 3rd lines changing up after a home shutout loss. I'm kinda intrigued by Larsson-Kane-Ennis and Zemgus-Eichel-Gionta. Either way, it's clearly all the fault of that egotistical racist earth-raping meddling owner of ours.

What is the basis for the 2 bolded statements? What are the specific indicators of "ginormous egos" on the part of the Pegulas, and what other factors have materially contributed to downtown development? I agree that the Bills need a senior, experienced football guy to evaluate the operation. I have been lobbying for a long time that a new broom should sweep clean -- i.e. Whaley, Brandon, Overdorf and pretty much everyone else that was in place during the generation in the wilderness should be gone. At the very least let someone who knows the business take a look and make some recommendations. Both of these. It's hard to reconcile your consistent attacks on the Pegulas, Golisano, Lindy, Miller, etc. with anything else. How, exactly, is he "running" the teams? What specifically do you know about his role? That he was involved in hiring Rex Ryan? How many NFL owners do you think are not involved in head coach hiring decisions? Correct.

It's an excellent show, IMHO, and a worthy spin-off of "Breaking Bad." Here's one to watch with your wife/girlfriend: "Jane the Virgin." Season 1 is on Netflix.

I'd guess CJ will get the start in net -- and maybe Lehner gets the next one.

Very nice.

You may be right, and the consensus among the WNY media members that I've heard seems to be that Whaley will be back. I just don't see how, if Whaley and Rex are both back and there is no new leadership at the top, anyone can expect the team to improve next year.

I wonder how long it will take after the season ends for some front office news to emerge. GMTM fired Nolan pretty much ASAP after the Sabres' season ended -- maybe we'll see a similarly-fast announcement on Polian or other senior adviser.

Well, I've never heard of Nate Schmidt, who appears to be a top-pairing defenseman on the #1 team in the EC, so I did a bit of google on him. He was undrafted, played 3 years of NCAA hockey, bounced back and forth from the Caps to the AHL for 3 years, and is in his first full NHL season. Doesn't score much and is on the small side at 6'0, 191 lbs. And yet there he is, playing a big role on a good team.