nfreeman

If I had to guess, I think TP's current mindset on the Sabres is something like the following: - I tried keeping on the GM and coach that I inherited, and giving the GM a blank check, and even urging him to throw money at top UFAs -- because I saw that prior ownership refused to spend money on UFAs, or even on keeping our own players -- and that didn't work. - I tried hiring 2 GMs, in Tim Murray and Jason Botteril, that were recommended to me by the NHL as young up-and-comers, and I gave them blank checks too, and they hired experienced coaches and up-and-comers, and none of that worked either. And not only did it not work, it was embarrassing -- the first GM was drunk and ill-tempered in public and traded for a bunch of head cases, and the 2nd guy tried to ice a good team, immediately finished DFL, got bent over in a number of trade and FA contracts and hired a coach who'd been out of the NHL and out of North America for 6 years and who, unsurprisingly, delivered a complete debacle. - Those losers, combined with my big spending, resulted in me losing something like $30MM to $50MM per year -- and then Covid hit, which caused even bigger losses. Then my franchise player demanded a trade. - So, with everything falling apart, I decided to have KA, whom I like and trust, and who has been around the NHL for a long time in a number of different roles, run the team and at least get us through the turbulence. - KA told me, and I believe, that the atmosphere around the team, and the team's reputation around the NHL, had become toxic, and a full rebuild was needed. The team would be built around draft picks and young players with great "want to be here" attitudes and high levels of competitiveness. This was pretty reminiscent of McDermott's and Beane's approaches to the Bills, which has paid off handsomely. - I told KA to give it one more shot with Ralph Krueger and Jack Eichel, and if it didn't work, KA could implement his rebuild. 2020-21 made it clear that what we had wasn't going to work, and Eichel was still insisting on being traded, so in the summer of 2021, I gave KA the green light to trade Eichel and do a full rebuild. - I also told him that since we were rebuilding with young players and weren't going to attract any good free agents, that there was no need for me to lose $32MM per year instead of $25MM per year, so he should stay $7MM or so below the cap unless a really good opportunity presented itself. In the meantime, though, if KA thinks any of our guys is worthy of a big, long-term extension, he has my blessing to lock that guy up -- which we've done with a number of guys. - Those are still my marching orders to KA -- i.e. he can spend if he thinks we'll get good bang for the buck. Hopefully Lindy will get us back to the playoffs this year and off of most FAs' NFW lists, so maybe we'll get a good FA next summer. In the meantime I'm expecting to give out a couple of additional long-term contracts to some of our younger guys. I'm also enjoying the Bills, which is a model NFL franchise, and my daughter's tennis career, while KA takes the slings and arrows from the SabreSpace nut cases.

This is 100% correct. I will also note that one can, and should, simultaneously both recognize that the above is correct, and not feel that "well, we're lucky just to have a team, so we shouldn't be PO'd about 14 years in the desert." I don't think anyone feels that way, including @PromoTheRobot. Recognizing the truth in the above just means that those pushing for TP to sell the team should understand that if that happens, the risk of the Sabres leaving rises from, say, 5% under TP to something like 40%-50%. IMHO, what we should be pushing for is for TP to hire the right guys to run the team and to give them the resources they need to compete. He's struck out on the first measure so far, although not without trying IMHO. The 2nd measure has become an issue since Covid and we don't know whether it's permanent or temporary.

Phew!

Josh Allen is a superhero.

I just said the same thing from my couch! It looks like they thought the season started some other time.

Pretty interesting that his agent is openly naming the teams that are possibilities. Also a sign that the Sabres aren't quite as toxic a destination as some may think. Giordano is probably spent, but he's credible and has had a great career.

It wasn't a career death sentence for Jason Botteril, although he probably deserved it (as did Tim Murray and Ralph Kruger, for whom it was a death sentence). Nor for Dan Bylsma or Phil Housely. Certainly enough people have gotten fired and downsized for there to be plenty of embittered ex-employees. I agree that the number of senior executives who have been fired is not an indicator of a healthy organization. I'd be curious which coaches and GMs he was on the team for. I don't think this was true for Tim Murray, Jason Botteril, Housely, Bylsma or Lindy (or Karmanos, Ventura or some of the other recent FO hires). I agree that it applies to KA, Kruger and Granato. If KA gets canned and TP is willing to pay the going rate for an experienced GM and coach, he'll get someone credible to take the jobs.

I agree with most of this, but I doubt Krebs will publicly ask for a trade -- this is pretty rare in the NHL still. I could see him asking KA for one though. Also, I think the Eichel trade matter is kinda tricky. Given the trade demand by Eichel, his contract, his pre-injury season, in which he looked like a monster, and his injury, getting the better side of that trade was a pretty low-likelihood event. And it's also unfair to grade it before we've seen Östlund at all and when Krebs has only played 2 full NHL seasons, most of which occurred in a fairly dysfunctional environment.

BTW -- @bob_sauve28 -- well done on question #3. I chuckled for a few minutes on that one.

Guys in the FO thinking their jobs are on the line this year is eminently reasonable and very likely correct. Certainly if last season's poopshow is repeated, which I do not expect to happen but is not impossible, heads will roll. I hope this is not the case, but it's also very possible that TP has kept KA on a shoestring budget, including as regards coaches, and TP knows it, and knows that it unfairly and substantially handicaps KA. If so, I can see TP not firing everyone if they don't make the playoffs this season as long as they look a lot better than last year, which was a debacle. But I can also see TP getting PO'd and firing everyone. I think though that Lindy and a bunch of the top guys are going to deliver, the Sabres will have a good year as a result and this all will be academic.

IMHO, Worthy made a nice play on the TD run and an unremarkable play on the TD catch, and wasn't a factor otherwise. I don't think we saw enough last night to know how good or how much of a factor he'll be this year. It's certainly human nature to pay attention to how good Worthy is, but the Bills have many, many bigger fish to fry.

I don't know what this means, but if you'd like to exhume Roy-for-Malkin, Josh Allen was a bad choice or some of your other greatest hits, we can certainly do so.

That's OK. We also gave them Mahomes!

This is a good post, but just one quibble: Marchand in his prime was much better than top 25 -- I'd say top 5 player in the NHL.

Bottom line is that KA needs to be right about a number of guys who have flashed but are still kinda unproven, and Byram is definitely one of them. If KA is right about most of his guys, the Sabres will be good to very good this year, and if that happens and Byram is one of the guys he's right about, most of us will be fine with the price the Sabres paid. If not -- well, we all know what nuclear winter looks like.

Cozens and TT need fallback insurance more than Dahlin does, to be sure -- but not more than Power does. Cozens and TT have each produced much more in the NHL than Power has.

I think KA thinks that Byram will be better than Mitts this year. I also think KA is right about that, and that as a result, Byram will cost more to keep than Mitts would've cost. And I think TP will pony up to keep Byram if that proves out. So I think that neither "hope for the distant future" nor cheapness factored into the decision to make the trade. We'll see.

2 items for me today: - My wife and I dropped our daughter off at college a few days ago. Emotional devastation (for me, not for my daughter, who is as happy as a pig in mud to be back with her friends). - I spent an entire day earlier this week going to 6 different car dealerships to help my MIL (who is 85!) buy a car. Of the 6 dealerships, 2 of the salespeople I dealt with were reasonably solid, 2 were OK and 2 were complete sleazeballs.

I would be shocked if KA made a move like this -- not least because it seems like a spend-like-a-drunken-sailor move that TP probably wouldn't like. I would also be very surprised if Calgary retained meaningful salary to facilitate a trade -- I think teams can only retain on one deal at a time, and this would occupy their slot for 5 years. Having said that, if Calgary were to retain $2.5MM or so, I would trade for Kadri in a heartbeat. He is exactly what the doctor ordered for this team.

Thanks for clarifying. Still, I could be wrong, but I don't think the Sabres ever exposed UPL to waivers -- i.e. I don't think there was an opportunity for another team to take him, either from Buffalo or Rochester.

I checked every one! Unfortunately, this probably won’t happen, as I think the likelihood is greater than 50% that injuries derail the season of at least one of TT, mule and Quinn. But I also think that each of the guys you named has it in him. Also, @GoPuckYourself – I don’t think UPL has ever been waived.

The pain that the family must be going through is IMHO literally incomprehensible to anyone who hasn't endured a similar loss. God bless them.

The other thread is for grief, sympathy, etc.

The terrible news about Johnny Gaudreau and his brother has now been confirmed. God bless their family.

Well, I voted in the majority (so far) on each one. Regarding the 1st question -- I think right now they are just above average, but with coaching and development could become high-end. I am less optimistic that they will become above average in physically tough to play against. It's possible though.