nfreeman

It's not hard to understand -- I think those who are disagreeing with you simply don't believe you are correct that KA's mandate is to operate at the cap floor. If that assumption is wrong, the "Butcher-cost-us-a-better-player" theory falls apart. I will say though that the cap floor theory isn't from outer space. It's possible that KA got that kind of mandate. I just think it's much more likely that (i) one of KA's core team-building principles is not to have anyone on the roster who doesn't want to be here, (ii) that principle substantially limits the universe of players he can trade for, since the Sabres are such a poopshow and (iii) the poopshow factor also limits the FAs he can bring in, since any good FA will go elsewhere unless he is well overpaid in AAV and term to come here -- which is another kind of guy that KA wants to avoid. The bolded is just #hammymath. As @LGR4GM has already pointed out, Boychuk was acquired well after the point at which the cap space could've been used on other players.

IMHO it's all about finding the right guys. TP found them for the Bills and hasn't found them yet for the Sabres (and I think @dudacek's point was that the fact that Murray, Botteril, Krueger, PLF, DDB, etc. haven't gotten GM/HC jobs since leaving the Sabres indicates that they weren't the right guys for those jobs -- although to be fair it's also quite possible that they've been tainted with Sabres stink to the point where they are not viable candidates for those jobs). I'm not sure whether you're saying that TM and/or JB would've turned the Sabres into a good team with more time, but it's hard to be confident that this would've been the result. Is TP accountable for making bad choices on those hires? Yes, but he was certainly influenced by PLF in hiring TM and probably by others in the NHL in hiring JB, and TM and JB certainly had plenty of influence in their HC hires. The problem is that it takes a long time to evaluate a GM, and we just have to eat a poop sandwich every day in the meantime. Maybe this time it'll be different. I do take encouragement from the Bills' success that sooner or later the same is coming for the Sabres. KA seems more like McD/BB than any of KA's predecessors, IMHO.

There are a number of flaws in @GASabresIUFAN's post, some of which he's repeated from prior posts (e.g. blaming KA for giving Hall a NMC is silly and the linkage of the Butcher deals with the failure to bring in a goalie is baseless; also, failing to replace Hutton is a strange way to describe the real issue, which is the failure to bring in real NHL goaltending), but I think his overall point is fair and correct: the team is losing much more than is healthy for the development of the new generation, and it didn't need to be this way. As I've been saying for years: losing begets losing. This team looks like a bottom-5 team and perhaps worse than that. Does anyone think they will just flip a switch next year when Power and Quinn are here and delete the loser mindset from their operating system? KA is accountable for the failure to bring in a real goalie in either of his 2 offseasons, and for icing terrible teams that lost game after game. He's also accountable for hiring DM, whom I like but on whom the jury is very much still out. I'm looking forward to seeing what the new generation can do in the rest of this season and next, but I think KA has made it harder than it needed to be.

I wonder how DM and KA feel about Fitzie at this point. He only played 4 games (12/17, 12/29, 12/30 and 1/1). He got 16:42 and 18:04 in ice time in the 1st 2 games, but only about 12.5 min per game in the 2nd 2 games. The Sabres lost 2 of those games in OT and the other 2 in RT. He was a plus-1 in 1 game, minus-1 in 1 game and flat in the other 2 games. I doubt the new analytics group is impressed -- his Corsi and Fenwick percentages were terrible (38% CF, 40% FF%) despite getting over 59% offensive zone starts. Still, I liked some of what I saw from him. He can skate, has pretty decent puck skills and an edge. He did get in trouble in the D-zone a number of times though.

Even 2.5% would be $7.5MM. And more importantly: the Sabres wouldn't sell 2.5% to a fan group and the NHL wouldn't approve it.

The first one was terrible. I thought they played much better yesterday (and it sure helped to have Krebs and TT back -- it seemed like they had 3 credible forward lines) but fell apart down the stretch. If one were inclined towards pessimism with this franchise, one could say that the stink of losing has set in with the new group and the players now subconsciously expect to lose and thus don't have the mental toughness to close out a win.

Are fans allowed to attend in Ontario these days?

Jeez. Who invited Mr. Killjoy?

Well, if the Sabres are looking to sell, say, 25% of the team at a $300MM valuation, that's $75MM to be raised from a group of Sabres fans. There's also the fact that the NHL has to approve any new investor, and almost certainly wouldn't approve a group of 500 random fans. Sooooooo...

Does anyone know whether he is expected to play today?

Awesome.

Screw you and your fake clock play, Belichick!

What a great start. The club seats have space heaters — that’s the red glow under the overhang. @PASabreFan reports that TP diverted power from local hospitals and orphanages. JA looks like a force of nature.

If a private equity firm buys into a sports franchise -- or anything else, for that matter -- as a 20% to 30% owner, it doesn't just sit quietly in the corner. It has rights and plenty of input into operations. This would absolutely be a major change to the organization. In many, if not most, cases the deal for the minority stake will include terms for a potential purchase of the whole thing. It's at least 50/50 that the buyer would end up being the new owner of the team within a few years. And they will have zero interest in funding $10MM per year in operating losses. Don't kid yourself.

Well, the Bills were up by 5 in the 4th quarter had the ball at about their own 25 and JA threw a bad pass that easily could've been a pick-6, and we got very lucky that the Pats' DB dropped it. JA then put together 2 great scoring drives that included 2 4th-down conversions to put the game away. But the game could've gone either way if those plays hadn't gone the Bills' way. YMMV, of course.

I am deeply worried about this game. The Bills lost one to the Pats — in bad weather, which hurts the bills — and needed a superhuman 4th quarter from JA to win the 2nd game. If the Bills squander their first-half possessions and don’t open up a lead, it’s anyone’s game.

These seem like the 2 most likely possibilities. I really hope it’s the latter, as there is a very high risk that the former will illuminate for many here the old saying about being careful what you wish for. I think/am hoping that the Sabres’ value is sufficiently depressed right so as to make TP decide not to sell. As a related point, if Petey is right about this, he clearly becomes (if he’s not already) the Sabres media guy with the best sources, innit?

Well, the checks were sent out automatically, and there is zero info in that article as to whether TP or any of the other evil, horrible rich guys mentioned in t actually cashed their checks, donated them to charity, etc. So I don't think it makes sense to get the torches and pitchforks out just yet.

No -- he's also guilty of stiffing a bunch of creditors and alienating his teammates. There have been enough incidents such that the problem is almost certainly him, not the people he hangs out with. For that matter, I'm not aware of any reports of bad behavior by his friends that has dragged him down. I don't dispute that he's a talented hockey player.

Asplund’s position is far from secure IMHO. He’s been pretty stinky lately.

Both of these are obnoxious.

I only watched a few of Quinn's shifts before bailing on that debacle of a game vs Tampa, but he looked pretty fast to me.

Maybe he won't be the starter on day 1, but we all know what's going to happen.

No one who disagrees with you about a sports opinion needs to shut up about it.

Kane also stiffed a bunch of creditors and alienated his teammates on at least 2 teams. In SJ the team leaders went to the GM and pushed hard for Kane to be traded.