7+6=13

I'm surprised you would think Carrier has the kind of value to be able to move Moulson. It shows two things, Carrier has very very little value and Moulson's contract is that bad.

I'm 42 years old and have been "watching" the Sabres since being a small child. I'll admit that because I didn't play organized hockey (just in the street) I never learned the game. Just probably in the last 10 years I've made an effort to learn the game (hope that makes sense). I'm really surprised/disappointed at the reaction by several posters I've come to respect and I've learned a lot from. I'm finding it hard to believe that some posters actually think we had a chance for Ennis, Bogo or Moulson to get selected - especially by just exposing them. The word protected keeps getting flown around for Ennis and I can't help but chuckle. We did not protect Ennis - he simply was not getting selected and certainly not without giving significant draft pick(s). They made an organizational decision to keep Ullmark instead of Carrier. I'm shocked there's posters actually correlating that to not liking JBot. It's such an insignificant move and I'm happy we are an organization that had the ability to come out relatively unscathed with this expansion. This expansion draft didn't thwart the direction we're going in one bit. Fully understanding we have bad contracts but there's no chance those players were in play - they're our bad contracts to deal with and shouldn't have been seriously thought as ones we could dupe the new team into taking. That's how unattractive they are.

How do you explain being better by a mile? Better system?

IMO, we have a realistic chance but I do think expecting it might be unrealistic. We need to see how our roster shapes out after the off season is over - especially in regard to Kane. If Kane gets dealt we'll take a step back offensively - we really need him and 2 more players to step up on offense for this team to be a playoff team - even if Kane brings us a defenseman. I do expect us to be better on defense almost immediately - which should give the couple of players I mentioned above the opportunity.

I understand but sure seems possible this could happen.

What would stop a team from double crossing Vegas or vice versa?

He also pronounced the K in Okposo so he's clearly out too.

I didn't take Housley's comment in his opener presser as a plan. He was asked about the talent on the team currently and mentioned Moulson and Ennis (and others) what appeared off the top of his head. It seemed more like he threw their names out there in an effort to show he knew the team a little bit. It was seconds after his snafu about signing his contract 3 days ago. "But then just looking at the roster, quickly" - then he mentioned Moulson and Ennis. I just cannot assume it means anything about Sam at this time.

Wikipedia already says Jack Capuano is the Sabres assistant coach.

North and South game, lets go.

Kane, IMO, gives relentless effort and gave this team some offense in an ultra boring system deployed by Bylsma. He was one of the few players we had that would go to the net and be in position to be set up for a goal - and he got several clean up goals for his willingness to stay at the net. He's a difficult guy to clear out. His effort at times could also be categorized as out of control and he often takes ill-advised shots - when a pass was the better option. Nonetheless, his effort was appreciated, especially by his supporters because that's ultimately something that matters greatly to fans. In saying all of that, I don't see him being a system guy - and if that's what JBot is looking to build than he may not be your man. Especially from your top 6. Now, I don't necessarily mind having a non systematic player like Kane on my 3rd or 4th line. If you're more talented than your line mates or the defensive players you're against, do your thing a little bit. However you can't pay a guy that much money for that role. I think this may be one of the biggest factors in the decision JBot has regarding what to do with Kane. Can he be a guy that plays within a system and get an assist 3 games in a row while patiently waiting for his goal opportunities vs forcing those opportunities?

I like what I read about Jake Oettinger who is 19 1/2 but your point is well taken about goaltenders in the draft predominantly being young. I'd love for us to draft Oettinger in the 2nd round. I'd also like JBOT to figure out a way to get either of the Penguins prospects Tristan Jarry or Casey Desmith.

Not every goalie gets drafted when they're 18 though. I do agree they take a considerable amount of time to develop but if you draft a 22 year old - he could contribute to the organization sooner than the Peterson example.

I don't see us trading Kane for equal value on defense for what he brings to the offense. In other words we're not going to spend the 6-8 million we'd have to give him on a defender. Mainly because those type of defensive players rarely become FA's and a team isn't trading that type of defenseman for Kane. The Kane decision has to be based on the simple concept of can we afford Kane, upgrade our defense with a 3.5 mil guy and sign Eichel and/or Sam - or do we need Kane's money to accomplish that. Kane is a very good hockey player, he's not perfect but he's not easily replaced. If he leaves or gets traded we'll downgrade the offense for a period of time for reasons necessary for the future vision.

I liked Murray and he deserves a lot of credit for building a team with very little talent into a solid roster to build on. However I disagree about him doing something earlier about the system as I don't think GM's should get involved in that during the season, that's should be left to the coach. He had an opportunity after the season to convince the owners how he'd address the system and the answer appears to have been not good enough. It is time to move on though and I think we got a good one in Bots.

I use the WGR app and it works perfectly. I wait until the shows are over and listen "on demand" - which takes out every commercial break.

I'm not sure counting on the player at pick #8 being that player if Kane is traded - mainly because it could be 2-3 years. So in your scenario Carrier is definitely an option.

There's are no on ice reasons to trade him. The only reasons to trade him is if we anticipate not being able to fit him in the cap at the price we value him at or Bots has information that the numbers he's getting from his agent on an extension is just too high compared to ours.

I like Carrier as the 2nd LW - unless you're already counting him? I'm higher on Will than most though.

Interesting that we have a different view when Lehner spoke out and how much he should or shouldn't have. I'll admit I probably didn't hear or read everything he said but the moments that stand out in my memory is him calling the team out. I didn't care for it. He would say "we" but then his explanation was clearly directed at the other players. He would complimented Gio and say the team should be listening to him and following the coaches game plan. They were curious comments to me because it was obvious we didn't have the talent to do much better on defense - so was he calling out the offense too? If he was - there wasn't a lot of people including players (as it turns out) that liked the game plan. He did take the 3rd most shots against so I can definitely understand the frustration - I'm just not a big fan of goalies calling out skaters.

I was waiting for this to get brought up. I don't dislike Lehner on the ice although of course he's frustrating at times - most goalies are. However I think he may have called out his teammates a bit too much during the season. He never seemed to put any responsibility on himself but was all too quick to say there was a lack of effort in front of him. I also think he was wrong about effort most of the time. We lacked skill but it sure looked to me like the guys for most of the year were trying.

Do it in your time

Only difference is JB would be tacking Dino when he comes home.

I don't think he said everything starts with building a winning organization in the AHL. I think he said constant development is a must from the NHL players, AHL players and elsewhere and if anything breaks in that line it doesn't work. IMO everything starts with hiring a coach that can get the N and S game going with an emphasis on understanding how to get that done through Eichel and ROR. Obviously I'm not saying that will be the first thing he does as there may be other decisions and getting ready for the draft that happens right now - but we can't wait until the shelves get stocked in the AHL to be ready to win.

Because he didn't cough into the mic like Terry - I just got the sense they're not n'sync. Bye bye bye!