thewookie1

Good, good...... We could even take Bozak in order to get more assets. Make them pay more!

That penalty was complete BS, though nothing new with Boston getting the benefit of ref calls. Heartbreaking loss though, we played well and still couldn’t catch a break

I have zero interest in extending Hall, trade him Adams!

The Sabres should just mug Crosby at this point, who cares. Pulverize them and send a freaking message!

Adams should go all Gordon Ramsay on these guys!

In Skinner’s case I voted for him because I’m not willing to give up what we’d need to in order to trade him. If anything, maybe make a separate poll that puts every player on an equal footing, no contractual restrictions. Just who would you want on your team.

Montour: Well that just happened yet again, I hope I'll be traded. Dahlin: Internalized Anger, similar to many fans he just wants answers dammit Cozens: Literally looks like he's balling his eyes out

Pominville was who we needed to keep around last year, and even this year depending on how he was holding up. Hell Vanek would of been useful last year as well. They were both proud to be Buffalo Sabres, to wear our jersey, and fight for the fans. The primary problem with the whole rebuild was the lack of any strings; nothing connects this team with the prior 40+ years. I will always be a fan of the tank as we were trapped in mediocrity but that was due in part thanks to the terrible drafting we've done for almost 2 decades. What the team needed to do was strip the roster but not to the degree they did. Miller would of prevented the tank so he's ruled out but either Vanek or Pominville plus a couple of our bottom six guys/Dmen would of sufficed. That is the one thing we did terribly wrong; we blew up everything versus stripping it down to the studs. We tried to replace everyone with savvy vets but none whom had specific loyalties to the team. The only guy who fit the category was Gionta, and he was here briefly as his career ran down. If I were in charge, at this point I would start inviting former captains and players who loved their time here to talk to the players during the offseason and sponsor team meetups to create a comradery between the players. Have them watch old Sabres games from their heydays, show them without a doubt what it is like to play on a great Sabres team in this city. We may not be an original six city but we are certainly one of the most loyal and raucous fanbases in the league. They need to see that.

Make-up calls aren't the problem per say, if a ref screws up on a call it is only natural for them to try and return to an equilibrium of sorts with a call against the other team so each team has a PP. The thing was with this hot mic situation, you don't hear about if he's making this call to make up for something but rather it sounds like he's trying to manipulate the game's flow as a whole. The quote: “It wasn't much, but I wanted to get a penalty against Nashville early in the,” sounds far more like he wants to punish the Preds for some unknown reason than as a make-up sort of call. Maybe it was a make-up call, but from the snippit we heard it sounds damning and thus the hasty firing. Just wanted to add, that make-up calls don't bother me. What does bother me however are game management or game flow adjustment calls. For instance when Team A takes multiple legit penalties and are playing dirty thus have 4 PKs to lets say 0 PKs for Team B; the refs begin calling weak calls on Team B to help de-skew the appearance of the game. Likewise if one suspects the refs are making a call to stir up a game; for instance, Team A jumps up to a quick 3-0 lead so the refs give Team B a PP to attempt and start a comeback.

21/25

@dudacek @Randall Flagg Granted in the end I wouldn't trade him NYR regardless of their offer. To be honest, as I have said before in regards to Eichel demanding a trade/waiting for him NMC to kick in and then trying to pick his destination, I would just eat his salary and let him sit out the remainder of his deal if he'd like. In my opinion, sitting on him for 4 years is preferable to letting him pick a destination and then us taking a pittance in return. This franchise cannot afford to merely stand down and give in to his request and a weak offer. The only offers I'll even pay attention to are from the Western Conference. The LAK's offer brought up would be effectively what I would want. Turcotte, Byfield, Kempe, 2022 1st, 2023 1st, and a 2023 2nd; perhaps swapping our 1st this year depending on their placements would be what I want out of any hypothetical trade involving Eichel. One additional point I might add though is Dustin Brown for his leadership, experience, and playing style. He's also from NY State. If we go that route however I'd want us to pretty much gut the team, meaning trading Risto, Reinhart, maybe Olofsson, buyout Eakin, bury Okposo next year and buy out his final year. Next I would figure out a deal surrounding Skinner for Couture, Couture is a diehard Bills fan and would likely be proud to be a Sabre and embrace the community. From there I'd move onto finding a way to convince Nick Foligno to sign here without breaking the bank. Next year we'd have a solid vet leadership group of 3 former team captains in Couture, Brown and Foligno whom all have some semblance of ties to the region and grit and tenacity in their style of play. Turcotte and Byfield would not be forced into the lineup; they will come when they are prepared properly. I'm going to assume 1 makes it. Let's see our lines would look like this so far xxx - Couture - xxx Kempe - Cozens - Foligno xxx - Byfield - Brown Asplund - Lazar - xxx As for the defense you start with your core piece in Dahlin. Savard will be his friend, Adam Larsson would work as well, as the stabilizing D partner for the kid until Borgen or Samuelsson is ready. I'd also bring back McCabe if he's willing to and doesn't demand absurd money. Bribe Seattle to take Miller off our hands. And lastly acquire a handy defenseman like a Merrill who would sign for under 2 mil. Bryson is our 7th Dman, but would take Merrill's spot when we need a more offensive or aggressive approach. Dahlin - Savard McCabe - Jokiharju Merill - Borgen Bryson Lastly we have goalie. Resign Ullmark and go get Reimer. Ullmark Reimer Wa la, completely different hockey team.

The trade you quoted would be a huge no to me. Zibanejad is a UFA after next year, I don't have much faith in Lafaniere and a middling goalie

Sabres have a lot of work to do but they certainly looked better than their other losses during this streak. They had a bit more fight in them. I can't wait for Hall and Staal to be traded for some good assets, hopefully, however.

I don't he'd be pushed out as much as desiring to move on to more things in the organization. The guy has pretty much done everything in hockey to some degree after all

I will continue to believe Adams might have the right idea if we start seeing that come into fruition. The scary part is if Adams can’t get enough autonomy to fix the team seeing as they trust him, then we are pretty much stuck waiting until they sell the team or croak. Which isn’t a great situation. Id guess the best scenario would be Adams spending the rest of this year acquiring assets for UFAs and hiring some additional critical staff. While setting up an effective analytics department. The team rebounds with the new coach and a team cultural revival of some sort next year and after a few years of righting the ship takes the president role of the team and hires a GM that can take the team to even higher levels.

https://www.capfriendly.com/armchair-gm/team/2289492

Supposedly Arizona is willing to move him for a good offer. I was thinking, trading Hall for a 1st and get a 2nd for Staal then use those two picks and Thompson as a starting point to get Garland.

Any interest in Conor Garland?

I was off by a round but I was close with my guess.

I’d guess the hold up is based more on the freaking COVID problem the NHL hexed is with for a second time this year.

I'm guessing JJ is on the move for a 5th to Colorado. Houser backs up UPL in Roch Tokarski backs up Hutton until Ullmark returns. UPL or Houser temporarily is made the Taxi Squad goalie

Dahlin looked a little better, showed off some of his cool stickhandling. Why does no one know how to pass or shoot?

You trade Reinhart and Eichel is gone which literally means we will break the playoff drought record and likely watch them all flourish elsewhere. I’d much rather avoid that. I don’t see how Foligno’s arrival requires Jack’s departure. If he isn’t planning on going on some cup chase then I’d think 5milx2 should be very fair for bringing more leadership here. Jack isn’t going to pout if the Sabres bring in more vet leadership with some grit and vigor left in the tank. He literally asked for it last offseason to which KA tried to get through Eakin and Staal. Sadly the former has been a train wreck and the latter has been only slightly helpful on the ice. (Can’t guess at Staal’s impact on Cozens and Mitts though) Savard is a crucial pickup in order to aid Dahlin’s growth. Eventually Borgen would take Savard’s role. Every great offensive defenseman nowadays has had a steady partner to start. Hedman had Stralman, Karlsson had Methot, Doughty had Muzzin, Regehr, and Scuderi. Offensively gifted Dmen need a steady partner to help nurture them and slowly teach them NHL level defensive play. He needs his training wheels back so that he can regain confidence and get a real solid grasp on how to play D.

To me Nick Foligno and Savard would be key targets this offseason. Corey Perry to a lesser degree.