dudacek

It's obvious what you need to do to be good this league, just create a great culture like they did in Boston and we'll be fine for a decade or more. Just follow these easy steps: Go 13 years in a row without winning a playoff round, missing the playoffs entirely 6 of those years. Hire a top-notch awesome GM like Peter Chiarelli and a savvy hockey mind like Jim Benning to oversee your operation and turn things around Wisely invest your 1st round picks on such noted talents as Lars Jonsson, Martin Samuelsson, Hannu Toivenen, Marc Stuart, Shaone Morrisson, Matt Lashoff, Zach Hamill, Joe Colborne, Jordan Caron, Malcolm Subban, Jakub Zboril, Zach Senyshyn, Urho Vaakaninen and John Beecher Trade away your rare first-round mistakes like Phil Kessel, Dougie Hamilton and Tyler Seguin for notable building blocks like Louie Erickson and Joe Morrow Sign a 29-year-old never-was to be your minor league backup and watch him win a Stanley Cup Sign a 29-year-old free agent defenceman and expect him to not only play at an all-star level for the next decade, but also command your room like a five-star general Draft the player destined to become the best 2-way centre in the NHL in the middle of the 2nd round Draft the player destined to become maybe the best 2C in the NHL in the middle of the 2nd round Draft the player destined to become maybe the NHL's best left wing in the 3rd round Draft the player destined to become one of the NHL's premier goal scorers late in the 1st round Swap a goalie destined to be out of the NHL in three years for the goalie who will man your crease for the next 15 Make sure all of the above sign contracts for under market value and continue to play well, or even improve for the duration of their contracts Easy peasy. The road map is laid out perfectly, if only the Pegulas would follow it. Culture.

He likes it there because they are winning and he doesn't have to be the one counted on to make sure that happens. If only the Pegulas would realize winning is the solution and give it a try. I entered this train of conversation based on Perreaultforever's comment that he hopes the Pegulas are learning from Hall's success and have not left that track. To the bold, I doubt the Pegulas needed Taylor Hall to teach them that lesson; to most it's self-evident and they have 10 years of examples to draw from. What the Pegulas need to learn is how to create that environment. In that area, I think Taylor Hall has very little to offer.

So what exactly are you expecting the Sabres to learn and benefit from, in terms of Hall's play in in Boston? How will Terry finish this sentence three years from now as the Sabres advance to the final four: "I think the turning point was in 2021, when Taylor Hall played so well after we traded him to Boston..."

And...?

I agree the bolded is partially true. Absolving Taylor Hall for his role, however, is willful blindness. He was acquired and paid a boatload of money to help fix that dysfunction. He not only failed, within two months he gave up even trying. He does not share the experience of Jack and Sam and has not earned their grace.

Do you think that is what Jack Eichel thinks?

Do you actually think the Pegulas have been blithely following the same path for 10 years and the play of Taylor Hall in Boston is what it is going to take to make them change? They’ve done nothing but change. They are on their 4th GM, and their 7th coach. They tried spending in free agency, tanking, accelerating the rebuild through trades, patiently filling around the edges while developing from within, and this year’s veteran patch job. They’ve been led by a veteran warhorse, an old school scout, a button-down corporate MBA and an out-of-the-box trusted in-house lieutenant. They’ve been coached by Buffalo’s best-ever, a college development guy, an old-school meat-and-potatoes motivator, a proven Stanley Cup winner, a hot, highly-ranked young assistant and an out-of-the-box positive thinking guru. Taylor Hall was yet another attempt to surround their players with better players. Firing Krueger was yet another attempt to change the not smartly-run system. So what if Taylor Hall playing well in Boston showed them that a high-talent low-character player can excel on the 2nd line of a strong organization? They should already know that, and probably did. Its ridiculous to suggest they don’t know what they have to do, it’s just that they have yet to figure out how.

Taylor Hall was paid $8 million to score two goals for the Buffalo Sabres, packed it in and gave up during a record-breaking losing streak, sabotaged our efforts to maximize our trade return for him and his now kicking ass for our worst enemy. If you can’t hate on a guy for that, who can you hate on?

What lesson do you expect the Pegulas to learn from how Taylor Hall is playing in Boston?

Krueger encouraged Jack to play the way Jack wanted to play, when Jack wanted to play, with who Jack wanted to play with. His success last year did not come in spite of Krueger.

The Sabres saying they have the same goal here is BS: neither have Jack’s long-term health as their priority. Jack’s goal is to get back into playing shape as quickly as possible, Buffalo’s is to facilitate a trade of their choosing.

From the keep him out-of-sight perspective, Arizona is the ideal destination.

It took six years of embarrassing ineptitude and a medical dispute for Jack to get sick of Buffalo, and he hasn’t even asked for a trade yet. Not sure why people think Jack is going to make a stink about where he ends up. And I highly doubt “he might not like it here” is high on BillArmstrong’s list of reasons to make trades. If he thinks it makes his team better - or his owner does - he pulls the trigger.

Will they be interested? Yes. Arizona is on creaky ground in terms of establishing itself in the marketplace. Jack Eichel, an American stud centre, is someone they can sell to the community, someone who will inspire people to buy tickets. His presence also increases their desirability as a destination for players; right now the weather and lack of media pressure is countered by the lack of opportunity to play with good players. In short, Eichel is a centrepiece worth building around for a franchise that desperately needs one. Do they have the pieces? It's going to be tough to formulate an offer that makes sense for both sides. Coyotes general manager Bill Armstrong is thoroughly hampered in his building plans by a pipeline pillaged by ill-advised trades for Kessel and Hall, along with John Chayka's cheating — they lack both picks and prospects, especially ones that might work as a centrepiece in an Eichel deal. They do, however, have an interesting selection of young NHL roster players (Garland, Keller, Chychrun, Dvorak, Schmaltz) and a sprinkling of veterans (OEL, Kuemper) that could help the Sabres short-term under the right circumstances. Would this work? Chychrun, Keller, Crouse, Hayton, for Eichel and Ristolainen. I can't see any deal with the Coyotes that doesn't include Chychrun, even though I'm not sure they move him given the hole that creates on their blueline. Good contract, great production, the right age, and a skill set that fills a need for the Sabres. Garland, Dvorak or Schmaltz could easily be substituted for Keller. I think the Coyotes would most likely want to move Keller because of his contract. I also think from the Sabres perspective, he is the most skilled of the group. Crouse is a bottom-sixer who gives the Sabres what they've lacked since Foligno was traded. Hayton is a huge question mark, but is a 5th-overall pick and the best fit for the "futures" portion of the deal. Is there a deal to be made with the Coyotes?

I think Olofsson has limitations that prevent him from being a true top 6 and skills that elevate him out of the bottom 6. I think most of Sabrespace agrees with the above, so I’m not sure why this pops up as a point of contention on here from time to time. He’s a useful middle six player.

So considering they dumped Kane and O’Reilly and and Hall and Moulson, and they’re about to dump Eichel, and Okposo is probably in his last year, I read this as you’re a fan of the recent direction of the franchise? In fact, all you probably need is a Pegula divorce to be flat out happy?

I wouldn’t trade Reinhart for any player who is not good enough to be protected by his team. The source for “Sam wants to play on the West Coast” remains his close buddy Paul,Hamilton I think I showed elsewhere with comparables that Sam’s market value should be a minimum two mid-firsts (Brayden Schenn). I haven’t looked at it hard, but Merzlikins maximum value has to be a late first (Lehner). If Adams is at all competent, the return should be Merzlikins plus a better asset than Merzlikins. That said, the idea of reuniting Sam with Domi on their top line has to appeal to Columbus and Merzlikins makes a ton of sense for the Sabres. Just not straight across. No. I’m pretty sure all players are paid in American cash. American taxes are often lower, but I haven’t heard that about Washington state.

My post was not about trading Sam, it’s about trading him for an asset that is three years away from helping.

Please don’t take this as arguing your point, just elaborating on what might be Adams POV. Remember what went on prior to June has nothing to do with him. Jack Eichel has huge amount of presence and influence in the room Jack Eichel is down on the organization and complains a lot Jack Eichel is a bit of a prima Donna constantly making situations about him Jack Eichel is prone to riding an emotional roller coaster in games and that reflects in his play Jack Eichel has a sharp tongue that inhibits the younger players from stepping up Jack Eichel is not buying in to what Adams is preaching In short, Jack is presenting himself as an obstacle to building the persistence, togetherness and buy-in Adams has frequently cited as necessary. Then you unexpectedly remove Jack from the equation, and all of a sudden Reinhart, Dahlin and Mittelstadt and others start to blossom into what you think they should be. And maybe it cements your opinion that the team might be better off with other parts that fit your vision than it is with Jack Eichel. Not the best players, but the right ones. Im not saying any of this is, in fact, what is going on, but I am saying it does match the way Adams is behaving.

Wasn’t trying to suggest otherwise, just looking a little deeper at our group.

How can we possibly be priorizing winning, when we are about to dump our leader and best player? Because our leader and best player isn’t helping us win; let’s replace him with people who can, both from inside and outside the organization. Not saying I agree, but it’s the path I think Adams has chosen.

There’s also the appreciation/depreciation and chemistry factors to consider, but your point stands.

Let’s not slip into the propaganda that sometimes is preached here and minimize the player. Over the past 3 years Sam is a 27-goal, 62-point scorer over 82 games who ranks just outside the top-10 best point producing RWs in the NHL.

For the record, I don’t see Adams embarking on a mini-tank, I think he’s on a cleanse. I don’t think the business of the Buffalo Sabres can afford the extend-the-goalposts GM job protection scheme you think is going on.

He doesn’t want to, he believes Adams is pushing the reset button and wants to acquire futures for his best players who are 24 or older.