LGR4GM

WGR mentioned McKenna a bit this morning and they did say something I like. McKenna has some of the best hands/handling ability ever. He can do that in stride and at speed but he can also do it to take pucks away from the walls. The issue is that some of his ideas and execution is not there and wont work in the NHL. You can use your hands to go around a guy or to open up space, but you can't use it to deke an entire team. He also isn't strong enough which is a major issue right now. ALL that said, McKenna in November is not going to be McKenna in April. Same thing applies to Stenberg and Belchetz and Lawrence, and Verhoeff.

Unless it goes further south, I don't see a in season change. Not publicly. I could see Kekäläinen making the moves at the deadline with Adams as the figurehead but I don't think we get an in season firing.

Seems fairly obvious that Analytics is not used for every pick. Bedowski shows us that. Kleber shows us that. If you want to know what drafting using analytics looks like, look at Carolina. Jerry Forton might listen to analytics for the 1st round but he's clearly looking for "player types" after that. It is why all the RHD we draft later seem to have the exact same profile. My point is the scouting system in Buffalo is brutally flawed. Doesn't help that Adams gives 2nd round picks away for Malenstyn and so he can get Josh Norris and Bernard-Docker who he didn't even sign.

Him and Vinny seem to get it. Prospal last year basically said that if Kisakov didn't work hard on the ice he wasn't going to get any ice. The Sabres let the kid go this summer.

Josh Doan was not a throw-in and fans and the coaching staff should stop acting like he was. The fact he isn't getting more ice time is another nail in a coffin that is so filled with them it is just metal for this coaching staff.

There's only 1 way to fix this and Pegula doesn't have the balls to do it. You go through this list and fire 75% of these people. You fire everyone who's been here for 10+ years. Some won't deserve it, you are right, but at this point it is about a hard reset. Senior Advisor Jarmo Kekalainen Special Asst. to General Manager Eric Staal Associate General Manager Jason Karmanos Assistant General Manager Mark Jakubowski Assistant General Manager Jerry Forton VP of Hockey Strategy and Research Sam Ventura Director of Pro Scouting Jeremiah Crowe Assistant Director of Amateur Scouting Jason Nightingale Scout Craig Anderson Scout Graham Beamish Scout Kevin Devine Scout Brad Dexter Scout Austin Dunne Scout Justin Falk Scout Anders Forsberg Scout Frank Musil Scout Tristan Musser Scout Ruslan Pechonkin Scout Marty Stein Scout Lukas Sutter Scout Tommi Vesanen Data Engineer Matt Barlowe Data Scientist Domenic Galamini, Jr. Manager of Hockey Technology/Team Operations Kyle Kiebzak Coordinator of Team Operations Hunter Kelly Manager of Hockey Administration Brett Ruff Executive Assistant Terri O'Brien COACHING STAFF Head Coach Lindy Ruff Assistant Coach Seth Appert Assistant Coach Mike Bales Assistant Coach Matt Ellis Assistant Coach Marty Wilford Video Coach Justin White Video Coordinator Amir Gulati Skating and Skills Instructor Mike Ansell

They have 100% agreed internally to play this season out and then go from there. I would bet money that Pegula was like "fine you are under contract, go try to make the playoffs and if not Kevyn, I will move you up and we can bring in a new GM" I'd bet Ruff knows this is his last year as well, hell he might want it to be. Just sad really how this is clearly a year with no expectations because everyone from the GM down to the Assistant Coaches are placeholders.

Coughcoachingcough

Who? Where? Quote them.

Who cares? No seriously, who tf cares?

Oh my

He doesn't. He's trying to do what Benson does which is feed pucks to the HD area but he never draws the defense to him 1st.

I mean... here's 6ppl suggesting he's not coming back in various degrees of seriousness.

...

This thread has become the predictable and stupid morass I thought it would. When he comes back, I'm gonna do more victory laps than when this place tried to convince me that Geersten wasn't useless.

Lindy said the other day they planned to give Ellis a start during the road trip.

No

He's not what we need. Cbj have other assets that are more interesting.

Im not a big chinakov guy. His motor doesn't rev high enough for me

I tried to tell ppl last month that Jarmo was in Buffalo but it got no traction. It's pretty clear to me Jarmo being interviewed for gm and is here so Pegula gets to know him and is comfortable. I have this hope Adams has the capacity to recognize he can't do it and will be moved to advisor to the owner role.

Caleb Malhotra is a guy to keep an eye in the 2nd round. Reminds me a bit of Helenius but not as good.

It's not a stat. His skating is better than Geekie at the same age. Really it's just his edge work. I don't think he's dynamic in his rushing either... but if you need a guy to dig pucks out or to take pucks from the wall to the HD area, Belchetz can do that. Still super early in the process so we'll see how he develops. He's a guy I wish went ncaa. I wanna know what happens when he's not 5 inches and 40lbs heavier than most ppl on the ice. He's in the top 5 for me right now but again, I don't really like to make a list until January.