Chester Springs Rich

But yet decided to over pay for Vanek? That group totally screwed the pooch, espcially with Briere who stated time and time again he wanted to stay in Buffalo. They should have paid at least Briere or Drury and let Vanek walk to Edmonton, we would have then been compensated with Edmonton's next 4 (yes 4) 1st round draft picks.

Me thinks this trade will actually enable Kane to stay. Maybe rework his contract. Our LW depth is thin as it is.

John Muckler. Maybe you folks don't remember how he "tooled", then elevated the team with his drafting in the mid 90's. He was responsible for the playoff runs we had from '97 - '01, not Reiger. I feel Reiger ended up being a disappointment, big time. Yea we can reply that he had his hands cuffed during the Adelphia debacle in '01 - '03. When he had the chance to reset himself as a GM draft wise, he failed miserably in the drafts from '05 - '09. Missing in those drafts played a big role to why the Sabres have suffered from '11 - forward.

We like "Eich".

One more thing - I know we need a goaltender. i am confident that the stockpile Murray is corraling will lead to one becoming our anchor.

Eichel.......alone, by himself, on a team, like say Edmonton? Then no not ready. Eichel with - Reinhart, Girgenssons, Girgorenko, Kane, Stewart, Moulsson, Fasching, Ennis, amon others.........I say yes. Does this mean playoffs in 15-16, probablly not. But 16-17, 17-18.....oh yes. Eichel is the last piece to finally accelerate this very young franchise foward. In addition to stockpiling our team, keep in mind other playoff franchises are going to start to trend down, hit salary cap issues, etc. Timing is a key component to success and should work for the Sabres over the next few seasons. T-A-N-K Y-O-U very much.

From 2004 - 2008, then again in 2009, Darcy was way below average drafting. Out right bad. Not in this thread, but I keep reading that our rebuild started with Darcy. Big Deal. If Darcy was doing his job and stockpiling the cupboard when should have been, we wouldn't be in the rebuild. In addition, we also need to thank Darcy for breaking apart the teams that Muckler built in the 90's. Very good teams I might add.

Agree on your first point. Not so sure on the second. TM had to spend money to get to the cap floor. There are ways to control the sabres play which includes whom to call up and for how long, and how often to sit Moulson and Gionta.

I certainly hope that this is not the case. Sure we signed Moulson and Gionta, but we had to spend the money (see salary cap floor) and they weren't going to get paid the same elsewhere because few other teams had the salary cap space. Sabres can exert some control over how they end up this season. One way is to periodically and simply sit Moulson and / or Gionta and term that either rest or minor injury. Another way is to control how and when we insert the young prospects into the line up. The Sabres will probably battle Carolina and Calgary for the worst record overall. I am not hedging any bet the the Islanders (outside of a historic and epic collapse) will finish with the worst record. Sabres need to Pick #1 or #2 overall next year, they should then be set with the prospects needed to shape a contending roster.

I don't think so, for a couple of reasons - we actually need his cap heavy hit to help get us to the cap floor and its to soon to give up on him. Not comparing him to Pronger or Chara, but they went through similar experiences at this age. Give Myers one more year, at least,.

Not meant to steer the post off course. However, even with the draft rule changes, potentially picking #2 in the 2015 NHL Draft will not be so bad. Connar McDavid and Jack Eichel are currently the two top prospects and some outlets believe Eichel is closing the gap on McDavid. I would have no problem with Eichel paired with Sam Reinhart. The tandem together would be the face of the Sabres for the next 10 years. Add possibly another C, via the NY Isles 1st that we own, in prospects Colin White, Kyle Conner or Dylan Strome............we could be uber loaded at C.

In reveiwing the traded deadline moves, I see two common themes that Tim Murray followed starting with the trading Miller and Ott to St Louis, its this - Big and Draft Picks. Big meaning the size of the players and prospects he traded for. Just take a look at the height and weight of the players coming to Buffalo, a breath of fresh air vs the might midgets that Darcry was known for. And stock piling of picks. A very good day for a rookie GM> Very good day.

HA. Couldn't have said it better! At the end of the day, both sides in this mess have some culpability. LaF should have all responsibility written in stone before joining Pegula's crew and Pegula should have clearly set the stage with the Executive Team what he wanted out of LaF and LaF's former position. Starting to chalk this up to inexperience on both sides of the fence here - Pegula 3 years in on owning a sports franchise and LaF literrally no FO experience.

Good points. I will add in that the body language from TB and TM helped me believe they were being sincere by saying that LaF wasnt fired and TP was disappointed in LaF's departure. Folks in the media have hinted that LaF is a different cat behind closed doors and away from the camera.

One could also argue this - since LaF came on board, no arguing he made a number of solid hires in Murray, Patrick and Nolan. Maybe LaF failed to recognize just how much responsibility he possbily was delegating to Murray and Patrick and realized that, for himself, there was minimul left over responsibilty that lacked any substance. Recognizing this late, maybe he made a play for one of the other Executive Positions that report directly to TP and TP respectively said no. This unusual scenario includes the fact that he was hired back so quickly by the NHL. Until we learn more, anything is possbile, yet fun to speculate on!