Randall Flagg

Ralph's coaching has been a pleasant surprise for me, personally. I have no major qualms with anything he's done to this point. You won't find a single coach whose lineup decisions don't bug you a good chunk of the time

Ralph doesn't need to be a HOCKEY czar. He just needs to be a leader of an organization, establishing the tone, making sure things run smoothly, and making sure his GM and coach and players are doing their jobs well. He can do this without specifically being well-versed in the Florida Panthers' potential trade chips, and the hottest new coaching trends etc. I have no doubt he's capable of doing this job, which is by default Terry Pegula's right now, a helluva lot better than Terry does. He's been in sports management his whole life.

I see where he's going. Sabres fans, we are thrilled to introduce....The NHL's first GM-Coach-Player, Jack Eichel!!!

The rebuild failed because they set themselves up to begin with such a deficit in overall organizational talent it has taken them 5+ years to try and catch up to average, and they haven't gotten there yet, much like anti-tankers warned is likely to happen

A competent GM can, without a doubt, have us playing in late April of 2021, with a good 3 week span this coming June/July. The same is true of late April 2020 had a competent GM given us a good 3 week span last June/July.

I don't really like the air of mystery that outside media guys, and our own media guys, and some fans, attribute to our lack of success. I heard a few fan calls into WGR the other day that were to the effect of "what are we missing? these guys are good, we've seen them play good, they should be good, but they're not. what is going on?" Peters/Rivet were like I feel ya, I know what y ou mean, I don't know. We hear that the Pegulas are baffled and have no idea why it hasn't been working. But anyone that seriously watches hockey looked at this roster in August and couldn't see any reason for it to be any better than the low 80 point range they're currently pacing for. They are smack dab in the middle of the point window I gave for them, and right around where many other fans had them pegged. There isn't some mystery aura plaguing the organization. They are the sum of their bad managerial decisions, and it's playing out EXACTLY as you'd expect. Not hope, but expect. There's no mystery whatsoever. Through three offseasons, Botterill has been a meh-to-bad GM, and as a result, his team has been a meh-to-bad team. The reason the streak extends further back than Jason is that Murray also had critical flaws, and then before that they spent 164 games trying to lose on purpose. Those years add up quickly. There's no mystery, Terry. I know you're sick of firing people, but that's no excuse to hang onto people that haven't shown the capability of putting together a coherent team with a chance to do anything. The path is pretty clear to me. You like Ralph, we like the organizational mindset that we feel he's capable of establishing. He can pick your next GM, and will do a better job than you did. If that GM is competent, I am quite confident that we will have immediate results, and if they're competent-to-good instead of meh-to-bad, we will be in the playoffs in short order. this mythical "we needed until the fourth year to sniff a wild card birth" stuff can be left in the dust bin forever, where it belongs. This was never reasonable given where we were coming from at the tail end of 16-17. Especially because our three years spent towards "setting up" sustained success doesn't have our prospect pool or set of young players looking anything more than typical, or average.

We took on the world together, with true sometimes when he felt like showing up

Jason -> gone Ralph -> hockey czar whose job it is to make sure the new GM is good, and remains good. Do it now so that GM has Gallant available if he so chooses. He can choose someone else too if he wants

I would trade the best player in the league if I felt it helped my team. I believe Dahlin will spend a good deal of his career being considered one of, or the best, defenseman in the world. But I'd still be more likely to be okay with moving him in a deal for the Buffalo Sabres than I would Jack for reasons both sentimental and, IMO, some degree of logical

I guess you're just using a sliding scale where I wouldn't find it, er, useful, then, given what the purpose of the thread was. Skinner's 37 goal season wasn't in a contract year. He played that season with Victor Rask as his center. Out-producing that season by 3 goals next to Jack Eichel doesn't teach me about Jeff Skinner's character, no. The case you make provides zero details about the nature of what is a long, grueling season, in which his team around him started a plunge in line with their previous season's last place finish before he even got there, and next season's bulk, particularly the fact that Skinner's elite goal scoring went a solid ~27 games, or ~2 months, after the free fall began. Skinner 40 goals contract year as a basis, or the entire platform of judgment, for his character is a weak enough case that I wouldn't even address it had it not been made by PASabrefan, a man of considerable influence and intellect. (Not snark, genuine)

The Sabres have played 3031:03 minutes of hockey at all situations this season. With Eichel on the ice, 36% of those minutes, they have 88 goals (60% of their total) and 54 goals against (35% of their total), including empty netters. They are a +34 with Eichel on the ice. Without Eichel on the ice, they have 58 goals for and 102 goals against. (-44) Comparisons for Jack's peers: The Leafs have 84 goals and 43 goals allowed with Matthews on the ice (+41). 101 goals for, 123 goals against without him. (-22) The Avs have 90 goals for and 55 goals against with MacKinnon on the ice (+35). 89 goals for, 87 goals against without MacKinnon on the ice (+2) Oilers, McDavid: 100 GF, 59 GA, +41. without: 56 GF, 96 GA (-40) Panthers, Barkov: 81 GF, 50 GA, +31. without: 99 GF, 110 GA (-11) We are on par with Edmonton, team-building wise!

To San Jose: Rasmus Dahlin, 2020 1st To Buffalo: Tomas Hertl, Timo Meier, Logan Couture, Kevin Labanc Skinner - Eichel - Reinhart Olofsson - Hertl - Timo Meier Johansson - Couture - Cozens Girgensons - Larsson - Labanc extra: Lazar, Okposo Montour - Risto McCabe - Jokiharju someone - Miller

To Philly: Rasmus Dahlin, Dylan Cozens, 2020 1st, UPL To Buffalo: Ivan Provorov, Sean Couturier, Oskar Lindblom, Travis Konecny, Carter Hart Skinner - Eichel - Konecny Olofsson - Couturier - Reinhart Lindblom - Mittelstadt - Johansson Girgensons - Larsson - Okposo extra: Lazar Provorov - Ristolainen McCabe - Jokiharju Montour - Miller Carter Hart Linus Ullmark

I have seen the future: To Tampa: Dahlin, Mittelstadt, Tage Thompson, Ryan Johnson, 2020 1st, 2021 1st To Buffalo: Point, Cernak, Cirelli, Palat, Ryan McDonagh Skinner - Eichel - Palat Olofsson - Point - Reinhart Johansson - Cirelli - Cozens Girgensons - Larsson - Okposo extra: Lazar McDonagh - Cernak (shutdown pair) Montour - Ristolainen Miller - Jokiharju We break the NHL offseason

Having a Burns or Karlsson on a big deal is fine, as long as the rest of your defense can play some D. But they have both guys on large contracts at old ages, AFTER Vlasic already fell off the map. Not a good combo!

It's the stagnation of every piece of his plan that's unique to him, that has led us to this point in the first place.

Anyone watch MTL this year? Are they good but with goalie issues? Or do they suck but Price is fine? A mix?

Appreciate the answer. I don't view you as one of the half-full guys, and I don't think they're wrong to be glass half-full. But their posts turn into more and more white noise the longer this goes on and it's hard to keep getting back on board with seeing the prospect lists, and projecting those rosters in 2 years with those guys etc., with the safe feeling of confidence that it'll play out that way I used to try and catch Mitts' college games. I skim over Cozens' stats without even reading them now, even though I like him better as a prospect. The things fans rely on are getting harder and harder to grasp as a lifeline of hope or patience

Gonna need you to tell me what the Sabres do instead. I can't just take your word here - what do they do, what should they do more of, and what should they do less of? As an applied example, lead me down the analytics path that says Ralph was wrong to put together the most productive and best non-Eichel line we've seen since ROR was here? Where did they step off this path, and why is this path correct? Is it unique? Would all organizations that are good, and thus use analytics, have chosen this same path, the same way?

One of the coolest developments in my life over the past five years was my younger sister discovering what made hockey such a pivotal part of who I am growing up. She began to love the game and the team, and watching someone else go through that rekindled my own experience and enjoyment of the Sabres, and more importantly, gave me something that I can genuinely bond with her over - this was in short supply beforehand, just because of our age and gender gap. This is partly why I was so gutted by the ROR trade, and management circumstances that created the season that led to it. It's also why this call resonated with me, as I watch her indifference grow. She has watched maybe one game in the last two months or so. Has never seen anything but dysfunction from the franchise. I insist that pre-Terry, they were a top-tier franchise as far as winning games in the regular season goes, and have at least given me SOME unforgetable postseason moments, and many fans more than some. She can't imagine it and can't see how this team will get there in short order, and I don't disagree with her. This team is stripping me a vessel by which my younger sister actually wants to spend time with me. That's the kind of thing that makes a guy like Duane sound like he needs a valium, or like he's an angry ranting lunatic. Those feelings driving his rant are there for a reason, and I understand them, and I feel them.

I like the thought. I have to say, though, Frolik was among the least impressive things about my first in-person experience with the team this season. But in principle it makes sense.

Gonna pretend that I started the Cirelli craze

Some teams hang onto bad goalies for years (NJ with Schneider) but some would have sent Hutton packing already. It's hard to fathom a player in a position of such importance in sports being given that kind of leash. Two years in a row you can highlight a specific thing that Botterill sat and watched fester for an unfathomably long time, doing irreparable psychological damage to the team and/or fans. The embodiment of the "This is fine" dog meme. Hutton can still turn his season around, but if he doesn't, we are being handed the script for the third example/season in a row he has done this. Hutton's goaltending has every capability of taking this season down the drain with it, a la the 08-09 Sabres team that got 5 wins in 23 starts from a backup goalie and missed the playoffs by 2 points

Right, and you said you were skeptical about putting Skinner on the list of useful NHLers, while adding Lazar without any such qualifications. That's nonsense, as Lazar has a shorter track record of decent Sabres (and NHL) play than Skinner does elite goal scoring play...for the Sabres, much less over the course of five years, in which he is a top 5-10 scorer in the entire NHL. Otherwise, Lazar has largely been awful unless he's in the AHL. It's one thing to appreciate the honest effort a player like Lazar brings, while doing what his coach asks, it's another to, in the same sentence, distribute "usefulness" the way you did I don't think you're wrong to be upset with how Skinner has played of late. he isn't helpful off the puck, and he's taking way too many selfish penalties. When his scoring slumps, he becomes an elephant in the room because of these tendancies, and his contract. But what I elaborated in the previous paragraph is what I took issue with. And I don't think it's honest to paint his previous season that way. His first 57 games last year he had 36 goals. Three games later, he had an injury that had many of us thinking he was done for the year, and his game immediately took a very visible hit. He then went a really bad stretch of production for 18 games. His skating looked better by the end of it, and early on, he was still cranking pucks off the goal post and generating shots and chances at the rates he did all season long. In fact, his shots per game increased by about 6% in that down period. That isn't evidence of much, but I don't think you're providing a lot of evidence for the storyline you're trying to craft either - guy who's just cashing checks now that he secured them. I think you're presenting limited, selective information about large stretches of time to make it seem like something it's not. Nobody is saying they're happy that a 9 mil guy is going to wind up scoring only 20 goals while not playing with the guy who got him to 40, but everyone understood that this is kinda how it works with Jeff, a guy who was just as likely to score in the 20s as the 30s in Carolina, but fans understood who Jeff is, and how he won't score 30 or 40 reliably if held away from our only good playmaker all season long, and so we were happy to bite the contract bullet rather than let Jeff get away given the state of the team Jason has meticulously put together aside from him. We were never going to be able to trust Jeff for 9 mil production away from the top line, it's not who he is, and it's our GMs fault that our roster is in such disarray that we couldn't afford to let Jeff slip away and he and his agent knew that, while pointing out that only like 2 players have more even strength goals than he does over the last handful of seasons. Also, for 15 or 20 games this season, with Mojo and Sobotka, Skinner was good. He didn't stop playing after game 40 of last year. Can't wait for the eighth offseason in a row of "we need to dump Larry and Zemgus because they suck and every team in the world has better 4th liners" ignoring the fact that the first 5 guys we acquire who are better than those two will immediately fill out the 2nd and 3rd lines before even beginning to displace those two

Do you view this current time frame as inevitable/acceptable? Should they have more of these good players and potential good players than they do? Because in my view both now and at the time, we didn't even need a "reset" of the entire roster (that team was put together coming out of a tank just two years before) much less one that simply has to produce three years at the level of, or worse than, either of that team's seasons. It'd be one thing if we were seeing rapid development with a lot of young players a la 2004, or expecting a 2C, depth additions plus starting goalie all at once this offseason (which we literally just got done spending all of LAST offseason waiting for). I look at what we have now compared to what we had then, and what we need to be no-BS good, and the sum of our moves since 2017, and while doing so, am shocked at the rare poster who sees us as well on our way down a path of building something meaningful. We still need enough moves of significance, for acquisition or development of good forwards, that it feels like we've barely moved a net inch down this road in three years. Unless I'm supposed to expect all of Cozens, Mitts, and ~2 of the other prospect forwards to become good NHLers in their roles like this spring/fall, or a wave of Skinner-quality trades. What's disturbing is that I get the idea that Jason truly believes at the time of making the additions that guys like Sheary and Vesey are fairly important pieces, key to establishing a playoff caliber game with a playoff caliber roster. Hes talking the development talk but I don't see any important pieces in areas we are lacking going through any meaningful changes over the last year and a half and so it's hard to continue the "should get there soon, we are close" talk that has been the go-to line of glass half full temperament posters for literally five straight seasons now