kas23

Well, the best way to fix this is not to trade it for an overrated player. The trade is there or it is not, but we explore such a trade. It almost seems like the best way to build depth throughout the organization is to plug up the holes in the parent organization. Every time we have a decent prospect, they are sucked up by the Sabres, some prematurely. Mittelstadt and Thompson should never had been on the Sabres roster. I’m not going to defend GMTM, but this was probably the point of having ROR and Kane on our team.

I guess the question becomes, can we improve the production of this player by coaching him to be in those tough areas? There’s no question the guy knows how to put the puck in the net. But, in the NHL, he’ll need to be in front of net more. Can he develop into this type of player? I have no clue, but people like Crowe may have a better idea of the success rate of such a transition. If there is a very low success rate of this, then cross him off the list.

As for trading the pick, I can think of team dealing with the lower cap or bad financials by dumping their RFAs. Better to get something for them instead of some ugly holdout or going to Europe to play. Given that, unless there is a clear consensus of who we want to grab, I trade the pick, but only as part of a 2C package. Otherwise, I keep it.

I’m not too concerned about a static or even decreased cap as every team will be in the same boat. Everybody is hurting. What we’ll likely see is a lot of 2-3 year deals with only tiny raises.

Agreed. This is ridiculous. None of these “playoff” teams need the number one pick nor should they even get it. Seriously, I bet TOR ends up with it. I doubt the “playoffs” will even happen at all.

I’ll try not to be an apologist, but just because they have been in the organization for awhile doesn’t mean they were making the decisions or even being listened to. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt for now. The Sabres are certainly headed in a much different direction than the past.

I don’t think Crowe is a person we should dismiss with a “who”. The guy sounds like he has a head on his shoulders. https://www.nhl.com/sabres/news/jeremiah-crowe-looking-forward-to-new-role-as-sabres-new-director-of-scouting/c-317268304

If Krueger is a coach/president/whatever who is here to have the team culture do a 180, then I doubt he would then turn around and grab some “name coach” from the outside to continue his work. That coach would likely want to come in and install his culture. The only way this works is for them is for Krueger to start grooming his replacement now, or at least hire someone from the outside who he trusts and respects (likely from past work together). Unfortunately, they have fired everyone, but these weren’t Krueger hires.

I just read the Hockey News article. https://thehockeynews.com/news/article/how-will-the-buffalo-sabres-rebuild-their-scouting-department Some interesting tidbits in here. The biggest one that jumped out at me was the timing of the draft. Why exactly would the NHL wait until October or November for the draft? No hockey will be played before then, so all there is to know, has been known for months. The utility of a physical combine is almost nil at this point.

I think the most amazing thing on here is that they have a team dentist.

Actually, in hindsight, it would’ve much better if we just got Tage Thompson. Instead, we also got some spare parts that killed our cap. It’s just unthinkable this trade actually happened.

I think you and the Pegulas have very different views of what risk is. To us, risk is installing a person who will keep our losing ways intact. To the Pegulas, risk could be losing money from hockey operations or hiring someone who doesn’t readily allow them to meddle. If this is true, then the Pegulas hired someone that is very low risk.

This is pretty much it. It certainly wasn’t a coincidence he was traded the day before the bonus. There is no hockey-related reason for this to have happened. It was the off-season. No rush. If there is still a debate, people can discuss whether it was JBott or TP who didn’t want to pay the bonus.

Until our legal system is muzzled, this would not be possible. The day the restrictions begin, there will be hundreds of lawsuits (likely from individual state AGs). I think states can enact 14 day quarantines for anyone entering them, but it’s extremely hard to enforce them. Who’s to say people are just driving through your state? At least with air travel, you know where their final destination is and can quarantine as necessary. Florida did this from flight from NY. Now, municipalities are starving for tax revenue, so won’t close their borders.

It’s easy to know who was fired, as there’s a published list. But, who is left in scouting? It’s possible they could’ve already established their draft board for the coming draft, but the question is does it still exist? Or, was it “lost” once everyone was fired? This reminds me of the 2017 Bills draft. At least they waited for the day after the draft to fire everyone. Pegs must’ve really wanted these guys out of the building.

I wonder what this means for the draft. With no one at the helm, do they still have a draft board? If not, do this mean we’ll be trading them away for assets (2C)? Also, does hiring a “business” (or non-NHL) guy mean that we won’t be shy with offer sheets?

I’m not talking about lying, yet rather not disclosing the truth. I think there’s a difference, because I’m certainly not going to call the Pegulas liars. They are not, but they are also not required to give fans the truth. Over the last hour, I watched the press conference. It was full of evading the truth. This is OK. I guess I don’t fully understand the financial story. Are the Pegulas heading to the poor house soon? They certain can’t dig another well given oil and gas prices. Are we heading towards a sequestration (ie suffering)?

I watched a great talk recently on how to spot untruthfulness that was given by an ex-CIA. Of course, there’s always the body language thing, but there’s also the “too much information” thing. This is where the person starts giving information outside of the question that was asked in order to try to convince or distract. I think the “we have a little bit more information than maybe a fan does, some inner workings that we see some positives in” statement immediately comes to mind. It was an unnecessary thing to say. This wasn’t a decision made in the last 3 weeks.

Disagree. Botterill definitely set up an amateur scouting operation.

I just don’t like how they failed to do their due diligence via a proper search. Of course, they definitely have done their fair share of GM interviews in the past, but they should’ve place the interim tag on Adams (through the draft) and took their time. There was no rush.

Nine Inch Neil alright, that was 2

Selling the franchise is a different scenario. In this case, they would no longer own the team, investment money would likely be recouped. New owner would be open to move team then.

I get that Sabres news is slow and we all want something to discuss, but this moving the Sabres is a complete nonstarter. The Pegulas have invested an enormous amount of money in the Buffalo area, especially around the arena. They would stand to lose all of this if they were to move. Then they would be tasked with running 2 sport teams in different cities. All those synergies dissolve. It’s not happening. I never say never, but I think I may make an exception in this case.

A lot of people are bashing the Pegulas and they certainly deserve it as the owners of the team. They’re meddling owners and they end up making the wrong choices. However, they also own the Bills and are fairly hands off. Well, at least they know when not to get in the way. So, they are acting like Jekyll and Hyde with the Bills and Sabres. Why? My guess is that it takes a pattern of trust to be given independence. Anyone who is a supervisor of employees knows what I’m talking about. McBeane has earned it and did so relatively quickly. JBott has not, which is JBott’s fault for not proving he has a clue. Then the Pegs start messing with the team, in a bad way. Once we get a competent GM and start winning, I’m sure the Pegulas will step back. There won’t be a president of hockey operations because that will automatically demand that they back off. They won’t.

Agreed. I hope these current events put things in perspective for these GMs. Seasons can end at any moment, while players get older and out of shape. It’s time to use every tool allowed in the CBA to improve your team. So what if a GM gets mad at you and swears never to be your trading partner for the next 10 years? Chances are one or both GMs will be out of a job by then anyways. And if you sit on your hands while being a gentleman and your team is losing? You’ll be out of a job too. It’s a do or die league. It’s fine if a GMs swears another GM off. This is done within divisions anyways and it’s accepted. In fact, an offer sheet within a division is a double hit against an enemy. Maybe teams in the NHL don’t consider themselves adversaries.