dejeanneret

My hope would be the re-sign Stewart and trade for OReilly. Imagine this team in 2016... C Ennis Reinhart McDavid/Eichel Girgenson LW Kane OReilly Moulson Deslauriers RW Hodgson Stewart Gionta Larsson That spells playoffs

Agree 100% with this. The sooner we get this over with the sooner we can go back to cheering for the good guys

Good read from CBSSports.com about Sabres Tank http://www.cbssports.com/nhl/eye-on-hockey/25135420/sabres-fans-would-be-crazy-if-they-didnt-cheer-against-their-team They get it

It's all opinion. That's what makes this forum so great!

These guys are making the Golisano era look like the Bills Super Bowl years. From 2005-11 the Sabres averaged 100 points a season. They've tallied 104 points total over the last two campaigns with a handful of games left. The loss of Briere and Drury looks like a blip on the map compared to this crap. Pitiful.

My point exactly. Where was this all year? Why wait until now? I wasn't thinking of McDavid in October. I wasn't thinking Eichel in mid December when we were 13-16 after a 10-3 stretch. But after a 7-37 collapse, I am now (their record before their last two wins). The fans invested our hearts and our wallets into this crappy product they put on the ice all year and there was a no refund policy last time I checked.. But all of a sudden when they realize they only have to play hard for 8 games instead of 82 they decide to finally do the job they get overpaid to do? That's the root of my angst.

Dear Players: With a few games left in the season we as fans find ourselves in an unusual predicament. As a 35 year fan, there has never been a single contest that I have not wanted you to win. That is, until now. The Sabres are in a position they haven’t seen since their inaugural season. We are cresting on an opportunity of getting a “generational player” such as Connor McDavid or Jack Eichel. That’s something that doesn’t happen in these parts very often. Finishing in last place would guarantee Buffalo at least one of the two. As last year confirmed, we need all the help we can get when it comes to the lottery. News of your fan’s desire for a last place finish has ruffled some feathers in the Sabres dressing room. Questioning why the fans would actually root for the team to lose? Questioning the hearts of the fans and their intentions? Players openly saying they “don’t want to be here” because of it? Well fellas, the reason for our desire is quite simple. You’re horrible. You see, Sabres fans are actually a pretty intelligent bunch. We realize AHL caliber hockey when we see it. We know when the players are mailing it in, showing up to the rink to simply pick up their paychecks (those with direct deposit don’t even do that). That’s your season in a nutshell. Even your head coach along with the broadcasters regularly talk about your lack of effort and lack of compete during practice and games. You have officially earned our proud city the title of Biggest Joke in the NHL. Congratulations! You must be proud. If you were in the playoffs right now, or even close to it, we would be rooting for you all the way. We wouldn’t give a rat’s behind about McDavid or Eichel. We want to win, we don’t want to lose. We’re from WNY. You should know that by now. But you haven’t won…you’ve lost…ALOT! That’s because of you, not the fans. This team is littered with underachievers and players who are shells of their former selves while others haven't lived up to the talent that brought them here. Former 20 goal scorers who can’t hit the broadside of a barn and have given up trying. Up and coming players who stopped working to grow. A team with 2/3 of their players skating around going through the motions with no heart and no desire. A team with not ONE SINGL E PLAYER who started the season in Buffalo with a +/- above zero. We see it a mile away. An honestly, it’s nauseating. So we the fans want change. We want phenomenal players on our franchise & wearing our colors. Players with talent, heart, desire, and skill. That eliminates 2/3 of you. Do you blame us? You shouldn’t. All of you grew up in a different city and rooted for a team not called Buffalo. When your career mercilessly ends here you’ll be rooting for another team to win while Sabres fans are stuck with the mess your pitiful effort created. And now I’m hearing your celebrating in your locker room after wins as if you’ve won a Stanley Cup? What are you celebrating? 29th place? Pissing off the fans of Buffalo? Finally earning your paycheck? Help me understand your intentions above the blaring music. You live in a dream world where you think you’ve actually achieved something. An “F” student that parties after getting a “C” on a test. You’re still an “F” student. One “C” isn’t going to change that. Those cheers for the opposing team at home are not only from our desire to have the first overall pick. It’s anger from the fans of Buffalo that we’re in this situation in the first place. A situation that YOU put us in. Get it? In the meantime, we are stuck with a double edged…Sabre. We had to sit and watch you play substandard hockey and embarrass our city for 5 1/2 months, and now because your hearing talk of us wanting you to continue your usual sloppy & heartless play for the betterment of the team's future you decide to actually show up to the rink and perform. Kudos to you. So go on your little winning streak. Play your loud music after your meaningless wins and pop your champagne as you thumb your nose at the fans in the stands that pay your salary and are looking towards the future instead of the next seven days. Because whether your team finishes in 30thor 29th really isn’t what’s critically important here. What matters most is come hell or high water we have a GM who is going to get rid of a majority of you and replace you with players who have talent, skill, desire, and heart. Players who don’t mail in their effort nightly in order to collect their bloated salaries. Players that don’t whine and cry when the hard working people of this city are upset when they see a team that actually starts giving a damn 5 1/2 months too late. For a majority of you your time as a Sabre will soon end. When that happens, we’ll finally have a team worth cheering for again. A team with a genuine chance of winning something besides a draft lottery. A team that will once again make the City of Buffalo proud of it’s NHL franchise. In the end, that’s all that really matters. Rock on!

i appreciate the compliments. I just had to double check and make sure I didn't screw up the source.

https://twitter.com/ajonsports AJ Jakubec Twitter Tag "Play-by-play/host at TSN 1200 Radio Ottawa. Senators, REDBLACKS, Fury FC, 67's. NOT the grim reaper of Ottawa sports". Other sites have credited him with being from TSN as well.

I wrote it exclusively for this forum I appreciate the love from everyone

Pulling off the first blockbuster trade of the NHL season, on paper the Buffalo Sabres gave up a lot. In acquiring volatile top three forward Evander Kane, defensemen Zach Bogosian, and a goalie prospect for Tyler Myers, Drew Stafford, Joel Armia, Brendan Lemieux, and their worst slotted first round selection in this summer’s draft, it seems the Sabres gave up a king’s ransom for two players with all the potential in the world and little to guarantee they will achieve it. However, a deeper look reveals the trade isn’t about Kane or Bogosian. It’s about Connor McDavid. McDavid, whose talents and contribution to his future NHL team may rival Sidney Crosby, Mario Lemieux, or Wayne Gretzky; is the undisputed top ranked prospect heading into the 2015 draft. Jack Eichel, who is a poor man’s McDavid, has also been forecasted to have a similar effect at his new NHL home. They are both once in a generation prospects who can alter the course of a franchise on talent alone. Take them out of the picture and there is a huge drop-off. Hockeyprospect.com, ISS Hockey, and NHL Central Scouting Mid-Terms all have McDavid ranked 1st and Eichel ranked 2nd. After that there is no clear consensus pick. No franchise-changer. No one worth tanking a season for. If the Buffalo Sabres finish last in the league, they have a 20% chance of securing the first spot, and are guaranteed the 2nd pick. Either selection will give them a building block at Center that they don’t have on their roster nor will be available to acquire on the trade market. Finishing second-to-last gives them a 13% chance of landing the number one pick and a 66.5% chance of falling to the 3rd pick. The Sabres are currently four points behind the Edmonton Oilers for the worst record, and ten points behind Carolina with two-thirds of the season gone. Simply put, General Manager Tim Murray is playing the percentages and he’s not taking any chances. Stafford is a UFA at the end of the season. His 31-goal season seems like an eternity ago, and his 10 goal average over the last three years has frustrated fans and coaches alike. Myers has been a huge disappointment since his Calder Trophy campaign when he lead the Sabres defense with 11 goals and 48 points. Over his last three seasons, he has 42 points combined, which is underwhelming production for the seven-year $38.5 million extension he signed in 2011. With Stafford being the team’s third leading scorer and Myers leading the team in minutes played this season, Murray is giving up two players who are major contributors at the moment. Consider that Bogosian is the only piece who can contribute this season; the trade makes the Sabres less-skilled on paper for now. Mission accomplished. AJ Jakubec from TSN reported that Lemieux’s dad Claude told the Sabres point blank his son wasn’t going to sign with them. That makes his inclusion in this deal a little easier to digest. Although Armia is reportedly on the verge of being NHL ready, his success at the next level is a crapshoot. A late first-round pick is years away from being NHL ready, if ever. The Sabres farm system is ranked first in the league by Hockeysfuture.com. What the Sabres sent to Winnipeg shouldn’t be a deal-breaker considering Buffalo’s depth. Safe to say all 30 NHL teams would have traded the entire package Buffalo gave away on Wednesday for the rights to McDavid or Eichel alone. If you add in Kane and Bogosian, one could say Murray got the steal of the century. Any team who isn’t challenging for last place and a chance at McDavid or Eichel wouldn’t be able to receive the same value as the Sabres. That’s what makes Buffalo’s situation so unique. Despite the song and dance that Murray slings across any interview or press conference, there is a method to his madness. He will blame himself for the team being bad. He will blame himself for the team losing 14 in a row. He will stomp his foot and pound his fist about how the players are not trying to tank the season for the rights to the next hockey messiah. That’s because he is doing it for them with a grin and a wink from owner Terry Pegula. Murray’s excitement is building as he prepares for this summer’s draft. He did throw a bit of shade on head coach Ted Nolan during Wednesday’s press conference regarding the Sabres recent play, which in my mind is laying the foundation to bring in the guy he really wants to lead the team, Luke Richardson. Murray’s work isn’t done. Arguably he has some huge pieces still in play--led by forward Chris Stewart. I also believe that the underachieving Cody Hodgson, Marcus Foligno, and Mike Weber will all be moved as well. It’s an easy sell to say all three of those players would be more productive in different environments. It would also fit in Buffalo’s plan to become weaker now, in order to be much stronger down the road. Their loss wouldn’t put a dent in the team’s character, either. What Murray does next is anyone’s guess as the March 2nd trade deadline approaches. Whatever trade he pulls off, you can bet he has one thing in mind that’s music to the ears of Sabres fans abroad. Sacrifice this season in order to quicken the rebuilding process for the future. And that will speak much louder than anything he says to the contrary.

One thing that surprised me today was how there was a focus on prospects rather than draft picks. We even gave up some serious draft picks for young talent. Seems that Murray is huge on counting on his scouts to pick talent off of other teams rosters. There isn't a real way to gauge a win or loss until we see some of those prospects grow into NHL talent. With that said, I really like what i've seen from Murray so far in the way he focuses on what needs to be done. He has a solid plan and knows exactly what to do. There isn't any stuttering. He is resolute in his plan. It's refreshing to have someone in command with that type of presence. And we aren't talking about someone who hasn't done this in the past. He helped build the Ducks and Senators. I'm very excited with this guy at the helm. Very.