jad1

He's not NHL ready. A year in the minors would have helped him like a year in junior helped Reinhart. 10 goals this year shows he's not ready to be an NHL scorer. 11 assists show that he's not ready to be a playmaker. I don't think it's a given he makes a leap next season.

Thompson and Mittelstadt look more and more like busts every game too. Botterill needs to be held accountable for not letting these guys develop in Rochester.

They need 3 more points to get 10 more than last season. I doubt they do this. They can fire both Botterill and Housley at this point and it won't matter. These two guys bring absolutely nothing to the organization.

These guys are barely a team right now.

He needs to, but he'll be spending most of the off season drafting Swedish defensemen.

Hutton. Just terrible.

"If it weren't for my horse, I never would have went to college." --Lewis Black

This team lacks defensive zone coverage fundamentals. It comes from their last two coaches emphasizing the transition game. That's why they get caved in so easily. When they get pressured they instinctually start chasing the puck instead of being conditioned to return to the basics of positional play.

Yep. That's the good stuff!

Another loss for Phil to explain away.

Pegula has littered the landscape with the bloodied corpses of fan-favorite Sabres/Bills coaches and front office personnel.

He's definitely a candidate. Hopefully he can coached against Babcock, Julien, and Cooper.

There's a couple of canidates out there. Question is if the GM is more committed to winning or to his guy.

This team needs a coach that will teach them how to hate to lose. Housley never had that characteristic, so he'll never be that coach.

Think Housley has recognized that late period goals are an issue with this team? Probably not because Tage Thompson was out there to 'close' out the period.

Depth takes time to develop in the NHL. The path is rarely draft->AHL->NHL. Prospects spend time in the juniors, or in their national leagues, or in college before hitting the AHL or NHL. With that in mind, take a look at the current Murray prospects who are currently on the Amerks roster (who are in first place in their division, tied for second in the league): Borgen Olofsson Smith Cornel Asplund Nylander Johansson (for a few games) He also drafted Pu and Guhle, who Botterill traded for Skinner and Montour. It doesn't seem that Murray left the Amerks in shambles, it looks like it took the normal amount of time for his prospects to make their way through the system. Botterill has done a better job of adding AHL vets to the Amerks than Murray did, but none of Boterill's draft picks have made their way to the Amerks roster yet. No doubt that Tampa has done a great job drafting post the 1st round, but they are the exception to the rule. And the Maple Leafs prove this. Mathews, Marner, Nylander, Rielly, Kadri, and Gauthier were all their own 1st round picks. Tavaras, Andersen, Marleau, Ennis, Kapenen, Hyman, Gardniner, Hainsey, and Muzzin were aquisitions. The Leafs have two home-grown, post-1st round players contributing to the team: Andreas Johnsson (7th round pick) with 36 points and Connor Brown (6th round pick) with 22 points. The Leafs have no home grown players on the team drafted between the 2nd and 5th rounds in the draft. Murray's approach to building an NHL roster looks alot like Toronto's. Aquire 1st round talent, using your own picks or assets to trade for other team's former 1st rounders, or aquire them in FA. I don't agree with you on the center prospects. When Murray arrived, the Sabres centerman were Hodgson, Girgensons, and Ott. The team had no center prospects. In two seasons, Murray added Eichel, O'Reilly, and Reinhart (who didn't work out), and drafted Asplund. He was only here only three drafts, so there's not much more he could of done here. Murray did trade defense for offense, which hurt the defensive depth, but Bogosian's and Kulikov's injuries also had an impact. The McNabb trade was dicey. Murray was trying to build a 'heavy' team up front, like the Kings. Not really the type of game that Blysma was coaching. So yeah, bad trade. And bad choice for coach. Murray accelerated the salary cap trying to build the top six forwards. O'Reilly and Kane were worth it. Okposo and Moulson, who were a product of a soft FA market, weren't worth their hit against the cap. Again, the strategy wasn't a bad one, but the execution was lacking. I don't think Murray's issues were with his talent aquisition. Again, if O'Reilly and Kane were still on the current roster, the Sabres (and Amerks) are a playoff team. Murray's issues were really with his coaching choice, and inability to communicate with the rest of the organization. Botterill might have these same issues. Both GMs and their coaches seem to struggle with setting a winning tone in the locker room.

They lost their damn minds.

Eichel and Reinhart playing better, the addition of Skinner. There is an core of a good team here. Would have liked to see this team play with O'Reilly until at least the trading deadline.

As opposed to last place to playoff participant with a solid 2C on the roster.

The last time the Sabres were in the playoffs, they had a coach who preached 'playing out of character.' Those teams were worth watching. Now I'm not saying that old coach should come back, he played out his string here, but it does show how a coach can set the tone and expectation for a team's physical play.

I know. I eagerly await the future matchups between Housley and Babcock, Juilien, and Cooper.

His numbers are identical to Luke Adam's when Adam washed out the league. His continued presence in the lineup is a fireable offense for both the coach and GM.

No doubt. A franchise-altering mistake.

At this point Tage isn't even an AHL quality player. The guy is a bust.

Who dat?