jad1

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?

Just because you sell guys like Sobotka, Hunwick, Thompson, Okposo and Mittelstadt as NHL players doesn't mean people have to buy it.

The jenga tower that is the Buffalo Sabres.

That makes sense, although I'm trying to figure out how Tage Thompson is helping them win now.

I think he's closer to a young Luke Adam.

If this is truly his plan, this franchise is doomed. There's a reason why a team like Toronto, who has a ton of self-grown talent on the team, signed the top FA last year. Hopefully Botterill is only speaking idealistically here and not practically.

You bring up a lot of good points, and I think you nail Botterill's plan (although I believe his plan is flawed), but I want to take a look at the idea that the Sabres haven't been developing talent, because I think the team has been bad for so long, that we're missing the fact that the team has accrued talent over the last six or seven years. Here are the first round picks of the Sabres from the time of the beginning of the tank who are still in the organization: 2012: Girgensons 2013: Ristolainen 2014: Reinhart 2015: Eichel 2016: Nylander 2017: Mittelstadt 2018: Dahlin They've added first rounders Bogosian and Skinner to the team via trades, so half the skaters on the team are first rounders. They are missing a group of developing 2nd rounders, but those picks were traded for better players in O'Reilly and Kane. So the Sabres are currently built by a group of first round draft picks and trades. That's pretty normal in the NHL. Back to the original idea of the thread that Murray screwed the team over because he made bad trades and left the team with no depth. I believe that this take is false. If Botterill kept Kane and O'Reilly, the team's top six would have been Eichel, Reinhart, Skinner, O'Reilly Kane, and Sheary. It's hard to say that the team lacks depth if that was the Sabres lineup. Murray had his issues, and probably should have been fired. However, he left a pretty good core of players for Botterill. Problem is that, for some reason, Botterill didn't 'believe' in Murray's players and traded them for future assets, which created holes in the roster and the depth issues that the team is struggling with.

The problem isn't the bottom 6 forwards, it's the top 6. And none of the players or prospects Murray traded away for O'Reilly or Kane are top six players. Murray's plan was to fix the top 6 as quickly as possible. He drafted or acquired Reinhart, Eichel, O'Reilly, Kane, Okposo, and Moulson. That was supposed to be his top 6. Moulson and Okposo didn't work out, but they were free agents, so it didn't cost the team assets. The defense rebuild under Murray was a mess. Bogosian's injuries didn't hel, and neither did Kulikov's, but the real issue was the defensive system implemented by Blysma. McNabb and Zadorov were traded, but probably wouldn't have fit into Blysma's puck moving system. Meyers would have been a good fit, and maybe Pysk. Again, not having Bogosian also hurt. After two years, Murray had built his top two lines. He was undone by the steep fall-off of Moulson and Okposo, and maybe by the inexperience of Sam and Jack. Defensively, he wasn't on the same page as Blysma, and probably traded a couple of guys (Myers and Pysk) who would have been a good fit in the system. And he was also hurt by his and his coach's inability to set the right atmosphere in the locker room. But I don't really think depth was an issue with Murray. He traded future assets with low reward possibility for established veterens to build his top two lines. In fact, s a fan, I'm more on-board with Murray's plan (although not his execution), than Botterill's, whose priority is to acquire future assets.

That article is crap. It completely ignores Murray's two major acquisitions, Kane and O'Reilly. Those two guys have a combined 61 goals and 114 points this season. Sure, Murray made questionable trades, but it's unfair to ignore the 100+ point hole in the roster that Botterill caused when he traded those guys for nothing. When you trade your all-star 2nd center and all-star winger, you're going to have depth issues. In a bizarro world where Boterill keeps O'Reilly and Kane and still makes the Skinner and Sheary trades, the Sabres don't have a depth problem. In fact, with that lineup, Mittelstadt probably spends a year in Rochester. Murray had his issues. For example, he was trying to build the Kings while his coach was trying to coach the Penguins. And he probably deserved to be fired based on his asocial attitude and his inability to relate to the young team he was building. The GM, though who caused the biggest depth issues on the team is Botterill.

Murray and Blysma were fired because of their horrible communication skills, not because they weren't yes men. Murray wasn't on the same page as Blysma, and the players seemed to have no idea about what the GM was trying to accomplish. O'Reilly, Kane, and Lehner all had off-ice issues to varying degrees, and the team management under Murray seemed incapable of handling it. Apparently tanking has an impact on the guys in the locker room. Who knew? Botterill seems to have 'fixed' the issue by trading or releasing all the 'problem' guys. So, problem solved.?

Botterill is going to waste the first 3 months of next season figuring out Housley is not the answer.

After almost two seasons, can anyone explain what Housley brings to this team? There are 10 first rounders on this roster, 8 of them went in the top 10, but the team has absolutely no identity.

Good to see Housley made the right choice in goal again. ?

I do admire his drinking helmet.