Thorny

Great, kid! Don't get cocky

No reason to assume that in the hypothetical world where he plays 75 games? Sure he’s a legit 2C Ya I didn’t catch the player but they mentioned they had another C with injury concerns which is why Norris would be dicey for them specifically

Jets have 8 goals in their last 5 road playoffs games. Issues are well beyond Hellebuyck, who played well yesterday

The were talking about this on the fan hockey show. Led into talk about Pettersson, and the Canucks looking to deal him. Mentioned buffalo as a potential landing spot but they were saying the ship probably sailed for them w/the cozens deal ie Vancouver would trade EP for Cozens but Norris wouldn’t be enough, mainly due to injury concerns

Not the issue yesterday

Take the right lessons from things, too. For example, do you most commonly hear said, outside of sabres circles, that the sabres were justified in their medical stance on Eichel, just the medical side of things, or do you most often hear that the sabres screwed him over on the surgery front? Compare that with how you feel the sabres acted re: just their approach to the medical. it doesn’t really matter what happened, does it. Far more relevant where the sabres are concerned is the league wide perception: if you do not believe the sabres have suffered narratively league wide through the Eichel fiasco, up to and including potential agent and player opinions, you might be without internet and reading this on an abacus Lou is a respected man league wide. Very. The type of guy you want to be seen with. Infer what you want with that in combination with the lions share of my post above. But if you don’t want Lou, don’t complain, ever, about NMCs and players not wanting to come and “WCKAEHD??”

it’s the exact reason we are where we are

Make him the GM Guys it’s Kevyn Adams Don’t make me post the clip I’m posting it

But from a certain point of view (notably, that of a team that’s averaged 78 points for 5 years), they are

It’s not annoying at all. Frankly I sympathize greatly with it. This was me last summer with Skinner. I need to see an incredible argument to convince me the Buffalo Sabres are at a “just get rid of him” stage to see benefit, with pretty much *anyone*. The sabres are beyond little. its like in The Other Guys were he gives Will Ferrell’s character a flat wooden gun. I need to see this franchise not shoot itself in the foot with the most basic of tools before I trust their evaluations on much of anything

I don’t really like the Reinhart comp because Reinhart elevated Eichel demonstrably Skinner would be a better comp. Skinner very much played well next to Eichel, didn’t drag him down, Jack was phenomenal in utilizing him (rebounds).. As you know: I’m the one guy who isn’t throwing skinner out there as a negative. But it’s not wholly a positive. But I wanted to keep skinner. And I’d keep Byram too if we can get the right price and we can’t trade him for better Ya I mean once upon a time VO - Eichel - Skinner was the best ES possession line in hockey There was a stretch I remember it specifically

The key speaking only for me is that yes he’s been good with Dahlin but Dahlin hasn’t benefited. Players don’t seem to benefit from him. The best argument for him then is that he isn’t bringing Tage and Dahlin down. Ie he’s pliable enough that the good of Dahlin is able to course through him and we see it in his numbers. But D who play well with Dahlin aren’t that uncommon, in fact that’s the MAIN extra benefit of having a 1st overall like Dahlin. being good with good players is ok but it’s a far cry from being good with average players or even making good players better Which brings the contract into the conversation: we aren’t going to be able to pay him what he’s actually worth which I do know is an idea you are accounting for

I’m also combining it with my limited viewing eye test and my distaste for the alliteration in his name

One thing we can comfortably say about Byram is he definitely played his minutes tl;dr : Dahlin and Tage are as good or better without Bowen, Bowen is putrid without them

Jets have made the playoffs 7 times of the last 8 years. Of those 7 appearances, Hellebuyck has played well enough to advance beyond the first round 3 of the 7 times. No room for making the playoffs and winning rounds on the Buffalo Sabres And? The exception that proves the rule? Yzerman is the clear statistical outlier along with Adams. We have tried every “strategy” at one point or another. Showing me the failure behind door number 3 ala Monty hall doesn’t prove anything: there will always be a fail we can point to

I think he has a type. Norris is it to a T. Buy low, if things go really well there’s a ton of value to be mined. It’s the “hey, we think there might be a little something here, actually” guys. “Oh with a bigger role this guy should really blossom.” He loves high ceiling players, questionable floor players It has been quite blindly obvious to this poster’s eyes for a very long time that the Buffalo Sabres need to be in the business of targeting the maximization of the floor we’ve been using future verbiage for far, far too long. Give me the guy who is most likely will provide good value: not the guy who has the best chance of producing great “I still don’t want Hellebuyck” ”I don’t care about making the playoffs”

No one wanted Hellebuyck when I was arguing to sell out for him

Data can be misleading the sabres were 11th in goals against two season ago and 23rd in offence. Then they flipped. Young team. address the overall talent I’ve been calling it a shell game for 3 literal years. Why can’t I just be right? I’ve called every single Adams aspect starting with Eichel. Like, MAYBE I just have the pulse on this guy? No? Ok carry on.

Meh, I don’t really think the few LW that can only play LW need represent an obstacle to my thought process here. I know Marner can play both side, for example. if I can get a better player, for the same relative cost, I’m going with the better player regardless of position that’s my outlook at least

My commentary wasn’t on the usefulness of doing so in terms of entertaining one self online merely in fixing the standings placement ie it wasn’t just “that won’t work”, i made the argument on how to fix it, too . It wasn’t, “don’t have the discussion”, it was “this discussion isn’t going to get the team to the place people think it will.” If Adams hyperfocuses on one area, he’ll do so to the tune of ignoring the rest, as we’ve seen, and he’ll probably get ripped off cause everyone knows he’s over a barrel he should use the assets we can to acquire the best (VETERAN) player possible regardless of position maximize the return, THEN fill out the rest of your plan. Adams always pigeonholes himself

The level of attention to detail on the “holes” on the roster comes off to me, I’m sorry, as tantamount to counting grains of sand on the beach (hyperbole): kind of pointless. It’s more akin to the sort of analysis you’d see on a team that’s made the playoffs consistently and won a few rounds but just can’t get over the last hump i *promise* you, with hockey being such a fluid game, and with our final place in the standings, and the way we’ve seen issues morph over the year with a young team, that if you attacked the roster based on ONLY the final point total, and addressed it by way of BPA, it would yield better results than sitting and trying to dial down the variables to as small as we can get them in identifying where the “issues” are and then addressing as such i guarantee you the totally blind approach would work better we finished with 79 points. Team is the issue it’s macro macro macro when you just want to get to mediocre

The sabres were in d e a d l a s t for the vast majority of the season. They finished with 79 points. They were, nonetheless, a few games away from being definitively “in the race”. i know you know these oft-repeated facts but they bear repeating in this context to illustrate my point which is that we completely sucked and were “close”. Why? That’s the national hockey league. It’s *designed* to do that. They are ALWAYS one move away because making the playoffs i s n o t h a r d. The sabres don’t have to improve goaltending, or D, or at F. But there’s significant room for improvement *at all 3* that more than anyone one player can close the gap on, on their own. We will still get just as much value from a guy that scores 50 as one who prevents. they need to make considerable moves - position is less important