Thorny

What’s the “worst” is ultimately too subjective to definitively define. Do you judge based on failing to accomplish on one’s aims or having a terrible strategy? 07 for example, they tried and failed to bring back their core players. The intention wasn’t to willingly move on. This offseason, Adams did exactly what he wanted to, his plan was just awful. What’s worse? Trying and being too incompetent to succeed or being incapable of achieving the desired result even when you get your way and implement the plan of your choosing? I’d say Adams is worse, presumably if Regier at least delivered on his plan we’d be good. Adams plan was bad either way apparently. Makes the likelihood for future success lower Now, you may judge based on opportunity lost, in which case Regier’s 07 might be more to your fancy There’s a veritable smorgasbord of ineptitude to choose from, Choose Your Own Adventure!

Pretty insulting and utterly disrespectful to the fanbase waiting on 13 years, ya

He’s got one more year. At that point a “retread” is exactly what we need- not only are *all* GM’s eventually “failed” retreads, they at least accumulated some “tread”. Presumably they have experience guiding teams to the playoffs- which is exactly what we need. No chance we have the hubris to think the Buffalo Sabres are *better* than these retreads, right? Surely? If our GM can’t make the playoffs in 5 years, he’ll never be someone else’s retread, because he’ll be a “never was.”

Nah. We missed the playoffs by one point last year. We aren’t asking for a lot. It would defy logic beyond the extent of fathomable reason if we didn’t think the sum-total of the mistakes KA has made as GM couldn’t have bridged the gap for the final point. The narrative here is verging into, “is this even possible?” and thus verging into outright comedy. Yes, it’s possible with competence. No, it’s not even that hard

He’s tradable. The “poor buffalo, no one will accept a trade here (because of our own doing (look at Winnipeg), leaving out the fact half the league does not have a NTC and we are only asking the team to overcome to the extent of not being *anomalifically* bad ie it’s zero excuse)” thing goes both ways: as long as the contract is reasonable, and Cozens’ is, teams will perceive him to be suffering from the “Buffalo tax” where he’d be likely to flourish in a better environment- and I feel like the proof has been in the pudding on that Not advocating to trade him specifically, just sayin’

It’s a good point. We are clearly past the point where a turnaround can be measured in anything but sustained success to the extent of achieving an actual result: the result determined to be the minimum expectation is playoffs. They’ll have turned the corner when they make the playoffs. It’s not so much about belief right now as reality: the math is very unfavourable for making the playoffs. Turn the math around in season and then we’re talking. Until then, wins, while fun, are mathematically occasionally expected, but ultimately inconsequential. Poor teams still win a fair few games in raw quantity when you play 82

Not if he’s our best option. But best doesn’t mean adequate. It’s all relative

It’s queued up

What was your first clue

It’s why I always laugh when people look at the ROR deal and are like: “oh Tage panned out, good deal.” Perhaps the most irresistible, unmovable variable in life itself, Time, somehow seems to creep under the radar all too often. Plenty of the reason these guys didn’t do anything here and did stuff later is exactly that: timing. *When* we are adding these players and expecting them to carry the mail. *When* we choose to surround them with competent reinforcements. *When* one talent is here, and in his prime, where another is not, yet, or not yet in their prime. The roster building here has in large part been a story of missed connections. Few of them have been in the right place at the right TIME. We can accumulate talent but struggle to construct a *team*, because a good team necessarily results from a multitude of things pulling in a consistent direction at the same time. They are united in that aim. It’s not a situation where half is pulling for development: that’s improper timing relative to rest of roster that has aims of winning

There’s no sense acting like the particular combination of talent isn’t as important as the talent itself. It’s a huge concern. Casey just bears more of it right now cause so much of the rest of the core is locked up. There aren’t many spaces left really and solidifying a core that sits bottom of the league should be a concern and if it’s not, I think we’ve lost the plot. I am a Casey guy. Even when his perception was at the lowest I was saying he’d still be a good third line player. He’s been even better. But I do not know what we should do Statistical prime for forwards is like 23/24

I hope KA remembers this when he pencils in rookies to plug roster holes this offseason. I hope the board remembers it

Funniest thing is after a long, long 30 years I’ve essentially come full-circle back to the “lunch pail, hard hat” mentality they used to use on tv when speaking about the Sabres in the 90s haha. It’s not really about being a descriptor of the particular skill sets you look for in players you want to roster: but rather it speaks to the honesty of the mindset. None of the disenfranchisement I spoke of up thread: a refusal to turn your nose up at “just” making the playoffs. I freaking love Buffalo. I love THAT Buffalo. Make the playoffs. Make me the f*cking GM.

There are much better coaches than Don Granato, like Mike Tomlin, who like to say, “The Standard is the Standard.” The desired culture is one of expectation; not camaraderie

The mentality that led to the rank tank was the mistaken, ill-begotten idea that you need to have a superstar to be a good team: rather than the idea that if you have a good team, you don’t *need* a superstar. It’s the difference, in short, between Buffalo and Vegas. Acting like your work in filling out a good team is inconsequential because you’ve nabbed your superstar, and the contrasting realization that if you build a proper team said superstar isn’t necessary for success, at all: merely the key missing ingredient for a *championship* team. But we didn’t want to build that, did we. We talk of building a long term cup champ right now, before ever even making the playoffs. We went ahead and tanked for the star, first. Cart before the horse, Cup before playoffs, par for the course a hair-brained scheme of one of the 3 GMs all attempting some grand design needlessly littered with pitfalls from the start

What we’ve created is a Disenfranchisement Factory for our players. We tie them in to these ridiculous long-form, long-haul, “WAAHNT to be here!1!” endeavours doomed to failure because you alienate the players before any real success is ever achieved It’s a conflict of interest: nhl PLAYER careers are short players want to win and make money. We always just give them the money.

A blinding Occam’s razor It’s really (really) that simple

Jets haven’t seemed to have any issue remaining very competitive. All it takes is competence @TageMVPhad it: 3 buffoons all in one way or another obsessed with a big tear down and rise to prominence. Some master plan just to do something half the league does every single year. It’s actually rather comical, if you think about it. Like in a truly funny way. They are hilariously out of touch Pinky and the Brain level schemes to figure out how to assemble a barbecue

Oy vey, my friend ideally you teach *before* handing out the 50 million dollar contracts, no? I know YOU don’t even believe what you are saying. the national hockey league is professional hockey. It’s not a development league. It’s a product that fans need to pay for. These guys are *paid professionals*. They aren’t “learning to play D”. Absurd. That’s what you do *to* get drafted. Hindsight need not apply. My favourite term nowadays: I told you, NS, this would happen, I told you all offseason. I’m not a wizard: it was just obvious. Simply adding defensive acumen to the forwards while retaining their stellar offence *was never an option*. There would be sacrifice. There would be suffering, I said. It’s a shell game. If we didn’t want to pay the cost to upgrade from the outside: we’d pay it from within. We have sacrificed offence for D. We cannot sit here and say “they’ll learn to do both”. Manager needs to MANAGE - - - As for your other point: if they didn’t configure the roster in such a way, in their *4th year* that playoffs would be a reasonable expectation: that’s assuredly a THEM problem

I’m saying you make the changes necessary to field a team capable of making the playoffs. The idea we don’t have enough talent in the organization, when considering prospects and picks, is absurd. We ought to wield our considerable currency in the name of converting on a playoff berth. That’s the funny thing: it’s really not that hard. 50 percent of teams making the playoffs isn’t frivolous: it’s a definitive stat. It’s not hard to make the playoffs. Again, what we continually see with the Sabres is they are an *anomaly*. This is a very important word: they are exceptions to almost every rule. You can’t be THAT bad without a ton of manual, human error. Because we are bad by choice. People don’t want to hear it because it’s scary: we need to trade away our prospects and draft capital in the name of an honest roster with a lower ceiling, sure, but one that measures results in actual wins in the now. That’s the answer. If you don’t like it, I’m sorry. Enjoy being at the top of prospect lists - I mean that in sincerity: that’s probably the extent of what you are comfortable with. It’s simply what’s necessary and they need the b*lls to do it

I’m not arguing for the status quo.

We really need to get away from this “our top 6 / top 9 / forwards look set” stuff. Nothing is set on this team when you are sitting at the bottom of the league. There is no way you can be that bad and that stench be totally absent from what amounts to a 50% chuck of the roster. We’d be better, if that were the case, and we had as much as you say “set”. A lot of our defensive woes are linked to the poor play of the top 9

Haven’t read the thread yet so I’ll edit this as necessary after I do but a big blowup is the last thing we need. Any sort of tear it down, long form build back up would be literal poison. Adams isn’t going to shift from his plan but if and when a new GM is brought in, it absolutely cannot be someone talking the long game. And it can’t be someone that only views the current results as a means to facilitating something better in the future: talking sustained, contender type success is utter hubris for this franchise at this time. The focus and goal needs to be one thing, I somehow nailed this 2 years ago and have been saying it since: just make the playoffs. That needs to be the goal: nothing else matters. We are trying to facilitate step 5 before ever firmly getting our footing on step 1. We are the receiver turning our head to look down field before the ball is caught.