Thorny

This is where I've been Here, too

Above Nemec? Interesting.. If we came away with maybe your 3rd ranked C and Jiricek I'd be ecstatic and really like the look of the prospect pool

Starting tonight for sure!

Ya I’d like to come away with both a C up high and a RHD, would go a long way towards rounding out the prospective pool, which while gaining admirable depth of late is still rather unbalanced

So assuming one of the 3 Sabres isn't voted in as captain, one will be selected by the league to be on the team?

As long as we aren't in it. As long as we get a C up high

No, Botterill still acquired the player that had the potential to develop into that. He gets some credit. Botterill hired Granato and Granato moved Tage to C, also A thread of people complaining about tage isn't relevant haha. Adams ovbviously didn't agree w/fan perception given the contract offer. They didn't move Tage to C until forced to in camp - it wasn't in the initial plan

If the NHL doesn't go I'll just have more time for Curling. Always enjoy the winter Olympics.

Botterill absolutely gets some credit for Thompson. The trade still isn't good but it improves in retrospect the better Tage is.

How so?

That's a lot of words. There's reasonable expectations, and there's losing 17 of 20. I'm growing weary of the "it's your fault if you expected any kind of winning" argument. I understand that winning wasn't the priority this year. I was talking about it not being a priority before anyone else was. Just because winning, clearly, isn't a priority doesn't mean eliminating them nearly entirely from the repertoire is beneficial or dismissable or non-indicative of things that may be issues going forward. Losing 17 or 20 deserves more discussion than, "well, they tried hard, and tage is on a 45 point pace!! Winning doesn't matter!". So I'm going to see to that for balance.

There's a theory Adams will move to a president type role and Karmanos will take over as GM in title.

I feel like the context in which I’m presenting this stuff is being missed slightly: I’m not bringing up a few concerns about the season’s results because we are losing more than we are winning. It’s coming up a bit more lately for me because we’ve won 3 times in the last 20 tries. Or: we have 3 wins over a full quarter season. I mean, come on guys. Keep your eyes on the prize? “We play not win the game, HELLO?! You don’t play to just play it”. No?! Nobel Prize, Otto, Nobel Prize!

Ya, I agree - half will change. I don’t deny that and I don’t and haven’t denied that within the context of his strategy, it’s much too soon to pass judgement as the “results” aren’t known yet. I’m just not in the business of being able to more-less write off the results of the half or so that IS here, assuming the change-over is enough to bridge the gap to competition with other teams: particularly relative to the fact other teams also undergo changeover. Believe it or not, I do understand the idea that Adams intends for the roster to change. I don’t need to be convinced of that haha. My point is merely that more positive results this year would make me feel more comfortable the lot coming have a fighting chance. Not saying they won’t, regardless, but no I don’t really have much time for the “overall results don’t matter” argument, as much as it’s thrown about. Yes, even for this year. Had the team maintained its pace from the start of the year, until today, how excited would everyone be, for the future? Is there an argument that results *wouldn’t* have boded well? That we’d rather be in pick position? Of course results right now matter. Just cause Adams shouldn’t be “judged” now doesn’t mean trends can’t be seen, positive or negative

Expectations were higher for Botterill and Adams doesn’t have a big “no no” like he did (ROR)

“I don’t think you do..” lmao love this bit

We aren’t better than last year. Points percentage is very slightly better, and our schedule has been WAY easier, not being in that East division If we continue as we’ve been trending since game 7, we’ll have an inferior points % soon with a significantly easier schedule. I’ll also add that GM is only THIS much of a long game in Buffalo. It’s literally being posted that Adams has TWO more years after this to show merely PROGRESS. According to the Pegulas, apparently. So, playoffs in 2025? 5 years to build a playoff team lol

The refs make head scratching calls in literally every game. There’s no bias, they just aren’t THAT good The calls yesterday, as a neutral observer I thought, overbalanced towards the end, in favour of the Bucs. But it wasn’t unusual re your average NFL game, and no, not even just specifically Brady games

When Karmanos takes over the GM title from Adams, is it “year 1” again?

The first was the Milano goal? Those always count. As for the latest one, it cost us a single point, judging by our OT/SO aptitude. Hard meh We are into the realm of butterfly effect. Don’t worry about it

Honestly I think last season reflects more on Adams roster building skills or potentially lack there of - we don’t really think he was trying to build a winning roster this year, right? My qualms with the approach this season are strategy based, mostly. Goaltending does reflect terribly on him, though, in a roster building sense. That appears to be his “thing”, much like Botterill and 2C. Until he solves it, he’s hampering his own efforts

Honestly - I don’t talk a lot about toughness, but you may be surprised to hear it’s not because I don’t think it’s important. It’s because in my mind it represents “a bridge too far” in terms of Sabres stuff I worry about right now. When does the type of grit you are referring to become paramount? The time of year, every year, when the game the NHL plays literally changes into something significantly different to its regular season form (unlike the other major sports): playoff time. As things stand, I actually do think the team/players will be in for a wake up call if they eventually get there. Being an NHL GM has an extra, severe degree of difficulty attached to it in that you really have to build a team with the ability to play in two distinct “leagues”, should you have playoff aspirations. For me, I’m just counting on getting there. Have been for a while. Can’t even bring myself to worrying about that next stage yet

Called that Hagg was terrible from the beginning. While Adams may not have overpaid for anyone, the other side of the “NHL talent evaluation” coin, as you allude to here, is whether or not those acquired players have been given roles in the lineup equal to their talents. Obviously this has not been the case. Which brings us back to strategy, of course.

I think it’s pretty clear the organization thinks very highly of UPL, and that they were reluctant to get him in there until he was ready. I feel like they are determined to help him out in a way they weren’t with guys like Subban and Dell, who as of now don’t factor in to the long term plans of the organization

Ya, the coming off-season is really key for me. Replacing JAGs with rooks won’t make us a good team - we’ll need some work on the roster like some of the things you mention