Kruppstahl

This is hilarious. Botterill is buying a rental at the deadline? Is he trying to sell some sort of fake playoff push to the fans, or what? Dude is seriously clueless at worst, and disingenuous at best. What we give up here is meaningless and I have always liked Simmonds...but this will amount to a nothing sort of transaction.

I see your Grigorenko, and raise you 1 Cody Hodgson. Think about the "wait til this guy gets here" or "wait til this guy is ready" guys in our system for nearly the last decade who are not on the team now, for one reason or the other. Most just never made it; some were traded for other players who never really made it. Some were traded to get guys like ROR but then ROR was given away for nothing so it was like giving the ROR deal players away for nothing. We just don't have much talent on the team and very little to show for the last 5/6/7/8 years of waiting/drafting/development.

A better GM is important, but I do feel this organization would benefit from another layer of management above GM to observe and act as a de facto "owner" to advise Pegula, because Pegula is incapable of doing that himself. Pegula is always going to be limited to who he is taking his information from, and how much he trusts that person, b/c he is clueless on his own. You don't want the informant also being the GM trying to save his own skin. I would love to know who Pegula is getting his information from right now. Is it Botterill? You can see the conflict of interest.

Pretty sure he has 8 even strength goals this year. Skinner still has more at 11!

What's your field?

We tanked our way through one of the worst seasons in Sabres history to get Reinhart, and he in no way is worth that. He was also a mistake as it turns out, as he obviously should have been Leon Draisaitl. We would definitely be in better shape if Reinhart was more of a superstar than he is (given that he was the first forward taken overall in the world in his draft class). Having said that, what has really set us back is our failure to acquire and retain quality and depth in the lower rounds, 2 and below. Every team has a few first round stars on it. The good ones are packed with depth coming from deeper in the draft. We hardly have anything in that regard. And what we do have (Larsson, Girgs) are probably leaving at the trade deadline, or at least arguably should be leaving.

He's been playing with hot garbage like Rodriguez all year, who is basically a career AHLer playing on an NHL team right now. His complete misuse goes straight to Ralph and Botterill. I assume Ralph has buried Skinner where he has, and refused to play him with Eichel, as some sort of statement to Botterill that he is not happy with the talent he has been given to work with. Highly doubt Ralph and Botterill are united and on the same page. Skinner is a scrappy good worker by nature; when he is back playing with play making NHL caliber players, he'll be fine.

Some of Marty's comments for those who can't listen to the link: "Work!" "His game is lacking in determination and structure." "He's like a zombie out there." "Not even working so he should not be able to play with Jack Eichel. That's a reward." "I know he's frustrated but he can avoid taking bad penalties! When things are not going well he always takes bad penalties. Go out there and draw penalties; move your feet; get to the front of the net." "When they see the guy working hard, then there's a reward there." "Maybe with 10 games left, you try him in Olofsson's place and see how it goes."

What show were you listening to and when? Instigators? Was this a spot on the Howard and Jermey show? EDIT: Here's the link to the segment. https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/02-20-marty-biron

I always enjoy the folks who, while discussing something like a hockey team for God's sake, think they are discussing mathematics, physics, or anything that has some underlying universal Truth attached to it. Jesus Christ.

He knows he was *potentially* on camera at any moment through the game, because he's not an idiot. He's a GM in the hot seat of a struggling team and he went on the road with them to watch the game from a box. Of course he's going to end up on camera several times during the game, and it's on him to know that, and of course he would. The prudent thing for him to do would be to assume he is on camera for the entire game, and measure his actions accordingly. I watched the Ottawa feed and they showed him like 3 or 4 times while commenting on the woes of the Sabres organization throughout the game. Everything about Botterill's public image, actions, comments, appearance, is measured and artificial. It's not a big leap to suggest he was aware of being filmed. I am not suggesting, however, that his reaction is fake. I'm sure he's upset as hell. Mostly b/c he knows he is going to be out of a high paying job soon, and will probably never have another one just like it.

Lots of folks here, and at all forums just like his one, whine about other posters. While other posters actually direct their commentary toward the team/subject matter in question. I wish folks would actually comment on the hockey team and not each other.

There is no question he had a little "Jesus, I'm F-ed" moment when he heard that news today, and let's just hope Pegula knows about it and some alarm bells went off in his head. Pegula has shown in the past that he will be very supportive of his hires, right up to the moment he turns on them and fires them. A lot of Sabres fans right now think Botterill is guaranteed to be safe through this off-season and into next season. I can see Pegula going in a new direct at the deadline. Or not. It can go either way. The 2nd Scandella trade has to be pretty damning, as you mention.

This team would be well served by a Pres. of Hockey Ops. because Terry Pegula is clueless, and so he needs a knowledgable hockey person inside his organization telling him what is going on and evaluating what is happening. Of course, you could argue the PHO simply becomes a de facto GM at that point, and therefore should have simply hired as GM. The Sabres organization will always be limited by who is whispering what into Pegula's ear. For that reason, I think we would benefit more than most organizations from more chefs in the kitchen.

Greg Wyshynski from ESPN.com said the same thing in his piece on the Sabres from a week or 2 ago... Well, he said this was looked into LAST offseason and considered, but then decided against. So this kind of confirms the organization has moved on from the idea.

He knows cameras are on him; he's not stupid. He's totally inept, but not stupid. This team is almost all his. And it's garbage.

Botterill has been and remains completely ineffective at his job. He has to be one of the worst GMs in the league right now. We will do nothing and go nowhere until he's gone. I've been saying that for over a year now. It's still true. I am hoping he is terminated at year's end, though I am not looking forward to him doing further damage to this organization at the trade deadline.

When the players on the team get a lot better, you will see that the culture has magically improved.

This whole thing was likely agreed to by both parties in an amicable manner prior to placing him on initial waivers. The Sabres get rid of his K and cap hit, he avoids playing in the AHL (which he'd never do), and he gets a new chance to sign on with a playoff team looking to add veteran D7, 8 or 9 man depth at the deadline. Only downside for Bogosian is he'll be signing his next K for something like league minimum, but it's the only way he's going to stay playing at the NHL level, or collecting an NHL pay check (even if at league minimum).

John Vogl does a nice job of summarizing Bogosian's Sabres career. And folks are wondering why the rebuild, or rebuild of the rebuild isn't working. ?

He was a terrible player, particularly in the last @ 5 years of his career. A high draft pick who never panned out.

Danny was tough as hell and a good fighter, but Larry is in a whole different weight division. Larry Playfair was a killer. Whenever I think of Larry, I think specifically of this fight. Note how he lunges for O'Reilly (I always hated that punk) and misses! Crashes into the boards. LOL. He then gets a hold of him and starts using him for punching bag practice. Larry's hands are gigantic. One of my favorite Sabres of all time.

I greatly enjoyed his period of commentary as well, including all the kidding he, RJ, and Rayzor were engaging in. What Sabres fan doesn't love Danny Gare? I had a large cardboard photograph cutout type of thing of him when I was a kid, kind of like a 3 dimensional trading card. That lived on my dresser in my bedroom for several years. When RJ said he was trying to remember the name of the big defenseman Danny fought in Philadelphia...and then Danny immediately said "Behn Wilson" I just laughed. Ah, the good old days! Hockey was so much more fun, entertaining, and compelling in Gare's era. It's pretty damned lousy these days, especially with the Sabres.

It means for the last few weeks, Botterill has been feverishly trying to orchestrate a trade deadline deal involving BOGO in exchange for absolutely anything with a pulse...and found no takers.

He's very lucky it didn't really impact his eye. Though he does have some damage on the upper eye lid. It was described during the game by the Detroit ice level guy as a "deep laceration". That looks like it almost went right through his nose!