Curt

I totally agree. They have no top 9 quality line that they can use in defensive situations. I think it was supposed to be Berglund, not sure how well that would have worked over the season, but he decided to check out anyway. Sobotka is terrible, Larsson cant produce anything offensively, and Mitts is not ready for something like that. Eichel and Reinhart were +8 and +7 respectively at the end of January, so that’s something. This whole team completely fell apart after that.

I suppose I would say that’s true. I just watched all 25 of Reinhart’s goals from 2017-18 season. At least 20 of them were less than 10 feet from the goal. He only got hit at all on, I believe, 4 of them.

Standing in front of the net and getting cross checked in the back 10 times, call it what you want I guess.

I think everyone is just guessing best they can. No one has to take anyone else’s view as fact. Personally, I hoped that he would be signing by now and still hope that he signs, but I would rather he walk than overpay him. I would probably consider anything above 7.5 to be an overpayment on a 7-8 year deal.

Ok. I thought we were talking purely about the quality of the players as opposed to how well they would fit on a line with Eichel. Also, I was talking about the players as they are today, not looking at what they were 3-4 years ago. Also also, I see you take Johansen because he is a better playmaker and Arvidsson because he is a better scorer, when I’m not convinced that either is as complete a player as Reinhart. Also also also, I don’t put any stock in +/- when comparing players on different teams, it could have a small amount of value when comparing teammates though.

Any reasons why you think that Reinhart is definitely a worse player than Johansen, Arvidsson, and Forsberg? To me it looks like they are all relatively close.

I think that Sam is just about as good as Nashville’s top forwards: Johansen, Forsberg, and Arvidsson. Not that makes your wrong necessarily. Nashville struggles with secondary scoring and has a terrible PP.

Last season he played through a pelvic area tear, pulled groin and broken ankle bone. He hasn’t been the same this year. He may not have every fully recovered. Maybe he can get back to something close to what he was, maybe not. He just hit 30 and has played a bruising style of hockey for 11 NHL seasons. He could be fading for good.

My take/theory supported by only circumstancial evidence: GMTM was hired by Pat Lafontaine, not Pegula, so that’s already one possible issue with a Pegula/Murray partnership. Murray was going for a quick turnaround after drafting Eichel by trading for ROR and Kane, and signing Okposo, etc. I think he was trying to push for the playoffs ASAP and was telling Pegula this. After failing to deliver, Pegula gave Murray and Bylsma the heave-ho. Pegula hired Botterill with the understanding that (1)Buffalo was not on the cusp of being a good team and (2)this was going to take some time. Botterill has pursued a much different, more patient strategy involving building up Rochester and trying to develop internally. I can only assume that Pegula knew this would be the path forward when he hired him. The tangible W-L results of the past 2 seasons were never promised to be particularly good, so Botterill has a little slack with the boss there. Murray failed to execute the plan he sold to Pegula. Botterill is sort of successful executing the plan he sold to Pegula by building up Rochester and being patient. The two probably aren’t being judged by the same criteria. I’m sure the results have been below what was expected by Botterill and Pegula so there is probably some disappointment there. You can only sell Pegula the future payoff for so long before you have to actually deliver, but I think Botterill is safe for now.

Yeah, he might give Girgensons a real run for his money.

2 points over 14 games is a 12 point per 82 game pace. Its not good, even for a 4th liner. This season, he is a shell of the player he used to be.

It’s too far in the future to really be able to predict. If the team is still terrible 3-4 seasons from now, I would say blowing it up could become a viable idea.

He has been quite bad.

Any player, including Crosby, Ovechkin, McDavid, E Karlsson or whoever, if relied on to consistently carry a team, will fail. I don’t believe that is possible in the NHL. Hughes would be no better at “carrying” the Sabres than Eichel is. It takes a whole team to play good hockey.

Regarding the Seattle job, isn’t that going to Dave Tippett? I believe he is already employed by the organization in an advisory role, with the inside track on being their first HC. Q and AV may still not want to work for Buffalo though. Who knows.

He’s worn the same number his entire 9 year NHL career. Probably not going to change now.

In the first half of the season, the goaltending was much better. That’s a major part of how.

Not League wide I suppose, but Bob McKenzie recently mentioned Buffalo as a team that could be making a coaching change. He usually is pretty on top of things and plugged in to talk around the league. For the record, I think they make a change after the season is over.

https://torontosun.com/sports/hockey/nhl/toronto-maple-leafs/players-think-d-j-smith-destined-to-be-a-head-coach Last season, Smith voted by NHL players as #1 NHL assistant coach who should be hired for next HC vacancy. Why do you think he’s not the guy for Buffalo right now?

Thanks. I’ve been lurking for quite some time, decided that I might as well add my 2 cents every now and then.

I would prefer an experienced HC. I’m thinking Quennville or Boudreau (I think he gets fired) ideally. I’m a maybe on Vigneault. If going with a first time NHL HC, I’d like Sheldon Keefe, DJ Smith, or Kris Knoblauch. I also think Todd Nelson may be worth a look. He is going to get a second shot at some point.