GASabresIUFAN

So we traded Grigorenko, Zadorov, Compher and a high 2nd for Thompson, Johnson and what we got for McGinn. That seems fair.

Unless the goaltending is upgraded or somehow outplays how they have done the last 3 years this is a 60 pt team max. 25 wins 10 OTL.

While I don't want to turn this into a tank thread either, KA said when he couldn't re-sign Ullmark he "pivoted" and signed Dell and Anderson. I took that to mean he pivoted from supporting the kids with good goaltending to not supporting the kids by giving them crappy goaltending and thus helping to insurance a bottom of the standings result.

IMHO Quinn, Portillo, Weissbach, Huglen and especially Samuelsson are way to low.

Two words: Anderson, Dell

I've been very vocal about my distain for tank 2.0. I hoped KA would build on the growth the team showed under Granato in the final 25 games last season. Instead KA opted for tank 2.0. Oh well.

... and beyond the 1st rd? For example TB has drafted 14 centers after the 1st rd in the last 8 drafts, including 6 in the 2nd and 3rd rounds (including Cirelli and Point and both 2nd rd picks in 2020). By contrast we have only drafted 8 non 1st rd centers, only two of which were in the second rd in Asplund and Davidsson. The other 6 were in the 5th rd or later. This is not just a KA issue, but a 20 year organizational issue for failing to draft and develop centers. So over the last 8 years we have drafted 4 guy intended to be top 6 players and then did almost nothing to build depth at the position underneath the stars. It's why we have to sign guys like Eakin. It's partial why our rebuild didn't work. We can and should do better.

To KA's credit he is committing to these kids, creating some cost certainty and some stability with these deals.

He’ll probably give him 8 for 2.5 years

Now if he just get Dahlin to sign for that.

I expected a little less, but this works. He should play to at least that level over the next 3 seasons. If he becomes a real top 4 guy then this will be a bargain also.

He is 0 for two drafts. PS I don’t hate Adams the person, I think he is unqualified for his position and in over head and the results speak for themselves. I don’t there is any objective measure that says he is doing a good job.

Again, If he gets a center prospect for Jack great. Like the 2022 draft that’s a complete unknown. Eichel is still a Sabres and out injured. If he gets moved it might not be until the trade deadline or even next off-season. I’d love to see, Zegras, Rossi, or Krebs in Buffalo, but we have zero idea if that is going to happen. We all thought KA would target a forward prospect in the Reinhart trade and we got a 7th rd goalie (who I admittedly like). My stance has been and always has been that the spine is the most critical piece of a hockey team and you can’t have enough players and prospects at that position. I think wingers are a dime a dozen and excess centers can be converted tp the wing and wingers are easier to acquire in trade. The only certainty right now is our pipeline has 3 good goalies, a bunch of solid D and a pile of talented but unproven wingers. The piece missing from this picture remains centers and that could have easily been addressed with some better decision making; Rossi over Quinn, Raty over Poltapov. That’s all I’m saying. I’m not exactly sure why you are arguing with me because you actually agree with the drafting mistakes.

I agree we need forwards. Last I looked centers are forwards. I also would have drafted Eklund and Beniers over Power. I also agree next year’s draft looks deeper. The problem with saying we’ll get them next year is you have no idea how those prospects will shake out or where you are drafting. It’s a complete unknown at this point. You have to do what’s best for the organization today. My complaint is about this organization failing to draft and develop centers for the last two decades, not just KA. The last 4 GMs have mostly ignored the position outside top 10 picks and this failure has been a huge factor in getting us to where we are. KA is just another in a long line of failure. Blindly using BPA without taking organizational need into account leads to drafts like Jbots all D draft or this all winger draft. It is a poor way to build a pipeline and a team. You said you had Rosen, Lucius and Svechkov in same tier. That means your evaluation of their talent was nearly identical. If the players are nearly identical, why not use organizational need as the deciding factor?

Just make sure your trading for healthy players who aren’t locker-room cancers. That would have prevented most TM’s trades.

Centers can always be converted to wing, but rarely vice versa. Depth at center is one of keys to having a good team and now as @Thorny said we are dumping are two top centers, we need to restock the position and ignoring the position for the last two drafts doesn't help. Also who cares what 2022 brings. That's another year away and if we draft centers then great. The more the merrier. Yes, I loath the Adams Administration, but I've also applauded him when he makes the right decision (Granato, Risto trade). It also doesn't absolve him for ignoring centers in the draft for two straight years while trading away his two best centers. Quinn over Rossi and Perfetti, Poltapov over Raty. Rosen over Lucius and Svechkov. These choice just don't make sense and have left our pipeline bereft of centers.

But you are proving my point. Svechkov over Rosen, Raty over Poltapov. Those simple changed would have given us two quality centers in the pipeline and this issue melts away. and better management.

I completely missed Asplund signing at the end of July.

Again it's more then just blue chip centers. We need to draft and develop depth centers as well. Asplund is the closest example after Derek Roy. We need some of our 2nd, 3rd and even later round picks to develop into something and some of them must be centers if we are going to sustain a team beyond the initial rebuild. Again you can't develop what you don't draft.

I was talking outside the top 10. Sam's impact on the Sabres was definitely not at center except the last 25 games.

There were plenty of quality centers available when Rosen was picked and when the 2 Russians were picked in the 2nd. Svechkov, and Lucius were higher rated players and centers when we took Rosen and quality enters Raty and Pinelli were available deep into the second. You of all people like to talk about who we should of taken. At least one and maybe of our picks higher end picks after Power should have been a center(s), especially given the drafting of JJP and Quinn the year before. You can't develop what you don't draft.

https://buffalonews.com/sports/sabres/kyle-okposo-on-jack-eichel-everybody-wants-some-closure-and-some-answers/article_5337aa56-0b67-11ec-b724-070dbf205153.html He certainly isn't having surgery this week.

ask capfriendly This will end up being a huge bargain for the Sabres. @Thorny weren't you just asking when the RFAs will sign?

Big Z has mostly played wing for us, but is arguably the only impact center drafted who actually played center. That a terrible track record over 20 years.

18 prospects - 22 players of which 4 are in the NHL, thus 18 prospects and zero centers amongst them. Yes 22 has centers, however my broader point is we aren't drafting and developing any depth at center besides top ten picks. We need them in the system from beyond the 1st rd and we need some of them to become NHL players long-term. TB has Point and Cirelli drafted after the 1st and Gourde who wasn't drafted at all. That's how you sustain a great team. The last non top 10 center drafted by the Sabres who made an impact on the Sabres at center is Derek Roy (2001). If Asplund returns to the middle maybe he'll break that streak. In the last 4 drafts we have drafted 4 centers besides Cozens, one in the 5th, 1 in the 6th and 2 in the 7th. This is not the way to build an effective pipeline.