Pokey Jones

I was only half kidding. I don't even think you're allowed to trade cash any more. You can take on salary, but you can't give bags of money. At least I don't think so. But yes, I would pretty much give away Reinhart if I could unload those two salaries. That would allow a quicker and proper rebuild.

Torts can't do anything unless he has players willing to buy in. The Sedins quit on him and he was booted out of Vancouver fast. I don't think he could survive this team of slackers.

Great goaltending in Colorado.

Apology hockey has begun yet again.

Yes, I don't think we are going to transparently "tank" again but winning the lottery and getting Dahlin won't hurt. The number of dumb moves and mistakes this team has made over the last however many years you want to go back has to be near the most in the league. You rebuild with solid drafts and numerous players not just one guy. I look at a team like Philadelphia who were never as bad as us, but pretty bad a few years back and they have quietly filled the pipeline and seem poised to build one of the best defensive corps in the league. Sure they lucked into the 2nd overall pick last year but none of the rest of their new people were first or second overall picks, they were just good solid draft choices. Good scouting and patient rebuilding. Just one example. If JBot does this the right way, it sadly has to be viewed as year one in a long process. I fear we aren't going to be good for a while yet and if he screws it up maybe even longer.

What can he really do other than blow the whole thing up? Win the lottery get Dahlin start over. Aside from Kane, who will be traded for sure if we are out, who is going to want anything this roster has to offer?

Hey come on, "they played well", just "a couple bounces". http://buffalonews.com/2017/11/04/lehner-sabres-watch-the-wind-leave-their-sails-in-loss/ lol - what a sad excuse for a hockey team this is. Again.

lmao at this article. http://buffalonews.com/2017/11/04/lehner-sabres-watch-the-wind-leave-their-sails-in-loss/ "a couple bounces", "played well", anyone still want to question the idea there is a culture of losing and acceptance on this team? That game was pure crap and Dallas only had to play half a period well to win it. I truly thought it would be better this year.

You're absolutely right. You cannot argue with the economics of the deal, even if he is only average or short term. If he is better, it's a total win win.

Our owner is rich, how about they offer them Okposo, Moulson, Reinhart and 20 million bucks.

This is the difference between a team that does not know how to finish against a team that knows how to put the puck in the net when they get a chance. That was also a lesson in how you should run a PP i n this league. High speed and quick passes and a one timer into the net. Perfect. We need to learn how to do that. But what's the deal with McCabe? A couple games where he looked great like he was finally to take that step up and now total rubbish. Just horrible D. I don't get him.

Well they sure tried to give that one away didn't they? lol Satisfying to get a win though. Brief moments of brilliance and some bits where they used their speed and we saw glimpses of the future potential if they can put it all together. The Kane Eichel combo was beautiful. Gives me a slim bit of hope even if this was against a crap team. One thing though, are they quietly trying to tank? I mean why is Eichel/Pominville out on the ice after a time out for the last minute??? Shouldn't that last minute be all ROR and the best D players and checkers on the team? Pommer is not what I think of when I think defensive specialist. Weird choice. But a WIN. Enjoy.

I personally think you need a grittier guy on that line so if you use Kane as your scorer Pommer is the wrong guy to be the third and vice versa if you have Pommer then not Kane. I know Kane can be considered gritty, but that's not really his style lately. Zemgus is much better in that role. Bailey should be that guy too, but he just wont' use his body.

Correct me if I'm wrong but didn't it come down to Bylsma? Didn't he stand by his coach and so they said ok, you're gone as well? I might have that wrong, I stop paying attention last year.

Coyotes are really bad so we should win this easily right? Sure hope so.

There will be a bias towards players who play the system better or seem better suited to it, even if they are not performing that well. Housley will feel they can be taught and improved if their skill set is a fit. In this regard I am worried when Beaulieu returns cause he was awful but I think they truly believe he has a future here due ti his speed and mobility.

True, no way to know from outside who actually did the work in any organization. Given the hindsight, if I was a new GM I might want to try to steal a few of the scouts who were/are there at that time with some pay bumps. I mean that would be my first move in general as a GM. Look at other organizations and see what they drafted successfully and try to get those scouts to work for you. What they mostly do though is hire people they know. Not sure what JBot did in that regard. One area we have failed in aside from bigger names everyone knows about is in our Euro scouting. It's a softer faster league now and there is more room for European styled players and there has been a lack of those type of players coming through our system (again aside from big names who maybe were not looked at closely enough - Nylander). Hopefully this will change now.

Well yes, but I am thinking in terms of building an organization for now and for long term success. You need to work from the foundation. This was a huge failure for Murray, not building a great farm system. A great goalie will take you farther than you should really go. Take Montreal for example. They can't score either, but last year they were ok due to great goaltending. This year Price has been a bit off and they are just as bad as us. Schneider is playing really good for New Jersey, add a few youngsters and they have instant improvement. You just can't have a goalie who lets in soft 3rd period goals on a team that is struggling offensively.

I've always thought you should draft a goalie every year and have a farm system full of them. Goalies are weird creatures and many of them don't develop until later than other players. Look at Bobrovsky as an example. You end up with too many good ones you will always be able to trade them but you need to have a huge goalie development system. You simply will not win it all in this league without great goaltending.

As Drunkard said, it's the term that is the issue. Yes, they needed to get to the cap floor (signing a goalie might have been a better idea there) but you give him a 2 year deal for that. Okposo's term was also too long but no doubt Murray thought we would break out like Edmonton did last year and so he was desperate to sign a big name winger and that was the best available, he got out negotiated simple as that. Isn't it interesting that guys who had big years playing with the islanders get over valued and never live up to that after they leave? I don't see him play much, but it makes me think Tavares is a much better player than people think.

People expected Forsberg to be good, but nobody knew he'd become the warrior that he was. Daigle - ya, that was a bust and a half. Remember that one to feel better next time Eichel has a bad game.

Well that's why he was hired, but I would have to suggest it wasn't him OR he deferred to his staff here. or he ran out of luck. Whatever the reason, he was better there than here.

I think it was one tank. He started the year before but it was all about McDavid from the get go. This was the problem with Murray, the entire plan was just get McDavid and nothing else really. Well not much else anyway. He didn't build an organization from the bottom up, didn't instill a culture, an attitude. It was all just get the "generational player" and we'll be good for a generation. About the before post, ya, it rambled. My point was only that many of those teams albeit better than us have also disappointed their fans frequently. BUT a team like San Jose, despite being a choke team, is a perfect example of how we fail. They have always found players with lower picks and undrafted gems. That's how they stay competitive, good drafting/scouting. If you don't have that, the rest don't matter.

Pretty sure Ottawa was accused of tanking one year. Can't even remember who it was for or if they succeeded. Somewhere during the era where they were last a bunch of years in a row back around the time they drafted Chara. Also I think Washington way way back. You mean tank again? This year?

Nashville? perennial choke team boosted by having a great goalie until last year when they emerged due to the Subbhan deal and the emergence of their D as a whole - (a D coached by Housley). Minnesota? Never gets over the hump. Boosted themselves with a big free agent double signing but a team in cap hell with no chance of winning it all. San Jose? One of the biggest choke teams in the history of hockey. Anaheim? Big physical team that always competes but hard for them to win it all in this league now. led by Getzlaf, Perry and Kessler which is how different from Eichel, Kane and ROR? Boston? We beat them :) Total overhaul happening due to cap issues and a change in philosophy to fit the new style of the league. Yup, that's a well run organization. Rangers? Another great goalie but their time may be over. Not looking good this year at all. L.A. is a team you might want to look at for success. Ottawa and Calgary are underdogs who have done some good quiet drafting. Tampa. the thing about Pittsburgh is the league changed right at the right time for them. half a dozen or so years ago Kessel was deemed a floater, too soft, now he's a star again. He didn't change, the league did. LA and Boston smashed their way to cups and Crosby was mugged by Giroux. None of that holds any more. I'm starting to ramble, sorry. It all comes down to how well you draft. We didn't. We suffer as a result. You know, thinking about it the other way, the futility teams, only Phoenix has arguably been as bad as us in terms of building and improving after a bad season. Edmonton, Winnipeg, others have had years of futility but I'd say we are definitely in the running for worst team in the league over the last decade.