triumph_communes

Smith is worth so much more than Bogo lol. So much more Whatever we do I hope it’s soon though.

Lazar should stay!

Who is calling the 2018 draft a bust?

Unintentional tanking and Murray style tanking.. Top-3 draft picks after years of picking high before that is still the same result. And yes, Pittsburgh tanked before their drafts.

I meant in the prior decade under Darcy. I agree about the 2017 draft-- Botterill didn't really miss, there wasn't much there.

Darcy and Murray both were severely below-average performing GMs when it came to hitting on draft picks. And Murray traded away half his draft picks for bust trade targets to boot. I don't think it is fair to say tanking is pointless. Chicago and Pittsburgh tanked just fine, with their top-picks capping off their runs. Ours failed because we didn't hit on a single damn prospect until Eichel.

You can go back even further than that and see why the tank was a necessity in the first place. We spent 5 straight seasons under Darcy missing badly on their 1st round selection, and trading away their 2nd rounders for utterly failed rentals. Murray was quite bad, especially for a supposed scouting savant, but the tank was made necessary by a decade of awful drafting before Murray.

The look on Botterill’s face when he made the pick made it seem like he wasn’t so sure at the time either but I believe that Minnesota kid in Minnesota held all his cards and forced the ELC and instant NHL

We acquired him on a Thursday, if he was lucky he was able to figure out his paperwork to submit by the end of the day Friday. It's US government, so I wouldn't be surprised they take two weeks before even opening it up to tell him he's from a poor country and they have no idea who this Terry Pegula character is and are going to need a hand-written letter from him with a re-submission, and an in-person interview that's not available for three months to ensure he's not just going to abandon his job and hide in the country. Then you find out he's from a single-parent household, so the immigration officers deny him from a psychological point-of-view. Anyway, it's not a simple change. It'll completely change his Visa and I bet he's stuck in Canada waiting it all out, as stupid as that sounds, so he won't even get to spend the meantime figuring things out.

Find it funny he lost his number literally a week later But I imagine the guy couldn't be happier. At no real cost to the Sabres. And it at least changed the attitude in a game against a team they've been bullied by for 6 straight heartbreaking games prior. Good for him.

Lehner being a headcase in his tenure is just part of the disaster that was Murray. Guy spent all the years of assets like an addict for 'his guys'. Yet, the compilation of 'his guys' ended up with a team of alcoholics, me-firsts, and no culture to reign any of those bad actors in. Do none of you remember O'Reilly's brother? His dad before he came to Buffalo? What he did as soon as he signed his contract, literally defacing a player we have in the rafters and running from the scene? Ya'll think that just ended off the ice? haha Evander Kane... the guy who only had a modicum of success when a player literally forced him to live with him to get his act straight, and even then, has let down his new team on his new contract. Bogosian.... do I need to say more? Okposo-- woosh Also, Murray missed on every single one of the prospects that were 'his guys'. They were all complete busts except for the 7th rounder-- and you can't give anyone credit for a player they waited until the 7th round to try picking. Murray single handily mismanaged every part of the tank, and I still don't believe anyone gives the current cast enough benefit of the doubt of how bad things were from Murray's tenure. Remember when Housley started and flat out said-- these guys can't even pass the puck I don't understand how they're NHLers, I need to spend months going back to the basics before I can even begin implementing anything I was doing in Nashville before this. Woo, that was bad Go back and don't make any of those trades. Just draft with all of those 1st and 2nd round picks. Assume he still misses on every pick he still took (where he missed on every single one), and give him half of the remaining picks he didn't. Still below average hit-rate, but better than we have today. Now look at our line-up prior to what Botterill had done. Night and day. I'm not sure Lehner being good for us would've made much of a difference. Goalies are a problem today, but the guy still is a headcase. Botterill managed to sign a UFA goalie to wean-in Ullmark, who is actually doing fairly well. No all-star, but hard to complain too much. The Islanders, after his great season with Lehner, still moved on from him. And if he stayed with us he's making $6MM for another 5 years at least. Nope. Worrying about Mittelstadt is a bit premature. At least the huge miss, in a stacked year with Nylander, ended up turning out majorly in our favor with a trade.

I'm not enamored by Daboll, and Gore getting so much use is all on him, but I agree with your assessment otherwise. We need better players still, and next year is when the cap is finally available to not have excuses in the roster anymore. We got rid of Owens early this year for Singletary and that was about as ballsy of a move any coach/GM could make, and it was a great one. Singletary's injury slowing down his progress this season is one of the few reasons I think our offense took so long to discover itself. As long as they can keep the defense mostly intact we're in business. More reliable catchers, better blocking from the TEs, a new fullback, and at least one great receiving threat and it's a whole new team. Just like the Sabres-- who finally have the cap room and the prospect pipeline built-up enough to actually compete next season.

Interesting the O line held up all year until the playoffs. Tho it wasn’t always linemen missing the assignments

Allen again goes crazy in the moment. That’s who he is, lol, maybe if he had good receivers it would make a difference. When Duke Williams is the receiver he had to rely on for all the big moments, it’s hard to blame Allen at the end of the day. And next season were poised to fix the damn receiver problem. Refs were horrendous. I get caught up every year and then get reminded how their ***** calling and non calling destroys every game. They call phantom holds to give Houston momentum on their TD drives, but then ignore their whistles on Buffalos redemption drives to the point where it nearly cost them the game. Cant really blame Allen for those terrible missed assignments. Watson’s recovery time win the game was absolutely heart wrenching. Bills should’ve won. They should’ve lost after that disastrous drive down the field yet they managed to get it to OT and nearly defend two pointless drives in OT. The team has heart, game is hard. Not scoring in multiple red zones killed them. And I blame Daboll for that. I hope he leaves Im not impressed by any of the positives he supposedly brings. Don’t understand why our defense couldn’t make a goal line stand? Those 2 point conversions shouldn’t have happened. At least it’s was the most entertaining game I’ve watched in a long long time. I had hope, something that Tyrod never gave me.

Florida looked slow.

Frolik will end up with Eichel at this rate of injuries, lol

Calgary fan reports have mentioned he doesn't look worse, just getting less minutes as his role is redundant.

He skated halfway across the ice to tell them lol

Ya I still don’t understand it. But neither did I for half the rest of the game too

Needed a top 6 forward and a bottom 6 forward. Yet to see which of those Botterill thinks this is I only wish it happened sooner. But Scandella needed time to up his value from completely negative

Yet to see someone who wants Botterill fired to come up with any realistic alternative timeline that would've made a difference. Assume ROR was a decision from above, and those UFA's Botterill offered more money to and didn't land no other GM would have either. Yes we all want something to happen today, but trades are hard. He still managed to get us a bonafide ELC top-2 defenseman for a total bust and Jeff Skinner for a 2nd round pick. Our future outlook is great. It's just six more months until he can really start focusing on winning now without having to hemorrhage the future to do so.

Eichel+Reinhart? Ok, not worth watching

McCabe for Wood makes a lot sense, but only helps the bottom-6. Bogosian for Simmonds would at least make our team better until the end of this year, but that's just shifting deck chairs. I think Bogosian can fetch something better if they hold him until the deadline though.

McCabe overpricing himself is what Samuelsson is going to replace

Are we sure the injury wasn’t Eichel and Reinhart getting sloppy before the game? Crap he’s bad