PerreaultForever

But they are not here. You can't say we have the guys we got from picks we traded for if we are unloading the guys we picked to get those picks. There's no progress there. What we got for Eichel and Reinhart does not equate to what they are. Dahlin as I said was one of the two first overalls. I'm not going to say "we drafted well" when we pick the top ranked overall #1 pick cause we were first pick. Nobody is going to say Islanders GM was a genius this year for picking Shaefer. You could also argue we should have taken Draisaitl not Reinhart but what would be the point of that? The point is IF we were truly great at drafting we'd have a roster filled with our draft picks and we would have hit on several lower picks as our bottom six and depth at least so we wouldn't have to trade for that and keep getting that wrong as well. Considering how high we consistently get to pick and how many extra picks we have, our drafting has been mediocre at best.

Not entirely true. A lot of very high picks so a lot of players but how many Sabres picks do we have on the roster aside from the 2 number one overalls? Quinn, UPL, Samuelsson as guys who should be good by now. Benson and Kulich (and maybe Kozak) as young prospects on the roster. Is that really a great draft haul for a team this bad this long? How have the later rounds worked out for us? Now they rarely work for anybody, but you really can't say we have "drafted very well".

prepare yourself. It's coming.

Murray made many mistakes but you can boil it down to a few huge ones. 1) drafting. Our Nylander vs. their Nylander pretty much sums up the difference between Buffalo and Toronto 2) trying to build a forward group and thinking D wasn't necessary. I mean who can even remember who he had on D and JBot basically inherited a D with who? Bogo as our best D? It was laughable how bad that D was. and 3) putting all his faith in a psycho goaltender. Otherwise, Leafs had Marner, Nylander, Matthews and brought in Tavares. We had Reinhart, (our Nylander), Eichel and brought in O'Reilly. If you swap Nylanders I actually like our group better and those 3 have all shown they can win. The rest of the roster however, pretty much garbage.

Maybe Terry has been complaining to the league about NTCs (without taking any responsibility for creating the situation that put Buffalo on all the NTCs).

I know, but that's been an ongoing thing with me forever. Don't build a regular season roster that you know will fail in the playoffs. Start with the idea of building a playoff type roster and keep upgrading talent until you get there and stay there and compete there. We need players who open up space for the other skill players and players who are on the ice when somebody rocks Thompson or maybe this year it'll be Dahlin. We need grit on every line not just the bottom 3. Joshua isn't Tom Wilson (the ideal version of top 6 grit) or Sam Bennett etc. but he has shown enough skill at times that he could succeed in an elevated role. Again, I just think they construct the roster in a bad and always failing way. Insanity. Just doing the same thing over and over again.

No I see that but I think you also miss my point. The composition of the team isn't going to work. Those lines won't work. I want some grit in the top 6, not just the bottom 3. In the playoffs, Edmonton had Hyman with McJesus. When Hyman got hurt who did they put there? Jeff Skinner? No. Corey Perry. and it worked until they ran up against Florida who are even better at that. This is the kind of thing I'm thinking about. Balanced roster. This is easy. I'm trading Quinn. I hate that lazy soft piece of crap.

Just like Wookie you guys seem to think one guy is all you need. Just absurd. I'm reserving any judgement on Doan until I see him actually play for us. I didn't see much Utah hockey so I have no idea what his if anything. Don't get caught up into thinking he's his dad.

What? You're acting like Greenway is everything? You have one guy who might hit somebody once in a while and that's it? That's all you need?

True, but you're not adding him for points. You're adding him to make your line up tougher. That "harder to play against" mantra we heard Ruff and Adams use here. Also to open up space for your supposed skill players to do what they do. Leafs are managing to turn themselves into a more balanced hockey team now that they aren't salary heavy in the big top 4. 2 1/2 much easier to manage than 4.

A 4th? A freaking meaningless 4th? 1) wtf are the Canucks smoking lately? and 2) could Kevy not have offered more? Is it really 12 team no trade bs again? Terry's really f'd this up.

I would definitely make the call and see what the price tag is. Guy still has a high ceiling from where he's at. If we can get him for prospects or picks definitely.

Oh you Rochester watchers are going to love Kuntar. He's a tempest in a teapot and gets in everybody's face. Bruins fans were wishing he'd become a new s##t disturber for them but he didn't show the skills required for the NHL. He's an AHL guy but the kind of guy Rochester could use big time to go with their skill guys.

This is really Kesselring in Peterka out. The rest is a wash of equivalents. Kids being a year older has been the battle cry for a decade plus now. So Peterka gave us 20-30 goals. Will Kesselring prevent 20-30 goals? Even if he does, it's still the same.

Well you don't have to look far because most of those potential tank teams are not in the Sabres division. First off there's Florida. Same basic team, going to make the playoffs even if they coast a little and don't care about top seed (team is likely a dynasty only at the mid point in a 4-5 year run) Then there's Toronto. Might lose a few points with Marner gone but that team isn't dropping like a stone. They will be in the playoffs like it or not. Tampa. Question mark. Will they fall finally? Been predicted for a while and never seems to happen. I figure they will stay about the same. Ottawa? Could fall but look slightly better, more mature, if Ullmark is healthy and good can't see them being worse than they were. Montreal? Definitely improved. Unless things go horribly wrong there with injuries that team should keep rising. So there's already no spot without a massive increase in points. Massive. Detroit is kind of like the Sabres. I like some of their prospects better but unless Gibson has some sort of change of scenery rise they will miss again and stay a few points up or down from the Sabres. Bruins? Can't figure that team out and I follow them. 40 wins and 40 won fights? Lots of question marks with that team. Still lacks offense. I suspect they will do another deadline tear down, try for McKenna, and then try to pivot quickly with free agency. They have much less patience than the Sabres. But Sabres could finish ahead of them this year for sure. Bruins could surprise and compete for a wildcard but things would have to go very right for them and Swayman would have to be Vezina level. Even if you just add the wildcard pressure from Columbus and NYR the chances of the Sabres, who only marginally tweaked the line up from last year making the playoffs is next to nil.

Perhaps most of the GMs just think well, we aren't beating Florida yet anyway so why waste it this year when next year's FA crop is so much better.

Listen to what he says about Peterka. (and Scott's reply)

Conor Clifton on the Tage Thompson hit incident, the trade and other stuff. His comments on the Tage incident starts around 29 minutes. I'd start there unless you like to listen to John Scott.

I agree with this 100% but also know that unless things change I'm sure the Sabres are thinking he will come in and take Byram's spot in 2 more years.

But what we really wanted was never to trade for Byram in the first place. He's not our 3-4 by the way he's our #2 paired with Dahlin. Power Kesselring is likely 3-4. Jeff Skinner? He was unwanted and San Jose needed him for the cap floor. Notice Olofsson is also still out there. Boston isn't sure what to do with Mittlestadt and he's likely temporary until Hagens or Poitras are ready. Ex Sabres aren't in high demand it seems. But that's like a whatever. You brought up Skinner for some reason. The reason fans are upset is the team didn't do much of anything to make itself better. Slightly better on D maybe, worse on O. Dependent on several players already on the roster staying healthy and producing more. It's almost certain we will end up with similar results to this past year. That's depressing going into a new season.

In theory yes, but the way the Sabres have been operating we will just use these guys (and Mrtka) to just fill the holes we will get when guys like Byram walk or when Dahlin wants out etc. We've had this sort of rotation going on for quite a while now and we almost always fill with rookies.

Well 2 years to UFA puts him in a prime spot at 26 or 27 or whatever ready for a big payday anywhere he wants so I'm sure he's happy with that even if it is Buffalo. I suspect his ask for a longer term deal in Buffalo was too high for Terry and his hand puppet Kev and since they are incapable of making good trades this was relatively easy to get. So at least we have the belief that the D will be better for the next 2 years and we have to hope Quinn gets better and Benson and Kulich keep developing and if the injury squad stay relatively healthy well then if it all goes well and UPL doesn't suck well maybe, then maybe, we only miss the playoffs by a few points and maybe still pick in the top 10. One can dream can't one.

So is he still a UFA in 2 years?

This isn't wrong, but you take the first part to an extreme to make your point. It's not so much that they might be scared (I certainly hope that's not it) but more so that they prefer to play a relatively low contact open ice game and that's what's been encouraged by the organization. The emphasis has been on skill over brawn. Sabres have always believed (in this era) that you get enough skill you can add the brawn after but it's the skill that matters. We are all seeing that this is folly (as some of us knew it would be) and you need a balanced approach and a strong culture to insert players into rather than trying to add that later. The real problem for me is twofold. First, a lack of strong veteran leaders on the NHL roster, and a poor development system that stresses skill over complete game development. Thus players like Cozens, who were considered hard working battlers in junior are told to focus on their skills and they come up against "men" along those boards and they lose their puck battles and slowly degenerate rather than develop. It will be interesting to see if Ottawa can rehabilitate him or if he's permanently broken. I'm almost certain they won't work with him the same way we did here and he will be pushed to use his size and maybe develop his strength. That's actually a third point, and maybe the one new hire in terms of conditioning will finally get this right. Put some damn muscle and weight on these kids. Cozens was still a beanpole and shouldn't have been. Quinn is a stick. Power needs more strength. Of the kids, only Benson looks like he is developing a stronger upper body and could press anything substantial relative to his weight. BEEF UP!!!!!!!!!!! Then use it.

idk and I suspect we never know but remember the shot of Lou Lamorello in the Buffalo airport? So one assumes he interviewed/talked with Terry before Jarmo was hired. Did he say no thanks after seeing the financial constraints and owner oversight or did owner decide he wasn't the right guy and wouldn't say yes enough? Did anyone else say no? Did Shanahan actually call and ask? I have no idea on any of it but I think one thing we can conclude is there are experienced hockey people who are or were interested in coming here but either they sour on it or the owner is an impediment to it. That is almost certain.