MakeSabresGrr8Again

JMO.....even if he had the talent to work with, having only a short period of time to install a system and get that talent that hasn't played together, ready for international tourney, seemingly would be harder than working with professionals over an 82 games season. The Pros should need little motivation other than their paychecks and "love of the game" and fulfilling their childhood dreams.

Captain Jack

Who's gonna take left dot face-offs? We're screwed...LOL

Because of his pajamas? You build a team by developing within......THEN you add the veteran presence you need. Botts isn't saying "To reach our ultimate goal we need..." but he's right that we need the improvement to come from within first. If Mitts doesn't improve nor Dahlin or any of the young core, do you think that just adding more older vets will make us win with them still in the line-up? Likely not. If anything those vets will become Berglund/ ROR 2.0.

We may not know for sure yet ,but it seems that most people on here agree that a 2C and a little "edge" will likely vault us to a playoff spot. In other words, not a lot of change is needed and some of that can be attribute to Botts and his plan because some of that might come from Roch. The organizational depth is where Botts has done most of the change so far and we will likely see the benefits of it soon.

Larsson, Girgs, and Risto are really the only ones from Nolan era left on the team (Bogo, McCabe,Reino had limited duty under Teddy). You can tell too, these are the guys we don't complain about as far as work ethic (skill maybe). Like someone else said.....Housley shouldn't have to do it on a game by game basis. Look at Phil's background working with youth and you can't deny he "should" be the right coach (or ask P.K. Subban). Team USA didn't win the Gold with him as an assistant, they won it with him as HC.

Snakes?

Of the D we gave away I'd rather have McNabb back.

I would still like to get Pesce from 'Canes if possible or similar.

He's already evaluating him against AHL talent and coming up short so far. Rather he brings up Olofsson to evaluate.

For what you would have to give up to get him and decimate our roster and future, we couldn't be better off. Giving up players(Jack and Rasmus/Sam) and 1st rd picks will make it even harder to re-build around Connor. My biggest fear is that .....we are becoming the Edmonton Oilers already. Phfffew....that was terrifying to spit out.

Rockies? Was that an outdoor game?

You mean the "McDavid surrounded by garbage yields garbage" and "strip the assets required to acquire him, from just about any team in the league, and you wind up with McDavid surround by garbage"? Just proves my point that we would be garbage either way and continuing on our path would likely take less time to rectify our problems.

Send Sobotka to Tampa. I want to see if this is true.

I would also add that as a 20g scorer and 56/58pt seasons .....isn't that where ROR sits in that 55-65pt range. I'm not real familiar with Miller(only by name and he's a decent player)what other tangibles does he bring that could help relieve the ROR thingie?

Has it really failed? I have a really off the wall theory. Is there any argument that we all looked forward to Jack reaching his potential but needed wingers to support him with some chemistry? JBott brings in Skinner and Jack "starts" the evolution. But is that enough or do you want to "push" him to be even better? With a limited middle six, our top line knows if they don't bring it that a loss is more than likely. Hence the "push" to be better. Would that "push" still come if our middle six was better and Jack & Co. weren't relied on as much? Is Botts pushing the top line to play their best and then add the rest for a better future?

You can root for Anaheim now that they have Guhle.

I forgot about responding to this part..... A good number of the players on last years team are not even in the NHL this year and its been talked about on here a lot. So what did you expect from that roster other than maybe a Ted Nolan team (especially seeing his son was on the roster). Housley wasn't given the tools to succeed last year. Then we got rid of ROR and Kane while bringing in Sheary and Skinner. Let go of Lehner and got Hutton. In your opinion did we get better or worse or relatively the same? Depending on how you feel about the moves we made, did we give HCPH the tools to be that much better this year? Think about switching out players like Sobotka for Nolan or such on the roster. Over and out.

Are you sure about this? Or is it that of talent in the forwards position not scoring enough to win games? Is our D deficient enough to make our goalies look bad? Sure, our tenders let in a bad goal now and again, can't deny that as all goalies do at times. Are our Dmen clearing the front of the net or are they chasing opponents to the point and back and forth? are our forwards supporting the D? Or are the opposing goalies inspired before the game because they know they can easily boost their numbers for the evening while the Sabres forwards not named Skinner or Jack will shoot the puck and miss the net or hit their crest? Better yet, just give the puck away. Guess what I'm getting at is that there is a lot more work to do in all aspects of the game. There have been quite a few times where I actually felt bad for the goalie because he was making the saves but the team in front of him was playing like crap as usual. JBott needs to make improvements for sure to the roster before we will see what we've been waiting so long for.

No I'm asking you to look at the last couple years(not this year) and compare the stats between the goalies from both teams and see there is no difference and in some instances you could say Oilers goalie was better. Are you comparing Ethan Bear to Risto? I'm not comparing Nurse to Gorges either. Apparently if McD is as good as you put him up to be, then he should have no problem at least doing the triple shift thing you brought up. Buffalo doesn't have anywhere near the horses you claim and our ever changing lineups and roster plays into it also. I think you're convincing yourself that there's a much bigger difference in the two teams than what really existed over the the careers of the two. I think we'll be better off with what we have in Dahlin/ Eichel/ Skinner/ Sam over the next few years than we would without Eichel and either Dahlin or Sam and having Connor. We don't really disagree that McD is talented or that he is better than Eichel. Where we disagree is on how much the difference is and whether or not its enough to raise the Titanic from the sea.

Again, I think you are over-stating the differences between the two teams. And shouldn't the world of difference between McD and Jack make up for it?

I think you are way over rating the difference between the two. It shows when you look at the two teams and where they're at. If McD is such a great difference maker over Eichel then why ism't Edmonton much better than they are? both teams have their issues but are basically equal over the last few years in roster quality (not accounting for any difference in Jack and Connor). I may be under-estimating the difference between the two but you are over-estimating at least equally. To say that McD is a world ahead of Eichel is pushing it greatly. I believe Connor has reached more or less a peak where as Jack is still able to elevate even more. Proof being all the comments on here about Jack's "coasting".

Lets say we finish with that 78pts you're looking at. GMTM and Bylsma dropped from 81pts to 78pts trending downward. Botts and HCPH will have trended upward from 62pts to 78pts despite their post win streak spiral. I'd say things are different now.....how much is the question and whether or not you believe we will trend upwards more or not. With the draft and FA signings coming up, I'd prefer a wait and see what changes can be made. Also would like to see how Amerks handle the playoffs and who might be rewarded a jump next year.