coastal

I would agree about Mittlestadt spending some time on the Merks, however something tells me they agreed to keep him on the big club to get him to sign.

Some quick hits... - At the end of a west coast swing, beating the Kings and Ducks in their barns on a back to back is pretty damn cool. - Having Bogo back changes the depth of this defensive core dramatically - I liked the defensive pairings of Bogo-Scandella, Risto-McCabe, Nelson-Dahlin - Mittlestadt may not be making the score sheet, but Housley appears to have him focused on the right things. The offense will come. - realizing its still early, there’s a legit goaltending competition brewing. - Botts appears to have totally corrected the Amerks - I still don’t see this as a playoff team

I would agree except for the back to back tonight. and thanks!

Hutton gets the start tonight. Ulmark has absolutely earned the next start after that. It’s a game by game decision at this point and absolutely should be treated 100% like a competition from this point forward.

The reality is that to properly build an entire organization from where we were... 5 years. GMTM was scout level in terms of skill sets and left the Sabres and Amerks in awful shape. Jack, Risto, Dahlin, Reinhart (if he’s still here), Mittlestadt (if he develops) and whoever we get in the 2019 draft will either be entering the prime of their careers or into the last year of their rookie deals. 2017 - 2018 flush the bowl 2018-2019 flush the bowl part deux 2019-2020 might be a playoff year, but likely not. 2020-2021 better be a playoff year. 2021-2022 better be another playoff year and perhaps series win or two. 2022-2023 is realistically when a Cup run window might open... if Botts and team push the right buttons along the way. Any slip beginning in the 2020-2021 year from this plan, Botts risks getting run.