jame

4 million is a bargain for a very good 2nd pair D. Marner isn’t going anywhere.

The joke is on us... the fans What are you trying to say?

They could’ve started the season with ***** Matt Moulson or 2 of the 20+ forwards who were put on waivers... or more experienced guys like Oregan and Smith... or given Bailey a last chance... the point remains, you develop your prospects properly first, you don’t make decisions on their development path based on the NHL roster.

yes, time will tell.

So basically you think development is some sort of myth? so you don’t think Barzal benefitted from a 2nd development year before making the NHL? Where was the pain that the isles delayed dealing with by letting him develop that 2nd year? you think we got Mittelstadt’s pains out of the way, IMO we exasperated and extended them, by not helping him build the proper foundation. Good move for both sides

IF... Mitts wasn’t going to learn anything at the AHL level, that would explain why he’s been so bad at the NHL level. FYI Mitts has been among the lowest ES TOI forwards on the team... playing 2nd line center is Rochester would’ve gotten him more ice time for sure... not to mention potentially building on the pre-season line chemistry (Nylander-Mitts-Thompson)....

Yes. A ton of damage... being masked by two gifts from the hockey gods (Dahlin, Skinner). Botts traded away a prime aged all star center and got of bunch of crap and a lottery ticket in return... it was Milbury level stupid. and the trade culminated in rushing our best prospect to the NHL.... magnifying the impact of said stupidity.

Because properly developing prospects supercedes if you disagree with my view that mittelstadt was not ready, fine... argue with me over what made him ready/not ready... but if you move beyond arguing his readiness, then the # of forwards is an irrelevant argument with regards to how we handled/should’ve handled Mittelstadt. It’s neither an acceptable excuse or a credible driver of decision making with regards to the proper development of a key prospect

I think deference to jack on the PP is fine so long as he takes advantage of that deference with quicker decisions... everyone will benefit.

1. Yes it’s my opinion, which you continue to provide irrelevant counter points to. 2. We are talking about what should’ve been done at the beginning of the year. Your argument about # of forwards (which is irrelevant to making the right decision with prospects), wasn’t accurate to begin with

Jack consistently slows the PP down on the half wall... he has 4 options, but takes to long to take one.... he can shoot, cycle to Reinhart as he comes off the post, try to hit Skinner in the high slot, go low % cross ice to Dahlin, or reset to Risto at the point. The choice is his, but he needs to make it faster or the entire d resets and the rotations were pointless.

Me: you always send a prospect down if that’s what’s best for them You: yea but... me: No buts you: but 11 forwards... me: stop it also.... skinner-Eichel-Reinhart Sheary-Berglund-Okposo Erod -Sobotka-Pominville Elie-Larson-Girgs

Ok.

Yea, the obvious is obvious you jumped in to a conversation you clearly did not understand the context of Correct. I think he’s done a terrible job, and a ton of damage

The question is, "Why is Casey Mittelstadt in the NHL"... when you realize the answer has nothing to do with Casey Mittelstadt, the conclusion is Botts ***** up.

The #1 change that needs to be made on the PP is for Jack to become a significantly quicker and more decisive decision maker with the puck when operating on the halfwall. The value of the 1-3-1 is that it creates movement easily, and provides multiple options to the half wall. But Jack continues to slow things down... that needs to change.

i'd be interested how many D+1's have done that (in D+1 and then in D+2)? Remember how bummed everyone was when Reinhart was "only" a 40 point player his rookie year?

Yea, we disagree on that. He looks overmatched every night. He's getting super sheltered minutes (he's basically an offensive zone 4th line center), and he's still losing his matchups. He doesn't have the body or strength for the NHL game, and he can't process it quick enough yet.... the 2 KEY reasons a young player starts in the AHL.

I'm not stating it as a fact.

It's irrelevant to making good decisions with your top prospects... how is this hard to understand?

Choice 1: Have 13 forwards, but muck up the development of 2 of your best young forwards Choice 2: Have 11 forwards, develop your prospects properly, figure out how to add 2 other nhl forwards

Skinner had a full no trade clause... and would only waive for Toronto (home) or Buffalo (very close to hom). We were very very lucky to get Skinner. It's very very rare that a star player, would wave their NTC to come to a bottom feeder team in the last year of his deal. This year matters... it matters in terms of screwing up young players development, it matters in terms of wasting critical ELC/Bridge years for Dahlin, Reinhart, etc

No team runs their PP from behind the net. That's a fact. Unless you have some non-colloquial definition of "runs", then it's a factually incorrect statement. The Sabres run a 1-3-1 PP from the halfwall. That's a fact. What you hear... is on you.

I watched most of Mitts college career... it was clear he wasn't ready for the NHL. That was validated through the first month of the season... What would people think of Botts if he hadn't lucked in to Dahlin and Skinner? Those two fortunate events are masking 2 years of ineptitude at the NHL level. The question regarding prospects should NEVER be "if we send them down, who replaces them". If you think they need to be sent down... DO IT! Every other factor is irrelevant. Developing your prospects correctly is baseline competency... especially when "building through the draft" is your philosophy.

I simply corrected an incorrect statement.