JohnC

If it was a straight up Quinn or Kulich, I would give a hard no. I like Krebs because he is an effort player but to me is a replaceable player. Right now, I'm getting the sense that if a second-line forward is added it would be a veteran player who has already peaked and is on the downside and less costly. Maybe someone who is in the Zucker stage of their career.

The general point that the commentators seem to be making is that beyond the talent level, which they find within a competitive range, is a mindset and belief that they are a worthy team. It just seems that the psychology of losing has overshadowed this franchise for a very long time. It is said every year but maybe just more so this year is to have a good start and stay in the mix and not have to have the added stress of playing a catch-up game. For me, the most important issue for this team is its goaltending. If it can be at a consistently solid level, then we should vying for a playoff spot. If that doesn't materialize, then this will be another sunk season.

If it simply was Krebs for him I would be open to a deal. The Columbus player is not someone I would stretch too far to get.

The problem isn't that he shouldn't be considered but rather what would you give up for him? Hypothetically, would you give up Quinn or Kulich for him? I wouldn't. Would you give up one of our top prospects such as Helenius and a first-round pick? I wouldn't. Would I give up Krebs and maybe Helenius? I would seriously consider such a proposal.

Of course, some people do. So what? Taking a big swing just to give an appearance of doing something significant makes little sense if in the end it is make your roster worse.

Absolutely not! There's a big difference between taking a big swing and a dumb swing. There has to be a general balance in value between what you give up and what you give back. I'm sure that Byram was dangled on the market. Apparently, the return was inadequate. So he was signed on a short-term deal. That was the right course of action, at least as I see it. It was known that JJP wanted out. So he was dealt. In my opinion, the return for him was reasonable.

With respect to the first three names you gave you are giving up more than you get in return. That’s not a prudent way to go.

Trading either Bryan, Quinn or Benson would be a grand mistake. Krebs is another issue. I don’t believe Krebs has much market value.

If you feel offended I apologize. I didn’t intend it to make you upset.

@GASabresIUFANhas been sent to a rest home to treat his uncontrollable rage and depression related to the GM's lack of activity this offseason. Georgia George wanted the GM to completely turn over the roster and get rid of all the dead wood i.e. 90% of the roster. However, he's been ordered by the psyche staff and his family to take a break from SabreSpace where he constantly works himself into a self-induced rage. I'm sure after a revitalizing respite Georgia George will become a calm and placid Sabre fan once the season starts. Out of deference to his mental health I will not mention the name Owen Power. His fuse gets lit whenever that name is mentioned. We all wish him the best. He's a treasured member of this discordant community.

It seems that our blue line unit has improved. The issue that overshadows everything else is the play of our goalies. Will UPL continue to flail, or will he play a calmer and more disciplined game with a better D in front of him? Will Lyons be a sufficient #2 or even #1 if UPL doesn't regain the promising form he had a couple of years ago. That's where my attention is going to be when the season starts. If that position isn't stabilized, the season will be sunk before we get to the halfway point. And then you are going to see an internal revolt by our best players who will start the "get me out of here" chorus that has been heard before. This is where I'm at. It's an unsettling situation to be in. But it is not a surprise that when the organization is rickety, the foundation is vulnerable. When your mentality is not based on getting better but rather of getting by, you end up always hovering around the fringes.

There was no real search for a coach. It was a flimsy charade. The owner selected whom he wanted to select. The owner again went with his nostalgic impulse. A third- rate owner acting like a third- rate owner. No surprise. The surprise would have been he having serious coaching search.

I just bought a new 2025 car. I still can’t figure out how to fully operate the radio and sites associated with the onboard computer. Can’t they simply design basic cars for us archaic people??!! These freaking gadgets make me more grouchy than I usually am. You and I are kindred spirits.😀

Now Byram has put himself in a position to put himself in a “prove it” situation whereby his next contract will be based on. If he excels, he benefits. And also his market value goes up if he ends up being dealt.

Don’t feel bad. I’m stuck in the 90s. Now where the heck did I put my flip-phone? 🙃

Old school @Pimlach has become a new aged coddler. What in the world is going on!!!🫣

You make a keen observation that JJP wasn't singled out for criticism of one's play. Coaches critiques players and hold them accountable in a variety of ways. There is nothing abnormal about that. What's surprising to me is that the Sabres are rightly criticized for soft and irresponsible play. So when that issue is emphasized and there is an attempt to hold people accountable, there is a response by some that old-school coaching was not appropriate for this particular young player. That doesn't resonate with me. You are right that JJP had options that the other contractually bound players didn't have. So he exercised his prerogative; and so did the organization. The GM traded a discontented player for players that hopefully will help strengthen in other areas. That's the sports marketplace in practice.

You are astute and perspicacious. Some people get invested in their own narrative. The longer they promote their own narrative the more unwilling they are to see a different course. So when the Sabres go in a different direction (maybe temporarily?) due to a lot of variables that can't control, this pumped up crowd becomes deflated when the outcomes deviated from their road map. There are plenty of reasons to be critical of this flailing franchise. But in this particular case the GM acted reasonably well with the situation on hand. The moral of the story: It's easy to get angry when you work at it.

I would say yes. If the GM couldn't get a fair-value return for him in a trade, then it made sense for the player and the franchise to stay here. With him, our blue line unit is more than solid, it can be quite good. Of course, there is an assumption that Power will advance as a player and that Samuelsson stabilizes his game. What this short-term deal is give the franchise more time to seek better options if they arise. There are a lot of things to criticize our GM for, but not for how he handled the Byram situation.

Why did the coach ride JJP? It surely wasn’t because he was responding to what the coach/es were telling him. So an old school coach coached like an old school coach. Big freaking deal! The player couldn’t handle it. I’m not suggesting that JJP is a bad fellow. What’s obvious is that he wasn’t as receptive to coaching and as resilient as he needed to be. In the end, the player made it clear that he wanted out, and got out. He was traded for players that filled other needs. What this backwater franchise doesn’t need is lingering dissatisfaction in a room already filled with a lot of existing frustrations.

Terry P is not out of touch. The organization and staffing is structured the way he wants it to be. If he wanted things to be done differently—-it would be done differently. KA is the GM he selected and has retained after more than 5 years of a flawed and failed rebuild. No other owner would have considered KA to be their GM or would have retained their GM with such a paltry record. He’s the owner and is doing what he wants to do, not what others want him to do. Incompetence paired with stubbornness is difficult to overcome.

What are you talking about? My comments directly related to the discussion. How he played certainly was a critical issue. And that he didn't want to stay here (apparently so) made the situation untenable especially considering his contract status. If a player, especially a young player, is not responding to coaching, then what do you want the coaches to do? Recoil, and not address the issue? In the end, the player got what he wanted, and the Sabres got a fair value return. (My opinion.) This is a case where a good young player was being coached up. He wasn't responding to it very well. So he was traded. You may want to put this issue in cosmic theoretical terms but I'm not. This was an individual case of relationships among the player/coaches/organization. He didn't want to fit in, so he was dealt. On this issue we see things very differently. That's okay.

Criticizing the owner, GM and coaching staff are warranted. No one is going to argue otherwise. But that doesn't make it invalid to be critical of a young player who is being "coached up" because there are inadequacies to how he plays. He's an offensive-minded player while being deficient on the other half of his game. What are the coaches supposed to do when his lax defensive play hurts the team? Be worried about his delicate psyche when pointing out for the umpteenth time that he needs to be more aware of the player he is supposed to cover? The Sabres are a recognized flawed franchise headed by an oddly aloof owner who is clueless. We are all aware of that inescapable handicap. But that doesn't mean that every player can play the way he wants to without respect to how it affects the team. In general, the Sabres have been categorized as a soft team. So the staff is trying to bring more discipline within the group and by adding to the group. It appears that JJP was not responding well to the message that the coaches were trying to convey. As evidenced by how he played, he tuned them out. So for me it comes down to that they dealt a player who didn't want to be here for players who wanted to be here. I have offered plenty of criticisms for the GM and organization. But for me, this is a case where the GM and organization handled this situation reasonably well.

If the owner would have swapped Jarmo into the GM job and made KA the POHO, I would have been ecstatic. With that organizational reshuffling I would have considered this offseason a resounding success. KA's has done a respectable job this offseason with the JJP trade and the acquisition of Lyons. And a Byram trade is looming, or maybe not. Either way it can still work out well. It's just that this stagnant franchise needs a major change in the hockey operation, and moving Jarmo to the GM position would have made sense.

I understand why you feel like you do when smugness is exhibited by outsiders. However, what's more upsetting is not the smugness directed toward this puny franchise as to why it happens. It's embarrassing that when Toronto plays Buffalo in our home arena that there are more Toronto fans. They literally have taken over the building so much so that if you were watching the game and didn't know where it was played you would assume that it was in Toronto. Our franchise has been degraded. And it was done by its own regime.