JohnC

Do you know which of our best players the Sabres will get rid of this offseason? None. You are right that the organization did get rid of its best players this offseason. Both Reinhart and Risto were dealt this past offseason because both players made it clear that once they reached their URFA year they were going to leave. So they were traded and got reasonable returns under the circumstances. And Jack made it clear that he not only desperately wanted out but that he wasn't going to submit to the surgery recommendations that the organization wanted. The return for him was reasonable. I want to make it clear that I have no criticism of any of these core players wanting to get out. They understandably wanted to be free of this franchise's disfunction. This was a situation where the organization and the players needed a reset. And that's exactly what happened.

It's like running a marathon with the moronic strategy of starting the race only to get to the quarter marker and then reversing course to run back to the starting line. It's just plain freaking stupid! I understand the frustrations of the fanbase. But as exasperated as the fans are the current course of action that this franchise is taking is the right course of action.

It doesn't matter how great a player is in order to have team success. In hockey you have to have a supporting cast to have success. You can build around a super star with roll players in basketball but it doesn't work in sports such as hockey and football. Trading Jack was the right thing for him and the organization. It was time for this franchise to recalibrate. It seems to me that the franchise is now rebuilding the roster with more talent spread around. The process is going to take time.

Be cautious. https://oilcity.news/community/2022/01/10/never-trust-anyone-on-ice-fishing-conditions-guide-says-ice-slow-to-build-this-winter/

Few people would argue with you that the franchise has been poorly managed during the Pegula era. The record is the record and is a reflection of the extended ineptitude of this organization. But let's not forget that the Pegulas also made a lot of mistakes with the people they hired when they took over. Finally, they hired the right people and allowed them to run the football side of the business. The rest is history. If people had the ability to change the current owners what would they want done differently? They would want the organization strengthened from the front office to the coaching staff. And they would want a coherent rebuilding plan that would be adhered to instead of this constant churning of staff and plans. We got that now! Granato is the right coach for the roster full of young players. And without question the front office and scouting department have been upgraded. What is needed is a little more patience to allow this rebuilding process to work. The mistakes of the past are the mistakes of the past. Now it is about the future. We need to stay the course.

To your credit although you didn't have him on top of your draft board you have been more than fair in assessing his play in college. And to your credit you have been more than fair in breaking down his game and how he has evolved as a player. You are an example of an evaluator who is open-minded enough to not skew one's later views in order to fit one's original evaluation. That should be acknowledged and saluted. 🍺

If the injury doesn't get worse and he is more of an asset than a liability then I have no problem keeping him on the ice. From a standings standpoint this season means little. If by playing it will help his development from a long-term standpoint than it would makes sense to continue to play him.

I agree with your observation. When he was hurt and out of the lineup Granato stated that because of the nature of his injury he couldn't practice shooting while rehabbing. I'm not really sure what the specifics of his injury are but it is apparent by his reluctance to shoot that he is still hindered by the injury. I wouldn't be surprised if it took an offseason for him to be fully healed.

What is your source that it is a foreign owned company for more than a decade? From what I gathered it clearly is not. There may be some foreign owned shares but it is a fraction of the shares of the company.

Newspapers around the country having been falling by the wayside in this digital age. The media business in general, especially local news broadcasting and papers , has been subjected to a lot of financial stresses resulting in a lot of consolidations. Compared to the struggles of most paper/media outlets the NYT is doing relatively well in making the transition to functioning in the digital age. The NYT may not be a good investment for investors but it is a viable enterprise. That in itself is an accomplishment.

You give a fair representation of the status of this team for now and the next couple of years. Assuming the organization stays on course, next year this roster is going to have an infusion of at least half a dozen young players. Not all of them will quickly adapt to the elevated play of the higher league. But what all of these players will have is an upside that bodes well for the not-too-distant future. It's unlikely that there are going to be major trades that will bring in any impact players. Improvement is going to be predicated on internal talent within the system. What is encouraging is that we already can identify a half-dozen or more players ready to make that climb up to the higher league. (If one adds Tuck to that list it definitely is more.) It is not outrageous to believe that in two years the Sabres will be in a better talent situation than the Bruins, and maybe even the Penguins, from the talent standpoint that we have more upswing players than they do with their older players who are more in the down cycle of their careers. Hopefully, this organization (ownership) needs to have the fortitude to stay the course.

Great work! After looking at your list one takeaway is that our prospect pool is getting deeper because our scouting is getting better. I'm aware that not all the prospects were selected during KA's stint but a lot of them were. That in itself is encouraging.

Right now Dahlin is our best blue-liner by far. What he needs more than a mentor is a better support system i.e better players around him, including the forward lines. My fear is because of this constant losing he becomes discouraged with his situation and takes the Jack route of demanding to be moved. During Rasmus's multi-year stint he has been subjected to constant losing, no playoffs and now mostly empty home arenas. That has got to be dispiriting. Playing in this covid environment is challenging in of itself for every team in all sports. In addition, I really worry about players such as Dahlin who are expected to be one of our core players. The psychology of constant losing can beat down your players. When one of those players is one of your younger and more talented players then it becomes a concern.

Because of the accumulated mistakes of the past there was no other plausible approach to rebuild this franchise for an owner who was hemorrhaging money in his hockey enterprise. I agree with you that if this franchise wasn't managed so poorly during the Jack and Reinhart tenure this mostly start from scratch reconstruction wouldn't have been necessary. However, we are where we are. If this franchise was managed wisely both Jack and Reinhart would still be the centerpieces of this team. However, no matter how much we lament over our self-managed destruction we are where we are. I agree with you that this rebuild has risks. There are no guarantees. Without a doubt success is predicated on making the right personnel decisions. What's positive is that the Rochester group that is ready to move up soon looks promising. It's not unreasonable to believe that half-dozen futures will be on the roster next year. Although I believe that a three-year timeframe is a reasonable period for this team to become a serious team that doesn't mean that next year this altered roster couldn't be a competitive and entertaining team. If UPL develops into a mainstay goalie then I will be very optimistic about our near future.

Are the Pegulas most responsible for this franchise's spiral into mediocrity since they bought the team? Most people would agree with that view. However, it seems to me that their involvement in personnel decisions has changed from involvement to disengagement. I believe that this front office is making the hockey decisions without much input from the owners. There is no doubt that the owners still have a say when money decisions are a factor. That business reality is an approach that applies to all franchises. Since KA took over as a GM he established the new course of rebuilding by dealing away the high cost prime players and replenishing the organization with cheaper players and future assets. This is a strategy that the owners would be happy with, especially since they are hemorrhaging money in their hockey business. What was the inglorious past was the inglorious past. What's happening now is that this regime (that includes the owners and hockey staff) has made a decision to rebuild a muddled franchise by giving it a direction and coherency that it lacked for a long time. For a variety of reasons (mostly, but not all financial reasons) this organization has no option other than to rebuild from within. There will be no significant outside acquisitions that will accelerate the process. Counting this year, I see this process taking three years before this team becomes a serious team.

To be succinct: He is a collaborator. That's why his putting together a quality staff is encouraging.

@dudacekis the rare exception where quantity and quality can exist together. Hockey knowledge and grace make for good reading. 🍺

Our views are very much aligned. Sometimes there is too much effort in labeling lines and players by numbers i.e. first, second and third lines. What I see happening with this roster is that it is steadily being thickened with more talent. It's not inconceivable that this team can be constructed in such a way that against good teams although our first line isn't as talented as the opponents first line (doesn't mean it can't compete with them) our secondary lines can compensate for the talent deficit on the first line. If you examine our current and near future center players they include Cozins, Tage, Mitts and Krebs. In my view none of them is a 1C. But as individual players all of them in my view border as 2C caliber players. (Mitts is still an open question for me.) And the same line of thinking applies to the wings. Is Tuch a first line wing or more of a second line wing? On a good team I would consider him a second line player. I have to credit you with making a keen observation. With respect to each of the centers in this discussion you note that each of them has a distinct style. That certainly will be a factor when assembling a line regardless whether it is considered a first, second or third line. It seems to me that KA prefers having a more well-rounded team even at the expense of giving up higher end talent such as Jack. That is what I see happening in this rebuild here.

The poster was JeffisMagic. I remember him well. He was obsessed with Mahomes before the draft and after the draft. He couldn't get over the Bills not selecting him when the Bills were in position to take him. In retrospect, he was right about Mahomes as a prospect and player. There was no topic in which he didn't bring up the Mahomes issue. He just couldn't let it go! So he as a poster was let go. The banning was more than warranted.

We are not that far apart in our views. As of right now I don't see us having a #1C on the roster or in the system. However, I do see us have having a couple of #2 caliber of centers in Cozens and Krebs (near future). Is Mitts a #2C? I'm not sure? If he is a borderline #2C then that isn't a bad spine to build around. I like Cozens a lot. He's the type of grinding player with skills that you want on your team. I just don't see him as a #1C. The more finishers we get on the wings from future players such as Quinn and JJ the better we can compensate for not having a genuine #1C at this time. I don't want to go back and argue about the past. However, this organization had a top tier #1C in Jack. It squandered a marvelous opportunity when it didn't provide enough supporting cast. We are where we are. It's time to move on from what could have been.

I have considered Krebs, JJ and Quinn and second line NHL players. Quinn may be a first line NHLer.

You may not have intended it but you got my optimistic meter rising higher with your Quinn observation. 🍺 If Olofsson can get back to his usual sniping standard it would be helpful. (I believe that he is still impaired from the injury he had. It's obvious by his reluctance to cut loose with his shot that there is still a lingering problem.)

Was he injured or was his issue related to covid?

What's Cozens's health status? Will he be ready for the next game?

It's difficult to compare players who have different styles of play. Krebs is more of a set-up center with exceptional vision while Cozens has more of a driving and grittier style of game. In my opinion both of them have the capability of being a 2C caliber of player. They are simply different players with different games.