JohnC

For one thing Jack is still a young player and the most talented player on the team. If the coach would be foolish enough to limit Jack's playing opportunities in order to better develop the other younger players he should be fired for stupendous stupidity. It may be wise to lessen his minutes in order to keep him fresher but that decision relates to getting more out of him per ice time. This roster is going to be relatively young. The younger players will earn playing time based on their play. Their development will not be at the expense of a player who will (other than the goalie) be the most important factor in winning. Once your roster is set you play the game to win. Granato knows that is the first priority as a coach.

Everything in your post is purely speculative. There is no question that he and the organization disagree on the treatment for his injury. There's no secret about it because both parties have publicly commented about the issue. Is Jack unhappy with the dysfunctional and losing situation he is in Buffalo? Of course he is. It would be abnormal if he was not. Does he want out? I wouldn't be surprised if that was the case. But what he hasn't done is make any public comments about whether he wants to be here or not. And he isn't the only player who is tired with the situation here. It shouldn't be surprising that other players have publicly made it known that they wouldn't mind, if not prefer, a change of scenery. I believe that Jack is probably going to be traded. However, the questions about his health status may end up preventing or delaying a deal from being consummated because the return at this point wouldn't be adequate enough. Where I disagree with many here is that the target of criticisms shouldn't be so much directed toward the frustrated players as it should be directed toward the organization that has stumbled for nearly a generation.

He's in a strong enough position where he doesn't have to do anything he doesn't want to do.

I respectfully disagree. If the Sabres would not have agreed to the restrictive clause he wouldn't have signed here. The organization decided to agree to the clause that Hall insisted on. It was a reasonable position for the organization to take.

On the Hall issue I understand your stance but disagree with it. If the Sabres would have stubbornly refused to move Hall because of the NMC was prohibiting us from getting a better deal then how would we have benefited? Getting nothing for him? Not only did we get a second round pick and Bjork in the trade because of his departure the organization was able to give more playing time to a young player/s and better assess them. The bottom line is that the team agreed to terms with Hall with the restrictive clause. No one forced the organization to agree to it. In my mind the Sabres made the best of the situation that they could.

Beside the ROR trade what other trade are you including in the ignominious category?

As you point out there is nothing in his history to suggest that he would behave in a disruptive way if he wasn't moved. His health situation and how to address it are complicated medical issues, especially for a young player who is passionate about the sport. He may be wrong as to what is the right treatment for his injury but the reason for wanting to risk a short cut in his treatment is so that he can get back on the ice as quickly as possible. Although he may be misguided it is understandable why he wants to take that riskier course of action. The overlay over the Jack situation is that he is tired of the losing and lack of team success and progress. It is the same overlay that clouds the Reinhart situation. In my estimation it is more probable that Jack is dealt than not. But if he is not and his health is restored the outcome will result in the Sabres being a better team. For those who doubt that outcome I suggest you watch the highlights of the goals he scored in 2019-2020 season. The talent is stunning! How soon we forget!

What is true is that this organization is not recognized for its competency and stability. That surely is a disqualifying factor for a segment of the players on the market and players with NMC. This franchise's maligned reputation is well deserved. But to put things in perspective a lot of players don't want to go to many locations for a variety of reasons. Some players don't want to play out west while some players don't want to play north of the border. The NY area teams may appeal to some players while others have no interest to play in that high cost and densely populated areas. As you point out the misconception that Buffalo is an undesirable destination is an exaggerated notion. In fact, if Buffalo can regain its footing there should be a lot of appeal because its location is close to where a lot of players reside just north of the border. And it shouldn't be forgotten that this hockey market has the potential to be an vibrant hockey market once the franchise reestablishes its credibility.

The Sabres do have leverage. They don't have to trade him.

The deal I would find reasonable is Zegras, Comtois (you frequently tout) and 3OA. Ideally, I would prefer to get a player who can eventually be a 1C in a Jack deal. I saw some clips on Zegras and was impressed. I can understand why Anaheim is so reluctant to give him up.

Hall was brought in on a one year deal. The organization was aware of the complementary role that he was expected to play. He was brought in to play on a line with Jack. Jack got hurt and Hall kept missing the opportunities he had on a line with Jack and not with Jack. Needless to say the Hall acquisition didn't work out. However, it wasn't a crazy or unreasonable pickup. It was a one year tryout deal that if it didn't work out each of the parties could walk away from each other. A lot of people are critical of Hall's NMC in his contract. I'm not one of them. If the Sabres were not willing to accept the clause he wouldn't have signed with us. He ended up being traded to Boston where he played with better players. It shouldn't be much of a surprise that in a better environment he ended up playing well. Maybe without the NMC the Sabres could have gotten more in a trade but the return we did get for him was more than a decent return for a player who was going to be an UFA. (I do like Bjork.) There is a lesson to be learned here. The best way to get production from any player who is currently on the roster or added to it is to build up the supporting cast. There are no quick fixes or shortcuts. The more talent that is added to the roster the greater probability that the other players will be more productive. If this organization wouldn't have been so atrociously inept in roster building just maybe the omni topic of discussion of trading Jack and Reinhart would never have happened.

Would you be reluctant to draft Johnson within the 10-14 range?

Of course if the team sucks its is going to be extremely disappointing. I didn't say otherwise. This team at least for the short run is not necessarily going to be better without Jack or Reinhart on the roster. But that doesn't mean that with the new composition of players this team won't play better and be more entertaining. And if this expected young roster consistently plays hard and the young players show that they are capable of getting a lot better then the fans will be receptive and enthusiastic about this team. Most fans are realistic about this upcoming team and its prospects. It's more about the near future than the present.

I agree with you that a resolution on the Jack issue is a trade. But I disagree with you that not making public comments about his status indicates a negative prognosis. What Jack and his reps and the Sabres don't want is public commentary about this situation. Keeping this issue private between the parties is the right approach to avoid discord and misunderstanding. If teams are seriously interested in trading for Jack they would be given the required medical reports to make such a major decision. It seems to me that the parties involved are handling it in the right manner and professional way.

We are more in accord than discord.

No I would not value Kent Johnson more than Beniers. Without question I would take Beniers ahead of Johnson. I would make my judgment about each of the players not only on the numbers but also how they play. I would look at the totality of their game.

Let's use your Kent Johnson example as a prospect and your statistical analysis of him. I'm not as enamored with the numbers as you are for an 18 or 19 yr old player as I am with his tools. The issue for me becomes are the numbers associated with him as a late teenager or early 20s going to tell you what he is going to be as a player three to five years down the road. I understand your belief in the stats. I'm just not as beholden to them as you and others are. They certainly are important analytical tools but not as determinative as some believe it to be for such young players who have a lot of physical and emotional maturity growth ahead of them. What it comes down to we that you give it more weight than I do.

I'm aware with what you are saying but I'm not as captured by the stat line as many others are. It's not unusual that players whose talents are not fully utilized on one team can have much better numbers when playing with another team where there is a better fit for their particular skills. I'm not disagreeing with your view so much as giving more weight to the context than you appear to give in your analysis.

Much of the success and failure of Adams tenure will be associated with the return he gets on the upcoming trade. There is a lot at stake for how this roster is going to be comprised next season and the near future.

As you indicate it is in everyone's interest for Jack to return to full health. Most people believe that he is going to be dealt. If the medical reports are positive more teams will be interested in him and those teams would be more likely to increase their bid recognizing that his health status is less questionable. It seems to me that Adams is playing it right by not rushing to make a deal for the sake of getting rid of a nettlesome issue. If I had to make a guess I would say that a deal will be announced around the day of the draft (July 23, 24) or just prior. It would be a blockbuster day if a Jack and Reinhart trades were announced at the same time.

The lesson to be learned is to hold on tight. 🤡

One of the main reasons that I am not so wedded to the statistical analysis in evaluating players as others are is that they usually are examined without giving the context. As an example on a good team such as Tampa they have top caliber players throughout all their lines. A third or fourth line player there could be a first or second line player for us. Whereas in Buffalo which has a dearth of talent you have third line players very often playing on the second and even the first line. Overlay that distorted line assignment with suffocating goaltending then the stats are certainly affected. I'm not saying anything that is very illuminating when I say Buffalo lacks talent compared to the better teams. That's as obvious as saying that at night it is dark. What the Sabres need is an infusion of players in order to allow for the players to play the lines and roles they are meant to play. When that happens the stats will follow and be more meaningful. One other point regarding Granato's stat line compared to Krueger's. As you mentioned in the abbreviated season when he took over he wasn't afforded much practice time. And because there were so few games left in the season when he took over there wasn't a large enough sample size to get a fair analysis. In this situation you should put more credence into the eye test than the hard numbers. Related to what I have said it seems as if it is a foregone conclusion that Jack, Samson and maybe Risto are going to be dealt. Although the players coming back won't be as good as our top two going out there needs to be enough players coming back in those trades and free agency to broaden our talent base.

What your metrics don't show is that he didn't have much practice time to work with the players he inherited. What your metrics don't show is that his team was stripped of many of his players in order to assess the young players, many of them brought up from the AHL. What your metrics don't capture is that he was working with an AHL level, or worse, caliber of goaltending Regardless what his record was in his abbreviated stint behind the bench the eye test clearly shows that the players, young and old, demonstratively played better with him at the helm. No coach is a miracle man. You work with the players that you are given. All you can ask your coach is to have them play with maximum effort and play up to their abilities. What more can you ask for? Next year there will be some coaches who have more talented rosters whose teams underachieve. If he has a less talented team that overachieves and comes away with a poorer record compared to the more talented team that doesn't mean that he didn't do a better coaching job.

If you want I'm willing to share with you the warning points that I earned. 👽

It's ironic but when short cuts are taken the road to respectability is longer. Expediency may give you a sugar high but it is short lived. In a league with a lot of experienced and talented GMs and front offices you will never be able to catch up to those well run operations.