JohnC

Excellent analysis and write up. You bring up a lot of interesting questions that will have a little more clarity when the season is concluded and the next camp begins. An issue central to your discussion is assuming that Mitts or Cozens continue with their upward trajectory is which of the two players is better suited a #2C with the other taking the #3C? Right now I'm not sure which player eventually earns the higher role? With respect to Mitts and his current linemates although there is a comfort and fit there is an argument to be made to bring in another second line caliber winger and construct an even more potent line. By buttressing the second line you also benefit by improving the lower line/s with the player/s sliding down due to the addition/s. And just maybe instead of categorizing the lines as second and third line maybe you can piece together a 2A and 2B line.

You make a piercing observation lost in the Krueger failure. Hiring Krueger was a gamble to begin with because he was such an out of the box hiring. Needless to say it didn't work out. The bigger failure here was keeping him on longer than he should have. It was apparent at least a dozen games into the ignominious streak that the team quit on him. The owners and the front office should have made the firing a lot sooner. I don't know of another franchise in the league that wouldn't have acted sooner. That is an indictment on the ownership.

Dahlin, Joki and Skinner will strenuously argue otherwise. It would be difficult to name one player who isn't playing better under Granato than Krueger. You don't need analytics to recognize the demarcation point between a team that is moribund and then quickly becoming a team that is revitalized. This is a case where you simply need to trust your eyes.

It is great watching the kids get better.

A couple of short observations in this game: The Sabres are playing with speed and their passing is sharp.

Not really.

Entering the third period the team is playing well in front of him and he seems to being playing with confidence. (I hope I don't jinx the team in the remaining period.)

Odds are that the Sabres will lose to the more talented Capital team. That wouldn't be a surprise. But that is not to say there isn't merit in simply playing hard and being competitive regardless who the opponent is. Also, there is a large contingent of young players on this roster who are being given a lot of playing time that they wouldn't get if they were on a fuller team. This is an opportunity for them to accelerate their development and earn future roster spots. And for a player such as Skinner this is a time for redemption and an opportunity to prove that the dispatched coach who went out of his way to bury him was grossly wrong about him as a player. If Skinner can play at the level when he first joined the team that is like adding a new impacting free agent instead of having a high cost player who faded into oblivion.

After watching a number of games since Granato has taken over behind the bench I can't think of one player (maybe Risto?) who isn't playing better than when Krueger was there. Dahlin immediately morphed into the player that everyone expected of him when the coach who handcuffed him was replaced by the coach who unchained him and instructed him to think less and play with a freedom where his talents can be expressed. Under Krueger Okposo seemed like a worn out plow horse who had nothing left in the tank. Now he is playing with purpose and grit and seems to be a stabilizing influence. The difference between Skinner now and before is night and day. He still has his deficiencies but now at least he is a factor that the other teams have to account for. It just seemed that Krueger went out of his way to bury the player because he didn't represent the type of hockey that he was espousing. When watching the game I thought overall Boston had the edge. They gave full effort just as we did all game long. Although I am biased my takeaway from this game is that we have a larger and better younger core than they do. That presents a glimmer of hope. It's just a question of how long will it take to be realized.

The trade deadline is not the period of time where you can reshape your roster. It's the offseason deals where meaningfully changes usually happen to one's roster. You make it out as if there were alternative trade options that would have brought a better return than what we got for a Hall, a non-productive UFA. There was no team in the league that would have been foolish enough to offer a first round pick or impactful players for a high cost reclamation player. Whether a trade was made with Boston or any other team the return would have been in the same value vicinity.

I agree with you that the operation will go back up to a more NHL standard level. But it is my belief that this short-term approach set the franchise back from both a competitive and financial standpoint stemming from fan participation. However, I believe that they could have kept the organization in tack and made better player contract decisions that would have save the same if not money. Your citing the Hall contract is an example of that. If you dig a hole deeper you end up having to spend more time filling it.

It's not difficult to understand the financial reasons for why the owners took the austerity route. However, they saved a penny in the present in order to lose future dollars. The implications of how they responded to this stressful economic environment will reverberate beyond this season. Now they are dealing with a season where the team is a bottom feeder. And this is after already undergoing a brutal rebuild. How many current fans and future fans have tuned out? And let's not forget that the Pegulas were not the only owners facing this health crisis. My point is that this is a man-made disaster that has made the interminable rebuilding process even longer. The end result is that they lost in the short-term and hurt them in the long-term. That's not very smart.

It's undeniable that he Pegulas have stupendously misruled this franchise. Anyone who is clueless enough to disagree with that obvious assessment should review the team's inglorious record under their stewardship. If they can't be embarrassed by what has transpired this season then they are irretrievably shameless. But let's not forget that when the Pegulas bought the Bills they grossly blundered for the first few years as new owners. The hiring of the clownish Rex Ryan was not only a bad hire but it was also a weird hire! But after a few years they hired the right people (McDermott and Beane) to run the operation, and in short order not only did the team start to excel but the organization is now recognized as one of the better run franchises in the league. Can the same cycle of upswing happen with the hockey franchise? I guardingly believe so assuming the hockey staff is upgraded and fully staffed. If anyone doesn't believe that having the right staff makes a difference then look at the dramatic improvement under the new coach. The level of play is now astoundingly better and more aesthetically pleasing. Truth be told I stopped watching the Sabres and came back to the fold when the product was deserved to be watched.

I listened to that WGR interview and I'm impressed by him. He has a good background in coaching young players and has an awareness of the process to develop players and dealing with individuals. He seems to have an understanding of the situation he is in and knows what it takes to get beyond it. What is apparent is that the the team has responded to what he is promoting. What is even more encouraging is that under his tutelage veterans such as Okposo and more dramatically Skinner have been resuscitated. If Skinner can be restored to something close to what he originally was that would be like adding a major free agent to the team.

Although your take is understandable I view these remaining games differently. Although the Sabres deserve their puny status these games against teams vying for a playoff positions present them with more than enough motivation to play these games as a very meaningful and consequential for them. The last Philly is an example of that. Not only are they in desperate situation to eek into the playoffs this was a game that had implications for how the organization was going to handle the trading deadline. To the Sabres credit even after falling behind they kept pushing. From what I witnessed the Flyers played hard and didn't quit. Yet we still won. That is a good sign especially because of the contributions of the younger players. For me that was a meaningful game in that although this team still doesn't have enough talent and the right fitting pieces what it does have under this coach is the right mind-set. That's an important positive that can be directly credited to the current coach behind the bench.

If this stripped down team plays well against the better teams in the brutal gauntlet of upcoming games Granato will probably be the coach next season. If the team folds against these more talented teams he will be gone and be replaced by a better known and experienced coach. As you and others have stated on a number of occasions the bigger issue is what is going to be done this offseason to add to the staff that includes the front office and scouting department. That is the starting point before the critical hockey decisions should be made. The disastrous belief that a shrunken organization can function as well as a typically staffed NHL organization was not only a horrible decision but it led to ruinous results.

The Krueger effect not only inhibited the play of the young players as you starkly catalogued. It also stifled the play of the veterans and the rest of the roster. Okposo and Skinner are two players who seem to be rejuvenated and are now playing with some verve. These players certainly have deficiencies but they also have assets that are now being utilized while under the former erudite coach they were squandered. It's well understood that with or without Krueger this roster still needs to be bolstered in order to be a serious team. And it is clearly evident that our goaltending tandem, most notably the backup, needs to be upgraded. I hate "what if" discussions because of the futility and loser taint it brings to a discussion. But if this team would have been coached by a lesser ideologue who was in tune with the NHL of today this team even with all of its limitations should have been in the same range in the standings as the Rangers and Flyers are in.

As was side by the TV hockey commentators in the Philly game it is a joke to have a skeleton scouting department within the organization for pro and prospect ranks. As you point out in order to make good hockey decisions you have to have a solid staff in order to internally challenge and hear different voices before making critical player decisions. The Pegulas thought that a cheaper thinned out staff would be able to do as well as a full staff. Especially this year how this organization was austerely structured was a big factor as to why this franchise became a league eye sore and an embarrassment.

That's what they are doing now. You are giving too much credence to this particular report. As someone else stated you don't think that Jack or Dahlin's name hasn't been brought up in phone conversations between numerous GMs and our front office? I understand your general frustration. But you have recently been in a heightened state of agitation over Krueger this year. Not only has he been dispatched but also the team is playing demonstrably better and the younger players have more rapidly advanced under the new HC. Those changes should have you being a little more positive and less morose. Maybe some merlot will raise your spirits some. 🙂

With respect to the highlighted comment I'm with you. Trying to respond to roster building by relying on patchwork is a road to nowhere serious. This organization's wrong belief that by filling the gaps with down-side players would be a solution was an enticing trap that we mistakenly repeated. Not only didn't it work but it set us back. Because of the overall substandard drafting there wasn't an adequate well of players to draw from. What it demonstrated is that expediency doesn't work when a longer term strategy is called for. The younger players such as Mitts, Thompson, Joki, Dahlin, Bryson, Apslund etc are forming a good core with upside. It's taken time for these players to be ready for the big league. Attempting to short-circuit the developmental process not only didn't work but it set us back. And as you noted emphasizing the goaltending position will do more than anything else to make us competitive.

I disagree with your comparison between Foligno and Hall. At this stage in Hall's career Foligno is a better and more well-rounded player. For Toronto the cost for the deal made sense because they believed that he could be an important factor in a cup run. Not only that Toronto has a lot of good young player on their roster and in their system where they can easily absorb the loss of a lower first round pick selection. The Toronto and Buffalo situations are very different.

Do you believe that KA could have gotten more than a second round pick from any other team? I don't. I said it in a prior post that any GM who would have offered a first round pick for him should be fired for gross incompetence. There are plenty of things to criticize this GM for. This deal isn't one of them. At least for me.

You nailed it. There have been a lot of accumulated mistakes that have kept this franchise stuck in the mud i.e. lower than middling. This team and organization is at the point where its history of mistakes and miscalculation no longer be an excuse for how you address its many glaring deficiencies. Unless some very smart and wise moves are made this critical offseason (as you noted) to elevate this franchise then it won't be surprising, if not expected, that Jack will demand to be let out of this interminable frustrating situation.

I understand your position on the Hall deal but respectively disagree with it. With respect to the Hall NMC it turned out to be a moot issue. Considering the dismal situation he was in Hall would have been willing to go anywhere, especially to a contending team, for the rest of this season. Hall's list was irrelevant because he would have gone mostly anywhere. Hall was facing the ignominious reality that he was being benched. Was it a ploy to force him to accept a trade to a team he didn't want to go to or simply because he was benched because the organization wanted to look at players to replace a player who wasn't in the team's plans? Either way the outcome is the same in that he was not for the most part going to play much, if at all, for us for the remaining season. You mentioned that KA got offers for Hall. What you don't know is what they were? It is highly unlikely that it was for a first round pick for him. Any GM who would have given up a first round pick for the UFA should summarily be fired for hideous incompetence. The bottom line is that KA got what the market offered for him. A second round pick for him, even with the Lazar and Bjork part of the deal, was a reasonable deal for all the parties involved. The mistake that many people are mistaking is overvaluing Hall's value. The bottom line is no one got fleeced in this trade as many people are portraying it to be. There seems to be a lot of misplaced anger for a transactional that was little more than a neutral deal.

You and I agree about the value of Sam. And I also agree with you that he deserves a better organization and situation. The problem is so do Jack, Dahlin and a lot of other good players who are stuck in a dysfunctional organization. My hope is that Pegula learned from this humiliating season that he doesn't know as much as he thinks he does. The overriding issue for me that will determine success is first getting the organization right. He gutted it in order to save money with the expectation that it could still function as a professional hockey organization. He was dead wrong! He gambled on Krueger who was an interesting hire who was out of the NHL mainstream. Again, he was dead wrong! Gutting the scouting department where player evaluations are the most critical factor that determines success in all sports was beyond being stupid. It was self-sabotage. With the belated change in coaches and with the probable buttressing of staffing in the front office I'm hoping that this organization can be stabilized. What gives me a patina of more confidence is that one singular change in the HC has had a dramatic change on in play on the ice.