Archie Lee

I think there is a difference between what the Sabres are doing and tanking. The Sabres have spent the past 6 years spending near to the cap with nothing to show for it. The plan is clearly to avoid bad long-term contracts, and to develop and evaluate our own young players. Our own young players can then be signed longer-term based on merit and fit. I'm not saying they are going to get it right, but it is clearly the plan. It makes sense for such a plan to start with a year or two where you are spending close to the floor. A by-product of this is that they will likely pick high in the draft, but that is not the same thing as deliberately being bad to try and get the top pick. There are several teams who have recently done and who currently are doing what the Sabres are doing. The Sabres are no more "tanking" than are Detroit and Ottawa and Anaheim. The most obvious recent indication they are not tanking is that they waived Dell over Tokarski. I realize it sounds absurd to use they "kept Tokarski" as a sign they are not tanking. If they were tanking, though, it would make a lot more sense to run with Dell who has been terrible for over a year than to go with Tokarski, who has played well for about 3 years including his AHL time and who was excellent in exhibition. I don't see any signs that Sabres management will be disappointed if the Sabres exceed expectations this year.

I'm also not as excited about Blue Jacket prospects as I am about some other teams' prospects. But some of the people who do this stuff for a living are. In his top 50 prospect ranking, Wheeler from the Athletic ranks Johnson ahead of players like Beniers, Rossi and Lundell. He has Sillinger lower but ahead of Krebs and Turcotte. He has Marchenko just outside the top 50. Pronman from the Athletic has Johnson, Marchenko and Sillinger all ahead of players like Rossi, Newhook and Turcotte.

Columbus just makes sense to me. - They have an existing "youngish" core that Eichel fits in with (Laine, Bjorkstrand, Roslovic, Werenski, Merzelkins) - They are in a transition phase it seems. They're not exactly rebuilding, but it does not seem they have high expectations for this season. - They have the cap space and their cap situation looks fine going forward. - They have a fairly high-priced veteran player in Domi who they don't seem to have much use for and who only has one year left until UFA; he would fit perfectly as a player returned to help the Sabres meet the cap floor. No Blue Jacket players have trade protection - They have a solid pool of young players and prospects; they were 13th in Pronman's organizational rankings for players under 23 (Johnson, Marchenko, Sillinger, Cuelemans, Boqvist, Voronkov, Chinakhov, Foudy, Texier). There are a few Russians in there and we are looking to move into that space. - They have all their 1st and 2nd rd picks in the next 3 drafts plus Chicago's conditional first in 2022 - They have never had a 1st line centre like Jack Eichel - Their GM is a guy who isn't known for being risk-averse - Finally, and this might be a stretch, but their President seems like the sort of guy who has had a few steak dinners with high-end player agents like Pat Brisson.

Realistically, the Sabres will not be a high-scoring team this year. But I'm not sure that the career year analysis supports your conclusion. First, you use points instead of goals. If you take the players listed and add in Hagg, Pysyk and Bryson to round out the defence, and you add up their career years for goals, you get 240. The last time the NHL played an 82 game season, 240 goals would have been good for 19th in the league. The Sabres haven't scored 240 goals in a season since 2010-2011. They won't likely do it this year, but if they do they will be far from the worst offence in the NHL. Second, while you correctly point out that certain veteran players won't come close to reaching their career highs in points (or goals), I believe you overlook that around 1/2 of the players listed could conceivably exceed their career highs. Dahlin, Olofsson, Hinostroza, Mitts, Bjork, Joker, Thompson, Cozens, Asplund and Bryson could all realistically exceed their career highs; for those on the bottom end of the list it would not be a stretch that they do so by a wide margin. Lastly, while I don't think that Skinner will come close to his career high of 63 points I do think it is possible he rebounds and has a 20-25 goal and 40-45 point season.

I think that hockey “journalists” have done a poor job of covering this story. Two items in particular: 1). I know that the Sabres’ medical team opposes ADR. I know that Eichel has seen a neurosurgeon who prefers and recommends ADR. Presumably there is some level of split in the field of neurosurgery on this. What Is the split? Is it 50/50? 60/40? 90/10? Why has no journalist taken the time to speak to 10-20 experts in the field to try and get a sense of what the general expert opinion is on ADR for an individual who fits Eichel’s profile? 2). I know that the CBA gives NHL teams final authority on treatment for their players. I also know that player contracts are often insured. What I don’t know is, what are the potential consequences of Eichel just having the surgery he wants without Sabre approval? Can the Sabres void the contract? If they can, when would they have to do that? Could they wait for a definitive outcome or would there be some sort of deadline to void the contract? What are the likely insurance implications? I’ve read a lot of speculation on these things but not much in the way of facts. Without answers to these and other questions I don’t know how any outside observer can have a definitive opinion on who is in the right here.

I'm not sure if this is sarcasm. If so, my apologies for misreading. I think the plan was to go with Ullmark as the starter with Tokarski or Luukkonen as the back-up; Luukkonen would have gone back to Rochester if not obviously ready to make the leap. This would not have precluded the possibility that a goalie could come back in an Eichel trade who would have pushed both Tokarski and Luukkonen to Rochester. It is still a possibility we will get a goalie in an Eichel trade. It is also possible that they were having discussions with both Dell and Anderson about coming in to play behind Ullmark. When Ullmark opted to go to the Bruins, "the pivot" was (I think) to sign both Anderson and Dell. The reason to sign both is to increase the possibility that at any given time during the season you have at least one goalie between Anderson, Dell, Luukkonen and Tokarski who is playing at an NHL level. The one UFA goalie who I think the Sabres should have been all over was David Rittich. Having Rittich would not have been cause for any great level of comfort for us fans, but I think he checks a # of boxes (veteran, younger than Dell or Anderson, has had some NHL success) and would have been a decent add to back-up Ullmark and provide some insurance if Ullmark did not re-sign. Rittich was coming off a two year deal that paid him 2.75 per. He signed pretty early in free agency with Nashville for 1 x 1.25. If we had given him one year at 2.5-2.75 I don't think anyone would have said it was ridiculous. Finally, I like the Joker and Mittelstadt signings.Both have a chance to be real value deals by year 3.

Indeed there is some irony in what has happened in the last 5 months; we may finally have been near to having the homegrown talent needed to support Eichel and Reinhart. If the Sabres don't start having on-ice success in the next couple of seasons (legitimately competing for the playoffs in 22-23, making the playoffs by 23-24) it won't be because the team's current talent pool (less Eichel) was so lacking that no GM or coach could have led them to success. If the team doesn't move forward to being successful in that timeline it will be because Adams and those who report to him (but mostly Adams) were not up to the task, just as Murray, Botterill and Krueger were not up to the task. My strong view is that Jack Eichel could retire tomorrow and the Sabres get nothing for him and the 2-3 year timeline for success should still be highly achievable.

Depending on what you mean by "on the horizon", I see it as the opposite. Provided that the current Sabre braintrust knows what they are doing, and skepticism is understandable, I think that the critical mass referenced is near to being achieved. Without chronicling every pick and prospect, since the Eichel draft the Sabres have picked top ten for six straight years including two 1st OA picks. It has to be incredibly rare, perhaps unprecedented, for a team drafting that high for that long to also have young players like Risto and Reinhart who can be traded for multiple pieces, including two additional firsts, and still have a talent like Eichel to deal for more assets. Corey Pronman from The Athletic is currently working through his rankings of NHL teams based on their talent under age 23. He has worked his way from teams 32-9. Thus far the Sabres have not made an appearance. I'm not suggesting he is the final word on such things, but I think the Sabres are near the top in this regard. If anything we may be under-rated because, well, Sabres. An Eichel trade and the first round of the '22 draft are going to add to the stockpile. I'm not anti-Eichel and have no hard feelings toward him. He is not the one responsible for the Sabres's shortcomings over the past 6 years. I do think though that when he is gone we may see that there is room for player growth that has not existed these past few seasons.

The thing is, the likely Sabres roster this year might not contain a bunch of kids. It's possible there won't be an outright rookie that makes the roster to start the year. Cozens is young and still inexperienced, for sure. But other young players like Dahlin, Joker, Mitts and Thompson have all been in the NHL for 3 (or parts of 3) seasons. There are other young players that may make the team out of camp like Samuelsson, Ruotsalainen and Luukkonen; but they might just as likely be in Rochester to start the year. The Sabres have lots of veteran players and even some of their "young" players (Olofsson, Bjork) aren't particularly young. I think the Sabres are absolutely going to have nights where they are in over their heads against veteran teams that are focused. Some of those nights will get ugly, like the two game set against Boston late last season where we lost 5-2 and 6-2 and were badly overmatched. But so much will depend on how focused Granato can keep the Sabres through the season. The Sabres followed up those 2 losses to the Bruins by beating the Islanders back to back. 82 games is long for every team. There will be nights where we catch good teams off guard. There will be teams that won't be as good as currently expected. My bet is that this will be the first season we have since the tank where we exceed expectations. I realize that isn't saying much as expectations could not be lower. But I don't mean we are going to finish in 30th place instead of dead last. I think we finish close to our recent traditional spot that sees us pick in the 7-9 range of the draft, only this year it will feel like we are actually progressing.

To the bolded, I think you are connecting dots that don't align. Just about the worst thing a professional sports team can do is mess with a player's health. In specific relation to Eichel's health, there is no reason to think that either side in this dispute is acting in bad faith. I understand that the reputation the Sabres have earned as a bumbling franchise will, for some people, be reinforced by this, but that does not mean their position is wrong.

I'm not sure about the bolded. In the group of 5 players you list, only Reinhart was good (for the most part) from start to finish last year. Eichel, Ullmark and McCabe spent much of the year playing injured or out with injury. I'm personally with you on Risto, but 50% of the fanbase has told us for years that getting rid of him will be addition by subtraction. All things considered, replacing these guys in relation to what they did for us last year might not be that difficult.

I think this summarizes the "tank" v. "not a tank" debate pretty well. If in mid-November Aaron Dell is giving us a .920 save % and Vinnie Hinostroza is playing at a point per game pace and we trade them both for a 6th round pick, then we will know it is a tank.

The one thing I hope with goaltending this coming season is that we don't just continually stick with a guy who is not playing well. The last 2 years we stuck with Hutton long past the point were it was obvious he wasn't good enough. I know that Tokarski is not an exciting option; but his #'s v. Hutton's #'s last year = almost a 1/2 goal less against per game. The only goalie in our current stable that the organization is committed to is Luukkonen. He should be playing in the environment that is best conducive to his development. The other guys should be rotated based on how they are playing. If Dell or Anderson start the year giving us .905 or better then that is likely all that can be hoped for. But if they are giving us .895, then Tokarski (or even Houser) should get a shot and/or waivers should be explored.

If Fitzgerald were 4” taller he would be Will Borgen. I wouldn’t write off that he might be a legit NHL D-man.

I agree. Unfortunately, I suspect the current reality is that no team is offering this good of a return. Indeed, the Rangers would likely view each piece I have listed from them (Strome, Chytil, Schneider, Georgiev and the 1st) as more valuable than Johnson; maybe with the exception of Georgiev. So you can probably just take Johnson and Schneider out of the trade. Also, they are not likely to trade both Strome and Chytil in the deal. Maybe they would if Eichel was sure to be ready from the start of the year. As is, it would leave them very thin down the middle. A more likely offer from NY right now would be Strome, Kravtsov, Georgiev and a 1st.

I completely agree. There is no guarantee though that Rossi or Krebs won't bust. There was a time when Yakupov was as highly regarded, likely more so, as a prospect than either of those two.

I guess we will see what we eventually receive. We might get a return that includes 1 higher end prospect (Zegras, Rossi, Krebs), but that will put a lot of pressure on that prospect as "the player" we obtained for Jack Eichel. My proposal is the equivalent of five 1st round picks (in my view). Chytil, Schneider and the 1st are obvious 1st round equivalents. There might be debate over Georgiev and Strome, but I think they equal two firsts (or very close). Since arriving in NY, Strome has produced at basically the same level as Reinhart; I don't think know why this would be dismissed as the Panarin effect when he has not likely played more with Panarin than Reinhart got to play with Eichel. That we are getting the equivalent of five first round picks is why I included Johnson as part of the deal. He's not a throw in; he's included because: - All of the assets obtained from the NYR are in areas of more urgent organizational requirement (centre, RD, goal) - Johnson is one of only four 1st round picks in the entire 2018 and 2019 NHL draft classes who has yet to sign an NHL contract; I'm not too worried about this, but Schneider is signed and ready to play in Rochester next year.

I actually think there are multiple Ranger options that are pretty good. They are not my preferred trade partner for many reasons, but they have some great pieces that make sense if there is no team that is offering what we have identified as that single elite prospect that should be the starting point for a deal. I don't agree at all on the St. Louis / O'Reilly comparison. To begin with, the Rangers simply don't have any players in the Berglund/Sobotka category that could be included in the deal. Strome is the one bigger contract that might have to come our way for salary reasons. He has 108 points in 126 games over the past two seasons and has one year at $4.5 million left on his deal. There is no comparison between him and the Blues' cap dumps. If the Sabres were willing to retain 50% on Strome's contract, there would be at least a dozen NHL teams interested in him I would think. After Strome, even if you take out the big three of Laf, Kaako and Miller, it leaves a large pool of good young players in Chytil, Kravtsov, Lundkvist, Schneider and Georgiev; just to name the most prominent. A trade of Eichel, the rights to Ryan Johnson and a depth goalie (Tokarski) for: Strome, Chytil, Schneider, Georgiev and a 1st, would be a fine return in my opinion. While there is risk to be sure in any trade that focuses on multiple pieces; it is also the case that there are no guarantees around prospects like Zegras, Rossi or Krebs. I really think, at this point, that the Eichel trade will be about asset accumulation. If the Sabres were to make this trade with the Rangers, they would have the following 1st round picks since 2016 in their system: Dahlin #1, 2018 Power #1, 2021 Cozens #7, 2019 Mittelstadt #8, 2017 Quinn #8, 2020 Rosen #14, 2021 Schneider #19, 2020 Chytil #21, 2017 Thompson #26, 2016 Jokiharju #29, 2017 That's 10 first round picks from the past 6 drafts with three additional 1st round picks coming in 2022 to go along with additional higher-end prospects like Ruotsalainen, Luukkonen, Samuelsson and Peterka. That would provide us with a combination of young NHL talent, prospect talent and draft capital at a level that we frankly never had before or after the tank years.

There are many things that go into good leadership. Not being a good leader does not make one a bad person. Unfortunately, when people rise to leadership positions and they are either not yet ready or not "made" for the role, their leadership shortcomings are sometimes mistaken for issues of character. This is on the Sabres (not the current leadership; Adams and Granato did not make Eichel the captain and anoint him to a leadership role). Eichel was thrust into a role he was ill-suited for.

Honestly, if we are signing these guys we should give Houser a shot. He can be waived as easy as Dell.

Nick Bonino for a year would be ok. He has played on winners most of his career. Can play wing if we go young at centre and can move to centre in times where it is getting overwhelming for the kids.

I think we only had around a 20% chance of winning the lottery. The tank was for a 1/5 chance at McDavid, with Eichel (a potentially generational player) being the worst case scenario.

Maybe DeSmith too. The thing that is being overlooked on this, I think, is that a team like Washington might either: 1.) Prefer to lose Vanicek over other exposed players. So, if they trade Vanicek they are increasing the likelihood they then lose a player they value more; or 2.) Feel certain that Seattle is not going to take Vanicek; so, trading him would mean giving up goalie depth for no good reason.

The Avalanche did the same thing. Protected Grubauer. Like the Sabres they are going into the expansion draft without an NHL calibre starting goalie under contract.

It's really an unusual year. We have Sabres fans, credibly I think, stating with conviction that Eklund should be our pick at #1. Yet the mock draft that the two NHL writers (Kimelman and Morreale) published yesterday has Eklund going 5th or 9th. As a fan who loves the draft but acknowledges he gets little opportunity to see any of these players outside of a view highlight videos, it is hard to process. In a way it would be more fun (not better, but more enjoyable) if we picked 6th or 7th this year as we could watch and see who falls to us. Of course, that 1st pick of round 2 may prove valuable as a lot of teams, including us, should have a player still available after round 1 who they would have picked in the high teens or low 20's.