Mr Peabody

Wasn’t there a thread last summer asking if Skinner would be a HOF candidate? We haven’t spent to the cap yet so his contract hasn’t impacted who we could sign. Rather than dumping Skinner I’d rather KA focus on getting a center first. If that requires a buyout so be it. Tage had an off year and as I’ve said before as his center goes, so goes Skinner. He actually looked re-energized when they put him with Mitts. Unless it’s a locker room issue he is way down the list of issues with this team.

Could be he had an outside offer and this kept him in house. Might be getting outside looks based on our prospect pool. Thought he came across as a solid guy at last years draft interview.

Serious question and off topic but is Tage a set up man? For his career he has more goals than assists.

IMO We’d have to retain salary in a trade so doubt we could help the team. If any of the top 16 teams could afford him he’d be a difference maker.

Needs a Callaway cap - looks like a tad Xander Schauffele. Successful Head Coach and GM of Green Bay so it would seem a guy who can manage a work load and has organizational skills

Enjoying this discussion. I believe the right trade to fix this team will be considered an overpay - that’s fine with me. As Ben Cartwright once said you sacrifice a bishop to capture a queen. The queen in my mind is a balanced team and organizational personnel.

Spectrum outage in my area. Wonderful

The only reason I can think of for the Middlestat trade was he and KA decided they weren’t going to resign him and KA made the best deal he could. That said, I’d offer Byram as a trade chip if he’d bring our best return. Would rather have a lesser offensive D man with size and tenacity or the same attributes in a forward.

I laughed but then thought it could only happen if they turn this ship around. Otherwise a new GM would be picking his team.

No doubt Lindy was the guy when Adams announced DG’s release but as mentioned above I’d think there had been contact with others. Always doubted you’d get another high profile guy who didn’t want some degree of roster control. Lindy likely was more in lock step with KA.

I’d see Byram and a prospect moved prior to Power.

Seemed obvious during KA’s presser that he had his coach picked. I don’t think it was a knee jerk hire - he’s had over a month to discuss potential candidates with the leadership team.

I agree with you that it’s an interesting statement from Muel and tend to agree with Muel that the players should be capable of pushing themselves. The question it raises is why didn’t it happen? Intentionally or not the exit interviews seem to toss Donnie under the bus and with Muel’s comments maybe Kyle and the A’s as well?

I’d say we wait to round 3 before we draft him.

Based purely upon exit interviews I’d pick Thompson. Seemed the most po’d and most likely to get in your face and step on your throat. With coaching could he develop that Crosby edge? Might be seeing three guys wearing the A this year.

Was the word “accountability” suggested to them prior to exit interviews? It got stale.

I was a Syr Crunch season ticket holder when (Rolston?) got fired and I told my wife it looks like we’re losing Cooper to the Sabres. He’d won at every level he ever coached. I’m sure Yzerman convinced him to stay and mapped out his trajectory. That said, no stone should be left unturned.

Very true and hard A is probably too harsh. Regardless, they need to get their cheese moved.

I think it’s crucial to bring in an HC that has no past relationship with the players. I’ve experienced the former in the working world and it’s tough to be a hard a$$ on people you’ve got positive relationships with.

If DG leaves it very well could be a mutual agreement and he could stay in the organization. To me he seemed stressed / tired as the season wore on. Seems to love coaching and developing but may have hit a wall.

I expect trade(s) but do not see KA or DG going anywhere. I do envision assistant(s) coach changes. If no significant improvement next year, they’ll all be on very hot seats. My rationale for the above: 1. Sabres have gone through a host of GM’s and HC’s with nothing to show for it. Not a good look. 2. Last year was a big improvement in our core youth on O, and this year the D improved. Main issues this year was center spine and first period starts. Was Tage playing hurt? Can a couple veterans help the slow starts? Did DG and KA learn anything regarding slow starts? I expect KA and DG to come up with a plan to sell to TP. 3. When KA and DG were hired TP had to understand it would be OJT. Do you throw away what you paid for their learning curves? 4. At this point it’s anybody’s guess whether it’s roster construction, coaching, or most likely both. Too close to make a GM or HC call?

Hockey fan here but I’m not a hockey historian. Has any team won in the free agent era (or last 20-25 years) by building via the draft? Doesn’t seem like a good game plan when you’re drafting teenagers. As we’ve seen, the top tier competitive talent will want out before the newbies are ready to contribute at the NHL level. Also since sports are driven by a “win now” philosophy (as demonstrated by coaching turnover) it would appear to devalue your prospect pool as how many GM’s want to wait 3-4 years for a guy to develop?

I voted bridge but they should make a substantial off season move first and then decide.

Agree with the above - I mentioned in a previous post that Skinner goes as his center goes. In the list of issues this year I find Skinner no where near the top. Our main YOY downfall this year was scoring from our center spine, Closely followed by the predictable (and stagnant) pp.