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Jim Kelley was famous for making up trade rumors. He would call another writer in another town and they would be each others "sources." Players and execs hated him for that. Those rumors were hurtful to players and their families. No internet meant no one could call BS on him. Kelley would be a jerry Sullivan level hack today as he would have no information that we would not already have on internet or through Elliotte Friedmans of the world.

Mitts trade is one of few no doubt great moves by Adams. We were lucky Colorado was so desperate for a center. As of today we do not have a top center on Sabres. Thompson needs to go to wing.

this whole board is conjecture

Thompson is an awful center. Terrible at draws, cannot match up with other top centers with his speed, make up for it with being physical or being a very smart player. Defensively, he is really bad. Part of that is having to play with Skinner, but he loses his man and battles in our zone consistently. Been in league far too long for that to keep happening. On the sabres, DC is our only chance at a top 2 center. Verdict is still out on him after the step back this year. Played better at end of year so there is some hope. Centre is such a hard position in the NHL today. Used to be defense was hardest but center is now. Bennet is better as a center than any sabre on team today.

Rosen is winger only. OF that group only Östlund and Krebs have a chance at center in NHL Savoie could be a good winger in middle six. Kulich is kind of an enigma. Was way overhyped in first year. Being unable to crack the terrible lineup in buffalo while Benson did was telling. His ceiling is a middle sixish guy probably on the wing.

a trade for bennet from Florida would be ideal. Hopefully Florida will need to clear some salaries to resign Reinhart. He has one year left. He would be one of our top centers right away. Move Thompson off center and it makes top 6 deeper. Krebs needs to be given a chance at some point to be the third center. When he played up in lineup, it was so brief we never saw what he really is. And the number one goal of offseason is to buy out skinner. if we don't, not sure anything else matters...

Appert has never won anything. 11 years at RPI with 18 full scholarships with big budget and big fan base and won nothing. Rochester won nothing. This lines up with the Ruff two year contract. Spend no money per Pegula orders and Adams keeping control by having no threats to him in organization.

Thompson is not a center. should be on wing. two years now of watching him as a center with no improvement.

it is very telling that he scored 69 goals and is not even up for hart trophy.

good grief. reading comprehension. Was not implying time travel solution. There is nothing in his play that implies he will ever be ready for big nhl minutes. He has no above average tools and is below average in physical play and aggression. Bryson type guy.

Analysis of players we have is obviously as of today. Wishing we took draft pick was obviously for back when we signed him. Quite a leap you took there...

Should have spent year in Rochester. Nothing was shown by him in his callup to think he will be anything but league average defenseman. As we have Dahlin, Byrum and Power, there is no room for a non physical average defender. We need aggression and defense from the other three defenders. Still wish we would have taken draft pick instead of signing him. He does nothing above average and is deficient as defensive player and lacks physicality.

was at golf outing where harry neal was speaking. Talked about whenever he crossed border into Canada he had to buy alcohol for Cole at duty free. Believe it was whisky.

comparison with Marchand are tenious except for size. He is not nearly the skater MArchand is. we can hope but....

And the ones he lost were not for lack of compete which is awesome. He is tenacious on the puck.

I think Benson is a middle six guy for ceiling with best case being second line. His skating is what keeps him from being top line guy. He is a tenacious forechecker that will only get better as he get more years in. Great awareness for a young player. Definately plays how the team should play vs how they play now. Works hard every shift. His weaknesses, outside of skating seem to be experienced/coaching based. Where to be in own zone. Backchecking to wrong place. Being 18 and playing against men lol. Excited to watch him develop. When we rank guys on potential it is not where they fit in on Sabres. The best players in the league are the top line guys. Mcdavid, Mathews, Crosby, Mackinon, Panarin, Barkov, Kucherov, Point etc... His potential of being a second line guy is great. Especially at number 13 pick Sabres have exactly one top player like that on the team in Dahlin. Sorry if this is stream of consciousness, but I stayed up hours past bed time to watch bills trade back. Woke my wife up with a maniacal laugh when I saw we traded out of 32....

3x3.5M (1.17M AAV) for a guy who was not in the league till mid year? I am 52 and out of shape, Can i get 3 for 1.75?

IT always filters out that so and sao was approached by a team leader. Either because other players are happy it happened or the player who was approached complains about it. I do wonder how much was coaching. HE needs a ton of coaching to meet his potential

if they stay in buffalo, there is no way they have appreciated that much. Market is too small... If sold for a higher multiple it is to move them and avoid the franchise fee. They are not worth close to a billion in our market. Pittsburgh sold for 900 million, and a good chunk of that was the real estate around the new and old rinks. Fenway group was going to walk away without that included.

They should have made the playoffs. Poor coaching account for more than the difference in us missing out. If we had an average power play we would have made playoffs. Never won 4 games in a row. Woefully unprepared most nights. Each night in NHL you prepare for your opponent. What matchups will work and which will not. What to Watch for in their breakout, in your d zone etc... We were not doing that. If you watched closely at home, granato would not utilize last change. He would change at same time or before the other team. Idiocy. At least make it seem like you are concerned with other team and matchups. Other teams were prepared for us. Forecheck hard because as soon as d gets possession sabres forwards leave the zone. pressure d into bad pass and watch for d to d behind the net. If you are carrying puck from neutral zone hold it as any backchecking is occurring they go to wrong player and the D will back up into the goalie before they will step up. Other teams easily pushed us around and when that happened team disappeared. There was one game I think against Pittsburgh where we started off great and had a lead. Pittsburgh started getting involved after whistle and pushing sabres around. Game was over then. We wilted. Can we please put to bed the idea Okposo was some great leader? He has barely seen the playoffs in his career. He was a mediocre player his entire run in buffalo. You never heard anything about him taking players aside and letting them know play was unacceptable.

the evidence says otherwise.

there is no question Pegula wants to sell the Sabres. Rink falling apart, minimized expenses at every level, broke apart integration with Bills, complained to multiple sources how he lost 300 million the first ten years he owned Sabres, shows little interest in team, hires unqualified people etc...

Dont crush my dream that fast!!!!!!!!

what a lot of us were saying for Granato era. Players need to be held accountable by coaches and teammates. That is pro sports. Once people are not held accountable things go downhill. It is not even making specific mistakes specifically. It is finishing checks, forechecking hard, playing responsible defense etc... Rewarding players that do that is also part of accountability. I have, what i think, is an irrational desire to have peca as next coach. Combine him with solid NHL veteran asst coaches. Am I crazy for thinking that? I concede i am in general crazy 🙂

You nailed it. Ruff is not a great coach. He is average coach. Always struggled with in game management and match ups. He will always be overrated due to Hasek.