JohnRobertEichel

But you don't tank for good players; you only tank for the very elite ones. And given the new NHL draft rules and the head start that Arizona and Colorado already have, we could conceivably make a deliberate tank only to have the 6th overall pick. I agree with you that Valimaki would be a great selection. He happens to be exactly who I'm hoping the Sabres target, but he could also just as easily slip outside the top 14 according to other mock drafts. Or Murray could trade one of those extra seconds or thirds to move up a few spots to ensure him. It's far more important to break this culture of accepted losing that permeates Buffalo pro sports. And I do truly believe that a culture of losing is an actual "thing."

When Kulikov and Gorges return, I'd like to see more of this regular lineup: 1: Kulikov - Risto 2: McCabe - Bogo 3: Falk - Fedun Bench: Gorges - Franson

So many are assuming that this is the peak of Kane's career and that we should trade him now while we still can. Is it not also reasonable to predict that Kane might also get better as he gels with his teammates and gains more maturity on and off the ice? He's still only 25. He does have a unique skillset that the team is otherwise lacking. The Kane trade was one of the two marquee trades Murray made that will define his early GM career. I doubt he's going to hit the "abort" button on this one unless the trade return offers are skewed heavily in his favor. As in top 2 d-man return, not top-4.

I like the 10/30/60 concept as a great starting point for figuring out the top 100 of all time. Buffalo goaltenders: certainly Hasek. Maybe my boy, Fuhr, sneaks in. He was extremely important to the Edmonton dynasty. Buffalo defensemen: Horton is already in. I think Housley also has a decent chance. Top five scoring defender of all time. Can't see any other Sabre making it. Buffalo forwards: Perreault, Lafontaine, Hawerchuk, and Gilmour are all in the conversation. I'll throw in Mogilny and Andreychuk as dark horses, though I seriously doubt they get in. Do this list again in 15 years, and I bet Risto and Eichel get consideration.... :thumbsup:

This thread absolutely disgusts me. Mother of . Have Buffalo professional sports reached a nadir where SIX straight playoff-less hockey seasons has become not only tolerable but acceptable? There have only been 14 instances in NHL history of franchise playoff droughts exceeding 6 seasons. So already we are beginning to knock on the door of historic ineptitude. And for you football fans, there are only FOUR instances in NFL history of franchise playoff droughts exceeding the Bills' current 17 seasons. So are the Pegulas planning to make the playoffs EVER??? (I'm not counting the NLL's Buffalo Bandits, because each year 6 of 9 NLL teams make the playoffs anyway.) Walk me through this. What magical player from the 2017 NHL draft are we now targeting? Other than a top 2 LHD, what kind of player is this franchise still missing? You all realize that the 2017 draft is supposed to be an unusually weak class for top end D talent, right? So what forward is it now that we still need? Why isn't a top 6 of Eichel, Reinhart, O'Reilly, Kane, Okposo, and Nylander not good enough for you? There's this thing called a "salary cap" that prevents a team from assembling an entire 20-man cast of NHL All-Stars. Take a close look at the current NHL standings. Look at the list for points and for games played. Only 5 teams are too far ahead for us to realistically catch: Montreal, Columbus, NYR, Pitt, and Washington. There are still 3 playoff spots available, and only 1 team of the bottom 10 in the east looks noticeably better to me on paper than the Sabres (Tampa Bay). Wasn't the minimal expectation for this season supposed to be the 7th or 8th playoff seed, anyway? We can still reach this benchmark, although the bleeding does need to stop now and the last two games have been a very positive start to that. Does anyone still remember this? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvNy7pVCDLA Hockey playoffs are fun. They're actually more fun than following the draft in the summer. Hockey playoffs:hockey draft:::sex:. Bottom line: make the playoffs this season or else heads need to roll (Dan Bylsma's, for starters). I'm getting sick and tired of Buffalo underachieving. this tank .

The new season begins tonight, 7:30pm, vs Colorado, here in Buffalo. Same team as last year, except Thorimbert and Culp have been replaced with Self and Point. I'm looking forward to seeing guys like de Snoo, Bennett, Hill, and Jones take the next step in their development. This could easily be the best team in the NLL not named the Rush. Anyone else here follow the Bandits? Even if you're not a lacrosse fan, you should give the Bandits a shot. They're the only likeable pro sports team in Buffalo right now.

Franson needs to go by the end of this season. Gorges needs to go by the end of next season. Kulikov will get a couple more months to make his case for not being trade bait this season. Thanks to our overrated GM, we are stuck with Bogosian for 3 more years. So we better learn to like him. Maybe he can stay healthy and become an important locker room leader. Ristolainen, McCabe, and Guhle are the future. A strong 2017 draft is badly needed to infuse more defensive talent in the pipeline. One more big trade from Murray may be needed as well.

I have ZERO interest in the draft. I think I'm done following Buffalo sports for a while.

I've getting real fed up with this . So many players on this team are underperforming. It's unreal.

"Ah-hee! Ah-hee! Aaaaah-hee!" You know what? Once upon a time, this franchise was actually reasonably successful with the QB position. The first 37 years of its existence featured a nearly continuous chain of Kemp --- Ferguson --- Kelly. But since the 1983 Kelly draft selection, the Bills have gone on to use just 5 1st or 2nd round draft resources on the QB position: Collins, RJ, Bledsoe, Losman, and Manuel. Meanwhile, in that time span they used 7 on RB's, 11 on WR's, and a whopping 16 on DB's. I haven't done a similar draft history comparison with other NFL teams. But looking around the league, you see that about 75% of teams have starting QB's who were drafted within the first 36 picks, about 50% were drafted within the first 4 picks, and about 25% were drafted 1st overall. The non-garbage outliers are Brady, Wilson, Prescott, and Cousins. Brady is Brady, Wilson has had the career benefit of an outstanding run game and one of the greatest defenses of all time to support him, the Cowboys have Elliott and the best OL in football, and Cousins is merely kind of average. So if the Bills insist on being among the exceptions to the league rule by sticking with Taylor for another year, then at least do the following: 1. Build a top 5 defense again, starting with the safeties. 2. Find a quality RT. 3. Find a quality WR opposite Watkins. 4. Ask Taylor to take a substantial salary reduction so to help address the aforementioned. 5. Draft a quality QB no later than the first two rounds of the 2018 draft, especially if Jones doesn't show substantial improvement next season. Of course with this current regime, I have very little faith that Rex Ryan can do #1 and Whaley can do #5...

It's always enjoyable skimming through the game day thread and seeing the emotional rollercoaster we fans go through.

The way the East is shaping up, the Sabres will be chasing the third division spot (currently occupied by Boston, who have played two more games than Buffalo) instead of the two wildcards. The next 6 games are against fellow crappy Eastern Conference teams (all in the 27-30 point range), followed by two very critical games against the mediocre Bruins to end the calendar year. The Sabres could conceivably be occupying a playoff spot by January 1. Everyone but Ennis and Bogosian are back, so no more excuses!

We have everyone back but Ennis and Bogosian, and the team is still playing like a steaming pile of ?! Almost every single player on the team is performing below expectations this year. The Sabres could very easily be 10+ points behind the 8th playoff seed before Tuesday night. I hope Dan, Tim, and Terry have a meeting this weekend to discuss what the is going on here. Something is seriously wrong with this franchise right now, and watching these underachievers struggle to score 1 goal each night isn't fun.

We were, and so now we officially can't catch up with KC, however incredibly unlikely that was anyway. The bigger problem, though, is how this result affects the motivations of the Patriots in week 17. We don't want them resting their starters during the final week against Miami. But now the Pats have sole possession of the #1 seed and can clinch it if they win their next 3 games. So now we really want the Dolphins to lose to the Cards Sunday or the Jets next Sunday, more so than before.

I look at this "core" as a concept similar to what the expansion draft protection rules aim to protect; only for me, I'd adjust it to include your starting goalie, top 4 defensemen, and top 6 forwards. So at the moment, our GM probably envisions this as his core: G Lehner D Risto* D McCabe D Kulikov D Bogo LW Kane LW Nylander C Eichel* C O'Reilly* RW Reinhart* RW Okposo* The 5 guys with an asterisk are obvious pieces of the core. The other 6 will need to show a bit more over the next 1-2 years. One thing that's really apparent to me is how much we need a top 2 D-man to pair with Risto, though I'm not sure how one can go about getting such a player without having a future top 5 pick (and of course I really hope we don't merely earn another one of these).

Wow, lots of hate being thrown toward Des and Grant. In my opinion, these guys are perfect for the 2 spare forwards every team keeps on their 23-man roster. BTW, is it just me or has the message board's collective gif game really gone up a notch recently? Well done, pi2000.

Let me clarify the playoff picture for the Bills: So there are 12 other AFC teams still mathematically alive in the playoff hunt. If the Bills win out and finish 10-6, we still can't catch the Raiders, are highly unlikely to catch the Patriots or the Chiefs, are highly unlikely to lose to the Titans in a wildcard tiebreaker (both the Titans and Colts would have to win their final 4 games), and can't enter any scenario where we lose a wildcard spot to the Ravens, Steelers, Bengals, Texans, Colts, or Chargers. So that just leaves the Dolphins and the Broncos that we have to worry about. The Dolphins can lose any one of their final 3 games besides the one against us. It doesn't have to be the Patriots week 17 game; it can also be this Sunday against the Cards or next Sunday against the Jets. The Broncos are a bit more difficult. We essentially have to root for a total collapse on their part: a 1-3 or 0-4 finish. The one exception is where they finish 2-2 but lose to the Patriots in week 15 and the Raiders in week 17. So that's where I was going with my previous post: the Bills are conceivably just 3 very reasonable game outcomes away from controlling their own playoff destiny. The 9-7 Bills scenarios are too ridiculously contrived to bother...basically, every remaining Bills game is must-win...and also start rooting against the Dolphins and Broncos in all of their respective games.

Awesome win! I really needed this one after the past 3 Buffalo sports days. I've listened to the Risto OT goal half a dozen times already. "CLINK!" followed by the eruption of fans....perfection.

How? Here are three reasons: 1. Brady + Belichick. The greatest QB + head coach combo in NFL history joined the Patriots in 2000, the same year our playoff drought began. Starting each season with two guaranteed losses and no hope for anything but the final two playoff spots makes life more difficult. 2. Ralph Wilson. Before the turn of the century, he was already known as one of the worst owners in pro sports. His meddling and miserly ways turned off many GM's and coaches over the years - Rauch, Saban, Knox, Philips, Butler, etc. But following the Tom Donahoe disaster and Russ Brandon's ascent, Ralph's incompetence rose to a new level. Marv Levy, Dick Jauron, Buddy Nix, Chan Gailey, Doug Marrone....we're talking completely out of touch with the NFL here. There's a direct correlation with the decline of the 21st century Bills and the decline of Ralph's health. 3. Quarterback. This has become far and away the most important position in pro football and maybe all of pro team sports. The new NFL rules have made it so that the old "ground and pound" strategy that WNY has loved since the AFL days leaves little margin for error, while having a franchise QB means you're almost never out of any game. Moreover, a "franchise" QB now means much more than a guy with amazing athletic skills. You need a guy who is mentally strong - unbelievably hard-working, ultra-competitive, and able to process information very quickly on the field. Since Kelly's retirement, the Bills franchise has been largely unwilling to acknowledge this paradigm shift and allocate resources (i.e., high draft picks) accordingly. Two years into the Pegula regime and it looks like the franchise hasn't learned anything. The good news is that everything doesn't need to be blown up this offseason. Not even close. The current Bills are a competent head coach and a competent quarterback away from being a perennial playoff team. Interesting note: if the Bills win their last 4 games, if the Broncos lose to the Patriots in week 15 and the Raiders in week 17, and if the Dolphins lose to the Patriots in week 17, then the Bills have >99% chance of making the playoffs according to most online stat and simulator models you see online. So basically, the Bills are as few as 3 realistic game outcomes away from controlling their own playoff destiny. As always, of course, the hardest part for the Bills is taking care of their own business.

The Sabres are currently 1 point above dead last in the East and 7 points behind the final playoff spot. I hope the team begins playing with a sense of urgency regarding this season. No more energy duds like Saturday's Boston game.

I'm at the point now where I can no longer watch another Buffalo Bills game that involves Rex Ryan as the head coach and Tyrod Taylor as the starting quarterback. Anyone else at the same point? It's just so unbelievable and so sad at what has happened to this franchise.

Those last two drives before halftime show why the Raiders are a playoff team and the Bills are not. Rex Ryan is an absolute garbage head coach. Can't wait until that fat piece of and his fat brother are back on the unemployment line.

Here's my update to the full roster injury report: 1. Lehner (hip) - early December return 2. Kulikov (back) - early December return 3. Bogosian (knee) - middle December return 4. Deslauriers (knee) - middle December return 5. Ennis (groin) - early January return 6. Fasching (groin) - no clue...I think he's playing in Rochester now? 7. McCormick (blood clot) - nah, he ain't never coming back These returns are my own best estimates, so feel free to correct as we learn more.

Great site for all you playoff Pollyannas: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/upshot/buffalo-bills-nfl-playoff-picture.html A brief summary: if the Bills go 11-5, they're in. If they go 9-7, they're pretty much out. If they go 10-6 with the 1 loss to either Jags or Steelers or Browns or Jets, they still have about a 75% of making it. If they go 10-6 with the loss to either the Raiders or Dolphins, then their playoff chances drop down to essentially a 50% coin flip.

Excellent post. All I'll add is that the Sabres are now 1 Wednesday night home win away from averaging 1 point per game this season. This 1 ppg pace is what many were claiming to be content with until Eichel returns.