JohnRobertEichel

Anyone know the latest on Bailey or Baptiste? Can either project to 2nd line RW (20+ goals per season) in the NHL? Or is that being too optimistic?

Olli Juolevi and Rasmus Ristolainen would make a great Finnish top pair.

Mediocre-to-bad?! Yeah that's a bit harsh. Dallas winning a Cup would probably be enough to help Lindy make the NHL Hall of Fame. He's a very good coach with a solid reputation around the league.

Wow! Juxtaposing last night's "ESPN Films: 30 for 30: Four Falls of Buffalo" with today's performance...unreal. This 2015 squad is just plain old unlikeable. Million dollar talent but ten cent brains. I think the Pegulas need to cut their losses and fire Rex in January. He's clearly not a quality NFL head coach....emotion and bravado are ok, but not if they accompany an inability to pay attention to detail or to learn from one's mistakes. It's one lost year...let's not make it any longer than that. 16 straight seasons of no playoffs....longest streak in all 4 leagues (NFL, NHL, MLB, NBA)...holy am I pissed off...

Definitely part of the future (4): Reinhart, Eichel, O'Reilly, Ristolainen Probably part of the future (5): Pysyk, McCabe, Girgensons, Ennis, Kane Maybe part of the future (7): Lehner, Ullmark, Bogosian, Larsson, Foligno, McGinn, Deslauriers Definitely not a part of the future (10): Johnson, Franson, Weber, Gorges, Colaiacovo, Schaller, Legwand, Moulson, Gionta, McCormick Legitimate prospects who could be part of the future (4): Guhle, Bailey, Baptiste, Fasching To me, it looks like the Sabres are really only missing a top defenseman prospect to pair with Ristolainen (plus a top 6 winger prospect if neither Bailey nor Baptiste can project as a 20+ goal scorer in the NHL).

Most surprising in a good way: McCabe Most surprising in a bad way: Moulson

17 assets were collectively exchanged during Tim Murray's big 3 trades, but ultimate judgment of these trades will really depend on these 6: Zadorov + Grigorenko + Armia for Lehner + Kane + O'Reilly. So by assuming Zadorov develops into anything less than a top-2 D-man, then this would start to look like a major win for Tim Murray. I suspect that the Sabres are already planning to use their 2016 1st rounder on a lefty defenseman to replace the hole that losing Zadorov created. He was drafted 16th overall in 2013, so it shouldn't be too difficult to find his replacement in talent next June. The Sabres have multiple 3rd rounders in 2016 and an extra 2nd rounder in 2017 to play around with so to make things happen. Other than a top-2 lefty D-man, I don't see any other major talent holes in the organization. I think our top 6 forwards are already here: Eichel and O'Reilly at center, with Kane and Reinhart and Ennis and Girgensons at the wings.

I think Houston definitely deserves a shot: 1. Fifth largest metro area in the United States. 2. NHL-caliber arena already present with the 11-year old Toyota Center. 3. Hockey tradition with the WHA Aeros of the 1970's plus decades of minor league hockey. 4. Instant rivalry with the Dallas Stars whom are somewhat geographically isolated from the rest of the NHL. 5. A central time zone city that helps with division balance so teams like Columbus and Detroit aren't forced to move back into the Western Conference. Houston's ONLY problem right now is a lack of ownership interested in bringing the NHL to the city...kind of a big problem....but that could easily change in the same way Terry Pegula wasn't even on the WNY radar 6+ years ago. Carolina is a fair-weather hockey city, so expect attendance in future seasons to look a lot like last year. I don't see the team beating out the Rangers, Islanders, Caps, or Penguins for a long while. And how many seasons of poor attendance will ownership be willing to absorb? Raleigh is not the same-sized TV market as Miami or Phoenix, so I'm not sure Bettman will fight for the Hurricanes in the same way that he has been for the Coyotes and Panthers.

In my opinion, the ideal situation is for Las Vegas, Seattle, Houston, Quebec City, and Toronto to get NHL teams. 2 of these teams can be by expansion, and the other 3 can be by relocation of the Coyotes, Panthers, and Hurricanes (the 3 NHL teams struggling the most right now...by a wide margin). Then realign the 32-team league as follows: Quebec City and Toronto #2 go to the Atlantic Division, Tampa Bay moves to the Metropolitan Division, Seattle and L.V. go to the Pacific Division, and Houston goes to the Central Division.

Here's my latest line-up, with a top lefty D the one glaring roster hole at the moment which I assume GMTM is still busy trying to fill: Kane - O'Reilly - Reinhart Moulson - Eichel - Ennis McGinn - Girgensons - Gionta Foligno - Larsson - Deslauriers ??? - Bogosian Gorges - Ristolainen Colaiacovo - Pysyk Lehner Johnson, Weber, McCormick, Legwand

I think Girgensons, for one, is being underestimated here. His ceiling is as a top 6 forward, and I believe he has the work ethic and hockey smarts to reach that ceiling.

What about Ennis? I consider him as part of the new forward core.

Wow, a lot of Haterade drinkers here....personally, I am always very happy to see any member of the Buffalo Sabres community make it into the Hall of Fame. I'm also rooting for Mogilny, Andreychuk, Turgeon, and Barrasso to make it in within the next 5 years.

Anyone up for roster predictions? Here's mine: 2 K - Carpenter, Gay 1 P - Schmidt 1 LS - Sanborn 3 QB - Manuel, Cassel, Taylor 4 RB - McCoy, Jackson, Dixon, Williams 2 FB - Felton, Conner 6 WR - Watkins, Woods, Harvin, Hogan, Goodwin, Easley 3 TE - Clay, Gray, O'Leary 3 T - Glenn, Henderson, Kouandjio 4 G - Incognito, Miller, Urbik, Richardson 1 C - Wood 5 DT - Williams, Dareus, Charles, Carrington, Bryant 4 DE - Williams, Hughes, Lawson, Wynn 5 LB - Bradham, Brown, Powell, Johnson, Steward 4 S - Williams, Graham, Rambo, Williams 5 CB - Gilmore, McKelvin, Darby, Robey, Cockrell

Here's mine (new players are shown in caps, including any Sabre who is either injured for the year or is in minors): G1 NIEMI G2 MAKAROV D1 Ristolainen - Zadorov D2 Bogosian - Gorges D3 PYSYK - MCCABE D4 Weber F1 KANE - REINHART - EICHEL F2 Ennis - GRIGORENKO - Moulson F3 Foligno - Girgensons - Gionta F4 Deslauriers - LARSSON - Flynn F5 MCCORMICK, Kaleta Your thoughts? Feel free to post your own roster predictions or offer criticism on mine! I think the only truly controversial thing I did here was place Eichel at right wing instead of center. First, I believe it's going to be Eichel because we are going to finish 30th and 80% is much more likely than 20%. Second, Eichel has the size and skillset to play as a power forward winger guy. Third, I like the idea of having our 3 most talented forwards on the same line. Also note that I think we land the best free agent goalie, Hodgson gets bought out, and several Rochester guys are able to make the leap to the big leagues.

I'm still dreaming of a last place finish followed by the Islanders winning the lottery....then we can have McDavid - Reinhart - Eichel as our top line for the next 15 years. :wub:

Oh no! Are we now no longer worst in the league?!

I stopped watching the games a while ago and won't start again until Regier is fired. I suggest others do the same, for the sake of your sanity. This team is unlikeable.

6-41-1 for 13 points.

I won't watch another Sabres game until Lindy Ruff and Darcy Regier are both gone. ###### this team. Hockey heaven? ###### that ######.

Two reasons why the Sabres suck: 1. Leopold-Myers 2. Foligno-Enis-Stafford If the above decided to show up this season, this would be a reasonably competitive playoff-caliber team.

Nevertheless, venting online can be quite therapeutic. FIRE LINDY RUFF.

Those who think Ruff and Regier deserve more time after missing the playoffs this season are out of their minds and should get their heads examined. More time for the youth on offense to gel??!! There's only Hodgson, Foligno, and Grigorenko. There's plenty of veterans to hold everyone together. Grigs, Ott, and Scott are the only new guys on the roster from last season. It's time to start producing.

Current high school kids throughout WNY have no recollection of a Bills playoff team or a Sabres team not coached by Ruff. Both streaks are ridiculous and humiliating for the psyche of this once proud homeland.

No, they miss the $12 million he stole last year and this year.