[John Scott Tells All: Phil Kessel Fight]

Goddamn do I miss John Scott.

[Sabres Trade Alex Nylander to Chicago for D Man Henri Jokiharju]

Is Jokiharju maybe expected to be the long-term defensive partner for Dahlin?

[Where Does Risto End Up?]

Long-term, this team desperately needs a top right winger more than a #2 center. We have Mittelstadt, Cozens, and Asplund at center but only Reinhart and Thompson at RW. So any RW who would be a good fit with Eichel and Skinner should be considered in a Risto trade.

[2019-2020 Lineup]

39 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

I could certainly see Rodrigues falling into a slot next to Larsson and Zemgus in the lineup as a '10th forward', but what four forwards not named Eichel, Reinhart, Skinner, Johansson, and acquired 2C are better hockey players than Evan? I don't see any.

Rodrigues is currently our 5th best forward. This is indeed a very sobering revelation.

[2019-2020 Lineup]

The best 12 I have are:

Skinner - Eichel - Olofsson

Johansson - Mittelstadt - Reinhart

Sheary - Rodrigues - Vesey

Girgensons - Larsson - Okposo

This could, in theory, work if Mittelstadt and Olofsson take big enough steps in their development.

[Risto said it's time for him to go?]

Playoffs need to be the franchise's expectation for this coming season. At a certain point, you have to be concerned about the collective psychology of a team that manages to miss the playoffs for 5 straight seasons after the 2014-15 tank season. I'm looking specifically at the core of Eichel, Reinhart, Ristolainen, Girgensons, Larsson, McCabe, and Rodrigues. JBot preaches player development, but how much can players develop in an environment that has only known losing for this long?

[Hockey Hall of Fame announcement Tuesday]

https://www.notinhalloffame.com/hockey

Sabres-related summary:

#1: Mogilny

#7: Turgeon

#12 Barrasso

#17: Martin

I'm not so sure about the other three's chances, but with Mogilny, I only feel that it is a matter of WHEN and not IF.

[2019-2020 Lineup]

1 hour ago, Tondas said:

Play like you don't care for Lafreniere.

Trend "bear" for Lafreniere?

46 minutes ago, E4 ... Ke2 said:

 

No, I am saying that if we don't have a line of Elie-Sobotka-Thompson and replace it with competent NHLers, then we make the playoffs.  No, they don't scare anyone, but I think if JBot had made those moves before the New Year, they hang on to 8th.

I should add that because I believe the problems after the All Star Break are primarily because of JBot's inaction, my expectations this year are for this team to achieve as if they had made the playoffs last year.  Therefore, I am treating this year as the playoffs being a given; if that doesn't happen, then JBot should be out.

That's exactly where I'm at as well.

[2019-2020 Lineup]

7 hours ago, E4 ... Ke2 said:

I think we can assume that Thompson is here and that JBot will not listen to RK screaming that TT doesn't belong here by scratching him for games on end.  (One place where I give PH credit and JBot discredit.)  I also assume that Pilut will be up here instead of Hunwick.  I hope there is no way on God's Green Earth that Sobotka is in the line-up.  So your line-up turns into:

Skinner Eichel Reinhart

Sheary Mitts Olofsson

Smith Erod Nylander

Girgensons Larsson Okposo

Wilson, Thompson

 

Dahlin Montour

McCabe Ristolainen

Scandella Bogosian

Pilut Nelson

 

Hutton Ullmark

 

You know what's funny about this line-up?  Add a centre and send Thompson down and I think it makes the playoffs.  Last year.

So basically reverse the O'Reilly trade and we make the playoffs last season?

[Ryan Miller indicates this is his final season]

He'll retire as the all-time career wins leader for American goalies, though Quick will eventually surpass him for that title. He was absolutely elite for a period of time in the NHL and should have had a Stanley Cup title or two if ownership had been more devoted and management more proactive.

[2019 NHL Draft]

1 hour ago, Crusader1969 said:

I was about to congratulate Sabrespace for not falling into the Caufield trap as Sabres twitter definitely has.  Disappointed to see this mock draft and 3 picks of Caufield    Don’t want to say it’s a bad pick but I’d much prefer a center and a guy that can skate  and drive a line   Caufield can’t do anything without help from someone else 

 

 

I would not be at all comfortable choosing Caufield over Cozens. 

[Sabres RFAs Receiving Qualifying Offers from the Team]

Using Randall Flagg's Theory of Roles, this is the best I could do with what we currently have in the Sabres organization:

Line 1: Skinner - Eichel - Olofsson

Line 2: Sheary - Rodrigues - Reinhart

Line 2: Nylander - Mittelstadt - Thompson

Line 4: Girgensons - Larsson - Okposo

Can anyone do better? I'd be happy enough with everything here except Sheary and Rodrigues on the 2nd line and Okposo...well...anywhere. It's obvious to me that we badly need a #2C and probably 2 top-6 wingers from outside the organization while we figure out what we have with Mittelstadt, Nylander, Olofsson, and Thompson. 

 

 

[Non Sabres Deadline Trades/Rumors]

5 minutes ago, klos1963 said:

Just read Pierre LeBrun saying with Trouba off the market now that a few teams are now looking at Risto.  Tampa looking for a top 4 RHD

Can I assume there's a plan at RHD after a potential Risto trade? At least temporarily, our depth chart at this position would become: Montour, Bogosian, Nelson, Borgen.

You would assume there's a plan, but you never know with this garbage GM of ours...

[Non Sabres Deadline Trades/Rumors]

56 minutes ago, New Scotland (NS) said:

I think if you exclude the ROR trade then there is no doubt that Bottsie has done a very good job.  He has won, IMO, the 2 other big trades. 

He signed Skinner to a market value contact (oh, wait, that's right you are not a Skinner fan, if I recall correctly).  Drafting we shall see.

 

I think if you exclude that one incident at Chernobyl on 4/26/86, Anatoly Dyatlov had also done a very good job.

 

[Alex Nylander Watch 2.0]

1 hour ago, nfreeman said:

Good question.  I’m open for suggestions.  

In a dream world either TT or KO.  

Your dream world is my nightmare.

I'm curious what everyone thinks Nylander's trade value might be at this very moment. The trade equivalent of a 2nd rounder maybe?

[How Would You Fix the Sabres?]

1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:

You could be right, but it will require a lot of JBot's drafting to be spot on as well as some quick development from a few. I think Oloffson can and will play for us next year but I don't think he will be as good (durable or consistent) as some think. Tage? Not optimistic on him. Said it before, he could be a great power forward if he beefed up and got mean, but that's not him and I don't think it ever will be. imo gonna be a bust. 

Personally I think Luukkonen will keep surprising and become a great goalie in a shorter time then people think.We might just have a new star in the making there. Just a question of how soon for me. I'm hoping one year in Rochester, then back up with the big club and steals the job by the end of that year. I could be overly optimistic on that pathway. 

I also think it's too early to give up on Ullmark.

[Alex Nylander Watch 2.0]

3 hours ago, nfreeman said:

I find it pretty remarkable that almost half of poll respondents think Nylander is going to get significant ice time for the Sabres this year, after 3 years of mediocre production in the AHL and nothing more than a couple of uneventful cups of coffee at the NHL level.

For anyone who voted this way -- I'd be interested to hear/read your reasoning.

 

Last September, Nylander was just as deserving of a roster spot as Mitts and Tage. But (probably) because Nylander wasn't one of JBot's guys, he was demoted. Mitts and Tage went on to do jack sh!t with the Sabres last year. Nylander was actually performing really well with Rochester for a long stretch of time. He trailed off for a while, and I'm not entirely sure why. Perhaps injuries? Perhaps he's mentally fatigued from being poorly and unfairly handled by arguably the most incompetent franchise in the league? Nylander still has all the physical tools to be a 1st-line NHL RW. His problems are entirely mental, but this entire ***** team has mental problems, so he'll probably fit right in with these guys in the fall. Or maybe just trade the guy. Whatever. I don't ***** care anymore.

[The ROR trade sucked thread]

34 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

I don't mind the first round pick coming back for O'Reilly , Even thompson in the deal is ok.

But if I'm Jbott I never do a deal with Armstrong again, he shafted buffalo by adding Berglund.   Who he knew always had a list of teams he didn't want to go to.  Buffalo probably was on that list and if he had informed the player the deal would have not gone through seeing he would have taken the first flight home most likely.

At the time I thought it was good deal seeing we got two serviceable middle six players back in my mind.    But neither should be playing in the NHL ever again.

What we gave up to get him and McGinn.   2nd round pick / zadorov (bottom 4 LHD) / Grigorenko (KHL but looked at as 3C at the time) / Compher (middle six C/W).

So basically we are down a middle six player to make it a good trade for us.    The picks are close in each others neighbourhood. 

That's certainly one way to look at this disaster. We basically traded Compher and Zadorov for Thompson and the 2019 31st pick over a 4-year period. There are two main points of sadness in this story:

1. Regier bombing on the 12th overall pick in 2012 and 16th overall pick in 2013. This is pretty much what he did for almost an entire decade (2005-2013), thus setting up the darkest era in franchise history.

2. Botterill turning around and recklessly destroying the one thing Tim Murray did right during his brief, miserable GM tenure (aside from commanding the Eichel tank).

And beyond simply losing a really good player at a position of need, there are three major lingering concerns that do not bode well for the future:

1. How much do the Pegulas meddle in transactions like this one?

2. How confident are we that Botterill knows how to build a roster, given this trade and the fact that he didn't bother to replace O'Reilly's production during the season?

3. Exactly how deep do the locker room problems go on the current Sabres roster? We were led to believe that O'Reilly - along with Lehner and Kane - were the main issues. Yet all three flourished as soon as they left Buffalo. We even took in another (Skinner) whose team broke their 9-season playoff drought as soon as he left. O'Reilly's Blues were able to bounce back after a rough first half of the season, while the Sabres imploded as soon as December arrived.

[2019 NHL Draft]

11 hours ago, FrenchConnection44 said:

I don't think there's any way we get a shot at Kakko though he would be a great addition. 

I simply don't want any more small, finesse players. We need talented players, but we need more physicality to stand up to bigger teams. It's still a physical game. 

I'd take Cozens, Boldy, or Dach. All three have size, skill and can skate, thought Dach is not as good a skater as the others. 

Just not a fan of a 5'11, 180 lb player. We have way too many of those. We've got to get bigger!

At the end of round 1, assuming we go with a forward in the top of round 1, I'd look for another quality defender. 

 

 

 

I 100% agree that the roster needs to get bigger and more physical (two different qualities that can be mutually exclusive). However, I disagree that the draft is where you necessarily make these decisions. I'd prefer the Sabres use the draft strictly to select players they think will have the most impact at the NHL level. In other words: best player available. This is especially true for a top 10 pick. Size, style of play, and position shouldn't dictate who gets chosen with the 7th overall pick. If the Sabres have a glut of players of a certain type or at a certain position, then the GM should use trades and free agency to balance out the roster. If Cole Caufield is projected to be a clone of Alex DeBrincat at the NHL level while - say - Dach is projected to be the next Mikhail Grigorenko, then just take Caufield at #7 and maybe wait until July to add forwards with size.

[The ROR trade sucked thread]

1 minute ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

Well, woke up to this amazing news, I'd rather see ROR raise the conn Smythe than Marchand anywhere near any metal. 

Botteril, this trade sucked, but this is your one gaffe. Learn from it 

He has made 2 already: ROR and Housley. This is a very critical off-season for JBot. He needs to aggressively improve the team now. And by "team" I am referring to the Buffalo Sabres, not just the Rochester Amerks.

[The 2019 Stanley Cup Final. St Louis vs Boston]

12 minutes ago, Thorny said:

This is the kind of post that gives those of us who want to trash the trade in peace a bad name. I can see where the frustration comes from from those tired of hearing about the trade, if it's leading to things like this. Not trying to pick on you, but blaming Eichel for this would seem to be a vast stretch.

And the kool-aid thing. I mean it's a vast generalization. 

I think he meant to type JBot instead of Eichel. 

[The ROR trade sucked thread]

On 6/9/2019 at 2:34 PM, dejeanerret said:

This is why some Sabres fans are so sad.  They whine and cry about a player's attitude and demand he get's traded.  Everyone was laughing at the trade when St. Louis was in last and the Sabres were in first, saying "told you so" to the Blues.

Now he's on the verge of a Stanley Cup and the trade is the worst in team history.

I was a proponent of trading OReilly at the time.  I felt you couldn't have a player like that in the lockerroom who is looked upon as a leader.  It's a culture killer, and one of the reasons why the Avs wanted him out of Colorado.

In hindsight, it seems that Housley's coaching style may have been the culture killer, and OReilly's comments may have been more of an indictment on that, then the type of attitude and mental toughness he possesses.

Had the Sabres not traded OReilly, they may have been better last season.  But it was obvious he wasn't a fit with Housley, so who knows. 

As for the trade, while Sobotka and Bergland were disappointments, I'm excited about Tage Thompson and the 1st we received.  It's too early to tell whether we won or lost the trade because the main pieces in the trade were a focused on the future.  3-4 years for now we'll know.

A perfect world would have OReilly on a team with a coack like Krueger, whose more of a mental coach than Housley.  But bottom line it's done, and to continue to whine and complain about it is one of the reasons why Buffalo fans are looked upon as whiners and complainers.  It's easy to criticize in hindsight.  We all make decisions at our jobs that may look bad at some point, then look good months later.  Or just end up not working out.  Sports is not different.

Let it go.  Move on.

 

 

We lost the trade.

[2019 NHL Draft]

My prediction is that the top 6 picked will be Hughes, Kakko, Byram, Turcotte, Zegras, and Cozens. This would leave Boldy, Dach, Krebs, Podkolzin, and Caufield available at #7. Of those 5, I'm guessing the Sabres go wth Caufield to be the long-term answer at RW1 with Eichel and Skinner.

[Alex Nylander Watch 2.0]

Nylander has played 165 games over 3 seasons in the AHL. He's about 4 months younger than Tage and about 9 months older than Mitts. The time is right for him to be a full-time Sabre. Give him a shot at 1st line RW with Eichel and Skinner just to see what happens. If nothing good, drop him down to a 3rd line with fellow underachieving 1st round picks, Tage and Mitts. Either way, it's time to see what he can do in the NHL.

[2019 Off Season]

2 hours ago, LTS said:

So, you assume, there's a "someone" for each of the situations above you use that word as the solution.

Who are the better alternatives to Girgensons and Larsson that they could acquire or sign for a similar cap hit and contract?  No one said they need to evaluate them.  They need a body in the position to allow others to develop in other positions.  So, you ask the question, but have you looked to see if there was, in fact, any other player they could have acquired to replace Girgensons, Larsson, and Nelson that would have definitively improved the team? 

Neither Okposo nor Bogosian have come across as dejected like O'Reilly.  O'Reilly does not have any of the injury history of Okposo or Bogosian.  The situations are so far different from each other than it's not possible to use one to argue the other. If you look at what Okposo and Bogosian have said in interviews, their words are accurate with regards to what a leader should be saying.  The fact that someone doesn't listen is not always the fault of those who are speaking.  And again, who are you pairing up with Okposo and Bogosian to overcome their injury history/lack of production/poor contract, so that another team will take them? O'Reilly had none of those concerns.

Pominville - wow.  So, yes, let's hypothetically go out and acquire that great leader on a $1M/1 year contract.  You ignored my comment that you could bury him in Rochester as a leader down there so that doesn't take up a roster spot either.  Pominville has been on teams that have not won, that doesn't make him a bad player.  Clearly your argument is excellent though because we'd say the same thing about: Daniel Alfredsson, Pavel Bure, Dino Cicarelli, Marcel Dionne, Mike Gartner, Dale Hawerchuk, Pat LaFontaine, Henrik Lundqvist, Cam Neely, Adam Oates, Mats Sundin... the list of players goes on who've barely sniffed a shot at a Stanley Cup.  Do they suck?  

Botterill has clearly stated his plan to build this team.  He's stated it over and over again. If you aren't listening, it's not his fault.  You may not agree with it, but our lack of understanding doesn't mean he doesn't know what he's doing. 

 

1. I'm not even going to bother listing specific 4th line alternatives to Girgensons and Larsson. If you think those two were the best JB could do these past two years in terms of on-ice production, off-ice leadership, and cap hit...

2. So maybe part of the problem with Okposo and Bogosian in the locker room was that neither ever really felt as dejected as O'Reilly? Seems like too many guys on the Sabres were okay enough with losing. I already said how to get rid of these two: trade our trash for someone else's trash. Change of scenery for both parties. No valuable prospects or high picks need to be included from either side.

3. I just don't see the value of keeping Pominville here any longer, and it has little to do with cap number or contract length or even the roster spot at this point. As a vet, he has already shown here in Buffalo (twice, really) to be incapable of motivating younger players around him. Find someone else who maybe can.

4. If you know JB's clearly stated plan, can you just reiterate it for me here real quick? Is it: build a team that's fast and skilled but physically weak and mentally even weaker? Is it: continue to make no effort to fill glaring roster holes with the big club so to accumulate lottery picks? Is it: focus on player development in Rochester so that these players will be able to carry the Sabres to their first playoff appearance since 2011 about 5 years from now? Is it: completely bomb with your first choice of a head coach hire so to set the stage for RK? Is it: trade away one of the best two-way centers in the game so to secure the next Ales Kotalik?

It's very depressing to see the contortions fellow Sabres fans are making to justify Botterill. I know it sucks to think that Pegula possibly made yet ANOTHER terrible GM hire, but so far it's looking like that's a distinct possibility, so let's at least type candidly about it on an internet message board. The positive news (IMO) is that there is still time this summer to make a successful course correction. The Skinner trade and re-signing was solid. The Amerks are looking healthy. There is nothing objectionable to RK or the past two drafts at the moment. There is a decent core of young talent in place. But for the love of God, JB needs to be aggressive this summer and find two top-6 forwards, move out the roster dead weight, and have a successful 2019 draft. His job depends on it. If the Sabres can't even get back to the Bylsma level of 78-81 points this season, JB might not be given a 4th year. If the Sabres don't make the playoffs by April 2021, no way does he stick around beyond that point.