PalmTreeMafia

Correct. I believe this franchise is finally on the right track, but right now there is simply not enough talent to make the playoffs.

Speaking of "expansion level bad," can someone explain to me how the Golden Knights are currently the 7th best team in the league while we are currently the 30th?

I think many of you are overestimating the role that luck plays in turnovers. Watch game highlights of all the forced turnovers on defense this season. On each one, count how many Billls players are around the ball at the moment of the turnover. This is by design. This is what Coach McDermott's 4-3 zone defense does. When players pay attention to the details during film study, they will find themselves in good position to make plays on the field. And on the other side of the ball, Tyrod Taylor is known for being ultra-cautious (to a fault, perhaps) with where he directs the football. Moving forward, a consistently healthy turnover differential is something we should expect with a Sean McDermott team. I have a similar opinion regarding injuries and luck. Obviously there is an element of luck to injuries, but teams whose players consistently train hard and pay attention to conditioning routine and nutrition details will generally find themselves having less injuries. There is some truth to the idea of certain players being injury-prone. This new regime has already taken great effort to purge the roster of many of these players (Goodwin, Watkins, Dareus and his hamstrings, etc...). I'm looking forward to the Jets game this Thursday! I was very pleasantly surprised with the Raiders game. If the Bills can win on the road on national TV against a division opponent that is playing everyone tough, then I will finally jump on board that ever-elusive 21st century Buffalo Bills "playoff bandwagon." At the moment, however, I still think this team is just way too weak in the passing game (on offense and on defense) to be considered a playoff contender. I think next year is the year where the streak ends. And 2019 will be the season when the Bills are considered a legitimate Super Bowl contender, finally, after two more off-seasons with all of those draft picks and cap space. One final comment: that spontaneous sideline player celebration after Tate's first-down catch and run was epic. That was my favorite moment of the season so far.

Nice defensive win! Hmmm, so 8 points after 10 games.....if we can maintain a 12 point per 10 game pace for the rest of the season, we should make the playoffs.

I assume this was partly directed at my post (#492)? My sincerest apologies. Maybe it was just terrible wording on my part, as I don't have a problem with fans finding joy in a Sabres win nor do I think I have any unique insight into the team that others here are missing.

I am of course happy that the good guys won, but a dose of reality is needed here: the Sabres are 5 straight wins away from a typical playoff-caliber points-per-game pace of 1.15. Multiple times during the past two seasons, we've seen spirited comeback wins. None ever amounted to any sustained success. Having said this, there are a couple important silver linings moving forward: 1. The team does, in fact, have a pulse. 2. O'Reilly is getting his mojo back. This is clearly looking like another draft lottery year to me. I've stopped watching games since the Devils debacle, but I still closely follow the team. There are only 7 guys on the roster that I care to keep track of: Eichel, Kane, O'Reilly, Reinhart, Okposo, Ristolainen, and Lehner. Their performances between now and March will largely dictate the future direction of this franchise.

During the 17-year playoff drought, the Bills have been 4-2 or better after 6 games in 2008 (5-1), 2011 (4-2), and last year (4-2). I have no reason to believe this incarnation will be any different than previous chokers. Depth is terrible, injuries are beginning to pile up (Matthew, Clay, Humber, Gaines, Poyer), defense is regressing toward mediocrity, and Dennison took a competent offense with an elite running game and turned it into hot garbage. Call me when they beat Oakland at home and NY Jets Thursday night to get to 6-2. No Bills team this century has gone 6-2 or better after 8 games. That would impress me and start to show that maybe these guys are different.

This has got to be the most unlikable team in franchise history, right? I can't think of a worse one. There's enough talent to be a borderline playoff team, but negligible effort and absolutely zero heart. The frigging expansion team is doing laps around this squad in terms of effort. No way I'm wasting a Saturday night to watch this train wreck. Disgusting.

Maybe it was about moving on from that leadership group, but then Moulson and Gorges are still around... I don't think Gionta was any part of the problem last year. Seven games into this season without him, and these guys are still lazy and under performing. Gionta would be an instant upgrade over all but 6 forwards currently on the roster.

Keep in mind the following: 1. The salaries of Okposo and O'Reilly drop over the life of the contract as the salaries of Reinhart, Mittelstadt, and Nylander can be expected to increase. 2. You can expect the NHL salary cap to continue to increase over the next 5+ years. 3. We don't currently have - and are unlikely to obtain - an elite goalie and elite defenders (elite = super expensive). This team is being built to roll 3 genuine scoring lines while largely relying on coaching and "the system" to maintain an above-average defense. 4. The albatross contracts for Bogosian, Moulson, and Gorges will be long gone by the time we expect to pay Mittelstadt, Reinhart, and Nylander the big bucks we hope they deserve. 5. No one is seriously expecting Asplund or Pu to become top-6 NHL forwards. 6. Kane is one of the very few Sabres forwards that is actually producing. Why not reward players in their prime who produce? The aspiration now should be winning games and not extending a seemingly perpetual build/rebuild process. 7. Most young adults like Kane mature a lot by the time they enter their late 20's, and all accounts suggest that his teammates like him. 8. Kane's next big contract is predicated on staying healthy this year. If he does so, would it be fair to label him "injury-prone?"

I crunched the numbers for this a few months back, and I found that we absolutely could keep all of Kane and Reinhart and Lehner. It was going to be very tight, though, for next season only. Some things I factored in to my calculations: 1. I was able to trade Moulson. 2. I bought out Bogosian. 3. Ullmark, Guhle, Nylander, Bailey, and Baptiste all made the full-time roster. Depending on how the numbers end up, another option might be to trade Pominville and his 1-year, $5 million contract. He's a very productive forward but is also in his mid-30's and clearly isn't part of the future. I'm also not sure that Lehner is part of our future anymore. So maybe Kane and Reinhart will be our only $2million+ free agents during the off-season.

Watching another 7-9/6-10 Jauronesque Bills team for the 18th straight season is not my idea of fun.

I don't know. O'Reilly is -3 after two games. Okposo is -5 after two games. Do they have futures here? At least those two have each other on the same line. Reinhart gets the likes of Zemgus Girgensons, Jacob Josefson, and Matt Moulson as linemates and people are surprised that nothing good is coming out of this?! Let me remind you all that Sam Reinhart finished 142nd and then 114th in league scoring during his first two pro years. That's considered high-end second scoring line production. And this was accomplished under a Dan Bylsma offense. And at a position that was new to him. And he's still only 21 years old. I like Coach Housley. He was my first choice during the head coach search this past off-season. But he needs to quickly wise up and pair Reinhart back with Eichel and let them continue with whatever chemistry they had for the past two years. Let Sam build his confidence back up a bit now and try the center experiment next year. By the way, Gionta is still a free agent. Why aren't we trying to sign him? Are we worried that he will keep such hockey powerhouses as Seth Griffith and Jordan Nolan out of the lineup?

The lack of talent at the wing positions is already quite evident and very disturbing. There is simply no talent left for Reinhart for a third scoring line. Maybe it's time to move him back to wing and wait until Nylander and Mittelstadt arrive before shifting him back again to center? Outside of a top 6 of Eichel, Kane, Pominville, Okposo, O'Reilly, and Reinhart, I don't see anyone on this roster that provides any hope of scoring goals. Girgensons, Pouliot, and Moulson are pure garbage to me. By the way, what the ever happened to Bailey, Baptiste, and Fasching? I thought at least 1-2 of them was supposed to make the jump to the pros. I've been out of the loop for the past couple of months. I do know that Nylander has been injured, so that's his excuse. I fully realize that it has only been 2 games, but I have been following this team religiously for the past 6 seasons. I'm tired of watching games for "player development" and draft lottery potential. If this is going to be a 7th straight season of no playoffs, maybe I should take a break from hockey until this franchise can learn to get its act together.

I interpreted last night's attack as Dany heeding Jon's advice by avoiding a King's Landing attack and thus the murder of many innocent civilians. But she had to do SOMETHING, and she did by ambushing the Lannister army and destroying part of their food/money supply chain. Killing people in a war is unavoidable. Better soldiers than civilians, I suppose. Even Jon Snow would agree with that. Personally, I don't care for Dany so much as this noble princess protagonist. She's just as power-hungry as the rest of them. I'm kind of rooting for the Night King to wipe all the humans out on Westeros and give the land back to the Children of the Forest. By the way, the Dany+Jon romance angle is disturbing to me. Aren't they aunt and nephew?

Analyses like this are useful in the sense that they provide a quick assessment of the current strengths and weaknesses of a franchise. No one seriously believes such a list will remain static for 3 years, that every player will develop as projected, that no trades will be made, that no new players will be drafted, or that free agency won't alter the position landscape. For those who aren't already very familiar with the Sabres organization, after this analysis it should now be apparent that the franchise is incredibly strong at center, lacking in RHD depth, missing elite talent at LHD, okay at goalie, and maybe a bit deficient at wing if a couple of the centers don't slide over there. I am a broken record here, but in my opinion, JBot's main objective and main difficulty now is to identify a top-50 NHL defenseman to pair with Risto in time for our EXPECTED deep playoff run in 3 years. He doesn't need to be a Norris Trophy winner; we just need to hang with offensive powerhouse teams like Toronto and Edmonton. And I'm not confident that this player is currently on the roster or that he can easily be obtained through free agency or future draft picks. Trades may be our best bet. Fortunately for us, we see that we have a surplus of quality forwards to move. Seven of our forwards (Eichel, Reinhart, O'Reilly, Kane, Okposo, Nylander, Mittelstadt) have top-line (top-100 NHL forward) projections.

I think the Sabres are actually 2-4 in Conference Finals (1975, 1980, 1998, 1999, 2006, 2007). That article doesn't include Mittelstadt, Kane, Baptiste, and Davidsson. Here are my top 12 forwards in a few years: Mittelstadt - Eichel - Nylander Kane - Reinhart - Okposo Asplund - O'Reilly - Baptiste Davidsson - Girgensons - Bailey That looks incredibly strong to me. Possibly the best in the entire league if all 12 reach their talent projections? Or am I being a homer?

Actually, I deliberately left him out of the top LHD conversation because I see him as more of a known quantity at age 27: that of a solid second-line LHD in this league. This year he will probably be the top LHD and probably won't embarrass himself, but long-term I'd like to see a genuine top-50 NHL defenseman to pair with Risto. McCabe, Guhle, and Beaulieu each have the talent to become one.

You forgot Baptiste. On paper, yes I believe we definitely have the talent to compete with Toronto and Edmonton in 3 years. The biggest question mark for me is finding that highly elusive top-line LHD to pair with Risto. Our best bet is for one of McCabe, Guhle, or Beaulieu to somehow develop into that kind of player. I'd rather not have to address this via trades, and free agency is very unlikely to help. At least JBot will have 2-3 years to figure this problem out while all of the young forwards are developing.

How about this documentary: "A Tale of Two AFC East Cities." The story of the New England Patriots and the Buffalo Bills during the 21st century.

For what it's worth, I recently did some back-of-the-envelope calculations on our salary cap situation next season (2017-18) to see if we could keep both Reinhart and Kane long-term. The conclusion was that we absolutely could keep both, and I had Kane down at this poll's high number of $7 million per season. I was also able to keep everyone else we like (Eichel, Lehner, Girgensons, Beaulieu, Baptiste, Bailey, Fasching) and still field a full-23 man roster for next year. The bad news, however, is that there wouldn't be any money for any other needed roster upgrades next year unless we trade or buy out Moulson, Pominville, and/or Bogosian.

The author is from Winnipeg?! LOL that explains everything now. Even so, I appreciate the analytical spirit of the article. This is essentially a top 125 NHL player ranking grouped into 5 meaningful tiers. By the end of next season, I bet an updated list would look more like this for the Sabres: 1. Eichel - tier 1 - moves up one tier (deserves his tier 2 ranking at the moment, but has the talent to move up one) 2. O'Reilly - tier 2 - holds steady (maybe even a little too high, but whatever) 3. Ristolainen - tier 3 - makes a first appearance (should have been on this current list as tier 5...hopefully Housley reduces his minutes a bit to increase performance) 4. Okposo - tier 5 - holds steady (fair assessment) 5. Reinhart - tier 5 - holds steady (has potential to eventually rise a tier or two if he gets moved to center) 6. Kane - tier 5 - makes a first appearance on list (would have already made this list if he had a bit more consistency in his career) Look at that! That gives us 15 stars next year....enough to be a solid Stanley Cup contender, according to this guy's analysis. Also, Mittelstadt and Nylander have the talent to make this list in two or three years.

We once had 3 Hobey Baker winners on the Sabres roster. That was the 2012-13 season. Miller, Porter, and Leopold.

You're looking at a 17-point improvement in one year (78 last year to 95 this year to make the playoffs) as a "phoenix-like rise." But I look at it as a more reasonable 14-point improvement in two years (81 two years ago to 95 this year). I see the team as having unnaturally regressed last season due to overwhelming injuries, poor coaching, and poor leadership. They should have been in the high-80's / low-90's in points last year. A lot of the changes made this offseason have been in the form of slight improvements, but these changes do add up even if they aren't as noticeable as a more Murray-like splash of trading for an O'Reilly or signing an Okposo. The defense is certainly faster with Beaulieu/Antipin/Scandella in place of Franson/Gorges/Kulikov in the top-6. Pominville and Pouliot is a little better than Gionta and Foligno. The biggest improvement among the roster, however, may come from the large number of hungry players with chips on their shoulders and reasons to play lights out this season. Pouliot, Kane, Beaulieu, Antipin, and Reinhart - for example - are all very talented hockey players with 1-year contracts. Final thought: you say that the change in coaching doesn't have as big of an effect as people think. I very strongly disagree. But I'll just leave it at that. We can revisit this topic in another half-year or so.

Well that's certainly my opinion. I always thought that your best passers (potentially Reinhart?) and your most defensively sound forwards (O'Reilly?) should be playing center, if possible. Maybe I don't know enough about Mittelstadt yet, but I think he projects as a more skilled player than Reinhart and O'Reilly in terms of skating speed and finishing ability. I would think the team is better served having a talent like him as the left wing to Eichel than as a center on a secondary scoring line.