Robviously

Good catch. My mistake.

In terms of good young players that we might realistically move (I.e. NOT Eichel, Reinhart, Risto, or ROR), those are basically the only two guys that might help them get good value for a guy like Drouin (even if they have to make another trade for it to make sense). I don't think we're a good trade partner for them. It never hurts to try but I doubt Tampa wants what we'd be ok giving up.

Why would Tampa want Ennis? He's smaller than Drouin and has a lower ceiling. He's never scored more than 21 goals in a season. And now he has injury problems. Most teams could put together a better offer. They'd ask for Girgensons or Pysyk (or both), and I'd pass on that. We don't have a ton of depth and, unfortunately, most of our best trade assets (that aren't untouchable) are already gone.

Yes, please. We could use a mop up guy. We're good at generating chances. Eichel and Girgensons seem good together, put Moulson on the other wing.

I'd prefer to re-sign him but he's easily the UFA that playoff teams would want the most as a rental. Depending on what the offer is, it'd be tempting. Legwand, Foligno, Weber, and Johnson are the other UFAs. I could see playoff teams looking for depth asking about Larsson and Gorges too. It's tough to imagine the Sabres not having a better second half than their first half. They're not playing awful hockey, they just aren't getting any bounces. We won't be able to challenge for a playoff spot this year but I think we'll escape the bottom 5 of the league. The new NHL Lottery Simulator (who gets the first three picks) is pretty fun: http://nhllotterysimulator.com/ If we pick anywhere in the top ten, we should be good to get a goal scorer or a good mobile defenseman (we could really use either one).

At the halfway point of this season, our 2015 draft class is looking pretty good: Jack Eichel -- he's OK. Brendan Guhle -- might have started on the Sabres this year if not for is injury (which hopefully has no long-term effects). He's having a great season for Prince Albert thus far. Will Borgen -- having a great season for St. Cloud and currently on USA's WJC roster. Devante Stephens -- +12 so far this year after he was +17 last year. Giorgio Estephan -- 48 pts in 39 games, +12, in the WHL. Diamond in the rough? If the Sabres found two other good NHL players *after* they drafted Jack Eichel last year, that'd be pretty awesome. I'm especially interested in Guhle, Borgen, and Stephens since the Sabres' pipeline on defense isn't what it was. I'm looking forward to the Amerks adding Anthony Florentino and Brycen Martin next year to see what we have there too.

Seriously, if all he does this year is help Jack Eichel transition to the NHL, I'm OK with that. In the meantime, there has to be a way to get him going. I still see a guy that could score 25 goals for us.

Moulson's shooting percentages those years say otherwise. His career percentages are pretty impressive too. We can split hairs about what a "sniper" is but he's a guy who knows how to put the puck in the net. Eichel has a terrific shot. Kane not so much from what we've seen this year (he misses the net quite a bit). Plus his shooting percentages the last few years are pretty low. He has a hard shot but it's not super accurate, something Jets fans pointed out when the trade went down.

Moulson scored 30 goals three seasons in a row. Ennis has a great shot (sometimes).

I think we're lacking snipers on this team, and the ones we have (Moulson and Ennis) aren't getting the job done. Which players on the Sabres right now have a great shot? Imagine a Vanek or Pominville on this team.

My guess is that the Kings have McNabb playing with Doughty because he's playing well, not because he's a weak link.

I think you're a generous grader. He did fine in the fire sale trades. (Not quite Regier-level where we were getting first rounders for Gaustad but these types of trades are largely market-based.) The rest of his trades are underwhelming thus far. Kane and Bogo: C. We shipped out FIVE good trade assets for two guys that have been disappointing so far. Jets fans seem pretty happy with their haul. This trade is also a big reason we don't have a lot left to trade. We need at least one of these guys to step up. Lehner: D, because we could have just signed Neuvirth. Plus, Lehner was coming off a season with a .905 save percentage. Before that, .913. Why did we pay a premium price for a guy whose stock was at an all-time low? It was a stacked draft. Brock Boeser would look nice in our pipeline right now. Deslauriers and Fasching: C, because right now it's looking like the Kings got the best player in the deal. McNabb is piling up minutes on their top pairing. I love Des on the 4th line and Fasching projects as a good 2nd liner but it's tough to ignore what McNabb has done since we shipped him out. Gorges: C. Eh, he's like a better Mike Weber who also takes penalties at the worst possible time. I'm happy he insulted Toronto by rejecting the trade there though. Obviously, I'm still holding out hope that the first three get better for us (and they certainly can) but that's how I'd grade those at the halfway point of this season. O'Reilly and McGinn trade gets an A++++ and keeps hope alive.

Your move, Larkin.

Take away the O'Reilly trade and Tim Murray's time as GM hasn't exactly been terrific.

Sabres down 1-0. I'm going to need some updates on Toyotathon to help me feel better.

I hope Toyota keeps running their Holiday commercials forever just because Jan has great legs.

Never seen a single play embody the spirit of a player's entire career so perfectly.

If I had known that was going to be the first post of 2016, I would have made it a smarter one. Happy New Year, Sabres fans. It's about to get better.

2016: Make The Sabres Great Again.

The moderator's reply is perfect.

Why do you think that is?

This is why Stars games are better than Sabres games (yes, even a couple years ago before they were a juggernaut). Everyone is wearing green but no one is treating the game like it's a life or death thing. Basically, they're Cowboys fans looking for something fun to do while they wait for Sunday. Buffalo puts too much of its self-worth in the hands of its sports teams, unfortunately. There's really nothing wrong with our building.

Must be awesome to be Alex Ovechkin and just have a completely different set of rules.

Not too late to make a 2007 Regular Season Eastern Conference Champions banner.

Anyone else see the "Regular Season Eastern Conference Champs" banner behind Duff and May? WTF is that? Most points in the conference during the regular season? Are the Caps inventing banners?