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Sabres Practice Notes 11/15


Brawndo

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After seeing this lineup, it really is hard to criticize this group anymore. THe talent just is not there unfortunately. I think the difficult part to grasp is that there is no help coming soon....as in next year as well. I think you just have to hope that someone in Rochester comes out of nowhere. If Tage and Cousins don't pan out, I think we are talking years before playoffs again. Some of these guys just have to bust through.....

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2 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

After seeing this lineup, it really is hard to criticize this group anymore. THe talent just is not there unfortunately. I think the difficult part to grasp is that there is no help coming soon....as in next year as well. I think you just have to hope that someone in Rochester comes out of nowhere. If Tage and Cousins don't pan out, I think we are talking years before playoffs again. Some of these guys just have to bust through.....

Botterill needs to make some trades to bring in real forwards on contracts that extend beyond this season. They have so much cap freeing up next year that they should be able to get a head start on using some of it if they can find some takers for picks and cap dumps of pending UFAs. I really don't want them to have to get into FA bid wars and whatnot over middle-six level players, but that might have to happen too.

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30 minutes ago, darksabre said:

Botterill needs to make some trades to bring in real forwards on contracts that extend beyond this season. They have so much cap freeing up next year that they should be able to get a head start on using some of it if they can find some takers for picks and cap dumps of pending UFAs. I really don't want them to have to get into FA bid wars and whatnot over middle-six level players, but that might have to happen too.

Perhaps he can sue the Blues for highway robbery and get O'Reilly back.

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3 hours ago, darksabre said:

Botterill needs to make some trades to bring in real forwards on contracts that extend beyond this season. They have so much cap freeing up next year that they should be able to get a head start on using some of it if they can find some takers for picks and cap dumps of pending UFAs. I really don't want them to have to get into FA bid wars and whatnot over middle-six level players, but that might have to happen too.

It's worth repeating. 

There's no one coming to save the day here. There's the Dahlin development caveat, to be sure, but how much difference does one player make? We have some young guys, Mittelstadt is developing, Jokiharju, but other teams have young developing players, too, we can't forget that. Cozens is a good prospect and I'm as high on him as anyone, but he's not going to be an impact player anytime soon. 

The rest of our good players...they are in their primes, right now. Eichel. Reinhart. Skinner - and he's getting paid like it, and he'll be 30 in a couple seasons. We have some cap space to work with, but the amount we'll actually have is becoming a bit of a misnomer, considering how many spots we'll have to fill. 

When it seems like we are far from just being a a playoff team, winning a round or two seems like another universe, I'm not sure internal development of what we have right now is even close to bridging even that first gap. 

It's possible things will just all of a sudden click with what we have and we'll be good, but it's tough to count on that. It's looking like it'll either be several more years of building through the draft, or some big trade shake-ups that'll get this thing moving. Considering the ages of our good core forwards right now, I am highly skeptical it's feasible to say that "stay the course" and just keep on drafting high is going to get it done. 

We need a trade, or two. No one is off limits, all options need to be open.

Edited by Thorny
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6 minutes ago, Thorny said:

It's worth repeating. 

There's no one coming to save the day here. There's the Dahlin development caveat, to be sure, but how much difference does one player make? We have some young guys, Mittelstadt is developing, Jokiharju, but other teams have young developing players, too, we can't forget that. Cozens is a good prospect and I'm as high on him as anyone, but he's not going to be an impact player anytime soon. 

The rest of our good players...they are in their primes, right now. Eichel. Reinhart. Skinner - and he's getting paid like it, and he'll be 30 in a couple seasons. We have some cap space to work with, but the amount we'll actually have is becoming a bit of a misnomer, considering how many spots we'll have to fill. 

When it seems like we are far from just being a a playoff team, winning a round or two seems like another universe, I'm not sure internal development of what we have right now is even close to bridging even that first gap. 

It's possible things will just all of a sudden click with what we have and we'll be good, but it's tough to count on that. It's looking like it'll either be several more years of building through the draft, or some big trade shake-ups that'll get this thing moving. Considering the ages of our good core forwards right now, I am highly skeptical it's feasible to say that "stay the course" and just keep on drafting high is going to get it done. 

We need a trade, or two. No one is off limits, all options need to be open.

Agreed, but the chances of a win/win for both parties is difficult with some of these guys. They are so difficult to value. We love them too much at the same time that we hate them. JBots has the worst job in town right now. I hope he has what it takes to keep the ship afloat with so many leaks, then maybe work on setting course for a playoff appearance. 

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3 hours ago, darksabre said:

Botterill needs to make some trades to bring in real forwards on contracts that extend beyond this season. They have so much cap freeing up next year that they should be able to get a head start on using some of it if they can find some takers for picks and cap dumps of pending UFAs. I really don't want them to have to get into FA bid wars and whatnot over middle-six level players, but that might have to happen too.

This is a great idea but it's impossible and simply not going to happen.  We have two refrains going around: 1) we are thin on talent and 2) JBot has to make a trade. So, how exactly does that play out? How are you going to get talent added if you are already perceived as lacking talent (to trade). There is no lineup of teams eager to accept cap dumps either. Boston has been trying to unload Backes for 2 years now with no success, and he's arguably better than half our roster. Lots of other examples like that. All we have to give up is good prospects and picks and if we do that welcome to a full decade more of losing even worse. 

FA's next year might be a possibility. We are certainly positioned for that if we don't overpay Sam, but that's next year (and next year we can get into the who will want to come here scenario that comes up every year).

So, we can unload a D man or two but what are we going to get???? If you think Winnipeg is stupid enough to give us Ehlers for Risto think again. Ain't gonna happen. All that JBot can do is dump a chunk of this roster for picks and prospects and then we wait..........yet again. There simply is no fix waiting in the wings.

And then, if Sam wants top line money you have to ask how screwed will we be if we give it to him? Toronto is already in trouble throwing money at 4 forwards who collectively are better than our top 4 so what would the possibility of us succeeding be if we get cap strapped with all the money we give Eichel Skinner (and potentially Sam)? They going to lead us to the promised land? I think not. 

I see only one potential solution (which won't happen unless JBot and the owner agree on it, cause it would cost JBot his job otherwise) and that is to trade the so called core away and do it again - properly. Not sure this "core" will ever get it done.

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