Let’s reminisce

[Curt]

3 hours ago, Hoss said:

Let's look at his transactions as a GM.

Below is every single trade in order of which they happened. Source.

Steve Ott and Ryan Miller to St. Louis for Jaroslav Halak, Chris Stewart, William Carrier, 2015 1st (traded, see below), 2016 3rd (traded, see below)

• Halak was traded along with a 2015 3rd (Robin Kovacs) for Michal Neuvirth and Rostislav Klesla
• Stewart was traded to Minnesota for a 2017 2nd (post-Murray selection)
• Carrier was selected in the Vegas expansion draft
• 2015 1st was traded to Ottawa for Robin Lehner and David Legwand
• 2016 3rd was part of the deal to move up with Florida to get Rasmus Asplund, further details below
• Michal Neuvirth was traded to New York I for Chad Johnson and a 2016 3rd which was then traded for ... Dan Bylsma
• FINAL TRADE: Steve Ott, Ryan Miller, 2015 3rd for Dan Bylsma, Rostislav Klesla, Robin Lehner, David Legwand, 2017 2nd, part of Asplund/Kulikov

Matt Moulson and Cody McCormick to Minnesota for Torrey Mitchel, a 2014 2nd (traded, see below) and a 2016 2nd (traded, see below)

• 2014 2nd (Vitek Vanecek) was traded to Washington for a 2014 2nd (Vaclav Karabacek) and a 2014 3rd (Brycen Martin)
• 2016 2nd (Chad Krys) was traded to Montreal for Josh Gorges
• Torrey Mitchell was traded to Montreal for Jack Nevins and 2016 7th round pick (Vasily Glotov)
• FINAL TRADE: Matt Moulson and Cody McCormick for Vlaclav Karabacek, Brycen Martin, Josh Gorges, Jack Nevins and Vasily Glotov

Brayden McNabb, Jonathan Parker, two 2nds to Los Angeles for Hudson Fasching and Nicolas Deslauriers

• Hudson Fasching was traded to Arizona for Brandon Hickey and Mike Sislo
• Nicolas Deslauriers was traded to Montreal for Zach Redmond
• FINAL TRADE: Brayden McNabb, Jonathan Parker, two 2nds for Zach Redmond, Brandon HIckey and Mike Sislo

2015 Condition 7th (never converted) to Winnipeg for Jordan Samuels-Thomas

Luke Adam to Columbus for Jerry D'Amigo

Jhonas Enroth for Anders Lindback and a 2016 Conditional 3rd (Casey Fitzgerald)

Tyler Myers, Drew Stafford, Joel Armia, Brendan Lemieux, 2015 1st to Winnipeg for Evander Kane, Zach Bogosian and Jason Kasdorf

• Not doing a trade tree here because the trade of Kane was not done under Murray. This is his final version of the trade.

Brian Flynn to Montreal for 2016 5th (Vojtech Budik)

Nikita Zadorov, Mikhail Grigorenko, JT Compher and a 2015 2nd to Colorado for Ryan O'Reilly and Jamie McGinn

• Jamie McGinn was traded to Anaheim for a 2016 3rd
• 2016 3rd was traded to Nashville for Jimmy Vesey who did not sign
• Rest happened post-Murray
• FINAL TRADE: Zadorov, Grigorenko, Compher, 2015 2nd for Ryan O'Reilly

Mike Weber to Washington for a 2017 3rd (post-Murray selection)

Minor-league deal with Ottawa involving Phil Varone leaving and who cares about the rest

Mark Pysyk, 2016 2nd, 2016 3rd to Florida for Dmitry Kulikov and a 2016 2nd (Rasmus Asplund)

2014 4th to St. Louis for Anders Nilsson

Daniel Catenacci to New York R for Mat Bodie

 

By my count there's a mixed bag here but I firmly believe the Evander Kane and Ryan O'Reilly deals were absolutely brilliant that should have been franchise-changing type deals had he been given more time to fill out the roster.

His trades were not to bad from a talent standpoint, but I don’t think he always brought in the right kind of people into the organization at a very delicate time for the franchise.  I think if he had brought in more stable, dependable people instead of Lehner, Kane, and Bogosian things could have turned out much differently.

Also, I think his drafting was extremely disappointing and set the franchise back as well.

[JoeSchmoe]

Remember that time when Darcy Regier traded Paul Gaustad for a 1st round pick? 

[Taro T]

IMHO, it wasn't so much Murray overpaying for assets that set the Sabres back, it was the combination of his overpaying and then Botterill letting those assets walk for nothing (Lehner, Bogosian) or pennies on the $ (O'Reilly, Kane).

Swapping from building a heavy team (Murray) to a fast team (Botterill) also hurt.

Neither being particularly adept at hiring coaches either also set the team back.   Bylsma didn't fail because he coached a boring style.  Bylsma failed because he had the players THINKING rather than PLAYING.  For crying out loud, he had a team with a ton of young guys (Eichel, Reinhart, Girgensons, Fasching, Bailey, Baptiste, Carrier, Ristolainen, McCabe just for starters) learning how to play in the NHL trying to figure out which of the 8 whiteboards worth of info they needed to be doing at any given time.

[Doohickie]

23 hours ago, Hoss said:

Where do you stand on GMTM and Bylsma, the only tandem to produce a competitor in the modern era of Sabres hockey?

Doesn't matter.  That's waaaayyyyy in the rear view mirror.

[Thorny]

15 hours ago, Weave said:

He drafted more players than Botteril.  This is a tired, worn non-factual point.

Right. And traded the same amount of them as Botterill, too. Broke it down a while ago on here

13 hours ago, Taro T said:

IMHO, it wasn't so much Murray overpaying for assets that set the Sabres back, it was the combination of his overpaying and then Botterill letting those assets walk for nothing (Lehner, Bogosian) or pennies on the $ (O'Reilly, Kane).

Swapping from building a heavy team (Murray) to a fast team (Botterill) also hurt.

Neither being particularly adept at hiring coaches either also set the team back.   Bylsma didn't fail because he coached a boring style.  Bylsma failed because he had the players THINKING rather than PLAYING.  For crying out loud, he had a team with a ton of young guys (Eichel, Reinhart, Girgensons, Fasching, Bailey, Baptiste, Carrier, Ristolainen, McCabe just for starters) learning how to play in the NHL trying to figure out which of the 8 whiteboards worth of info they needed to be doing at any given time.

I wouldn't even say the price we paid to get ROR was an overpay, at all. In the context of it not working out, sure, but the asset value seems good. That's a Conn Smythe winner