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the sabres are not paying him for offense. that they pay tage, cozens, skinner, tuch, quinn, jj, mitts to do that. i will give quinn a pass for obvious reasons. if the 4th line combined has 15 goals on the season, i will take it. that line, and z, is not the problem.

i am too lazy this morning to find the appropriate GIF - but if i wasn't, it would express 'tired indifference' towards this game

I agree with you - Benson can be moved if the price is right. The only players I believe they should be building around are Tage, Mitts, Quinn, Peterka, Dahlin, Powers, UPL and ... that is it. Cozens, Tuch, Samuelson, Benson, Savoie, Kulich, Rosen, Levi, Östlund are all term players we should consider moving if the return is right. Any players with FA pending goes without saying - although a Girgs trade and resign would be good by me. If three of the mentioned players above plus a few draft picks can be turned into 4-6 legit NHL ready players - go for it. The teams veteran depth is putrid enough to warrant it.

Awesome idea for a thread! Better: Girgs. Perfect 4th line player. His stone hands are real...but he skates fast, to the net, and gets back on D. Sign him again this off-season. Better: Power. His contract is a Trainwreck. Not his fault. Not our fault. He has the body of a teenaged giraffe. His best hockey for us is 2 or 3 years away. Better: Only because it seems 50% of the board is ready to move on still...Mitts. So much so, I think he is the teams best all around center. Which leads me to the next... Worse: Cozens. Contract was a massive overreaction by the front office. To be fair, not his fault. He should have been bridged at best. Or Mitts should have been given 7 million, with Cozens being used to solve our top 4 D and/or bottom 6 lack of depth issue. He is a 3 C/ top 9 F on a playoff team as of now. We over committed. Worse: Dahlin. Although based on the posts, I am not as alone as I thought. His D responsibility is poor. Not being cruel...it is simply poor. He hangs on in the offensive zone way to long. He is virtually useless during important D zone faceoffs. Thank God he is still young and can improve still. Worse: Skinner. Wonderful goal scorer. But he is horribly irresponsible on both ends of the ice. Terrible on ice role model on a young team. On a good team, he is a 5 million dollar player getting 12-13 minutes a night. I was a defender of him in the past... watching him more closely, I have soured this year. Worse: Levi. Been saying it since the summer. He belongs in Rochester for 1-2 years. He is all about habit and structure. College hockey allows that more easily. The NHL does not. Always was going to be a rude awakening for him and his desire for zen. He needs time to learn to be an adult pro. (If the Sabres don't F it up, I'm bullish on him).

Half agree with you on #5. Not sure nice ***** needs to be taken away. In terms of education and physical health - they should have top of the line and readily available equipment. That said - always felt the lockerroom and entry way to the ice was a bit too country club in its design. I am more on board with workman like aesthetics - but high level treatment and equipment. Create an environment that makes the players more excited to take the ice than hangout in their lounge with the boys. State of the art system that creates best ice in the league? I would put more money into that than even making the fan experience better. Fans will come if you are winning...even if the beef on weck sucks! I digress...

sure. but who else is going to do it? hope is all we have - that and bitching and complaining!

I don't know if a 100% blowup is necessary with this team - but a shot across the bow would be hard to argue against. Head Coach - let him finish out the season. But behind the scenes, they should be strongly evaluating what they want out of a head coach - and create a list of people who fit their defined criteria. Current Players - IMO, I believe Cozens is their best trade chip. I like him. He will do well. But I believe Mitts is better - more well rounded - and at a perfect age. If Skinner can be moved at a 50% retention - they should do it. So fun to watch him score goals - but he plays irresponsible hockey. He is not a good playing role model for the young players. EJ and OX will be gone next year - so be it. Devon - KEEP HIM IN ROCHESTER. Let him have a year, or two, where he is the leader and getting all the reps on a contending team. He is not going to get that in the NHL. Is he better than Comrie? Sure, by a little. But not enough so that he should skip the proper development stages. Future Players - Vets are good to have. But they have to be Vets who can produce. OX and EJ are no different than Gionta. You can only lead so much if you cannot produce on the ice at a high level. This team needs 2-3 players - aged 29-33 - that can produce. A veteran mix of players that the young players can role model themselves to ON THE ICE. Probably have to overpay by 15-20% - but that is the cost until you become a proven winner. GM - I would keep KA for one more offseason. But the management of Devon - and his inability to close on producing vets via free agency is a red flag. Not talking about 35 goal scorers - talking legit bottom 6 players that can slide into the top 6 when necessary. We are lacking that...

While I am not a big poster around these parts - I just have to get this off my chest... What a ***** show our organization is. It is 100% clear that they have no framework or identity to fall back on in any scenario - including development. Leave Levi in Rochester to be 'part of a team', develop/learn...and practice/play as a starter. KA and Granato are amateurs.

I actually agree with you regarding ER - he doesn't crack every lineup in the NHL. Probably does not crack 70%. Unfortunately - he cracks ours due to lack of bottom 6 depth - and the fact he does bring a different element to the team that is needed. Buffalo is stars aligned for him. But no illusions that he is a long-term answer.

I am with you on this - he brings a dynamic the rest of the roster lacks. He crashes the net hard - and when on a line with Krebs and Girgs - they all follow suit. It is a nice change of pace the opposing team has to deal with. VO is a fine press box piece. This goes beyond ER...Ryan Johnson needs to be in the lineup (which means moving Joker or sitting EJ). And Devon needs to go back to Rochester - he should have never been called back up. Best players need to be out there. Period.

I always thought this place smelled a little funny... 43. Not always; but a lot of times, you can have a solid idea of what the person's age is based on their posts. That would have been a real fun game.... I have always found that spotting a person my age or younger is rather easy. They tend to state their opinions as facts with no supporting evidence to back their thoughts up. When they do provide evidence - it is usually someone else's work they carefully select to make their point. In any event - great thread!

I have become so ambivalent as a Sabres fan. I come to this thread; and I think...yeah, I could be patient for another year. Then I go to the Fire Granato and Adam's thread; and I think...yeah, ***** has to change, and change now! I don't have a clue anymore...I haven't seen good, stable hockey in WNY since Lindy Ruff was here. Go Sabres?

i always thought word posting was more a, 'look, we did something' kind of thing that a decorator can make the owner and pr staff feel all good about. that said, always thought that stuff was better for meeting rooms and weight rooms...where work is actually being done. some of these lockerrooms and hallways leading to the ice are almost too nice. i am not a 'grrr, everything needs to be gritty' kind of guy...but some of this stuff is very country clubesque. always disliked the sabres hallway leading to ice...bright lines, fans lined up, carpeting and woodwork....if i were a player, i would hate that. give me a concrete wall and floor with banners, trophies and old pics... just my opinion. i know everyone has their own take on these things.

agreed. I get Ox has had a decent stretch - but I am probably putting him in the press box 2 out of 3 games. Prefer to have Girgs and his speed on that 4th line. Just my opinion. We are probably talking 6 of this and half dozen of the other.

it is ok to get lucky with a hire. point was - regier knew something was a little off and had to hedge his bets. nolan was, make no mistake, an ***** to work with in the front office. ***** like nolan, or nice guy like granato - means nothing to me personally. at the end of the day, the sabres have to decide, is this the guy that takes them to the next level. i am not personally seeing it. i see a team with no identity.

no, common misconception since he and muckler had a such a terrible relationship. muckler was fired pre nolan not coming back

for me, this takes me back to the late 90's when Regier had to make a choice at what direction his young franchise was going to go. He purposefully insulted Nolan with a one year deal - and proceeded to hire Ruff. He knew Nolan did his job motivating the young team into becoming NHL players - but he was not going to finish it and make them legit contenders. And no - Nolan did not sleep with Hasek's wife or show up to rink drunk. That is all BS. Regardless - this may be a similar situation. Does KA have the nuts to see it is time for a new voice to guide these young chickens...

ed jovanovski (granted, 10 years ago...) nicklas backstrom carl hagelin ryan kesler not a long list - but that could also be a point - it may not be an ideal surgery to have if you play sports.

no. just going to an extreme to make a point that i could care less.

I can put my fan blinders on and root for virtually anyone. So the off ice stuff - so be it. Lot's of morons in the world. Sure there are a few on the Sabres team right now, whether we know it or not. Assuming (big assumption) he is really feeling good and healthy - worst case, he is a .75 point a game player. Who doesn't want that? None of our current prospects are capable of that (yet). Here is the thing - every player - I mean literally - every player who had this surgery...never gets over the discomfort, and they retire. Every single one. Why would Kane be different?

what a zig zag. clearly 30+ goal scorers got a premium payout (hintz and meier)...but then kempe throws a monkey wrench in that. then there is the players in that .77 range (where i am putting casey based on last 78 games played)... I have no clue where to peg mitts. his agent could come from a million different directions on this one, and so can the sabres. In a nutshell - if he averages .8 or higher this season alone - he could fetch 9 million on the open market. If he were to sign now, my guess is it costs the sabres 7 - 7.5 million a year. That just goes to show you what a ridiculous deal we got with tage. he is worth 11+ a year.

OK, I was under the impression they could play in the AHL, but it burns a year of their entry level contract (same as NHL play). I thought that is why teams loathe to do it - if they are not getting NHL time, they don't want to burn it. Assuming you are correct ( and I don't see why you wouldn't be), that complicates things. I am not sold Benson is better in the lineup than Jost right now...and need to see Savoie with some NHL minutes...

You are dead on with this. Candidly - if we have to burn both of their entry level deals to let them flip between the AHL and NHL all season...so be it. If both are showing the have NHL 'readiness' - get them out of juniors. I mean, if we are worried about only having Benson locked up until age 26 versus 27 as an RFA...that is a bit misguided.

that line made me laugh! good pull up of stats - good read.

BS statement. Plenty of false allegations in recent years. Trotter's allegations stink of crap. Both owners happened to say an "if they dont like, then do this..." type statement. Reeks of a shallow and lazy grifting. Not uncommon this day and age.