nfreeman

I'd rather trade Miller than Risto or Montour, and I only want to trade any of them for a no-BS top-6 forward.

I agree with a lot of this, but it's a bit too rose-colored IMHO. I don't think it's fair to say that JB has maneuvered the Sabres out of cap hell. He didn't figure a clever way out of the KO, Moulson and Hunwick deals -- the Sabres just had to keep taking those hits. Until Bogo flaked, they were capped out, and it's still a consideration now at the deadline (and let's not forget the Berglund cap windfall). And a big reason they are capped out is the plethora of overpaid guys brought in by JB like Hunwick, Sobotka, Sheary, Frolik, etc. Again, a team tight against the cap shouldn't be this bad. I also think the failure to bring in a quality goaltender is unacceptable, especially after Hutton made it clear last year that he can't do the job. As for the prospect pool, every team has good prospects. The Sabres' prospect pool was just ranked #16 in the NHL by the Athletic, FWIW. So nothing special there. Bottom line is that he's accountable for the results. If the results are 85 points, as you note, that's probably good enough to buy him another offseason. But if they end up with 76 or 78 pts, which could easily happen -- he could easily get canned.

But what if, per my post upthread, they limp home and finish with 78 pts? It's quite possible.

As to the bolded -- how involved do you think he is? Do you think he is pushing JB to trade Scandy for Frolik, or to draft Cozens? My impression is that he isn't involved at all, although I think he told JB that if ROR was to be traded, it needed to be before the $7.5MM came due -- but that was close to 2 years ago. As for the role of a hockey czar -- I'm open to someone being empowered to evaluate and determine the fate of JB, and to sign off on all major GM decisions.

C'mon. You know better than this. Separately: the Sabres have 27 wins and 62 pts with 22 games left. They had 76 pts last year, in JB's 2nd year, and 62 in JB's 1st year (after getting 78 pts in GMTM's last season). Let's assume they don't go on an insane 17-5 streak and get into the playoffs, but rather muddle along around .500 for the rest of the year. If they go DeLuca .500 and get a couple of OTLs (i.e. 11-9-2), they'll end up with 86 pts. I think JB is safe in that situation. If they go NHL .500 -- say, 9-9-4 -- they'll end up with 84 pts. JB is probably safe in that situation too. But what if bad goaltending and a UFA selloff causes them to lose badly and mail it in for the last 6 weeks of the season and they go, say, 7-13-2, for a total of 78 pts, with empty seats and tons of booing in the arena? That's the number that got GMTM fired in his 3rd season, and it would unquestionably represent a disappointing season. In that situation, I think it's at least 50/50 that JB is gone.

When was the last time a GM quit due to owner interference? I don't think I can come up with a single example. I'm sure GMs push back on owners all the time, and try to convince the owners that they are wrong in pushing for move XYZ, but that is quite different from ignoring/dismissing the owner's wishes.

No one is going to do this, on any team.

Exactly. The owner is always the boss. There is no "taking power away" from the owner. Unfortunately, it looks like TP has whiffed on his third GM decision. My reason for wanting a POHO or senior hockey adviser put in place is that I think JB does some things well but he needs an experienced voice to consider and evaluate his NHL hockey talent decisions -- because for the most part, those have been lousy decisions.

Good man. Still: JB has plenty of time and plenty of opportunity to bring in a goalie and a good forward and plenty of notice that both were sorely needed. We all saw it and we all knew it was needed. Those 2 moves would’ve put this team in or very close to the playoffs. He’s accountable.

An embarrassing loss right after an embarrassing outcome to a trade. The devil on TP’s shoulder whispering “fire him!” just got 4% more convincing.

What? Do you think JB has done a good job overall as GM of the Sabres? Would you rather have what MTL got for Scandy or what the Sabres got for him? Please provide examples of premium prices that have been traded for cap space at the deadline. Also, I didn't change the thread title.

This is obnoxiously stated. As to the substance: first, there is a material difference between living with a $2MM cap hit for the entire season and living with it for 28% of the season. When you have it for the entire season, it affects your plans and the options available to you for the entire season. When you only have to live with it for 28% of the season, you've already experienced the first 72%, and you know what you need for the remaining 28%. In other words: this was much easier for MTL to live with than it would've been at the beginning of the season. Second, I'm not sure what you're saying in your last paragraph, but if it's that you think Scandy for Frolik was a better move than Scandy for a #2, I think you are dead wrong. If the Sabres are up against the cap to the point where they can't retain a $2MM cap hit for 30% of the season in order to get a 2nd instead of a 4th -- that's also a JB failure. A team this bad shouldn't also have zero cap flexibility. I also think there are various moves that are and were then available to free up cap space in a pinch for just such an occasion -- and that's before the Bogo contract termination windfall. At the end of the day, I think this is another one of those "understandable at the time and the consequences aren't so bad" JB moves that nevertheless add up over time and hinder the achievement of optimal roster construction results.

Apples and oranges IMHO. And while Scandy's salary is $4MM, Montreal isn't retaining a $2MM cap hit -- they are only retaining the prorated portion through the end of the year. STL has 23 games remaining, which is 28% of the schedule. 28% of Scandy's $4MM salary is $1.12MM. Montreal retained half of that, which is $556K. Any respectable GM would have retained that much to get a #2 instead of a #4 for Scandy. JB just mis-timed the market and mis-evaluated how much Scandy would yield in trade. He screwed it up.

In all seriousness -- we know TP hates being embarrassed. This is embarrassing.

What is this based on?

Scandy trade posts moved to the new thread.

Well, no way to spin it -- this looks like asset mismanagement by JB.

Not at all surprised by this, but it's really not relevant at this point. It wasn't realistic to think this would happen during the season. TP could easily change his mind on this after the season -- just like he could easily decide to can JB entirely.

For the record: there is NFW that Florida is giving up Trocheck for McCabe plus a prospect. It will take Risto or Montour.

For those who have watched some of Dylan's WHL games this year -- does it look like there is anything for him to gain in playing another year at that level?

How long could a human live on Twinkies and water? I’ll guess 45 days.

I agree that assuming 2 of them are going to handle real roles in the NHL next year is ill-advised. It’ll be kinda disappointing if they don’t get one contributor out of the three of them though.

If he clears waivers now and stays in Rochester, maybe they can call him up without waivers if they need a warm body on short notice right after the deadline? And maybe giving him an NHL contract is to deter other teams from claiming him via waivers, so he gets a nice raise for the last third of the season and the Sabres protect their plan?

Hutton’s recent play is a low-key shocking development. And a win in the 2nd half of February to keep the season alive, when last year’s team had begun its irreversible nose dive at this point, with all those sweet 3rd-period goals (including the very nifty feed from Risto to Vesey!)? yessir — best W of the year.

Brutal. Separately: excellent hockey talk in here boys. IMHO, @dudacek is certainly right that we haven't seen any kind of shark-like strike from JB with his accumulated defense assets, that good forwards have changed hands while JB has been accumulating defensemen, that the Sabres are still dying for help in the top 6 and that JB is accountable for the outcome if his plan doesn't come to fruition. OTOH, @LTS is right that Scandy and Bogo had pretty much zero value starting this season, while Risto's value was quite depressed. Also, I think there was a reputable report that at least one of the good forwards did not want to come to Buffalo. Moreover, the book is not yet written here. I think Montour, Miller and Joker all look like they can be mainstays for a long time, and I'm more than happy to ride with them, Risto and Dahlin indefinitely. That group plus the good D prospects are still available as currency to trade for a good forward -- and in the meantime they are improving in value.