nfreeman

Further to the JB evaluation discussion, here's something I saw today: Fun fact: The Colorado Avalanche have only drafted 5 players on their current roster - Landeskog, MacKinnon, Rantanen, Jost, and Makar - the rest were trades, free agents, or waiver claims Kinda makes one realize that other GMs have been able to far outpace JB's results in terms of finding quality contributors from around the NHL.

I think JB has a plan that is reasonably well-constructed, takes a long-term view and is based on drafting and development, speed and puck-skilled defensemen. I think it's reasonably likely that he's been assured by TP that his job is not in jeopardy this year, and accordingly JB is not operating with desperation in the short term. I think though, as @dudacek has stated, that JB's plan (like all plans) requires good execution, and that it is highly questionable whether JB is good enough at talent evaluation (including players, coaches, staff, scouts, etc) to execute his plan competently. There has been an unnerving number of misses on guys like Hutton, Housely, Mittlestadt, Berglund, Sobotka, Sheary, etc. It's also hard to avoid the conclusion that most of the bright spots on the roster were not brought in by JB. It could still work out but this season could be effectively over in a week or so, and at that point it will be hard to be anything other than fatalistic.

If this is true, it will probably factor into TP's decision on whether to give JB another year.

I'm a fan until the end, and I want JB to succeed, and I like a number of the things he's done, but he's got to be accountable for the results. We're well into his 3rd year and his results are freaking terrible -- and looking mighty likely to stay the course. My bottom line is that since Lindy was fired, the Sabres haven't done as well as they would've done had all major decisions been made by the SabreSpace executive committee for hockey operations. And I'm not really kidding about that -- this board certainly could've led the team to 3 DFL finishes, plus a bunch of other bottom-6 finishes, no playoffs and a bunch of disappointing draft picks, all the while spending at or close to the cap. Until the Sabres get some guys in charge who deliver better results than my internet friends and I can produce, I'll reserve the right to expect more.

So the Reino-on-his-own-line experiment (which I thought worked reasonably well) is over after 1 game? I suppose they needed to reshuffle the lines to accommodate Dalton "Fists of Fury" Smith.

This too has the cold ring of truth -- i.e. that it's a desperation move that portends the end of his tenure -- kinda like when Darcy, unable to find a decent center anywhere, drafted Grigorenko and kept him with the Sabres immediately.

Well, I think that means that he's probably going to play tomorrow vs TB. And if that's true, it means IMHO that RK thinks his team needs a kick in the rear.

Plan the parade!

Kane will turn 32 at the beginning of next season. He's under contract at a $10.5MM cap hit for 3 more years after this one. He's not going to come cheap -- so forget about Bogo and a 2nd-rounder. At a minimum, it will cost the Sabres' 2020 1st-rounder plus either Reino or Risto plus something like Mitts or Borgen. If I were JB, and I could get Kane today for that price, I would probably pull the trigger. (Which is another reason to have a hockey czar -- so JB has an experienced and smart hockey guy in the room to discuss major decisions with.)

Dude.

Is there a good word for “desolate fan turns to prospects-related thread after yet another dispiriting loss?”

Yes. They are 5 under DeLuca .500. If they get to 7 or 8 under, the playoffs are probably out.

I think a certain set of expectations is appropriate for a movie like 6 Underground or the Fast & Furious movies. Dumb action thrillers are what they are, and if you require consistent internal logic, you're probably in the wrong theater.

The Sabres played the Bruins pretty well last time but ended up losing. Good opportunity here to show up determined against a very good opponent and gain some confidence.

I finished “the Irishman” on Netflix last night. Broke it into 2 sittings. I don’t disagree with those upthread who thought it was slow but I still really enjoyed it. If you want the opposite end of the pace spectrum, “6 Underground” on Netflix is a pretty good albeit dumb new action thriller with Ryan Reynolds and directed by Michael Bay.

Very nice.

As between the following 2 outcomes, which do you think is more likely? - Washout - consistent 40-point NHL scorer

Well, I suppose those residing in the world of sane humans who hoped that "the refs" giving the Bills, in their last drive vs the Ravens, the benefit of two personal fouls and a long phantom PI call would put to rest these nonsensical conspiracy theories will continue to be disappointed. How about this: the Pats won because they got better play out of their QB and their defense than the Bills did.

As I was saying, Allen is awesome!

Allen is struggling.

Well, they needed a win, and they got one, at home against a bottom-dweller, despite starting poorly. Montour had the least ice time of all the Dmen, with 11. Erod had the least among the forwards, with 6. 3 games under DeLuca .500. They need to string together some wins, including on the road, and show up from the opening faceoff if they are going to do so, especially in the home-and-home vs Boston next week.

Crap. Allen missed Knox in the end zone, and it's 3 points instead of 7.

Today certainly has strong "Buffalo sports debacle" possibilities. But also a non-negligible chance at a glorious win.

I generally agree with this, but IMHO the real question is whether they should give Reino a big contract after this season. It will probably take $7.5MM or so x 7 years to keep him. Giving him that kind of contract means you’re married to him as one of your top 4 guys that you’re building the team around — because you only have room for about 4 contracts like that. It’s a tricky situation. I don’t think Reino is good enough for that kind of commitment, but I don’t want to unload him for lesser pieces either.

Indeed. I don't like the idea of starting over with a new GM yet again, and I like a number of things that JB has done, but he has to be accountable for the results. If they don't end the season within shouting distance of the playoffs, it will be hard to justify keeping him, and it will be totally valid to include in the analysis his huge misses on goaltending, draft picks, his first coach, roster construction, the ROR trade, etc. At a minimum there should be someone else there to contribute to the decision-making.