nfreeman

Every big public works project in NYS costs much more than it needs to cost. It shouldn't, but it does, primarily due to outrageous levels of corruption in the state government and the unions, and it's not going to change for a new WNY football stadium. If Wawrow said an overhaul of RWS will cost $540MM, that # came from somewhere. An overhaul will almost certainly cost at least 25% more than whatever # is floated publicly, and, as sure as the sun will rise in the East and the tank was a terrible idea, will not cost less. And if an overhaul will cost at least $540MM, a new stadium will cost over $1B for open air and over $1.5B for a dome. We can kid ourselves all we want, but them's the facts.

What if Dahlin is so GD good that every time you see him in person it's like seeing a new Picasso masterpiece (or Springsteen or Tarantino or Kanye, as you prefer)? It could happen.

Serious question: what is this based on? His numbers are not impressive at any level: http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/pdisplay.php?pid=187435 He had one respectable year in juniors -- but even that year he was 31st in the OHL in goals and 19th in points (a solid 41 points behind Marner that year, btw). Otherwise, he's had 2 awful-to-lousy AHL seasons and, in the best chance he's had to shine in his career, was completely ineffective in the AHL playoffs and got dropped to the 4th line. If they can get a good prospect or a low 1st or high 2nd-round pick this year for him, they should do so IMHO.

Me too.

I wouldn't be a-tall surprised if ROR is pushing for a trade. Playing for the Sabres these past 3 years has likely been a chore, with no improvement, no sign of the playoffs, let alone contender status, no excitement in the arena, no goaltending and no stability (and perhaps no faith in his coach). Meanwhile, his prime years are being squandered. I also wouldn't be surprised if JBott pulls the trigger on a trade. He wants more speed, more leadership and a general shakeup. An ROR trade could deliver all 3 of those elements. And JBott might have an old-school-GM attitude about players who make trade requests -- i.e. once a player does so, the GM needs to get rid of him. I agree with WC though that winning heals most wounds -- although it would be nice if ROR were one of the drivers on the winning train, not one of the passengers. So if Dahlin, a new goalie and a lot of bottom-6 turnover give rise to a lot more winning -- which could happen -- the idea of trading ROR could easily disappear.

Excellent breakdown from Duda as always. On the leadership/accountability point, which I agree is critical: I know it’s not fair or realistic for this year, but this is another area where I would love to see Dahlin, who it sounds like takes the game very seriously, set a new tone.

There is something highly dysfunctional in the Senators’ organization. I’m sure glad the Sabres hired a GM from there.

My son graduated from HS today. It was a very happy occasion but when we got home he became pretty sad about leaving his friends. It’s sweet and sad and beautiful. I remember at that age, when this kind of thing felt like the end of the world.

So the theory is that TBN canned Bucky and Sully to facilitate a future real estate deal? Uh-uh.

It won't be Vogl, because he's leaving too, but I have to believe that someone -- probably someone already there -- will write columns -- and that there's a good chance that whoever it is will do a better job than Bucky (I was always OK with Sullivan's columns).

This could happen, but the Sabres will need to become a good team pretty soon, and for a number of GMTM's draft picks to prove out as better-than-JAG-to-very-good players. E.g: - 2 of Guhle, Borgen and Fitzgerald become top-4 defensemen - Nylander and Pu become top-6 forwards - Reino becomes a consistently productive player who shows up when it counts -

No. The tank failed because it didn't achieve its goal, which was to produce a good hockey team. The tank and the rebuild are two stages of the same project. To date the project has failed. It is impossible to know whether you, Robvy and others are correct that the project would've been successful had GMTM been better at stage 2 of the project -- but what is known is that to date the project has been a crashing failure. Now, it's possible that Dahlin will become a superstar and lift the Sabres to perennial contender status. If that happens, the question of whether the tank was successful will be impossible to answer, because it will be impossible to know what would've happened without Dahlin. Of course, that will be a good problem to have.

That's an interesting interpretation of this conversation.

The bolded is very fair. My thinking is that getting Gruby would give the Sabres two chances that a young guy will step up and seize the opportunity next year instead of one shot at it. If it's Ullmark? Then we may have wasted a low #1 pick next year, but we'll have a good goalie in Ullmark and Gruby will still probably be either a decent #2 for the Sabres or an asset that can be traded.

Would you agree that a tank is a type of rebuild? And that the Sabres, in approaching their rebuild, adopted the tank as their method of rebuilding? And yet AZ finished ahead of the Sabres this year.

When the Lehner trade happened, I thought it was a slight overpay, but not egregiously so, and I was generally OK with it because I thought GMTM had identified his guy -- who had pretty decent credentials -- and gone out and gotten him. I was willing to give GMTM the benefit of the doubt on scouting and knowing his guy, which I think is the kind of deference one has to give to a GM. As for Gruby's similarities to Lehner -- this is very true, as I think it would be for any young, rising #2 goalie that the Sabres might acquire -- although Gruby comes from a better organization than Lehner (and GMTM for that matter) came from. I'd rather get Holtby than Gruby, but if JBott identifies Gruby as his guy, then I'm fine with Gruby. The broader point of course is that I'm OK trading a low first-rounder for the guy that the Sabres' GM thinks is the long-term answer in goal -- understanding that the GM might be wrong on his guy -- as GMTM was about Lehner. That's just how it goes. As for Ullmark, I'm strongly against going into the season with him as the clear #1 and only a CJ-like backup for him. I think there's at least a 50% chance that Ullmark does not have the right stuff, and if that turns out to be the case, it will be another wasted season, filled with losing that seeps even further into Jack, Reino, Risto and everyone else on the roster. So I'm really hoping for Gruby, Holtby or someone else who will come into camp with at least a strong shot at the #1 job.

Well, whoever is so inclined can dance around with terminology all he/she wants, but I'll venture that no one here wanted the Sabres to tank, get Eichel and still stink, which is undeniably what has happened so far -- and what the brave, clear-headed and handsome anti-tankers were concerned about. If what we've seen so far is a successful tank, I'd hate to see a failed one.

We've beat me to it. I'd also point out that if the Sabres win a cup, it will likely be due at least as much to Dahlin than to Eichel -- and I disagree that getting Dahlin was part of the tank.

I would trade the SJ #1 for Holtby or Grubauer in a heartbeat. Not Rinne though.

A more nuanced, and accurate, view is that if your house needs some repairs, you shouldn't burn it to the ground because you think you'll ultimately be able to build a better house with a fancy cornerstone that has caught your eye -- because doing so usually ends up in you and your family sleeping under a bridge.

Respectfully, I think this is a distinction without a difference. The Sabres didn't tank, and no one would ever tank, just to get a great player. A lousy team with a great player is no fun a-tall, as some of us have learned the hard way the past few years. The sole reason to tank was the (wrong) theory that getting Eichel would enable a rebuild that would get the Sabres to a higher level than they otherwise would've achieved. The tank may be stage 1 of the project, and the rebuild stage 2, but they are very much parts of the same project.

Prime rib roast is an outstanding cut of meat.

That was a fantastic performance by LeBron.

There is NFW a new stadium will cost less than $1B.

I’m starting to wonder if dudacek is some kind of sinister fifth column, trying to cripple the Sabres by keeping Lehner in net.