nfreeman

Unbelievable.

Regarding Watkins: the story is far from being fully written, but certainly this decision reduces by quite a bit the likelihood that he stays here long term -- probably to below 50%. And that's too bad, because when healthy he's terrific.

Whoops. I've got a lot on my mind.

But they haven't really dipped into that well for a hockey (or football) guy previously, innit? It was just Ted Black and, for a cup of coffee, Cliff Benson, right?

GA -- very good info on the Preds in your post, but the question isn't how does Nashville's drafting compare to Buffalo's -- it should be better than Buffalo's, because the Sabres stink -- the question is whether Nashville's drafting is good relative to that of the NHL's good organizations.

GA -- too much #Hammymath.

What is it about McD that makes him a prima Donna? That he didn't want to work with DW?

Y'know, when I watch Hall, he kinda looks like a star, but is he really? In 6 NHL seasons, he's never exceeded 27 goals. Last season, as NJ's top gun, he produced 20-33-53. Those of course are good numbers, but elite? And of course it can't be ignored that he didn't disrupt Edmonton's chronic suckitude one iota -- whereas McD, who is unquestionably elite, immediately muscled them into relevance. The broader point is that there are very few players that can make that kind of difference -- and thus it's almost always not worth tanking for a high draft pick -- especially when the lottery gives you only a very small chance of getting that guy even when there is one.

Maybe until McD the talent they acquired wasn't really elite.

Serious question: how much credit should Fenton get for Nashville's deep, talented blueline? Didn't they keep drafting BPAs who happened to be defensemen, most of whom developed really well?

Didn't Edmonton tank during the McD year? Either way, they finished DFL or close to it for quite a few years. I think it's fair to hold them up as an example of what happens when you drop to that level, regardless of whether it's intentional.

Yes -- the Sabres are interviewing pretty much every highly-regarded GM candidate; I see no reason why the Bills won't have similar interest from the field of candidates. I agree with your concern about McD getting too much too soon. Totally agree.

I don't think McD making the firing of DW a condition to McD taking the job necessarily indicates dysfunction or is even terribly unusual. I'd expect that DW's reputation around the NFL as a GM was/is pretty poor -- especially following his presser after Rex was fired. It seems pretty reasonable that McD wouldn't be interested in working for DW.

Exhibit A for the #NeverTank position.

It's true that the Vanek/Pommer/Miller selloff yielded assets that went towards ROR and Kaner -- although other assets were certainly included -- especially in the Kane trade, in which the key piece was Myers. However, I don't really view that selloff as "the tank." Most teams that aren't cup contenders trade their pending UFAs -- and most teams don't intentionally ice terrible teams for the next 2 seasons, including by hiring a coach with essentially no knowledge of current NHL styles of, in order to obtain high draft picks, which is what I regard as the tank. I think Risto is debatable because the Sabres, and Rahn, were still trying to win in 2012-13 -- they went 8-4 in April that year. That wasn't part of the program in the next 2 years, which IMHO were the true tank years. This is fair. The results aren't in yet. If Jackie boy leads them to the playoffs next year and then to a string of, say, 6 conf. finals or better in the following 9 years, it will have been a success. But if they miss again next year, making it 7 years with no playoffs, including 5 in a row starting with the tank (6 under the TB/dudacek definition of the tank era)? I'll feel vindicated, although certainly not happy, in continuing to believe that the right move would've been to have canned DR at the end of the 2012-13 season and brought in a new GM and coach with the mandate of "become a playoff team ASAP while maintaining cap flexibility to add difference-makers as they become available so the team can gradually improve its playoff results over time."

I think that of that list, only Eichel and Reino are Sabres because of the tank, with Risto being debatable. ROR and Kane were hockey trades, and Nylander was a post-tank draft pick.

Zito's resume looks good (Yale undergrad & played hockey there, attorney, NHL player agent), but I really don't like hiring from an organization with zero playoff success.

Please provide a link to a quote from TP in which he said faith was a criterion. If you are unable to do so (which you won't be able to, because he hasn't said this), then, based on the definition of "criteria," it doesn't seem like you can plausibly make the case that he is hiring people due to their religion.

Except that McDavid had zero impact on the Sabres being the 5th-worst team in the NHL this year -- which is why the tank was a terrible decision -- i.e. it usually doesn't work.

Whaley received his extension in January 2016 -- a solid 16 months ago. He was entering the final year of his deal, so the extension prevented him from being a lame duck. An extension in these circumstances is very common. Here is what TP said at the time: That is hardly high praise -- and really could be characterized as muted. As I and many others -- including many professional NFL writers -- have said, keeping DW and the scouting staff until after the draft was the logical move for the franchise. I agree that DW (and RB, IMHO) should've been fired as soon as TP bought the team, just like he should've fired Darcy. But TP doesn't believe in buying something and then firing everyone. He believes in giving people a chance to prove themselves. That doesn't make him a bad guy, or fickle, or lacking in character. Similarly, giving DW an extension entering his lame-duck year, praising him fairly moderately at the time and then firing him 16 months later (after 16 months of continued terrible performance) doesn't make him a bad guy, or fickle or lacking in character, nor does it mean the extension was an embarrassment. It just means DW didn't do a good job, TP decided he'd given DW enough rope, and it was time to cut his losses and move on. I think TP will have plenty of high-quality applicants for the GM job -- just as he's had for the Sabres' GM job. What a tiresome and foolish meme this has become. Correct.

Why? Calgary hasn't done anything in forever.

The cinematography is indeed outstanding.

Yes indeed.

Well, one man's "tough, pointed, well-constructed" question is another man's "obnoxious, antagonistic and pointless, because it won't get answered and only serves to entrench the questioner's isolation from and lack of sources in the organization" question. Having said that, I too am concerned about hiring a coach first, and then a GM. In this case, I think there are mitigating factors -- namely, wanting to keep the benefits of the year's worth of scouting -- but it is a concern nevertheless. I also think the plan since hiring McD was to unload DW after the draft and bring in a new GM who is sympatico with McD. That of course raises the question again of whether too much trust is being granted to McD. I'm cautiously optimistic but we'll see.

Patience, grasshopper. I think this is what is going to happen. He is working on finding the right GM, and being deliberate and meeting with a bunch of different people, which is what he should be doing. Once the GM is hired, though, TP isn't going to micromanage.