Weave

He had trouble controlling rebounds, which is a kiss of death for a goalie. I think NHL is not his ceiling, but he did yeoman's work in a tough situation.

He drafted more players than Botteril. This is a tired, worn non-factual point.

He was a surprise for sure. Excellent? Depends on where your bar was set I guess.

Well stated. On paper those players were huge additions. Given their personalities, it didn’t work out.

These trades are almost always something for now plus something for later. Veteran center and a young center or center prospect is typical.

We’d have cap space for flexibility. If we were to move Jack it would have to be part of a win now move because Sam would be the next to want out if we have another year floundering in the desert.

absolutely a good top 6 wing should be on out priority shopping list either way, but the importance goes way up if our center spine suddenly gets 5 yrs younger.

We’d need to make another deal for at least 1 good, established top 6 wing to make it a win next year situation.

Yes. I seem to recall that post season player meetings were the impetus behind DBs firing.

"Longing" is overstating it by a fair amount. Recognizing that they were the best of a bad lot and we did not have a sense of how much worse it could get is closer to what is being conveyed here. Housley underperformed Bylsma by a fair amount and RK came along and said hold my beer. Botteril proved to be in over his head and KA is now running things using training wheels. The circus went from a school gymnasium to 3 rings in an arena. What a ***** show.

Desire to be here is my guess. And a coaching change around the same time.

I would have liked to see GMTMs plan through. I think he had a good vision for the team. I also think he was probably a personality that would not last long and his firing was inevitable. Bylsma did get the most out of a roster since Ruff. We hated his style of hockey but I think he recognized the limitations of the roster and played to those limitations. Usually we praise that kind of adaptability but the game was boring so we pilloried him. Ultimately I think his game was the right one for the short term but I doubt he would have been the right coach for the short term. I also think out tankfruit was his undoing, not his performance.

Zegras is a C, no? Sam, Cozens, Mitts, Zegras? Four 2Cs could be quite formidable. Shades of Drury, Briere, Roy, Connolly.

Must Win evolved into random words starting with M and W as the Sabres hopes fade.

Ideally I'd want a center for now and a center for future, but this deal could work for me.

Ahhhh I didn’t realize that Jack didn’t call this. If its std season ending interview stuff it’ll be nothing.

Thorny shares them with me to. What Duda says makes me blush. What they are telling my you say makes me want to buy you a glass of turpentine the next time I see you.

If they traded all or even most of them you’d be on to something. But the reality is they had alot of picks and youth and not much else. They didn’t have enough players in the system to ice an NHL team. They needed actual players just to get NHL players on 3 lines. Their options were to ice nearly 1/2 of a game day roster of not NHL players or move some kids/picks to get actual NHL players so the team had a chance of being watchable. It is an entertainment venue afterall.

Falls under category 4.

No, you're right. Buffalo is the only team in the league that trades draft picks for players. They pioneered the idea and no else followed them.

Realistically, what would a franchise player call a press conference for? 1. I want out. 2. I don't want out and all these rumors are false. 3. Injury update. 4. Bad news of a personal nature that will affect the team. I think 2. or 3. are the most likely.

There isn't a single example in the league of a team that is a perennial contender that doesn't augment their own players with trades.

Queue up the ominous music.

How many conference final teams did he oversee? How many Stanley Cup finals teams? How many of each have the Sabres seen in their history? Darcy was a good GM.

Except insurance doesn't pay for torch jobs and you end up rebuilding from nothing when you could have used what you have to reduce the output needed to get occupancy again.