dudacek

I just want to point out that the mess we are watching right now is largely of Jason Botterill's making. Botterill had a five-year development-based plan to rebuild the Sabres from the Amerks up that theoretically should be bearing fruit now. Adams' big moves of the off-season were basically an attempt to patch the most glaring holes on Jason's team (centre, offensive depth) with Staal, Hall and Eakin. All three moves have been failures, but the bones of this team are still Jason Botterill's Don't believe me? This is Jason's goaltending. It was Botterill who came up and stuck with the plan to sign Carter Hutton to carry the load for three years while passing the torch to Linus Ullmark as Jonas Johansson developed in the background. This is Jason's defence. It was Botterill who focused attention and resources on an offence-first, lopsided blueline corps, investing significant assets in Montour, Miller, and Jokiharju — two of whom can't stay in the lineup and none of whom has made a difference — while sitting on Risto and squandering Scandella, Bogosian and Pilut. This is Jason's development program. It is Jason who counted on Casey Mittelstadt and Tage Thompson to be significant contributors, and whose coaches failed to advance the development of each (as well as that of Rasmus Dahlin), and failed to graduate a single Amerk to full-time NHL status. (Olofsson was a Murray pick who developed largely in Sweden) These aren't Jason's forwards, but that's even more damning. He was handed four top-six forwards Eichel, O'Reilly, Kane and Reinhart. He got nothing of significance for Kane and nothing of significance for O'Reilly. He signed 2-goal scorer Jeff Skinner to a $9 million contract. Not one of his 2ndary acquisitions over three years — Sheary, Vesey, Johansson, Berglund, Sobotka, Frolik... — made an impact on the Sabres, short-term, or long-term. Only Skinner and Curtis Lazar remain. And until this week, this was Jason's coaching staff. He hired Krueger, he hired Housley, and he signed off their assistants. Their results speak for themselves. He is the worst executive in Sabres history.

Looks to me like we're more than 95 per cent in agreement 😁

What I would do with the current roster: Eichel: under contract for five more years at good value; hold on to him unless he wants a trade, or someone offers you something that will transform the franchise Reinhart and Risto: headed for UFA in the summer of ‘22, in desperate need of a new environment, decent value; trade both for good hockey players of similar talent and age Staal: pending UFA; trade him for the best available asset as soon as possible and get him away from this franchise Skinner: under contract for six more years at terrible value; embrace him for who his is and put him in a position to succeed. Hall: pending UFA; trade him for the best prospect offered; Do not consider re-signing him for any more than you would any declining 10-15 goal scorer. Olofsson: under contract for another year at good value; entertain offers, if you can flip him for a competitive 2-way middle-six or middle-pairing ES guy, do it Montour: pending UFA; trade him for the best available offer McCabe: pending UFA; try to re-sign him to a fair offer, don’t count on him taking it Ullmark: pending UFA; try to re-sign him to a good offer in the context of the overall goalie market Eakin: under contract for another year on a bad but affordable contract; trade him if anyone will take him, do the math on buying him out and re-signing Sheahan to a league-minimum contract, or failing both of those, pencil him in as the 4C/PK Sheahan: pending UFA; trade him if you get a reasonable offer, offer him a league minimum contract if you can find a way to dump Eakin. Let him walk otherwise. He’s fine in his role, but we can’t have too many guys like that. Lazar: under contract for another year at good value; pencil him in as the 13th forward Girgensons: under contract for two more years at an inflated but affordable price; consider your options but pencil him in as a useful bottom-6 regular. Rieder: pending UFA; trade him if you get a reasonable offer; let him walk, he’s fine in his role, but not with Lazar, Eakin, Girgs and Asplund already here Okposo: overpaid for two more years on a bad contract; have a frank talk with him that he will have to earn a roster spot next year and will likely be in Rochester, offer him a job in the organization to retire, or the opportunity to shop himself around the league, treat him with the respect he deserves Davidson/Irwin: pending UFAs; trade them if you get a reasonable offer, do not re-sign Miller: mildly overpaid for another year; shop him for fair value, hope Seattle takes him, understand that he might be in Buffalo until next years deadline. Bryson: under contract on his ELC; let him compete for a job in the top six, starting now Jokiharju: pending RFA; sign him to a cheap bridge deal, let him compete for a job in the top six, starting now Dahlin: pending RFA; offer him six years, $30 million, sign him to a cheap bridge deal if he doesn’t take it. Consider offers, but unless somebody knocks your socks off, make it a priority to sign a coach and a partner to maximize his potential. Cozens: under contract on his ELC; play him in the middle six with players who can help him succeed. Mittelstadt: pending RFA; sign him to a cheap deal, let him compete for a job in the middle six, starting now, don’t shop him, but don’t be afraid to throw him in as a piece to cement a deal. Thompson: under a reasonable contract; don’t shop him, but don’t be afraid to throw him in as a piece to cement a deal, let him compete for a job in the middle six, starting now Asplund: pending UFA; sign him to a cheap deal, let him compete for a job in the bottom six, starting now Hutton/Johansson: pending UFAs; accept any reasonable offer, do not re-sign.

Same players, same system, same result. I think any glimpses people saw of a player looking better were just the normal glimpses you get from time to time. It’s going to be a long two months.

I would say I have seen Skinner and Mittelstadt find each other more in the past week than I have seen either of them connect with anyone in the past year, and that includes Jeff’s brief stints with Jack. Maybe the right move here is to try Sam on the other side?

Except most coaches would say that means safe, and Irwin, Eakin and Okposo over Jokiharju Mittelstadt and Thompson. I want to see players given real opportunities they haven’t had over players who have proven they don’t have futures. Mostly that gives me a reason to watch, but it is also useful in terms of development and evaluation.

I think a lot of it comes from the sense of a player giving you what he has. At least that is what this thread seems to be showing. I certainly don't dislike Jack. He's joy to watch when he's on, I think he cares and I have some sympathy for his situation (projected saviour on a Pegula hellscape). But last year was the only season out of six that I felt I was watching the top 10 player his skillset says he should be.

Paul has a history of presenting his opinions as facts. There is no doubt Krueger had influence in the firing of Taylor and the hiring of Appert. There is certainly doubt that the reason is Krueger is an insecure egomaniac who fired Taylor because he was threatened by him and hired Appert because Appert is weak. There is no doubt the Pegula's have dramatically cut corners in many areas of their operations. There is considerable doubt that will prevent them from considering "name" coaches. That didn't prevent them from firing Krueger, or Botterill, or Botterill's staff, or spending to the cap this year.

I think there is a big issue with fans bred on football applying football premises to hockey. Football is chess. Hockey is pinball.

Ralph's history is getting less-talented teams to disrupt more talented, built around making it the goalie's job to stop a lot of relatively easy shots. That does not fit the skill set of Dahlin, Eichel, Hall, Skinner, Montour, Jokiharju, or Miller — all of whom thrive best playing high-event hockey.

I think the most damning piece of evidence of the system being an issue is the across-the-board drop-off in scoring by proven talents.

He is incredibly skilled and far too young to not improve. Like Jeff Skinner, I think he is a player who has spent far too much time being asked to focus on what he is not, and too little time embracing what he is.

I remember messing an exit early in a game with a new coach as a young player and getting sat. I'm sure the message he was trying to send to me or the team was "we can't be making those mistakes." The message I received was "I don't trust you" and it messed up my confidence far more than it should have. I was used to responsibility and my self-image was that I was responsible. I learned that personally, I responded a lot better to being given responsibility than having it taken away. I apply that to Jeff Skinner and Ralph Krueger. I've always thought that not playing with Eichel was far less damaging to Jeff than not playing in overtime, or when the goalie is pulled, or any other time that calls for offence. It's not really about ice time and linemates. Jeff defines himself as an elite goal scorer. In an effort to expand his game, Ralph stopped treating him like one and it had the result of him questioning the identity he built for himself. We had a glimpse of the feisty Jeff Skinner the last game. I'd almost forgotten what that looked like.

Weekes is unfailingly articulate and I usually enjoy his takes. I view the Chad D tweet about Kevyn leaving Boca with approval to "drive the ship" now in a different light. I do think the Pegulas want to win, they enjoy where the Bills are, and they are willing to learn from it.

I mostly agree with this. It's hard, but it's not impossible, and big picture stuff is usually pretty apparent over time.

Kyle Okposo seems to be an outstanding human being, but I am approaching this from both on and off the ice, and he just doesn't do it on the ice any more.

This. I know I am a sucker for seeing the potential in the rookies and attaching too much hope. Too early to judge.

Repeating what I said elsewhere: Sam makes the right play all the time, always shows up and is a guy I want on my line Jake is a warrior and approaches the game the way it should be played. I'd love to see him in the playoffs Linus is a very cool dude who has worked his ass off to get better Curtis Lazar cares, is always positive and does what he can with what he has

This. It's hard to judge a coach on systems or teaching, or leadership because we don't see what the coach is actually doing in any of these areas. Our judgement is heavily weighted to results, plus player deployment and press conferences filtered through our own biases.

Very simple question based on an exchange @Curt and I had on another thread. Part personality, part character, part talent, part performance: they are entertainers performing for our enjoyment. Who gives you your money's worth? For all our analyzing, it's not something we talk about much.

It's not right to hit the laugh emoji because COVID is serious business. But my god, helpless laughter is all I can muster at this point. Unbelievable.

Rick’s in the Okanagan if I remember correctly. Curtis Lazar territory, although its pretty popular with a lot of BC and Alberta boys.

And Zito and his team too. It’s not just about the right players, but the right people.

Not really. Sam. McCabe. Lazar for that role. Linus. Jack finally got there last year and then took it away. And the contrarian in me has a soft spot for Risto despite his flaws frequently pissing me off over the years. He’s been kicked so often and never stopped battling, I want to see him succeed. The Sabre fan in me can relate. How about you?

The Florida Panthers haven’t won a playoff round since 1996. They missed the playoffs 10 years in a row, then 6 out of 7 after that. Last year they would have missed again in a normal season. They had a seemingly meh off-season, dumping scorers Hoffman and Dadynov and adding role players like Verhaege, Hornqvist, Hinostroza and Nuttivara. And they are tied for first in the entire league. The Sabres have enough assets and flexibility in place that they can easily flirt with the playoffs if they take the right steps and acquire the right people. It’s like Herb Brooks said, it’s not about the best players, it’s about the right players.