sicknfla

Nice post. This has been my point all along. With the dust pretty much settled from Murray cleaning house I just don't feel like we remotely maximized the assets he had to work with. Every trade be has made I felt he over payed at the time of the trade. All of us were so happy just to have a new player or two coming our way we kind of gave Murray a free pass so to speak. Big picture any clueless GM could have walked up and said "San Reinhart" "Jack Eichel". When all i really see other than that is an injury prone Bogosian, much maligned Kane, and a solid but nothing earth shattering O'Reilly I get a little worried. The rest of the main players - Ennis, Moulson, Pysyk, Risto, Foligno, Girgs, and McCabe are compliments of our good buddy Darcy. Johnson, Lehner, Legwand, Deslauriers, Fransen, Larsson, and McGinn are the remainder of Murrays makeover. Call me not impressed.

If he is a 15-20 goal scorer we micro analyze everything the guy does. If he scores 30-40 we all could care less if he smokes weed and goes to NYC. He controls his own destiny.

Totally agree. This place is going to be one extreme or the other after this game.

Went to Cooperstown a couple years ago with my 12u team from Florida. Something my son and I will never forget. Long week in the dorm but worth every minute.

The guys you mentioned so far have a combined ZERO goals. Ellis has 3. Of course it is early but I think if those guys are not lighting up the AHL Murray is not going to waste their time in the bigs. Let them develop down there and bring up someone that can fit in. Hello Matt Ellis!

I have given in to the 20 game idea. Let's see what the record is then. I think that is a fair amount of time to get an idea where the team is at. Like I have said a hundred times - this is not a playoff team. Another concern is Kane. The guy has been busting his ass. The goals will come. My concern is will continued loosing bring out the bad in him. Another issue is lack of depth. An injury or two to a forward and it is Matt Ellis time.

This is a much improved team. Debbie enjoyed watching this game.

I know i have but i didn't mean it that way. What i meant was i want these guys to get past the point of having excuses. And no I don't think they are the worse team in the league this year. I do think with the lack of depth at GT and defense we could be bottom 5 a lot easier than pushing for a playoff spot. That is just being realistic - not Debbie Downer. And by the way - can't you guys tell I like to stir the pot. Half the I say is just to get some good back and forth banter going. I might be f'd up but not as much as some of you think.

True. In regards to the infamous meeting I guarantee you it touched the topic of the culture that has been in that locker room for the past two years. Yes, they need time to jell. We all get that. I also firmly believe that the players on this team that have only experienced loosing need to start experiencing winning. This year. Nothing good can come out of our player development if we are the worst team in hockey 3 straight years.

Yeah I am tired of loosing being acceptable. Obviously I don't need to explain the last few years but this years free pass is "they are young and need time to jell", " we will see the real product by January ", blah blah blah. I get it takes time but i am tired of excuses. Start winning some hockey games. I have a feeling this was the jist of the Gionta meeting. Kind of along the lines of "listen guys loosing has become accepted and expected around here. Enough of this and let's have some pride".

I must be missing something because, to me, Zemgus is the least of our concerns.

Matt Ellis leads the team with 3 goals. Does that answer your question. ..lol. Baptiste and Bailey (if those are the "snipers " you are referring to) have no goals yet. Nobody in Rochester is going to provide any sort of help anytime soon.

Absolutely. We can only hope Reinhart can reach this level by 20.

If making the playoffs this year is not the goal - and I don't think it is - then Reinhart is staying right here. He might play in all sorts of different roles and may even get the occasional press box. All better than Rochester. He needs to play against NHL players. He could go and light up the AHL. It won't matter. Everyone, including him, will not really care about what he does in Rochester. #2 overall picks play in the NHL. He needs to find his game against the big boys.

I was talking about running Murray out of town not Girgs. So far his moves have been basically non-controversial - trading Girgs would not sit well with the fans who have so far given Murray a free pass on every move he has made.

If Murray trades Girgs it will only expedite the time frame in which we try to run him out of town. I have felt for awhile Murray has one more big move in him. He doesn't have a ton of chips left. Unfortunately Girgs is one of them.

Old man? I guess if 45 is old I am. Whining? If were going to spend the next 7 months limited to posting how great Eichel is then it is going to get a little redundant in here.

Is this seriously your username? Come on! I have been sicknfla for god knows how long. You can't find anything a little different? On another note. Great game today. All my negativity paid off!!

We have a lot of delusional fans...lol. 18 months from now will mark 3 1/2 seasons of rebuild. What is a realistic amount of time in your opinion? 5 years? If that is the case then it strengthens my point that we still need another top pick or two. Making the playoffs this year is not the goal - and it shouldn't be. Murray prwtty much told us that already.

Yes. Please do. I forgot who i made the bet with. Glad to pay it. I have a business still in the Buffalo and the donation will be under that name. Sorry I have annoyed you. It is a FORUM. This is what I think. You think differently. No problem. I made a point awhile back that i will not take these forums personal. I am done getting into one on one personal bashings. Not worth it. This rebuild is going to go one of two ways. We are either all going to love Murray and anoint him the King of Buffalo. Or, we are going to be trying to run him out of town within 12-18 months. I think my take on which way it is going to play out is pretty obvious.

No I don't know but nobody else is making that trade to acquire an out for the season Kane. He gift wrapped the deal. I compare Murray to one of stupidest shows on TV - Storage Wars. They all bid on a unit. At the end the highest bidder acts like a bad ass because the other bidders decided it was too overpiced. I think Murray is Dave Hester - YUUUUP!!

I am not ignoring anything. The Edmonton 5 are better than our 5. Do I need to go back and provide examples of what many of you were willing to give up for Hall last year when we thought he was available? My point is having these forwards does not guarantee crap. Without D and GT'ing you are not going to compete. I just don't know where we get the future D from. People keep saying McCabe. What makes yout think that? Average in the AHL and most likely be aveage, at best, on the NHL. My point in all this is Murray has neglected defense. IMO, he used the #1 picks he gave to Winnipeg and Ottawa foolishly. Winnipeg does that deal without the #1. They wanted Kane out of town. Lehner was a complete waste. May end up being decent GT he had similar or better options for less. My feeling is this will all be much more clear when he has to trade a very valuable asset in the next year or so that he didn't have to if he would have played his cards differently. Overpaying in trades will bite you in the ass. He fell in love with Kane and ROR. Getting them was going to happen......ZFG (which term i hate BTW).

Hall, Eberle, RNH, Yakupov, and McDavid > Eichel, ROR, Kane, Reinhart, Girgs. Find me a hockey exec to tell you otherwise.

Zadarov is the one player that I knew Murray was determined to trade that i didn't want him to. He was young and immature but in 2 years we will be kicking ourselves firmly in the ass on that one.

Lol. I know i am being a jerk. Sorry. It is only two games but, unlike the forwards, the D gives me no hope to get much better.