jad1

I guess tell the Leafs to suck it?

I was responding to a post speculating if Josh Allen was the most beloved sports star in Buffalo history. There was a question if Kelly and the Super Bowl era Bills were more revered. Point was no matter how high a player is placed on a pedestal, he can be knocked down by the same fans who put him there. And Allen's play last season did more to shut down his haters than his fans did.

Look up the 'Bickering Bills.' In 1989, Kelly got injured and missed 5 games. Reich lead the Bills to wins in 4 of them. Kelly also singled out Howard Ballard's missed block as the cause of his injury. There was no internet, but th radio call-in shows went nuts claiming Kelly was a lousy leader and that he should be traded for draft picks, letting Reich take over as QB. The next season Kelly and the Bills made it to their first Super Bowl. Wait for Josh to have a multiple interception game this season, and I'll guarantee that there will be more fans than you would imagine screaming for "Trubinsky" to take over at QB.

Adams hasn't done many things right since he took the job, so him being scary wrong is definitely a possibility. If he actually makes this idiotic trade, it better not be for prospects, because he won't be here when those prospects are ready to contribute. Based on the history of his predecessors, he's got maybe two more seasons to show significant improvement before his owners lose patience.

Shows you what a great player Eichel is. He was able to excel under the worst coach (and GM) in franchise history.

The Sabres were middling between the Drury/Briere exodus and the tank. Nobody was happy with it. The Canadiens aren't a role model, they're a cautionary tale.

Montreal? Really? Montreal has basically been a non-factor since they traded Roy. The Sabres have more overall success than the Canadiens over the last 25 years. Happy they beat the Leafs and hope they win this series, but if the divisions weren't re-aligned due the pandemic, Montreal would not have made the playoffs. Montreal is a role model if you want to be a middling franchise decade after decade.

That's it, and it's on Adams as the GM to set the direction and vision for the team. And if at this point, he's not ready to do that, that's fine. He deserves some time to figure this out. At the same time, though, don't put this on the players not wanting to be here, while you're unwilling to share you thoughts about the direction of the team. That's bush league.

The line that bugs me is about wanting guys who want to be here. What does 'here,' at this point in time, mean? Does it mean being part of the general organization and city, and acknowledge the fan base? That's cool I guess. Other than that, this is a team with an inexperienced GM who has fired the previous coach, hasn't committed to the interim coach, fired a large part of the scouting staff (but MIGHT hire more), bombed his first attempt at free agency (and indicates he won't do that again), couldn't manage to move the needle with his trades. Oh, and he hired one of his best friends to be assistant GM. So instead of calling out players who don't want to be here, maybe the GM who failed in his first season should put in the work and define what 'here' is going to look like next season.

Cozens definitely should spend some time in Rochester next season. The other two I was referring to were Turcotte and Byfield, if they are part of an Eichel trade, as the thread suggests. Mitts should be the 3rd line center next season. If by some miracle these moronic trades don't happen, the Sabres center spine would consist of Eichel, Reinhart, and Mittlestadt. Cozens, who despite the promise his game has shown, only had 12 points in 40 games this year, could spend part of the season developing his game as the 1C for the Amerks.

If Reinhart is also moved, next year's centers would be Mittelstadt, Cozens, Turcotte, and Byfield. One of those guys is probably best slotted as the 3rd line center and the other 3 should spend time in the AHL next season. So, next couple of seasons, suffering, yadda, yadda, yadda...

Reinhart this season: 40 points. LaFreniere and Kakko combined: 38 points. Neither are near the point-a-game player that Eichel is (yet). Will they ever be as good as Eichel and Reinhart? Maybe, it's a gamble. Question is do you really want to trade a player like Eichel on a gamble.

"Leadership" would have saved him! 😜

Unfortunatley, it's not trending in that direction right now.

After making the playoffs with that team and breaking the drought. Dropping talent like that takes a skilled front office and coaching staff. Botterill, Housely, and Krueger couldn't manage it. Remains to be seen if Adams and coach X can manage it.

The difference makers involved in that trade are closer to Cozens and Mittelstadt than Eichel in their development, which means they're two years away from being top line producers. The next two years will look the same as the last five. And after two more years of losing, the team will invent excuses to trade Dahlin and Mittelstadt for more prospects, bringing a never-ending groundhog's day of suckitude.

So the Sabres trade away roughly 170 points for basically nothing next season. Sounds like classic Sabre trades.

Well since they're looking to drop around 170 points out of the lineup by trading away Eichel, Reinhart, and Risto, why not embrace the Sabre-ness of it all? The draft is now our Stanley Cup. Some might call it a tank; the Sabres call it business as usual. 😉

The Sabres have followed the mantra that the future is three years away, every season for the last decade. The league knows that they are no longer a team that competes for the playoffs or the cup, they compete for prospects. So why wouldn't the Sabres trade away Eichel last season? They're incapable of or unwilling to build a team around him, so why wouldn't they trade him for future considerations. Successful teams stock and stack talent. How many times have we discussed how Tampa will need to shed players due to the cap, and yet they manage the contracts to keep their roster loaded. Meanwhile, the Sabres look for creative ways to justify shipping their talent out for the pick and prospect return. They did it with Kane and O'Reilly. They're doing it with Eichel and Reinhart. In a couple of seasons, they'll do it with Dahlin and Mittelstadt. That's their game now. They don't hire GMs who have experience building playoff teams. They don't hire coaches who have lead previous teams on long playoffs runs. They hire guys who have experience in developmental leagues. And the league has caught on and treats them like the triple A team they've become. So should the Sabres have traded Eichel last season? Why not, it's not like the Sabres were really challenging for the cup this season, with a first time GM, a soccer-executive coach and no scouting staff.

Yeah, no doubt. Hiring better people would save them money. It should be a motivating factor for them. They figured it out (or lucked into it) with the Bills. Haven't been able to do it with the Sabres.

The inability to hire a competent, experienced GM and coach has dragged this process out longer than it needs to be. Firing people who were bad at their jobs is not the problem.

And Adams has thrown gasoline on the fire. Maybe an experienced GM who has dealt with player issues could, I don't know, smooth things over with the team's All Star center? Or we can just let Adams double-down on his incompetence and negotiate a Botterill special (three piece deal) for Eichel.

Jack isn't the problem, Jack HAS a problem. A good GM should be able to solve the problem with dumping the guy who has the problem. It's the whole baby/bathwater situation.

Who cares if it is? I don't care about sides. The point is losing Eichel over this type of disagreement is ridiculous. The front office should be able to handle these situations in their sleep, but they keep falling down. Find a GM who is skilled and experienced in handling player issues, so the team does have to keep needlessly shedding top line talent.

Because an agreement in either direction benefits Eichel and the franchise more than the cluster***** this turned into.