jad1

Yeah, culture without talent doesn't work. It was easier for Drury to build culture with a coach like Ruff and a player like Vanek on the third line, than it is for Eichel with Housely and Sobotka. The Bills were bickering not because of Devlin or Smerlas, but because Kelly was feuding with Thomas and Smith. Even the coaching staff was dysfunctional. The team was good, but needed focus, and that came when they installed the no-huddle offense. Talent improves a team and culture hones it. Botterill seems to be skipping the talent step, which explains his record.

Eichel could probably carry these career third-liners, playing on their off-wing to 20 goals. He can probably get Skinner 30-35 goals. But he'll only score 25 himself. Reinhart is the probably the only winger on the team who can drive Eichel to 40+ goals. Skinnner - Eichel - Reinhart is the only playoff caliber line the Sabres have. You would think that Botterill with all the cap space he had at the beginning of the off season would have built a legitimate 2nd line. Instead he's amassed 3rd line left wingers. Seriously, did anyone believe at the end of last season that Jimmy Vesey was the answer to any of the Sabres problems? Anyway, Botterill might still add top six talent, but time is now short and the cap is tight. At this point, expect a bunch of guys to be thrown on Eichel's wing. Hopefully one can make the jump to the top line, despote playing on their off wing.

The Sabres don't crack 80 points this year, he's gone. No NHL GM should survive three consecutive sub-80 point seasons. That said, I expect Botterill to make a couple of deals over the next month to make the Sabres more competitive this year.

If the players are there, Botterill doesn't have to be. At some point Botterill has to prove that he can construct an NHL roster. If the Sabres don't make progress this season, they should try to bring in someone who can better maximize the team's assets.

He's shown that he's willing to trade picks and prospects. He hasn't remade the roster yet. The top six fowards are still a concern, and the team still needs to show it can play team defense, but Botterill still has ample time before the season begins.

Except that doesn't account for the rumors that Botterill was shopping O'Reilly at the previous deadline, months before the infamous interview. Botterill just wanted to move O'Reilly. He did like his game enough to justify his contract. He liked the return he got from the Blues. Judging by the amount of ice time Thompson got, he obviously valued him as a prospect. He was also willing to take a couple of salary dumps to get Thompson and draft picks. The fact that Sobotka wasnt traded, replaced, or sent to Rochester, shows that Botteriil also valued his play. He wanted an additional 1st round pick to build the pipeline, and the Blues were willing to give him that. Botterill undervalued O'Reilly, over-valued Thompson, tolerated Sobotka, coveted the 1st round pick and probably never talked to Berglund. He liked this deal, and, as a kicker he saved money on O'Reilly's bonus, which appealed to his M.B.A. brain. This trade is all on Botterill.

So the plan is to move a 3rd line left winger to right wing on the 1st line? That will help Jack? If this is the plan, this team is in serious trouble this season.

Well there's the fact also that he's 27 and the team who owns his rights decide to cut ties with him. And that team is considered to be one of the better run franchises in the NHL, who probably is aware of Panarin. And there's the fact that no NHL team showed enough interest in Gusev to even offer Vegas a 7th round pick for his rights. And there's also the fact that the KHL isn't considered a major feeder to the NHL (how many top ten KHL scorers make it to the NHL), so success in that league doesn't necessarily translate to success on the NHL. Maybe a team takes a chance on Gusev and he turns out to be Panarin jr. Or, more likely, he turns out to be Gerbe jr. Can't blame the GMs who shy away from taking that risk.

What's the percentage of guys in the NHL who weigh more than 170lbs? 98%? 99%? The exception here doesn't break the rule. Maybe Vegas is making a mistake, but GMs are pretty risk-adverse and most are going to play the odds that Gusev is not the next Paranin.

He'll be fine. The Hurricanes will do one of their dopey celebrations after their first home win this season and all will be forgiven with the 125 rabid fans in attendance.

Gusev is also listed as a LW, and judging by the Sabres roster, he would fit nicely into Botterill's plan of signing every high risk/high reward left winger on the current market.

He's listed at 163lbs. He most likely doesn't have the skills to play in the NHL at that size.

I agree. I prefer the nickname 3U. They're not the best. Hammond might get a look or two during the season with big club. I think the goal is to have 3U as the starter coming out of the lockout.

UPL has six ks in his name.

I don't think he's that special. If the Sabres don't improve this season he's gone, basically because he would have butchered the NHL roster. However, I do agree with you that he will make more moves before training camp; hopefully he will be able to improve the quality of the top 6 fowards. That would turn the team's fortunes around.

Sure, he has 3 months to make a deal, and he should use as much as that time as he needs. Even with Reinhart at 2C, the team still lacks top 6 talent. Going into the season with the roster as it is would be a mistake, so while there's no immediate rush to acquire the 2nd line center man, it needs to be done before training camp.

Sure, September is good. So say that the Botterill doesn't acquire a 2C, and the Sabres finish with 75 points. That makes 3 straight seasons where the team doesn't top 80 points. How many GMs get that much leaway? His picks are in the pipeline, Botterill doesn't have to be here to see them graduate to the NHL roster. The Pegulas can keep the prospects and hire a GM who knows how to build a better NHL roster.

The roster listed above will struggle to hit 70 points this season. Botterill has till the end of August, but if he doesn't acquire a legitimate 2nd line center, this will be his last season as GM for the Sabres.

Who would have thought that Vesey is the Murray-guy that Botterill likes?

Well Botterill said he was interested in making more Sheary/Hunwick type deals, and this is almost as mediocre as that deal, so...

Just because putting Pommers on the top line was the best thing for Pommers, doesn't mean it was the best thing for the team. Eichel and Skinner should play with a guy who can contribute to their overall game, not just finish the chances they create.

How is Botterill patient with picks? There's this narative that Botterill is playing some kind of long game, unique to NHL GMs, when in reality, he's not. He's traded 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th round picks for immediate roster help. He probably should have played Mittelstadt a half-season in Rochester. And Thompson, while not a Boterill draft pick was forced into the line up last season. He's not playing a long game here, he's picking and choosing his spots (Nylander and Olofsson stay in Rochester, Mittlestadt and Thompson play on Buffalo) like every other NHL GM does. And this isn't a bad thing. The Sabres core is getting more expensive with little to no team success. The GM should be addressing this fact immediately, because dumping the core is way more expensive and time consuming than replacing the GM. Judging Botterill should be no different than any other GM. If the Sabres are still cellar dwellers at the end of his 3rd season, Botterill should be on the hot seat

Sure, if you go back before 2014 there's more of the story to be told, but the discussion I was involved in set the parameter to 2014 and the following years. Aside from that parameter, I agree with what you write. There are multiple ways to acquire talent and a good GM takes advantage of all those methods.

Ok, thanks for that. Tampa has picked 39 players in the draft since 2014. 6 of those picks have made it to the NHL. 3 play for the Lightning. 3 play for the Rangers. Since 2014, Tampa has none of its 1st rounders on its NHL roster. Howden was their pick in 2016. He now plays for the Rangers and has 23 career points. Deangelo was their 1st pick in 2014, also plays for the Rangers, and has 43 career points (so in 5 seasons he has roughly the same number of points as Dahlin). The only player picked by Tampa in the 2nd round since 2014 who has played in the NHL is Libor Hajek (2016) who also now plays for the Rangers. He's played 5 NHL games. Tampa's saving grace in the draft since 2014 is the 3rd round, where they drafted Point (2014) and Cirelli (2015). They added Joseph in the 4th round in 2015 (26 career points). None of their draft picks from 2017 or 2018 have hit the NHL yet. So since 2014, 5 drafts (not counting 2019) have added Point, Cirelli, and Joseph to the Lightning roster. Now one of those players is excellent, one is emerging, and the last might be good, but 3 players from 5 drafts is not a great percentage. The other draftees in the NHL were sent to the Rangers to build their defense (trading projects for veterens). So is a team who consistently misses on the first two rounds, but hits on the 3rd round good at drafting or is it lucky? Or does it not matter, because acquiring a good player, regardless of his draft position is really the only thing that matters?

Okay, I see the 2014 post, which states the overall games played by draft picks where Buffalo ranks 2nd, but that's not good enough because there are not enough games played by players picked in rounds 2 - 7 after 2014? And the definition of prospect does not include draftees? And Boston and Tampa are successful because they have a few players who meet this criteria?