jahnyc

Our trading Cozens encapsulates everything that frustrates me about our GM. From the pre-trading deadline rumors and chatter, it is pretty clear that the Sabres have (and had) a number of desirable assets (Tuch, Byram, Peterka and Cozens, among others). What also is clear is that our GM took this opportunity to trade one of our assets for another disappointing player that is less physical with a concerning injury history (shoulder). This team needs a more physical overall presence, both with our forwards and even more so with our defense. The current pieces don't fit together into a cohesive team for the current style of play in the NHL (and the playoffs, if we ever make the playoffs again). If we are going to trade our players, is it too much too ask that we try to fix our obvious deficiencies (the same ones that we have had for years)? I am tired of watching our players get the worst of every physical encounter with the opposing team. It is deflating for fans, and it must be even more deflating for the players.

Unfortunately, I expect that Adams will be back and Sabres will make no meaningful moves with their front office or coaching staff. That Adams was able to re-sign Greenway and Zucker and then trade Cozens supports this. If the Sabres were going to bring in a new GM, the message to Adams from ownership would be to do nothing at the trade deadline or with regard to re-signing players with expiring contracts. Can't really fathom how they can bring Adams back with his complete failure as the GM, but it seems likely that they will.

Tuch is exactly the type of player you don't trade.

The season is almost half over and at this point, I do not have any optimism that this team as currently composed will perform much differently as the season continues. I understand that it can take time for players to adjust to a new coach and system, but the current state of the team's play suggests there are other issues. I like Ruff, but it definitely was concerning that there were few changes to the coaching staff. Maybe most troubling is that after all of the efforts to focus on the draft, there do not seem to be any potentially budding type superstar players in Buffalo or Rochester. I hope I am wrong about this, because the team needs something to help get it out of this too many years long funk.

The team is poorly constructed. There is some individual talent, but the sum of the parts does not make for a quality team. Watching the Devils successfully drive to the net or get to the front of the net from behind the net suggests that we just don't have the physical mix of players to stop this from happening. The Devils have some very good young talented players and I think their young core is better than our core. Not sure if that can be fully blamed on Adams and the scouts, but I don't think that Adams knows how to put together a competitive team roster. He has had enough time, and the poor results continue.

Given where he was picked in the draft, I would have expected that Savoie would become a top six forward. I understand that we did receive some value back, but it is disappointing on a number of levels, including that the organization soured on him before he could start full-time with the Amerks (or Sabres). Makes me wonder about the front office's ability to assess draft eligible players and overall drafting skills.

I hope we are not done. If the overall goals were to acquire a top six forward, a center that can play on the second or third line, and another rugged defenseman, it seems to me that the moves to this point do not address these needs. Maybe it can be argued that we improved our third and fourth lines, but we will see if that is the case once the season starts. Have we adequately replaced Skinner? I don't think so, and I also don't think we have any current players in Rochester that are ready to be major contributors to the Sabres this season and fill that role. In terms of trades, if there is uncertainty within the Sabres organization about certain of our prospects and/or there will be not enough available slots with the Sabres in the near or longer term for some of our prospects, now is the time to make moves, particularly if they are viewed more favorably outside of the organization than our internal assessments indicate. Of course, this has not happened to this point. After the first wave of free agency, it seems to me that again we are going into a season with obvious holes and flaws that we (as fans) see. Last year, it was goaltending, and we got lucky that Luukkonen showed marked improvement, which saved our season from being more of a disaster. I think banking on Ruff making this roster a playoff caliber team is unrealistic. We need more.

Not sure I understand why the Sabres are so radioactive. I get that there are more desirable places to play, but the team has a young core and pipeline with an overall decent future and a new head coach who is generally well respected. Must be some pretty awful information out there about the franchise for so many players at different levels (free agents, college players who haven't signed and players that are under contract that don't want to be traded to the team) to not want to come here (and for GMs to honor those wishes for players that could be traded to the Sabres). Doesn't there have to be more to this?

Could be perceptions around how Eichel was treated with his injury, but that would be more of a red flag with agents. On the other hand, you can make an argument that Buffalo has been fairly kind in trading away players to contenders instead of teams situated like the Sabres.

I hope they are targeting Monahan.

I don't think I agree with your view, but if it is the case that free agents and players available for trade don't want to play for the Sabres, it puts tremendous pressure on drafting well and developing talent. We will see how this part of it works out in the near term.

So Beck Malenstyn is value for a relatively high second round pick? Not sure why you are defending Adams. He has had enough time to improve the team.

Unfortunately, Adams is in way over his head. He had no experience going in, and he has not learned fast enough to be even marginally effective in his role. I appreciate that he has rebuilt our pool of drafted players, but even with that, I am not sure whether Kulich, Rosen, Östlund and Savoie have top six potential. Adams must go.

What kind of curse was put on the Bills and Sabres? Watching all of these former Sabres winning the cup (after watching Eichel and O'Reilly doing the same in prior years) is difficult to deal with.

If there are aliens that can travel to Earth, they are far more advanced by orders of magnitude than we are. Of course, the concern always will be whether they would be hostile and pose an existential threat. If yes, I doubt there would be anything we could do to prevent their plans for us given their likely overwhelming technological superiority (unlike the many SciFI movies where we prevail against all odds). Separately, there have been claims that many of the relatively recent technological advances were the result of recovered technologies from alien crash sites. Would be fascinating if this was true.

The title did not need to change because it does not appear that the Sabres will be active in free agency and I don't really understand KA's approach to free agency. The team, as constructed, will not compete for a playoff spot this upcoming season. Yes, we may seem some improvement with individual players and our overall team points, but we have significant deficiencies at key positions, both in terms of skill and depth. We should always be looking to upgrade the team through free agency and trades, and we need more defensemen and a starting NHL level goalie to even compete this season (without any consideration of injuries, which will happen). I get wanting to give our young players time to develop, but other young players with more potential or players with immediate impact can be available in trades and sometimes in free agency. We have all been patient, and no one is telling KA to trade our young players, but basically going into the season knowing and accepting that the chances of making the playoffs this season are really low after years of futility does not make sense to me.

I wouldn't worry about Pegula's SPAC not finding a target company and dissolving, or the economic consequences to the Pegula family if the SPAC does not find a target company. Most SPACs eventually find a target company to combine with prior to the drop dead date and SPACs also can extend the time to find a business combination target company if they contribute additional funds to the trust account. Pegula would only lose the at risk money put up in connection with the IPO (typically to purchase warrants) and have an obligation to pay certain expenses (such as legal fees) if the SPAC is unsuccessful in finding a target company. This would not be a material loss for the Pegula family.

Shouldn't the Sabres have negotiated a bump up in trade return if he signed a new contract with the Panthers?

In my mind, the question really boils down to whether ownership is committed and supportive of getting it right, even if it takes more years to get there. More years of rebuilding will potentially see declining attendance and interest, but both will come back in the future if the team wins. If the Pegulas do want to sell the team that can lead to significant uncertainty for the future of the rebuild and the team.

There is no way the Ducks are offering all of that for Eichel. I just don't see it.

I wonder if the original plan and vision was to build a downtown stadium as part of an overall sports oriented downtown area with their other assets but because of Covid and cost, the ownership settled on proceeding with a stadium in OP. Surprised that they opened with taxpayers footing the entire bill for the new stadium and renovation of the arena. I think we all would expect that the NFL will provide some contribution out of the league stadium fund and for ownership to contribute some amount as well. This is a bad look for the Pegulas given current circumstances and will only open them up to a fair amount of negative attention. Even offering a small initial contribution would have helped.

Every GM in the league knows that the Sabres need to trade Eichel, but the actions of Eichel's agents are not helping this process. This is a complete mess on top of the mess of a team that we already have. Clearly, the Sabres wanted to trade Eichel before the draft to get assets in the draft. After that did not happen, trading Eichel before free agency must have been the goal because they knew that some teams would be otherwise spending cap dollars that would affect their ability to add Eichel. The offers must be really poor (if there have been any real offers), and they are unlikely to get better at this point having given the current situation.

I don't think all of this had to happen. Some of it became expected. No way is KA smarter than all of the other GMs, particularly with no prior experience. A plan that will turn around the team quickly having as its primary attribute a focus on players that want to be here does not sound like a plan to me at all. I don't think our young core is that good, at least not good enough that we should expect that they will have success this year or next without adding significant pieces. Other than Cozens, Dahlin and Powers, what do we really have?

Some quick thoughts below: 1. It must be very demoralizing for the current players for the Sabres to see Ullmark sign with the Bruins and have Sam and Risto traded with no assets coming back that will contribute to the team in the near term. Layer on top of that the captain of the team (Jack) is desperate to get out (others as well) and the Sabres lack of any significant participation in free agency make for a situation that can only result in even young players questioning whether there is commitment to winning in Buffalo (or even a plan). This will have an impact in their desire to stay with the team over the longer term. 2. It will be a long time before the Sabres will be an attractive option to free agents. Winning will be the only thing that will help with this. A new arena wouldn't hurt either. 3. What kind of support will be there for the team after this kind of an offseason, which follows years of poor teams and records? At what point does attendance to games completely crater? Realistically, how do you ask for patience at this point, particularly with no current commitment to field a competitive team? 4. I am very surprised that we have traded two significant assets and not received a quality prospect in return ready to play or close to playing for the team. 5. I think it is gross mismanagement to leave this kind of a rebuild and this specific situation in the hands of a GM who has no prior experience. GMTM and JBot had more experience coming in a first time GMs, and they failed miserably. Lessons should have been learned. 6. I never thought that the Pegulas wanted to sell the team, but I am now having my doubts. I am not sure anything else can explain the hiring of a rookie GM, cost cutting with scouts, lack of meaningful participation in free agency, and trading away salary. 7. Our drafting has been awful. I still don't understand the Quinn pick when there were better players available. I hope we will have better luck with this draft class.

Jack plus a back injury that will need surgery and significant recovery time is not going to yield four significant assets. Added to the uncertainty around the neck surgery are a long term contract at a high salary and questions (whether deserved or not) around his character and leadership abilities. I agree that if there had been a real market, Jack would have been traded before the draft. Jack's agents did us no favors yesterday. At this point, I probably would be satisfied with a top prospect and a first round pick that is not protected in next year's draft. I was surprised with the return for Sam, even with the need for him to be extended. I expected a lot more, so I am prepared to be very disappointed with the return for Jack.