Thorner

But not being able to trade for presumably Connor McDavid (jk) is a strawman. “Established” scorers can certainly be had, regardless of one’s definition of “big time.” We, just this offseason, signed a guy who’s immediately 4th on the team in scoring for forwards. He cost no assets. He’s a better forward than almost all of the forwards we had assembled over the last 5 years. 80% of the league is sans no movement clause. When the time period is 5 years, these items amount to excuse making We don’t need “big time” anything. We just need to be 16th/32, once

But Jimmy Carter is smarter

We’ve been saying “where is he going to get these guys?” for 5 literal years. its the job. That is the job of the GM. To field the requisite talent he’s had enough “well, you have to wait for the next transaction period”s

Always maintained around here that Eichel’s best asset was his playmaking.. it’s nice to see him really lean into it - leads league in assists this year

It’s also a f*cking week, now. At LEAST Brutal

Sabres should have the advantage on the injury front with JT Miller out too, obv

Like the old tale of the lobster in slowly heated water, the expectations have become absurdly low, gradually, over time until it almost appears normal to be fishing for positives in a game we lost 5 years into a regime that’s not made the playoffs and also averaged 76 points a season since taking over. But it’s very, very not normal ill be ecstatic if we make the playoffs, and I think it’s about 50/50, but playoffs were the mandate this year because they were the *absolute lowest result acceptable*. Ie, maintaining a spot on the edge of a knife of an absolutely unmissable goal isn’t a good spot to be. We aren’t precariously towing the line between success and failure: we are precariously towing the line between avoiding utter failure and utter failure They HAVE to make the playoffs I’m glad they played reasonably: that’s imminently preferable to playing poorly. But it’s also a terribly small take away relative to the actual result, im sorry

Agree. You are what your record says you are. Which is incompatible with the “moral victory” logic being thrown around. If the Wild are full credit for their wins, yesterday is no exception, and neither was it for our loss. - - - I also like the term “goalied” a lot for the humour it’s naturally imbibed with, as if it’s somehow indicative of a roster difference that will disappear over time for no reason at all. Next time we lose to Tampa and Kucherov puts up 4 points im going to say we got “wingered” lol. goalies and their outputs is a component of roster construction, yes yesterday, the wild had more expected goals at even strength. Their goalie played really well on the power play. Good for them

They weren’t “goalied” so much as they failed to put up quality shots: Good hockey eye, PA

That’s why I drew the comparison, ya - - - ultimately it’s a lofty goal, Reinhart is one of the best players in the league - it’s an unlikely result. But the non-linear curve is one we are well acquainted with

A win today guarantees we reach the legendary “playoff spot by thanksgiving” standard. I’ve got a good feeling about it tbh. Sabres W. (We will be in a playoff spot by points%, regardless)

I agree. He’s going through his “well, Reinhart sucks!” phase right now. And will soon, in all likelihood, round out into, if not former #2 Overall Sam Reinhart level, a very good player. I don’t want to deal him in favour of keeping some younger, backwards-in-the-timeline prospect who’ll come up and probably look incredible in a small sample size first, probably go through a common adjustment to the league (as the league adjusts to him) period, then probably go on to become (if not Jack Quinn level), a pretty good hockey player. Is there anyone else younger we can trade? Up to and including a high (est) draft pick?

I was thinking about this, people we’ve recently fired who have gone on to achieve the same position or better in another organization. GM, coach, etc. I feel like, if Adams breaks the drought, and eventually down the line gets fired/replaced as GM, (every GM eventually does. except Kevin Cheveldayoff….(sorry, Kevyn, missed it by one letter)) I think he’d definitely be a lock for a shot somewhere else at GM. He’d be the guy who got the BUFFALO SABRES to the playoffs. The rest would just be noise

We are basically in Children of Men territory, now. Diego is gone; there’s no one young left

BOGO: Zach will be in the lineup, too, I believe

Exactly. Varying degrees. The post you responded to’s thesis was “you make a trade when there’s a good trade”. I mean, ya. No one is arguing otherwise. The disagreement stems from what you said: disagreements on the evaluations. Ie “what’s a good trade?”

kinda crazy how often the pieces we don’t really want seem to be just what the other team needs! 😉 imo If the deal has us sending out two pieces we would barely feel the sting of losing at all, it’s not enough

Everyone is saying the same thing tbh. There isn’t a single poster suggesting the team make a trade they feel is bad “just to do it”. The entire thing is arguing a straw man

Because most recognize that the easiest hack to winning later… *is* winning now. Our collective mindset was so perverted by the tank, I think. It still clings on. The “be bad now, to be good later” line of thought was a bill of goods sold and purchased and revealed as a lie, time and again you lay the first brick. You win a little bit first. You make the playoffs first by any means necessary, THEN sort the rest out. We were stacking bricks on a philosophical ideal and acted surprised when it collapsed

Not NECESSARILY re: Kreiderrrr, and If Adams can’t make a move he can’t make a move, but if we are sitting here looking at how swell his now-roster trades and signings are looking, and re: this summer, we do seem to be doing that of late, I can’t for the life of me understand why we wouldn’t want more. They’ve been the key to the positives How old is Zucker? 32? The thread is full of comments that he’s too old. We are far far more likely to be bit by youth than old age in our current format we are absolutely on the brink. The brink of a playoff berth. That’s the goal, now

“At least a few years from being cup contenders” the sabres aren’t a few years from anything. They are only a few years away from *what they MAKE happen*. Our two best players far and away are solidly in their prime RIGHT NOW. in a “few years”, Thompson will be in his 30s and his prime will be past. saddling ourselves with that type of thinking necessarily is a mistake. When the Jets made the playoffs in 2018 they were “ahead of schedule” in making the conference finals. Haven’t been back since. We JUST appear to *maybe* be getting away from “this year wasn’t about winning, anyways” and we are itching to sign up for another “woah woah, slow down” window? You make the playoffs and you see what you can do. You don’t want to trade for “fading” players, regardless. But if a player is going to be better, right now, and not drop off a cliff in the immediate future, than whatever future assets we are dealing out, it’s worthy of consideration. The improvements we saw this year aren’t from waiting: they are coming from the moves we made out of a sense of urgency

“W.C.K.A.H.E.D.?”

Who’s drawn more than he’s committed this year

The gains we are seeing are mostly from backing off on some of that willful suffering and instead converting some future assets to win-now components. I take the exact opposite lesson tbh

That’s kind of what I was getting at up thread. Ya, maybe this team this year ends up being the best team I’ve even seen in Sabres sweaters, ever….but we’ve spent so incredibly long in the desert I don’t really see the need to envision the team as exceptional simply because we find ourselves to no longer be “historically bad”. Anecdotally I almost feel some need reminding those aren’t the only two options, which we sometimes around here seem to pinball between. We’ve been trying to draw comps to 05-06 since we moved beyond it If this IS the best Sabres team ever…great! I’m still focused firmly on scraping out a playoff spot. That would be awesome