Dr. Who

I think this off-season will clarify if there is any hope that KA has the semblance of a brain or not. The narrative you tell is pretty damn depressing.

I hope they don't.

Yes, that was hyperbole.

You absolutely love that player if he is on your team. That said, just hearing his name makes me angry and sick.

I dunno. He was really good in Cocoon and the Natural.

If the core is not fine, the goose is cooked. KA isn't going to blow the team up. It's certainly a question mark. I think folks are focusing on the areas where change might actually happen, and hoping that plus Ruff ends well. What else can one do at this point?

Well, I agree. I'm not advocating for blowing up the roster. I do think, and others have said this, that KA needs to figure out who he is going to bet on going forward and trade some of the other prior early picks for established players. He has to accept risk in a way that I think he has been reticent to do. If he trades enough assets, it may actually be worth keeping this year's pick. I would not be in a hurry to assume it is necessarily dealt, though it should not be off the table.

I'm putting a lot of hope in 1) it seems KA may suddenly feel sufficient heat that he is incentivized to make bolder moves, and trade some young talent for NHL ready players, and 2) Ruff should be a voice that will prioritize elements necessary for a coherent team build that are currently lacking.

It's not them, it's us.

I'm rooting for Vancouver, which means they are doomed.

That's a ridiculous analogy. The Toronto media and sense of entitlement, despite decades of failure, arguably outstrips 13 years of Terry Pegula, though not for you, apparently. Regardless, it's fully within the tribal allegiances of sports rivalry to wish your near opponents misfortune. It's not equivalent to desiring a pox on their families and horrible lives. Moral outrage over absolutely typical fandom is misplaced and truculent on your part.

They're not supposed to experience schadenfreude over the Leafs losing. Sanctimonious, imo.

I can't say I was exactly rooting for them, but I found myself rooting more strongly against the Leafs.

You forgetting about curling?

It's being debated endlessly over on the football side of this forum. Beane comes out of Carolina. They did the same thing with Cam Newton. Baffling, really, but they just concentrate on DL and devalue WR. I do think Joe Brady is designing an offense that will emphasize the run and TE more, so that may be part of it. It's still a deficient WR room, and I fear that Coleman needs to play the big slot to really be effective, because he doesn't get separation. And that is where Kincaid shines. Evidently, they are convinced Coleman can thrive as a boundary X.

Beane says no. I hope he's lying through his teeth and after 6/1 something happens. Even without a trade, there is no world where Hollins is a number one. You might have multiple WR2 types if they envision Shakir, Samuel, and Coleman as getting the bulk of the targets, but I don't think Coleman is a high target receiver. I would have selected McConkey and traded up to get Mitchell or Burton, even if he is a headcase.

Yes

I've been on TBD for over twenty years. Was one of the few who was enthused about Allen, pushed for Kincaid last year. The Coleman pick might work out, but there are legitimate reasons for questioning it. Not everyone is an ignorant yahoo who wonders about Beane's strategy. Coleman is young. He's an improvement over Davis, but most of his success has been out of the slot, not on the boundary. Beane said he wanted a more explosive WR room, but he drafts a different kind of player. That's fine, except Kincaid is probably our best weapon, and he plays the big slot. Anyway, I don't weigh in too much on the Sabres. I can't follow hockey as well as I can football. I know college football well enough to have a semi-informed opinion on the players in the draft. My fear with Beane is that he is always following the Carolina model, the one that ran Cam Newton into the ground. He builds competent teams with depth, but they lack elite playmakers, which is why we seem to sputter in the post-season and lose in the divisional round.

I'm pretty much happy with all of that. If KA listens to Ruff on personnel, I give it a better than 50/50 to at least end in the playoffs.

You're going to be disappointed anyway when you find out the draft starts on Thursday.

Ignore it and be happy. At minimum, the Sabres have a competent, experienced coach who will hold the players accountable. Folks were crying for that all year, but now it wasn't a real coaching search, so the rest doesn't matter.

I don't think it's the only way, and I just don't agree with the pessimism many are feeling, but I would like those fellas as assistants.

Peca, please.

So, last off-season, I was optimistic and believed KA would make more significant changes. You were pessimistic, and obviously proven correct. It's not very happy making, however, to simply have no plausible hope. I do believe there are sufficient talent and assets to make a leap forward. I still think competent, veteran coaching that will hold a young team accountable can make substantial differences. Surely, they can find a coach that will at least raise the PP to close to ordinary. But no doubt, the mix is wrong. The question is does KA properly appreciate that, and how hard would it be to transform the roster so that getting to the playoffs isn't followed by rapid dismissal and embarrassment. I don't want to have endured 13 years of nothing only to see that happen.

You will likely be accused of nostalgia and Boomerism, I dunno, but you could do a lot worse. I love the guy. Maybe bring back Peca as an assistant.