JohnC

I wonder if the Miller signing results in Jerry Hughes being released?

One thing that we have learned from this season is that injuries are an inescapable part of the game for all teams. You have to have depth to draw from when players are unavailable. One thing that I'm not going to consider a negative is having more than enough players to fill spots when players go down or if a player needs some down time to recover from a nagging injury. Where it seems that we are not in accord is that you are taking an either/or stance while I'm arguing that you can have both. My position is that this team has enough assets to acquire a player such as Comtois (as an example) and still comfortably keep VO. Having a greater pool of talent to draw from to assemble quality multiple lines is a problem that Granato would love to have. And as a coach one of his strengths is in assembling lines and pairings. Having too much is certainly better than not having enough.

I agree with the concept of what you are saying but respectfully disagree in trading VO in a deal for Comtois. This team lacks scorers. We don't have one player in the top twenty in any of the offensive categories. I don't see Quinn replacing VO because I believe that Quinn will be playing on a higher line than VO. If VO returns to form and becomes a good third line sniper I would consider that a positive role. I wouldn't mind acquiring a player like Comtois. However, not in an exchange for VO.

If you want to get into the money I would recommend that you go lower. 🍺

When placing a bet on me always go with the under. You'll consistently win money taking that strategy. 😃

The coach has talked about the issue of whether it is more important to accentuate offense vs defense or vice versa. His philosophy is that it is much more challenging to install an offense than it is to install the defense. He stated that his bias is toward working on the offense at the expense of defense as opposed to first building a defense at the expense of the more difficult task of establishing an offensive system. The issue of offense vs defense that you bring up at this point is circumscribed by the lack of overall talent. As the talent base is increased the imbalance between the two parts of the game will in my opinion be more equalized. Adding Power to the mix along with the expectation of added blueline talent in the offseason should equalize this imbalance more.

You have been touting Comtois for a long time. In many of your trade scenarios with Anaheim in the Jack sweepstakes you always included him on your wish list. Why do you think that he would be available? Are there whispers that he could be available? I'm more of a VO supporter than most are here. Although this has been a difficult season for him due to a nagging shoulder injury, I think it would be a mistake to trade the shooter. This team lacks offense. In 11 offensive categories we have no top twenty on the list. I would rather use draft capital (maybe 2nd rd) and take on a salary to get him if he were to become available.

I'm looking for a 1B goalie to add to the mix. Even with the addition I'm not eliminating Anderson from the roster if he wants to come back. Our difference revolves around my concern over putting too much reliance on UPL as a primary goalie at this stage of his career. I'm not down on him as a prospect. For me, it is too much and too soon to rely on him. I would love to be wrong. It just seems that this team is starting to move in the right direction. You can see that team progression when our goalies play well. Why risk it by rushing the issue with our current prime goalie prospect.

I agree with your comment. I don't believe it will require a major asset to acquire another goalie. Our cap situation (as you noted) puts us in a good position to add another goalie.

It certainly would be useful to see how UPL plays in Buffalo as the season winds down. But I wouldn't consider it a necessity. Getting heavy duty playing time in Rochester, and hopefully a playoff run in the AHL would also be a beneficial experience for him. I still feel strongly that another experienced goalie should be added to the mix this offseason to hedge the risk of prematurely designating UPL as a NHL goalie to rely on. And considering the high rate of injury for goalies the organization needs to add another experienced goalie to the mix.

I would still send him to Rochester and let him get heavy duty play. Based on his play in camp this year Peterka should have earned a roster spot. He was sent to Rochester to get a lot of playing time and opportunities to play in more roles. It was the right thing to do.

Your post makes a lot of sense. However, where I disagree with you is if UPL replaces Anderson I would consider that a drop off, maybe a significant drop. At this stage in his lengthy career I don't see Anderson as a workhorse goalie for us next year. But if he is a second goalie with less usage then I do see him playing effectively for us. That is why I believe that it is an imperative that another goalie be brought in this offseason to shore up the position. My guess is that KA is going to rely on UPL as the primary goalie next year with Anderson being the backup. In my opinion that would be a big gamble. What is evident in these last half a dozen games is that when this acknowledged incomplete team gets quality backstopping this team can respectably complete. And that point was also evident when Ullmark was our goalie. It just seems to me that counting on UPL to carry the major load is an unnecessary risk when this team seems to be making positive strides.

If someone has already posted this interview I apologize for the redundancy. Within this WGR link is a 20 minute segment with Don Granato on the Howard and Jeremy Show. The coach is a compelling interview who answers the questions asked of him. He talked about the Toronto game and the atmosphere. And he made a number of comments about specific players such as Dahlin, Cozens, incident with Krebs, Samuelsson and Anderson. His comments about Samuelsson mirror the comments made about him here on the board. And his comments about Anderson suggest to me that he is not going to be dealt at the trade deadline. Great hockey talk. https://www.audacy.com/wgr550/authors/howard-and-jeremy-show

Your description of his play in the crease is accurate. He needs to get much stronger. As you seem to suggest even when he gets stronger handling the crease area is not going to be an area he excels at. It just seems that that the coach is more enamored with his full length game to compensate for his less effective play around the crease. In his calculation the plusses exceed the minuses.

I saw a clip of DG praising Joki in his post game comments. It's more than likely that the Dahlin/Jokiharju pairing stay in tact this season. Next year, I wouldn't count on it. It's going to be interesting to see how he assembles the pairings when Power and others ?? join the group. What he and the other youngsters need to work on this offseason is their strength. In a flowing game Joki is okay. In his defensive zone where he has to match up he gets overpowered.

I agree with you that it was Adams who convinced the owner to fire Krueger. And that reluctance to fire Krueger sooner rather than later was another one of the owner's bad decisions. I give Adams credit for putting in the effort to coax the owner to do what he was hesitant to do. My opinion is that the owner got tired of paying people who were no longer working for him.

Why do you think that Granato has for now decided to pair Dahlin with Joki?

When Pegula bought the Bills he was the person who signed Rex Ryan after a number of interviews to be the head coach. When he was asked why he preferred Rex he said he wanted to make this nondescript franchise more relevant. Rex was for the most part a Pegula hire. I have no doubt that it was Botterill who brought Krueger to the owner's attention. And I have no doubt that the owner was in the room when the main candidates for the GM position were interviewed. It likely that Botterill was the main influence in the Krueger hire. As you noted he had the connection to him. But Pegula was also involved in interviewing the finalists. And as you noted because he signed the checks he was the one who signed off on the decision to hire him. Neither Botts or the owner should be absolved of that terrible decision. And in my opinion the owner should have stepped in sooner last year to fire the coach when the team clearly quit on him.

With the Seneca One project completed, the proposed DL&W Terminal and the north aud block proposal (see link) you can start to see that once barren area repopulated with social and business activity included to the mix. Momentum added to previous momentum. That's a good sign. https://www.wkbw.com/news/wny-development/proposal-for-redeveloping-the-north-aud-block

I don't doubt that. But my understanding when it gets to the stage of finalists the owner is in the room and ultimately the decider.

You bring up an interesting question: Was it Botterill or the Pegulas most enamored with the articulate dispatched coach? My understanding is that with the Bills the owners made the selection. Terry P flubbed it with Rex but got it right with McDermott.

If KA is willing to judiciously use his abundant assets in cap space and draft picks I believe he can quicken the speed of the choo choo train on the tracks of this rebuild. If he can add two to three solid to good players to the two to three young players already in the system (Quinn, Peterka and Power)this team can compete for a fringe playoff spot. That would be a refreshing change from being a predictable bottom feeding before the season even starts.

If Hinostroza is traded the GM should be charged with felonious stupidity! He is a good fit for the Sabres and the Sabres are a good fit for him.

Sam would have been more than worth it on a $7 M on a 5 yr deal with the Sabres. If Reinhart were on the Sabres, the rebuild timetable would be shortened. Not getting him signed to a long-term deal when he was willing to sign a few years back was one of the biggest blunders this franchise has ever made. This franchise's setbacks were mostly self-induced. It's maddening.

Krueger took a $9 M player in Skinner and turned him into a $150,000 scrub. Granato took the same player and made him into a $7 M player. He then put him on a revamped first line that can hold up with any first line in the league. You don't have to be an analytical wizard to understand the return on the dollars spent. Another player that has blossomed under DG is Tage. He moved him from the wing to the center spot. Now Tage is emerging as a worthy first line center and became one of our biggest scoring threats. Krueger had a tendency of caging players while Granato knowns how to open the door and unleash their talents. One of the biggest faults of Krueger when coaching players is that he straitjackets players that limits them while Granato adjusts to the player and maximizes their assets while also managing their limitations. That's what coaching is all about! Let's not even bring up Dahlin. Under Granato Dahlin is emerging as one of the top players in the league whose creativity and flow are something to marvel at. Under Krueger Dahlin became robotic and over-thought the game to the point of constant hesitancy. In a year and a half Krueger crushed the soul of his players and of the fanbase. The amount of damage the erudite coach did in his short stint is astounding.