JohnC

Would you be reluctant to draft Johnson within the 10-14 range?

Of course if the team sucks its is going to be extremely disappointing. I didn't say otherwise. This team at least for the short run is not necessarily going to be better without Jack or Reinhart on the roster. But that doesn't mean that with the new composition of players this team won't play better and be more entertaining. And if this expected young roster consistently plays hard and the young players show that they are capable of getting a lot better then the fans will be receptive and enthusiastic about this team. Most fans are realistic about this upcoming team and its prospects. It's more about the near future than the present.

I agree with you that a resolution on the Jack issue is a trade. But I disagree with you that not making public comments about his status indicates a negative prognosis. What Jack and his reps and the Sabres don't want is public commentary about this situation. Keeping this issue private between the parties is the right approach to avoid discord and misunderstanding. If teams are seriously interested in trading for Jack they would be given the required medical reports to make such a major decision. It seems to me that the parties involved are handling it in the right manner and professional way.

We are more in accord than discord.

No I would not value Kent Johnson more than Beniers. Without question I would take Beniers ahead of Johnson. I would make my judgment about each of the players not only on the numbers but also how they play. I would look at the totality of their game.

Let's use your Kent Johnson example as a prospect and your statistical analysis of him. I'm not as enamored with the numbers as you are for an 18 or 19 yr old player as I am with his tools. The issue for me becomes are the numbers associated with him as a late teenager or early 20s going to tell you what he is going to be as a player three to five years down the road. I understand your belief in the stats. I'm just not as beholden to them as you and others are. They certainly are important analytical tools but not as determinative as some believe it to be for such young players who have a lot of physical and emotional maturity growth ahead of them. What it comes down to we that you give it more weight than I do.

I'm aware with what you are saying but I'm not as captured by the stat line as many others are. It's not unusual that players whose talents are not fully utilized on one team can have much better numbers when playing with another team where there is a better fit for their particular skills. I'm not disagreeing with your view so much as giving more weight to the context than you appear to give in your analysis.

Much of the success and failure of Adams tenure will be associated with the return he gets on the upcoming trade. There is a lot at stake for how this roster is going to be comprised next season and the near future.

As you indicate it is in everyone's interest for Jack to return to full health. Most people believe that he is going to be dealt. If the medical reports are positive more teams will be interested in him and those teams would be more likely to increase their bid recognizing that his health status is less questionable. It seems to me that Adams is playing it right by not rushing to make a deal for the sake of getting rid of a nettlesome issue. If I had to make a guess I would say that a deal will be announced around the day of the draft (July 23, 24) or just prior. It would be a blockbuster day if a Jack and Reinhart trades were announced at the same time.

The lesson to be learned is to hold on tight. 🤡

One of the main reasons that I am not so wedded to the statistical analysis in evaluating players as others are is that they usually are examined without giving the context. As an example on a good team such as Tampa they have top caliber players throughout all their lines. A third or fourth line player there could be a first or second line player for us. Whereas in Buffalo which has a dearth of talent you have third line players very often playing on the second and even the first line. Overlay that distorted line assignment with suffocating goaltending then the stats are certainly affected. I'm not saying anything that is very illuminating when I say Buffalo lacks talent compared to the better teams. That's as obvious as saying that at night it is dark. What the Sabres need is an infusion of players in order to allow for the players to play the lines and roles they are meant to play. When that happens the stats will follow and be more meaningful. One other point regarding Granato's stat line compared to Krueger's. As you mentioned in the abbreviated season when he took over he wasn't afforded much practice time. And because there were so few games left in the season when he took over there wasn't a large enough sample size to get a fair analysis. In this situation you should put more credence into the eye test than the hard numbers. Related to what I have said it seems as if it is a foregone conclusion that Jack, Samson and maybe Risto are going to be dealt. Although the players coming back won't be as good as our top two going out there needs to be enough players coming back in those trades and free agency to broaden our talent base.

What your metrics don't show is that he didn't have much practice time to work with the players he inherited. What your metrics don't show is that his team was stripped of many of his players in order to assess the young players, many of them brought up from the AHL. What your metrics don't capture is that he was working with an AHL level, or worse, caliber of goaltending Regardless what his record was in his abbreviated stint behind the bench the eye test clearly shows that the players, young and old, demonstratively played better with him at the helm. No coach is a miracle man. You work with the players that you are given. All you can ask your coach is to have them play with maximum effort and play up to their abilities. What more can you ask for? Next year there will be some coaches who have more talented rosters whose teams underachieve. If he has a less talented team that overachieves and comes away with a poorer record compared to the more talented team that doesn't mean that he didn't do a better coaching job.

If you want I'm willing to share with you the warning points that I earned. 👽

It's ironic but when short cuts are taken the road to respectability is longer. Expediency may give you a sugar high but it is short lived. In a league with a lot of experienced and talented GMs and front offices you will never be able to catch up to those well run operations.

If you dare send me any photos with more exposure I will notify the post office and have you investigated for sending porno through the mail. 🤡

Your last sentence captures the failure of this organization to build/grow a roster. Because of the constant turnover of coaches and GMs there never was any coherency in the roster building. It shouldn't be a surprise that when a new GM comes in that he is going to have a different philosophy that he wants to install. The problem with constantly changing the philosophy toward roster building is that whatever is being worked on by the current GM is going to be altered by the next GM. This repeated starting and stopping and then starting anew extends the timeline to build a roster with players that fit in. It's just a chaotic and foolish way to run a business.

Is the person in the picture related to Forest Gump? He seems to be very happy. However, he needs to work on getting a wider tanning distribution. 🤡

There is still time to talk to him. What I'm sure of is that the front office has talked to a number of people within the college ranks and the hockey development programs that have worked with him. Talking to Power in an interview setting is a less genuine and revealing setting than talking to coaches and staff members who have been involved with him and in privacy be candid about this player.

After reading your response I got the same sensation that you did with the probable trades that will happen i.e. trepidation. Could the GM take a more conservative approach and build around the core players that he currently has? Yes he could but there is a risk because of the contract status of two of the aforementioned players (Reinhart and Risto). If they are not moved this offseason they could walk or be dealt at the next trade deadline with a lot less of a return. (I have argued that keeping Risto until the next trade deadline would not be a bad approach to take because I don't think his value would be much diminished if it is decided to trade him at that later time.) The Jack situation is altogether different. I believe, as most others do, that these three players are going to be moved. The prevailing view is that Adams is determined to significantly remake the roster with a different core compared to the departing core. When all is said and done Adams is going to be mostly judged on the return he gets for the departing players. To say the least I'm queasy about this precarious situation; and to say the least I'm also excited about it.

No one is saying that as an owner he is a success. What's obvious is obvious. Presiding over a failed organization doesn't mean that he is making all the hockey decisions.

If Pegula favors drafting Power with the first pick he is joining the other 90% of the draft analysts who are recommending the same selection. What would be more odd is for the owner not to have an opinion on who to draft with the first pick. I don't discount the idea that the owner has an opinion on who to select with the first pick in this draft. And I'm not suggesting that the owner hasn't been instrumentally involved in some player transactions. But worrying about him ordering his hockey staff to do something that it doesn't want to do with the first pick is in my view is wasting energy.

Why are you saying meddling in the day to day operations? Because reportedly he has opinions about players and prospects? The notion that he should be silent and not ask questions on million dollar plus decisions that he will pay for not only doesn't make sense but it is a weird notion to have. I just don't get it.

The owner paid many millions of dollars to buy the team. And he has paid millions of dollars to run the operation. And it shouldn't be forgotten that he has lost a lot of money in this endeavor. It is simply weird not to expect him to have opinions about players and prospects and express them. The gag order that you want the owner to abide by makes no sense at all.

Would you breathe easier if Johnson was selected somewhere between 12-15?

My hope is that with either the Jack or Reinhart trade the Sabres come away with a potential #1C. Even if it would take a player such as Byfield or Zegras some time to achieve that status at least the potential is there to fill that role.