pi2000

It showed tonight what a difference it makes when you have defensemen who can win puck retrievals. It all starts with retrievals and first passes, Gorges is awful at both due to how awfully slow he his.

Sitting in 27th place after beating a terribly flat Capitals team with their all-world goalie laying an egg. Anything short of winning the Stanley Cup would be a huge disappointment.

So... anybody miss Gorges?

I went to the Caps game there last month when I was in town visiting. It's been probably 10 years since I've been to a home game. Something about the arena was depressing... just a dark environment in general, dark hallways, etc... and quiet as a library during the game. Not sure if there's just something off with the aesthetics of the building, or if it's just because the team isn't very good yet.

Who's in the cage?

Jamie Benn

Hardly seems fair, OEL is the best player on that team. It's 3-on-3, they should let OEL play.

so, does OEL get in now?

He's having a breakout year offensively. His skating ability is the something the Sabres are sorely lacking on the back-end. If I'm GMTM, I'm texting Joe Sakic once a week.

A former 3rd pick, Barrie is only 24, I'd hardly call him established. He's a pending RFA on a team that will have some financial decisions to make as Nathan McKinnon is also a pending RFA. Erik Johnson's new $6mil/yr deal kicks in next season as well. I think Barrie could be had for less than what people think.

...he'll just have to wait for a trade.

One Tyson Barrie plz.

Nope. In the first 5 seconds of his press conference he says some guy named Robin Leonard is starting..... must be a waiver pickup we haven't heard about yet. http://video.sabres.nhl.com/videocenter/console?id=928973&catid=1573 yes

Shattenkirk heading the other way perhaps? And a guy like Fabbri or maybe Barbashev to play with the other Russians?

Depends what you mean by rebuild. Where does this team need to be to consider the rebuild complete? I'd say rebuild means shedding dead weight and adding young players to build around. That certainly won't take 3 more years. They have three 3rd rnd picks this draft, and two 2nd round picks in 2017. I'd say the rebuild will be over after the 2017 draft. From then on it will just be about developing what they already have. That said, once the rebuild is over, there will still be deals and drafts and salary cap issues to content with as this team matures. The job won't get any easier for TM.

Which is why a successful rebuild takes 4-5 years. It takes 2-3 years just to shed dead weight in a responsible manner (getting a good return). Murray was hired exactly two years ago... this will be his third trade deadline with the Sabres, so I'd put them in the middle of year 2 on his rebuild path, so we're about half-way there I'd say.

Ullmark will be an RFA after the 2016-17 season. min age for UFA status is 27, he's only 22. http://www.generalfanager.com/teams/buffalo-sabres

I hope they keep Reinhart, and I suspect they will. He was the GMTM wanted at the draft last year, they would've taken him first overall. Gonna take an awful lot to pry him away.

I know he's not released from the team, but he IS cut from the roster. My point is why rush Lehner back when he still looks shaky? He says he's still store in his interview today, and doesn't sound very confident at all ("...am I going to be perfect? I don't know... we'll see how it goes..."). They should've max'd out his time in Roch before bringing him back up. Give him some confidence. He was there for 8 days, they could've left him there for another 6 days which means another weekend of games to fine tune his technique and get his mind right. Why not take advantage of that option?

Why are we under the impression Lehner (when completely healthy) is better than the current version of Ullmark? Their career NHL stats are virtually identical, the only difference Lehner has played 70 more games. So the upside with Lehner (when he's healthy and on his game) is the same production we're currently getting from Ullmark. At best Lehner is going to prove he's just as good as Ullmark. At worst (and most likely scenario) he'll show that he's an uhealthy, rusty version of Ullmark.

Lehner and Ullmark have virtually identical career NHL statistics. The only difference is that Lehner has played 70 more games and is 2 years older. There's half a season left, Buffalo is coming of two solid road wins with Ullmark playing very well. Hockey is streaky sport, don't with the lineup when you've just started a winning streak, especially by bringing in an unproven goalie who hasn't played in a year and who's ceiling may only be marginally higher than the young guy you're cutting from the team. At least give Lehner another weekend of games in Roch (he has 14 days as per the rules)... after all, what's the rush to get him back? To stroke GMTMs ego? Is that what this is now... all about GMTM being able to say "I told you so!" on this Lehner deal? Is that the kind of GM we have? I hope not.

Tyson Barrie is a pending RFA on team that will need to sign Nathan McKinnon (also a pending RFA), and has almost $30mil tied up in 6 players.... Duchene, Landeskog, Johnson, Soderberg and Varlamov. They'll have to make some decisions as they only have 7 forwards and 4 defenseman under contract next season. So they'll have about $40mil to fill more than a dozen spots. Can they give close to half that money just to 2 players (Barrie/McKinnon)?

ugh. Hopefully it's just a matter of getting him back up to speed, maybe DB sees he's not quite there yet?