PalmTreeMafia

I always thought that was out of organizational necessity at RW rather than any perceived lack of ability at C. Tage Thompson is the only other legit, NHL-ready young guy we have at RW. Okposo and Pominville are over 30 and deteriorating, Bailey sucks, etc... A major question for Reinhart's long-term potential here is this: where does a relatively slow-skating but supposedly very cerebral hockey player best fit on a fast-skating team? In the middle of the action at center? Or in the corner at wing? Great win, by the way! Lots of room for improvement, but it's only game 2 for such a young team with so many new pieces. I'm not going to single anyone out until at least after the road trip out west is over. Except for Beaulieu...that dude needs to sit.

For me, "fun" is not how I would describe watching Mahomes. He's just another very painful reminder that McDermott/Beane have no idea what they're doing when it comes to evaluating offense: offensive line, wide receivers, offensive coordinator, but especially QB. For those who forgot, Mahomes fell into our lap during the 2017 draft at #10.

I believe the 2013 draft was when Regier was still GM. At least 6 players from the Regier days remain with the franchise: Girgensons and McCabe and Ullmark from the 2012 draft, Risto and Bailey from the 2013 draft, and Larsson via trade. One could also include Pominville and Moulson, I suppose.

This makes the most sense to me: G1: Hutton G2: Ullmark D1: Ristolainen - Scandella D2: Dahlin - McCabe D3: Bogosian - Beaulieu F1: Skinner - Eichel - Reinhart F2: Sheary - Berglund - Okposo F3: Nylander - Mittelstadt - Thompson F4: Rodrigues - Sobotka - Pominville Extra: Nelson, Wilson, Girgensons Injury: Hunwick, Larsson Rochester: Baptiste, Bailey, Guhle, Pilut, Smith, Asplund My only question is whether Baptiste and Bailey will clear waivers. I haven't quite given up on them, though I don't blame anyone who already has.

Awesome thread! I don't have much of value to add, other than I see the Eastern Conference as 3 Tiers: Tier 1 (5): Caps, Penguins, Bruins, Lightning, Maple Leafs Tier 2 (4): Blue Jackets, Devils, Flyers, Panthers Tier 3 (6): Devils, Islanders, Rangers, Canadiens, Senators, Red Wings And that I fully expect to see the Sabres competing with the Tier 2 teams for a playoff spot. If we're still stuck in Tier 3, then Housley may need to go and further roster purging may be necessary.

I voted the first yes. I love the Sheary and Skinner trades. Maybe I would have preferred more from the O'Reilly and Kane trades, but I'm not privy to any league-wide sentiments toward those two, so I have to believe that Botterill maximized what he could get back. The Scandella trade was solid. The rest of his trades at the moment look to have provided decent organizational depth. Even the Beaulieu trade wasn't so bad when you consider what 3rd rounders typically provide a franchise anyway. Hutton was a nice free agent additon, and when it comes to the NHL free agent market, it's more about who Botterill didn't choose to sign than who he added which makes me content with his efforts so far. I did not vote the second yes because I'm not remotely convinced the locker room rot has been sufficiently cleaned out. Botterill apparently gave the 26-and-over vets one season to show that they belonged and can capably lead, and all but 5 technically failed (Scandella, Bogo, Okposo, Pominville, Moulson). Actually, only Scandella likely passed. The other 4 are still with the organization solely due to their ridiculous, unmoveable contracts. A large percentage of the under-26 crowd are still here and are being given a second year to prove they are not locker room malcontents. This is a decision I'm okay with because of their perceived plasticity and on-ice potential, but many of them may not even get a second full season of evaluation (Beaulieu, Risto, McCabe, Reinhart, Baptiste, Bailey, Larsson, Girgensons, Nylander).

Or maybe it's just Montreal who is undervaluing O'Reilly, and the rest of the NHL sees it the way we do: that only Dahlin and Svechnikov are more valuable than O'Reilly. Can't fault JB for Montreal's stupidity. O'Reilly's value is going to take off after the initial wave of free agency. The asking price should be something along the lines of a top-6 LW and a top-4 RHD, both under the age of 25.

A few things I'd like to say: 1. If JT comes here, he will be given the "C." No question about it. Eichel and O'Reilly have already shown that they are not captain material. 2. The capologists here crack me up. We can't afford a player like JT long-term, but yet here we are paying Bogo, Moulson, and Pominville $16 million hext season with nearly $20 million to spare. I already crunched the numbers a while back...we can afford JT, and we can keep all of our other important players too. 3. A lot may depend on where his fiancee wants to live. I believe she is from southern Ontario, just like John.

Can't JB at least work a Bogo trade for some other team's contract albatross? Maybe find a player whose terrible contract only lasts one season instead of two? Bogo is one of the locker room cancers that should have beeen sent packing a long time ago. Larsson has been here for five seasons, dating back to the first tank year. He doesn't fit the current speed movement, so it is time that he gets traded. I don't have any strong opinion on Girgs. Maybe he can still develop into a consistent 30-point producer like we saw briefly during the second tank year?

Many are. I still think he's going to be a bust, probably Tim Murray's biggest mistake in a very long list of mistakes. I can't get over his AHL performance to date. However, it's worth noting that his older brother had 6 goals and 7 assists in 22 NHL games before reaching his 20th birthday. Alex has 1 goal and 1 assist in 7 NHL games before age 20. So Alex is not currently that far behind William in production when you make a strict age comparison. Last fall's injury didn't help his development. I'm rooting like hell for the guy to prove the doubters like myself wrong. A lot of his issues are more mental than anything. He definitely has NHL top 6 forward talent. We saw glimpses of it the past few games.

I'm not sad. I'm relieved. Now comes the off-season, which - in true Buffalo sports fashion - will be a lot more exciting and meaningful than the actual games played. The draft lottery, free agency, trades, the draft, generally seeing which players we've grown to despise finally get jettisoned...and of course the NHL playoffs are always fun to watch even when the Sabres are eliminated.

Of the 38 players who played games for the Sabres this season, I'm okay with the following 16 active on opening night next season: G (1): Ullmark D (5): Risto, Scandella, Guhle, McCabe, Nelson F (10): Eichel, O'Reilly, Reinhart, Okposo, Mittelstadt, Nylander, Girgensons, Rodrigues, Bailey, Baptiste These leftover 22 should either not be re-signed, bought out, traded, kept inactive except for injuries, or kept in Rochester: Lehner, Johnson, Beaulieu, Bogosian, Gorges, Antipin, Falk, Fedun, Redmond, Tennyson, Kane, Moulson, Nolan, Pouliot, Larsson, O'Regan, Griffith, Josefson, Criscuolo, Wilson, Fasching, Pominville I'm very curious to see where others stand on these 38 guys, so please try to respond if you're reading this. What my simple analysis shows me is that we have 4 glaring roster holes: 1. a starting goalie 2. a true #1 defenseman 3. a top 6 sniper forward type 4. a top 6 power forward type No idea how we can address all 4 issues in one off-season. The first two are never that easy to find. Hey...so how about that John Tavares guy in Long Island???

Aren't buses safer than smaller vehicles? I suppose air travel would be the first choice, since airplanes are much safer than any type of road vehicle. But that's probably too expensive for minor league sports teams. Since incidents like this thankfully seem to be extremely rare, I don't know if there's anything we can do differently aside from continuing to stress safe driving habits.

Or that Ryan Fitzpatrick went to Harvard!

I'm not defending Housley's line choices. But it's clear he wants Mittelstadt evaluated as a center and Nylander evaluated at his most comfortable position of left wing on a much slower skating line than Jack's. The Sabres actually look pretty good on defense if you put Risto on a second line with Scandella, Guhle on a third line with Nelson, imagine Karlsson and Dahlin wearing Sabres jerseys on a first line, force Gorges into retirement, demote Falk and Tennyson to Rochester, and lose Beauileieuauau at the airport.

I actually do want to watch this game. In addition to checking out Mittelstadt and Nylander, I'm very curious to see who mails it in and who tries hard tonight.

We need help everywhere: forwards, defense, goaltending. BPA is the way to go with the 4th pick. This franchise can't afford another Nylander bust.

The NHL draft lottery isn't the only problem. Guaranteed player contracts, few quality players ever making it to free agency, and the fact that drafted players very rarely make an immediate impact in the NHL means bad teams are more likely to stay bad for a very long time (compared to other/better sports leagues like the NFL). This is a dangerous policy for a league that has many teams struggling financially to stay afloat. The Sabres franchise can handle 7+ straight seasons without the playoffs, but others like Carolina, Arizona, and Florida can't afford to be cellar dwellers for extended periods of time.

He might get injured in preseason. Or overdose on a speedball. But otherwise, yeah, get ready to quit because I don't see JB making any major changes to this fall's roster.

The 2018 draft just might play out like the legendary 1983 draft when all 4 AFC East teams (Bills, Jets, Dolphins, Pats) drafted first round QB's.

Bullsh!t. 75% of tonight's roster will still be here next season. Pouliot, Gorges, Falk, Tennyson, and Johnson will be gone. But everyone else will still be here.

Good luck with that one... Next season, the Sabres will be paying $24 million to the following 6 untradeable future NHL Hall of Famers: Kyle Okposo, Zach Bogosian, Matt Moulson, Jason Pominville, Johan Larsson, Nathan Bieuauauaaleuuouuuou.

There's a lot of truth to this. 15 of the past 17 AFC championships, for example, have come from teams led by just 3 future first-ballot Hall of Famers - Brady, Manning, and Roethlisberger. The anomalies to this trend come from teams with absolutely elite defenses combined with competent QB's or teams whose otherwise mediocre QB's had monster single seasons. The bottom line is that an NFL QB is extremey important to a franchise's success. Way too important, if you ask me. But I don't write the rule book for the modern NFL, which seems to be over-the-top in its favoritism toward QB's and WR's at the expense of DB's and DL's. Interesting stat: in their franchise history, the Bills have drafted 33 times in the top-12. They have taken 6 RB's, 4 WR's, 3 TE's, 5 OL, 9 DL, 2 LB, and 4 DB's. Not one single QB.

Interestingly enough, McCarron was once considered a mid-first to mid-second round prospect for the 2014 draft, but he dropped all the way down to the fifth round over character concerns (too confident), arm strength (not elite), and inflated stats (played on an all-star Alabama team). 2014 was a weird year for drafting QB's. Bortles and Manziel were taken ahead of Carr and Garoppolo. Our very own TE, Logan Thomas, was taken as a QB ahead of McCarron, who ended up being the 9th overall QB chosen. I'm not at all convinced McCarron will be a worse QB than Taylor. Apparently many people on this message board have already written him off. McCarron seems like a guy with a floor as a capable NFL backup and a ceiling as a mid-tier NFL starter. After 4 years behind Dalton, he deserves a genuine chance at a starting job just like Taylor was given after 4 years behind Flacco. Taylor has been in the NFL for 7 years and has started 42 games. The book has largely been written on this guy. Glorified running back. Gets sacked too often. Rarely turns the ball over because he rarely tries to make plays with his arm. Mentally too slow to read defenses and the entire field in real time. 31st overall passing offense. 3 points in a playoff game. Can't lead his team when down by any points in the 4th quarter. Slightly above 0.500 career record. Gets credit for breaking the 17-year drought, even though McCoy and the defense were way more responsible for that than Taylor. At the moment, my first choice is for a trade-up for one of the top 4 franchise QB's (Darnold, Mayfield, Rosen, Allen in that order). But I also don't want the Giants or Browns to anally rape us in a trade. My second choice would be Lamar Jackson with one of our first round picks. Jackson's biggest problem is accuracy, but I think that can actually be fixed with some simple changes to his footwork and throwing mechanics. My third choice would be a trade with the Eagles for Foles. But my 4th choice is McCarron. Surround him with a quality team that includes 5 new top-65 overall picks from the 2018 draft, and you may easily see a second consecutive playoff berth and a decent run similar to what Foles did in Philly, Keenum in Minnesota, or Bortles in Jax.

Yeah, probably. His career, in my opinion, will be quite binary - either he'll be the next Sam Bradford or a future pro football Hall of Fame QB. All of the character attacks on him are ridiculous. Dude is genuinely elite.