Worst team in Franchise History

[BuffaloSoldier2010]

I do believe that the lottery occurs as normal. If NJD won the pick they would forfeit it like usual.

so its like the lottery never happened and they'd pick 1st and whoever finishes dead last picks 2nd but since they cant use the first overall then the guy in dead last picks whoever they want?

[LGR4GM]

so its like the lottery never happened and they'd pick 1st and whoever finishes dead last picks 2nd but since they cant use the first overall then the guy in dead last picks whoever they want?

Yes? I think if I understand that right... If NJD finish 10th and win the lottery they forfeit the 1st overall pick. If they finish 10th and lose the lottery they forfeit the 10th overall pick. The lottery occurs as normal and NJD forfeit the pick.

Edited December 10, 2013 by LGR4GM

[sicknfla]

 

so its like the lottery never happened and they'd pick 1st and whoever finishes dead last picks 2nd but since they cant use the first overall then the guy in dead last picks whoever they want?

 

I sure as hell don't understand what you are saying but Liger is right.

 

So as long as we finish last (about the same odds as the sun rising tomorrow) we would get the #1 pick if NJ or us win the lottery. I think!!

Edited December 10, 2013 by sicknfla

[BuffaloSoldier2010]

I sure as hell don't understand what you are saying but Liger is right.

 

So as long as we finish last (about the same odds as the sun rising tomorrow) we would get the #1 pick if NJ or us win the lottery. I think!!

brain is fried from studying for finals, i apologize for that rather ridiculous run on sentence. made sense in my head hahaha

[Hoss]

 

so its like the lottery never happened and they'd pick 1st and whoever finishes dead last picks 2nd but since they cant use the first overall then the guy in dead last picks whoever they want?

 

Seems like it. So it basically adds New Jersey's lottery balls to whoever finishes in last. This is because even if NJ wins the lottery, the dead last team still picks first.

 

 

 

So the league wanted Crosby in Pittsburgh instead of a city like New York, LA, Chicago, or Toronto? Makes sense.

 

Trying to find an article that quotes it, but you also have to consider that Mario Lemieux said at one point that Crosby is the type of player he would continue his career to play with. The appeal was all there.

Edited December 10, 2013 by DStebb

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Not that I'm subscribing to this tinfoil-hattism, but Pittsburgh was, I believe, nearly bankrupt and it was assumed it was going to move around this time, wasn't it?

 

Mario bought the Pens out of bankruptcy.

 

Second time he "saved" the Pens.

 

He made it public knowledge (sorry, no links, just my memory) that he wanted Crosby. And who wouldn't?

[inkman]

I almost drove my car off the road last night, not even due to the blizzard, listening to WGR. A caller suggested an offer sheet for another teams RFA. Meaning sacrificing Reinhart and McDavid. Umm...what? It didn't even dawn on Schopp or Bulldog. I was mortified!

[darksabre]

I almost drove my car off the road last night, not even due to the blizzard, listening to WGR. A caller suggested an offer sheet for another teams RFA. Meaning sacrificing Reinhart and McDavid. Umm...what? It didn't even dawn on Schopp or Bulldog. I was mortified!

 

I always wonder how stupid people exist. Isn't it human nature to desire to gain knowledge? Or are there people who just say "nah, I don't want to know anything."?

[dudacek]

Does the RFA compensation require it has to be our pick in each of the next X consecutive years?

Or can we use other teams picks and stack them? For example, the Islanders this year, And St. Louis (miller) Vancouver (Moulson) and detroit's (Ott) next.

I'm not advocating that, just curious.

[shrader]

Does the RFA compensation require it has to be our pick in each of the next X consecutive years?

Or can we use other teams picks and stack them? For example, the Islanders this year, And St. Louis (miller) Vancouver (Moulson) and detroit's (Ott) next.

I'm not advocating that, just curious.

 

It is your pick. If you do not have your own pick that corresponds to the compensation, you cannot sign the RFA.

[Jsixspd]

i predict stafford will play well tonight, then disappear for another month.

 

He seemed pretty invisible last night - didn't help, didn't hurt.

 

And as bad as he played LAST year, with only 6 goals in 46 games played, he's only got 2 in 31 games! 6 in 46 is terrible - 2 in 31 is beyond words! And he's already a -6 for the season.

[Drunkard]

He seemed pretty invisible last night - didn't help, didn't hurt.

 

And as bad as he played LAST year, with only 6 goals in 46 games played, he's only got 2 in 31 games! 6 in 46 is terrible - 2 in 31 is beyond words! And he's already a -6 for the season.

 

No worries. He's due for another big season next year since it will be a contract year, ha ha!

 

In all seriousness though, I hope he does break out next year so we can unload his expiring contract for something good at the trade deadline next season.

[apuszczalowski]

I almost drove my car off the road last night, not even due to the blizzard, listening to WGR. A caller suggested an offer sheet for another teams RFA. Meaning sacrificing Reinhart and McDavid. Umm...what? It didn't even dawn on Schopp or Bulldog. I was mortified!

Won't this years draft be over by the time that they can make offers on RFAs this offseason? Isn't the draft right before the start of FA?

If so, won't they only lose out on McDavid next year, if they give it up AND continue to suck, AND win the draft lottery to get the #1 pick?

I don't think I would have a problem with them being aggressive and going after a RFA and giving up picks for them IF that player was a player that can upgrade them right now, plus they would be aggressive in FA and the trade market to turn things around and not try to be the worst team in the league next year.

[IKnowPhysics]

EMBRACE THE TANK.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OIe1KtfpDzw

[inkman]

Won't this years draft be over by the time that they can make offers on RFAs this offseason? Isn't the draft right before the start of FA?

If so, won't they only lose out on McDavid next year, if they give it up AND continue to suck, AND win the draft lottery to get the #1 pick?

I don't think I would have a problem with them being aggressive and going after a RFA and giving up picks for them IF that player was a player that can upgrade them right now, plus they would be aggressive in FA and the trade market to turn things around and not try to be the worst team in the league next year.

I am much more concerned about next years pick but I don't want to lose 2014 either. The RFA's they can sign won't be as good as Reinhart or McDavid.

[SwampD]

I am much more concerned about next years pick but I don't want to lose 2014 either. The RFA's they can sign won't be as good as Reinhart or McDavid.

I was just wondering if anyone actually believes that the Sabres will end up with either one of those guys. Also, is sucking this bad worth it in the case that we don't get either guy? Are the players just behind them worth it, from a

franchise building standpoint?

[sicknfla]

 

I was just wondering if anyone actually believes that the Sabres will end up with either one of those guys. Also, is sucking this bad worth it in the case that we don't get either guy? Are the players just behind them worth it, from a

franchise building standpoint?

 

Simply put if they are putting all their eggs in the McDavid sweepstakes then we are in just as bad of shape as we were with DR. You don't build a team on a 25% AT BEST chance of getting ONE player.

 

You can get away with one year of being an absolute embarrassment but two years is going to be a tough sell. Especially if we finish in last place this year by 20pts and still don't get the #1 pick.

[Doohicksie]

Another consideration: Let's say the Sabres get the #1 pick. What do you do when your rebuild is centered around him and he blows out a knee? This whole concept of needing a top pick in order to excel is deeply flawed. Build a great team by getting the best players you can. But if you purposely tank to get a top pick, all you're doing is instilling a culture of losing. I don't want to see that in my team.

[dudacek]

Fortunately Darcy laid the groundwork in such a way that Pat can build a winning culture and still reap the benefits of tanking.

[bunomatic]

Another consideration: Let's say the Sabres get the #1 pick. What do you do when your rebuild is centered around him and he blows out a knee? This whole concept of needing a top pick in order to excel is deeply flawed. Build a great team by getting the best players you can. But if you purposely tank to get a top pick, all you're doing is instilling a culture of losing. I don't want to see that in my team.

 

That ship has sailed. IMO it went out with Regier. Since the new guys have taken over I've seen improvement in how they play, how they practice, their mindset, how they treat the young guys and how they believe young guys should be developed. The results aren't there quite yet but the loser mentality left in Regiers suitcase imo.

[Claude_Verret]

I still don't understand why people have this notion that tanking = trying to lose on purpose just to get a top draft pick. Instead think of tanking as choosing NOT to put lipstick on a pig. Maybe PL helps with the recruiting problem that we have, because if he doesn't I'm all ears on any ideas people may have on how to maximize the chances of obtaining elite talent other than through the draft.

[TrueBlueGED]

Another consideration: Let's say the Sabres get the #1 pick. What do you do when your rebuild is centered around him and he blows out a knee? This whole concept of needing a top pick in order to excel is deeply flawed. Build a great team by getting the best players you can. But if you purposely tank to get a top pick, all you're doing is instilling a culture of losing. I don't want to see that in my team.

 

What happens if you overpay a UFA by $2MM per year to come here and he has a career-ending concussion, or trade away two high picks and prospects for a proven star who ends up retiring in two years? Those kind of "what if" scenarios really don't have much value because teams have no control over them. And it's really not so deeply flawed when you look at the results: since the lost season, only 2/8 Cup winners (Boston and Detroit) didn't either have a top-5 pick contributing significantly or used as a trade chip to acquire other players who did contribute significantly.

 

This is the song that doesn't end... :lol:

Edited December 12, 2013 by TrueBluePhD

[nfreeman]

What happens if you overpay a UFA by $2MM per year to come here and he has a career-ending concussion, or trade away two high picks and prospects for a proven star who ends up retiring in two years? Those kind of "what if" scenarios really don't have much value because teams have no control over them. And it's really not so deeply flawed when you look at the results: since the lost season, only 2/8 Cup winners (Boston and Detroit) didn't either have a top-5 pick contributing significantly or used as a trade chip to acquire other players who did contribute significantly.

 

This is the song that doesn't end... :lol:

 

And now we're moving the goalposts, innit?

 

The relevant question is whether being bad enough to draft in the top 5 pays off for that team -- not for some other team that ends up using the highly-drafted player. So it doesn't matter to Hartford, who drafted Pronger #2 in 1993, that Pronger was the key to Anaheim winning the cup in 2006.

[TrueBlueGED]

And now we're moving the goalposts, innit?

 

The relevant question is whether being bad enough to draft in the top 5 pays off for that team -- not for some other team that ends up using the highly-drafted player. So it doesn't matter to Hartford, who drafted Pronger #2 in 1993, that Pronger was the key to Anaheim winning the cup in 2006.

 

Good point. When I wrote that I was looking at it the other way: LA using Schenn (#5) and Johnson (#3) to acquire Richards and Carter, who played a role in their championship.

[nfreeman]

Good point. When I wrote that I was looking at it the other way: LA using Schenn (#5) and Johnson (#3) to acquire Richards and Carter, who played a role in their championship.

 

Well, this hurts my side of the never-ending argument, but Doughty was also a top-5 pick and was a key player for that LA team...