GMTM--"I think too much about McDavid. I wish I could help myself"

[bunomatic]

We're going to ignore the fact that the guy had 16 years to win a Cup and he only went to one? He was fired because he failed his job for nearly two decades

Exactly !

[carpandean]

No way Hanifin makes the jump to the NHL, he's heading back to school fo sho.    I like him though, he's a stud.    With Hot Mez filling the net, plus Risto, Zadorov, and Hanifin in 2016 we won't need our forwards to contribute much of anything... maybe that's the plan?

 

I digress, no way in hell BUF misses out on McEichel.    One of five things will happen, guaranteed.

 

1 - Sabres finish 30th win the lottery, all our dreams come true.

2 - Sabres finish 30th lose the lottery, generational consolation prize.

3 - Sabres finish 29th win the lottery, GMTM faints on stage as McDavid pulls on a Sabres sweater.

4 - Sabres finish 29th and 30th place ARI wins the lottery, see #2.

5 - Sabres finish 29th, neither BUF nor ARI win the lottery and BUF picks 3rd.

 

That said, if the hockey Gods punish us for our sins and we end up with #5, I don't there's any price GMTM wouldn't pay to move up from #3 to #2.    I don't see him being able to move from #3 to #1, but a move from #3 to #2 would  be possible and here's why....

 

ARI will be the team picking #2 (do the math, duh).   ARI needs help all over the ###### place, while they already have OEL, they may jump at a deal that involves both BUF 1st rounders in 2015 and BUF 2016 first rounder.   The 2016 1st rounder is key here as next year is the Auston Matthews draft.   Auston Matthews is from... you guessed it, Scottsdale, AZ, and he's putting up better numbers than Eichel did at his age in the same program.   He's slightly bigger than Eichel as well.   Imagine the fanfare in ARI with Austom Matthews leading that team for the next decade or so... wow.   Of course, the deal would also need to include somebody like Girgensons and Ennis, which I'd be OK with...

 

So it's not all gloom and doom if BUF ends up picking 3rd.   If GMTM makes Eichel the target, I have no doubt he can pull it off considering his recent trade history and the pieces at his disposal.

 

That's why I suggested a pre-lottery trade if we end up 29th:

 

Arizona gets Sabres 2016 first-round pick plus either their 2015 first-round pick if they win the lottery or the Sabres' 2015 first-round pick, if they don't.

 

Sabres get their own 2015 first-round pick if Arizona wins the lottery or the Coyotes' first-round pick if they don't.

 

Result:  Arizona gets another (likely) Austin Matthews pick, plus a 33.5% chance (their 20%, plus the Sabres' 13.5%) at McDavid and the third pick otherwise; Sabres get Eichel (20% chance that it's with their own pick; 80% with the Coyotes' pick.)

 

Would be a heck of gamble for the Coyote's GM and perhaps it would take our other first-rounder (getting too rich for us?), but I'd take the certainty of it (definitely for one first-rounder, don't know about two.)

Edited April 1, 2015 by carpandean

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Just remember Kevin Devine was directly responsible for getting Ristolainen and Zadorov.

Yup, could have used one for that cup run

 

You caught the way I drifted.

 

Upon reflection though Woodsie's reply is reasonable since the draft is in late spring too, or is it early summer?  That 2006 draft could have been better.

 

Holesie's reply just makes no sense though.

 

And I have already made the grand prediction that the Kings will end up in the playoffs when all the dust settles and will win the cup again.

[Stormin Norman]

We're going to ignore the fact that the guy had 16 years to win a Cup and he only went to one? He was fired because he failed his job for nearly two decades

 

I will argue forever that the Cup run in '99 had more to do with the team John Muckler had built than anything Darcy had to do with it.  We went to the finals two years after Muckler left the organization.  Darcy's influence was hardly the reason we got there.  

 

Of his own design, Darcy built a very good team which had a couple extremely fun years... the Drury/Briere years.  You have to credit him with those rosters more than the '99 Cup run.  Other than that, the organization was average at best and below average for many of Darcy's years.