Sabres Just Stink At Drafting Good Players

[bob_sauve28]

Just look at the Bruins line up, they have players they drafted that are doing really well, scoring goals and making them a good team. We have Samson :( 

[darksabre]

Video scouting destroyed our farm system.

[Robviously]

Video scouting destroyed our farm system.

The problem continued long after video scouting ended.

[nfreeman]

The problem continued long after video scouting ended.

 

Correct.  Darcy couldn't draft forwards and GMTM couldn't draft anyone.

[bunomatic]

The Sabres have sucked at developing good players for a long time.

[woods-racer]

The Sabres have sucked at developing good players for a long time.

 

Makes me think JBOTS will keep every pick he can get for whatever deals he makes over the next few years. Time to start filling Rochester up and creating competition there for ice time.

 

The sucky part is we as fans are looking at years yet before we could be good.

[bob_sauve28]

Makes me think JBOTS will keep every pick he can get for whatever deals he makes over the next few years. Time to start filling Rochester up and creating competition there for ice time.

 

The sucky part is we as fans are looking at years yet before we could be good.

What other choice do they have really? Pouliot will be gone, Kane will only fetch picks, I would imagine. If they can get lucky and make a few good picks they might  e good in three or four years 

[jahnyc]

This really is the bottom line.  We had a lot of picks in the draft, many of which were towards the top of the round, and we have very little to show for it.  Very disappointing.

[woods-racer]

What other choice do they have really? Pouliot will be gone, Kane will only fetch picks, I would imagine. If they can get lucky and make a few good picks they might  e good in three or four years 

 

None. That's what is so depressing.

 

We may get lucky again and get a player or two like Pouliot during the summer that come in a have a positive impact. But time and proper upbringing through your farm system is the only way to insure years of having a really good team.

 

The team wasn't doomed because we tanked for two years, it was doomed because we didn't have a good prospect pool and farm system to train them in for a decade before it.

Edited December 20, 2017 by skogslopp

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Perhaps the drafting was not terrible, but the development stinks?

 

Look at the good to very good to excellent players drafted going back to Bowman.  Very few lived up to the hype.

 

Darcy drafted good players, but they really developed very nicely ... his 'core' ... they developed into good NHL players, but did not get any further than that.  When we had very good players with them the did something very good.  Too bad they meet some issues that they could not overcome, or we very possibly would have had a cup in 2006.

[CallawaySabres]

Just look at the Bruins line up, they have players they drafted that are doing really well, scoring goals and making them a good team. We have Samson :(

 

Nothing else matters. This is the ONLY reason this team will be bad for a while and last night, a bright light was shining on why these two teams are drastically different. We have ONE young talented player whereas Boston is littered with them.

[Jacque Richard]

These teams can bottom out and then return to the top. Where the Sabres just flounder

[Ross Rhea]

GMTM was given the the golden egg and he dropped it and broke it. 

 

It's now going to take JBots years to glue it back together.

[jsb]

When we tanked, we not only rid ourselves of our experienced talent pool who could mentor, we rid ourselves of several draft picks trying to speed up the process.

Boston has Chara, Bergeron and Marchand to get in a kids face and tell them what and how to do it, plus still have the ability to do it themselves. 

Who do the Sabres have to do that same mentoring on this team?? So our young guys are supposed to be leaders?? Can you imagine Samson standing up to Marchand when he tells him to get his MFn butt in gear and start playing. No I didn't think so. On top of that we are basically getting nothing from our bottom 2 lines and kids that should have started and learned in Rochester were pushed thru before they were fully ready for the NHL. 

 

Hopefully Botts has a long term plan that adds to the mix, Bylsma tried to hide the weaknesses of this team and it didn't get him anywhere. If anything he at least got some production out of Reinhart.  Housley appears to say that we're going to play my style no matter if we have the horses to do it or not. So we may have to wait until our ponies turn into horses and then training the new ponies. 

 

We are losing but the effort is improving and the style of play is WAY more entertaining than the past 2 years, lets see.

[ddaryl]

We seem ot have some good players in the pipeline and a new GM from a very successful franchise.. So I'm optomistic we can turn the corner... its either that or start drinking while cleaning the shot gun

[pastajoe]

I hate seeing players that the Sabres thought weren't good enough to play 4th line or 3rd D have success with other teams. Paul Byron, Daniel Paille, Tim Schaller, Chad Ruwedel.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

I hate seeing players that the Sabres thought weren't good enough to play 4th line or 3rd D have success with other teams. Paul Byron, Daniel Paille, Tim Schaller, Chad Ruwedel.

 

Nicky D had two goals for the Canadien last night.  Did he have that many in his entire tenure with the Sabres?

[pi2000]

I disagree that they drafted "bad" players.   They just didn't develop them in the right environment.     Buffalo is seen as a place where you have a good chance to get regular minutes in the NHL...  there are no expectations beyond that.   Boston has guys like Bergeron and Chara leading the charge... Buffalo has... well, they don't even have anybody worthy of being Captain.     That says a lot.   

 

IMO if they fix the leadership void, then things will get better, young players will feel peer pressure to stay on an upward trajectory.   The good news is that can happen quickly.    The bad news is that they're going to have to give up some picks/prospects to bring in that type of player.      IMO, that's JBOTs dilemma.... does a true leader rise from the ashes and rally the troops?   Or will he be forced to make an acquisition by unloading some assets?    He's giving this group a chance but so far nobody has stepped up... and that's disappointing.        

[inkman]

Nicky D had two goals for the Canadien last night. Did he have that many in his entire tenure with the Sabres?

Jordan Nolan had a 2 goal game for the Sabres. I don't think either of these things means much.

[GASabresIUFAN]

I am no TM apologist.  However, the jury is still out if he was a complete waste as a drafter.  I look for 3 NHL players per draft and TM has a chance (be it an outside one) of succeeding.

 

2014 looks like a bust other then Reinhart and he is have a disastrous year to date.  However with Johansson in the system and playing well, Cornel in the AHL and Olofsson coming over next year, there is still a chance we get 3 NHL players from this draft.  Considering how desperately we need scoring forwards and goaltending, it will be a huge boost to this franchise if Johansson and Olofsson come through

 

2015 TM drafted Eichel and Guhle.  Guhle looks like he is on an NHL trajectory and likely will be a top 4 D for years to come.  The only chance for a 3rd player from this draft is Borgen.  He looks like a capable stay at home D.  I'm not sure if he fits into Wowie's system, but he has a decent chance of being an NHL D someday.  The question is will Jbot sign him this summer.  The real tragedy of this draft is that was one of the deepest drafts in years and we walked into the draft with 3 1st, 2  2nds and the top pick into the 3rd.  Because of various trades we walked away with 1st (Eichel), 1 2nd (Guhle) no thirds and only 6 picks overall.  TM's decision to use these picks and other assets to get ROR, Lehner, Bogo and Kane, will be regretted forever by the franchise and the fan base.

 

2016: This draft has the potential to salvage TM as a decent drafter.  Our top 4 picks from this draft are on an NHL trajectory.  Our 1st rd pick Nylander has the skill, but we may have screwed up his development.  Our 2nd rd pick Asplund looks like a further 2/3 rd line NHL center.  3rd rd Cliff Pu is a prolific CHL scorer, but like Baptiste, he'll need to prove he can do it in the AHL and then NHL..  3rd rd pick Fitzgerald is a good college puck moving D and looks like a good fit for Wowie's system.    3 other players could also surprise.  5th rd pick Budik is on the Czech World Jr team.  6th rd pick Hagel has developed into a nice CHL scoring threat as has overage 7th rd pick Glotov.  If I had to guess, only Pu, Asplund and Nylander will make an impact on the Sabres, but who knows, we are likely two years from any of these guys taking a regular shift for the Sabres.  

Edited December 20, 2017 by Georgia Flakt

[Kruppstahl]

Just look at the Bruins line up, they have players they drafted that are doing really well, scoring goals and making them a good team. We have Samson :(

Case in point: Have a look at the trash GMTM selected in the 2014 draft, when we picked #2 overall and then had THREE (3) 2nd round draft picks.  

 

Those 4 players could have set us up for a long time if we got a little lucky and they all turned out to be really good players.

 

As it turns out, those 4 picks turned into:

 

1) Reinhart (I'm declaring him a bust at the NHL level; with hindsight, admittedly, that pick should have been Draisaitl, Dal Colle, Nylander, or Fabbri, to name a few other 2nd rounders available that year; admittedly Reinhart/Bennett were the consensus #2 picks after Ekblad; not winning the lottery that year really hurt, as it did the following year when we got Eichel and not McDavid)

 

2) Brendan Lemieux (lousy pick; no longer on team)

 

3) Eric Cornel (WTF!?!?)

 

4) Karabacek (WTF!)

 

Wonder why we suck?  The massive pile of currency Darcy left for GMTM to spend on talent was blown in the strip club on booze and women before GMTM ever made it to the draft auditorium.

 

You actually can't overstate how badly GMTM screwed this whole thing up; giving a first for f-ing LEHNER!?  

 

GMTM screwed it up so badly, we will need to start over, almost from the beginning plus Eichel.

 

And don't get carried away thinking Eichel is the generational talent he was touted as being; he is not; his ceiling is "very good player" which is fine, but we are going to need that much more around him if we are going to routinely challenge for Cups.

 

BTW:  If you really want to feel bad, have a look at Las Vegas.  That lowly pathetic expansion club.

 

They now have twice as many points as the Sabres and sit in 2nd place overall..

 

Puts how bad our rebuild is going into perspective rather nicely.

 

Thanks Tim Murray!  Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out! 

 

And I have to admit, I was a supporter of his and surprised he was fired when he was.

 

Shame on me!

[pastajoe]

Nicky D had two goals for the Canadien last night. Did he have that many in his entire tenure with the Sabres?

DLo had 12 goals 18 assists with Sabres, 6 goals in one season. This year in 15 games 3G 3A +9 5PIM. Nolan in 30 games 2G 2A -4 19PIM. For a 4th liner I'd take DLo any day over Nolan. At least DLo showed a passion and made it tough on opposing D. There are games where Nolan isn't noticed at all. He's only there based on how he played 3 years ago.

[Kruppstahl]

Video scouting destroyed our farm system.

That is an argument from a bygone era that is totally irrelevant to anything the Sabres have done recently.

What other choice do they have really? Pouliot will be gone, Kane will only fetch picks, I would imagine. If they can get lucky and make a few good picks they might  e good in three or four years 

This current team will be liquidated for picks, insofar as it can be!  

 

What are you going to get for Reinhart these days?  The rebuild has to start over almost from scratch.

 

I mean we suffered through one of the worst if not the worst single Sabres season in their history...really depressing, boring hockey, trying to lose....for a massive reward at the end of it.

 

That reward turned out to be Sam Reinhart, who played so poorly last night, he was benched, and that was after starting on the 4th line, b/c his play has been so bad he has demoted himself to that level.

 

You would like to think you can replace a NO. 2 overall with something of comparable value.  Forget that...

 

We are now in the "Holiday no trade zone" or whatever they call it; come January, we might start to see some moves and then we will be a big time seller at the trade deadline.

 

And it will begin.  Again.

[Robviously]

That is an argument from a bygone era that is totally irrelevant to anything the Sabres have done recently.

This current team will be liquidated for picks, insofar as it can be!  

 

What are you going to get for Reinhart these days?  The rebuild has to start over almost from scratch.

 

I mean we suffered through one of the worst if not the worst single Sabres season in their history...really depressing, boring hockey, trying to lose....for a massive reward at the end of it.

 

That reward turned out to be Sam Reinhart, who played so poorly last night, he was benched, and that was after starting on the 4th line, b/c his play has been so bad he has demoted himself to that level.

 

You would like to think you can replace a NO. 2 overall with something of comparable value.  Forget that...

 

We are now in the "Holiday no trade zone" or whatever they call it; come January, we might start to see some moves and then we will be a big time seller at the trade deadline.

 

And it will begin.  Again.

People!

 

Sam Reinhart had 47 points in 79 games last year as a 21 year old.  That's....actually pretty good.  He sucks this year but the whole team pretty much does so far outside of Eichel and Kane.

 

It's not over and he could still turn things around with more than half a season left.  He's 22.

[dudacek]

Case in point: Have a look at the trash GMTM selected in the 2014 draft, when we picked #2 overall and then had THREE (3) 2nd round draft picks.  

 

Those 4 players could have set us up for a long time if we got a little lucky and they all turned out to be really good players.

 

 

2) Brendan Lemieux (lousy pick; no longer on team)

 

3) Eric Cornel (WTF!?!?)

 

4) Karabacek (WTF!)

 

It’s too bad he didn’t draft Hawryluk, Masin, Pettersen, Englund, Jacobs, Kamenev, McInnis, Pollock, Bergman, Collins, Aube-Kabel, Collins, McKeown, Daugherty, Letunov, Rod, Smith, Donato, Macleod, Halverson or Lintuniemi, or one of the five goalies you may or may not have heard of.

 

Right now, it looks like there were three players in the 2014 2nd round - Montour, Barbashev and Dvorak.

 

It was draft.