Pick #31 Ryan Johnson Defenseman

[Randall Flagg]

Just now, LTS said:

I would have preferred they go to Kaliyev with the pick.  

I guess they felt the need to balance.  I dunno.  I don't know enough about Johnson, but I figured getting some goal scoring talent into the pipeline would trump a slight reach for D.

Twitter Chad says he "has it on good authority" that they hated Kaliyev for what it's worth, and Brawndo says they didn't interview him. I wonder what smelled funny.

[nfreeman]

7 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

As i've said multiple times. I like the player but think there were better options. 

Since no one wants my fake rankings or opinions. Goodnight. Enjoy day 2. I won't be commenting on it.

C'mon homie.  We need your commentary tomorrow.

[shrader]

1 minute ago, LTS said:

I would have preferred they go to Kaliyev with the pick.  

I guess they felt the need to balance.  I dunno.  I don't know enough about Johnson, but I figured getting some goal scoring talent into the pipeline would trump a slight reach for D.

I’m not sure why we have to look at this as a desire for balance. Why can’t it just be so simple as he was the best player left on their board? Plenty of others get the need to pass on Kaliyev as well and brawndo has offered some information that would support the idea that he didn’t sit all that high with buffalo as well. 

[LTS]

1 minute ago, Randall Flagg said:

Twitter Chad says he "has it on good authority" that they hated Kaliyev for what it's worth, and Brawndo says they didn't interview him. I wonder what smelled funny.

Fair enough.  I don't pay enough attention to know better either.  I suppose even Brink would have been someone to look at.  Clearly they weren't the only ones who thought something was wrong since NBCSN was going on about Kaliyev and yet no one was grabbing him.

[inkman]

41 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Yea, it was in my thread you deleted. 

Dumb pick impo. Way too high forward talent available to do this. Just dumb. Reminds me of when they took Samuelsson but this is worse. Nothing against Johnson but other options are better. 

This is the liger I know. Can't wait to read about this is 2027. 

[TrueBlueGED]

1 minute ago, ... said:

I think you guys are being too harsh on LGR.  His negative opinion of the pick is no less valid than anyone's positive opinion of the pick.  Come on.

You might value picking a D here, obviously the Sabres do, but not a one of you can say you always agree with every stinking move they make.  I give you the ROR trade.  Where is the logic of "you don't know what was happening behind the scenes" applied to that around here?  LGR is owed his opinion just like anyone else.  

Nobody cares that he has an opinion. He just sucks at expressing it without a blood pressure explosion. He just has to tone it down, is all. 

1 minute ago, Randall Flagg said:

Twitter Chad says he "has it on good authority" that they hated Kaliyev for what it's worth, and Brawndo says they didn't interview him. I wonder what smelled funny.

They were talking on WGR he has work ethic concerns. 

[CallawaySabres]

At least if the team stinks again, we can look forward to a gold and white uniform.!

Sincerely, the most fan deaf organization you can imagine

[Curt]

6 minutes ago, shrader said:

I watch players like that fall down the board and instead of thinking that some team’s about to get a gift, I start to wonder why he’s falling.

Replying to your comment about Kaliyev possibly falling for a reason, from the 2019 Draft thread, before Liger rage closed it.

I agree, and I do understand (at least in part) why he fell.  He plays a “lazy” game.  Doesn’t play defense.  Doesn’t look very interested in doing much outside of the offensive zone.  Only really looks into the game when his team has the puck.

I am just shocked that he fell so far.  I take it that NHL teams do not believe that Kaliyev can be coached into playing a more complete game, not even to the minimum required level to be a good NHL player.

Edited June 22, 2019 by Curtisp5286

[Eleven]

43 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Yea, it was in my thread you deleted. 

Dumb pick impo. Way too high forward talent available to do this. Just dumb. Reminds me of when they took Samuelsson but this is worse. Nothing against Johnson but other options are better. 

I was "meh" on this pick, but because you know prospects better than almost anyone, I've downgraded to "meh minus."

[#freejame]

1 minute ago, ... said:

I think you guys are being too harsh on LGR.  His negative opinion of the pick is no less valid than anyone's positive opinion of the pick.  Come on.

You might value picking a D here, obviously the Sabres do, but not a one of you can say you always agree with every stinking move they make.  I give you the ROR trade.  Where is the logic of "you don't know what was happening behind the scenes" applied to that around here?  LGR is owed his opinion just like anyone else.  

I don’t like the pick, but I understand there’s things going on I don’t know about so I’m not going to pout about it. 

I don’t like the RoR trade, but I understand there’s things going on I don’t know about so I’m not going to pout about it. 

Complaining is one thing. I complained about the pick. Being reactionary is one thing. The first post I made about it was booooooo.  But having all the answers for everything and then having things go the other way and criticizing in vague, non-constructive ways is obnoxious. Doesn’t matter if it’s about KP, RoR, or pick #31. 

[Randall Flagg]

2 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

At least if the team stinks again, we can look forward to a gold and white uniform.!

Sincerely, the most fan deaf organization you can imagine

Oh, theyre gonna stink again. It won't be because of tonight though

[spndnchz]

25 minutes ago, darksabre said:

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Typical reaction for most of the draft. Besides a #1 or 2. Roll of the dice. 

[shrader]

1 minute ago, Curtisp5286 said:

Replying to your comment about Kaliyev possibly falling for a reason, from the 2019 Draft thread, before Liger rage closed it.

I agree, and I do understand (at least in part) why he fell.  He plays a “lazy” game.  Doesn’t play defense.  Doesn’t look very interested in doing much outside of the offensive zone.  Only really looks into the game when his team has the puck.

I am just shocked that he fell so far.  I take it that NHL teams do not believe that Kaliyev can be coached into playing a more complete game, not even to the minimum required level to be a good NHL player.

That seems a bit extreme thought. It’s not that they don’t think he can be a good nhl player. They just think that some number of others stand a better chance. The kid will go in the second round and that’s still a very significant accomplishment. 

[...]

1 minute ago, TrueBlueGED said:

Nobody cares that he has an opinion. He just sucks at expressing it without a blood pressure explosion. He just has to tone it down, is all. 

I don't see the issue with what he's been saying about it.  I don't like the pick, either.  We need to develop some people who can finish.  If they had this guy penciled in as an option at 31, did they bother to consider the forwards on the board?  You can argue they did...but do you really know?

[LTS]

2 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

At least if the team stinks again, we can look forward to a gold and white uniform.!

Sincerely, the most fan deaf organization you can imagine

For what it's worth, when I told my 15 year old about an all white with gold trim uniform his response was "That would be sick!".  This was echoed by his buddy who was on FaceTime at that moment. So, your world doesn't necessarily equal the actual world.

I'm not picking on you here.  You are certainly entitled to your opinion. However, to call the Sabres fan deaf when you only consider your opinion as the opinion of the fans is misguided.  There clearly are fans who are interested in seeing this concept.

[tom webster]

45 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Dumb pick. 

It’s funny how a respected analyst like Corey Pronman can disagree with a pick but admit that others are high on said pick and admit he may be wrong while others see things as black and white.

This isn’t a science. After about pick two no one knows anything about these kids. 

I admire your passion and your analysis but it’s all just an educated guess.

[TrueBlueGED]

Just now, ... said:

I don't see the issue with what he's been saying about it.  I don't like the pick, either.  We need to develop some people who can finish.  If they had this guy penciled in as an option at 31, did they bother to consider the forwards on the board?  You can argue they did...but do you really know?

I wanted them to trade the pick, I just can't imagine being so up in arms about who they picked. WGR listed the #31 picks dating back to 2006, and it's a really bad list of players most of whom never played more than a season in the NHL. The odds are both Liger and Botterill are wrong. 

[In The Buff]

4 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Johnson doesn't turn 18 until the end of July.  He is a fast puck moving LHD and is over 5 year younger then the other LHD prospect with a similar skill set Pilut.  Looking at this prospect depth chart it's pretty easy to see where he fits long-term.

I think thats what the issue is that some have with the pick. Yes this pick fills a long term need of sorts, but in the what, 3-5 year range down the road? But given our needs & our current window, some fans (myself included) were hoping for someone who could help a bit earlier. And specifically help with scoring. Either with the draft selection itself or with trading the pick in a package for a return player of some sort.

So perhaps thats where some of the consternation comes with this pick. I think we all expected us to draft a dman in the 1st half of the draft, but given our needs for more scoring this pick was just a bit of a let down. Even if he turns out to be good, albeit 4 or 5 years from now.

[LGR4GM]

3 minutes ago, Eleven said:

I was "meh" on this pick, but because you know prospects better than almost anyone, I've downgraded to "meh minus."

He has the potential to be a 2nd pairing guy but I think Hoglander, Robertson, Kaliyev and Brink we're better options off the top of my head. I wish Johnson all the best and hope he out shines those other players but he has a lot of development needed to get there. 

Goodnight, and good luck. 

[SDS]

1 minute ago, LTS said:

For what it's worth, when I told my 15 year old about an all white with gold trim uniform his response was "That would be sick!".  This was echoed by his buddy who was on FaceTime at that moment. So, your world doesn't necessarily equal the actual world.

I'm not picking on you here.  You are certainly entitled to your opinion. However, to call the Sabres fan deaf when you only consider your opinion as the opinion of the fans is misguided.  There clearly are fans who are interested in seeing this concept.

This is nearly universal. Every fan thinks their preferences are the best ones. No one gives a crap about the guy or girl sitting next to them or what someone 30 years younger might like. 

[Derrico]

27 minutes ago, ... said:

Reads like another Montour.  If they were going to pick a D man, can we not get a big hitter?  Not thrilled, but I'm willing to give the guy a chance to surprise me.  What choice do I have?

If we just drafted another Montour than our scouting staff is amazing.  I don’t know anything about this guy but if he ends up as Montour in a few years I have no problem at all with the pick. 

[shrader]

2 minutes ago, ... said:

I don't see the issue with what he's been saying about it.  I don't like the pick, either.  We need to develop some people who can finish.  If they had this guy penciled in as an option at 31, did they bother to consider the forwards on the board?  You can argue they did...but do you really know?

“We liked player X more, but we instead decided to take player Y.” Call me crazy, but I don’t expect anyone to operate that way. 

[LTS]

1 minute ago, TrueBlueGED said:

I wanted them to trade the pick, I just can't imagine being so up in arms about who they picked. WGR listed the #31 picks dating back to 2006, and it's a really bad list of players most of whom never played more than a season in the NHL. The odds are both Liger and Botterill are wrong. 

Well, the question, as always, is... what, if anything, was offered for it and was that worth it?  The "chatter" was that the Sabres were fine with trading it.  But it doesn't mean they would give it away, right?  We just don't know.

[...]

4 minutes ago, #freejame said:

I don’t like the pick, but I understand there’s things going on I don’t know about so I’m not going to pout about it. 

I don’t like the RoR trade, but I understand there’s things going on I don’t know about so I’m not going to pout about it. 

Complaining is one thing. I complained about the pick. Being reactionary is one thing. The first post I made about it was booooooo.  But having all the answers for everything and then having things go the other way and criticizing in vague, non-constructive ways is obnoxious. Doesn’t matter if it’s about KP, RoR, or pick #31. 

I'm happy to cut him some slack since draft night is a big deal to him.  I don't know LGR from Adam, but I do know invests a lot of time in the draft.  Of course he's going to get jumpy over the picks.  

I don't find calling it "lazy" obnoxious, especially when he did give his reasons for not liking the pick.

[LTS]

1 minute ago, SDS said:

This is nearly universal. Every fan thinks their preferences are the best ones. No one gives a crap about the guy or girl sitting next to them or what someone 30 years younger might like. 

Yep.  And we all have our opinions, but as soon as someone has an alternate opinion, especially on something so subjective as a uniform design, then you shouldn't go around calling the organization fan deaf.  Because there clearly are fans they are listening to, people are just upset it's not them.