GDT: 11/19/19 Minnesota @ Buffalo, 7 p.m. EST

[sabremike]

4 minutes ago, Thorny said:

No. Though he certainly helps the players he plays with, ask Jeff Skinner. 

The second bolded, you don't "blame" Vesey, you blame the fact that he's here. What he represents. The potential player he's here instead of. Jack is a 90/100 point player right now, with a rookie on one side, who's scored 5 of our last 6 and assisted on the other. 

You don't blame Vesey, I'm guessing, because you expect his limitations and allow for them. Even 10 million dollar players have limitations. 

Jack needs help.

Saw the edit and want to point out that one of the very few smart things Botts has done was that deal with Jack. Ask any other GM if they'd like Jack for $10 million a season and they'd say "Yes" so fast your head would spin. Your post was spot on.

[Nitro60]

Just now, thewookie1 said:

There isn't exactly any real good vet GMs on the market presently....

Never said vet GM....someone with front office experience to step up and take the reins.  Could be their first time to be the GM.  Boterill's judgement on talent is iffy.

[CallawaySabres]

That's right Jack, the Bruins are not going to feel sorry for you, they are going to wipe their ***** with your entire team

[TrueBlueGED]

2 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

There are no answers, no answers at all. There is just nowhere to go.....

A better GM might have answers. 

[Randall Flagg]

1 minute ago, thewookie1 said:

Maybe we can have a St. Louis turnaround; granted I'm unsure how we could since we aren't firing our coach 45 games into the season.

We don't need a St. Louis turnaround. We're 1 point out of a wild card spot. We just need the offseason we were supposed to get.

[PerreaultForever]

2 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

There isn't exactly any real good vet GMs on the market presently....

I'd look to a Sutter or a Burke type. Bring in no nonsense old time goon hockey. We might not win right away but in time nobody will want to mess with us and the new talent can be brought in via the draft and can flourish in a protected effort first culture.  and in the short run, at least it'll be entertaining and Eichel won't have to fight for us.

[Kruppstahl]

If they post the interview at WGR-550 after the game, listen to Montour's comments.

I don't like him as a player, but I love what he just said! 

He's calling a lot of stuff into question and not offering excuses. 

Need to be prepared to go right at the beginning of the game, they are all NHL players and need to get shots on the net, etc.

 

[Curt]

7 minutes ago, Nitro60 said:

Time to hire a guy with REAL NHL front office experience.  Botterill is over his head.  The forwards outside of a few are career non scorers.  You can not win with three non scoring lines.

Botterill has REAL NHL front office experience.  Where do you think he came from?

[CallawaySabres]

If I hear one more of these idiots say the word lacking urgency, I am going to break my TV with my cat.

Quit the sport if you can't find the urgency.

[Randall Flagg]

I honestly thought their effort was fine tonight. 

 

[thewookie1]

Just now, Randall Flagg said:

I honestly thought their effort was fine tonight. 

 

I'd say Eichel's fight marked a change. They seemed faster and willing to use their bodies.

[TrueBlueGED]

1 minute ago, CallawaySabres said:

If I hear one more of these idiots say the word lacking urgency, I am going to break my TV with my cat.

Quit the sport if you can't find the urgency.

They've all learned they can't tell the truth publicly. Urgency isn't the problem, but what are they going to say? "These 7 teammates are trash and must be replaced?" 

[Pimlach]

12 minutes ago, jad1 said:

It's what happens when you hire guys who are doing the job for the first time.

Seymour hired me because he knew damm well I would put a competitive team out there.  First move was to trade for Crozier.  Gotta get a goalie. It starts there   

I got lucky with the spin of the wheel to get Perreault but I worked like a dog to find two wingers that could play with him.  

[Stoner]

16 minutes ago, TrueBlueGED said:

Dahlin is on his ELC and makes less than Scandella, so not sure why he got roped into a money-driven comment. 

Anyway, no, it's not Eichel's responsibility to make bad players good from the bench. He's off the ice for 40 minutes per game, the other guys matter. He's leading the team in offense by a mile and on pace for 97 points. Vesey has 2 points and 0 goals. It's absolutely the fault of Vesey and the rest of the supporting cast who stink. 

"About to..." After next season. I think the roster you and Randall and others envision would cost about 200 million dollars a year.

[TrueBlueGED]

5 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

We don't need a St. Louis turnaround. We're 1 point out of a wild card spot. We just need the offseason we were supposed to get.

Yup. Botterill dropped the ball. Again. 

[CallawaySabres]

Make Montour the Captain.....he just nailed that interview 

[Thorner]

1 minute ago, TrueBlueGED said:

They've all learned they can't tell the truth publicly. Urgency isn't the problem, but what are they going to say? "These 7 teammates are trash and must be replaced?" 

Could you imagine lol

I'd find a way to buy the guy who said it a beer. 

[Zamboni]

One things for sure ... it was obvious we are down 4 NHLers. 

[Nitro60]

3 minutes ago, Curt said:

Botterill has REAL NHL front office experience.  Where do you think he came from?

He inherited a talented team.  It is telling that Pittsburgh did not keep him as GM.  i would like a guy who has had a hand in  building a team.  His hire is like the rest of the Pegula hockey hires.  Mediocre.

[Stoner]

1 minute ago, Nitro60 said:

He inherited a talented team.  It is telling that Pittsburgh did not keep him as GM.  i would like a guy who has had a hand in  building a team.  His hire is like the rest of the Pegula hockey hires.  Mediocre.

I was always a little suspicious about Rutherford pushing both Bylsma and Botterill on Pegula. But, for Terry, Pittsburgh is catnip.

[Nitro60]

The Sabres are now the other teams think are an easy mark.  You will see a steady dose of back up goalies until they can start showing they can score.

[Nitro60]

Ralph Krueger is a good guy.  I think he wants to go back to soccer.

[SABRES 0311]

30 minutes ago, Beer said:

Bad Sabres!  Bad!

Who volunteers to be the stuffed animal?

[Randall Flagg]

23 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

"About to..." After next season. I think the roster you and Randall and others envision would cost about 200 million dollars a year.

This is nonsense. My most sought after offseason names were Anthony Cirelli and Brett Connolly. Burakovsky was up there too. You can trade for and afford all of these guys just by not adding the dead cap we added two offseasons ago, and giving up stuff we gave up for Sheary, Vesey, and Montour/Miller, while not having to sit one of those guys every night. I'm not guaranteeing a team like this would be a good team, but we're not asking to go sign Bergeron and then trade for Huberdeau and Point. This team was not some inevitability that Eichel and co just can't pull their weight with to make good, it's been a car crash unfolding in real time, being called out every step of the way.

We already have a first line capable of, over an entire season, getting a goal for/against ratio in line with playoff teams. Eichel and Skinner do this together. They outscored their opponents enough in their time together last year for this distinction, even including all their minutes together when Skinner couldn't score and the team collapsed. The next step is getting things right behind them. We have made this incredibly hard on ourselves. We had a Selke caliber player ready to go, and dumped him for three bad players, 7 mil in cap that we were lucky to cut in half, and draft picks 3 years out. Now we're kind of re-stuck in a talent hole that was always going to be incredibly difficult to climb out of, which is why my first two courses of action this past summer, that I posted over and over about, were

a.) offer sheets
b.) relentlessly searching, not for a high paid stud, but for someone that hasn't had a chance to break out yet, because they'd be cheap. The caveat of this route is that you have to guess right about the player blossoming in a new, more prominent role. My pick was Anthony, but he was just an example. 

This was the only realistic way to bulking up our NHL talent to a mass comparable with other successful teams. Other lateral moves would leave us hurting the same way, just in different areas. 

There has been nobody more consistent about this picture of the team over the last three years than True or I, and we have not been unrealistic in its description or proposed solutions. We don't have the talent mass, whether Eichel can "lift" the team or not. It isn't there, and there isn't magic character dust that can add it. We were right that Krueger wasn't going to bring the dust. It's on Jason, and it's been on Jason for years. 

Edited November 20, 2019 by Randall Flagg

[SwampD]

11 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

I was always a little suspicious about Rutherford pushing both Bylsma and Botterill on Pegula. But, for Terry, Pittsburgh is catnip.

Awesome. These guys are cagey mothereffers and winners know how to win. I wouldn't be surprised if this was true, one bit.