Sabres ranked number one prospect pool by Pronman

[GASabresIUFAN]

Again it's more then just blue chip centers.  We need to draft and develop depth centers as well.  Asplund is the closest example after Derek Roy.  We need some of our 2nd, 3rd and even later round picks to develop into something and some of them must be centers if we are going to sustain a team beyond the initial rebuild.  Again you can't develop what you don't draft.

Edited September 2, 2021 by GASabresIUFAN

[Thorner]

1 minute ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Again it's more then just blue chip centers.  We need to draft and develop depth centers as well.  Asplund is the closest example after Derek Roy.  We need some or our second and 3rd round picks to develop into something and some of them must be centers if we are going to sustain a team beyond the initial rebuild.  Again you can't develop what you don't draft.

I get the concern over depth centres, but I'm more concerned with locking down the two most important forward positions on a roster, 1 and 2 C, before worrying about that. It's long odds for both Cozens and Casey to adequately rise to that level so the blue chipper being added to the mix to make the whole thing more likely is most important. Depth will in some ways be taken care of on it's own by whoever of the potential top 6 Cs doesn't live up to that role. 

[LGR4GM]

28 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

There were plenty of quality centers available when Rosen was picked and when the 2 Russians were picked in the 2nd.  Svechkov, and Lucius were higher rated players and centers when we took Rosen and quality enters Raty and Pinelli were available deep into the second.   You of all people like to talk about who we should of taken.  At least one and maybe of our picks higher end picks after Power should have been a center(s), especially given the drafting of JJP and Quinn the year before.    You can't develop what you don't draft. 

I don't view Pinelli as a center and I ranked him way down at 33. I would absolutely put Kisakov above Pinelli if I knew Buffalo actually was going to look at the MHL (which I have ignored for years). 

I said we should have taken Raty over Poltapov. 

Svechkov or Lucius over Rosen also makes sense but they were all in a similar tier. I had Lucius only 1 spot ahead of Rosen on my board. I talk about screw ups when the Sabres make obvious mistakes. I think Poltapov over Raty could fall into that category.

That all said, the Sabres forward ranks were barren wastelands from wing to center. 5 of the top 15 on Pronman's list come from this past draft alone (that's kinda incredible) and all of those except Power are forwards. Out of those 15 players, 7 are defenders or goalies so that leaves 8 forwards and 50% of them came from this past draft. The other 4 are 2 centers and 2 wings. We needed help everywhere up front. 

16 minutes ago, Thorny said:

I get the concern over depth centres, but I'm more concerned with locking down the two most important forward positions on a roster, 1 and 2 C, before worrying about that. It's long odds for both Cozens and Casey to adequately rise to that level so the blue chipper being added to the mix to make the whole thing more likely is most important. Depth will in some ways be taken care of on it's own by whoever of the potential top 6 Cs doesn't live up to that role. 

You can't draft centers in a draft that doesn't have them. You want centers, 2022 is the draft to get tons of capital in because there are tons of centers. 

[PromoTheRobot]

2 hours ago, Weave said:

Been there, done that.  Pretty sure we've been ranked #1 or near #1 in the recent past.  Greta big yawn until we see how it really shakes out in 3 yrs or so.

"Magic beans, you say?"

[Thorner]

18 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I don't view Pinelli as a center and I ranked him way down at 33. I would absolutely put Kisakov above Pinelli if I knew Buffalo actually was going to look at the MHL (which I have ignored for years). 

I said we should have taken Raty over Poltapov. 

Svechkov or Lucius over Rosen also makes sense but they were all in a similar tier. I had Lucius only 1 spot ahead of Rosen on my board. I talk about screw ups when the Sabres make obvious mistakes. I think Poltapov over Raty could fall into that category.

That all said, the Sabres forward ranks were barren wastelands from wing to center. 5 of the top 15 on Pronman's list come from this past draft alone (that's kinda incredible) and all of those except Power are forwards. Out of those 15 players, 7 are defenders or goalies so that leaves 8 forwards and 50% of them came from this past draft. The other 4 are 2 centers and 2 wings. We needed help everywhere up front. 

You can't draft centers in a draft that doesn't have them. You want centers, 2022 is the draft to get tons of capital in because there are tons of centers. 

I know, but I was speaking about the next draft. By the time that comes around, we need to have the piece added to the system. I actually thought it needed to come this summer, but all signs indicate that being next draft's target. 

My point was only that they can hardly forgo picking "C" with their top pick next draft, in the name of BPA. At some point the negative of having a severely lacking system in an area of significant need outweighs the need to pick a winger or D-man over a C, because of what would presumably amount to a small perceived difference in talent (we'll be near the top where there isn't a ton of separation), and what amounts to an educated guess anyways. If we aren't at that point a year from now, I don't know when we'd ever be. 

Centre would only be necessary at that point because one wasn't added in any other way through any other transaction in any of the prior years of the GM's term. If we move Jack and even he wasn't able to fetch a blue chip C, I don't think there's an asset here KA would be able to or willing to move for that blue chipper. We've seen how near impossible it is to get these types of prospects in a trade. 

It's either that or they've put all their eggs in the Cozens and Casey basket, but I really do think they are aiming for the next draft or two for a C. As most are saying, it doesn't look like winning is on their radar for another few years. 

Edited September 2, 2021 by Thorny

[Thorner]

Imagine being Carolina or Colorado: playoff teams, but their prospect systems rank #3 and #8 respectively. Good drafting I guess

[GASabresIUFAN]

32 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I don't view Pinelli as a center and I ranked him way down at 33. I would absolutely put Kisakov above Pinelli if I knew Buffalo actually was going to look at the MHL (which I have ignored for years). 

I said we should have taken Raty over Poltapov. 

Svechkov or Lucius over Rosen also makes sense but they were all in a similar tier. I had Lucius only 1 spot ahead of Rosen on my board. I talk about screw ups when the Sabres make obvious mistakes. I think Poltapov over Raty could fall into that category.

That all said, the Sabres forward ranks were barren wastelands from wing to center. 5 of the top 15 on Pronman's list come from this past draft alone (that's kinda incredible) and all of those except Power are forwards. Out of those 15 players, 7 are defenders or goalies so that leaves 8 forwards and 50% of them came from this past draft. The other 4 are 2 centers and 2 wings. We needed help everywhere up front. 

You can't draft centers in a draft that doesn't have them. You want centers, 2022 is the draft to get tons of capital in because there are tons of centers. 

But you are proving my point.  Svechkov over Rosen, Raty over Poltapov.  Those simple changed would have given us two quality centers in the pipeline and this issue melts away.  

4 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Imagine being Carolina or Colorado: playoff teams, but their prospect systems rank #3 and #8 respectively. Good drafting I guess

and better management.

[LGR4GM]

28 minutes ago, Thorny said:

I know, but I was speaking about the next draft. By the time that comes around, we need to have the piece added to the system. I actually thought it needed to come this summer, but all signs indicate that being next draft's target. 

My point was only that they can hardly forgo picking "C" with their top pick next draft, in the name of BPA. At some point the negative of having a severely lacking system in an area of significant need outweighs the need to pick a winger or D-man over a C, because of what would presumably amount to a small perceived difference in talent (we'll be near the top where there isn't a ton of separation), and what amounts to an educated guess anyways. If we aren't at that point a year from now, I don't know when we'd ever be. 

Centre would only be necessary at that point because one wasn't added in any other way through any other transaction in any of the prior years of the GM's term. If we move Jack and even he wasn't able to fetch a blue chip C, I don't think there's an asset here KA would be able to or willing to move for that blue chipper. We've seen how near impossible it is to get these types of prospects in a trade. 

It's either that or they've put all their eggs in the Cozens and Casey basket, but I really do think they are aiming for the next draft or two for a C. As most are saying, it doesn't look like winning is on their radar for another few years. 

I wouldn't have drafted Power in all honesty. Eklund and Beniers I view as better players and both drive play. 

At the end of the day that is the real important part, can the player drive play. The Center traditional did that but times have changed so that is something to consider. 

Drafting a C this year has nothing to do with winning just like not taking 1 last year has nothing to do with winning this year. You have to draft NHL players at all positions. We are focusing too much on center as some be all end all. I could have said the same thing about forwards in general up until this past draft. We had 4 forwards from previous drafts on this list... we needed players. 

[Thorner]

5 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I wouldn't have drafted Power in all honesty. Eklund and Beniers I view as better players and both drive play. 

At the end of the day that is the real important part, can the player drive play. The Center traditional did that but times have changed so that is something to consider. 

Drafting a C this year has nothing to do with winning just like not taking 1 last year has nothing to do with winning this year. You have to draft NHL players at all positions. We are focusing too much on center as some be all end all. I could have said the same thing about forwards in general up until this past draft. We had 4 forwards from previous drafts on this list... we needed players. 

And now we need centres in the system. We need one more blue chip C prospect.

My comment about winning was just that every farmer and their mom can see they are setting up for a couple "aim high in the draft" years. I think they know they need another C in the system. I feel like that is obvious - we are trading our 2 best. You can't just go with whatever is left - that's no way to rebuild. 

It is unlikely what we currently have in the system amounts to an adequate top 6 centre core. By that idea alone we need to add. 

Edited September 2, 2021 by Thorny

[LGR4GM]

9 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

But you are proving my point.  Svechkov over Rosen, Raty over Poltapov.  Those simple changed would have given us two quality centers in the pipeline and this issue melts away.  

and better management.

I can't tell if you do this deliberately because you hate Adams or you believe it. 

What is the difference between taking Rosen this year and taken a center in what will presumably be the 20's next (so the equivalent pick)? Why does it matter? If they draft all wingers and defenders again next year, sure we have an issue. The issue melts away in next years draft where there are by my count at least 10 NHL quality centers in the top 24. There is probably 14 in the top 32. If you say 2 centers would fix the issue what if they get one in the Eichel trade? We are years away from these players mattering and the difference between getting the centers in 2021 or 2022 is minimal at best. 

I am not proving your point. You are arguing that they should have made BPA more positionally dependent. If that is the case they should have taken Beniers over Power, that would be the most logical way to address the overabundance of LHD and C all at once. 

9 minutes ago, Thorny said:

And now we need centres in the system. We need one more blue chip C prospect.

My comment about winning was just that every farmer and their mom can see they are setting up for a couple "aim high in the draft" years. I think they know they need another C in the system. I feel like that is obvious - we are trading our 2 best. You can't just go with whatever is left - that's no way to rebuild. 

And they won't. This is the same nonsense that happened in 2015 when everyone cheered and jumped up and down while Murray traded away first rounders like candy. It was all about speeding things about and being good immediately when in reality it should have been 3 years of drafting and developing. We just did draft year 1, you have 2 more to go and I will again bet MONEY that in the 2022 draft they draft at least 2 centers. 

[Thorner]

2 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I can't tell if you do this deliberately because you hate Adams or you believe it. 

What is the difference between taking Rosen this year and taken a center in what will presumably be the 20's next (so the equivalent pick)? Why does it matter? If they draft all wingers and defenders again next year, sure we have an issue. The issue melts away in next years draft where there are by my count at least 10 NHL quality centers in the top 24. There is probably 14 in the top 32. If you say 2 centers would fix the issue what if they get one in the Eichel trade? We are years away from these players mattering and the difference between getting the centers in 2021 or 2022 is minimal at best. 

I am not proving your point. You are arguing that they should have made BPA more positionally dependent. If that is the case they should have taken Beniers over Power, that would be the most logical way to address the overabundance of LHD and C all at once. 

Getting one in the Eichel trade would be huge. We'll be waiting at least a year to get one if it doesn't come from that, imo.

As for the bold, I guess I have all of a sudden reached the age where pushing back the timeline potentially 1 year doesn't seem insignificant at all. Only get so many. I kinda just want to enjoy watching them win more hockey games than they lose, and don't like the idea of cashing in even 1 year willingly on a team that isn't supposed to win. This is neither here nor there mostly just a tangent about why I am so disheartened by this new strategy they are undertaking. 

 

[Thorner]

12 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I can't tell if you do this deliberately because you hate Adams or you believe it. 

What is the difference between taking Rosen this year and taken a center in what will presumably be the 20's next (so the equivalent pick)? Why does it matter? If they draft all wingers and defenders again next year, sure we have an issue. The issue melts away in next years draft where there are by my count at least 10 NHL quality centers in the top 24. There is probably 14 in the top 32. If you say 2 centers would fix the issue what if they get one in the Eichel trade? We are years away from these players mattering and the difference between getting the centers in 2021 or 2022 is minimal at best. 

I am not proving your point. You are arguing that they should have made BPA more positionally dependent. If that is the case they should have taken Beniers over Power, that would be the most logical way to address the overabundance of LHD and C all at once. 

And they won't. This is the same nonsense that happened in 2015 when everyone cheered and jumped up and down while Murray traded away first rounders like candy. It was all about speeding things about and being good immediately when in reality it should have been 3 years of drafting and developing. We just did draft year 1, you have 2 more to go and I will again bet MONEY that in the 2022 draft they draft at least 2 centers. 

Murray didn't trade away firsts like candy, but ya. I continue to think the ROR move was a great trade, or rather that the theory is perfectly fine (in fact I think moves SHOULD be made to supplement the younger players with capable, good-now vets) but that Murray had a poor handle on the SPECIFICS of the room he was assembling and the individual players therein. 

Personally I don't think the actual pursuit of good players from outside the draft is an issue, just because Murray failed doesn't mean that the concept of the strategy is tarnished. 

Edited September 2, 2021 by Thorny

[Digger]

11 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Murray didn't trade away firsts like candy, but ya. I continue to think the ROR move was a great trade, or rather that the theory is perfectly fine (in fact I think moves SHOULD be made to supplement the younger players with capable, good-now vets) but that Murray had a poor handle on the SPECIFICS of the room he was assembling and the individual players therein. 

Personally I don't think the actual pursuit of good players from outside the draft is an issue, just because Murray failed doesn't mean that the concept of the strategy is tarnished. 

Consider what we gave up to get an injured Evander Kane.  I would love to hear what the next best offer was for Kane.  The Sabres really overpaid for him.

I did think the trade Murray made to get O'Reilly was fair and a good deal at the time though.

[Thorner]

1 minute ago, Digger said:

Consider what we gave up to get an injured Evander Kane.  I would love to hear what the next best offer was for Kane.  The Sabres really overpaid for him.

I did think the trade Murray made to get O'Reilly was fair and a good deal at the time though.

It's funny with the Jets trade because it amounted to a whole lot of nothing for both sides

[GASabresIUFAN]

26 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I can't tell if you do this deliberately because you hate Adams or you believe it. 

What is the difference between taking Rosen this year and taken a center in what will presumably be the 20's next (so the equivalent pick)? Why does it matter? If they draft all wingers and defenders again next year, sure we have an issue. The issue melts away in next years draft where there are by my count at least 10 NHL quality centers in the top 24. There is probably 14 in the top 32. If you say 2 centers would fix the issue what if they get one in the Eichel trade? We are years away from these players mattering and the difference between getting the centers in 2021 or 2022 is minimal at best. 

I am not proving your point. You are arguing that they should have made BPA more positionally dependent. If that is the case they should have taken Beniers over Power, that would be the most logical way to address the overabundance of LHD and C all at once. 

And they won't. This is the same nonsense that happened in 2015 when everyone cheered and jumped up and down while Murray traded away first rounders like candy. It was all about speeding things about and being good immediately when in reality it should have been 3 years of drafting and developing. We just did draft year 1, you have 2 more to go and I will again bet MONEY that in the 2022 draft they draft at least 2 centers. 

Centers can always be converted to wing, but rarely vice versa.  Depth at center is one of keys to having a good team and now as @Thorny said we are dumping are two top centers, we need to restock the position and ignoring the position for the last two drafts doesn't help. 

Also who cares what 2022 brings.  That's another year away and if we draft centers then great.  The more the merrier. Yes, I loath the Adams Administration, but I've also applauded him when he makes the right decision (Granato, Risto trade).  It also doesn't absolve him for ignoring centers in the draft for two straight years while trading away his two best centers.   Quinn over Rossi and Perfetti, Poltapov over Raty. Rosen over Lucius and Svechkov.  These choice just don't make sense and have left our pipeline bereft of centers.   

[Digger]

8 minutes ago, Digger said:

Consider what we gave up to get an injured Evander Kane.  I would love to hear what the next best offer was for Kane.  The Sabres really overpaid for him.

I did think the trade Murray made to get O'Reilly was fair and a good deal at the time though.

 

7 minutes ago, Thorny said:

It's funny with the Jets trade because it amounted to a whole lot of nothing for both sides

We will disagree on this trade.  It was a huge overpayment by the Sabres that wanted to tank to draft McDavid in 2015. 

Tyler Myers, Drew Stafford, Joel Armia, Brendan Lemieux and a 2015 first-round pick that became Jack Roslovic.  Bogosian was injured for much of his time with the Sabres and we had to move Kane for a fraction of what it cost to acquire him because his reputation continued to spiral down.  The Jets did very well in that trade and the Sabres lost a great deal of depth for a player in Kane that was a known cancer in the dressing room (a poor leadership example for Eichel to learn from).

[Brawndo]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

Imagine being Carolina or Colorado: playoff teams, but their prospect systems rank #3 and #8 respectively. Good drafting I guess

They both have very good analytics departments which are heavily involved in their draft processes. 
It will be interesting to see what Sam Ventura develops over the next year for the the Sabres Scouting Department. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

Murray didn't trade away firsts like candy, but ya. I continue to think the ROR move was a great trade, or rather that the theory is perfectly fine (in fact I think moves SHOULD be made to supplement the younger players with capable, good-now vets) but that Murray had a poor handle on the SPECIFICS of the room he was assembling and the individual players therein. 

Personally I don't think the actual pursuit of good players from outside the draft is an issue, just because Murray failed doesn't mean that the concept of the strategy is tarnished. 

Just make sure your trading for healthy players who aren’t locker-room cancers.  That would have prevented most TM’s trades.

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Centers can always be converted to wing, but rarely vice versa.  Depth at center is one of keys to having a good team and now as @Thorny said we are dumping are two top centers, we need to restock the position and ignoring the position for the last two drafts doesn't help. 

Also who cares what 2022 brings.  That's another year away and if we draft centers then great.  The more the merrier. Yes, I loath the Adams Administration, but I've also applauded him when he makes the right decision (Granato, Risto trade).  It also doesn't absolve him for ignoring centers in the draft for two straight years while trading away his two best centers.   Quinn over Rossi and Perfetti, Poltapov over Raty. Rosen over Lucius and Svechkov.  These choice just don't make sense and have left our pipeline bereft of centers.   

I know, it makes it almost impossible at this stage to discuss almost anything with you. I explained why we needed to draft forwards and you have ignored it, I explained that this draft was not strong at center but next draft is and you literally are saying "who cares" 

Basically this isn't a conversation it is your personal complaint thread about the 2021 draft because Adams didn't take centers. 

30 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

They both have very good analytics departments which are heavily involved in their draft processes. 
It will be interesting to see what Sam Ventura develops over the next year for the the Sabres Scouting Department. 

Considering they went to the MHL... seems analytics are a thing now. 

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

  It also doesn't absolve him for ignoring centers in the draft for two straight years while trading away his two best centers.   

I want to focus on this specifically. 

First, in year 1 they had 5 picks and only 2 of them where in rounds that actually matter. They took 2 very good wingers with strong motors and 2way games. Last year there was only 1 pick that you could reasonably argue should have been a center and that was Raty over Poltapov. Your center obsession is something. 

Second, you don't get to toss this out when Jack Eichel is still on the team and you haven't seen the return. You are literally accusing Adams of ignoring the center position based on a trade that hasn't occurred. What if he trades Eichel to Vegas for Krebs? What if he trades Eichel to Anaheim and gets Zegras? What if he uses the 2022 1st round pick from the Eichel trade on a center? Is he still trading away his best 2 centers while ignoring the center position? 

[GASabresIUFAN]

Just now, LGR4GM said:

I know, it makes it almost impossible at this stage to discuss almost anything with you. I explained why we needed to draft forwards and you have ignored it, I explained that this draft was not strong at center but next draft is and you literally are saying "who cares" 

Basically this isn't a conversation it is your personal complaint thread about the 2021 draft because Adams didn't take centers. 

I agree we need forwards.  Last I looked centers are forwards.  I also would have drafted Eklund and Beniers over Power.  I also agree next year’s draft looks deeper.  The problem with saying we’ll get them next year is you have no idea how those prospects will shake out or where you are drafting.  It’s a complete unknown at this point.  You have to do what’s best for the organization today.  My complaint is about this organization failing to draft and develop centers for the last two decades, not just KA.  The last 4 GMs have mostly ignored the position outside top 10 picks and this failure has been a huge factor in getting us to where we are.  KA is just another in a long line of failure.  Blindly using BPA without taking organizational need into account leads to drafts like Jbots all D draft or this all winger draft.  It is a poor way to build a pipeline and a team.  You said you had Rosen, Lucius and Svechkov in same tier.   That means your evaluation of their talent was nearly identical. If the players are nearly identical, why not use organizational need as the deciding factor?

[LGR4GM]

10 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I agree we need forwards.  Last I looked centers are forwards.  I also would have drafted Eklund and Beniers over Power.  I also agree next year’s draft looks deeper.  The problem with saying we’ll get them next year is you have no idea how those prospects will shake out or where you are drafting.  It’s a complete unknown at this point.  You have to do what’s best for the organization today.  My complaint is about this organization failing to draft and develop centers for the last two decades, not just KA.  The last 4 GMs have mostly ignored the position outside top 10 picks and this failure has been a huge factor in getting us to where we are.  KA is just another in a long line of failure.  Blindly using BPA without taking organizational need into account leads to drafts like Jbots all D draft or this all winger draft.  It is a poor way to build a pipeline and a team.  You said you had Rosen, Lucius and Svechkov in same tier.   That means your evaluation of their talent was nearly identical. If the players are nearly identical, why not use organizational need as the deciding factor?

I have a lot of confidence that we will be drafting high. 

"You have no idea how these prospects will shake out" is complete and utterly false. You don't track prospects for 2-3 years so the year before the draft you can be a confused person with no idea. You have no idea how Svechnikov will shake out or if Raty will stop playing hockey stupidly (his main problem was his brain). However we have educated guesses and I think Svechnikov will be good. Raty... maybe. 

There is a lot here. First calling KA a failure is just more KA hate from you. It is to the point where I don't want to read your posts because everything is just blinding hatred of Kevyn Adams. Second, Botterill did not use BPA, he weighed positions which is how we ended up with 100 defenders in the pool. Third, I did have those 3 players on the same tier but Buffalo must not have, as I said, I liked Svechnikov a lot. Lucius if you really want to know had some effort issues associated with his game so that explains that. In the first round out of all 3, Rosen has the highest skill ceiling so I have little issue with rolling that dice. The organization needs centers but considering we are in year 1 (sorry it sucks but that's the truth) and we still don't know the Eichel return, I refuse to go on a hysterical rant about Adams ignoring the position based on 1 draft in a shallow draft in a pandemic year while they were still getting their analytics team in place. I especially refuse to do it when we already have 2 first round picks next year in what will be a extremely centered focus draft AND that draft will not occur where half the players were displaced by Covid. 

We need centers and if Adams again next year doesn't draft any, sure we can absolutely have this conversation just like Botterill refusing to draft CHL players. We had to wait 2 drafts to see a trend. Now the trend is based on 1 draft. You can't even base it on 2020 because there are new ppl running things and we only had 2 picks that mattered in that draft. 

 

[GASabresIUFAN]

12 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I want to focus on this specifically. 

First, in year 1 they had 5 picks and only 2 of them where in rounds that actually matter. They took 2 very good wingers with strong motors and 2way games. Last year there was only 1 pick that you could reasonably argue should have been a center and that was Raty over Poltapov. Your center obsession is something. 

Second, you don't get to toss this out when Jack Eichel is still on the team and you haven't seen the return. You are literally accusing Adams of ignoring the center position based on a trade that hasn't occurred. What if he trades Eichel to Vegas for Krebs? What if he trades Eichel to Anaheim and gets Zegras? What if he uses the 2022 1st round pick from the Eichel trade on a center? Is he still trading away his best 2 centers while ignoring the center position? 

Again, If he gets a center prospect for Jack great.  Like the 2022 draft that’s a complete unknown. Eichel is still a Sabres and out injured.  If he gets moved it might not be until the trade deadline or even next off-season.  I’d love to see, Zegras, Rossi, or Krebs in Buffalo, but we have zero idea if that is going to happen.  We all thought KA would target a forward prospect in the Reinhart trade and we got a 7th rd goalie (who I admittedly like).  My stance has been and always has been that the spine is the most critical piece of a hockey team and you can’t have enough players and prospects at that position.  I think wingers are a dime a dozen and excess centers can be converted tp the wing and wingers are easier to acquire in trade.

The only certainty right now is our pipeline has 3 good goalies, a bunch of solid D and a pile of talented but unproven wingers. The piece missing from this picture remains centers and that could have easily been addressed with some better decision making; Rossi over Quinn, Raty over Poltapov. That’s all I’m saying.  I’m not exactly sure why you are arguing with me because you actually agree with the drafting mistakes.

[Thorner]

2 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Again, If he gets a center prospect for Jack great.  Like the 2022 draft that’s a complete unknown. Eichel is still a Sabres and out injured.  If he gets moved it might not be until the trade deadline or even next off-season.  I’d love to see, Zegras, Rossi, or Krebs in Buffalo, but we have zero idea if that is going to happen.  We all thought KA would target a forward prospect in the Reinhart trade and we got a 7th rd goalie (who I admittedly like).  My stance has been and always has been that the spine is the most critical piece of a hockey team and you can’t have enough players and prospects at that position.  I think wingers are a dime a dozen and excess centers can be converted tp the wing and wingers are easier to acquire in trade.

The only certainty right now is our pipeline has 3 good goalies, a bunch of solid D and a pile of talented but unproven wingers. The piece missing from this picture remains centers and that could have easily been addressed with some better decision making; Rossi over Quinn, Raty over Poltapov. That’s all I’m saying.  I’m not exactly sure why you are arguing with me because you actually agree with the drafting mistakes.

Would you be ok saying it's not yet a "mistake" from Adams, until we see the Eichel return is indeed sans centre coming back? This was my original position, that out of all these big trades and the 2021 draft, we should be bringing in at least one blue chipper C prospect. In that sense, we are still waiting on Eichel. Plenty have the timeframe set at the 2022 draft for having that guy in the system, but I could see why you'd want it here as of the Eichel deal. 

[LGR4GM]

12 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Again, If he gets a center prospect for Jack great.  Like the 2022 draft that’s a complete unknown. Eichel is still a Sabres and out injured.  If he gets moved it might not be until the trade deadline or even next off-season.  I’d love to see, Zegras, Rossi, or Krebs in Buffalo, but we have zero idea if that is going to happen.  We all thought KA would target a forward prospect in the Reinhart trade and we got a 7th rd goalie (who I admittedly like).  My stance has been and always has been that the spine is the most critical piece of a hockey team and you can’t have enough players and prospects at that position.  I think wingers are a dime a dozen and excess centers can be converted tp the wing and wingers are easier to acquire in trade.

The only certainty right now is our pipeline has 3 good goalies, a bunch of solid D and a pile of talented but unproven wingers. The piece missing from this picture remains centers and that could have easily been addressed with some better decision making; Rossi over Quinn, Raty over Poltapov. That’s all I’m saying.  I’m not exactly sure why you are arguing with me because you actually agree with the drafting mistakes.

Because we don't fully agree. You are implying and stating (you've done both) that Adams is ignoring the center position and I am not convinced that is true.