Is Tage Thompson better than Jack Eichel?

[Zamboni]

10 minutes ago, inkman said:

Not that I would expect anything less but thank you for “than”.  The amount of people who continuously get it wrong is beyond infuriating. 

That’s your trigger. It’s a good one!

Mine is … could care less/couldn’t care less. Some people seriously don’t understand the difference. 😂

[MBD]

14 minutes ago, Zamboni said:

That’s your trigger. It’s a good one!

Mine is … could care less/couldn’t care less. Some people seriously don’t understand the difference. 😂

Some just could careless.

[Brawndo]

2 hours ago, Doohickie said:

They both did.  JBot signed Reino to a "prove it" two-year bridge deal.  When that expired Adams signed him to a one year deal following arbitration.  If Kevyn wanted him he could have signed him for longer term and if Sam required it, possibly higher AAV.

On the flip side, the player does have a say in how long the deal was. 

His One Year Deal was signed on October 25, 2020 well after Eichel told Adams He wanted a trade. 
 

It’s entirely possible that Reinhart said He wants out too, hence the one year deal 

[PerreaultForever]

Definitely better hair. 

[Doohicksie]

6 hours ago, Zamboni said:

That’s your trigger. It’s a good one!

Mine is … could care less/couldn’t care less. Some people seriously don’t understand the difference. 😂

I could care less what the difference is.

6 hours ago, Brawndo said:

On the flip side, the player does have a say in how long the deal was. 

His One Year Deal was signed on October 25, 2020 well after Eichel told Adams He wanted a trade. 
 

It’s entirely possible that Reinhart said He wants out too, hence the one year deal 

[Doohicksie]

38 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Definitely better hair. 

Best flow on the team is the one that was just signed.  DAAAYYYYUUUUUMMMMM!

[matter2003]

22 hours ago, jad1 said:

The problem wasn't with the players, it was with idiot GMs and coaches who couldn't build a team around those players.

Here's some perspective.  Every Sabres fan loves the season Thompson has had this year.  He's been nothing short of awesome.  He's the breakout player of the year.

Meanwhile, the Sabres are 31 points out of 4th place in the division and 27 points out of the wildcard.  Their goal differential is -59.

Nobody in their right mind would blame Thompson for the Sabres current standing or their goal differential.  Nobody would blame Thompson for the goaltending chaos or blame him for the poor play of guys like Bjork, Eakin, Butcher, Miller, etc.  

The problem with the Sabres this year isn't with Thompson, it with the fact that the team lacks overall talent.  And while nobody blames Thompson for the Sabres poor standing this year, many seem to happy to blame guys like Eichel, O'Reilly, and Reinhart for being in the same situation Thompson is today.

The song hasn't changed here.  Thompson gives th Sabres a legit, playoff caliber 1C and a leads legit first line.  The GM needs to fill the rest of the roster with talent and the coach needs to optimize that talent.  

We've had GMs and coaches who have been incapable of building teams around talented players in the past.  Hopefully, Granato and Adams can steer the franchise to better times, so we're not scape-goating Thompson two years from now.

 

 

The first half of the season and second half of the season were night and day. The team had a lot of learning to do, had ridiculous injuries, especially with the goalies, and we're missing Tuch and Krebs until after the Eichel trade. Since the All star break this team is 15-15-3. That includes a 6 game losing streak right after the break also. Since March they have a winning record and have played a murderers row of talented teams also, holding their own in many of those games and winning their fair share. The future is very bright.

IMHO, if this team played like it did the second half of the year from the start we would be in a playoff race still.

The future is so bright for them, just need a few more pieces, excited for Quinn and Paterka next year and a better second option in goal than Tokarski.

 

In regards to Eichel, Reinhart, Risto, etc...they were not leaders who wanted to actually change things here...once they saw things weren't going to be great from the start, they basically just accepted the losing and that was more of an issue than anything else. There is a reason why Eichel's first year was the highest point total they had while he was here. 

If you want to change the culture of a team and get everyone to buy into turning it around it takes the best players to buy in and lead by example at the very least and a lot of hard work to develop better habits. They clearly were not going to be part of that process and hence had to be moved. IMHO once you are part of losing for a long period of time somewhere it changes you mentally. You become accepting of it regardless of what you normally are like. I just feel that you have to move those players 95% of the time before you can actually start to win because they are jaded and will have a very negative effect on the rest of the guys there because they will be a constant source of negativity and talking about how things are never going to change or have the woe is me attitude. Gotta start fresh with players who haven't experienced it like that before they get ruined. Obviously there are exceptions like Girgensons and Okposo who still bring the work ethic and positivity every night...they are different but the majority of players who have lost year after year in one place need to get moved to be able to have a truly fresh start and change things .

 

Look at what the Bills did the first year...they basically cleaned house and got rid of what were considered the best players on the team. Dareus, Watkins, Gilmore, Woods, Darby, etc..

 

Reading a management book that talked about how to turn things around at places that has been chronically underperforming it talked about the most important thing was before even trying to start to change things you had to get the wrong people off the bus before getting the right people on the bus. I was known as something of a "fix it" person when I was in retail management, and that was one of the first things I did when I got to a new store. I talked in depth to every employee both as a group and individually. It was easy to see which employees were excited for things to get better and change and wanted to be a part of it and which ones were just jaded and negative about the losing they had done and were happy to continue that way . Those people HAD to go, didn't matter how good they were at what they did.

This is exactly what the Bills did the first year, creating an NFL record 71 million in dead cap space the following year to do it, but they made the playoffs for the first time in 17 years the first season Beane and McDermott were here by removing good players who were not going to be a part of the solution. Most media members and a lot of fans thought we were tanking. But if you are not going to be a part of the solution and change you are going to be a part of the problem. Regardless of talent level, if they are going to be an impediment to change they have to go. Sabres are on the right path now for the first time in a decade and this team will be one of the better teams in the NHL within 2-3 years IMHO.

Edited April 20, 2022 by matter2003

[LGR4GM]

14 hours ago, inkman said:

Not that I would expect anything less but thank you for “than”.  The amount of people who continuously get it wrong is beyond infuriating. 

Than is a comparison not involving time 

Then involves time