May Day 10

Every part of it is amazing to me. The fact that they are very likely to again finish behind either of the Tim Murray/Bylsma seasons, after 3 years of this 3D chess 'cap wizard'. Ottawa, the team who was a laughing stock with all sorts of toxic player issues, and giving up a lottery pick for nothing (people would excuse the Sabres of poor performance for 10 years if they did this), is now only 4 points behind the Sabres and actually look better. Ottawa has 3 first rounders, very possibly all lottery picks.... and 2 of them are likely to be top-5. They have 4 second rounders, 2 thirds, fourth, fifth, and sixth. In 2021, they have a first, 3 seconds, and a 4th through 7th. Sabres? 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 2 7ths. 2021, 1st, 2nd, 4th, 6th, 7th Indisputably, Ottawa has a better pool of prospects than Buffalo. They have been rebuilding for 1 year. Great asset management "Botts". Detroit will be next to pick themselves up in record time, while here, we argue whether a rebuild needs to take 5 or 10 years.

For some of the game, they were within 1 goal of a team that has won a lot of games recently Botterill is going over to niagara awards in the falls to get little trophies made to give them for the effort

The team is restricted by the cap. All teams are. There are certain ways to spend money to improve your team that is un-capped, such as picking up that bonus. I dont get why they do favors for other teams such as absorb Hunwick's contract to do Pittsburgh a favor, but balk at OReilly's bonus. Either way, its a failure. Our 'no financial mandates owner' decided to place a critical financial mandate at a poor time.... or the GM made an historically bad move.... or a combination of both.

So apparently the Sabres are likely going to have cap penalties next season as Dahlin and Jokiharyu are going to get performance kickers this year. At least we got Simmonds who 'has experienced games in March' and Frolik sitting there in the press box. Magically, everything will be great next year though because Fantasy Hockey or something.

I will quit if San Francisco gives New England Jimmy G

This seems pretty obvious Best case is Kraft gets sentimental, backs up the brinks truck and belichick quits. The Patriots would be back in the dark ages

I dont think oreilly was being unprofessional at all. It was honest and refreshing. It was also blown out of proportion by the outside world. Looking back, as someone in the canadian media recently said, oreilly's statement should have been celebrated, not criticized. For years, he was nothing but professional. He was always the one answering the media after every loss. He would say the usual pre-canned stuff, and he was criticized heavily for it as a spokesman for a underachieving team. A certain other star player was protected by the sabres and wouldnt speak to the media unless he wanted to, usually after wins or games that he scored in. Oreilly was part of a group who attempted to bring leadership in (along with gionta and gorges and a few others). They were largely rejected by the Fortnite playing faction of eichel, reinhart, and bogosian, as well as kane.

For whatever monetary reasons, Monday night games seem to have been relegated from the premier game to the 4th ranked (Sunday Night - Thursday - Sunday 4PM - Monday - Sunday 1PM)

What defensemen has he spotted? He traded a mid level prospect and a 1st for Montour who was panned by the analytics crowd and he has been disappointing. Gave up multiple picks for Miller who has been a healthy scratch at times this year and hasnt been good. Scandella, Beaulieu, Hunwick, Tennyson, Antipin? Jokiharyu has been OK I guess. Pilut is still an unknown prospect and basically a Guhle replacement. Dahlin was a slam dunk pick, my dog could have made that selection. They have a few OK prospects I guess on the blueline in Johnson and Samuelsson, but very raw and young and who knows how they turn out. Defensemen also typically take a longer time to reach full development. We won't know on those guys for like 3+ more years

They acquired scandella to be a top 4 defenseman If they made that trade, accepted the pominville salary dump, and paid scandella $4 million per year to be a 5th to 7th defenseman, Botterill should be turfed on principle.

I have probably said it before in this thread, but I just can't get into it. I have tried. Usually around wrestlemania I get the itch, give it a shot, then watch a Raw or 2 after before losing interest. It is so vanilla and boring. Also predictable. It is just framed as a legitimate fake sport at this point with real champions and feats and such, but I just cant buy it. I need good and evil (and various shades of it) stealing titles, raising stakes, etc. When I did watch, I thought the 'fake sport' matches were the worst and most boring. Usually involving Jericho, Benoit, The Rock, etc. The 3-Hour Raw episodes are unwatchable. It is diluted and boring. Nothing really happens of consequence, commercials during all the matches, and I just cant spend 3 hours watching that. I dont even know when Smackdown is on. Is that 3 hours too? And yeah, a 5 pr 6 hour Wrestlemania is comical and out of control. Maybe split it up into 2 events or something? Just to watch Brock Lesnar powerblast someone at the end? I realize it is a bit sexist, but I can't take the over-emphasis and bulk on the woman's side. I will say though, the best match of the last Wrestlemania I watched was a Charlotte Flair match

I love Trader Joe's. great store.

Yes, that is exactly the case. The Sabres are who they are. There isnt some giant reset button that gets pressed if a new GM is brought in. In fact, they could flesh that out in an interview and figure out who has the best plan and attitude for the short and medium term. Their cap is already blown for the most part as far as high end players. They have Eichel's $10 Million and Skinner's $9 Million (barf) until 2026. Dahlin is going to command the same neighborhood. Reinhart is probably going to demand a long term deal in the neighborhood of $7 Million. Olafsson will also get a nice jump. I do believe Okposo's contract buyout is palatable after this season. The only high end player out there is Taylor Hall. Someone(s) are going to offer contracts that exceed his worth, and likely there will need to be a Buffalo 'premium' (Im sure he is itching to jump into Edmonton-east). There is flexibility to fill out the middle and lower end of the roster, but I am not sure where they are going to get the talent. Teams arent just giving away players who are good (unless you are Botterill trading OReilly who is precisely who they need). Botterill has failed miserably in identifying middle to low-tier players. He has cycled through them (often burning draft picks in doing so) at a rapid rate. The pipeline/futures is worse off than it was when Botterill arrived. I cannot name more than one or 2 things he has done well (Nylander trade?). Foremost though, Botterill portrays the alignment of a loser and a losing organization, as does Kruger's strange six-sigma shtick. I am so sick and tired of hearing about 'learning', 'growth paths', 'in position to be in games', 'goal is meaningful games in March' (failed), 'challenging each other with ideas' etc. The bar is set so impossibly low by these people. There needs to be some urgency and a lot of expectation of success. Losing is unacceptable and should be that way. Im sick of hearing people try to justify losses as some sort of moral victories because the Sabres were "close" (hint: all 95% of hockey games are close). We are celebrating because they gave Colorado a 'good game'? When Botterill took over, Colorado finished with 48 points and awful, and the Sabres had 78 points (about as many as they will end up with this season). Rocket surgery. Players love Kruger because he puts no pressure on them. Its all drum circles, espresso machines, and growth paths. Im not looking for a screamer, just some sort of priority placed on succeeding.

They are still burning picks though and the prospect pool is unimproved. Potato head avoids choosing players out of the best developmental league in the world. If there has been some ultra deep master plan to build futures through the 19-20 season, I dont get why they have traded so many picks for upcoming ufas in skinner, frolik, vesey, simmonds, etc. Got rooked out of higher picks for miller, beauleau, and montour. Got de-pantsed in the scandella situation. A pick for sheary and hunwick. The 3rd, Ennis, and foligno in the og scandella trade. The asset "management" has been terrible. Many of these cases you can say "only a 4th"... but in aggregate it adds up. They have needed to cast a wide net and develop. I get the concept of a rebuild, but that isnt what I am witnessing. At the cap, near the bottom of the league again. Not understanding where botterill is planning on obtaining "talent" for next year. Kruger and his silly six sigma coaching shtick can go too.

As long as there is learning how to learn in a learning atmosphere based on growth, I'm excited for the future I guess. The bar has been lowered so much here its unreal.

"Growth path". Sounds great. Let me renew my sharply increased season tickets for some more of that! Just got back from vacation. Did they provide some kind of justification on why they gave up another draft pick for an upcoming ufa (simmonds)? Their 2020 draft has been looted by botterill, which seems strange in light of this pretend master plan we keep hearing about. Been working at 2022 as well.

I think this will create a bit more randomness in who comes out of the playoffs. Huge advantage to the bye-teams, but other than that it is a dog pile. I dont hate it, I dont like it.

I would attend more UB games if not played at that awful stadium. Didnt they just pump a bunch of Merchie money into it to make those boxes and stuff though?

Gary Bettman is reviled by all NHL fans. Most of it is un-just IMO. He took over just when the league and pro sports lost their innocence, and he takes the blame for that in hockey. Golisano saved the team and made them financially solvent, which was a miracle. Had some good seasons under his stewardship. Had the waiting list for STH. They mismanaged the team really badly. Allowed many players to go to arbitration, and focused on Drury when he didnt want to be here, and could have signed Briere who did want to be here. Things were very stagnant with Quinn-Regier-Ruff-and the roster when Pegula came onto the scene, which is a reason he was welcomed as a conquering hero. Pegulas have been nothing but fail as owners of the Sabres. Eichel is now one of the best players in the sport

lol, sorry. Just needed to blow off some steam that this loser franchise fills me with

There was no rebuild that started 3 years ago. Revisionist history. Botterill has been trading picks for NHL players all along and nearly everyone he has brought in was awful, and many are even gone for pennies on the dollar. He has been terrible at asset management (the backbone of a 'rebuild'). If you compare this team to Murray's teams, they have gone nowhere. Backwards if you consider Jack Eichel is now playing Hart-Level hockey. Comparing them to Botterill's previous failures, yeah, they are doing marginally OK. By 2027 they may reach 100 points. 88 points is such a low-bar (and they arent on pace for that anyway). 3rd Highest payroll in the league and they will (again) finish in the bottom third. No reinforcements on the way. The pipeline is shockingly light for a team who has been bad for so long and seems to be perpetually 'rebuilding'.

They could have still done it. Also, the team being 3rd in the league in salary is a joke and self-inflicted.

The sabres arent a budget team. They have retained salary in the past. They brought on hunwick to do pittsburgh a favor. No problem bringing on frolik's salary when the same contribution could be found from sabertooth. The ability to eat 10 games of scandella's salary isnt an advantage montreal holds over the sabres

how embarrassing for Jason Botterill.