BillsFan4

Yep. As I mentioned, he’s played pretty well for 2 different teams now since leaving buffalo and both chose to move on from him after 1 season (or less, in chicago’s case). There has to be a reason. I know he was reportedly an issue in the buffalo locker room. Not sure if getting sober helped. You would think it had to help some, but there’s obviously some reason besides his on-ice play that these teams keep moving on from him. We know he really wanted to stay with the NYI. He wanted a contract with term but the Isles never even offered him anything. Not even another 1 year deal (which Lehner would have accepted. we know this because Lehner told the media). He also said he wanted to stay in Chicago and they obviously chose to move on too. Lehner is one thing I don’t blame Botterill for. That was Tim Murray’s mess, and he really has no excuse because he was with Lehner for 4-5 years in Ottawa.

Carolina going into full-on rebuild mode. I figured this was coming as soon as Rhule was hired.

https://www.si.com/nfl/2020/03/02/tom-brady-bill-belichick-patriots-nfl-comb?utm_campaign=themmqb&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com Makes sense. He goes into a lot more detail in the article. It’s an interesting read.

If you look at a list of Tim Murray’s trades, ROR was really his only good trade (at least IMO). Lehner had mental health + substance abuse issues his entire Buffalo career (Murray was with him in Ottawa too, remember). He didn’t clean up until he left Buffalo. That 2015 draft was deep. They could’ve had a very good young player with that pick. Even if they had drafted the goalie Murray was supposedly interested in (Samsonov) they’d have been better off. Lehner has played pretty well for 2 different teams now (since buffalo) and both chose to move on from him after a season (or less). Murray did a lot of damage and burned through a lot of assets. Our prospect pool is still trying to fully recover from all the depth + draft picks traded away (and the poor drafting by multiple different regimes obviously played a big role). It really sucks that Botterill had to undo Murray’s only good move (ROR) and set the franchise even farther back.

It’s a 2021 5th round pick. and who cares about a 5th round pick, that if we were lucky would make the NHL 5-6+ years from now. They traded a 5th 2 years from now for a guy they thought could help the team right now. I have no problem with that. If they had given up a prime draft pick, like a 2nd or 3rd, that’s a different story. Im also not sure I’d say their 2020 draft has been looted. They have their 1st, 2nd, 4th, 5th and two 7ths. They traded their 3rd and 6th for Skinner. Hard to say that was a bad trade...(now the contract, that’s a different story)

Yes. I still don’t think Eichel will ask out. As I said before, if this continues for 2-3 more years, then I could see him asking out. Eichel was saying ‘big picture’ as in the playoffs, not the organization’s big picture/plan. I would absolutely expect him to be disappointed. This entire season He just poured everything he had into trying to get this team to the playoffs. The whole team was disappointed. Edit - go listen to his interview on the Spittin Chicklets podcast (I posted it a few pages back) from February and tell me if that sounds like a guy that wants out.

It feels hard to believe that it was just 5 days ago that they were talking about playing meaningful games in March. So much for that. Boy how quickly that dream died...

This ******* team. Ugh. They just continue to collapse year after year when anything is on the line. Is there a mentally weaker team in the NHL than the Sabres? If there is I don’t know what team it would be.

https://buffalonews.com/2020/02/28/buffalo-sabres-danny-gare-rene-robert-jack-eichel-ralph-krueger/ Sabres legends Rene Robert, Danny Gare believe team is on the right path

He kind of has them over a barrel. What, are they not going to extend him? They can buy some time with the tag, I guess. But it wouldn’t really help the Texans leverage any.

They played a decent game. Very good effort. But they can’t seem to find the back of the net, and a few breakdowns + some bad goaltending cost them another game. If the playoffs weren’t dead yet they are now. But I still want to see them try to stay in the race. No quitting and packing it in. Keep giving this type of effort till the last game of the season. Alao, not gonna lie, I was kind of hoping if it got to OT that it would go to a shoot out, with Lehner in net. lol

Dominic Kahun scores 15 seconds into his first shift, on his first shot on net!

I’ve said all along that I thought the titans made the most sense, if they were interested. They may actually have a better shot at a super bowl next year than the Patriots do. They have one of the best RBs in the NFL, a strong run game, strong o line, weapons on offense, a strong defense and they were just in the AFC championship. Plus Vrabel and Brady are friends. And they have cap space. Where as in New England, they have a number of key free agents and not a ton of cap space (plus brady’s dead cap hit to deal with no matter what iirc). They are likely to lose 2 more starting o linemen this offseason (after losing 2 starters in the previous 2 seasons) and Dante Scarnecchia retired, so he can’t turn guys like Marshall Newhouse into passable starters anymore. Their o line was a disaster last time Scarnecchia retired (that’s why BB talked him into come back). They also have some key free agents on defense. I’d never bet against the patriots, but it’s not hard to see why Brady may view Tennessee as a strong possibility.

Right at the end of the interview Palmer says that Josh Loves buffalo, loves being here and is thinking of nothing else but being a Buffalo Bill for his entire NFL career. He says that Buffalo is the biggest city that Josh has ever lived in. Man I hope Josh works out. I love rooting for him.

https://www.nhl.com/sabres/video/grillin-em-victor-olofsson/t-277437090/c-5304002

Tough loss. They deserved better tonight. Loved the effort. Refs were terrible.

More quotes on Simmonds from Sabres players - https://theathletic.com/1635415/2020/02/25/sabres-look-to-wayne-simmonds-for-leadership-heading-into-meaningful-march-games/ (sub. req.) IMO the bolded that is something the Sabres need more of. It has been an issue here over the last # of years. We need more veteran players that are willing to hold their teammates accountable in the locker room. Guys who aren’t scared to call someone out if they’re dogging it.

https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/02-25-dominik-kahun-conference-call Conference call with Dominic Kahun. Just past 2 mins he was asked if he’s more comfortable as a center or winger. He said he’s always played center his entire hockey career up until the NHL, where he was asked to play wing. But said he is most comfortable as a center. Im sure he will eventually get a shot at playing center in Buffalo. Sounds like Krueger will start him on the wing until he’s comfortable in the system. Edit - here’s an article with quotes from this interview - https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/sabres-kahun-didnt-expect-to-be-on-his-third-nhl-team

I wonder if there’s a chance we can get him from Carolina in the summer. I read a rumor that they almost flipped him for a defenseman right after trading for him. Now they obviously picked up Brady Skjei so they may not be looking for a dman anymore. But you never know with Carolina. They don’t have an issue trading guys they just acquired. Who knows though, maybe there will be a better option in the summer. I’m curious to see how Trochek plays in Carolina. He’s been trending in the wrong direction for a couple years now. Will the move getting back to the player he once was, or is it one of those “he is what he is” things? He’s a bit of a hard one to peg.

https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2020/02/26/simmonds-relishes-opportunity-to-help-sabres-playoff-push/

I am pretty sure this guy had some of the Sabres trades before anyone else (or at least he posted them to twitter before anyone else did), so I’d think he has a Sabres source of some type.

https://theathletic.com/1569231/2020/01/29/are-the-bills-shaking-the-siberian-stigma-it-depends-what-matters-to-nfl-players-in-free-agency/ (sub. req.) I don’t think he’s coming here.

I read that he only played roughly 20% of the time with Malkin. He was their 4th or 5th best point producer at 5v5 and I believe his 5v5 numbers put him currently in the top 3 in buffalo (but I’m not 100% sure on that). He’s still developing. He hasn’t even played 2 full NHL seasons yet and his rookie year in Chicago was very promising. He gives a full effort every time he’s on the ice and has potential to be a long term middle 6 F for Buffalo. It was a no-risk add IMO, with plenty of potential upside.

Looks pretty good. It’s only his 2nd NHL season too. I am definitely intrigued by Kahun. I think we got the best player in the deal, and I love that they traded a UFA and an RFA with an expensive qualifying offer, who weren’t in their plans for a promising young forward. Bonus that they sent out like $5M in cap and Kahun is making $925k (plus any bonuses he hits).