BillsFan4

“The 2019 NHL Poll: Best player? Most overrated? Players weigh in on the best (and worst) in the game” (subscription required) https://theathletic.com/840226/2019/02/28/the-2019-nhl-poll-best-player-most-overrated-players-weigh-in-on-the-best-and-worst-in-the-game/?source=dailyemail Sucks to see buffalo as #2 least desirable city to visit, but it’s not at all surprising. Hey, on a positive note, Mike Babcock was voted the #3 coach that players least like playing for. Tortorella was #1 and Hitchcock was #2. Interestingly, Tortorella was also tied for 4th with Paul Maurice for coach that players most wanted to play for (with 6% of the vote). Gerard Gallant and Jon Cooper ran away with that one, both receiving roughly 1/4 of the votes each.

I’ve heard that his first choice is to stay with Denver.

He was banned by the CFL from signing a contract with any CFL team. https://www.tsn.ca/cfl-directs-alouettes-to-release-qb-manziel-1.1264993 Wonder what he did? And its interesting that Mansfield was the one unwilling to proceed with whatever alternatives were offered.

https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/opinion/sabres-still-paying-sins-tim-murray ”Sabres still playing for the sins of Tim Murray”: He goes into all the details in the article (players traded away and how they are doing elsewhere, players available at the draft picks that were traded away, etc). It’s worth a read. But it’s not just on Murray by any means. This team has been mismanaged for years. I would also say that we are still paying for the sins of Darcy Regier. His drafting was hit and miss, he overvalued his own guys, and after his failed big free agent spending spree he sold Pegula on the full on (embarrassing) tank job, the “suffering” and “5 year rebuild” in an attempt to prolong his own years on the job. Not that I disagree with the plan of drafting high for a couple/few years, I just disagree with the way it was executed. And the Pegulas deserve their share of the blame in all of this as well. Hopefully Botterill gets it right because we can’t afford too many more setbacks...

I think we can officially say the Sabres playoff chances are dead (not that we didn’t know that already...). Tonight was absolutely brutal for their playoff chances. Every team in front of them won and Philly jumped us with a win. Only chance now is another 10 game win streak but that ain’t happening. Blue Jackets got knocked out of a playoff spot with their loss tonight, too. Can you imagine if they don’t make the playoffs? Oh man.

Once again though, mistakes killed the Sabres. That 3 minutes stretch where they just totally collapsed and Toronto scored 3, and then Dahlin diving at the blue line on the leafs last goal were the difference tonight. Buffalo just isn’t able to overcome their mistakes on many nights. Overall though, I actually thought buffalo played a pretty good game tonight. They controlled the play for a good part of the game. And I have to say, I like their no quit attitude. It’s nice seeing a team with some fight after years of watching buffalo teams hang their heads and pack it in after getting down by a goal or two. Anxious to see Montour in the lineup tomorrow. anyone else see this? I feel for Hank. Zuccarello was his good buddy. Reminds me a bit of Ryan Miller when he left buffalo. He was very emotional too. Good reminder of the human aspect involved in all these trade deadline deals. Lots of lives shaken up in the process.

I don’t use Sabrespace but was thinking of creating an account. I only post here, but the only other places I know of are - - reddit Sabres. https://www.reddit.com/r/sabres/ - HF boards Sabres - https://hfboards.mandatory.com/forums/buffalo-sabres.18/ - and the comment section over on hockeybuzz. Go to the one Sabres writer, Michael Pachla’s columns and click on the comment section. There is always a lively discussion going on there and they even claim to have a couple Sabres insiders (though I’m not as sure about it as others are). https://www.hockeybuzz.com/

If true, I am glad botterill held firm. I don’t think Tampa was probably willing to give up any good roster players during the season. The offseason would be a much better time to trade Risto if Tampa is still interested.

Agree. Not the best asset management. I’d have probably preferred to just keep him, but he requested a trade (and/or more playing time but once you have your agent go to the media with a request like that, this is usually the end result). But I don’t really fault botterill for the trade. I was ok with it at the time. I thought it was a low risk type of move, and it took advantage of the expansion draft roster squeeze which I liked.

looks like this was the news...

Jason Botterill is going to be on WGR550 at 3:50pm. They said it sounds like there might be some type of news.

Cliff Pu was just traded to Florida for future considerations (so, basically for nothing). Damn. That Skinner trade looks amazing if we re-sign him.

i don’t see them signing a top FA either. The only one I could potentially see is Duchene, since there was some rumors of buffalo being interested in him. But he will likely cost too much and/or go to a winning team like Nashville. I was talking more more about some of the lesser free agents that could plug holes for Buffalo. Like Brassard or Staal or Hayes as a temporary 2C, or one of the wingers (not named Panarin) to help fill out the top 6. This is almost a historically deep free agent class. I’m not saying to go out and overpay, but there’s too much depth in this free agent class, and Buffalo has too many holes to fill, not to take advantage of it at all. As far as Panarin, I’ve heard it’s either LA, NYC (Rangers, isles) or Florida. That he either wants to be in a big market (for his girlfriend’s modeling career iirc) or in Florida for the weather.

I was assuming he was already signed... ? lol For real though, I am pretty confident a deal gets done. Every indication we have points to it getting done. The latest I saw was from John Vogl on the Athletic the other day. He said in his mailbag “a deal will get done, and possibly soon”.

The free agent market this summer looks like it could be insane too. Off the top of my head : Stone Duchene Dzingel Stralman Panarin Pavelski Staal Simmonds Lee Eberle Brassard Brock Nelson Karlsson Gardiner Edler Zuccarello Theres tons of potential help there, though not all will make it to UFA. Still... Lots of top 6 forwards and a few top 4 defenseman.

I like the conditions put on this pick. It looks like Anaheim wins because if both the Sam and STL pick fall in the 20’s they can pick the higher one. But its it’s a fair trade off because if the Blues finish lower than SJ (most likely) and get bounced from the playoffs in the 1st or 2nd, their pick could still fall in the 16-19 range, in which case Buffalo keeps it and gives Anaheim the SJ pick. As of now, STL sits in 14th overall and 16 teams make the playoffs. So their pick could easily still be in that 16-19 range I believe. Oh man that’s brutal for Zuccarello and Dallas. Obviously for Zucc being in a contract year at age 30/31. And Dallas just traded for him yesterday. Gave up a 2nd +3rd that can still turn into a 1st + 2nd even if Zuccarello doesn’t play another minute for Dallas before leaving as a free agent.

Oh man! That would have been amazing. Hall is one of my favorite wingers. I followed him pretty closely leading up to his draft year and always dreamed of buffalo drafting a player of his caliber (that was before the tank, when buffalo has never really drafted top 3 (in decades anyway)). But yeah, I’m nervous at the thought of Risto being traded for sure. It has to be the right return. And I don’t fully know what to make of Botts trades yet. He’s definitely earning my trust but I’m not 100% there yet. Really, I like every one but the ROR trade, so I’m hoping that was just due more to circumstance as John mentioned (massive bonus due, year end comments and all that stuff... who knows, maybe there was even pressure form ownership to move him before the bonus was due?). In his tenure so far, Botts seems to get pretty great value when trading FOR someone. He’s definitely earning my trust in that regard. It’s nice to get some good players for a fair price (or a steal in the case of Skinner). What a change from Tim Murray! lol But a potential Risto trade makes me a bit nervous because he’d be trading away someone. I don’t think there’s a pressure to trade him like there was with ROR though. And no “big bonus” deadline. I see no reason to force a trade by 3pm tomorrow if the right trade isn’t there. Risto is a young, offensively gifted RH D with term. Seems like there should be a demand there. I’d probably wait until the offseason when more teams will be interested and willing to include roster players, unless someone knocks Botterill’s socks off or something.

It could still happen this season.... (hope not, unless it’s too good to refuse) Id still want a defenseman coming back in any Risto trade. Our blue line would going right back to being a weakness if we traded Risto for a forward only. But this does open the door to the possibility of moving Risto. It has to be the right deal though. ZERO interest in another ROR type futures trade. Give me a good young F and a good D prospect and we can talk! lol Man, too bad Edmonton wasn’t offering Hall for Risto this offseason (it was reported they offered him to Tim Murray before he was traded to NJ).

Hopefully us! lol. But in reality those 2 picks probably won’t be that far apart. I don’t see either team making it past Calgary and/or Winnipeg, and iirc the 1st round pick doesn’t drastically change positions until you reach the conference finals. Im good with either pick, really. I would have been very nervous if it were Buffalo’s own 1st but that isn’t the case. Edit - here @YoloinOhio

Whoa! I love it! Montour is a heck of a defenseman. He’s a right shot, which was a huge hole, he’s only 24 and is still an RFA when his deal ends. and Guhle was really struggling in Rochester. hoping its our highest first (as in latest in the round).

I am starting to think there might be something to all these Risto trade rumors. I’ve heard a few credible people say it now (going back months). I get it, sort of. He’s been here through all the losing and there have been numerous reports over the years of him (supposedly) being one of the most uncoachable Sabres. Plus, he makes a lot,of dumb mistakes (over and over again). But man, they better get a return they can’t rurn down. No interest in another all futures based ROR type trade. They need a sure thing. And if they’re sending him to division rival Tampa... they better get something they just can’t refuse. My ideal risto trade would be to Winnipeg for Trouba (since he reportedly doesn’t want to sign long term with a canadien team). Edit -heard Dreger shot down the rumors. hope he’s right. Tampa is making a cup run. They aren’t going to give any big pieces off their roster and I have zero interest in trading Risto for a futures package.

The problem with Jesse Puljujarvi is that he will lose his waiver exempt status by the end of this season. He is nearing the 160 NHL games played threshold where you lose waiver exempt status. So, unless he’s sent to the AHL soon you will have no choice but to devote an NHL roster spot to him. His entry level contract is also up at the end of this year, but that isn’t as big of a deal.

I respect Jarmo going all in (if that’s what he does, which looks somewhat likely). As you mentioned, they’ve never won a single playoff series in their (almost) 20 year existence. And after many years of rebuilding and finally climbing out of it to respectability, they are about to lose 2 of their best players (Panarin being their best player). So I get the “now or never” aspect of it. But yeah, it could get real ugly. As you mentioned Bob tends to save his crappiest play for the playoffs. Plus the East is ridiculous this year. Hoping for for the best for them. I can identify with their fan base/city/team. They’ve gone through lots of suffering too, and deal with some of the same issues we do in buffalo re:player recruitment (etc). Plus I always like rooting for the small market underdogs. But I just don’t see it. Not this year anyway.

Another trade. Deadline day is going to be boring at this rate... lol.