BillsFan4

The airing of grievances.... (for all the Seinfeld fans)

Tomrrow at 7pm. https://www.nhl.com/sabres/schedule/2019-01-01/ET

I will never celebrate someone losing their job, especially when it means having to uproot their life/family etc. But I will say that the performance of the Bills o-line and run game left a lot to be desired. It is without a doubt an area that needs to greatly improve. I have to give McDermott some credit for making what I am sure was a very tough decision. I know he and Castillo are close friends. McDermott hasn’t been one to shy away from the tough decisions. I think he is sincere when he says that he’s continually evaluating everything/everyone and looking for ways to improve. Now, he has to get this hire right. Giving Josh Allen a solid o line, in pass protection and the run game, IMO is crucial to his continued development.

This seems more like Rex trying to get his name back out there than anything else. I haven’t heard of him actually scheduled to interview with any teams. But we will see...

https://www.nhl.com/standings/2018/wildcard With the bruins win today, it pushes Buffalo out of 3rd and into the 1st wildcard spot. The Canadiens are 1 point behind us and the Isles are 2pts behind with 2 games still in hand. Buffalo is getting dangerously close to being out of a playoff spot all together. Yep. It was bound to happen though, with the Bruins getting healthy and the Sabres losing more than they’re winning lately. Its looking like like we will battle Montreal and the Isles for a wildcard spot. The Rangers and Panthers can’t be counted out yet either. Its going to make for an interesting (and potentially disappointing) 2nd half of the season...

CJ Smith called up from Rochester and will play tonight. https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/sabres-eichel-questionable-monday I guess Eichel is questionable for tonight. It says he will be a game-time decision. Fingers crossed that he plays! This is an important game. Sabres need a win. The Isles are only 4pts behind us and we very well could be battling them for one of the 2 wildcard spots. Buffalo has to get back on track here and start banking some wins.

We may be picking 10th for now, but let’s see where we pick on draft day. In the 2 years we’ve had McDermott and Beane, they haven’t picked at their original spot in the 1st (or 2nd?) yet. They seem to like to move around the draft board in the first few rounds.

http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap3000001005594/article/mike-mayock-a-strong-candidate-for-raiders-gm-job NFL.com calling him a strong candidate for the job.

He would probably be really good at the recruiting aspect of it.

I have to give props to McDermott. I thought he showed a lot of class today with everything he did for Kyle. It seemed like McD did everything he could to make sure this day was special for KW. I appreciate that as a long time fan.

?

I can’t believe today is the last time I will ever get to watch Kyle Williams play football in a Bills jersey. ☹️ Nice article on Kyle by Eric Wood. Athletic sub. needed - https://theathletic.com/738976/2018/12/29/wood-paying-tribute-to-kyle-williams-the-heart-and-soul-of-the-bills-before-his-last-nfl-game/ Found this part interesting -

They were better (at times) but they let Boston hang around all night and it bit them in the ass. That late penalty was somewhat questionable, but the Sabres still has plenty of chances to put this game away. That 4 on 3 PP in OT was especially pathetic. This is was really a badly needed win as far as the playoff picture goes. Now Boston is 2pts behind for 3rd in the Atlantic. Montreal is 3pts behind with 1 game in hand and the NYI are 4pts behind with 2 games in hand. A couple more wins by the teams below us, combined with a couple more losses by buffalo, and they are suddenly sitting outside the last wildcard spot.

The way this team is trending, they will be lucky to make the playoffs as the 2nd wildcard team.

^ for sure. Bringing back Zo is a must now, IMO. There is going to be a huge leadership void with Kyle leaving. It would be even bigger if Zo left too.

Bummer. Comgrats on a great career Kyle! You will be missed.

I had never heard Skinner didn’t want to be there. What i read happened is this (I’ve been following this story since they got a new owner. This is the best I can piece the timeline together...): The new owner (Tom Dundon) took over in January. He had already been working behind the scenes and came in guns blazing wanting to make changes. He felt the culture needed to change because it had been 9yrs without playoffs, and felt drastic action was needed. Carolina started exploring the option of trading Skinner at the end of last season. Ron Francis was a cautious GM, couldn’t find a deal he liked so no move was made. And as I understand it, didn’t feel that moving Skinner was a priority. Tom Dundon then “re-assigns” Francis, effectively firing him without firing him (he’s later let go) because he was too cautious and Dundon wanted action. Don Waddell is appointed new GM, is given the mandate to take action now and continues trying to trade Skinner over the summer, along with a few other guys. They are now openly stating that they want to trade Jeff Skinner (and I believe they may have even approached him/his agent for a list of teams). This continues over the summer. As the summer went on and Carolina continued trying to trade Skinner, he and his agent told the team they they also felt that it was best that he moved on at this point. The way I understand it though, It was carolina who initiated trade talks and I don’t think it was over a new contract. Now, I know Don Waddell said that he didn’t think Skinner would re-sign. But he also said that they never even tried to approach Skinner to negotiate a new contract. From an athletic article (inside the war room with Tom Dundon. I can link it if you have a subscription) the Hurricanes felt that had cheaper internal replacements for Skinner (the article said they weren’t willing to pay the market rate for numerous RFAs/UFAs. Dundon is cheap). There’s also quotes in that article from Dundon on his desire to change the culture, and how it would only happen through action on their part. Anyway.... that’s what I’ve pieced together from the articles and interviews I’ve read/heard. I’m just glad that, for whatever reason, Carolina decided to trade Skinner and he listed buffalo as one of his preferred destinations! lol Like you said though, now they have to get him signed.

Yes, very true. I think it’s probably more likely that he’s open to more teams at th deadline than at the beginning of the season. But that’s just a guess. There’s really no way to know. He was in a contract year, so if he is shipped out to somewhere he’s not familiar with for an entire season, I can see why he would be picky. He wanted to make sure that if he wasn’t in carolina, that he was setting himself up as best he could for his ability to earn a big contract. By the time the deadline comes, there’s not a whole lot of hockey left to be played. Plus, with Skinner never having made the playoffs, I’d think he’d have been open to any contender.

The reason that I buy the reports that moving Skinner was a owner/GM/coach driven move to shake the team up and change the culture is that they could have just kept Skinner until the trade deadline and got a similar return (I think he easily brings a 2nd + B prospect (which is what buffalo gave up), and maybe even a 1st + B prospect if he was having a very good season). There have been reports for months that the Hurricanes are shopping for a top 6 goal scorer/sniper. There’s been recent reports that they are desperate for one and have ramped up their pursuit after failing to land William Nylander. Had the Skinner trade just been about recovering an asset for a pending free agent, I’d think they would have just kept him for most of the season instead of creating a hole that they’ve been trying to fill ever since.

A new owner bought the team and was dead set on making big changes. He got rid of the coach + GM and felt more drastic changes were needed since they have the NHL’s longest playoff drought. So they traded Skinner, Lindholm and Hanifin. Rumors are the owner is actually involved in personnel decisions (which is part of the reason why he has trouble hiring a GM. That and the $$ he was offering was super low). I don’t know if he had a hand in the Skinner trade or not, but I know he pushed for big changes. I also read that their new coach (Rod Brind’amor) wasn’t the biggest Skinner fan (I believe because he felt Skinner didn’t play enough defense or something stupid like that). Mainly I think it boiled down to them wanting to change the culture and Skinner was one of their longest tenured players.

Merry Christmas everyone! Happy Holidays!

Damn, not crazy about that. Harbaugh could probably turn that team around, even if it did only last about 4yrs (until he wore out his welcome, grinding people down).

Do you have a link? I can’t find a single thing about that anywhere. They recently hired CAA ICON, which is a stadium consulting firm. They are helping the Pegula’s figure out their stadium/arena plans for a new or renovated stadium in Buffalo. That is is quite a big difference from what you are saying. https://www.caaicon.com/news/pse-begin-comprehensive-study-venues