BillsFan4

Briers still can't believe the Sabres let him and Drury go, ultimately chose Vanek over them and four 1st round picks - http://buffalonews.com/2017/12/06/tim-graham-show-daniel-briere-still-cant-believe-sabres-didnt-lock-up-him-chris-drury-and-4-first-round-picks/?utm_campaign=puma&utm_medium=social&utm_source=Twitter#link_time=1512666914 This still sings when you think about what could have been.... 2 of those 4 1st round picks from Edmonton were 1st overall picks. #22 (Jordan Eberle), #10 (Magnus paajarvi, but who knows maybe Buffalo uses it to draft Erik Karlsson), #1 (Ryan Nugent Hopkins, Landeskog went right after), #1 (Taylor Hall, Seguin went #2). I guess you could argue that Vanek makes them better and they don't get the 1st overall picks, but I doubt it. They offer sheeted Dustin Penner instead of Vanek and he didn't keep the Oilers from bottoming out. Even if Vanek improves them slightly mor than Penner, those 1st rounders are still damn high. That could have been the move that won Buffalo a Cup. Just imagine Drury, Briere and those four 1st round talents... I try not to get into what if's because they cons drive you crazy. But it was hard not to think about it listening to this Briere interview.

I agree. I disliked the Rex Ryan hire from day 1 and felt he was not the right guy for the job. He's great with X's and O's but he sucks as a teacher. He's not disciplined enough or detail oriented. He's full of excuses, and full of crap... By year 2 I was even more convinced he wasn't the right guy. I felt he was ruining a damn good defense, giving jobs to unqualified people due to nepotism and really hated that he was turning Buffalo into a clown show/laughing stock. But I still didn't really want him fired. I thought he should get at least 1 more year to show he could make improvements to the defense, and if he was able to, I thought he should get another year again. I think when you hire a coach, you should probably really commit for a minimum of 4 years (in most circumstances, as there's always exceptions). Most times when you change coaches or GM's, you change visions. That makes it damn hard to ever really build anything. I also think players need continuity in order to truly be able to execute a scheme at a high level. I think that's one of the (many) reasons that Tom Brady is so damn good. He's been in basically the same offensive scheme his entire career. He has had a chance to really perfect it. Not too many players get that chance. Thankfully for me this time I was fully on board with our coaching hire. McDermott is the guy I wanted from thr minute I seen his name on the interview list. I just truly hope that him and Beane get the full 5 years n their contracts... we haven't had any real continuity in Buffalo in quite a long time. I'd love to see what happens when we do.

Damn. The next expansion draft is probably going to be a lot more painful than this last one. Especially if it's not for another 2 years. Even if it's next year, We we will have to protect Reinhart, Eichel and more guys down on the farm (like Bailey, Baptiste, Fasching etc. maybe Nylander). The longer out it is, the more prospects we have to protect. Any player with 3+ years of pro experience (and Rochester counts) will have to be protected. I just hope we are out of the basement by then. It obviously adds another team stealing prospects from the top of the draft. But also, Las Vegas coming in this past year kind of screwed us in another way. Without them, we'd have been sitting 5th best odds instead of 6th... and guess which team won the 1st overall pick? Yup. New Jersey, sitting at 5th.... if that's not Buffalo sports luck, I don't know what is. lol

Depressing that we have actually had more head coaches during our drought than the Browns have... i know ive said this numerous times before, but IMO bad teams stay bad by constantly firain't coaches and GMs. That is why I think it's crucial that we stick with a coach and GM and see what happens when we let them build something and not abort the plan 2-3 years in...

If things go right I think he could end up being one of the top 2-3 players from that draft. Maybe even the best.

His cap hit is currently $2.3M. Next year it's $2.8M, and the dead cap hit would be $6M. The year after his cap hit is $3.2M and the dead cap hit is the same. So, to me, it seems like it's worth keeping him at least another year. Let's see what Waufle can do with him. It's not like we have any talented defensive ends waiting in the wings... or much talent on the d line as it is, and we don't know if Kyle Islliams will be back next year. IMO we need to be adding to the d line, not subtracting from it. Not everyone comes into the NFL and immediately tears it up. The only way I trade Lawson before next season is if something good is coming back.

For sure. Murray was building a slow, physical, "hard to play against" team modeled similarly to the Kings. The problem with that is the NHL was already trending away from that type of team by the time he started building it, and are quickly moving towards quick/fast, high skill teams and these new rule changes (like the slashing rule) are going to benefit those speedy types of teams even more and hurt the slower, lumbering teams. The other her problem with the type of team Murray was building is that we play in the eastern conference. He was building a team to compete in the west. Now, you do have to beat a western conference team to win a Stanley Cup. But... you have to beat 3 eastern conference teams in the playoffs to get there, and a bunch more just to make it to the playoffs in the first place. Even the western conference teams are trending toward more speed and skill. Like you said, speed kills. And skill usually wins out. Give me a smaller, faster, highly skilled player over the big, tough, physical guy any day of the week. We do have more speed coming up the pipeline assuming those guys can become NHL (impact) players, and it should fit Housley's system much, much better. But we still have quite a ways to go. Murray basically ignored the defense, while at the same time trading away a bunch of our defensive depth (like McNabb, Zadorov, Pysyk). Its honestly kind of mind boggling, especially since defenseman traditionally take longer to develop. He should have been building up the back end from day 1. But he didn't, so now we are in a bit of a pickle... All we have coming is Guhle, maybe Borgen (assuming he doesn't go the college free agent route), if we're real lucky Fitzgerald... and that's about it. It'd be Amazing if we could somehow land Dahlin in the draft this year, but we all know what our lottery luck is like. We could probably use him more than any team in the NHL. But Hey, maybe this will be our year though. We can't get screwed in the lottery every year, right? If not Botterill is likely going to have to flip one of our bigger name forwards for a defenseman. Reinhart, ROR, maybe Nylander...?

Despite the record, I am becoming more and more convinced that Housley is the right coach. I truly think it's the players not following the game plan, and him not babying them like Bylsma did. People want to say say that because of our record that he is a worse coach than Bylsma, but I don't see it that way at all. Hes just not holding their their hand and forcing them to play an ultra safe, mistake free style. He wants them playing a more modern, fast, offensive style of hockey and it has led to more mistakes. That will eventually get fixed as the players adjust and we get better players more capable of doing what he wants. Also, listen to some of the post game interviews. Players (like Robin Lehner for ex) will say that the coach had a fantastic game plan and the players just didn't do what the coaches said. This has been a common theme for a few years now. And the way I look at it - when you see the players continue to make the same damn mistakes they've been making for years, and you see many of the same problems we had under Bylsma. That tells me it's the players, not the coaches. What impresses me me so much about Housley is his mind for the game. He can tell you immediately after (or even during) a game what they did wrong and what they need to do better. He never says he has to review the tape first, like many coaches do. He is never at a loss for words on why they aren't having success like many other coaches. He always seems to have a great plan to fix what is wrong. I have been very impressed listening to him talk about hockey. He understand the game at a level that a majority of people never will. He has dedicated his entire life to this game. He is a hall of fame player and one of the better defenseman to ever play the game. He was such a good all around defenseman. He wasn't just an offensive defenseman, or a defensive defenseman. He was good in all areas of the game and had an amazing attention to the small details, was always in the right position, which is what led to him being one of the highest scoring defenseman ever. Plus, the players all have such a great admiration and respect for him. Check out what Eichel said about him in that USA hockey issue 26CB posted above. It wouldn't let me copy and paste, so here's the link (it's on page 28 if the link doesn't take you directly there) - http://touchpointmedia.uberflip.com/i/900955-december-2017/29? Sorry for the long reply. I am just sick of Buffalo fans always scapegoating coaches. I get mad when I see people saying Housley sucks and he needs to go (not referring to you in particular). IMO This is on the players... and I truly believe that Housley has what it takes to be a great coach. When he's has the talent around him as a coach, he's always produced. He needs to be given a true chance in Buffalo, with more talent around him.

I honestly never understood why some here wanted us to hire him in the first place... I thought that his defense was crap his 1 year in Miami, and that was his 1 and only year as a DC. Before that, the highest position he held was defensive backs coach.

Huh. Interesting. I figured he'd be headed to Rochester. Sounds like it was Buffalo's decision to send him to Ontario instead. Also, as for Harrington' tweet - I'd be pretty amazed if Botterill could find anyone to take Moulson even at the max 50% retained. I'll definitely applaud him if he's able to pull it off. Even if they retained 50% and traded him it would be better than a buyout. Money would be off the books quicker that way and the cap hit would be less than a buyout. Buyout would cost $3.6M against the cap next year and $666k in 2019. Trade at 50% retained would leave $2.5M on the cap next year and then he'd be off the books completely after that.

Moulson cleared waivers. I know... Shocking, right? lol

Benjamin passed the physical after he was traded here, so saying he was injured and Carolina duped us is just not true. Did you see the play play where he injured his knee? Anyone could have injured their knee on that same play. It's football, stuff happens. And he is already under contract for next year, too. Don't you think it's too soon to be calling the trade a bust? He's a legit #1 WR. Also, Beane and McDermott were both on the short list of recommended coach/GM candidates by the NFL advisory panel (the one with Bill Polian, Ernie Accorsi, John Madden, Ron Wolf, Tony Dungy, Mike Holmgren, James Harris, Dennis Green, Carl Peterson etc). I read/heard a rumor somewhere that Bill Polian had Pegula's ear and highly recommended McDermott (and I believe Beane, as well) to him. I don't know if it's actually true or not though. But either way both Beane and McDermott were on that short list of recommended hires, and that's a list put together by people who would be ideal football czars.

I guess they get no credit for having found and signed Eric Lee to their pratcite squad? Also, how do you put all the blame on this new regime for things like Gilmore, Woods, Goodwin? Beane and his entire front office, personnel and scouting staff weren't even hired yet. And Whaley had 2 years to sign Gilmore, a year to sign Woods, a year to sign Goodwin (who was always injured and generally sucked during his time in Buffalo). It was reported long before McDermott was ever hired that Whaley was not willing to pay Gilmore more than $11.5M per year. It was also reported that Whaley and Robert Woods were not even attempting to negotiate a new contract. It was said that Woods wanted to go to free agency and Woods later said that he wanted to go home to California (where he signed), but yeah blame McDermott and Beane... Where was this thread earlier in the year when Watkins, Gilmore and Goodwin were sucking for their respective teams? And if you want to call Jordan Matthews a bust because we have a QB who literally never throws him the ball, that on you. He's been the most productive slot receiver in the NFL since he was drafted. The Bills just don't have a passing game. But I'll be willing to bet that when he signs somewhere else next year and lights it up with a QB who actually throws him the ball, you will be saying "another dumb personnel move b the Bills letting Matthews go..."

Well, Wilson will add some much needed physicality to the lineup, as well as a good work ethic. His experience is a plus as well. This team needs more veterans to help the kids along and to bring some accountability to the room. Hopefully Wilson can help do that, even as a (likely to be) 4th line guy. Botterill obviously knows what he's getting with Wilson, so I'd imagine there has to be a reason he traded for him. Not sure im crazy about giving up a 5th round pick for a 4th liner. But the pick is 2 years out, and seeing as Detroit just recently gave up a 2018 5th and Riley Sheahan (who was their 1st round pick from 2010 or 2011) for Wilson and a 3rd, it's understandable. Obviously Detroit wanted to at least recoup their 5th. Sabres waiving of Moulson hits Okposo, Eichel hard - http://buffalonews.com/2017/12/04/sabres-waiving-of-moulson-hits-okposo-eichel-hard/

Yeah you may be right. Okposo seemed to think it sent a clear message of "get our **** together". Hopefully the rest of the team feels the same way. But hey, it's better than doing nothing and continuing to let Moulson take up an undeserved roster spot. And as for the Leafs, they absolutely tanked in 2016. 2015 they just plain quit on the season and were awful for the 2nd half of the year. But 2016 (the first year of Babcock) they absolutely tanked. Their goal was not to win games, and they actively did things to ensure they lost more. That, to me, is tanking. Just look at the moves they made... James Reimer got hot in goal so they traded him away (to be fair, he was a UFA to be). Then Bernier got hot and they benched him and rode Garrett Sparks, who was playing absolutely awful at the time. But they had no problem riding Bernier earlier in the year when he was playing badly. They called up a bunch of kids, and when they started playing too well, scoring goals and causing the Leafs to win a few games, they were immediately sent back to the minors. They traded away Kessel and Phaneuf for anything they could get (again, to be fair I guess they were deemed "problems"). Phaneuf, their captain and a top 2 d man on their team at the time, was given away for nothing tangible in return. Kessel didn't return much of significance either, considering he was their best player and leading scorer. Neither were UFA. And thats just off off the top of my head... Brendan Shanahan even said after they won the draft lottery that "we worked hard for this" (1st overall pick). I remember thinking at the time 'can you imagine if the Sabres had said that? They'd get slaughtered in the media'. And really, that was the biggest difference between the 2 tanks - Toronto's local media was fully on board and Buffalo's wasn't. Toronto's media praised every move, while Buffalo's criticized every move and wrote terrible stories that were then picked up by the national media. I mean, obviously Buffalo took the tank much further than Toronto as far as shipping away players. Buffalo did a full scorched earth tear down rebuild. Toronto did a retool and kept many players from previous rebuilds. But both teams still tanked. Buffalo for 2 years and Toronto for 1.

Wow. Moulson on waivers! About damn time. Hopefully the Sabres get the message - no more free rides in Buffalo (at least I hope that's what it means...).

I can understand that. I still think he handled it properly. He's trying to build a smart, well disciplined football team and as the leader you can't be flying off the handle if you don't want your team following suit. You've ve heard the post game victory speeches. He tells all his players to be humble and always show respect to the other team when talking to the media. Also, we have no idea how much emotion he showed behind the scenes. He could call the NFL and go ballistic and we'd never know. McDermott just isn't the type to air his dirty laundry to the press. If you haven't noticed by now, he's not the type of coach who is going to voice his displeasure (with anything) to the media. He's very bland when addressing them. Reminds me a lot of Belichick in that regard. BB doesn't lose his cool on the sidelines or to the media either. But if you think that means he doesn't show passion behind the scenes, then you'd be wrong. He's very passionate. But he keeps it behind closed doors. IMO McDermott seems to be the same way.

Any Bills player throws a punch a Gronk and they are looking at a 2 game suspension, maybe more. We just seen Crabtree and Talib get suspended 2 games for throwing a single punch. had Preston Brown "ripped Gronk's helmet off and beat him until someone stopped him" (or whatever the exact phrase the OP used), they may have been permanently banned. IMO the Bills players were right to let the refs and the league handle it.

I thought McDermott handled it fine. He addressed it directly with the head honcho of the Patriots - Belichick - at the end of the game. That's how a man should handle it IMO. You don't need to yell and scream and try to fight someone. You discuss it like a mature adult with the person in charge. He also addressed it with the refs, and I'm guessing that he will address it directly with the league as well. And in his post game presser he said he wasn't happy with it and there's no room for stuff like that in this game. I thought he handled it in a classy way and I really don't get what the issue is. Id much rather have a coach handle it like McDermott did, than have him acting like that buffoon Rex Ryan...

Let's go Buffalo!

Wow. That's a lot of money for Jeffery...

Eh, at least it won't be as bad as 2 weeks ago when we got to experience 4 straight days of losing... the Sabres lost Friday & Saturday, the Bills lost Sunday and then the Sabres lost again on Monday.

Great read Yolo. Thanks for sharing. I really have have high hopes that McDermott is going to be the guy who turns things around here. I still trust "the process", even after those brutal losses (and another one likely this Sunday...). Can't wait to see what this new regime is able to build in the coming years. Loved this quote by Matthews - Also, I think this article, as a whole, demonstrates pretty well why all that talk of McDermott losing the locker room was just a bunch of nonsense.

Tennyson cleared waivers. Rochester just got a bit stronger (and they were already looking pretty damn good). Tennyson is a good top 4 d man in the AHL, and it'll be nice to have him around still as a #7/8 guy for Buffalo. We may need him after the trade deadline (depending on who's shipped out).

Ain't that the truth...