BillsFan4

Anyone see that ridiculous dive by Kadri tonight? The one where Ovechkin barely taps him on the arm and he like flails his whole body, falls to the ice and grabs his leg/ankle (which wasn't even touched)? That's at least the 2nd (or 3rd) dive like that I've seen from Kadri this playoff series, where he barely gets touched and acts like someone just shot him or something. The guys should have been an actor. He may have missed his calling there... lol.

Eh, we heard similar stuff last year - that they were in discussions with the Browns about trading up for Wentz and how much they loved him etc. BTW Who said this? If this is actually true, I hope we don't trade up for Trubisky. Trade up's into the top 10 for a QB have almost never worked out. There was a good write up on it at Buffalo Rumblings just the other day. I believe Mike Vick was about the only successful trade up into the top 10, and that was before mobile QBs were popular in the NFL. That trade may not even happen today. Other than that, there's no success story to point to that I could think of unless Goff or Wentz work out (I don't think Eli counts because it was t a trade up and he demanded the trade, otherwise it never happens). How can you trade up into the top 5 for (and go All In on) a QB who started a total of 13 college games, and not until his senior year? If they do it, they better be damn sure about him and it better work out for sure, otherwise whoever's idea it was is definitely toast, not to mention it setting the Bills back years.

This is good news. Antipin had a fantastic playoff run, was name MVP defenseman. He had a darn good regular season too, by all accounts. He is still pretty young (26?), is a LHD and Buffalo needs blue line help desperately. So I definitely hope this does still get done.

Honest question - why does it seem like many Bills fans are so thoroughly convinced the Browns are going to blow us out of the water just because they have a bunch of draft picks? The Browns have had plenty of extra draft picks in the past and it led to nothing. They also had a bunch of draft picks last year, and I really wasn't overly impressed with many of them. Maybe they improve this season, I don't know. The Browns could very well end up being good/great. But they have to actually hit on a majority of their draft picks first, which is far from a sure thing (especially with the Browns and Haslam meddling).

Sorry if I don't take everything La Canfora says as gospel... If the Browns actually draft Trubisky #1 overall, I will completely agree with the OP. But until then, I am taking this as just more untrue garbage being spewed on Twitter (a very common thing these days).

You repeat this all the time, but I just don't see it. He wasn't like that in Philly or Carolina IMO. His defense in Philly was aggressive. His defense in Carolina was aggressive in attacking the ball and creating turn overs (his defense was top 5 in interceptions 3 of the last 4 years). He's a Jim Johnson disciple, who was as aggressive as they come. McDermott himself said he will be aggressive. So can we wait until he coaches a few games and see if he actually shows a "bland, boring, play not to lose" style before labeling him with it? Because as of now I haven't seen it in his career. And FYI Keeping Tyrod does not prove it. It proves that he wants to try and win right away, that's all. Also, playing a more simple defensive scheme that allows players to play fast and not have to overthink doesn't mean "boring, play not to lose" either.

LOL! Great movie (and book).

We don't yet know if the run blocking scheme will be completely/drastically changed yet either. Is it possible that he wouldn't fit as well into a new run blocking scheme and be unable to repeat last season's performance anyway? I'd say yes.

I think we can also put to bed the rumors of Pegula hiring Dan Bylsma. He specifically said that he didn't have much involvement in hiring the GM or the coach and he really regrets that. So I think it's safe to say that Bylsma was indeed a Tim Murray hire. (and we all know Murray was a LaFontaine hire, obviously).

Absolutely agree. They drool all over Cleveland's "rebuild", but Buffalo tanked... Can't have it both ways, like Pegula said. If Buffalo tanked, Cleveland absolutely tanked. They released a ton of good players last year. Funny thing is there were some Buffalo News writer(s) calling for the Sabres to rebuild/tank before it happened, and then when it does happen they change their tune and criticize it. You know, I still blame the Buffalo News to this day about a lot of the terrible, negative publicity the Sabres rebuild/tank got. So many things became a national headline/punchline because of stories written by TBN that would get picked up by the national media. IMO that was one of the main differences between the Sabres "tank" and Toronto's "rebuild". Both teams tanked, but Toronto's media was on board and did nothing but praise it and Buffalo's media did nothing but slam it. I think the Buffalo News was definitely a factor in turning the Sabres rebuild into such a big story at times.

I really hope they don't limit the GM search to candidates with experience as a GM. That takes a LOT of good candidates out of the picture immediately IMO. I really hope he meant someone with experience in a president type role or that someone who's been an asst. GM for quite a while under a great GM or something like that. There's a number of really really good asst. GMs waiting for their first shot IMO. I just don't think it's good to limit your search so much right off the bat like that. I also hope it's not Dean Lombardi. I think he's a bit out of touch with where the current NHL game is/has been headed. And yeah, those Character comments were a bit damning of Tim Murray, and Dan Bylsma (but I definitely took it as more of a shot at a Tim Murray). I also said yesterday that Terry Pegula didn't hire Tim Murray, and now we know that he definitely didn't hire Dan Bylsma either (as was speculated by some), and that was a factor. Pegula hired LaFontaine. He never planned on having Tim Murray run the whole organization. Now we will get a better idea of Pegula's vision for the Sabres... I was also very glad to see him address that "Eichel, coach killer" narrative right off the bat. I was really hoping he'd do that. I hate seeing Eichel taking so much blame for this.

I think something that has to be taken into account - The Pegula's did not hire Tim Murray. They hired Pat LaFontaine to run the team, and Lafontaine hired Tim Murray. Murray was never technically hired to run the whole team. He was hired because he was considered a very good scout, which is why Lafontaine supposedly picked him. He was supposed to help lafontaine scout and evaluate talent. Pegula never originally planned on having Murray run everything.

Maybe. If he does decide to leave school this year, a new GM will have no time to even try to get him signed. But maybe he will also see some opportunity here now. The new GM won't be tied to Lehner like Murray was. ,an I sure hope we get him signed though. I still think he could be our future franchise goaltender.

One thing that o wonder about - what does this do to the expansion draft possibilities? George McPhee was said to owe Tim Murray a favor (for that Klesla contract/trade deal). Murray said McPhee remembered this and Murray has told him the player(s) he didn't want to lose. Now that is probably out the window. I could see Linus Ullmark gone (hope not!) now. Hopefully the new GM can swing a deal though. Also, I wonder what it does to our chances of landing a good defenseman from a team with too many to protect for expansion. I'm sure Murray was putting in ground work all season, maybe longer. Deals take quite a while to make in the NHL, and a new GM won't really have any time to set things up like that before the expansion draft in June. And I wonder if the Sabres will still be able to sign that Antikpin from the KHL. He was said to have a deal in place with Buffalo. I hope it still goes through...

Agreed. He did it to himself trying to speed up the rebuild too much. I think he would have had more time had he not traded away so many assets to speed up the timeline. He even said "give me 2 drafts" and "I don't think a rebuild needs to take 5 years". Had he just been patient and stock piled assets instead of burning through them like a drunken sailor, he might still have a job right now. The Sabres weren't ready to take the next step yet. The Sabres were on track to have the almost the most draft picks in history. We could have been something very special (we still can). We could have been a dynasty. Just that 2015 draft alone could have set the Sabres up for a decade. When you look at the players we could have had with those 1st and 2nd round picks traded away... I mean, you have to obviously hit on the draft picks, but Regier had us set up so well for that 2015 draft. That was one of the deepest drafts in a LONG time. 2016 is looking fantastic too. Oh well, no point in all the "coulda, shoulda, woulda"...

I hear you and that was one of my first thoughts as well - I wonder what this does for the draft. But when you look back at that 2014 draft, it was as weak as everyone said it was leading up to the draft. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2014_NHL_Entry_Draft It's not like Murray really missed out on some great players or something. I guess you can debate if he picked the right guy at #2, but that's still TBD anyway.

Well, I guess the rumors were right... I heard (from a guy who has a family member that works for the Sabres) that Bylsma was less than 50/50 to come back and that Murray was already on the hot seat (as I posted a couple pages back, but I didn't actually fully believe it about Murray). Bylsma is no shock at all. He was toast when all that stuff came out about the players (and especially Eichel) not wanting to play for him. But Murray was a bit of a shocker. He also did it to himself IMO. He tried to speed up the rebuild too much, and his trades were not very good. Way too many assets given up. That 2015 draft alone could have set the Sabres up for a decade. Sucks that Murray didn't get to finish the job though and now we're going to change visions in the middle of the rebuild (for the 2nd time!), after burning through all those assets. But at least he won't get to waste anymore of our assets. Pegula HAS TO get this next hire right. He has to. Honestly, IMO he screwed up when he fired Regier. Not that I think Regier was a good GM and should still be here, but I just think he should have let Regier finish the tear down and tank, let him stockpile a ton of assets (as he was great at getting big trade returns) and then get rid of him when it was time to take the next step. I just feel like the Sabres really could have been a dynasty, been something very special. Maybe I'm putting too much stock into draft picks, I don't know, but the Sabrs were on pace to have more draft picks than almost any team in history.

Did you listen to any player interviews is year? Especially after they were eliminated form the playoffs and on locker clean out day? I have heard many/most of the Sabres players say "we have a lot of talent on this team" or some variant of that phrase, and after they were eliminated from the playoffs and on locker clean out day I heard so many guys say "....that's what's so disappointing, we have so much talent in this room" or "...we have the talent in this room to be a playoff team" or "the talent's here" or other similar phrases. That doesn't sound like a team blaming their GM... And as I've already said, I have heard multiple players compliment Tim Murray - from Evander Kane to Ryan O'Reilly to Kyle Okposo to yes, Jack Eichel (and more). I haven't seen anything, not even as much as a rumor hinting at players blaming Murray or not liking/wanting to play for him... Bylsma, on the other hand... It's been a shitstorm of stuff coming out about players hating his system and feeling like they can't have success in it, and how there's a big disconnect between coaches and players and lots of stuff like that. I agree Tim Murray needs to make improvements to this team. But you seem to put all the blame on him all the time, and he doesn't deserve it. He has added a LOT of talent to is team in a short amount of time.

I have no idea what type of money he has left or what will be done with it upon his death, but a thought I had upon reading your post was "maybe part of his thought process in doing this was so his daughter gets the money he made during his NFL career and is set up for life, instead of losing it all in a civil suit". Like I said, juat a thought.

Since there was a lot of talk of trading up for a QB a few pages back in this thread, I figured this would be a good place to post this article. I thought this was a great read on trading up into the top 10 to draft QBs . Buffalo rumblings did a good job putting this article together IMO. http://www.buffalorumblings.com/2017/4/18/15340020/buffalo-bills-nfl-draft-mitchell-trubisky-nfl-history-trading-up-franchise-quarterback

Thanks for posting this. It was a good read. I really liked a lot of what Eichel said, especially this part (hopefully it'll put some of the BS rumors to rest...) - "Eichel: ..... Like I said, it’s frustrating more than anything that I think the wrong message is being put out about me and about our organization and team. That’s why I think my agent did a good job of calling you and putting the right message forward about what my real opinions are because I want to be a Sabre and I want to be a Sabre for a long time and I want to be a part of Buffalo when we win. I know it’s an organization that is capable of doing that, and I want to be a part of it and I want to be a centerpiece of it. "I want to be here for a long time. That’s the way I look at it. I don’t want to go anywhere else. I don’t want anybody to think that I want to be somewhere else. I want to be here, and I want to help this team win in any way that I can do that. I just want all the people there to know that". Love hearing this! (even if it was said to please fans...lol).

'Former first-round pick Joe Haden said he's been confronted and challenged by Williams early in offseason workouts. "His energy's crazy," Haden said Tuesday, via Cleveland.com. "He definitely brings a different attitude. He's very, very vocal, in your face and I feel like we definitely need that." Maybe I'm just misinterpreting things, but this almost makes it sound like Williams has been on the field during workouts. I thought that wasn't allowed at this time in the offseason programs? I know McDermott and his coaches weren't allowed on the field or in the gym with our players. Only the trainers were.

A pro personnel director's job is to find pro players, not college ones. But I think he was only pro personnel director for his first year or two here, then he was player personnel director. Still though, he wasn't GM and the GM usually has final say. It's a collaborative effort though. Everyone from GM to head of scouting to the local scouts have input, and like I said in my first post, we can argue who had the most influence but none of us know. It very well could have been Whaley, or it could have been Nix, but none of us know. Also, I have some issues with that article. They are measuring Whaley by how many draft picks are on the roster. But there's no set timeline to it. There are drafted players on some rosters that go back 10+ years, and the Bills have drafted horribly over the last 15 years... They also don't take into account the quality of those drafted players. Just because a drafted player is on the roster doesn't mean he's an impact player. He could be a 3rd string guy who sees 10 plays a game or less. We don't know. Also, they use Cleveland as an example of a team with more draft picks. Well of course they do. They've had a record number of picks (which also isn't taken into account in this article), and they released a bunch of very good NFL players to make room for these newly acquired draft picks. They also kept every single draft pick they made IIRC. The article also doesn't seem to factor in players that were drafted by the Bills and left in free agency to start elsewhere (due to Bills multiple scheme changes every season or two). It would have been a more fair comparison to compare draft picks on the roster from 2013/14 to now, since that's how long Whaley has been GM. Or at the least 2010 to now since that's how long he's been here. And the one part of the article that I seen that did this, looked at 2010 to now, had 24 drafted players that played 10 or more games, which was right in line with the other teams they listed (Seattle had 25 in the same time, Green Bay had 23, Ravens had 21, Saints had 19, Steelers had 20, Pats had 24). I am not trying to argue that Whaley is some great GM, because I don't think that. But I don't think he's been horrible either, and definitely not worst in the NFL IMO. Bottom half? Sure. I'd just like to see a fair comparison is all. This article looks exactly the same as the one posted in the Buffalo News, and I just felt like that article had a clear agenda to make Whaley look bad, and it escluded a number of factors to do so.

Ive always wondered if Bylsma was a Pegula hire and I've seen lots of fans speculating that it was (because of Pegula's ties to the Pens/hiring Ted Black etc and the rumors that Murray wanted Luke Richardson (although LR said Tim Murray never even contacted him about the Sabres job)), but I've never actually seen anything credible stating that Bylsma was indeed a Pegula hire (if you know of anyone who did, please share). Murray's comments at his most recent end of the season presser make me think that it was him who hired Bylsma. When asked if it was up to him if Bylsma stays or goes, he said that Pegula has never once interfered in any of Murray's decisions or told him he had to hire/fire anyone - that he's always been able to make all those types of decisions himself.

This is becoming a trend - Hogan, Gilmore, Gillislee... I guess we should take it as a compliment that Belichick thinks so highly of Bills players? friggin dick head. This is starting to get aggravating though. I feel like Belichick is almost trolling us at this point... Maybe he's still pissed off about Rex Ryan talking all that smack? Or Bills fans taking out that billboard mocking Brady? Or shutting them out last year? lol j/k