BillsFan4

I would make that trade. Why not. It would get Pilut into the lineup, which would be awesome. I’d rather Pilut vs McCabe (though McCabe plays a different type of game. Tougher), and you guys could definitely use McCabe. How has Zacha been? I liked him in his draft year but it doesn’t seem like he’s ever really put it together. I also heard a rumor rumor about Evan Rodrigues for Miles Wood. That’s another one I’d do. ERod wants a trade. Ain’t gonna do much better than a player like Miles Wood. Iirc he’s from the buffalo area too, isn’t he?

Speaking of.. great article on the Athletic for those with a subscription - https://theathletic.com/1503304/2020/01/02/as-cleveland-browns-begin-another-rebuild-they-could-learn-some-lessons-from-the-buffalo-bills/ Reed: Browns should look to Buffalo for answers after latest house cleaning

4th from Montreal sent to Calgary for Michael Frolik.

Underwhelming for sure. I was hoping for a 3rd at the least if they dealt him for a pick (more like a 2nd, but I guess that was unrealistic under current circumstances). But I expected the pick to be from a playoff team looking to make a run. So a 4th from Montreal may not be drastically different, I guess. Really, I was hoping for a 3rd line forward, but I have to assume that trade wasn’t out there. At least this clears his $4M cap hit (not exactly sure of the pro-rated cap space). There probably weren’t many teams that could take on Scandella’s full cap hit without sending cap back. That’s definitely a big help for the Sabres right now. It makes things a lot less complicated at least. Happy for Scandella to go to his hometown team. I believe his mom lives there too iirc. Maybe this will eventually get Pilut a call-up (probably need to move 1 more D first). That would be nice.

He is a painfully bad actor. This little sketch wasn’t too bad, especially compared to his other TV appearances. Almost every one of his comedy bits are cringe worthy. I feel like he’s probably spent way too much time around his entourage “yes men”, that laugh at everything he says/does, so now he thinks he’s a stand up comedian or something. He’s always trying to be funny and he rarely ever is.

Castillo’s actually had some pretty good o lines in his career (especially in pass protection iirc). At one point (many years ago...) he was considered one of the better o line coaches in the NFL. It didn’t work out in Buffalo and I’m happy to have Bobby Johnson, but I hold no hard feelings toward Castillo. I hope he finds success in a Chicago. By all accounts he was a great guy and a hard worker. I know he was very upset when he was fired. He really wanted things to work out here, I guess (from what I heard) he loved it here.

Olofsson, Jokiharju, Ullmark are all developing well and having an impact for the Sabres. Eichel looks to be taking a big step forward this year in his development, too. If we are talking strictly prospects Botterill drafted, it’s too soon for most of them. Mittelstadt was rushed. I thought he should have been left in school another season. The rest are still developing and many are looking pretty damn good. I listed all the prospects Botterill drafted that are doing well and trending up in their development in this thread within the last couple months (I believe it was for a similar question you asked). I don’t really feel like digging for it right now. But many are developing well and look to have a future in the NHL, but time will tell. As I said then, it’s too soon to expect his 2nd (or later) round picks to be having an NHL impact.

I don’t know. I feel like it’s pretty clear that his plan is to draft+develop. He said that was the plan day 1 and I feel he’s stuck to it. I think he’s building through the draft while trying to add cheap depth to the lineup (Sheary, Miller, Vesey, etc) without mortgaging the future. He’s building from the back end out (which is what should be done IMO. Defenseman and goalies take longer to develop). Now if he starts making panic trades (like trades that are terrible value for Buffalo, (ie: Hall for Larsson), or hurt the Sabres future for short term benefit (like trading a 1st+prospects for a UFA to be, etc)), I start thinking that either 1) he doesn’t have a plan, or 2) he no longer believes in his plan. But so far I feel like he’s stuck to his plan. I’m not saying you have to like the plan, or even that I agree with it. But I do think there’s a plan in place that he seems to be following. I know everyone is dying for a trade, but I don't think that trading a depth defenseman for a depth forward is going to change the trajectory of the sabre season in any meaningful way. This team pretty much is what it is this year. So for me, I’m just trying to watch for signs of growth.

https://www.nhl.com/all-star-ballot Dahlin is on the “last men in” all-star ballot. Voting is open for the next few days/week. You can vote 10x per day.

I love listening to this guy talk. He just inspires confidence. I definitely recommend listening. Im trying to keep the faith. It’s tough at times, but I want to believe that Ralph will get this turned around. He’s done it before, and he’s done it more than once. I keep telling myself that this was never an overnight fix. IMO this Sabres gig is one of the toughest jobs in the NHL. The tank years put this team in a hole they’ve never climbed out of, and it’s created some unique problems. Like a group of mentally broken players and a lot of fan + local media pressure that builds very quickly due to the lack of patience from all the years of losing. The players have talked about it and you hear similar things from players and coaches in Cleveland (browns). As skeptical as I am of Botterill, and as impatient as I’m becoming, I still think the best course of action for now is to just stick to the plan. You simply can’t keep changing visions every 2-3 years. I look at teams like Winnipeg, Columbus. Teams that took a while to start winning after their rebuild. Eventually both teams just stuck with their GM through some tough times and it paid off. Kevin Chevldayoff was hated in Winnipeg for being too cautious and patient and building through the draft. But now they feel much differently about him, and he was a GM of the year candidate just a couple seasons ago. I don’t know that Botterill is the right guy, but I’m trying hard to hang on to some hope that he will work out. I say At least give him next season. We all know He’s maddeningly slow to make moves during the season (most of his moves seem to come in the offseason). But I think he found the right coach, and he’s done some good things. The joker trade was great. Cozens looks like legit. He’s building depth in the prospect pool. He’s totally revamped the defense and filled the pipeline at D (which was left almost bare by the previous GM). And outside of the ROR trade, he’s at least not making moves that hurt the Sabres (like some of Murray’s big risk moves).

Don’t take the job Brian! https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/25797430/inside-cleveland-browns-front-office-where-hope-history-collide This article is from January 2019. It’s not a surprise the browns continue to be a mess when you read about how Haslam runs the team.

My bad. I just assumed you were saying it was Krueger’s fault. We are on the same page then.

I agree about Botterill creating the logjam but I disagree with part of your proposed solution. Not the waive Bogo part (though I don’t think that would sit well with Eichel or anyone else). But the dumping guys like Miller for crap returns. This logjam on defense isn’t a long term issue. It’ll solve itself all on its own after this season, and suddenly we won’t have the defensive depth we do now. Dumping a good top 4 RHD like Miller for anything they can get would be short sighted. If someone offers us a top 9 forward, then sure. But to dump him just because crappy players like Bogo and ERod are upset about their playing time is letting the inmates run the asylum. You can’t let crappy depth players force you into moves that for the long term future of the team (IMO anyway). I also think desperation trades signals to other GMs that all they have to do is wait you out. IMO it makes it harder to make proper value trades in the future. It happened with Tim Murray. Also, if Botterill starts making panic trades, I will question his plan a lot more than I am now. We may not like Botterill’s timeline and patience, but at least I feel like he has a plan that he believes in. Personally, I think Botterill is targeting this offseason as the one where he can finally make bigger changes to the team. They will have a lot of cap space and a bunch of contract come off the books. It’s a lot harder to turn over a roster in the NHL vs the NFL, with all contracts being fully guaranteed and cap space at an ultra premium (especially right now with the cap staying stagnant the next couple seasons). If Botts just re-signs all the crappy players coming off the books, then I’ll be about done with him. I don’t want it to sound like I am defending Botterill. I have a lot of questions about him already, but as I said I’m willing to give him this offseason (it’s not like it’s up to me anyway...). I see it as much more of an indictment of these players than the coach. How many coaches do we need to go through before we realize that no coach is going to be successful with this group of players? It’s the same failed team as last year. But at least Krueger has them playing better hockey than housley or bylsma or any previous Sabres coach since the rebuild started. This is the most competent the Sabres have looked in a long time. They may still be losing but at least they are entertaining to watch most nights. At least we are getting a consistent effort from the players. I feel like a lot of the losses are just due to lack of talent. Like the 2 Boston games. I thought the Sabres actually outplayed Boston, but they just can’t score. They dominated the scoring chances for stretches of the game, but then they make 1 or 2 mistakes and it’s in the back of their net. I don't see it as quitting though. In fact, I feel just the opposite. I think this is the first time that these players have actually bought in to what a coach was preaching. That’s been a big issue in years past. Guys weren’t willing to stick to the coaches system. I don't think the loss had anything to do with effort or quitting on the coach. They are just mentally fragile. It seems to be improving compared to previous seasons, but it’s still an issue. I think all the losing has broken some of these players. I have actually been happy with Krueger. I don’t want him going anywhere. I want to see what he can do with more talent. That’s on the GM.

When did Rivera start calling plays in Carolina? I know McDermott called the defense his entire 6 years there, and Steve Wilks called the defense in his 1 year as DC after Mcdermott left. Maybe he starting calling the games after Wilks left? Edit - answered my own question - https://catcrave.com/2018/12/04/carolina-panthers-ron-rivera-defensive-play-call/ He took over (from rookie play caller Eric Washington) 1/2 way through a December 2018 game. Rivera only called the defense for 1 & 1/2 of his 9 years in Carolina, so him having a traditional DC is actually the norm.

Sorry if I don’t worry about 2 crappy players wanting out. Bogosian is washed up. I doubt anyone even wants him for free. And ERod is making $2M and he hasn’t scored a goal since March. He has a whole 3 points this season and is a dime a dozen AHL/NHL tweener. Maybe they should focus on actually doing something on the ice to earn playing time instead. IMO Krueger is in the right not playing them. And I doubt many GMs are willing to even take these 2 players. At best what can we hope for, taking back another similarly crappy player on a similarly bad contract?

Why do you say they quit on Krueger? I feel like we must be watching different games or something, because I definitely haven’t seen the players quit on him. I saw them mentally collapse again, but that’s much different than quitting on the coach.

I figured when Allen was fired that Rivera would play a big role in picking the new GM (or team president, or whatever they call the role in Washington...). I think that’s one of the things that made the job attractive to him (we know it wasn’t Snyder. lol)

https://profootballtalk.nbcsports.com/2019/12/31/j-j-watt-fires-up-teammates-with-speech-tuesday/ ‘J.J. Watt fires up teammates with speech Tuesday’ Watt was added to the active roster today.

What an aggravating loss. They blew a 3 goal lead and let Tampa score 4 unanswered goals. This team is so damn fragile sometimes. This could have been a big win as win as far as the playoff race, with Florida losing tonight and Montreal currently losing with a few mins left in the game. We could have made up some ground. But, nope. I know I’m just kidding myself about the playoffs anyway. They aren’t making it this year, so whatever.

Crazy how much the Haslam’s changed their thinking in just a few short weeks. Just 3 weeks ago it was reported that they wanted to stick with Freddy Kitchens for at least another year. That they knew there’d be growing pains with a rookie HC and that a 7-9 record was considered a very realistic and acceptable possibility (by the owners, GM etc) at the start of the season. And 3 games later, now they’ve completely cleaned house. Not just the coach, but the GM as well.

What a total mess the Browns are under Haslam. Poor Cleveland fans... They need to pick a damn plan already and just stick to it. You'd think they would know by now that constant turnover at HC and GM doesn’t work. The owner needs to set a course and actually stick to it. He keeps letting different people get in his ear and change his mind every year or two. If he wants to follow Depodesta’s plan, then put him in power and give him a chance to execute his vision. I don’t know how well it will be received in NFL circles. But it’s better than letting him sabotage whoever is hired next... I thought the browns had finally found some stability when they hired Dorsey and he brought in some top level front office talent. But, nope. Here we are what, 2 years later (after Hue was forced on Dorsey the 1st year iirc). How can someone be so good at running one business that they make billions at it, and so utterly incompetent at running another business? I know the NFL is not a typical business, but name me any company that could survive, let alone thrive, if they just continually fired everyone every year or two and changed their vision+plans. At some point you need some continuity if you ever want to build anything...

I’ll bet McDermott’s season here in Buffalo + being a legit candidate for coach of the year went a long way in helping Depodesta win that power play.