JohnC

This western trip would have been a resounding success if that questionable call on Jack's late goal in the Vancouver game wasn't called back by a phantom penalty. This Krueger coached team is much more resilient and mentally tough than last year's team. In this last game on the trip this team consistently played hard with few lulls to their game. In my opinion Ullmark earned the first star and kept us in the game with some tough stops that Hutton can't seem to make during his current bad spell. If we would have gotten this caliber of goaltending more consistently this team would be in a much better place. One of my major complaints is that Jack doesn't shoot enough. I wish he would be more selfish for the betterment of the team. I thought Vesey played well in this game. Clearly, he's not much of a finisher but in the other aspects of the game he is very solid and responsible. It should be noted that In Miller's overtime winning goal both he and the primary assistor, Johansson, were Bott pickups prior to the season. It was recently asked by one of the robotic and unrelenting critics when was the GM going to get a quality goaltender? The reflexive critic needs to open his eyes and watch the games when Ullmark is between the pipes. He is starting to emerge as a player. Ullmark is an example among a number of examples that the right way to build a team is primarily by drafting and developing.

I agree with you the UPL won't be with the big club next year. He is at least two to maybe three years away before reaching the NHL. He's certainly an asset in the system that needs developing. However long it takes it takes. I also agree with you that the ROR deal turned out to be a boondoggle. Whether you agree with the deal or not there were understandable reasons why the organization felt the need to move this unhappy player. What is ironic is that now that the GM is apparently unwilling to deal a player or players because he can't get at least an equal value in return he gets criticized for his hesitancy. Botts is a GM who is not hesitant to make trades. That's a fallacy. He traded for Skinner and paid a minimum price. He traded for Montour and didn't give up much. He traded for Miller for little to nothing. He traded Nylander, a player languishing in the system, and in return he got Joki, a player who is excelling right now. He acquired Johansson on the market. Vesey was a low budget acquisition. If you want to criticize the GM for being measured and thoughtful before making a deal then what you consider to be a criticism I consider to be smart and judicious. There were many reports that Risto was on the market. The asking price was high. And it should be for the big second pairing defenseman. The GM didn't get what he considered to be a good enough return so he didn't make the deal. That's the right approach to take. And the Risto bashers should take notice that he is currently playing very well for us. Terry Pegula has demonstrated that he is not the type of owner who is reluctant to fire coaches or GMs in his sports enterprises. I'm confident that when the time comes for that to happen with his hockey business he will make the move. My bet is that it is not going to happen soon because he has some common sense.

Baltimore's defensive line consistently applied pressure on Josh. They are good. But the most impressive part of Baltimore's defense was the play of their defensive backfield. Peters pass defense on our last place play was clutch and a gem.

What the zealot you are responding to is doing is conflating the current GM's tenure with the prior tenures of the earlier regimes. The current GM that he has selected to be his bogeyman has had to use his early time on the job assessing what he had in the system from top to bottom and then start cleaning up the mistakes of his predecessors. Although the disappointed fanatics wanted a miraculous immediate makeover they were embittered that their childish fantasy was not quickly fulfilled. The rebuilding of the roster that Botts inherited was not going to be a quick process to become a serious team. Rarely, if ever, does that happen. The prior GM tried to make the quick fix in order to be a contending team. It not only didn't help but it set us back. So out of frustration the zealots are essentially arguing to make the same foolish mistake i.e. take expedient short term action that doesn't get you anywhere meaningful except damage your near term future. It is not only a self-defeating strategy to take, it is patently stupid. The owner hired Botts. It was solely his decision. He hired him based on the plan the prospective GM laid out to him. What this GM is doing implementing the plan that the owner agreed to when he was hired. And that is exactly what he is doing. The impatient zealots can yell as loud and as long as they want. I'm confident that the owner/s are not paying attention to that irritating noise.

There is an unrealistic faction here that believes that firing the GM is going to immediately alter the course of this franchise. This same delusionary faction with a childish fantasy hockey mentality believes that moves can easily be made to benefit your team at the expense of the other team with no cap consideration. The current GM traded for Skinner, Montour, Joki, Miller, Vesey and added Johansson over the past year or so and gave up little. As it stands the Sabres have a number of players on the last year of their contracts that will give the GM more flexibility in pursuing players next year. Hutton's play has hurt this team. In a compressed schedule it is difficult to rely on only one goaltender. The good news is that Ullmark is playing well so Hutton will be playing much less. I'm not one to make excuses. But if Hutton would have been playing at an average to above average NHL level this team's fortunes would look much differently. The worst thing this franchise should do is listen to the frantic voices calling for this organization to lurch back and forth and wasting time and prolonging the struggle to getting better .

The team as it is constituted is mostly a perimeter team. That's a reality that is visibly evident. It's like in baseball some teams are built for speed and others are built for home runs. As much as many people want to unfairly portray Housley (my contested view) as a clueless coach he stressed the importance of the play around the net, just like Krueger. If the dirty work is not adequately being done with the change of staffs then it isn't unreasonable to conclude that the team doesn't currently have the players to do it. There are only two players who consistently score around the net, the so called dirty area: Reinhart and Skinner. Reinhart crowds the net while Skinner resides around an eight foot radius of it. There are others who do some work around the net but are not accomplished in finishing/converting the opportunities close in. This team is still a work in progress not only from absorbing what the new coach is advocating but also from a staffing standpoint. What I find encouraging, even during the losing streak, is that this team consistently plays hard and a more responsible game compared to last year. Sure there are some dud games but a lot of that is due to the compressed schedule and fatigue from traveling. The issue, as it was last year, is not only the level of talent but also the mix. Each side of this equation has improved this year. However, there is still plenty room for improvement. While many are in a state of reflexive despair I am optimistic that we are moving in the right direction.

Paul Hamilton on WGR today repeated the same story of Jack telling other players on the ice in the Ottawa game to pass the puck to Vesey so that he could break the goal drought. He also told the story about Jack huddling with Dahlin in a game when he was being bypassed to hang in there because he was an integral part of the team and was needed. Paul Hamilton also said on his WGR segment that Krueger is smartly distributing the minutes with his extra defenseman. He pointed out that Risto is playing better with less ice time, and so are the other defensemen. The below link is a 14 minute segment with Paul Ham on WGR. https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/12-05-paul-hamilton-with-jeremy-and-nate

The more central point I was making was that Murray was willing to overpay for immediate benefit at the expense of the long-term consequences. The first round pick he gave up for the big tattooed goalie that the dispatching team had little interest in keeping was a bad deal. The draft pick that we dealt in a draft rich draft class could have been used for a player who would now be a second line forward. This type of deal is not the type of deal that the more cautious and strategic Botts would be inclined to make. The issue on this deal is not that he acquired him but that he gave up a first round pick for him.

The only disagreement I have with your post is the willingness to consider Mitts in a deal. I'm not. I just think that in another year or two he will be a good player for us on a cheaper contract. Colorado's Nate Mackinnon is one of the better players in this league. It took him around four years before he got established. What I'm not going to do is fall into the former GM's mind-set of taking short-term expedient action at the expense of long-term and higher end success. You get to the higher strata by building up to it. I, like you, am a Joki admirer. He is good now and is going to be a top tier player in the near future. As far as I am concerned he is an untouchable. The same category of player is Cozens. I don't care what is offered the answer is no. It's not that I am closed minded to any potential deal but the contract issue comes into play. These good young players on their first contracts allows for greater roster flexibility. With respect to being interested or not in Hall as a free agent the biggest issue for me is the term. If you sign him for the money he wants and length of term you are precluding a lot of future transactions because you are cap squeezed. If he were 24 instead of 28 I would be more open-minded about him.

For the sake of a discussion if Jersey called and said they would be willing to trade Taylor Hall to us for Mitts, Joki and Scandella would you make the deal assuming that there was a tacit agreement for a contract deal for Hall? My answer would be no. Joki is turning out to be a gem. And he is only 20 yrs old. I still believe that under Kueger's tutelage that Mitts will be a good player for us. He still has a lot of potential to grow as a player. In a couple of years he is going to be a good second line player. In addition, a detracting issue for Taylor Hall is that he is 28 yrs old. If he were given a lucrative extension for six years it will put a squeeze on the team's ability to handle the second contracts for players such as Dahlin, Reinhart and Montour. Because of our good cap situation next year Buffalo is a team that is in a good position to deal for Hall. Another team that is in a good trading position is Colorado because they have a lot of high end prospects in their system to deal. For a team such as Jersey that needs to restock their team and system to accelerate the rebuilding process Colorado would be my guess where he will eventually be dealt.

If Murry was our current GM he would have traded Luukkonen for a second or third line forward who was on the last year of his contract and about to be a free agent. I still get irked over his trading of a first round pick for Lehner, a goalie that Ottawa was not going to keep. That pick in a draft rich year could have been used on a player who would now be ready as a second line forward. I would love to have a player like Taylor Hall (who has had a relationship with Krueger) on our roster. But I'm not amenable to giving up significant assets for a rental player. Stay the course. Draft and develop and build for long term success.

The attached link is a WGR Paul Hamilton article on Jeff Skinner. He's a great teammate whose first priority is winning. https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/sabres-skinner-is-happy-with-his-place-in-the-lineup Ralph Krueger was on WGR. He gave injury updates and his reasoning for juggling the lines and pairings. Krueger is an open-minded new age coach who is constantly adjusting to the times and situations. This is a 13 minute interview. When Krueger speaks he informs! https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/12-04-sabres-head-coach-ralph-krueger-with-howard-and-jeremy

The BN's Lancy Lysowski story on this game points out that Krueger's hockey philosophy of two way hockey where the defense generates the offense is starting to be instilled within the team. The writer points the difference between Housley's and Krueger's approach to the game. https://buffalonews.com/2019/12/02/buffalo-sabres-new-jersey-devils-ralph-krueger-conor-sheary-jack-eichel-johan-larsson-nhl-news-2019/?view=getnewpost On WGR's Instigator Show either Andrew Peters or Craig Rivet spoke to Dan Danyko, a former Jersey Devil and current analyst for the team. before the game. He told one of them that he would love to have one of the Sabres' excess defenseman on his team. He specifically mentioned Scandella.

Thanks for the clip. There is a lesson to his plight and this story. Although it wouldn't be unfair to consider that his agent was negligent the player has to recognize that the hockey business is a business. You have to be diligent in protecting your own interests even if you have an agent acting on your behalf. He was in a good situation in St. Louis and he was happy. His contract was coming up where his not trade clause was going to expire. If he didn't realize that it was his mistake. Some agents are more detailed in their work. However, agents usually have a number of clients to keep tabs on. As it turns out each side is pointing the finger as to who is to blame for not maintaining the no trade clause. Pat Berglund seems to be a good person and a capable hockey player. But when he was traded and found himself out of his comfort zone in a new city and team he seemed to loose his support system. I hope that he is more happy now than when he was in Buffalo. But based on the clip he seems to have regrets as to how things turned out for him. There is another aspect to this deal that is troubling. Did our GM do his due diligence when making this deal? If he would have talked to the player it would have become apparent that this player didn't want to come to Buffalo. Overall, I consider Botts to have done a good job managing this franchise. The ROR deal has turned out to be a boondoggle for us.

Bogosian is not the player he once was. That's apparent. There are too many injuries and surgeries that have accumulated to make him physically capable of doing what he used to be able to do. But that is not to say that by modifying his game (as he has) that he can't be a contributing player. He now is more of a defensive-defensive who doesn't rush up the ice very much. But what he does to compensate is quickly pass the puck forward and get the offense moving north. He won't be making many crushing hits in the open ice but he is still as good playing his man and checking him man along the boards than anyone else on the unit. He may be physically diminished but he compensates by playing a more limited and smarter game.

Krueger's postgame comments on WGR. https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/12-02-ralph-krueger-postgame

Lance Lysowski of the Buffalo News gives a recap of the game. He noted that Jokiharju was on the first PP unit when he scored. It was also noted that the goal on the PP was the first time it happened in 38 attempts. Brutal! Does anyone know why the attendance is no longer given in the box score? How are the Sabres drawing? Is it dramatically down? https://buffalonews.com/2019/12/02/buffalo-sabres-new-jersey-devils-conor-sheary-jeff-skinner-jack-eichel-victor-olofsson-nhl-news-2019/?view=getnewpost

I'll take the win any time. However, I found both of the Toronto games exciting and dramatic because both teams played with passion and heart. New Jersey players seemed to be going through the motion.

In this type of game where we dominated the scoreboard you can't come away with any meaningful takeaways because the opposition played like an inert doormat. If there is a takeaway from this game it is that Ullmark has solidified his position as our #1 goalie. He is playing with confidence with very economical moves because his anticipation has been superb. One positive observation is that our younger players such as Joki, Olofasson, Asplund and Mitts are playing with more confidence and getting better. The GM's trade of Nylander for Joki was a fantastic deal for us. Joki not only is one of our most consistent defenders but he has become more offensively involved. For a youngster he plays with a lot of maturity and confidence. Krueger has been smartly juggling his defensive pairings. He knows how to fit the pieces. It's obvious that Risto playing fewer minutes improves his quality of play and results in less glaring mistakes. I don't know why so many people complain about having too many defensemen? Most organizations would love to have that problem. The smart HC's moving Mitts to the wing on a Johansson line has allowed him to play looser and up his game. He is steadily getting better. Although I am happy with our scoring goals this contest was very much a bore because the opposition was spiritless and not much of a match. It was good to see Mike Robataille (sic?) back in the booth talking hockey. Attached is a link of the standings. https://www.nhl.com/standings/2019/conference

A number of black Buffalo Bills all-stars were involved in threatening to boycotting the game and forcing the game to be moved out of New Orleans. Jack Kemp was also involved in standing with the black players who were being discriminated against as soon as they landed in New Orleans. https://theundefeated.com/features/when-racism-drove-the-afl-all-star-game-out-of-new-orleans/

WGR's Paul Hamilton writes about Okposo's health status. The organization is going to be cautious about his return to play. You have to worry about the post career effects of the numerous concussions he has suffered. https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/sabres-okposo-is-back-practicing-after-a-concussion

If there is a choice between funding education, medical care, elderly care, public safety and the public funding of a stadium for a billionaire the priority should be to use the tax dollars for public needs. That is not to say some money shouldn't be allocated for a stadium but the bulk of the money required to build a stadium should be the responsibility of the owners of the team. Some priorities are obviously more essential than others.

The attached link is a column by Bill Hoppe for the Buffalo Hockey Beat. It focuses on Olofsson and how he is developing a more well-rounded game. It notes that he could be in the running for a Rookie of the Year award. http://www.buffalohockeybeat.com/sabres-rookie-victor-olofsson-quickly-develops-into-all-around-presence/?view=getnewpost

If a new stadium is going to be built, regardless where it is located, it will nearly all be on Pegula. Someone posted awhile back that the Pegulas were discretely buying land around where the current stadium is located. Do you know anything about that? Is there enough land around the current stadium where a new stadium could be built if that was the direction the owners were to take.

This link is a column by Bill Hoppe with Buffalo Hockey Beat. This link was taken from the hockey side of TBD. The thrust of the article is that there are some positive signs indicated from the team's recent play. http://www.buffalohockeybeat.com/sabres-showing-signs-of-progress-close-month-one-point-out-of-playoff-spot/?view=getnewpost