JohnC

Nylander is 20 yrs old.

I'm not sure what your point is. Of course few of us board jockeys have the time to actually watch the players under review. The same limitations apply to other sports. And what compounds the challenge in hockey is the young age of those being evaluated. Where I disagree with you is that a sizeable number of the first round picks do in time become legitimate NHL players. I'm one of the least knowledgeable hockey people on this board. However, that doesn't mean that I lack common sense. If there are numerous draft sites that come to the same general evaluations then for me that is something to make a reasonable judgment from. Go back to the recent past number of drafts. You will observe that many of the high ranked players do turn out to be good players. There is an army of scouts who follow the prospects not only where they play in their leagues, colleges or wherever but also follow them in the international tournaments where you can make player comparisons. What's wrong with taking into consideration their evaluations?

You are missing the point. The players in the group after the top two from 3 to 10 are tightly bunched. Since six months ago Caufield has moved up from below the middle of the first round rated player to be a top 6-10 ranked player. The point I made is that most teams also rank him very high including those drafting ahead of us. There are no surprises and secrets about him and the other players in his grouping. The Sabre scout in his WGR analysis commented on all the players in the Caufield group. So he wasn't indicating who he favored. My point was that there is no guarantee that he will be on the board when we pick at the seven spot.

The Jets had no choice other than to ship him out for whatever they could get. Trouba is looking for a market value contract. Winnipeg simply could not fit him in within their cap especially since they have other contracts on the team to address. Ehlers is a good player on their roster who might be available in a trade because of their cap squeeze. I'm hoping that Botts can make a deal with a cap stressed team or two for a second line player. We got that extra first round pick to work with. All teams are active in the market but it has been noted by many in the business that Botts is aggressively seeking deals. Let's get something done!

What it means is if we are salivating over Caufield we aren't the only team slobbering over this player. This is a draft where it is futile to fixate on any one player in this grouping after the first two picks. I wouldn't complain about taking the Russian and then allow him to grow his game in Russia. In the group we will be drawing from none of those prospects will be ready in the first year or second year after their selection.

I'm also honing in on Caufield. However, more and more I'm starting to worry about whether he will still be one the board when we select. The more reports I here about Caufield the more I compare him to Skinner who is a scorer and Is scrappy. Whether the Sabres take a step up or continue to stagger will have a lot to do with how the young players come along. Will they be ready to consistently play at a NHL caliber level? Mitts, Oloffsson, Pilut and Nylander will be under scrutiny. Dahlin is in a separate gilded category by himself. There is an upside with this group of young players but is there enough patience to allow the talent to come to a fruition?

This is another WGR link with ESPN Chris Peters talking about the prospect. It is a 14 minute segment. Good stuff. He has a lot of good things to say about Caufield. https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/06-17-espns-chris-peters-howard-and-jeremy

A snapshot overview of some of the prospects the Sabres could be interested in from a WGR link. It's going to be interesting to see who drafts the Russian. The radio link is a 11 min. segment https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/06-17-sabres-director-amateur-scouting-ryan-jankowski-howard-and-jeremy https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/sabres-director-amateur-scouting-jankowski-knows-theyll-get-good-player-no7

The one thing that McDermott will never have better than Levy is a robust vocabulary. Levy was great in managing personalities. He delegated the offense and defense to his coaches. The SB game against the Giants was there to be had. Instead of allowing Kelly to throw the ball into an eight man coverage he should have forced the OC to run the ball with Thurman and Davis. Bill Belichick was the DC for the Giants. We had more talent and the Giants had better coaching.

Bob Lanier went to Bennett High. Rumor had it that he wanted to go to Canisius College but couldn't get in. I'm not sure if that is a true story or not? Calvin Murphy was one of the most dynamic players I have seen play in the college ranks. He was small but he was strong and a ball of fire. He can twirl that baton. Canisius College was not very receptive toward Buffalo High School talent, usually for academic issues. Gene Roberson from Burgard was one of the first local high profile black players to go to Canisius. He did well until he became academically ineligible. Mel Montgomery in HS was a man playing against boys. He stupidly was used in a car promotion that hurt his career because it clearly violated college rules. https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=nba+calvin+murphy+twirl+drum+majorette&view=detail&mid=36BA0E24DF8E2A9BD63236BA0E24DF8E2A9BD632&FORM=VIRE

John Hummer was a stiff. Bob McAdoo was a gem. Ernie DiGregorio can pass but couldn't play defense. Randy Smith is one of the fastest players ever in the league. Marvin Barnes was a crazy drug addict that everyone in the league knew about it but us. Paul Snyder is a conniving bastard. He starting selling players for cash and pocketed the money. He then left the city holding the bag. Shortly after the Bird/Magic era happened. The Aud was dark. ?

I am perplexed and befuddled. Is being down with a post better than being up with it? I am so uncool that I will never be cool no matter how I try.

You are misconstruing what I am saying. I, like you, am fascinated by the process and journey. Watching a team disassembled and then being reconstructed is to an extent more intriguing than the W/Ls. When you take on a major project the journey with all its twists and turns and ups and downs there are so many decisions that come into play. There are different stages in building a roster and different measurements in the equation. I'm not going to get encumbered by a particular decision when so many decisions are made in a short period of time. Sometimes you make the right call and sometimes you don't. How you handle your mistakes is just as important as how you handle your successes. The most important issue for me beyond the qb issue is how the OL comes together and performs. I'm not looking back----I'm looking forward. I'm optimistic.

Sneaking in is still getting in. Playing in the playoffs when not expected to is still an accomplishment. While some people consider it to be a mirage I know for a fact that it is a reality. For those who don't believe it I suggest that they check the record books. It's in black and white.

What isn't hypothetical is that the new coach in his first year took a stripped down team and made the playoffs for the first time in nearly a generation. That seems to be forgotten in the evaluation of this regime's performance in its young tenure. Chuck Knox is arguably the best coach that this franchise has had in its distinguished and not so distinguished history. Yet, in my opinion McDermott accomplished more with less in his inaugural year. You never here a peep about that from the snarling critics. No one is suggesting that this administration hasn't made mistakes. They certainly have. But if one is fair-minded and put things in perspective the overview is that they have done good job and have successfully laid the groundwork for more success.

I don't understand the issue of a choice or not. When McDermott took over the reigns he repeatedly publicly stated what he was going to do. It was going to be a complete rebuilding not only of the roster and restructuring the cap but also the organization. He had a vision of the type of people and players he wanted and quickly executed it. I understand that there were other approaches to take. That's as obvious as A is the first letter of the alphabet and Z is the last letter. No one needs to be constantly reminded that there are different strategies to run an operation. From day one there was no deviation from what the new HC stated he was going to do. What's the point of rehashing the rehash? What's the point of ad nauseum haranguing about the same point that another approach could have been taken when we are entering into year three following the declared strategy made upon assuming the job? It gets to be tiresome.

When I go I usually go for the fish combo that includes fries. I'm a common man who has pedestrian tastes. Simple solutions that don't call for meetings. Either widen the door or learn to come in and go out sideways.

If you go to McD's for the fries or anything else on the menu what do you expect to get? If you have gourmet tastes then that isn't the establishment for you.

Simple solution: Use the microwave.

The problem isn't stating an A and B option when there is only an A and B option. The problem is constantly stating a preferred option and acting as if the other option is held by naïve fools.

Some people blinded by their own brilliance believe that they are novel thinkers by creating the paradigm of success and failure. Inspector Clouseau and Forrest Gump could have come to the same conclusion in less than a New York minute.

Isn't that the system/standard for most organizations?

I'm a little surprised at the no move clause for Caserio. The standard approach is that after gaining permission to talk to one's staffer if a promotion is offered the staffer is allowed to leave. I suspect that there were problems relating to the initial conduct without getting permission. There is something smelly about how the approach was made by Houston.

The clowns you refer to will never melt away. It's their life mission to state on every Allen topic that the Bills should have drafted Mahomes or Watson a year earlier. Their life moto is: "If only we would have done this instead of doing that." For them it's all about the retrospect and little to do with moving forward. Their world view is could've and should've. https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=movie+on+the+waterfront+i+could+have+been+a+champion+scene+with&&view=detail&mid=58B3830F7C00554B487558B3830F7C00554B4875&&FORM=VRDGAR

I'm very confident that if a deal for Vesey is made it would not require much in return. If he is being dangled by the Rangers that indicates that he is not in their plans and would want to get something for him before he is eventually dispatched. He's certainly not a prolific scorer but his hallmark is that he is a good two way player. I don't see this new coaching regime being as tolerant of loose play as the prior regime. Another player that the GM has to account for with his cap space is Montour. He will be a free agent after next year. This team can't afford too many quality subtractions.