JohnC

Now that the Bills are out of the market for a franchise qb this franchise has so many more options in the draft. Last year, the Bills had to figure out how to move up and compute the costs associated with moving up. Now we have the flexibility to stay pat or move down. However the brain trust decides to go I think we are getting to the point where the accumulation of three good drafts will at the minimum get us at threshold of having enough talent to have a competitive team. The theme of this offseason should be surrounding Josh Allen with enough talent where he can be successful. This is a notion that Beane has stated on numerous occasions. I hope he can accomplish it. The model that I would like to see followed is the Colt model where they added talent on the line to (Nelson and Smith) and upgraded protecting their talented qb and allowing him to flourish.

The most effective way of upgrading your roster is stringing together three good quality drafts. That is in my opinion better than having one great draft followed by average drafts. In the McDermott era we have had two good drafts. And hopefully having another good draft will set the stage for this team to become a more serious team in the league.

I would say New Orleans's draft in 2017 was even better and more impacting. https://clutchpoints.com/how-the-2017-nfl-draft-completely-turned-the-new-orleans-saints-around/

The Colts had the most impacting draft class in the league with G Nelson, OT Smith and LB Leonard. It wasn't a sexy draft but it was a focused draft that made their qb more effective and safer.

Kirby, You are getting greedy. I don't see the Skins making that move. If there was an elite qb prospect then your proposal might make sense. But I don't see that caliber of qb in this draft. There is a chance that Alex Smith's career might be in jeopardy. If that was the case I would think that they would go the free agent route for a qb and then use their picks to address their other multiple needs. The owner has become a pariah in his own market because of the incompetent manner he has managed the operation. This franchise has literally lost a generation of fans. The problem with him is that he is constantly taking a marketing approach when running the football operation. That is a predictable failed strategy in this highly competitive business. He is currently reaping what he has so arrogantly sowed. The fans are tired of this systemic mediocrity and are responding with their indifference.

Our defensive unit is exponentially better than last year's group. Having a healthy Bogo has made a difference. He's not our best defenseman but he is a player who has improved the play of everyone who has been paired with him. We have the making of a good unit now and for the future. Risto, Dahlin, Pilut, McCabe and hopefully in the not too distant future Guhle. I always considered Risto more of a second pairing caliber of a defenseman. I have elevated my view of him and consider him a legitimate top pairing player. He's certainly increased the breath of his game with more offensive participation. Pilut may have the most accurate shot of the defensemen. I envision him playing more on the PP because of his shooting ability. Dahlin is in a class of his own. A couple of years down the road when he physically matures he is going to be an elite player in this league. He already has the vision and skating ability. Now he needs mother nature to take its course and allow him to muscle up.

I wonder how he would respond if his daughter/wife came home and told him that someone acted like he did at her job?

I'm missing your point. This case was investigated by the personnel department that gets involved in these type of complaints. The dismissal was because of improper conduct as it related to interaction with a server.

The company interviewed people who were involved and were at the scene. A decision was made according to the facts of the case. Due diligence and process were fully applied. Your complaint how this case was handled make little sense.

Scandella is a third pairing caliber defenseman. If he plays at that level I would be more than satisfied. I'm not as harsh as many in my assessment of him, maybe because my expectation is less than some. What I would like from him is a little more consistency in his game. When defensemen make bad plays it is usually more evident than when wingers don't play so responsibly because their mistakes often directly lead to opposing scores while forward lapses are more likely to indirectly lead to scores. The Sabres have for the most part played well against superior teams such as Tampa, Toronto and Calgary. More often than not the more talented team prevailed. But that is not to say the losing team (Sabres) didn't play well and hard. The problem for the Sabres is that there is an imbalance of talent throughout the roster. Or simply put there is a dearth of overall talent. That's the heart of the matter that can't be missed. While some people see the HC as a problem I don't see it that way. The last thing this team and franchise needs is a churning of the staff. My recommendation that I strongly held (right now) is to stay the course.

The Pegulas are setting a standard of conduct for people working within their enterprise. They are not allowing people in authority to abuse their status. This is not individual conduct isolated from their business. Whether it is in the workplace or outside of it there is a standard of behavior that is going to be applied. By taking action the Pegulas are making it clear to those involved (people at the top and bottom) in their company that certain behavior will not be tolerated. People who work for them are going to be held accountable for their conduct, especially as it relates to treating women. I give the Pegulas credit because they are not hesitant to apply the rules to people high up in the organization such as Brandon and the upper echelon employees in this story. The people at the top set the tone for the company. Their actions give their words meaning.

The best player on the team leading the team. Calgary is one of the best teams in the league. It's apparent that Calgary is the better team for the obvious reason that they have more better players. But when the Sabres play hard and smart they can for the most part can keep up. Stay the course. https://www.nhl.com/video/eichels-stellar-ot-winner/t-277350912/c-64996803

I don't consider Scandella a second pairing caliber defenseman. Not last year or this year. At best he is a third pairing type of player. One of the worst things you can say about a defenseman is that he is inconsistent. This year he has been inconsistent. Sometimes there are episodic flashes of being good. But in general he is what he is: A third pairing backer. If a player is a third pairing talent that isn't an indictment of the player so much as it is a ranking of him. But his uneven play is what drops his standing as a player.

The below link is from a WGR interview of Chris Taylor, the coach of Amerks. He talks about Nylander and Guhle and player development.. This is a a little longer than a seven minute segment. https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/01-16-amerks-head-coach-chris-taylor-howard-and-jeremy

Attached is a 13 minute link from a WGR interview with John Shannon from Sportsnet. At the end of the interview he talks about where the Sabres are and their near future. His view and perspective regarding the Sabres mirror my view and perspective. My advice to you is not to let the struggles of the present cloud the upbeat prospects of the not too distant future. Trust the process! https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/01-16-sportsnets-john-shannon-howard-and-jeremy

One of the advantages of Nylander and Guhle being in the AHL right now rather than being with the Sabres is that they both would be getting much more playing time. In addition, by playing at the lower level both of them would be getting more opportunities to play in different situations such as the PP and penalty kill. If not sometime this year I'm sure that each of them will be up with the big club at the latest by next year. According to Paul Hamilton of WGR he stated that the organization felt that Mittelstadt was beyond the AHL level and would have gotten less development playing in the minors compared to the NHL (as you also noted).

The fans have every right to be frustrated and feel aggrieved. But the best thing that the GM can do is make hockey decisions that will not only improve the team but make it a serious team in the not too distant future. The Buffalo fans in both sports have dealt with a lot of bad play. On the other hand when they see their teams playing hard and they see some progress they respond. Any fan that watches Jack and Dahlin have to be excited not only with their play but with the near future. It's tough but it is not without hope. At least that is how I see it.

When you have a lot of good prospects sometimes it is self-defeating to bring them up all at once because the team can't absorb all of them at the same time and remain competitive. Tage was not playing too much in the beginning of the year. But the coaches were working with him on an individual basis in practice. Now he is playing regularly. These are not easy decisions. The staff makes a lot of judgments based on what they believe is the best approach to take for each player.

I agree that the fan base is very bruised and battered and frustrated. However, what I don't want to see happen is this franchise make short-term deals in order for us to be respectable at the expense of being good a year or two later. As I stated in a prior post Chicago, Pitts, Toronto, Washington etc went through some extended droughts before becoming cup contending teams. This constant temptation to quicken the pace in order to forestall the frustrations associated with a rebuild ends up setting us back rather than moving us forward. I have confidence in Botterill!

Odds are that Nylander will be brought up this year. If not, he will be a full-time NHL player next year. Paul Hamilton from WGR stated that the front office considered placing Mittelstadt and even Tage in the AHL. It concluded that keeping them with the big club was the best route for their development.

You ask what is the time span. That's a fair question but the process has become an extended process because we keep starting over. What happened when Pegula bought the franchise? There was the intrigue with LaFontaine and who was actually running the ship. Then there was the blustering Murray who talked a good game but his decisions lacked coherency. Then Botterill took over for the operation and used his first year to assess what he had throughout the organization.(That was a smart approach to take.) How many years were squandered in this constant churning of front offices? I'm resolutely sticking with Botterill and his blueprint of emphasizing drafting and developing. Eventually you will get to the point that you have an established system and then can make more consequential deals. If you want me to make a guess how much longer a will say at least another two years. I'm counting on Mittelstadt, Tage, Guhle, Pilut, Guhle and another one or two farm players to develop to the point that they are authentic NHL players. What has set this franchise back is the constant changing of the front office and coaching staff. Pegula shares a lot of blame for that instability. I think that he has finally learned from both franchises that he needed to get the front office/s in place and then empower them. Again, I'm predicting two years to get to the point of being a serious team. I believe in Botterill and the blueprint he has laid out.

The best thing that happened to Buffalo was Berglund bailing out. He was an inconsequential player whose departure as a player meant little and had the extra benefit of saving money from his substracted contract. He is an example of a player whose can't performance precipitously declined because his heart wasn't in it in Buffalo. In an effort sport that is self-sabotaging. I understand and to a degree sympathetic to his plight but that's the nature of the business. In general, l disagree with you and Plezmd regarding the schedule for success. The process can't be predicted because you don't know in advance about each individual prospect's rate of development. Will Tage or Mittelstadt or Nylander or Pilot or Guhle etc be dramatically better next year? No one can predict. But I believe that these players will eventually become good players for us. There are some who are less optimistic about their prospects. There's no magic or hidden recipe from turning around a bottom-feeding team to being a contending team. You make your picks, develop them and then phase them in. It's not a quick process because it never was. Chicago was bad for a decade or more and was playing in an empty building. Eventually their high picks developed and they were good for a long time. The same process applied to Pittsburgh; and the same process applied to the Capitals; and the same process applied to Toronto etc. No one is denying that it is frustrating being in the midst of this excruciating and exasperating process. It's my firm belief that deviating from the process in order to gain some short term success not only results in extending the process but more often than not derails it.

They had the center you are now seeking. He was ROR. He was traded because he made it clear that he didn't want to be here. He now is having a stellar year and will help them to get into the playoffs and in the playoffs. I not criticizing the deal because in the long run it will help in the reshaping of this roster and lockerroom. We got Tage and probably less than a middle first round pick in return. The most important part of that deal was that it brought some salary relief that will be directed toward the long term signing of Skinner. Will Tage turn out to be a second line player? I think in the not too distant future he will turn into a good player. The bottom line is from a talent standpoint in the short term it was a setback but in the bigger picture it will turn out to be a good deal for both teams. I'll tell you the same thing that I say to Plexmd: A plan has been established and it is being followed. There is no other way to succeed other than to be brave enough to follow it.

Chris Trapasso of CBS Sports was on WGR talking about prospects. It is a 15 min. segment. He was talking about prospects who would be appealing to Buffalo. https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/01-15-chris-trapasso-cbs-sports-howard-and-jeremy

No, I am not interested in a coaching change to salvage a fading season. If you want magic then go to a Vegas show and watch Teller and Penn or David Blaine. The problem is a combination of a lack of talent and the requirement to develop talent. Don't panic and fall into a state of despair. The process can be at times excruciating but if you have the fortitude to stick with it you will be rewarded. Trust the process. https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=magic+shows+david+blaine&view=detail&mid=79C5C6AC493024144BFD79C5C6AC493024144BFD&FORM=VIRE