Buffalo Sabres and NHL: 2019/20: Sabres season officially over. Draft lottery June 26th

[shrader]

On 5/25/2019 at 11:51 PM, Taro T said:

 

Totally get the point you're driving at regarding trading present (Nieuwendyk) for future (Iginla) & hope it works out that way, but Calgary fully expected to be getting a future star for trading a present one.  Can't honestly say that Botterill likely expected that.  Thompson wasn't even one of the Blues top 3 prospects.

 

This trade looks far more like Hasek for Kozlov than Joe for Jerome.

 

Kozlov was 29 at the time of the trade, so that one really wasn't a "looking towards the future" deal.  But anyway, it's kind of funny to look back on that deal and see that the other piece wound up being a big part of a Stanley Cup champion.

 

Speaking of Paille, apparently his draft pick bounced around between a bunch of teams and the first trade was for Joe Nieuwendyk.  There's an odd coincidence for this whole discussion.

[BillsFan4]

14 hours ago, Taro T said:

 

Didn't read it.  Thanks for the heads up to avoid it.  

I try my best to avoid clicking on any article with Harrington’s name attached to it.

He’s just been covering crappy buffalo teams for too long now. He’s just a jaded journalist at this point. 

 

I think it’s about time he joined his best buddies, Bucky and sully, wherever they’re at now. 

 

I really like that Lance Lysowski guy the buffalo news hired, though. He’s written some excellent pieces. 

Edited May 28, 2019 by BillsFan4

[JohnC]

40 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

I try my best to avoid clicking on any article with Harrington’s name attached to it.

He’s just been covering crappy buffalo teams for too long now. He’s just a jaded journalist at this point. 

 

I think it’s about time he joined his best buddies, Bucky and sully, wherever they’re at now. 

 

I really like that Lance Lysowski guy the buffalo news hired, though. He’s written some excellent pieces. 

There's another way of looking at Harrington and his coverage: Improve the product and the coverage will have a more positive tinge to it. It's got to be dispiriting to cover Buffalo's two lackluster pro franchises that have not been competitive for a decade and more. You don't think that it isn't tiresome for Harrington and Paul Hamilton to go into the Sabres's dreary locker room after an all too often spiritless game and ask the same questions about the play only to get the same non-informing droning responses?   

 

The Bills seem to be on an upward trajectory. The coverage in the local and outside media seem (to me) to be more positive. Last year, during the hockey team's winning streak the coverage was overflowingly positive. That streak proved to be an illusionary reflection of the real status of the team. It's not surprising that the media coverage then turned even more negative. And it should have. 

 

I'm more upbeat about the near future prospects for the Sabres than most are. The coverage will become more positive when the play on the ice and front office decisions  warrant it.  The hiring of Krueger was a good decision. The media response from the local and out of town coverage was overwhelmingly positive. 

[BillsFan4]

48 minutes ago, JohnC said:

There's another way of looking at Harrington and his coverage: Improve the product and the coverage will have a more positive tinge to it. It's got to be dispiriting to cover Buffalo's two lackluster pro franchises that have not been competitive for a decade and more. You don't think that it isn't tiresome for Harrington and Paul Hamilton to go into the Sabres's dreary locker room after an all too often spiritless game and ask the same questions about the play only to get the same non-informing droning responses?

 

The Bills seem to be on an upward trajectory. The coverage in the local and outside media seem (to me) to be more positive. Last year, during the hockey team's winning streak the coverage was overflowingly positive. That streak proved to be an illusionary reflection of the real status of the team. It's not surprising that the media coverage then turned even more negative. And it should have. 

 

I'm more upbeat about the near future prospects for the Sabres than most are. The coverage will become more positive when the play on the ice and front office decisions  warrant it.  The hiring of Krueger was a good decision. The media response from the local and out of town coverage was overwhelmingly positive. 

 

I agree. That’s why I said that I think he’s been covering crappy buffalo teams for too long and It’s taken a toll on him. 

 

He just seems unable to objectively cover the team anymore. 

 

You can see a big difference in the way he covers the Sabres struggles vs a new guy like Lance Lysowski (IMO anyway)

Edited May 28, 2019 by BillsFan4

[JohnC]

6 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

 

I agree. That’s why I said that I think he’s been covering crappy buffalo teams for too long and It’s taken a toll on him. 

 

He just seems unable to objectively cover the team anymore. 

 

You can see a big difference in the way he covers the Sabres struggles vs a new guy like Lance Lysowski (IMO anyway)

You intentionally or not bring up an interesting/intriguing issue. Sometimes reporting on the same team (good or bad) for too long can unintentionally make you a lazy and stale reporter. As with any endeavor sometimes backing off and taking a hiatus from your task you can gain not necessarily a better perspective but at least a different perspective. In addition, sometimes when there is a close association there is a (human) tendency to allow your relationships (good or bad) with the players, coaches and organization to influence your views.

 

The Buffalo sports scene isn't wide in scope and the Buffalo News isn't a large newspaper with a lot of reporters to give you the flexibility to rotate those covering the sports. It's in fact fairly small with a limited workforce. But it might be a good idea to rotate assignments in different sports including the college ranks to make sure that there is a freshness in perspective to those covering the different sports.   

[K-9]

24 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

 

I agree. That’s why I said that I think he’s been covering crappy buffalo teams for too long and It’s taken a toll on him. 

 

He just seems unable to objectively cover the team anymore. 

 

You can see a big difference in the way he covers the Sabres struggles vs a new guy like Lance Lysowski (IMO anyway)

Like O’Reilly, Harington has lost his love and passion for the beat. 

 

Time for the Buffalo News to trade him to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 

[GG]

There's a history of bad blood between Pegulas and TBN (Harrington specifically), so it shouldn't be surprising that Harrington penned a hit job on the organization.

 

The bigger issue is that the story lacks any newsworthiness that any follower of the team doesn't already know.  It's worse that the local veteran Sabres reporter parroted the national/Canadian stories about the lopsided trade, despite having far greater access to the facts surrounding the trade.   Heck, there's been far more detail revealed in the last two pages of this thread on possibly why Sabres dumped O'Reilly than anything in Harrington's piece. 

 

It was lazy journalism, whose bigger intent was to rub it into Pegulas than to provide a newsworthy account.

[Nextmanup]

On 5/25/2019 at 6:18 PM, Lurker said:

 

 

 

 

 

Hockey's future message board.    https://hfboards.mandatory.com/forums/buffalo-sabres.18/

 

If you can believe it, it's full of even bigger, more obnoxious asshats than TSW...

 

 

The atmosphere at HFboards (the Sabres section) is positively toxic and has one of the biggest douchebag-filled environments you will ever find.

 

It's a shame, too, because it is the most knowledgable Sabres forum in existence and worlds ahead of Sabrespace, for example.

 

But these kids who spend all day every day on message boards fighting with strangers and treating everyone around them with a total lack of respect...it's weird, and gross.

 

I'd love to meet some of these people in person, or just get a glance at them.  See what makes them tick.

 

I think a lot of these people are tech/anti-social types by nature, and the internet came along and became the perfect facilitator for them to go off the rails.  In the good old days pre-net, these were just the freak loner type down the hall.  Now we have communities of them and they have a voice, even if somewhat limited.

 

 

 

 

[JohnC]

32 minutes ago, GG said:

There's a history of bad blood between Pegulas and TBN (Harrington specifically), so it shouldn't be surprising that Harrington penned a hit job on the organization.

 

The bigger issue is that the story lacks any newsworthiness that any follower of the team doesn't already know.  It's worse that the local veteran Sabres reporter parroted the national/Canadian stories about the lopsided trade, despite having far greater access to the facts surrounding the trade.   Heck, there's been far more detail revealed in the last two pages of this thread on possibly why Sabres dumped O'Reilly than anything in Harrington's piece. 

 

It was lazy journalism, whose bigger intent was to rub it into Pegulas than to provide a newsworthy account.

There is an obvious reason why the ROR is a topic of discussion in the local, national and Canadian hockey media: He is a traded player that contributed to a team that is now playing in the cup finals. He without question played an important role on that team. So what's so surprising about there being judgments about the trade coming up again? 

 

I have not criticized the deal for a variety of reasons. But it is not unfair for critics to at least at this point conclude that this was a very uneven deal. My position is that there is still time to make associated deals from the original deal that will make this deal look less imbalanced. 

 

As far as the Pegulas as owners being treated unfairly I don't see it. This team under their stewardship has by any measure lagged and been a disappointment. If they want more glowing reporting on themselves and their team then the organization has to be run more smartly and improve its play on the ice. 

[Dr. Who]

Pegulas should get something simple right just for starters:  royal blue.

[GG]

4 hours ago, JohnC said:

There is an obvious reason why the ROR is a topic of discussion in the local, national and Canadian hockey media: He is a traded player that contributed to a team that is now playing in the cup finals. He without question played an important role on that team. So what's so surprising about there being judgments about the trade coming up again? 

 

I have not criticized the deal for a variety of reasons. But it is not unfair for critics to at least at this point conclude that this was a very uneven deal. My position is that there is still time to make associated deals from the original deal that will make this deal look less imbalanced. 

 

As far as the Pegulas as owners being treated unfairly I don't see it. This team under their stewardship has by any measure lagged and been a disappointment. If they want more glowing reporting on themselves and their team then the organization has to be run more smartly and improve its play on the ice. 

 

I didn't say that the article wasn't topical.  I said that it was lazy journalism that parroted the national media and offered nothing new, which is something that you expect a local beat writer to provide.   Don't you think going down the road of whether the Cal situation in Rochester had some bearing on the decision to get rid of Ryan a few months later?   

[JohnC]

Just now, GG said:

 

I didn't say that the article wasn't topical.  I said that it was lazy journalism that parroted the national media and offered nothing new, which is something that you expect a local beat writer to provide.   Don't you think going down the road of whether the Cal situation in Rochester had some bearing on the decision to get rid of Ryan a few months later?   

The Cal situation has been speculated on but has not been confirmed. So it would not have been appropriate for the reporter from a standard standpoint to report it.  Did the Cal situation have a bearing on the ROR departure? Who knows? What is known about ROR is that he made it clear to the organization and publicly that he wanted out.  

[GG]

24 minutes ago, JohnC said:

The Cal situation has been speculated on but has not been confirmed. So it would not have been appropriate for the reporter from a standard standpoint to report it.  Did the Cal situation have a bearing on the ROR departure? Who knows? What is known about ROR is that he made it clear to the organization and publicly that he wanted out.  

 

Uhm, isn't it the job of the beat reporter to get to the bottom of the story, much of which is behind the scenes, instead of regurgitating public knowledge? 

[Alaska Darin]

3 hours ago, Dr. Who said:

Pegulas should get something simple right just for starters:  royal blue.

They got rid of the Slug and kept the team in Buffalo.  I'm not arguing with you about royal blue (I wholeheartedly agree).

 

[Lurker]

6 hours ago, Nextmanup said:

I'd love to meet some of these people in person, or just get a glance at them.  

 

I suspect they look like the shirtless guy, above.

 

Come to think of it, that's what a lot of the in-arena crowd looks like as well.   I've always thoughSabres fans are a lot dumpier looking than Bills fans, based on TV broadcast crowd shots...

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, GG said:

 

Uhm, isn't it the job of the beat reporter to get to the bottom of the story, much of which is behind the scenes, instead of regurgitating public knowledge? 

The reporter/s did get the story right with respect to ROR. He wanted out and expressed his disgruntlement with the team and organization. The front office, like every organization, conducted exit interviews. One of the primary players on the team wanted out. The player had no hidden agenda because it was a public agenda. It was apparent to everyone covering the team,  on the team and in the organization that he wanted to be moved. The story about ROR was not a hidden backroom story because he made his feelings publicly known. That's the story! And it is not a unique story that only happens in Buffalo.  

 

You are trying to manufacture a side story about his minor league brother that had little bearing on a storyline that exists for all teams in all pro sports i.e. that a player, sometimes a prominent player and sometimes a marginal player,  wants out. So a deal was made to accommodate the player and the interest of the team. 

[Kevbeau]

3 hours ago, Lurker said:

 

I suspect they look like the shirtless guy, above.

 

Come to think of it, that's what a lot of the in-arena crowd looks like as well.   I've always thoughSabres fans are a lot dumpier looking than Bills fans, based on TV broadcast crowd shots...

dumpier... possibly...but I’ve never seen a Sabres fan s*** in a urinal

Edited May 29, 2019 by Kevbeau

[GG]

9 hours ago, JohnC said:

The reporter/s did get the story right with respect to ROR. He wanted out and expressed his disgruntlement with the team and organization. The front office, like every organization, conducted exit interviews. One of the primary players on the team wanted out. The player had no hidden agenda because it was a public agenda. It was apparent to everyone covering the team,  on the team and in the organization that he wanted to be moved. The story about ROR was not a hidden backroom story because he made his feelings publicly known. That's the story! And it is not a unique story that only happens in Buffalo.  

 

You are trying to manufacture a side story about his minor league brother that had little bearing on a storyline that exists for all teams in all pro sports i.e. that a player, sometimes a prominent player and sometimes a marginal player,  wants out. So a deal was made to accommodate the player and the interest of the team. 

 

If it was so transparent, where are the quotes from team mates that O'Reilly wanted out?  Even if nobody wanted to go on record, a good journalist would find ways to describe the situation if it was clear cut as you make it sound. 

 

What Harrington doesn't do is try to delve into the Sabres/Pegulas' reasons for dumping O'Reilly after giving him a massive contract and slapping a C on the sweater.   Instead he gave a lazy rehash of news that everyone already knew.  That's not journalism.

[shrader]

13 hours ago, Alaska Darin said:

They got rid of the Slug and kept the team in Buffalo.  I'm not arguing with you about royal blue (I wholeheartedly agree).

 

 

I fully expect to see the royal blue this season.  They have nothing to gain from releasing that info right now, so they might as well string along the fans for a while.  It will get that much better of a reaction right around September.

[JohnC]

The combine interviewing for the draft has started this week. This is a WGR Paul Hamilton link. 

 

I would prefer to keep the high first round pick and then trade off the second lower first round pick in a deal to add more immediate help. 

 

https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/nhl-scouting-combine-full-swing-0