Buffalo Sabres & NHL 2020-2021

[Dr. Who]

1 hour ago, BillsFan4 said:

He had a bad season for sure, but I have to believe he has some value even if it’s not a ton. I don’t think he’s just a throw away player you don’t qualify and lose for nothing. 

Absolutely horrendous asset management if they let him go for nothing. It's not true that he has no value.

[4merper4mer]

2 hours ago, Dr. Who said:

Absolutely horrendous asset management if they let him go for nothing. It's not true that he has no value.

His value may be less than what it costs to qualify him.  I'm not familiar with all the specifics, but unless the qualifying cost is zero or very low, Bots special number 872 is worth less.  The asset management mistake was in acquiring him.  Jettisoning him is a forgone conclusion.  He may not have "zero" value, but it's pretty close.  Trade him to Seattle for a case of that rum, drink it all and hope it makes us forget we ever got him in the first place.

[Ridgewaycynic2013]

6 hours ago, 4merper4mer said:

Trade him to Seattle for a case of that rum, drink it all and hope it makes us forget we ever got him in the first place.

See if you can score a few Krackle jerseys in the deal, too!  ?

[BillsFan4]

 

Matt Ellis also hired by the Sabres as director of player development but I guess it won’t be officially announced until next month.

https://buffalonews.com/sports/sabres/sources-matt-ellis-joining-sabres-as-director-of-player-development/article_2326ddfc-de48-11ea-acdd-5711c15065a1.html

Edited August 14, 2020 by BillsFan4

[apuszczalowski]

22 hours ago, 4merper4mer said:

To be fair to Adams, Montour was another Bots special.  He blows.

Wasn't he one of those guys that many here were wanting the Sabres to go get?

 

[BillsFan4]

https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2020/08/15/boston-bruins-goalie-tuukka-rask-opt-out-2020-stanley-cup-playoffs/
 

Tuukka Rask opts out. 

[ChevyVanMiller]

52 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2020/08/15/boston-bruins-goalie-tuukka-rask-opt-out-2020-stanley-cup-playoffs/
 

Tuukka Rask opts out. 

He did it one day after stating that it didn't feel like the playoffs with no fans in attendance. Put his teammates in a tough spot.

[KD in CA]

Here in Buffalo?  I didn't know they still had a team.

 

[BillsFan4]

https://www.nhl.com/sabres/video/kevyn-adams-81820/t-277437090/c-5405542
 

new interview with Kevyn Adams from a few days ago.

 

 

 

I thought this interview with the new Amerks head coach was pretty good (starts about 5min in)

[BillsFan4]

 

Good! Hopefully he’s being honest (I think he is).

[4merper4mer]

1 hour ago, BillsFan4 said:

 

Good! Hopefully he’s being honest (I think he is).

Mistake number 1.  That's if you don't count the y in Kevyn as a mistake because it is parent's fault.

 

Montour is terrible but maybe there aren't many options after being shackled by Bots.

[BillsFan4]

1 hour ago, 4merper4mer said:

Mistake number 1.  That's if you don't count the y in Kevyn as a mistake because it is parent's fault.

 

Montour is terrible but maybe there aren't many options after being shackled by Bots.

I feel the exact opposite of you. IMO If Adams doesn’t qualify him I’ll consider it a mistake.

I don’t think he’s terrible. He had a down season but look at how he was used. Dude didn’t have a consistent partner,eve during a game. He was given a rotating cast of D partners and asked to play the left side, right side and sometimes even a few shifts at forward all in the same game.

 

Last time Anaheim was in the playoffs (season before Montour was traded here), Montour was their best defenseman. He took over games. We haven’t really seen much of that player in Buffalo (maybe a bit under Housley) but what player has come to Buffalo and thrived? Skinner in his contract year riding shotgun to Eichel? I won’t be surprised if he’s traded and has a rebound year playing for a more competent organization.
 

 

I am perfectly fine trying to trade him, especially if Krueger plans to continue to use him like he did last season, but he’s not the type of player you don’t qualify. He’s not in that class of depth/throw away players not worth their QO. He’s worth something. He’s a young top 4 right handed “puck moving” defenseman with good mobility, some offense to his game, a good shot and the ability to WB a power play. That’s a # of things teams look for and the type of asset that should at least hold some value in the current NHL. His contract situation and down season may hurt his value but if Adams has to let him walk for nothing to move him off the roster, it’s not going to fill me with very much confidence w/r/t Adams abilities as a GM. 
 

[4merper4mer]

16 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

I feel the exact opposite of you. IMO If Adams doesn’t qualify him I’ll consider it a mistake.

I don’t think he’s terrible. He had a down season but look at how he was used. Dude didn’t have a consistent partner,eve during a game. He was given a rotating cast of D partners and asked to play the left side, right side and sometimes even a few shifts at forward all in the same game.

 

Last time Anaheim was in the playoffs (season before Montour was traded here), Montour was their best defenseman. He took over games. We haven’t really seen much of that player in Buffalo (maybe a bit under Housley) but what player has come to Buffalo and thrived? Skinner in his contract year riding shotgun to Eichel? I won’t be surprised if he’s traded and has a rebound year playing for a more competent organization.
 

 

I am perfectly fine trying to trade him, especially if Krueger plans to continue to use him like he did last season, but he’s not the type of player you don’t qualify. He’s not in that class of depth/throw away players not worth their QO. He’s worth something. He’s a young top 4 right handed “puck moving” defenseman with good mobility, some offense to his game, a good shot and the ability to WB a power play. That’s a # of things teams look for and the type of asset that should at least hold some value in the current NHL. His contract situation and down season may hurt his value but if Adams has to let him walk for nothing to move him off the roster, it’s not going to fill me with very much confidence w/r/t Adams abilities as a GM. 
 

He looks like yet another mentally weak guy to me and comes off as an arrogant jackass in interviews.  I get some of what you're saying about usage but wouldn't be surprised if Krueger was giving him the business to improve his attitude.  Why spin wheels with guys like that?  If we can get a Dareus type return I suppose there is no harm.

 

Bots talent evaluation was out of whack.  Here's hoping Adams' is better.

[BillsFan4]

https://nhl.nbcsports.com/2020/08/23/capitals-fire-coach-todd-reirden-after-two-seasons/
 

Capitals fire Todd Rierden after losing to Barry Trotz in the 1st round of the playoffs.

 

2 years after letting Trotz walk (when he wanted a new deal) supposedly because of how highly the GM thought of Rierden. He was getting head coaching interview opportunities and they didn’t want to let him get away. The GM also said he worried Trotz’s voice was growning stale. The offseason after the Caps had won the Cup.

 

I’d have a lot of questions for Brian Maclellan if I were a Caps fan.

[snafu]

17 hours ago, BillsFan4 said:

I feel the exact opposite of you. IMO If Adams doesn’t qualify him I’ll consider it a mistake.

I don’t think he’s terrible. He had a down season but look at how he was used. Dude didn’t have a consistent partner,eve during a game. He was given a rotating cast of D partners and asked to play the left side, right side and sometimes even a few shifts at forward all in the same game.

 

Last time Anaheim was in the playoffs (season before Montour was traded here), Montour was their best defenseman. He took over games. We haven’t really seen much of that player in Buffalo (maybe a bit under Housley) but what player has come to Buffalo and thrived? Skinner in his contract year riding shotgun to Eichel? I won’t be surprised if he’s traded and has a rebound year playing for a more competent organization.
 

 

I am perfectly fine trying to trade him, especially if Krueger plans to continue to use him like he did last season, but he’s not the type of player you don’t qualify. He’s not in that class of depth/throw away players not worth their QO. He’s worth something. He’s a young top 4 right handed “puck moving” defenseman with good mobility, some offense to his game, a good shot and the ability to WB a power play. That’s a # of things teams look for and the type of asset that should at least hold some value in the current NHL. His contract situation and down season may hurt his value but if Adams has to let him walk for nothing to move him off the roster, it’s not going to fill me with very much confidence w/r/t Adams abilities as a GM. 
 

 

I have said it before, I think they should convert him to wing.

 

 

[Brennan Huff]

I’ve read some rumors about interest in Sean Monahan. I’d absolutely love to have him at the right cost. 

[BillsFan4]

 

[Delete This Account]

On 6/11/2020 at 10:07 AM, JohnC said:

Attached is a link by AP's John Wawrow. The article addresses the organizational structure of the Pegula sports entreprise and the layers of management involved in running the sports business. My takeaway is simple. If you hire the right people and allow them to run the operation you are more likely to have success. The Bills are an example of that with McDermott and Beane having full authority to make football decisions. The Sabres are the antithesis of that notion as exemplified by the constant churning of hockey staff and the not so surprising outcome. 

 

In my opinion what this organization didn't need was more tumult in the organization by firing Botterill who was on the last year of his contract. The Pegulas made the right to decision to allow him to finish his contract. Botterill has been given enough time to implement his strategy to run the hockey operation. Next season is his do or die season. If the team has meaningful success he will be retained; if this team doesn't have meaningful success he will not be retained. And that is how it should be. 

 

https://apnews.com/13d5ef6efda7c67b2f2bb67943472709?view=getnewpost

 

I agree with this post whole-heartedly still.

 

jw

[BillsFan4]

 

 

Quote

The Buffalo Sabres are the only coaching staff to reject a request for a voluntary pay reduction. Sources indicated that the Sabres staff had pay reduced by 20 per cent from April 1 until July 13, at which point they turned down a subsequent request for a 25 per cent reduction.

 

Almost universally, NHL coaches – high up on the front office food chain – accepted the reductions without complaint because doing so meant that layoffs would not be necessary for other hockey operations positions, including scouts and analysts.

 

But the Sabres were already operating with a lean staff after 22 people were fired by the club in a June 16 bloodletting that began with GM Jason Botterill. Teams had leverage with ‘force majeure’ clauses in contracts, but those were not applicable once training camps began again and league play as a whole was no longer suspended.

 

Quote

Sources say the Sabres are considering an internal salary cap in the low $70 million range. the Arizona Coyotes, who recently failed to make on-time signing bonus payments to a number of players, may be operating just south of $70 million under their next GM; the Pittsburgh Penguins are reportedly planning to budget in the low-to-mid $70 million range on an $81.5 million limit.

I don’t know how they will operate at a cap of $70M with the contracts they already have on the books. Eichel and skinner alone will take up what, 30+%?
 

We are far from the only team making pay cuts (more in the article)

 

Quote

Meetings to slash expenditures, reduce payroll and set internal hockey operations budgets below the salary cap limit have been ongoing for most of the 27 teams in off-season mode.

 

Six of the seven Canadian clubs have reduced the pay of staff members, including team presidents, general managers and coaches, team and league sources have told TSN. The Toronto Maple Leafs are the lone Canadian club to not reduce pay for staff to date. In all, at least 17 NHL clubs have reduced pay to hockey operations department staff members.

 

After seeing their pay reduced by 50 per cent – nearly twice more than the next-highest reduction in the league  – the Ottawa Senators’ coaching staff appealed to the NHL for relief. With the NHL’s involvement, Senators’ coaches were recently reinstated to full pay retroactive to July 13, the opening date of training camp before the league returned to play in Edmonton and Toronto.

 

The NHL’s small-market teams are not alone in feeling the pinch of the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

 

 

 

I just hope they keep Krueger and his assistants. I’d hate to see him fired because he refused a 2nd pay cut. No way can we afford a cheap, rookie coach on top of a cheap, rookie GM.

Edited September 11, 2020 by BillsFan4

[shrader]

53 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

I just hope they keep Krueger and his assistants. I’d hate to see him fired because he refused a 2nd pay cut. No way can we afford a cheap, rookie coach on top of a cheap, rookie GM.

 

If they fire him, they're still paying him though, right?  So they can't really do that because it only adds payroll in the form on the next set of coaches.

 

If things don't clear up soon, this league is in for some trouble.  I never thought contraction was a serious possibility for any of these leagues, but it could be if money continues to tighten up.  I wonder if Seattle may try to convince the league to push the expansion back a year or more.  Obviously the league really wants that expansion fee, but if you're Seattle, do you really want to pay that right now given the uncertainty.