Confirmed with Link: [BUF/VGK] Jack Eichel & 3rd-2023(BUF) FOR Peyton Krebs, Alex Tuch, 1st-2022(VGK) & 2nd-2023(VGK)

[TehDoak]

Tuch looks excited to be a core member of this team, Krebs look happy to be here and contributing, we have some quality draft equity to play with and a slew of potential game changing prospects on the cusp

We have pretty good idea of who Tuch is over a large sample size. He's a good middle 6 forward signed to a reasonable deal. He isn't a core forward, however. He's a secondary contributor. And that is fine, you need those.

In sick of hearing about Eichel and the conspiracies. I actually think we came out really good from the deal.

We got the cancer out and I'm seeing a team rallying right in front of our eyes playing with alot of heart. Prop to Adams for changing the culture this quick

After a 5-1-1 start this team is 10-18-6. We are on a 62 point pace.

Rallying right in front of our eyes? Culture change? I'm not sure what games you are watching, but the team is over matched on most nights, hamstrung by the below cap floor construction of the roster. Eichel was never cancer, just like O'Reilly wasn't a cancer. Trading Eichel, even for a good return, makes your team worse in the near team. Adams got a good return...considering the circumstances. Some of those circumstances were of his own creation.

Is there some encouraging things? Sure. Thompson came off the trash heap to at least be a serviceable middle 6 forward, at center even. I like what I've seen from Krebs. Dahlin has rebounded from a shaky start. But, the reality is, over half this roster will be turned over before we are a playoff team. There are long term pieces of a core moving forward here, but we simply don't know who that will be yet. Hopefully we will have a clearer picture at the end of the season.

The whole idea of 'culture change' is mythical fugazi that every new GM/coach preens about when they arrive. How do we know that the culture is different than it was last year? How does any media person? Bylsma talked about bringing a winning culture. The culture was 'better' under Housley once that malcontent O'Reilly was gone! The culture was great under Krueger and the team was SO CLOSE to contention the owner thought adding one player would make them stanley cup contenders. But now, 34 games in on a 62 point pace we can declare a culture change 'mission accomplished'?

We will know the culture has changed when we start winning. And continue to do so. That is the only observable measure we can make of the team's culture. Anything we say of culture change when we are a bottom 5 team is hot air.

 

[BG82]

We have pretty good idea of who Tuch is over a large sample size. He's a good middle 6 forward signed to a reasonable deal. He isn't a core forward, however. He's a secondary contributor. And that is fine, you need those.



After a 5-1-1 start this team is 10-18-6. We are on a 62 point pace.

Rallying right in front of our eyes? Culture change? I'm not sure what games you are watching, but the team is over matched on most nights, hamstrung by the below cap floor construction of the roster. Eichel was never cancer, just like O'Reilly wasn't a cancer. Trading Eichel, even for a good return, makes your team worse in the near team. Adams got a good return...considering the circumstances. Some of those circumstances were of his own creation.

Is there some encouraging things? Sure. Thompson came off the trash heap to at least be a serviceable middle 6 forward, at center even. I like what I've seen from Krebs. Dahlin has rebounded from a shaky start. But, the reality is, over half this roster will be turned over before we are a playoff team. There are long term pieces of a core moving forward here, but we simply don't know who that will be yet. Hopefully we will have a clearer picture at the end of the season.

The whole idea of 'culture change' is mythical fugazi that every new GM/coach preens about when they arrive. How do we know that the culture is different than it was last year? How does any media person? Bylsma talked about bringing a winning culture. The culture was 'better' under Housley once that malcontent O'Reilly was gone! The culture was great under Krueger and the team was SO CLOSE to contention the owner thought adding one player would make them stanley cup contenders. But now, 34 games in on a 62 point pace we can declare a culture change 'mission accomplished'?

We will know the culture has changed when we start winning. And continue to do so. That is the only observable measure we can make of the team's culture. Anything we say of culture change when we are a bottom 5 team is hot air.

Thanks for the novel, if you expected playoffs I'd say you are delusional. If you cant see the change from the last couple seasons to today, I dont know what to say.. This year was development, I think everyone agrees with this. I'm optimistic for the first time in years with the direction the team is going

 

[valet]

We have pretty good idea of who Tuch is over a large sample size. He's a good middle 6 forward signed to a reasonable deal. He isn't a core forward, however. He's a secondary contributor. And that is fine, you need those.



After a 5-1-1 start this team is 10-18-6. We are on a 62 point pace.

Rallying right in front of our eyes? Culture change? I'm not sure what games you are watching, but the team is over matched on most nights, hamstrung by the below cap floor construction of the roster. Eichel was never cancer, just like O'Reilly wasn't a cancer. Trading Eichel, even for a good return, makes your team worse in the near team. Adams got a good return...considering the circumstances. Some of those circumstances were of his own creation.

Is there some encouraging things? Sure. Thompson came off the trash heap to at least be a serviceable middle 6 forward, at center even. I like what I've seen from Krebs. Dahlin has rebounded from a shaky start. But, the reality is, over half this roster will be turned over before we are a playoff team. There are long term pieces of a core moving forward here, but we simply don't know who that will be yet. Hopefully we will have a clearer picture at the end of the season.

The whole idea of 'culture change' is mythical fugazi that every new GM/coach preens about when they arrive. How do we know that the culture is different than it was last year? How does any media person? Bylsma talked about bringing a winning culture. The culture was 'better' under Housley once that malcontent O'Reilly was gone! The culture was great under Krueger and the team was SO CLOSE to contention the owner thought adding one player would make them stanley cup contenders. But now, 34 games in on a 62 point pace we can declare a culture change 'mission accomplished'?

We will know the culture has changed when we start winning. And continue to do so. That is the only observable measure we can make of the team's culture. Anything we say of culture change when we are a bottom 5 team is hot air.

I think the culture has changed drastically this year. no more shying away from altercations, guys standing up for their teammates, battling back down a couple goals, playing to the end of the game, etc. this group seems much tighter than any group I've seen since tank times. this stuff isn't measured in points, that's a straw man to me. it's just something you have to see. sure, there are deeper teams with greater overall talent levels that play with the same mentality, but wins aren't the end all be all measurement of how close guys are in the room and out in the ice. it's bigger than that

everyone knew that this season was going to be about developing our core youth in Rochester and getting guys like Cozens, Tommer, Dahls, more experience with tougher minutes. you throw in injuries, especially on the goaltending side, then covid, it's really not an unrealistic outcome. so why deny any progress from an organizational standpoint? I get the frustration for sure (we're all sabres fans), but I dunno how you can look at what's being built and not find a shred of optimism. can you just.... try??? for me?????

 

[ValJamesDuex]

We have pretty good idea of who Tuch is over a large sample size. He's a good middle 6 forward signed to a reasonable deal. He isn't a core forward, however. He's a secondary contributor. And that is fine, you need those.



After a 5-1-1 start this team is 10-18-6. We are on a 62 point pace.

Rallying right in front of our eyes? Culture change? I'm not sure what games you are watching, but the team is over matched on most nights, hamstrung by the below cap floor construction of the roster. Eichel was never cancer, just like O'Reilly wasn't a cancer. Trading Eichel, even for a good return, makes your team worse in the near team. Adams got a good return...considering the circumstances. Some of those circumstances were of his own creation.

Is there some encouraging things? Sure. Thompson came off the trash heap to at least be a serviceable middle 6 forward, at center even. I like what I've seen from Krebs. Dahlin has rebounded from a shaky start. But, the reality is, over half this roster will be turned over before we are a playoff team. There are long term pieces of a core moving forward here, but we simply don't know who that will be yet. Hopefully we will have a clearer picture at the end of the season.

The whole idea of 'culture change' is mythical fugazi that every new GM/coach preens about when they arrive. How do we know that the culture is different than it was last year? How does any media person? Bylsma talked about bringing a winning culture. The culture was 'better' under Housley once that malcontent O'Reilly was gone! The culture was great under Krueger and the team was SO CLOSE to contention the owner thought adding one player would make them stanley cup contenders. But now, 34 games in on a 62 point pace we can declare a culture change 'mission accomplished'?

We will know the culture has changed when we start winning. And continue to do so. That is the only observable measure we can make of the team's culture. Anything we say of culture change when we are a bottom 5 team is hot air.

I don't think he's the top3, PP1 player that many were predicting, But L2 - PP1/2, and physical presence, speed, leadership, A on his sweater is more than welcome and needed. He will also get better the more he plays.

 

[valet]

Fish got fired after he got caught lying, an act that made his client less desirable to acquire. Moving to Brisson was one of the smartest things Eichel could do but it also had the benefit of moving trade talks forward for the Sabres.

Buffalo did not block Brisson from putting information out about the medical opinions Eichel had received, so to frame it as getting around them as an obstruction seems disingenuous.

As for the interview thing, that's been a point some have latched onto for some time that regardless of having a thousand holes poked in it keeps resurfacing. And it keeps making me laugh to think people actually think a possible interview would be leverage in getting a deal done when indications were already afoot that things were moving forward the week prior.

yeah, pretty sure the interview had nothing to do with what actually happened. Vegas just offered the best package for an injured player that was never getting surgery until after he was traded. the risk would have been the same for any team that wanted to trade for Jack... thus the offers would have probably been more or less comparable, even if this thing dragged out throughout the course of the entire season.

 

[Matt Ress]

We have pretty good idea of who Tuch is over a large sample size. He's a good middle 6 forward signed to a reasonable deal. He isn't a core forward, however. He's a secondary contributor. And that is fine, you need those.



After a 5-1-1 start this team is 10-18-6. We are on a 62 point pace.

Rallying right in front of our eyes? Culture change? I'm not sure what games you are watching, but the team is over matched on most nights, hamstrung by the below cap floor construction of the roster. Eichel was never cancer, just like O'Reilly wasn't a cancer. Trading Eichel, even for a good return, makes your team worse in the near team. Adams got a good return...considering the circumstances. Some of those circumstances were of his own creation.

Is there some encouraging things? Sure. Thompson came off the trash heap to at least be a serviceable middle 6 forward, at center even. I like what I've seen from Krebs. Dahlin has rebounded from a shaky start. But, the reality is, over half this roster will be turned over before we are a playoff team. There are long term pieces of a core moving forward here, but we simply don't know who that will be yet. Hopefully we will have a clearer picture at the end of the season.

The whole idea of 'culture change' is mythical fugazi that every new GM/coach preens about when they arrive. How do we know that the culture is different than it was last year? How does any media person? Bylsma talked about bringing a winning culture. The culture was 'better' under Housley once that malcontent O'Reilly was gone! The culture was great under Krueger and the team was SO CLOSE to contention the owner thought adding one player would make them stanley cup contenders. But now, 34 games in on a 62 point pace we can declare a culture change 'mission accomplished'?

We will know the culture has changed when we start winning. And continue to do so. That is the only observable measure we can make of the team's culture. Anything we say of culture change when we are a bottom 5 team is hot air.

Clickbait!!!

 

[Dex]

We have pretty good idea of who Tuch is over a large sample size. He's a good middle 6 forward signed to a reasonable deal. He isn't a core forward, however. He's a secondary contributor. And that is fine, you need those.



After a 5-1-1 start this team is 10-18-6. We are on a 62 point pace.

Rallying right in front of our eyes? Culture change? I'm not sure what games you are watching, but the team is over matched on most nights, hamstrung by the below cap floor construction of the roster. Eichel was never cancer, just like O'Reilly wasn't a cancer. Trading Eichel, even for a good return, makes your team worse in the near team. Adams got a good return...considering the circumstances. Some of those circumstances were of his own creation.

Is there some encouraging things? Sure. Thompson came off the trash heap to at least be a serviceable middle 6 forward, at center even. I like what I've seen from Krebs. Dahlin has rebounded from a shaky start. But, the reality is, over half this roster will be turned over before we are a playoff team. There are long term pieces of a core moving forward here, but we simply don't know who that will be yet. Hopefully we will have a clearer picture at the end of the season.

The whole idea of 'culture change' is mythical fugazi that every new GM/coach preens about when they arrive. How do we know that the culture is different than it was last year? How does any media person? Bylsma talked about bringing a winning culture. The culture was 'better' under Housley once that malcontent O'Reilly was gone! The culture was great under Krueger and the team was SO CLOSE to contention the owner thought adding one player would make them stanley cup contenders. But now, 34 games in on a 62 point pace we can declare a culture change 'mission accomplished'?

We will know the culture has changed when we start winning. And continue to do so. That is the only observable measure we can make of the team's culture. Anything we say of culture change when we are a bottom 5 team is hot air.

There's just so much I disagree with in this post, I don't know where to start - so I'll start with this. I don't see the team leader or leaders pouting and putting out half hearted efforts and giving half assed answers to interview question. I don't see veterans pouting because they are not being gifted ice time. I don't see any pending free agents salivating at the chance to get traded to the team of their choice. I don't see a team quitting after a period or two and mailing it in.

This Sabres team has been the opposite of last year's team in all of the above and more. If you don't see that, I'm not sure what team you're watching.

Most hockey experts thought at the beginning of the year that this was likely to be a bottom 5 team - but it would be a fun team to watch. It is. Who cares if half the team will be gone next season. We went into the season knowing this was likely the case for the next couple of years. But the players who are here are playing the brand of hockey that was advertised and our coach has followed the philosophy he laid out. Our young core players are developing nicely thanks to this and they'll be supplemented over the next few seasons with more talent.

The culture on this team right now is as different from last year as night is from day. Is it mission accomplished? No. Culture has to change, and grow and be nurtured. We're off to a nice start. I see a bright future for this organization. Too bad for you that you don't.

 

[schpaff]

Classic Debbie Downer…don’t put much in the posts. Just ignore. Nice post.

 

[HolyGhost]

this deal is starting to grow on me

 

[Jim Bob]

At the time, I felt that Adams' patience allowed him to get a good return for an injured Eichel.

None of this stuff has changed that opinion for me.

 

[Jacob582]

At the time, I felt that Adams' patience allowed him to get a good return for an injured Eichel.

None of this stuff has changed that opinion for me.

Wait until you see what he does to us on February 1st. The mood around here is going to be foul.

 

[Chainshot]

If you can't see that the team is at least competitive most nights instead of run right out of the rink, I don't think you are watching. The idea as presented was to filter in the kids after they showed they were ready - that has not changed.

Not sure how this is part of the Eichel trade thread but here we are.

 

[elchud]

Are you hoping fir a 30 for30 on espn on the conspiracy behind the trade?

it delayed till in the season because of cap compliance rules.

I dont get this conspiracy talk. *Any* time at least two people make a plan that isn't public that is literally a conspiracy. The Sabres conspire to do hundreds of things a year that we don't know all the details about.

The trade with Vegas was going to happen. Period. Maybe KA wanted another asset in the deal, or the 2nd to be a 1st. *Maybe* they pulled the trigger 24 hours earlier than they would have otherwise done so. Or maybe they didn't. Most trades that have ever happened could have otherwise happened a day earlier or a day later. Why the need to be dismissive by invoking a loaded term like conspiracy?

There are innumerable factors that can influence either the timing or tertiary details of a trade. A GM can be in a bad mood on a particular day.

 

[Ehran]

Eichel takes the ice with his new teammates.

 

[WiHockeyGuy]

Eichel takes the ice with his new teammates.

Hope his health is back to 100% and he has a long career.

Still not sad he's gone.

 

[Bendium]

Eichel takes the ice with his new teammates.

Congrat's to everyone involved. I think this was a good hockey trade. Eichel got his surgery and can now play on a good team without being the captain. Vegan got the top scoring center they have needed to get to the next level. The Sabres also benefit in many ways. I do not think Eichel fit the Sabres as a captain, and him leaving was the only way out of a poor fit situation. Eichel was in the way of the team growing into something else. The Sabres win as they got good return that is younger and will ripen in the right time frame for our rebuild. This trade will age well for both teams.

 

[SwordsgoneWild]

We have pretty good idea of who Tuch is over a large sample size. He's a good middle 6 forward signed to a reasonable deal. He isn't a core forward, however. He's a secondary contributor. And that is fine, you need those.



After a 5-1-1 start this team is 10-18-6. We are on a 62 point pace.

Rallying right in front of our eyes? Culture change? I'm not sure what games you are watching, but the team is over matched on most nights, hamstrung by the below cap floor construction of the roster. Eichel was never cancer, just like O'Reilly wasn't a cancer. Trading Eichel, even for a good return, makes your team worse in the near team. Adams got a good return...considering the circumstances. Some of those circumstances were of his own creation.

Is there some encouraging things? Sure. Thompson came off the trash heap to at least be a serviceable middle 6 forward, at center even. I like what I've seen from Krebs. Dahlin has rebounded from a shaky start. But, the reality is, over half this roster will be turned over before we are a playoff team. There are long term pieces of a core moving forward here, but we simply don't know who that will be yet. Hopefully we will have a clearer picture at the end of the season.

The whole idea of 'culture change' is mythical fugazi that every new GM/coach preens about when they arrive. How do we know that the culture is different than it was last year? How does any media person? Bylsma talked about bringing a winning culture. The culture was 'better' under Housley once that malcontent O'Reilly was gone! The culture was great under Krueger and the team was SO CLOSE to contention the owner thought adding one player would make them stanley cup contenders. But now, 34 games in on a 62 point pace we can declare a culture change 'mission accomplished'?

We will know the culture has changed when we start winning. And continue to do so. That is the only observable measure we can make of the team's culture. Anything we say of culture change when we are a bottom 5 team is hot air.

You sir are breath of noxious foul air. Yikes dude . Sure they both might not of been cancers but when the going got rough and the adversity set in all of our core players wilted and whined when things fell apart . Under multiple coaches and administrations.

You must have some possesive fixation on our former wilting stars. Are you their damn lawyer? Sure not all of that was their fault ,there were a number of factors _ from inept hirings and so forth but it's not debatable that when the going got tough they all wilted like flowers.

God you're taking this whole crusade against Adams and Granato to above and beyond. Fricken annoying.

If we even had competent goaltending this season for a good chunk of games we would be a .500 team. Which would've been miraculous considering all the kids and a few scrubs we trot out their each night

Frigging chill dude.

 

[SwordsgoneWild]

We're a year away or maybe two . This decade of despair has finally given us a faint light at the end of the tunnel. Relax and joy the ride you high strung turkey.

 

[TehDoak]

Thanks for the novel, if you expected playoffs I'd say you are delusional. If you cant see the change from the last couple seasons to today, I dont know what to say.. This year was development, I think everyone agrees with this. I'm optimistic for the first time in years with the direction the team is going

If anyone looked at this roster and thought playoffs, they needed their head checked.

The issue is the team is as bad as advertised.

The change from last season to today is primarily:

-Coaching Change
-Replacing players who were sick of losing with players who are fine with it because they aren't getting a NHL contract on a winning team.

I think the culture has changed drastically this year. no more shying away from altercations, guys standing up for their teammates, battling back down a couple goals, playing to the end of the game, etc. this group seems much tighter than any group I've seen since tank times. this stuff isn't measured in points, that's a straw man to me. it's just something you have to see. sure, there are deeper teams with greater overall talent levels that play with the same mentality, but wins aren't the end all be all measurement of how close guys are in the room and out in the ice. it's bigger than that

everyone knew that this season was going to be about developing our core youth in Rochester and getting guys like Cozens, Tommer, Dahls, more experience with tougher minutes. you throw in injuries, especially on the goaltending side, then covid, it's really not an unrealistic outcome. so why deny any progress from an organizational standpoint? I get the frustration for sure (we're all sabres fans), but I dunno how you can look at what's being built and not find a shred of optimism. can you just.... try??? for me?????

Sure, I'm optimistic about the prospect core. I'm also realistic that most of them are 2-4 years away from being full time NHL contributors. You are also comparing the team now to the team that had an 18 game losing streak. We've seen this song and dance before, the promise of culture change, the talk of a tighter locker room. Until it leads to results, it's hot air. You can have a team of good 'glue guys" that are all best friends and finish dead last.

I don't think he's the top3, PP1 player that many were predicting, But L2 - PP1/2, and physical presence, speed, leadership, A on his sweater is more than welcome and needed. He will also get better the more he plays.

Tuch is who he is at this point. 20-25, 40-50 pt guy with good speed. Hoping he can become a leader in the room.

There's just so much I disagree with in this post, I don't know where to start - so I'll start with this. I don't see the team leader or leaders pouting and putting out half hearted efforts and giving half assed answers to interview question. I don't see veterans pouting because they are not being gifted ice time. I don't see any pending free agents salivating at the chance to get traded to the team of their choice. I don't see a team quitting after a period or two and mailing it in.

This Sabres team has been the opposite of last year's team in all of the above and more. If you don't see that, I'm not sure what team you're watching.

Most hockey experts thought at the beginning of the year that this was likely to be a bottom 5 team - but it would be a fun team to watch. It is. Who cares if half the team will be gone next season. We went into the season knowing this was likely the case for the next couple of years. But the players who are here are playing the brand of hockey that was advertised and our coach has followed the philosophy he laid out. Our young core players are developing nicely thanks to this and they'll be supplemented over the next few seasons with more talent.

The culture on this team right now is as different from last year as night is from day. Is it mission accomplished? No. Culture has to change, and grow and be nurtured. We're off to a nice start. I see a bright future for this organization. Too bad for you that you don't.

This is an apples to oranges comparison though. One team had a set of expectations to live up to, go, make the playoffs, and a coach who was more of a motivational speaker than he was an actual coach. This team has zero expectations to live up to. So to sit here and say "Well less players are unhappy", well, the players who wanted to win now are gone. Does lower expectations and demands make for a better culture? How many players on this team are simply happy to be in the NHL at this point? About 1/4 of the roster wouldn't be NHLers are almost any other team.

The culture this year is different. Don't mistake different for 'good'

 

[sabremike]

Can the organization just for once do right by its fans and when Vegas comes to town don't even acknowledge the guy? I don't want some vomit inducing "tribute" to someone who accomplished absolutely nothing as a Sabre except force his way out of town for a fraction of his value.

 

[Chainshot]

We're a year away or maybe two . This decade of despair has finally given us a faint light at the end of the tunnel. Relax and joy the ride you high strung turkey.

It does feel that way.

 

[Husko]

Can the organization just for once do right by its fans and when Vegas comes to town don't even acknowledge the guy? I don't want some vomit inducing "tribute" to someone who accomplished absolutely nothing as a Sabre except force his way out of town for a fraction of his value.

They're actually going to give him TO's key to the city

 

[TehDoak]

If you can't see that the team is at least competitive most nights instead of run right out of the rink, I don't think you are watching. The idea as presented was to filter in the kids after they showed they were ready - that has not changed.

Not sure how this is part of the Eichel trade thread but here we are.

The team is marginally improved over last year.

This year: .382 points %
Last year: .362 Points %

Buffalo was floating around .500 last year until the Eichel injury happened and the rest of the team packed it in. Of course, it was a much more talented roster than this one. Are we more competitive night in and night out or are we simply comparing the best parts of this year vs the worst parts of last year?

You sir are breath of noxious foul air. Yikes dude . Sure they both might not of been cancers but when the going got rough and the adversity set in all of our core players wilted and whined when things fell apart . Under multiple coaches and administrations.

You must have some possesive fixation on our former wilting stars. Are you their damn lawyer? Sure not all of that was their fault ,there were a number of factors _ from inept hirings and so forth but it's not debatable that when the going got tough they all wilted like flowers.

God you're taking this whole crusade against Adams and Granato to above and beyond. Fricken annoying.

If we even had competent goaltending this season for a good chunk of games we would be a .500 team. Which would've been miraculous considering all the kids and a few scrubs we trot out their each night

Frigging chill dude.

I don't recall saying much negative about Granato other than I felt they needed to go get a more experienced coach and that they needed to take the post Krueger improvement with a grain of salt. He's done a decent job with a bad roster so far. Time will be the judge of the hire.

As for being 'noxious', The team hasn't made the playoffs in a decade. They are running the cheapest payroll in the NHL and the for our current GM, who is in charge of 'fixing' a decade of incompetence, they hired a no experience yes man whose sole qualification is he was willing to put families on the breadline during a global pandemic.

We've chased off a conn smythe winning center followed by a top 5 NHL center in the span of 5 years. Their crimes against the Sabres? Wanting to win. I don't begrudge people who want to be positive about a promising group of prospects. However, we've been here before. Several times. Until potential becomes realized and we have a winning team year after year, talk of the culture being fixed is silly. What irks me even more is people who blame players who left this team when the only real constant over the last decade has been ownership.

Also I find it humorous that my railing against Adams is a point of disagreement, yet Adams is the reason we don't have good goaltending. So is he a good GM or bad one? Not addressing an obvious offseason need with an ocean of cap dollars and oodles of picks and prospects? Or am I on a crusade now.

Also should point out the median team save % is .911

We have a team Sp of .904. An improvement of .007 Sp% would be 8 less goals against. So we'd be less bad, but still well outside the playoffs and likely still a few games under .500.

 

[truthbluth]

The team is marginally improved over last year.

This year: .382 points %
Last year: .362 Points %

Buffalo was floating around .500 last year until the Eichel injury happened and the rest of the team packed it in. Of course, it was a much more talented roster than this one. Are we more competitive night in and night out or are we simply comparing the best parts of this year vs the worst parts of last year?



I don't recall saying much negative about Granato other than I felt they needed to go get a more experienced coach and that they needed to take the post Krueger improvement with a grain of salt. He's done a decent job with a bad roster so far. Time will be the judge of the hire.

As for being 'noxious', The team hasn't made the playoffs in a decade. They are running the cheapest payroll in the NHL and the for our current GM, who is in charge of 'fixing' a decade of incompetence, they hired a no experience yes man whose sole qualification is he was willing to put families on the breadline during a global pandemic.

We've chased off a conn smythe winning center followed by a top 5 NHL center in the span of 5 years. Their crimes against the Sabres? Wanting to win. I don't begrudge people who want to be positive about a promising group of prospects. However, we've been here before. Several times. Until potential becomes realized and we have a winning team year after year, talk of the culture being fixed is silly. What irks me even more is people who blame players who left this team when the only real constant over the last decade has been ownership.

Also I find it humorous that my railing against Adams is a point of disagreement, yet Adams is the reason we don't have good goaltending. So is he a good GM or bad one? Not addressing an obvious offseason need with an ocean of cap dollars and oodles of picks and prospects? Or am I on a crusade now.

Also should point out the median team save % is .911

We have a team Sp of .904. An improvement of .007 Sp% would be 8 less goals against. So we'd be less bad, but still well outside the playoffs and likely still a few games under .500.

Don't disagree with much or really any of this and RoR should def not have been moved. But also f*** Jack Eichel forever.

 

[Chainshot]

There is so much to unpack here...

The team is marginally improved over last year.

This year: .382 points %
Last year: .362 Points %

Buffalo was floating around .500 last year until the Eichel injury happened and the rest of the team packed it in. Of course, it was a much more talented roster than this one. Are we more competitive night in and night out or are we simply comparing the best parts of this year vs the worst parts of last year?

At game 10, they were .500. They played the Devils who were dealing with COVID, got a bunch of players with COVID, and then were dogshit for the remainder of the season. Jack was hurt when he came to camp - still not sure how he broke a rib training - then hurt his neck. With him in the lineup, 6-12-2 and 6-14-3 overall when he hung it up.

Did you know that they made it to game 16 at .500 this year with a roster known to be foreshortened? People paid for their opinion on sports straight up called this the worst roster ever assembled during the off-season. That was without Jack and the distraction of his demand to be traded still hanging over the team.

They aren't being run out of the rink most nights (tonight is likely to be one of those nights but hey, strange things sometimes happen) and they are in games that they are losing. This is a step toward improving. Incremental improvement is happening with the hamstrung group they've assembled. If you can't see that, I don't know what you are watching which is why I question if you are watching them at all.

The rest of your post about O'Reilly and players who tried to win in a thread about the Eichel trade is just so far off this topic.