Jason Botterill Discussion Part 5

[Fezzy126]

Can Botterill have the humility - at least once in his tenure - to admit to the fans he made a mistake?

I wouldn't want that, Doug Whaley's honesty got him openly ridiculed by media and fans alike until he was run out of town. IMHO having that cockiness is a requirement of the job.

 

[Fezzy126]

.... unless Chris Drury wants to come back.... that's my one exception

You need to sticky this at the top of the forum...

Unfortunately I put the odds of this happening right next to trading for Cirelli

 

[Royisgone]

On WGR-550 today, they were discussing a recent "31 Thoughts" from Elliott Friedman. I can't find what they were referencing but the basic idea was that Ralph Krueger is having a positive impact on the organization but the players are not following suit, or something like that.

The guys on the radio interpreted this to mean Krueger is liked by Pegula but Botterill may be on the hot seat.

Anyone know what I'm talking about and can you provide a link to the article?

 

[joshjull]

On WGR-550 today, they were discussing a recent "31 Thoughts" from Elliott Friedman. I can't find what they were referencing but the basic idea was that Ralph Krueger is having a positive impact on the organization but the players are not following suit, or something like that.

The guys on the radio interpreted this to mean Krueger is liked by Pegula but Botterill may be on the hot seat.

Anyone know what I'm talking about and can you provide a link to the article?

Maybe Botts isn’t as safe as I thought.

8. The Sabres resumed their season with a 5–2 home loss to Ottawa on Tuesday night. At all-star weekend, I heard some talk of the frustration around the organization and how much the losing is wearing on owner Terry Pegula. We’re coming up on nine years since he bought the Sabres. At that media conference, he promised to spend, which had Sabres fans dancing with joy. He’s spent on players, coaches, executives, scouting — everything. They made the playoffs that first season, losing in seven games to Philadelphia. But there have been no playoff berths since, and the team is 80 games under .500 in that span.

Players credited Ralph Krueger with changing the attitude around the team, and Jack Eichel’s having a Hart Trophy-calibre season. But they’re 10 points out as we wake up on Wednesday and there are no easy answers. The disappointment is not going unnoticed.

 

[Jim Bob]

Q&A with former Canucks GM Mike Gillis: 'There are a couple...

I'll just drop this here....

 

[RazielMoshman]

Maybe Botts isn’t as safe as I thought.

8. The Sabres resumed their season with a 5–2 home loss to Ottawa on Tuesday night. At all-star weekend, I heard some talk of the frustration around the organization and how much the losing is wearing on owner Terry Pegula. We’re coming up on nine years since he bought the Sabres. At that media conference, he promised to spend, which had Sabres fans dancing with joy. He’s spent on players, coaches, executives, scouting — everything. They made the playoffs that first season, losing in seven games to Philadelphia. But there have been no playoff berths since, and the team is 80 games under .500 in that span.

Players credited Ralph Krueger with changing the attitude around the team, and Jack Eichel’s having a Hart Trophy-calibre season. But they’re 10 points out as we wake up on Wednesday and there are no easy answers. The disappointment is not going unnoticed.

This is a great section by Friedman, really interesting. My gut tells me Botterill is safe for another year IF he makes a move soon. If only minor deals happen before the deadline I'd say he's dead meat. Whatever happens I still say it's another 2-3 years before we're near a playoff spot.

I love the idea of hiring Drury as GM, but that's biased because he's one of my favourite all-time NHLers.

 

[Dubi Doo]

This is a great section by Friedman, really interesting. My gut tells me Botterill is safe for another year IF he makes a move soon. If only minor deals happen before the deadline I'd say he's dead meat. Whatever happens I still say it's another 2-3 years before we're near a playoff spot.

I love the idea of hiring Drury as GM, but that's biased because he's one of my favourite all-time NHLers.

Why is everyone interested in Drury? What had he proven that makes people think he'll be a good GM? Honest question...i haven't paid attention to him since he retired.

 

[RazielMoshman]

Why is everyone interested in Drury? What had he proven that makes people think he'll be a good GM? Honest question...i haven't paid attention to him since he retired.

I'll be totally honest, I have no idea. He was a smart, clutch player and the buzz around him seems good at the moment, especially as he got named GM of Team USA. I don't know how to evaluate whether he'd be a good GM or not, but I think he'll get a shot at it if he wants it and I wouldn't mind it being here.

 

[Chainshot]

Why is everyone interested in Drury? What had he proven that makes people think he'll be a good GM? Honest question...i haven't paid attention to him since he retired.

Beloved former player, rising AGM with a team that has a clear plan. Granted, both of those things are also negatives as well.

 

[Buffaloed]

This is a great section by Friedman, really interesting. My gut tells me Botterill is safe for another year IF he makes a move soon. If only minor deals happen before the deadline I'd say he's dead meat. Whatever happens I still say it's another 2-3 years before we're near a playoff spot.

He could get "promoted" to a position that takes him away from the personnel management of the hockey team. "C'mon Jason, it's for the best, we need someone to make sure our arena seating is keeping pace with the expanding butts of America. You're the only man qualified for the job in the organization". He'll get an impressive title, everyone will say he was great GM, and hope another team wants to steal him away.

 

[jc17]

Q&A with former Canucks GM Mike Gillis: 'There are a couple...

I'll just drop this here....

Pretty good interview.

But if people think Botts sits on his hands...

History of hockey trades by general manager Mike Gillis - NHL Trade Tracker

 

[RazielMoshman]

Pretty good interview.

But if people think Botts sits on his hands...

History of hockey trades by general manager Mike Gillis - NHL Trade Tracker

That Schnieder trade doesn't look so bad now lol.

 

[Aladyyn]

He could get "promoted" to a position that takes him away from the personnel management of the hockey team. "C'mon Jason, it's for the best, we need someone to make sure our arena seating is keeping pace with the expanding butts of America. You're the only man qualified for the job in the organization". He'll get an impressive title, everyone will say he was great GM, and hope another team wants to steal him away.

With how important he seems to think the AHL is, he might see the Rochester GM job as a promotion...

 

[Chainshot]

With how important he seems to think the AHL is, he might see the Rochester GM job as a promotion...

For someone who is so dedicated to lip service about his farm team, they are not well-supplied with even cursory NHL prospect forwards. And some of his defensemen are just wallowing without seeing the ice much at all (Hickey, Fitzgerald). The lip service does not equate to reality.

 

[Zip15]

For someone who is so dedicated to lip service about his farm team, they are not well-supplied with even cursory NHL prospect forwards. And some of his defensemen are just wallowing without seeing the ice much at all (Hickey, Fitzgerald). The lip service does not equate to reality.

Yeah, I chuckle when he references Rochester and Cincinnati as areas we are having success. We have, what, maybe one NHL top-6 forward in Rochester right now (Mitts)? On defense, Borgen may be a nice 3rd pair/PKer who can drop the gloves now and then, but he's not expected to be a huge contributor on the blueline.

Compare the Amerks roster to, say, Belleville's and the comparison is stark.

 

[RazielMoshman]

Yeah, I chuckle when he references Rochester and Cincinnati as areas we are having success. We have, what, maybe one NHL top-6 forward in Rochester right now (Mitts)? On defense, Borgen may be a nice 3rd pair/PKer who can drop the gloves now and then, but he's not expected to be a huge contributor on the blueline.

Compare the Amerks roster to, say, Belleville's and the comparison is stark.

The point is that they are regularly featured in the playoffs and some prospects have graduated through there to the Sabres. Remember how bad it used to be? Sending a player to Roch was a death sentance for their career, it was treated as a training camp with no investment.

Don't make me use the name Rolston!

 

[debaser66]

Q&A with former Canucks GM Mike Gillis: 'There are a couple...

I'll just drop this here....

Is it possible to give a quick summary for non subs.
Thx

 

[Zip15]

The point is that they are regularly featured in the playoffs and some prospects have graduated through there to the Sabres. Remember how bad it used to be? Sending a player to Roch was a death sentance for their career, it was treated as a training camp with no investment.

Don't make me use the name Rolston!

I'm happy for Amerks fans that they have a quality team again. I really am. But, from the perspective of the Sabres, there isn't a ton there that suggests that the big club will be moving the needle soon with the guys who end up making the Sabres. The guy can build an AHL vet-laden club, though, I will give him that.

 

[Jame]

Why is everyone interested in Drury? What had he proven that makes people think he'll be a good GM? Honest question...i haven't paid attention to him since he retired.

Because being great is all he knows how to do

 

[RazielMoshman]

I'm happy for Amerks fans that they have a quality team again. I really am. But, from the perspective of the Sabres, there isn't a ton there that suggests that the big club will be moving the needle soon with the guys who end up making the Sabres. The guy can build an AHL vet-laden club, though, I will give him that.

You're right to be fair, that's a huge criticism. I really believe the Amerks need to be good for the Sabres to be good, but they need a deep caste of prospects (which I don't know if we have). The whole organisation under him seems terrified of risk since ROR.

It's funny, I realise that this thread isn't about whether he should be fired, we're all discussing different reasons why he should be fired. I don't blame him for wanting to save his skin though, Almost every coach and GM from the Sabres since the '99 run hasn't worked since.

 

[Jim Bob]

Is it possible to give a quick summary for non subs.
Thx

It was notes from a 60 minute podcast interview, so it's hard to do that.

This part made me go hmmmm.

MG: The NHL now is built on you’re successful for 2-3 years and then you’re not very good for 10 years. There’s got to be a way to break out of that cycle using technology and advanced thinking and advanced decision making.

CC: You don’t think that cycle has to exist in a cap system?

MG: I don’t think it has to exist that way. If you’re constantly getting the best you can out of every player, you will go through downturns but they don’t have to be downturns that exist for five, six, seven, eight years or longer in some cases. When you see teams that select in the top five players or six players for years and years in a row and don’t seem to make any advancement, there’s something else wrong.

Everyone identifies who the top 10 players are, it may change. There may be four great players and six really good players coming out of every draft. If you’re consistently picking in the top eight or 10 and not changing your result at all over an extended period of time, clearly there’s something else wrong. They may not be as good as you actually hope them to be, but if the environment is correct, they’re going to be the best they can be. So I think, yeah, there are ways to avoid it. It requires real commitment and alignment throughout the organization to put those processes and environment in place.

Who does that sound like?

 

[Chainshot]

The point is that they are regularly featured in the playoffs and some prospects have graduated through there to the Sabres. Remember how bad it used to be? Sending a player to Roch was a death sentance for their career, it was treated as a training camp with no investment.

Don't make me use the name Rolston!

It used to be very similar - they would quickly graduate a player here and there and be mediocre.

 

[Dubi Doo]

Some people think next offseason Botts will have cap to let loose, but let's be real:

Projected cap space next season: 34.5 million
Key RFAs to re-sign this offseason:
Reinhart (8ish)
Olofsson (4ish)
Montour (4.5ish)
Pilut (2ish)
Lazar (1.5 ish)
Thompson (???)
Ullmark (3.5ish)

These are complete estimates on my part, but it seems it's going to cost north of 22 million to keep these guys around. I think I'm being modest in my figures...

We'll round up and say we have 12 million in cap next year after all of our RFAs are signed.

UFAs next year:
Larsson (2.5 ish)
Girgs (2ish)
Let the rest walk

We'll be generous again and say we sign Larsson and Girgs for 4 million total.

That gives us 8 million in cap space next year to make a big splash!

Oh, but wait! 2022 offseason we have to sign Joki and Dahlin! Thankfully we have McCabe's 2.85 million and Johansson's 4.5 million coming off the books to cover it, not!

This doesnt even take into consideration that any UFA would want to come play in Buffalo after nearly a decade of suckage and 3 players requesting trades this past year alone. We're going to have to overpay out the ass to get any solid UFAs.

So, no, we don't have a ton of cap to work with next offseason. We're going to have to be mindful of signing our two most important defensemen the next offseason.

Montour, McCabe, and Miller need to be flipped for forward help or we're going to be lacking forward depth and relying on youngsters to fill roles their probably not ready for once again. Trade those three, and we have 13 million(ish) that can be relocated to other areas of the roster whether it's via players we get back in the trades or UFAs.

Dahlin-Joki
Pilut-Risto
XXX-XXX

That's our core going forward. Borgen can probably take a spot on the 3rd pair next year.

Unfortunately, I don't think Botts is savvy enough to make this a reality. Just remember we wasted a 1st, Guhle, a 2nd, and a 5th for Montour and Miller. Oh, and a 3rd for Vesey. Oh, and a 3rd for Sheary and Hunwick! What a cap genius taking on Hunwick's contract while wasting an asset.

f***ing bum...
/rant

 

[Duddy]

I'm happy for Amerks fans that they have a quality team again. I really am. But, from the perspective of the Sabres, there isn't a ton there that suggests that the big club will be moving the needle soon with the guys who end up making the Sabres. The guy can build an AHL vet-laden club, though, I will give him that.

That gets their ass kicked in the playoffs, year after year. He can't even do that right.

 

[flashsabre]

Because being great is all he knows how to do

He might be a Good GM but I don't want to role the dice on another up and comer right now. I know he pushed for Lias Andersen as their pick to be future captain there and that has been a disaster. Not that that will define him but it was a huge misstep for a top 10 pick.