I think our fellow tanker actually wrote a pretty good post.

Pittsburgh was able to acquire a lot of high end talent over the course of a few years. To say that our system will be as high octane as theirs was is a bit far fetched given a 2 year timeline. We have a ton of great prospects, but projections for all of them save maybe Reinhart all sit on the 2nd line or below. I'm nitpicking at this point, but Ennis is still a gem. Unfortunately he's not a man who can carry the offense on his back, but get him a pair of competent line mates and that kid can easily be a 60-70 point guy. He's an extremely talented and driven player.

To sum up, we need more high end talent and we need our defense to mature and hopefully add a Mike Green type back there. Not necessarily Mike Green. Not a huge fan of him. It makes sense that it could take 3-4 years to be legitimately contending.
- TheSabresTaco

I agree, but I very much disagree that those Penguin teams have way more talent then what could be up here in the next 2 years.

Crosby 1st year:
Crosby - 102 pts
Gonchar - 58 pts
Recchi - 57 pts
LeClair - 51 pts
Malone - 44 pts
Palffy - 42 pts
Armstrong - 40pts

2015 Sabres (accounting for them getting McDavid):

Kane - McDavid - FA/trade
Moulson - Reinhart - Ennis

Maybe its me, but I can very easily see the following happening:

Kane 20-30 Goals - 60-75 Pts
McDavid 15-25G - 60-75 Pts
#1RW - 15-25G - 50-65 Pts

Moulson 20-35G (he's a proven 30G scorer with talent) - 50-65 pts
Reinhart - 10-20G - 40-60pts
Ennis - 20-30G - 60-75pts

Add someone like Mike Green (who I despise, as I watch him regularly down here in NOVA) - he can very easily "fill" the shoes of Gonchar and his 58 pts.

And none of this accounts for the fact that they still have some serious young talent that is on the cusp of making some serious noise in Rochester/Buffalo. By the law of averages, you've got to consider that one of these young kids is going to find that "it" factor and turn into an exceptional player.

Hell, you can even take those following Pitt teams with Malkin and Staal, and I'll still argue that I would take this Buffalo team over them. As the one thing I think Buffalo clearly has over those Pittsburgh teams...depth of young talent. Yes, Pitt tanked for years and got a lot of high-end talent, but they didn't have the amount of talent that we currently have. Clearly not all of these young guys will be NHL-caliber players, but again its the law of averages.

stakeland



- homiedclown

This is the list I saw the other day. Gonna have to check them out next week.

http://ihorror.com/top-horror-movies-on-netflix/
Lots of foreign films

I think our fellow tanker actually wrote a pretty good post.

Pittsburgh was able to acquire a lot of high end talent over the course of a few years. To say that our system will be as high octane as theirs was is a bit far fetched given a 2 year timeline. We have a ton of great prospects, but projections for all of them save maybe Reinhart all sit on the 2nd line or below. I'm nitpicking at this point, but Ennis is still a gem. Unfortunately he's not a man who can carry the offense on his back, but get him a pair of competent line mates and that kid can easily be a 60-70 point guy. He's an extremely talented and driven player.

To sum up, we need more high end talent and we need our defense to mature and hopefully add a Mike Green type back there. Not necessarily Mike Green. Not a huge fan of him. It makes sense that it could take 3-4 years to be legitimately contending.
- TheSabresTaco

Lindback and Johnson are okay for tanking and figuring out which of the two is your #1. How does Hackett look? You need a goalie who can steal some games that's for sure.
Wasn't trying to be offensive whatsoever in my previous post. You guys are gonna have a boat load of talent in a couple years.

The Leafs don't have much outside of Rielly (#1 dman fingers crossed), Kadri (2nd line centre, Ribeiro 2.0 with no flamboyance), Bernier (#1B goalie at this point, has the tools to be a good starter), JvR (1st line winger, softer then a care bear but he has the talent) and Willie Nylander which I believe he will turn into a winger as that's the only way he can be on the 1st line.

You guys have #1C in Reinhart but he'll be on the 2nd line.
Zadorov, Risto and Bogo set up your top 3 which makes it easier to find depth players from 4-7 ie. McCabe, Weber, Gorges and whatever other defensemen you draft over the next few years.
You got a great LW talent in Kane who will be complimented by McEichel.
Hodgson is still a top six sleeper, maybe switched over to wing to better suit the influx of talent @ the C position.
Grigorenko despite his draft position could still end up being a phenom.
Lindback and Hackett are both young and have lots of promise, you could find your goalie of the future there.
McEichel will solidify the 1st line C position for 15+ years.

I agree, but I very much disagree that those Penguin teams have way more talent then what could be up here in the next 2 years.

Crosby 1st year:
Crosby - 102 pts
Gonchar - 58 pts
Recchi - 57 pts
LeClair - 51 pts
Malone - 44 pts
Palffy - 42 pts
Armstrong - 40pts

2015 Sabres (accounting for them getting McDavid):

Kane - McDavid - FA/trade
Moulson - Reinhart - Ennis

Maybe its me, but I can very easily see the following happening:

Kane 20-30 Goals - 60-75 Pts
McDavid 15-25G - 60-75 Pts
#1RW - 15-25G - 50-65 Pts

Moulson 20-35G (he's a proven 30G scorer with talent) - 50-65 pts
Reinhart - 10-20G - 40-60pts
Ennis - 20-30G - 60-75pts

Add someone like Mike Green (who I despise, as I watch him regularly down here in NOVA) - he can very easily "fill" the shoes of Gonchar and his 58 pts.

And none of this accounts for the fact that they still have some serious young talent that is on the cusp of making some serious noise in Rochester/Buffalo. By the law of averages, you've got to consider that one of these young kids is going to find that "it" factor and turn into an exceptional player.

Hell, you can even take those following Pitt teams with Malkin and Staal, and I'll still argue that I would take this Buffalo team over them. As the one thing I think Buffalo clearly has over those Pittsburgh teams...depth of young talent. Yes, Pitt tanked for years and got a lot of high-end talent, but they didn't have the amount of talent that we currently have. Clearly not all of these young guys will be NHL-caliber players, but again its the law of averages.
- DontBeThatGuy

Where are you casually going to find a 1st line RW? Those are rare and the FA list this year is abysmal. You guys will be making the playoffs in 5 years and be competitive for years after you make the playoffs. You need the experience in the playoffs, the unsung heroes and the veterans in the locker room. You guys are getting there bro, don't worry.

Where are you casually going to find a 1st line RW? Those are rare and the FA list this year is abysmal. You guys will be making the playoffs in 5 years and be competitive for years after you make the playoffs. You need the experience in the playoffs, the unsung heroes and the veterans in the locker room. You guys are getting there bro, don't worry.
- optimus-reim

I think the bigger "issue" is that many of us think it'll be much sooner than 5 more years until they even make the playoffs. Not that we think the Sabres are cup contenders before that necessarily, but you keep saying it'll take that long to even muster up an 8 seed

Lindback and Johnson are okay for tanking and figuring out which of the two is your #1. How does Hackett look? You need a goalie who can steal some games that's for sure.
Wasn't trying to be offensive whatsoever in my previous post. You guys are gonna have a boat load of talent in a couple years.

The Leafs don't have much outside of Rielly (#1 dman fingers crossed), Kadri (2nd line centre, Ribeiro 2.0 with no flamboyance), Bernier (#1B goalie at this point, has the tools to be a good starter), JvR (1st line winger, softer then a care bear but he has the talent) and Willie Nylander which I believe he will turn into a winger as that's the only way he can be on the 1st line.

You guys have #1C in Reinhart but he'll be on the 2nd line.
Zadorov, Risto and Bogo set up your top 3 which makes it easier to find depth players from 4-7 ie. McCabe, Weber, Gorges and whatever other defensemen you draft over the next few years.
You got a great LW talent in Kane who will be complimented by McEichel.
Hodgson is still a top six sleeper, maybe switched over to wing to better suit the influx of talent @ the C position.
Grigorenko despite his draft position could still end up being a phenom.
Lindback and Hackett are both young and have lots of promise, you could find your goalie of the future there.
McEichel will solidify the 1st line C position for 15+ years.
- optimus-reim

I didn't take anything bad from your previous posts, just disagreed a little

The players I'm most excited about seeing in the future are Compher, Fasching, Hurley, Bailey, Baptiste, and McCabe. IMO, 2 of these guys are going to be 1st or 2nd line players, and very good ones at that.

I'll also add, over these last handful of games...I feel like we might be seeing Larsson's coming out party. That kid has grown up a lot lately, I've really enjoyed the way he's playing/improving.

And Grig's the biggest wild card we have. Potential is there, its up to him to start showing it. Although I think he's going to be the centerpiece in a deal this offseason to get the #1RW.

I didn't take anything bad from your previous posts, just disagreed a little

The players I'm most excited about seeing in the future are Compher, Fasching, Hurley, Bailey, Baptiste, and McCabe.

I'll also add, over these last handful of games...I feel like we might be seeing Larsonn's coming out party. That kid has grown up a lot lately, I've really enjoyed the way he's playing/improving.

And Grig's the biggest wild card we have. Potential is there, its up to him to start showing it. Although I think he's going to be the centerpiece in a deal this offseason to get the #1RW.
- DontBeThatGuy

May be ht eonly one who thinks but just there where te team would be if we had taken Fucale instead of Compher? He may be a good player but with the other riches in the forward postion a goalie could have been a great idea.

Where are you casually going to find a 1st line RW? Those are rare and the FA list this year is abysmal. You guys will be making the playoffs in 5 years and be competitive for years after you make the playoffs. You need the experience in the playoffs, the unsung heroes and the veterans in the locker room. You guys are getting there bro, don't worry.
- optimus-reim

We've been linked to ROR in the offseason, so there's that. Not sure how that equates to RW (has he played there before...anyone)?

We have so many pieces to make deals for, I don't think TMGM will have any problem at all finding a guy to fill that role honestly. Whether its finding a team that has cap troubles and needs to offload someone, or a situation like Kane - where the player just needs a change of scenery. TMGM will find someone, that I'm confident of.

I didn't take anything bad from your previous posts, just disagreed a little

The players I'm most excited about seeing in the future are Compher, Fasching, Hurley, Bailey, Baptiste, and McCabe. IMO, 2 of these guys are going to be 1st or 2nd line players, and very good ones at that.

I'll also add, over these last handful of games...I feel like we might be seeing Larsson's coming out party. That kid has grown up a lot lately, I've really enjoyed the way he's playing/improving.

And Grig's the biggest wild card we have. Potential is there, its up to him to start showing it. Although I think he's going to be the centerpiece in a deal this offseason to get the #1RW.
- DontBeThatGuy

Maybe it's just my hoping he (Grigs) turns out like we hoped but, He played a hell of a game the other night, Better than he has ever on the Sabres. Garf wrote (rote) a good article about it.

Maybe it's just my hoping he (Grigs) turns out like we hoped but, He played a hell of a game the other night, Better than he has ever on the Sabres. Garf wrote (rote) a good article about it.
- cabin

Yeah, that was by far his best (most complete) game for us.

While I think he could definitely turn into a very good player, to me he is going to be the odd man out (nowhere to play him). The top 6 is going to have a glaring hole with the #1RW spot in the off-season, and (again IMO) Grigorenko will be the key asset teams want back (among others).

Ps - I don't read anything Garf writes. His "Style" or lack-thereof was something that turned me off years ago. For years I've been skipping straight to the comment section to reed/reid/read what you guys were posting.

- cabin

We've been linked to ROR in the offseason, so there's that. Not sure how that equates to RW (has he played there before...anyone)?

We have so many pieces to make deals for, I don't think TMGM will have any problem at all finding a guy to fill that role honestly. Whether its finding a team that has cap troubles and needs to offload someone, or a situation like Kane - where the player just needs a change of scenery. TMGM will find someone, that I'm confident of.
- DontBeThatGuy

ROR has played RW this season on a line with Landy and Mack at C.
But I dont think ROR is going anywhere, it sounds like Roy has plans to make Mack a RW full time or for a longer period of time. He wants ROR as a full time C. So I expect a ROR extension since summer to be the 2C and a MacK bridge deal to be a RW

I didn't take anything bad from your previous posts, just disagreed a little

The players I'm most excited about seeing in the future are Compher, Fasching, Hurley, Bailey, Baptiste, and McCabe. IMO, 2 of these guys are going to be 1st or 2nd line players, and very good ones at that.

I'll also add, over these last handful of games...I feel like we might be seeing Larsson's coming out party. That kid has grown up a lot lately, I've really enjoyed the way he's playing/improving.

And Grig's the biggest wild card we have. Potential is there, its up to him to start showing it. Although I think he's going to be the centerpiece in a deal this offseason to get the #1RW.
- DontBeThatGuy

Compher will definitely solidify depth in the top six and McCabe will be a top 4 dman. Those other guys are wild cards for the top six.
I think Grigs will figure it out.
And it's within 5 years which means it could be 5 or maybe even 4 years. But to be in the top 8 takes a great deal of talent, depth and the right goaltending.
ROR shoots left. Larsson will be a great 3rd liner.
You definitely have the pieces to land the 1st line RW or you may be able to draft your own in this draft or the next.

Who would you trade for, as in who's your wishlist 1st line RW, and what pieces would you have to send off?

ROR has played RW this season on a line with Landy and Mack at C.
But I dont think ROR is going anywhere, it sounds like Roy has plans to make Mack a RW full time or for a longer period of time. He wants ROR as a full time C. So I expect a ROR extension since summer to be the 2C and a MacK bridge deal to be a RW
- DDM-Coga

Colorado and Buffalo with the centre depth that Toronto dreams of.
"We have too many quality centres so we're going to make one of you a winger"
FML

I think the bigger "issue" is that many of us think it'll be much sooner than 5 more years until they even make the playoffs. Not that we think the Sabres are cup contenders before that necessarily, but you keep saying it'll take that long to even muster up an 8 seed
- stashu

Love the avatar, IT Crowd is awesome show

Within 5 years you'll be in the show, not 5+ years - within. Which means 5 years at the most, logically around 4 years but maybe a surprise at 3 years.

ROR has played RW this season on a line with Landy and Mack at C.
But I dont think ROR is going anywhere, it sounds like Roy has plans to make Mack a RW full time or for a longer period of time. He wants ROR as a full time C. So I expect a ROR extension since summer to be the 2C and a MacK bridge deal to be a RW
- DDM-Coga

I think he's a nice fit there, and I would love it if we could shut the f up about acquiring him - so I wish you the best on that, sincerely.

Colorado and Buffalo with the centre depth that Toronto dreams of.
"We have too many quality centres so we're going to make one of you a winger"
FML
- optimus-reim

just wait till they win the lottery and draft McDavid

McDavid Dutch (Iggy?)
Landy ROR Mack

What a time to be alive

I think he's a nice fit there, and I would love it if we could shut the f up about acquiring him - so I wish you the best on that, sincerely.
- nfph

I think he gets stastny's contract that the Avs offered...4 years at 6.6m. He has so much chemistry with Landy and he fits Roys system so well. He is worth that much since what are you goign to spend to try and replace him? 5.5m on an older and worse vermette?

just wait till they win the lottery and draft McDavid

McDavid Dutch (Iggy?)
Landy ROR Mack

What a time to be alive
- DDM-Coga

Don't wear out your welcome.

Don't wear out your welcome.
- cabin

Fine Strome, I wont be greedy

Pretty sure this one has got to be high up on any list. Absolutely painful on the eyes...


- DontBeThatGuy

Looks like what the nuns threatened to make us wear if we misbehaved.

just wait till they win the lottery and draft McDavid

McDavid Dutch (Iggy?)
Landy ROR Mack

What a time to be alive
- DDM-Coga

Landy McD Mack
Dutch ROR Iggy

Landy McD Mack
Dutch ROR Iggy


- optimus-reim

is 8 goals a game too conservative of a number?