Botts is doing his job.
He's boosting rochester
Hes acquired some top talent and resigned (skinner)
He hired a great out of the box coach


Maybe we are waiting until our generational defenseman is more primed to succeed. Dahlin is a mess on defense.


Botts draft picks haven't had a chance to develop. I imagine he foresees some of these guys as future Sabres?

I'm waiting until the deadline. Were 30+ games into a new system- again
- Boss34

I agree with the other organizational facets that you mention have greatly improved. Except for the on ice product. What this boils down to is you're either a fan willing to wait or you're a fan that isn't. And it's fine to be either.

You're another gm.

Would you want our trash?

He's going to have to trade someone he may not want to, if he seriously wants to add young, NHL-ready talent to this team.
- Powerslave

From what 89 and Homie have said, he wants to keep all his toys. That's not going to cut it.

From what 89 and Homie have said, he wants to keep all his toys. That's not going to cut it.
- kingcong39

Yep. I understand the past trades, backfilling the depth on this team by going out and grabbing all the middle of the road players you can for other middle of the road players or mid picks or whatever. But now that you have that depth, it's time to add some real, actual impact. Starting with 2C. A competent winger can be had for peanuts.

NewB

It's not hard to believe that obsolete five million dollar players are unable to be moved. But I also think, for the second year in a row either botterill thought CM would be ready, or he didn't give a poop that he'd be ready and expected is to be competitive but just average. He knew what the team was last year yet didn't give a poop about improving it in season. Now he rolls in with incredibly modest forward changes and expects different? I don't know if he's that dumb or simply that patient.
- TheSabresTaco

This is a good post

If you were looking at the Sabres under the same vision I have been ( right or wrong)

The Sabres have been purposely, slowly trying to acquite talent thru the draft by losing under Botterill.

Drafting a defenseman ( dahlin) set this rebuild back.

Yep. I understand the past trades, backfilling the depth on this team by going out and grabbing all the middle of the road players you can for other middle of the road players or mid picks or whatever. But now that you have that depth, it's time to add some real, actual impact. Starting with 2C. A competent winger can be had for peanuts.
- TheSabresTaco

I can't see them acquiring a 2nd line center mid-season unless it's a rental. Teams don't give those up very often. The time to do it was in the offseason, even if he needed to get creative. That still falls on him.

I agree with the other organizational facets that you mention have greatly improved. Except for the on ice product. What this boils down to is you're either a fan willing to wait or you're a fan that isn't. And it's fine to be either.
- TheSabresTaco

I think the on-ice product has improved. Has it moved the needle a significant amount? Maybe not, but I think this is a better TEAM than we had last year (I know that's not saying much), and some things have moved the needle.

He tried to add secondary scoring. Whether they're playing to expectations (Mojo is a 40-45 point guy and he's on pace for that) or not (did anyone really expect Vesey to have 4 goals at this point, when he's been a very consistent 16-18 goal guy every year?).

Dahlin is a dog's breakfast in his own end, but he's putting up the points (20 in 27 games).

Risto has improved greatly. VO is on pace for ROY, if he can hold off Makar.

And then there's Jack. An early favorite for Hart trophy.

I agree with the other organizational facets that you mention have greatly improved. Except for the on ice product. What this boils down to is you're either a fan willing to wait or you're a fan that isn't. And it's fine to be either.
- TheSabresTaco

I agree with this post, although then ice product has us in a playoff spot this season.

Now we have goaloffson, asplund, vesey and miller.

The games are really exciting this year. Were ahead of the leafs and bolts. Am I missing something?

I'd deal 21/23 players on this team if the value was right. Also, 42/44 total contracts owned by the Sabres, I would deal if the value was right.
- TheSabresTaco

Sounds about right

Would you trade Cozens, a 2020 or 2021 1st round pick, plus more for Sean Monahan, or Scheifele, or Kuznetsov (from the Capitals), or Couturier?

Would you trade Cozens foe Cirelli, or Trochek?
- kingcong39

Trading for Scheifele is a different ball park than Cirelli. However I think I having a better chance of seeing a pig fly than the Jets dealing him right now.

Florida says yes to Mittelstadt and the 2020 1st round pick: do you do it?
- kingcong39

No, even if it is lotto protected. This draft is reminiscent of 2015. Talent runs about 20 picks deep.

Let's try this with the other "golden boy". Move him to the 2nd line.

-take him off line 1, put him with vesey as his center and girgensons as his rw.

With out jack, everyone's stats drop right?
- Boss34

Pretty much yea.

When Olofsson makes $9M ill female dog about him too
- Pegullaville

Sorry, but targeting Skinner is flat out wrong.

His deployment is upside down, and unless you are blind it is so obvious go see.
The hated counting and Advanced stats bear it out.
But let's bag on the player for playing 3rd/4th line minutes with 3rd and 4th line teammates and expect him to produce 1st line results.

That IS HILARIOUS, simply hilarious.

Here's the answer for those who are blind
1) bag on Krueger for reducing his minutes by 25% in an effort to "distribute scoring", ×while the dumb fans could see there is no capable 2nd line players. On what universe does this make sense.
2) bag on Krueger for not double shifting Eichel and Sam more to create line 1b with Skinner. Christ, if it was a good idea to play Risto and McCabe 25 minutes a night, I think Jack and Sam could play the same or more.
3) bag on Krueger for not trying Sam at 2C thinking Larsson or ERod is a better fit.
4) bag on Botts for not being able to drive a deal to acquire suitable talent for 12 months now. 12 friggin months since the Burglund Miracle happened, and still no answer at 2C, and no viable plan either. Mitts and Mojo as 2C is slightly better than puting Hutton there I suppose.

It is up to management to fix line 2, not demote players to 3rd/4th line TOI and linemates.
JC, SMH.

Let's try this with the other "golden boy". Move him to the 2nd line.

-take him off line 1, put him with vesey as his center and girgensons as his rw.

With out jack, everyone's stats drop right?
- Boss34

Some don't think so, obviously.

We have 926-1/2 pages inferring he needs to shoot at 25% higher than he did last season when he shot at 6higher. than his 9 year career average while with Jack. That uplift from last year to this year is NECESSARY to overcome the reduced 25% of TOI and corresponding 20-30% drop in shots and high danger opportunities.

Here's the net,
In what universe would anyone expect a player to shoot 2x his 9 year career average to compensate for having his TOI reduced by 25% from 1st line minutes to 3rd line minutes?
Dumb, dumb, dumb.

That's what I don't get, everybody keeps making excuses, I like him to, but damn it's not like he isn't getting any chances.
- Buff36

Wrong.
The data says his shooting chances are down 30%
The data says his high danger chances have been reduced by 25% or so
Guess what...
The data also says if you use his 9 year career average of 10.8% he should have 11 goals...EXACTLY the number he has.

He has buried his chances exactly the same way he has over the past 9 years.

Want more goals?
Get him a guy who he can play with 18 minutes Avg-TOI and set him-up with more chances he can bury as a FINISHER not a playmaker.

I actually like thus idea, give it 5 -7 games to reunite the chemistry.

If that doesn't work, try this for several games

VO - Eichel- - Asplund(?)
Skinner - Rhino - Mojo
- IonSabres

It’s mind blowing that they aren’t giving Sam another shot at Center

We’ve seen Larsson & E Rod as 2C this season at times
I’m totally baffled

The first needs to be in play for a center. It wont be because Botterill but it should be. This is absurd

1st + Miller + Samuelson

Just go (frank)ing get something
- jcragcrumple

Pure speculation
U have no clue whether or not he’s willing to include a 1st in trade talks,
or whether or not he’s even offered it