right?
- TheSabresTaco

I just don’t see what u get out of it on a nightly basis

It’s not like we are in position to fall all the way to worst record, where we’d have an “ok” chance at Lafreniere or Byfield

We have a chance to drop a few spots & get roughly the same guy at 8 that we could get 12-15

That’s not worth rooting against your team on a nightly basis for me
Doesn’t make sense

Veteran leadership. Not measured on the score sheet.

Expensive veteran leadership
- Boss34

We all would prefer him to not make as much

Hell I am sure Okposo understands and knows he is over paid

But he is doing his best to be a team guy

Can't fault him for that

Tony1187

As a former season ticket holder, when the Sabres started out hot both last season and this season, do you feel empty or regret giving up your seats?

I'm guessing currently, you are thrilled to not be a part of this bs again. Tickets are flushable at this point.

Is there a roller coaster of emotions? Or is it : what's done is done?

I'm not really going to give my tickets up, just wondering the overall relief or ?

I think I'd suffer from fear of missing out. Especially if we were good or a playoff team?
- Boss34

I think I posted yesterday.

With ticket costs, babysitter, food/beer and parking I was paying 200 a game for a pair.

I went to about 20, sold about 10-15 at my price or a loss and ate around another 10 (no one wanted week day games in the snow)

If they were exciting sure I would miss it. If my kids were older and were into it or didn’t have to pay for a babysitter again would be worth it.

At this point getting rid of them is a relief. Was fun on their playoff runs. I actually had 4 tickets next to each other at that time. Dropped to 2 in 2014 then none last year.

With the money I spent a game and eating tickets I can just pay full price or more if they ever make the playoffs and still come out even, albeit going to less games.

Sure, maybe. The point is he was given those things, traded them away and has failed to replace one of them. He was not handed nothing. He was handed some very important things. And in 3 years has done... this.

The two best lines from this year - incredibly- were given to him by a GM who was fired 3 years ago.

The middle pair and goalie were handed to him by the GM who was fired 5 years ago
- jcragcrumple

Being forced to trade them severely limited what he could get back for them

if you really think about it, even at its best this team has more Darcy in it than Botts.

The defacto top pair, Johan getting the defensive matchups, Ullmark as their #1. Yikes
- Sabresfan-365

More Darcy- he fielded a perennial playoff team?

I think I posted yesterday.

With ticket costs, babysitter, food/beer and parking I was paying 200 a game for a pair.

I went to about 20, sold about 10-15 at my price or a loss and ate around another 10 (no one wanted week day games in the snow)

If they were exciting sure I would miss it. If my kids were older and were into it or didn’t have to pay for a babysitter again would be worth it.

At this point getting rid of them is a relief. Was fun on their playoff runs. I actually had 4 tickets next to each other at that time. Dropped to 2 in 2014 then none last year.

With the money I spent a game and eating tickets I can just pay full price or more if they ever make the playoffs and still come out even, albeit going to less games.
- Fattony1187

I sat through the initial tear down stage (Reinhart draft) and I re-upped for the next season but thankfully I ended up moving down south and had to give them up.

I don't think I could have been at games in person and actively root for my team to lose to get McEichel.

Being forced to trade them severely limited what he could get back for them
- jdfitz77

He did fine with Kane. Blame who or whatever you want for ROR. The lack of a solution since is his problem.

It's still crazy that Ralph's favorite pair was a gift from Darcy along with the goalie. The two forward lines that work were a GMTM gift. The stuff that doesn't work is the stuff he put his hands on. I mean it's really crazy

Being forced to trade them severely limited what he could get back for them
- jdfitz77

This

He also turned one of those pieces into Montour who is the 2/3 defensemen

I have no issues with the Kane trade

He needed to go

The ROR trade hurts but that is as much on Pegula as it is on Botts

We all would prefer him to not make as much

Hell I am sure Okposo understands and knows he is over paid

But he is doing his best to be a team guy

Can't fault him for that
- Stripes77

The 1st and 4th lines are the least of our worries.

I've always liked girgs and for the most part Larsson.

Jack needs guys like okposo , to show him the way off the ice. Pretty sure he knows the way on the ice

I think Botts tried to get a few of these pieces this offseason with Mojo and Vesey

he bought cheap and none of which have big cap hits and contracts that last more than one more season

I think he knew he couldn't make it all happen and even now trying to get all those pieces is NOT going to be easy and most likely won't happen
- Stripes77

Right?!
Anyone should be able to clearly see that Botts is trying to make modest improvements to the middle6 for cheap & short term

Bc he’s not trying to build us into a low end playoff team NOW, that just gets whooped by Boston & Tampa each year
Not at the cost of trying to build this team that can compete for the Cup for years

And for that to happen...
that’s where Mitts, Cozens, 6K, & all the young defensemen developing into key parts come into play

No it wasn’t
He was 100% forced to trade Kane according to both Homie and 89

Makes sense with the off ice issues Kane had

Also, it was at least commonly thought that Kane didn’t wanna re-sign here anyways
- jdfitz77

My own source told me he ultimately decided he didn't want to pay for an injury prone power forward into his 30's. Not to mention the off ice discretions.

My own source told me he ultimately decided he didn't want to pay for an injury prone power forward into his 30's. Not to mention the off ice discretions.
- TheSabresTaco

Which worked out fine

The trade and the return and what Botts did with the return worked out

I think I posted yesterday.

With ticket costs, babysitter, food/beer and parking I was paying 200 a game for a pair.

I went to about 20, sold about 10-15 at my price or a loss and ate around another 10 (no one wanted week day games in the snow)

If they were exciting sure I would miss it. If my kids were older and were into it or didn’t have to pay for a babysitter again would be worth it.

At this point getting rid of them is a relief. Was fun on their playoff runs. I actually had 4 tickets next to each other at that time. Dropped to 2 in 2014 then none last year.

With the money I spent a game and eating tickets I can just pay full price or more if they ever make the playoffs and still come out even, albeit going to less games.
- Fattony1187

🤛

I appreciate the post .
Thank you

I just don’t see what u get out of it on a nightly basis

It’s not like we are in position to fall all the way to worst record, where we’d have an “ok” chance at Lafreniere or Byfield

We have a chance to drop a few spots & get roughly the same guy at 8 that we could get 12-15

That’s not worth rooting against your team on a nightly basis for me
Doesn’t make sense
- jdfitz77

That's where I'm at. Difference between 12th and 8th is 3.5%. When you're picking lotto balls, those chances may as well be equal.

WOW

https://twitter.com/Ken_R...tatus/1216796031200976896

That's how you handle cheating

WOW

https://twitter.com/Ken_R...tatus/1216796031200976896

That's how you handle cheating
- Stripes77

Steeper than i expected, but you'd probably pay this to win a world series wouldn't you?

He did fine with Kane. Blame who or whatever you want for ROR. The lack of a solution since is his problem.

It's still crazy that Ralph's favorite pair was a gift from Darcy along with the goalie. The two forward lines that work were a GMTM gift. The stuff that doesn't work is the stuff he put his hands on. I mean it's really crazy
- jcragcrumple

Fair, but only to a degree
And u know that your hindsight fix of Haula just isn’t the same as trading for Kadri, which just wasn’t gonna happen

You’re just going overboard trying to say what Botts was “given” to start with

Which worked out fine

The trade and the return and what Botts did with the return worked out
- Stripes77

Yep.

Based on the underwhelming compensation, not many teams wanted him, and weren't willing to part with a 1st (potentially) to see him walk. If he doesn't want to re-sign him (he didn't) then you need to take what you can get.

Either let him walk for zero or get Montour. So, on that, good jerb berts.

Steeper than i expected, but you'd probably pay this to win a world series wouldn't you?
- Sabresfan-365

Ask the Patriots...

Yep.

Based on the underwhelming compensation, not many teams wanted him, and weren't willing to part with a 1st (potentially) to see him walk. If he doesn't want to re-sign him (he didn't) then you need to take what you can get.

Either let him walk for zero or get Montour. So, on that, good jerb berts.
- TheSabresTaco

If he could have gotten Skinner for that $7.75-$8 million we wouldn't be nearly as upset

But I get the love and I get the hate for it.

Ask the Patriots...
- Stripes77

Zing

This

He also turned one of those pieces into Montour who is the 2/3 defensemen

I have no issues with the Kane trade

He needed to go

The ROR trade hurts but that is as much on Pegula as it is on Botts
- Stripes77

Exactly

The return was absolutely horrible,
but being forced to trade ROR (especially with the bonus) was the reason
Not bc Botts was/is a bad GM

I mean you can look at the roster I posted at the top of the page. With Dahlin, Montour and a RW the roster is done and in the playoffs

Olofsson-Eichel-Reinhart
Kane-ROR
Larsson-Girgs-Okposo
Erod-Asplund

McCabe-Risto
Bogo-(Borgen)

Ullmark

That's hardly "next to nothing"
He went backwards on a partial teardown - as was his prerogative - and he cant figure out how to build the forward ranks back up
- jcragcrumple

The problem with your argument is that with the roster you posted we don't have Dahlin or Montour. That leaves you with who on defense? Also, no starting goalie. In addition we have at least $14.5m (Kane probably would have wanted more than the $7m he signed for in SJ) on our 2nd line without a RW.

Ask the Patriots...
- Stripes77

they cheated won and didn't get more than a pee pee slap

Fair, but only to a degree
And u know that your hindsight fix of Haula just isn’t the same as trading for Kadri, which just wasn’t gonna happen

You’re just going overboard trying to say what Botts was “given” to start with
- jdfitz77

I mean I gave you a literal list. It's all there 2 pages back. It's not going overboard to state the facts.

The fact is he was given a lot, and he's kept a lot. But what he's added has largely been ineffective or simply not impactful enough. And for as poopty as Murray was - and make no mistake he was poopty - he left Botterill all the 1st round picks going forward. He didnt spend more picks than his share of time.