jordan demanded excellence and would make every day miserable for anyone he thought wasn't pulling their weight
- robz228

Is this being a jerk, or holding teammates accountable.
The delivery of demanding excellence is the difference, but demanding excellence is accountability that appears to be severely lacking on the Sabres. Been that way for years and years and years.

https://www.capfriendly.com/players/kevin-fiala

Fiala is the kind of player Botterill should be targeting.

Young, had a solid season than struggled the following season, still has RFA rights.
- kingcong39

We had our chance he is safe now

The big question is how do they attack free agency/the offseason. I'm starting to think Botterill sold the Pegula's on the Beane model of getting out of cap jail.

I don't think Botts is the right guy to do it, but I'm guessing he gets the chance to see it through for his last year of his deal.
- thatsapickle

Getting us out of cap jail by paying Skinner, Mojo and Montour close to $20m next year

Highly doubt the Wild want to move on from him. He is young and fits their timeline. I could see them moving Staal, Zuccarello, Parise
- Pegullaville

Staal won’t be moved unless he Ok’s it (he’d be perfect as our #2c and has a rapport with Skinner)

Zuccarello has 34 points after signing a $6mil UFA deal and has a NMC.

Prarise is going to be moved and it’s probably going to the NYI. They’ll rekindle that potential deal.

It’s been reported that Guerin is ridding Minny with players that don’t want to be there. Unless Staal asks for a trade, he’s probably staying. He signed a very team friendly deal...twice. Zuccarello just signed his deal as a UFA, so he chose to be there.

Well what he did as a soccer exec speaks for itself. He’s been around hockey since the 70s. Has a pretty extensive resume over all. And it’s still the question, if he is running the team over all, I have him hiring a gm to work with. Or retaining botts to work with.

If it’s me...

Ralph promoted as president of the Sabres. Responsible for overall arc and direction of all the hockey.

Botts. Responsible for on ice product.

Gallant. Head coach...

The hope here is Ralph provides a little guidance to his gm and corrects the straw issues at the arena.

While some point to just hiring the right gm. Clearly pegs can’t get that right. And there are plenty of teams with a president, gm, coach structure.

And while pegs said he ain’t hiring a president. Well, we are promoting and Lindy ain’t going anywhere.
- Gr8daygo

If I may offer some feedback,
The words and titles thrown around to make your point are confusing.
You say you want a PoHO, yet you throw in responsibilities of non-hockey related operations, making it questionable if you are talking about Hockey Ops only, or all of it like Marketing, Sales, Arena Ops, etc
Ralph's soccer CEO experience relates closer to President (period, as in all of it) rather than a smaller roll of Pres ofHockey Ops.
You should determine more specifically what you mean and then keep your post aligned to it tightly.

Is this being a jerk, or holding teammates accountable.
The delivery of demanding excellence is the difference, but demanding excellence is accountability that appears to be severely lacking on the Sabres. Been that way for years and years and years.
- IonSabres

i think by all accounts, jordan was a jerk

jordan gambled away all his money then literally quit and switched to baseball to dodge punishment from the NBA

and you dolts think eichel is too salty to be great or something

Hey, Coach Krueger, you have led this hockey team to the 7th worst record in the National Hockey League. We're going to promote you to oversee the entire organization as a reward.

I long for the day when this fanbase demands greatness from its teams, and not just hopes for it.

jordan gambled away all his money then literally quit and switched to baseball to dodge punishment from the NBA

and you dolts think eichel is too salty to be great or something
- robz228

He hardly gambled away all his money.

He’s now worth $2.1 billion.

He hardly gambled away all his money.

He’s now worth $2.1 billion.
- dadeadhead

true, more like he had an uncontrollable gambling problem.

he was allegedly spotted at a casino the morning of an NBA finals game lmao

but eichel has an attitude!!!!!111

http://www.tankathon.com/nhl
- IceColdBeer

Ran simulator 10 times

1st =0
2nd =2
3rd =1
4th =0
5th =0
6th =0
7th =3
8th =4

true, more like he had an uncontrollable gambling problem.

he was allegedly spotted at a casino the morning of an NBA finals game lmao

but eichel has an attitude!!!!!111
- robz228

I don't want to poop on Eichel, but this is apples and oranges. When you win three championships (later to be six), and break almost every scoring record known to man, you can go wherever you want whenever you want without ridicule. Eichel is not at that level, and probably never will be.

From Travis Yost article on Jeff Skinner

“ This Skinner season feels a lot like his final year in Carolina, where struggling teammate production devalued him in the market and made him available at a fraction of the cost to Buffalo. I wouldn’t sour on Skinner quite yet – his slowed scoring rates this season seem to be disproportionately impacted by teammate performance, which is a good sign for Skinner, but perhaps a bad sign when evaluating the roster as a whole.”

Biden wiped the floor with Sanders last night.

A little projection for cap space next year

$34m in space

$7 - Reinhart
$5 - Montour
$4 - Olofsson
$3 - Kahun
$4 - pick 2 of our 6 Larrys

I think those are pretty conservative. Now you have $10-12m to fill 2 second line and 1 third line spots

From Travis Yost article on Jeff Skinner

“ This Skinner season feels a lot like his final year in Carolina, where struggling teammate production devalued him in the market and made him available at a fraction of the cost to Buffalo. I wouldn’t sour on Skinner quite yet – his slowed scoring rates this season seem to be disproportionately impacted by teammate performance, which is a good sign for Skinner, but perhaps a bad sign when evaluating the roster as a whole.”
- sbroads24

He'll rebound. His contract will never reach Okposo level, at least until year 6 or 7, but I don't see him being a 40 goal scorer for this team, unless a new coach puts him with Eichel again.

Hey, Coach Krueger, you have led this hockey team to the 7th worst record in the National Hockey League. We're going to promote you to oversee the entire organization as a reward.

I long for the day when this fanbase demands greatness from its teams, and not just hopes for it.
- buffalofan19

hear, hear.

A little projection for cap space next year

$34m in space

$7 - Reinhart
$5 - Montour
$4 - Olofsson
$3 - Kahun
$4 - pick 2 of our 6 Larrys

I think those are pretty conservative. Now you have $10-12m to fill 2 second line and 1 third line spots


- jcragcrumple

At least one of those top 4 need to be moved.

He'll rebound. His contract will never reach Okposo level, at least until year 6 or 7, but I don't see him being a 40 goal scorer for this team, unless a new coach puts him with Eichel again.
- buffalofan19

Or maybe competent linemates that work with his style of play.

Or maybe competent linemates that work with his style of play.
- TheSabresTaco

That's the problem, though. Unless you move someone like Reinhart, who let's say for the sake of argument commands another $7 million, those linemates are going to have to come in the form of bargain deals (ELC, historic underperformers, etc.). Once those guys earn their proper market value, the Sabres will most likely have to move on. You're going to have more years like this, because they likely won't be able to afford a constant competent linemate with him. It's going to be a constant game of musical chairs.

how in the holy frank can you be one of the best teams 5 on 5 and one of the last place teams on both PP & PK? it is mind blowing to me how bad we suck.
- hehateme

How can Jason possibly explain rolling $m's in Cap hit over to the next season when Frolik and to a lesser extent Simmonds are on the team and were acquired late in the season.

The ~$35m in Cap space just dwindled by say $3m covering ELC Bonuses and likely needs to be further reduced by say $3-$4m in Bonuses for 20-21 season.
Now down to say $30m conservatively. ($5m+)
Using Trocheck as a example of a potential 2C salary of $4.75m, did he just cost the team a position upgrade?

Great move for a Cap Guru.

That's the problem, though. Unless you move someone like Reinhart, who let's say for the sake of argument commands another $7 million, those linemates are going to have to come in the form of bargain deals (ELC, historic underperformers, etc.). Once those guys earn their proper market value, the Sabres will most likely have to move on. You're going to have more years like this, because they likely won't be able to afford a constant competent linemate with him. It's going to be a constant game of musical chairs.
- buffalofan19

Well, if you find a GM that's worth even half his salt, these stated issues go away. You may need to trade good players in the process, but finding a guy who actually understands value AND can draft talent is tantamount. All we have now is whitebread Doug Whaley running the Sabres.

Somehow, Tampa is able to keep a bunch of great players. If they can do it, so can Buffalo (theoretically)

That's the problem, though. Unless you move someone like Reinhart, who let's say for the sake of argument commands another $7 million, those linemates are going to have to come in the form of bargain deals (ELC, historic underperformers, etc.). Once those guys earn their proper market value, the Sabres will most likely have to move on. You're going to have more years like this, because they likely won't be able to afford a constant competent linemate with him. It's going to be a constant game of musical chairs.
- buffalofan19

That's why are system needs to start pulling it's weight, we should finally start seeing some hit the system next year. We really need a few to work out from year to year.

true, more like he had an uncontrollable gambling problem.

he was allegedly spotted at a casino the morning of an NBA finals game lmao

but eichel has an attitude!!!!!111
- robz228

Jordan could stay out all night, get no sleep, lose millions at the casino/on the golf course, and drop 40 on the court all in the same day.

https://www.capfriendly.com/players/kevin-fiala

Fiala is the kind of player Botterill should be targeting.

Young, had a solid season than struggled the following season, still has RFA rights.
- kingcong39

Top shelf cookies targeted Fiala. Been paying off big time.