Given that it takes the owner to tank, it's fair to blame both. You'll never get better if you don't actually try and get better. We are now going into year 8 of the tank, what, exactly do we have to show for it? Arguably the best player in franchise history wanting out? And also a really good player wanting out because the franchise jerked him around for 3 years now instead of just paying him in the first place. And if/when Eichel and Reinhart leave it will be a minimum of 3 years before they're ready.
Tanking is a short term thing, you get your franchise talent and then actually start building around him. Picking after 3 is a huge gamble almost every year. What's the difference between 7 and 15? There is none, certainly not when factoring in how happy your franchise talent is. The opportunity cost is massive. I guarantee you if the Sabres had made the playoffs once in the last three years we wouldn't be hearing a peep.
Edit: The Avs went from 82 to 48 to 95 points. The Sabres were "one win a month" from making the playoffs after Eichel and climbing to 6th in the division after Dahlin. The Avs went out and made moves to make their team better, the Sabres haven't. - Wetbandit1
A competent management team could have built around the collection of players the Sabres have had since 2019 and made the playoffs.
Botts failed to do so in his last season here and Adams decided to sign Eakin, Reider, not move one of the abundance of RHD we had, nor address the goaltending position.
This is why we stand here today.
If we make the playoffs last year, or this year, we have Eichel, Reinhart, Dahlin, Cozens, Mitts, Joker. With good coaching and management that could have possibly have been a core of which had several deep playoff runs built around several top 10 picks. Just like Colorado, Toronto, Edmonton, Carolina (to an extent)
Botterill took a year off to "evaluate"
Adams took a year off to "evaluate", kicking every decision, except the bad ones, down the road 1 year.
That's 33% of Jack's career so far.
Say what you will, at least GMTM tried
-upgraded Goalie with someone who in fact turns out to be pretty good
-traded for a young, tough 1LW
-traded away a wussy to get a big, tough, physical Dman (too bad he was hurt 35% of the time)
-traded for a very, very good young two-way 2C to insulate a teenage elite C
Jez, come to think of it...sounds like the Sabres could use all of those pieces as they are still looking for the same.
Fvcking Botts couldn't land a 2C, didn't resolve having 324 RhD who were all redundant, didn't resolve have 6 LW's and virtually 1 RWs
Adams runs out on FA Day 1 to over pay Giggles, acquire a 5C in Eakin to play 3C, then pushes Ullmark right to UFA status, pushes Reinhart to Arb ellible for 1 year then to UFA status, fails to resolve Goalie situation, fires Krueger about 3 weeks too late.
JC, if I were Eichel and Sam I'd take out a Billboard with the two on their bike giving the 1 finger salute to Kerry and Tim. - IonSabres
How could you say Botts didn’t land a 2C ?
We just were not patient enough for Cozens or Mitts to develop into that role
Zibanejad is a rental whom had his points inflated by Panarin.
Have we not learnt from Skinner what happens when you pay somebody based off of shooting at an unsustainable rate due to play with an elite talent ? - Pegullaville
Checked Dobber Line Combinations and the past 2 seasons at even strength, the most common line for Zibanejad has been Buchnevich. Three seasons ago, it was Kreider.
Zibanejad has had roughly 30% of his production come on the power play the past 3 seasons, which is not unusual for a top line player.
He had 40+ even strength points the prior 2 seasons.
The Sabres had the rest of that offseason, including this past offseason (the one that Terry s decided to gut the entire management to go “lean”) to make the playoffs.
It took Bill Zito one offseason to surround Barkov and Huberdeau with players that Buffalo couldn’t do for Jack.
Heck Bill Zito was interviewed and passed over by this organization once to twice if I’m not mistaken.
Don’t blame the tank, blame the owner.
The Avalanche are sitting here today with a Presidents Trophy and are looking pretty for a Stanley Cup win sometime in the next few seasons thanks to tanking - Pegullaville
Botterill took a year off to "evaluate"
Adams took a year off to "evaluate", kicking every decision, except the bad ones, down the road 1 year.
That's 33% of Jack's career so far.
Say what you will, at least GMTM tried
-upgraded Goalie with someone who in fact turns out to be pretty good
-traded for a young, tough 1LW
-traded away a wussy to get a big, tough, physical Dman (too bad he was hurt 35% of the time)
-traded for a very, very good young two-way 2C to insulate a teenage elite C
Jez, come to think of it...sounds like the Sabres could use all of those pieces as they are still looking for the same.
Fvcking Botts couldn't land a 2C, didn't resolve having 324 RhD who were all redundant, didn't resolve have 6 LW's and virtually 1 RWs
Adams runs out on FA Day 1 to over pay Giggles, acquire a 5C in Eakin to play 3C, then pushes Ullmark right to UFA status, pushes Reinhart to Arb ellible for 1 year then to UFA status, fails to resolve Goalie situation, fires Krueger about 3 weeks too late.
JC, if I were Eichel and Sam I'd take out a Billboard with the two on their bike giving the 1 finger salute to Kerry and Tim. - IonSabres
Goalie who was a mess here
1LW that couldn't keep his hands to himself
A D that couldn't stay on the ice
2C that lost his love for the game
Traded everything away to get those pieces, had no depth to fill out his roster, had to trade more assets away to try and fill his D core. Lots of incompetence for a long time.
Location: I said that months ago, keep up!, FL Joined: 03.10.2013
May 15 @ 7:49 PM ET
Zibanejad is a rental whom had his points inflated by Panarin.
Have we not learnt from Skinner what happens when you pay somebody based off of shooting at an unsustainable rate due to play with an elite talent ? - Pegullaville
It would seem to me that they each lifted each other.
Zibanejad is a rental whom had his points inflated by Panarin.
Have we not learnt from Skinner what happens when you pay somebody based off of shooting at an unsustainable rate due to play with an elite talent ? - Pegullaville
Zibanejad has shot between 11% and 14% in 6 of the past 7 seasons. He shot 19% last season. Looks like he's just a quality shooter.
Location: I said that months ago, keep up!, FL Joined: 03.10.2013
May 15 @ 8:04 PM ET
Goalie who was a mess here
1LW that couldn't keep his hands to himself
A D that couldn't stay on the ice
2C that lost his love for the game
Traded everything away to get those pieces, had no depth to fill out his roster, had to trade more assets away to try and fill his D core. Lots of incompetence for a long time. - Buff36
He brought them in is my point.
-Did he know about Lhenner being a druggie?
-Could he have predicted Bogo being injured every GD year?
-Should have figured Kane to be an off-ice problem, granted
-ROR saw the poop show and engineered his way out..under Bott's tenure
Botts did zippo except write Dahlin on a draft card
KA would do nothing too except he now has to as the whole friggin line up is up for renewal and Jack just slapped him hard in the face and Sam pulled a ROR
Oh well, JCrags couldn't have picked a better time to become the blogger...
Checked Dobber Line Combinations and the past 2 seasons at even strength, the most common line for Zibanejad has been Buchnevich. Three seasons ago, it was Kreider.
Zibanejad has had roughly 30% of his production come on the power play the past 3 seasons, which is not unusual for a top line player.
He had 40+ even strength points the prior 2 seasons.
Doesn't seem like Panarin inflated his stats. - kingcong39
Zibanejad scored most of his goals last year at 5v5 with Panarin. He had a 19.7% shooting percentage.
Fact if the matter is, he is a 28 year old impending UFA whom the Rangers would mostly like be moving on from anyways. I consider that a cap dump for the purposes of a transaction
He brought them in is my point.
-Did he know about Lhenner being a druggie?
-Could he have predicted Bogo being injured every GD year?
-Should have figured Kane to be an off-ice problem, granted
-ROR saw the poop show and engineered his way out..under Bott's tenure
Botts did zippo except write Dahlin on a draft card
KA would do nothing too except he now has to as the whole friggin line up is up for renewal and Jack just slapped him hard in the face and Sam pulled a ROR
Oh well, JCrags couldn't have picked a better time to become the blogger... - IonSabres
Yes he brought them in, gave away everything to do it, and Botts came into a sh!t show, obviously didn't do enough, but are system is a whole lot better. There's been incompetence for a decade. A lot of blame to go around.
He brought them in is my point.
-Did he know about Lhenner being a druggie?
-Could he have predicted Bogo being injured every GD year?
-Should have figured Kane to be an off-ice problem, granted
-ROR saw the poop show and engineered his way out..under Bott's tenure
Botts did zippo except write Dahlin on a draft card
KA would do nothing too except he now has to as the whole friggin line up is up for renewal and Jack just slapped him hard in the face and Sam pulled a ROR
Oh well, JCrags couldn't have picked a better time to become the blogger... - IonSabres
I'm not interested in re-litigating the tenure of Jason Botterill and I doubt anyone wants to hear more of my thoughts on the subject
Zibanejad is a rental whom had his points inflated by Panarin.
Have we not learnt from Skinner what happens when you pay somebody based off of shooting at an unsustainable rate due to play with an elite talent ? - Pegullaville
Zib doesn’t play with Panarin at even strength only pp. zib is a legit low end 1st line center. The rangers are better off keeping him and looking else where for a legit number two center
Zibanejad scored most of his goals last year at 5v5 with Panarin. He had a 19.7% shooting percentage.
Fact if the matter is, he is a 28 year old impending UFA whom the Rangers would mostly like be moving on from anyways. I consider that a cap dump for the purposes of a transaction - Pegullaville
Zibanejad played the first 12 games with Panarin before he got hurt at the beginning of last year.
You are correct though that Panarin played with Strome and Zibanejad with Kreider and Buch afterwords.
However, Quinn put the two together several times down the stretch on their run last year to get a spark.
From an article on March 7th, 2020.
“Panarin has points in 14 of the last 15 games, while Zibanejad has been a goal-scoring machine not just on Thursday but for the entire the second half of the season -- for the year, he ranks second in the NHL in goals per game, at 0.70 to Alex Ovechkin's 0.71. But taking in the recent sample size of the last seven games, he has scored 11 goals in that time, and Panarin has assisted on seven of them, four at even strength, two of them overtime game-winners. All have been primary assists.”
Zibanejad is a good hockey player in his own right, but did benefit from playing with Panarin. He could score 25 goals here in Buffalo but sams an extension, he’s a cap dump and impending UFA
Zibanejad played the first 12 games with Panarin before he got hurt at the beginning of last year.
You are correct though that Panarin played with Strome and Zibanejad with Kreider and Buch afterwords.
However, Quinn put the two together several times down the stretch on their run last year to get a spark.
From an article on March 7th, 2020.
“Panarin has points in 14 of the last 15 games, while Zibanejad has been a goal-scoring machine not just on Thursday but for the entire the second half of the season -- for the year, he ranks second in the NHL in goals per game, at 0.70 to Alex Ovechkin's 0.71. But taking in the recent sample size of the last seven games, he has scored 11 goals in that time, and Panarin has assisted on seven of them, four at even strength, two of them overtime game-winners. All have been primary assists.”
Zibanejad is a good hockey player in his own right, but did benefit from playing with Panarin. He could score 25 goals here in Buffalo but sams an extension, he’s a cap dump and impending UFA - Pegullaville
He also scored 30 the season before Panarin joined the team, while also having 43 assists.
Just came across something in the new CBA sabres fans might find interesting.
Under the old one an RFA’s qualifying offer had to be equal to that of the salary where as of last summer any RFA contract signed has a qualifying offer the same as the AAV.
For example matthew tkachuck’s contract was signed under the old CBA so his next one will have a cap hit that will match the 9 million salary he was making in the last year of his current contract. But if it was signed after the new CBA the qualifying offer would only match the 7 million aav he has right now.
It might or might not change anything I was thinking in the Dahlin negotiations but none the less it will be interesting to see if it plays a part.
Zibanejad played the first 12 games with Panarin before he got hurt at the beginning of last year.
You are correct though that Panarin played with Strome and Zibanejad with Kreider and Buch afterwords.
However, Quinn put the two together several times down the stretch on their run last year to get a spark.
From an article on March 7th, 2020.
“Panarin has points in 14 of the last 15 games, while Zibanejad has been a goal-scoring machine not just on Thursday but for the entire the second half of the season -- for the year, he ranks second in the NHL in goals per game, at 0.70 to Alex Ovechkin's 0.71. But taking in the recent sample size of the last seven games, he has scored 11 goals in that time, and Panarin has assisted on seven of them, four at even strength, two of them overtime game-winners. All have been primary assists.”
Zibanejad is a good hockey player in his own right, but did benefit from playing with Panarin. He could score 25 goals here in Buffalo but sams an extension, he’s a cap dump and impending UFA - Pegullaville
Zib plays 0 time even strength with Panarin. They play pp1 together. Zib is a 70 point guy on any team. He played with buch kreider and then Laf the last 10 games or so. The running joke was that Panarin carried Strome. But Panarin missed 10 games this year dealing with Putin poop and strome still performed well
Zib plays 0 time even strength with Panarin. They play pp1 together. Zib is a 70 point guy on any team. He played with buch kreider and then Laf the last 10 games or so. The running joke was that Panarin carried Strome. But Panarin missed 10 games this year dealing with Putin poop and strome still performed well - nyrangers2
Maybe not this year, however last year they did.
Read the professional article written. I even included the link for you
