Listening to 550 tonight, made a little sense how after 25 games, they were only 4 pts out of a playoff spot. They gave reinhart a lot of games to show something and he showed very little. Gionta and foligno were injured and the tank began, no leadership in the lockeroom. Schaller was kept down and the tank was complete, mezaros was signed to bring them to the cap floor, lindback in the net.
I'm not too concerned about leadership on this team. Gionta is a veteran that made it based on being a great student of the game. He wore the C for Les Habs, and I think that speaks loudly about his character. He certainly was not brought in to score a lot of goals for this team. Similar things can be said about Moulson, except he's younger and may be skating for them after they've turned the corner. They turned suitors away last July. Steve Ott wanted to come back. I think they were judicious with each new player last July. Collectively they helped the team get over the floor, but I don't that one of them was signed for that express purpose. The problem with leadership is that they need it in huge doses. Even more so because Nolan is behind the bench. (A distinction needs to be made between a motivator and a leader. Nolan is an effective motivator for some players, but he's not a leader. The former wears thin in time, but leaders have a lasting impact.) Perhaps the most under appreciated player in the organization is Drew Bagnall in Rochester. No, I do not expect you know much about him - if anything. But he is the Amerks' leader, and is having a very positive impact on some prospects. Others, like Joel Armia, get shipped out. I am very impressed with how TM et al have handled things so far. It does not assure the organization of success, but they've been very reassuring. There's a lot more that needs to be done, but I think for the most part the team moves are moving them in the right direction.
I didn't know, but they mentioned on 550 that after gionta went down, the team went 2-16. They were saying that there was a point in the season where they could've added, and you mention they left bagnall down on the farm. The sabres have been planning this tank from last year when they got rid of miller and vanek and took in those picks.
The team began to plan for this draft when Pominville was traded to the Wild. Gionta was signed for two reasons: 1) because he would, (he grew up a Sabres fan in Rochester), and 2) because of his leadership. Any goals he might pot were considered gravy. There was serious preseason talk that Buffalo had parlayed themselves out of the McEichel sweepstakes with the additions they made; I think that their performance with and without him indicate how serious the chances were that they could have improved significantly. But this team was absolutely gutted at the end of last season - people forget that they finished 14 points out of 29th place in '13-'14. It would have been a proud and stupid team to add at this year's deadline given the state of the team. It is ridiculous to even suggest that they should have and that's why WGR sucks. Even if this team were realistically in the playoff discussion, their team stats indicated that they had a long way to go. Even if they were shooting for the 6-10 pick, it made better sense to get what they could at the deadline for players that would not be part of a future winning team. Drew Bagnall is almost the ideal AHL veteran; he is simply not good enough for the NHL. He's not on the Rochester roster for his talent so much as his leadership qualities. Of course the AHL is primarily a developmental league, and he has had a very important impact on player development. He's my organizational MVP. I like this team for their grit and determination. They are absolutely horrible at executing the game, but they play like many of us did on the pond. It's probably not fun for professionals, but they play like their having fun despite the results. That will help them in the future once they've added some talent. I believe that Gionta, (and Moulson and Gorges), played a very important role in making sure this team did not just fold things up in January. But no one should have expected very much, and TM certainly did not. This year they're likely to finish 2 to 4 points out of 29th, and improve 2-5 points over the previous campaign. Statistically the team regressed - but statistical analysis matters most for winning teams and there was zero chance they'd be a winner this year. This was a consolidation year to give them a chance to evaluate the mind-numbing quantity of good young assets, to make decisions about what system they'd use, and to slough off prospects like Armia.
550 likes to take both sides all the time to open up debate. Sabres will get the assets, and TM will try to not repeat the screwups that MacT has been doing in edmonton.
Buffalo will have a whole new look to start out next year. The first line, (E. Kane, McEichel, and M. Moulson), may surpass the entire team's point production from this season. R. Ristolainen made huge strides in the second half, N. Zadarov was forced into NHL duty a year too early - he would have benefited from time in Rochester - but he already has great strength, and Bogosian is more of a leader than Myers. Assuming they sort out Pysyk's mystery ailment gets sorted out, the team could have a solid D. Nolan, mercifully, was axed today. The team should not have a hard time luring a good replacement. The 2015-16 season will be the first that the tear-down is in the rear view mirror. It will be a year to assimilate the new system. I certainly do not expect them to be a playoff team, but I do expect dramatic improvement in virtually all categories.
That's the question. If I already had a good answer I'd probably project a 20-30 point improvement. (Keep in mind that off a 54 pt. base - they'll still suck.) One thing that is almost certain is that Hackett will be gone. He did not play enough NHL games for the team to retain RFA rights. No loss there as I think he'll never be anything better than a shaky backup. Lindback actually played very well after coming over from Dallas. At one point he had a .933 SV%. He was a sterling prospect in NSH, and he has the size TM likes. Before the trade he seemed destined to go back to Europe this summer. I think he's done enough to earn a short contract, and I know he'd like to be back. He's my answer for back-up competition in camp. Chad Johnson, (obtained from the NYI), is the only vet. G under contract. He's had success, well he hasn't always sucked, but he was injured most of his time in BUF. He should be in camp, unless he's part of a trade for another G. The org. has 2-4 prospects that could be starters one year, but no one that's ready in Sept. They have a lot of picks and there's 2 to 4 worthy of 2nd or 3rd round consideration. Needless to say, a draft pick in June is not going to resolve this need. The most likely scenario is the trade route. While I cannot believe ANA would trade Gibbons there have been credible reports that TM is after him. Fucale? First, I don't think he's ready, but MTL has the luxury of considering moving him. The same can be said about Subban, with the exception that he could be in the NHL next year. Any trade for a coveted prospect from a division foe is likely to carry an extra cost. COL has G prospects, (and a thin pipeline everywhere else). They make sense as I am sure that TM has been talking to them about ROR. This one has the potential to be a blockbuster. BUF has the picks & prospects to get this done. NSH & CGY are other teams that could move a G. In all these speculations we're talking about a young player. In the end, the Sabres status between the pipes looks tenuous, at best, next season. Hence my 15-20 point improvement projection. Irbe was the only coach not let go, and I hope the next coach wants to retain him. The reality is that my rosiest scenario is that someone emerges as a legit. starter in '15-'16. With that, (along with getting a good RW somewhere), is that BUF enters the '16-'17 season with serious playoff aspirations.
A new coach and another year of development by Larsson, Grigerenko, and others, and the addition of E. Kane lead me to conclude that BUF's offensive stats have to improve next season. They have to improve since they were absolutely abysmal this year. Especially if TM swings another quantity for quality trade to add another winger, I believe there could be a dramatic improvement. And Connor McJesus or Jack Eichel will be in blue & maize. If BUF can find a way to stay in the OZ then they should look decent. At the very end of the season they actually outshot some teams, but their season stat. is probably somewhere around 20 for: 30 against, (and that may be understated - I guess I should actually look it up). With the paucity of shots on goal they scored a surprising number of goals, (not total goals for the year, of course, but goals/shot). There is some offensive talent on this roster. The D is looking like it'll be in the elite status in another year or two. I'd like for them to add more depth in the pipeline, and I expect they will in the draft, but they could be set for a ten or more very good run. I've discussed goalies above. This remains the biggest team challenge, IMO, but TM has demonstrated that he's bold and decisive at times. I am pretty certain that he's been considering his options for between the pipes. There is too much to assimilate to expect a strong campaign next year, but I do expect the excitement level will be very high in Buffalo. (I think BUF hosts the 2016 draft - it would be nice if they could pick up an extra first rounder to scintillate the draft day revelers.)
If O'Connor signs with Buffalo, which I think is better than 50:50, he would be in camp. I have to believe he needs a year or two in the AHL. But Buffalo probably offers him the shortest path to the NHL, and he's TM's kind of goalie. Terry Pegula is likely to win any bidding war that may arise. By the time the team is ready to compete for the playoffs they could be a team with a surplus at the position. The Sabres always seem to find a very good to great goalie. It's the team's most vexing problem now, but I have confidence in historical tradition here, so I'm not sweating it too much.
i wouldn't hitch my wagon to Matt O'Connor Dan. I'll be surprised if becomes a starting NHL goalie for anyone.
When the odds are 1:5 you don't allow yourself the luxury thinking of winning. On the other hand, when they're 1:100 then you can afford to fantasize about having McJesus on your squad. Connor is probably more upset about this than I am At least getting Eichel is pretty damned good news. Buffalo fans are now writing about how their cheering for #30 was justified. (As if they're actions had any bearing on the outcome.) Buffalo should show dramatic improvement in 2015-16. Coming off a 54 pt. base they may get as high as #8, (in the draft, to be clear). Next April I will allow myself to dream of winning the Matthews sweeps.
Sabres weren't that bad, they were bad on purpose, they traded away key pieces to tank and now will look to rebuild.
I'm curious how you qualify them as not that bad. I thought they were really bad, in fact historically bad. And, I think even using the word "bad" is being kind. I am happy, however, the team dismantled the "core" that Darcy assembled. It was clear that they were never going to be good enough, and, famously, they were a bunch of pussies. It appears as though they may have won every trade that got them to this point. One could argue that MN is happy with Pomminville and the LAK with McNabb. My contention is that this merely establishes that Buffalo did not hump every team they traded with; they still won every single trade.
Sabres didn't just hit rock bottom without the help of uppermanagement. You trade away a top goalie a scorer in miller and vanek, and don't try to improve the team, spend way below the cap, they aren't that bad. They still might decide to suck again next year for another top pick, key word is decide. .
Of course this kind of plan should come from the very top down. At the very least it needs the owner's blessing. In BUF's I am confident that Darcy probably fought Terry on this at first. The new owner was telling him to destroy his life's work. (DR's ultimate downfall was not that he did a bad job of building the Sabres starting in '97; it was that he felt too highly of his performance and would not trade a good player.) I do not think they ever started to blow the team up in order to get bad. They did it to get good - really good. Having several bad seasons were merely the short term, (relative to a ten plus year SC run potential), the costs for doing business.
I think the sabres had a pretty good team in '07 with briere, connolly, vanek, miller, afinogenov, campbell, drury, gaustad, etc, they really did put together a good team and should've beat the canes that year. I'm not sure why I didn't follow really that closely why they kept losing players to free agency every year, was it they were up against the cap or maybe unwilling to spend, or maybe some of those players just peaked. It happens to a lot of teams and the canes are there too, time to reload.
2007 was the Sabres best opportunity ever to actually win the SC. (The WC lacked a dominant team - EDM emerged as the Conf. Champs. And, BUF was a very solid PC winner.). The reason they lost - I like to quote a sportswriter: BUF was down to their 17th-string defenseman. Injuries are part of the game, and never form an excuse. The rash of injuries to one unit do, however, form an explanation. However, there are no connections from that '06-'07 team to what we have now. If Pegula had owned the team then they would have kept Brian Campbell and Danny Briere, and perhaps Chris Drury, (I think he had made up his mind long before that was going to sign with the NYR.) Golisano had bought the team primarily to serve his political aspirations, (and I'm grateful he did as there was a serious risk the team would fold or move after the Regis calumnies), he was a NASCAR fan with no interest in hockey. He had no interest nor aptitude for running a successful NHL team, and his team budgets proved it. I acknowledge that Regier was good at creating a strong roster on a shoestring budget. His draft record was better than average to good compared to his peers, and he won a lot more trades than he lost. His ultimate downfall is not his work, but that he fell in love with his work too much and wouldn't part with any of the core that we'd built. It should be noted that he held to an ill-advised policy to not negotiate during the season. If they had in-season negotiations they could have locked in Briere. Campbell would have signed for 5 yrs./$25MM the year before his FA, but I don't blame Regier for missing that opp., I am sure Galisano nixed it. Campbell had a phenomenal season and it became clear he'd test FA - it was too late for Darcy and he did well in the trade to SJ, (T. Ennis is the notable remains of that trade).
