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Everything posted by SabreFan1
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I have little faith in Hutton. I just think that Botterill will try and save face and attempt to fix him with the new guy they hired. There are only 2 above average goalies on the market right now (the rest are average). Those 2 are Bobrovsky (The Sabres won't give him the salary and term he wants) and Lehner (who would likely retire before coming back to the place where he has a million memory triggers to start him drinking again).
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The Sabres' 3 biggest needs are in order: 2nd and 3rd RW, 2nd line centre, and a solid goaltender. Goalie would be higher but I have a feeling that the Sabres are going to give the new goalie coach one season to fix Hutton. We're ok on d-men this year, but with several contracts expiring after this season, we'll need to either promote or pick up a couple more.
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I know. I wish I had a better one. The d-man market isn't exactly popping with high value trades right now for the first time in a long time. Ristolainen may be the belle of the ball right now, but his worth is tough to gauge with several teams being in on it. Apparently none of them have been overly aggressive or Risto would in all likelihood already be gone.
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I don't mind discussing hockey with people or I wouldn't be here. We're just polar opposites on how to build a hockey team. You want to build as fast as possible with the best players possible to take stabs at the playoffs. I prefer to build one solid team that even if you have to go through a long drought to get there, you'll have a longer sustained playoff run in the end. That's how the Sabres used to build their club until Terry Pegula took over. Then he gave 2 incompetent GM's in a row a blank chequebook who tried to build the team exactly as you described, but they both failed miserably. I'm hoping that Jason Botterill will do things with the long-game in mind. I'd like to return to the days when the Sabres were a solid regular season team year after year that was almost always in the playoff hunt.
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You're taking a short-term look at this whereas I'm taking a long-term look. A guy like Duchene would be great until it came time to pay him. Toronto has built a team like you are suggesting that the Sabres do and they are currently having to partially dismantle it after having won exactly as many playoff series as both the Sabres and the Canucks. You build with an eye towards the future, not just an eye on the here and now.
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That's only true when you're close to being a playoff team. The Sabres are closer to the basement than the playoffs. No they didn't. One left 20 games into the season after playing lousy and the other played horribly all season long. The Sabres aren't a team with 12 Higgins'. They're a team with a stud top line and a 2nd line that's 3rd line quality, and a 3rd line that's 4th line quality, and a 4th line that should be in the AHL. I'd like Botterill to put together a solid 2nd line so he can move the other 2 lines down to where they should be.
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@CaptainLinden16 What has you confused? The Sabres already have a high performing, very expensive, top line. What they don't have is quality depth. Getting one high end forward and sticking him on the 2nd line would be a waste. Getting a couple solid middle 6'ers would give the Sabres secondary scoring and make them more than the one line team that they currently are.
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It's not so much a solid partner because he's had those in the past. Risto needs to be paired with a smart partner who he will listen to that can help him clean up his all too often mental errors. That's why I think he'd do better with a player like Edler who gets by on his smarts as much as he does with talent.
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[Rumour] Canucks inquired about Sabres defenceman
SabreFan1 replied to -Vintage Canuck-'s topic in Trades, Rumours, Signings
The highest bid among all of the teams that are interested. If NHL insiders are to be believed, after Trouba was traded, all eyes turned to Ristolainen. The market and to a certain extent, Botterill's judgment will set the price. In my opinion, the Canucks would have to give up too much in order to win a multi-team bidding war.