OffThePost.org

Got called up early because of his size. Teams are always doing that...

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I don’t love this article from Mike Harrington (I know he has a bit of a rep but I don’t mind the guy so much), it feels too much like a hit piece, but it reinforces the fact that O’Reilly signed his walking papers the minute he had that brutally honest media scrum about losing his love for the game.

My question: Was it his intention to engineer his own departure? Or was he just trying to be honest? Either way, the ROR camp insisted that part of that mega deal wasn’t just scoring and two way play, it was character as well. Well...when that’s your “character” it sure as hell ain’t worth $7.5 million in bonuses it turns out.

I still think this is a shit trade and Botterill could’ve done much better. In fact this is yet another major misfire by Botterill. He knew he wasn’t keeping Kane, so why did he hold onto him for so long? I suppose the same applies to Lehner but unlike Kane there was never any real “sell high” point to his season.

So...so far pretty much every move GMJB has made has backfired in some way, about the best thing you could say was that he at least got rid of Tyler Ennis’s contract, Marco Scandella isn’t terrible, and hey got some roster flexibility in the long term by dumping ROR, even though they had to take on two enormously overpaid players in order to do it. He’s still new to the game and has had one hell of a mess to clean up but so far I’m not sure Botterill has been much, if any improvement on his predecessors.

That's life! We can't all be winners!

For whatever this is worth- Carter Hutton supposedly took $500k less/year to sign with Sabres than the Isles offered.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

Could Tage Thompson be any more perfect for the name of Klay(NBA) and Trayce(MLB) 's kid brother? 3 brothers across 3 different major pro sports would be pretty awesome.

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Thanks Chuck, E.L. and Harmy!

I would recommend Sabre fans look at it as one more year of strip and build, 19-20 as progress to playoff contender, and 20-21 as the window opens to be a top team. Really they are in a good place right now and if they manage it competently for the next couple of season the "frustration" should pass if not be over all ready. Maybe they haven't crushed it on some recent trades but I'd still rather see a team strip down what doesn't work than keep going back to the same failed mix.

Sheary - Eichel - Okposo
Skinner - Mittelstadt - Reinhart
Rodrigues - Berglund - Pominville
Girgensons - Larsson - Sobotka
Wilson, Thompson

Scandella - Ristolainen
Dahlin - Bogosian
Beaulieu - McCabe

No doubt the moment Bogo gets his annual season-ending injury that Guhle will get a legit shot at sticking in the lineup.

Looking forward to seeing an All-Rasmus pairing on the power play.

Skinner and Sheary are nice adds for the short-term.

Still plenty of pruning to be done. Can't imagine Bogo and Beaulieu will be there for the long haul. Brought on dead weight from STL.

Also, while dealing ROR now was the right move, the centre depth looks a little shaky. Berglund was barely a centre in STL, and Middlestadt is a rookie.

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The partially-buried Matt Moulson deal comes off the books in 2019. That deal alone will probably be the thing that keeps Murray from getting another GM gig ever again. I'm guessing Okposo ends up being another amnesty buyout, maybe Berglund too. Keep in mind they're still paying Ehrhoff and Leino on amnesty buyouts and Cody Hodgson on a regular one. But if nothing else, the Pegulas know how to throw money at a problem to make it go away.

Is there some real hand-wringing going on with Willie Nylander's bro? Or is that all just people overreacting?

I forgot all about that Ehrhoff contract...

What do you mean an amnesty buyout for Okposo? Those compliance/amnesty buyouts are long gone now, the Sabres used both of them way back when, and he'll only have a year left when the CBA is up in 2022 if it does include more amnesty buyouts...

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Thanks Chuck, E.L. and Harmy!

2022 is only if neither side doesn't exercise their opt-out clause in September 2019. I can't imagine the players would, but there's a possibility the league will. And I can't imagine they won't allow for another amnesty buyout period for stupid teams doing stupid things, so they can go out there and do even more stupid things.

Forgot about that optout.

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Thanks Chuck, E.L. and Harmy!

Uh-boy...

That wasn't the way you want to start out the season.

It's only one game, but looking at the highlights, they still look disorganized and discombobulated. That's a very disconcerting sign.

I'll post the link later but according to Pierre LeBrun of The Athletic, had Bergevin agreed to trade the 3rd overall pick for Ryan O'Reilly, the Sabres reportedly would have used it to select Brady Tkachuk. If that had happened, Kotkaniemi would likely be a Coyote right now.

In the end, Bergevin made what looks like a wise choice.

Dodged a bullet

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Poor Okposo. Guy has been stuck on 2 of the most poorly run teams in the league.

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Posting your political views on social media is like sticking your head up your ass & whispering: You're just as likely to change someone's mind, and you'll always come out looking like a shithead.

This team should be so much better!

Wasn't able to see the game but I spied this on Twitter.

https://twitter.com/georgie_carroll/sta ... 6986620928



I don't have the raw data in front of me but I think Rasmus Ristolainen may lead the league in most clean breakaways given up. Dude lets more people get behind him than the Human Centipede.

Geez, Phil, I don't want ya to get fired but how many more fucking games are you gonna go with Okposo (who literally cost the Sabres the game with a horrid double-minor penalty) and Risto on the top power play unit when Skinner/Dahlin would be much, much better choices...!?

I'm sayin' it now, Rasmus Ristolainen is terrible. Some people keep singing his praises but every time I see the guy play he's nothing but a liability on skates with some really nice hair.

Atop the NHL standings: The Buffalo Freakin Sabres!

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