I've been here 20 years and as some can point out, I have almost never been happy about management. I have had heated conversations with two different regimes (Muckler, Luce, Carriere in a game in Niagara Falls; Regier, Benning, and Carriere in the the Swannie House during lunch).
Giving Botts a chance? I'm trying but he crisped up my good will in the first year on the job. I didn't like the job he was doing before he got fleeced in the O'Reilly deal. For Jack's production, I didn't think Eichel was worth the deal Botterill gave him and then he bridged Reinhart which looks like it will cost the team in the long run. Skinner, for a guy claiming he wanted to stay, hijacked them for another million. That doesn't make it palatable.
I liked what they did this year in the draft by taking high-skill OA's in later rounds. The self-importance of those two trade-ups puts a blemish on what they were doing. To borrow a take I happen to agree with on it: it cost them two more lottery tickets when volume is more important than position.
I like that they were reportedly in the running for some players and that they didn't get any stupid contracts. He did well not to get out from under Moulson and Pominville only to jump back in with foolish money to clutter up their roster further. However, he still has measurably bad players on the team, both optically and metrically in Sobotka and Scandella who he hasn't removed by any means necessary.
I remember cautioning people when they were on the winning streak that they weren't playing well despite the wins, to enjoy it because it wasn't sustainable. You want a good old take, since we are in the Regier thread? Early in the '06-07 season, I posted in here that this could be the high-water mark for this team since both of the co-caps were going to be UFA and that we should enjoy that last season for all it was worth. HG practically strangled me the next time I saw her and gaf at a game after that.
As for the trade, I've been over it. I know you don't usually post in this forum, you save your energy for the NHL Board. I've been down the path that the pieces received were not worth the player - Thompson was not Thomas or even Kyrou, Berglund/Sobotka were visually and metrically and contractually poor, and they didn't get a piece like Dunn. I don't hate Thompson, I hate the trade AND I hate the inconsistency of the message from the front office about how it is all about development and earning time, yet for "their" guys, it's gifted ice and roster slots. It's a bad look and does not build morale or team cohesion.
I like the moves toward mobile offensive defensemen. I don't like how Pilut was twisted by the old coach and the GM did nothing to step in there. There is a clear question of how the teams views player impact that does not fit with what we can observe externally, especially with how Pilut is the only partner to get Risto to a break even point in terms of shots for and against.
Ullmark... I don't know. I'm not impressed by his body of work so far in North America. I liked a bit of what I saw before he came over, but goalies are such voodoo. Hutton played like we expected over the full range of games, but what we didn't get was consistency. He went from uncharacteristically high save percentage to the opposite.
As of now UPL is on the shelf with the same hip surgery that Ullmark had and is going to have to be metered in his minutes and games played. Looking for him early will likely be disappointing - he's got to get healthy first and then show he can handle the rigors of the pro game in the same fashion he did in Sudbury. THEN he's due for a look. And still, goalies are voodoo - I wouldn't be keen to bank on him being a starter quality NHLer this soon. Would it be awesome if he turns out to be that, and it happens quickly? Damn right it would be. It just almost never happens (not just in Buffalo, but in general).
Is the defense actually stable though? They have 9 NHL bodies at the moment and it isn't clear what they will do for roles. Scandella remains. They just spent a season cleaning up after waiting to see what a coach could do with players in the previous season - it's time to stop hoping a player might maybe someday be good again and move on. He's the first one off the boot on the blueline since a defensive defenseman who can't defend is a clear detriment to the team. At least Risto's lack of ES defensive chops can be balanced against his raw scoring productivity, but Scandella? Nope. Bogosian is again hurt to start a season, one in which he is UFA at the end of and has not proven to be worth the contract he's on in the least. Pilut's also hurt and there is no clear indication that the team recognizes his value. Miller's a nice add in a cap squeeze and yet he was a scratch in the season and in the playoffs which should bear more scrutiny than it has. Montour was an interesting addition, yet it seems more that he'll be in the "fun" category 5-on-5 because he gets the puck up the ice on the rush and is not good at defending. McCabe is like smaller Bogosian - unreliable. He's started to actually get better in his own zone and he got hurt again, derailing AGAIN a season, albeit this time as he was starting to play well. Hunwick is overpaid for being a 7. Nelson is actually good at being a 6/7 on a cheap deal.
As for offense... after two full years on the job, Botterill has turned up two forwards in Skinner and Sheary who might be deemed worthwhile. He's had a metric ass ton that have not. I haven't seen anything in three summers that puts my growing sense of dread at what, if anything, he has as a plan that will put players on the ice who are better than what we have seen for a number of years now.
Perhaps I'm not willing to look at what the team does as "good" while you always seem irrepressibly embracing whatever they have done as good. Maybe your way is better. I know that I'm too old to change my spots at this point.