Our drafting has been abysmal

[paulmm3]

I made a bunch of posts in the 2011-2014 era about how bad our drafting had been that had gotten us to that point. I'm feeling much better about our drafting now.

 

[truthbluth]

Shoulda signed Hagel

 

[Buf fan in Nash]

Drafting has been average but our prospect development has been piss poor.

 

[GellMann]

Is "Reinhart is a bust" going to be an annual November tradition?

It's becoming something you can set your watch to that:
a.) Reinhart starts cold, and then cranks it up around January
b.) Jack is pass happy until Christmas, pacing for ~20 goals, and then within two months has the pace up to 35, starting with a ~7goal in 7 game type of stretch.

This year, we might actually have a middling, rather than dead last, record when those two things kick in. I hope we can tread water until December because I think combining that with Mitts (who looks better every game), Dahlin, Pilut, Nylander who we'll all see soon getting better and better, there's hope for an intriguing winter and spring.

 

[hizzoner]

Constructive criticism aimed at the play of any Sabre or coaching by staff should be accepted with good grace. Anything personal should be verboten. Watching the games in the stands often has me muttering and sometimes shouting in frustration-often directly at individual players. I try to mute that when I go on line. How we feel about players is usually informed by our expectations. We get angry at inconsistent effort or repeated unforced mistakes. The team has improved a lot-individually and in its 5 0n 5 play- but I still do not have faith in them. I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop so to speak. When I no longer have that feeling I will know they are contending team.

 

[Washed Up 29YearOld]

na, we got the best player of the 2014 draft. Victor Olofsson

 

[Djp]

I remember draft day when we drafted Grigorenko and Girgensons ... we thought our center problem was solved for the next 10 years. Grigorenko was a complete bust... Girgensons while not a bust definetly hasnt lived up to his drafted position much like Reinhart

Was Girgs a bust or was the problem blamed on his rushed development compounded by the Sabres collapse.

Girgenso s was looked at as a 3rd line defensive center. That is the kind of player he is.

The rebuild started in 2013 when buffalo started trading off players but didn’t have much in the system.

Generally 2012/2013 season is when you hope for players who came out of the 2005-3007 drafts. These players from these drafts are in their bridge period. Buffalo had little from these drafts.

 

[Buffaloed]

Is this board OK? We lose a couple games in OT and all of a sudden the world is ending. It seems like half the board wants to blow up the team.

It's a full blown culture crisis. We don't know how to win and we can't accept losing. All we can do is limbo. How low can you go?

 

[dire wolf]

From 2007 - 2011 our drafting was among the very worst in the league, bar none.

2012-2014 had some intrigue, but it mostly flames out.

We’re still waiting on 2015-2018, but it looks night and day better than the previous decade. I had hopes for maybe 2-3 guys in that 2012-2014 grouping. For 2015-2018, it’s more like 12.

I still think risto was a good pick where we were, and what went around him.

That Reinhart pick, very very sadly, still needs some time to play out. I still have faith in his development, but it is in the middle of the 4th quarter.

2012 definitely didn't pan out as we hoped (Grigorenko busted (although he helped land ROR) and Girgensons now looks like a 4th liner). However, we also got McCabe and Ullmark, who both could be important pieces for us. If you get 3 NHL players, it's usually considered a pretty good draft. McCabe and Ullmark still have the potential to be very good.

2013 is the most disappointing to me. Risto is currently underwhelming me. We lost Zadorov and Compher in the ROR trade (you could look at that 2 different ways). We lost Petersen for nothing. Hurley and Florentino busted. Bailey and Baptiste (now Jack Dougherty) are verging on busting. If Sean Malone can ever get and stay healthy, he may be a little surprise. I had much higher hopes for this draft class though.

2014 was a complete disaster. I like the Reinhart pick and think he will turn it on again like he did last season, but the rest of that draft is a joke (although that whole 2014 draft class is looking pretty weak over all).

The jury is still out on the more recent drafts, but they still look like they have the potential to be pretty good to me.

 

[dire wolf]

Our organizational woes are directly related to the 2005-2011 drafts. In 7 years, we got no high-end talent at all and only a handful of decent players. Here are the best players from that 7-year period (in rough order - but not exact):

Tyler Myers, Brayden McNabb, Mark Pysyk, Tyler Ennis, Joel Armia (he'll probably move up this list), Marcus Foligno, Paul Byron, Zack Kassian, Mike Weber, Nathan Gerbe, Chris Butler

Just by way of example, here's who some other teams drafted in the same time period (yes, I know a few were top picks, but most of them weren't):

LAK:
Kopitar, Quick, Bernier, Trevor Lewis, Dwight King, Martinez, Simmonds, Hickey, Voynov, Doughty, Nolan, Deslauriers, Clifford, Brayden Schenn, Toffoli, Shore, Andreoff.

WSH:
Backstrom, Varlamov, Neuvirth, Mathieu Perrault, Alzner, Holtby, Carlson, Eakin, Orlov, Johansson, Kuznetsov, Grubauer [amazing goalie drafting]

BOS:
Sobotka, Marchand, Lucic, Kessel, Spooner, Seguin, Hamilton

STL:
TJ Oshie, Ben Bishop, Ryan Reaves, Berglund, Erik Johnson, Perron, Ian Cole, Lars Eller, Lehtera, Jake Allen, Pietrangelo, Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz

 

[sabremike]

The thing that is amazing is that this team has literally had more than half a decade of picking no worse than 8th, picked #2 twice and #1 this offseason. If this team had management that was even somewhat competent being gifted those picks this team should've been a cup contender by now. That's the frustrating part.

 

[toomuchsauce]

Our organizational woes are directly related to the 2005-2011 drafts. In 7 years, we got no high-end talent at all and only a handful of decent players. Here are the best players from that 7-year period (in rough order - but not exact):

Tyler Myers, Brayden McNabb, Mark Pysyk, Tyler Ennis, Joel Armia (he'll probably move up this list), Marcus Foligno, Paul Byron, Zack Kassian, Mike Weber, Nathan Gerbe, Chris Butler

Just by way of example, here's who some other teams drafted in the same time period (yes, I know a few were top picks, but most of them weren't):

LAK:
Kopitar, Quick, Bernier, Trevor Lewis, Dwight King, Martinez, Simmonds, Hickey, Voynov, Doughty, Nolan, Deslauriers, Clifford, Brayden Schenn, Toffoli, Shore, Andreoff.

WSH:
Backstrom, Varlamov, Neuvirth, Mathieu Perrault, Alzner, Holtby, Carlson, Eakin, Orlov, Johansson, Kuznetsov, Grubauer [amazing goalie drafting]

BOS:
Sobotka, Marchand, Lucic, Kessel, Spooner, Seguin, Hamilton

STL:
TJ Oshie, Ben Bishop, Ryan Reaves, Berglund, Erik Johnson, Perron, Ian Cole, Lars Eller, Lehtera, Jake Allen, Pietrangelo, Tarasenko, Jaden Schwartz

 

[Howie Hodge]

Major reason why we will most likely end as a bottom 5 team this year, and the next few years to come.

When we are talking about trading Reinhart and Risto away so eagerly it's a major sign that our rebuild has been a major failure. Do fans really think we can build a team around Eichel and Dahlin? lol this isn't the old NHL, you need far more than 2 potential franchise players. We constantly miss on guys in the draft, it started with the Reinhart pick which was the start of this rebuild.

We win a few games and fans think we are progressing? The on ice performances from some of our core franchise players has been extremely worrying. Even Eichel is having on-off games.

Aladdyn is going to be gunning for you my friend.......

 

[Beerz]

Was Girgs a bust or was the problem blamed on his rushed development compounded by the Sabres collapse.

Girgenso s was looked at as a 3rd line defensive center. That is the kind of player he is.

The rebuild started in 2013 when buffalo started trading off players but didn’t have much in the system.

Generally 2012/2013 season is when you hope for players who came out of the 2005-3007 drafts. These players from these drafts are in their bridge period. Buffalo had little from these drafts.

It doesnt matter if Girgensons development was screwed or not... the result is the same.

If your thinking was Girgensons was going to be a 3rd line defensive center then yeah... you have a point it would be hard pressed to call him a bust.. But he was drafted 14th OA and at least for me I had higher expectations .. especially after his 20 goal year.

I still like him and think hes a valuable piece for the team but when considering his draft position it is a bit of a let down.

 

[Jim Bob]

It doesnt matter if Girgensons development was screwed or not... the result is the same.

If your thinking was Girgensons was going to be a 3rd line defensive center then yeah... you have a point it would be hard pressed to call him a bust.. But he was drafted 14th OA and at least for me I had higher expectations .. especially after his 20 goal year.

I still like him and think hes a valuable piece for the team but when considering his draft position it is a bit of a let down.

I wonder what people would think of players like Girgensons, Reinhart, and Ristolainen if they weren't 1st round picks?

 

[Aladyyn]

Literally the only times people want to train Reinhart are when he's shooting <5%. It's a ridiculous knee-jerk reaction.

 

[Gabrielor]

Literally the only times people want to train Reinhart are when he's shooting <5%. It's a ridiculous knee-jerk reaction.

That entire Calgary game seems to have inspired multiple knee-jerk reactions.

 

[Beerz]

I wonder what people would think of players like Girgensons, Reinhart, and Ristolainen if they weren't 1st round picks?

They'd be considered a win. For me anyways

 

[Beerz]

Literally the only times people want to train Reinhart are when he's shooting <5%. It's a ridiculous knee-jerk reaction.

Translation: The only time people want to trade Reinhart is when hes not scoring.

Guilty as charged.

 

[Aladyyn]

Translation: The only time people want to trade Reinhart is when hes not scoring.

Guilty as charged.

You know that's like, the exact opposite of good asset management, right?

 

[Beerz]

You know that's like, the exact opposite of good asset management, right?

Uh... you're acting like everything is set in stone.

It's great asset management if the player continues to struggle and his value continues to plummet.

It's bad asset management if the player blows up and becomes what you've always expected.

So seeing how nobody can predict the future.. it's making judgement calls.

Will Reinharts shooting percentage climb? Most likely yes...but it doesnt change the fact that the player is consistently inconsistent and is not living up to expectations.

I dont care if he scores 10 goals in March when we are already out of playoffs.

If this is the Reinhart we are going to get year after year... adios

 

[SatanwasaSlovak]

Eh, Reinhart is amongst the best offensive players we got. You see it every time in the offensive zone and when he has the puck. I wouldn't worry about him.

 

[Push Dr Tracksuit]

Sampson Ennis

ole' half season reinhart

he's half the player I wish he was

in a horse costume he's always the tail end

ive seen 89 mustangs in january start faster than sam

the only time sam shows up early is when he's riding that tandem bike

really no one should have been surprised that Sam signed during the second half of the offseason

overreactions are fun and we traded as many successful draft picks as we've developed the last few years, stop sending mcnabbs, pysyks, armias, comphers, and zadorovs out and our drafts look a lot better

 

[Aladyyn]

Uh... you're acting like everything is set in stone.

It's great asset management if the player continues to struggle and his value continues to plummet.

It's bad asset management if the player blows up and becomes what you've always expected.

So seeing how nobody can predict the future.. it's making judgement calls.

Will Reinharts shooting percentage climb? Most likely yes...but it doesnt change the fact that the player is consistently inconsistent and is not living up to expectations.

I dont care if he scores 10 goals in March when we are already out of playoffs.

If this is the Reinhart we are going to get year after year... adios

4% individual and on-ice. Yeah, he'll be fine. He'll end up around 60 points and do all the things he always does.

And if we somehow make the playoffs? You want the guy who peaks in spring.

 

[dasaybz]

Sampson Ennis

ole' half season reinhart

he's half the player I wish he was

in a horse costume he's always the tail end

ive seen 89 mustangs in january start faster than sam

the only time sam shows up early is when he's riding that tandem bike

really no one should have been surprised that Sam signed during the second half of the offseason

overreactions are fun and we traded as many successful draft picks as we've developed the last few years, stop sending mcnabbs, pysyks, armias, comphers, and zadorovs out and our drafts look a lot better