Until we see what we have, it’s average for me. Lots of small moves which I have liked. I liked the Miller move due to the quality player Miller is, and I liked the MaJo signing.
I liked the low cost move that brought Vesey here.
I like that we have brought in NHL level players to fill in our secondary scoring. Something that has been lacking for quite a bit of time.
I’m not a fan of the Krueger hire and the plans for coaching duties. It’s going to rely on two coaches that have not worked together ever to be in-sync with one another to build/create a system that is competitive night in and night out.
Because of this I don’t like that we hired Krueger, a guy out of hockey for years. I don’t doubt his ability to be a positive influence/motivator in the room, but it takes more to KEEP the room positive for long term. If the system is not leading them to succeed, they will lose the room. Delegating duties that should fall on the head coach might work in tournaments where you have other head coaches helping you. I don’t think you’d get the same results with lesser players and lesser coaches. There is a lot of risk with how they are handling this.
I also have not like how they have handled the Risto situation.
I’m continuing to not like the draft capital spending that has been going on for a team that wants to draft and develop. Especially since we don’t exactly have a surplus of picks like we had a few years ago. I’d take no issue with it, if we were refilling these picks.
Overall, this has easily been Botts best offseason. Still, I don’t think it’s anything more than average.
There is a lot of “hope” and risk taking for this team to turn it around. I am not a fan of the Sabres experimenting and trying to reinvent the wheel with their coaching hire. Pegula and company thinking they know better than the rest of the league has been proven to be false time and time again.