The What if ... thread

SabresFanNorthPortFL

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Aug 9, 2007
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The only "what if" I care about, is if we used the 3 First rounders in 2015. That we just stayed the course of the rebuild, and Murray didn't try to fast-track it.

I think we are a much better team right now....
 

Sabresfansince1980

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The only "what if" I care about, is if we used the 3 First rounders in 2015. That we just stayed the course of the rebuild, and Murray didn't try to fast-track it.

I think we are a much better team right now....

:cry:

I'd gladly take Boeser or White, Roslovic, and just the option to draft Aho. I know a counter to using all those picks and keeping the picks and prospects we had was, "but you can only have 50 NHL contracts anyway". To me the counter to that counter is - trade the lesser prospects or whoever is gumming up the lower end on the contract list, and take the prime assets.
 

sabrebuild

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:cry:

I'd gladly take Boeser or White, Roslovic, and just the option to draft Aho. I know a counter to using all those picks and keeping the picks and prospects we had was, "but you can only have 50 NHL contracts anyway". To me the counter to that counter is - trade the lesser prospects or whoever is gumming up the lower end on the contract list, and take the prime assets.

Agreed on the 50 contract nonsense. That never made any sense, like there are not a half dozen contracts every team could dump in a second.
 

brian_griffin

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May 10, 2007
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Agreed on the 50 contract nonsense. That never made any sense, like there are not a half dozen contracts every team could dump in a second.
I was one of the people who, at the time, noted the 50-contract restriction.

The only way I know to dump contracts of lower-tier prospects with no or limited future is to waive them for purpose of unconditional release. If that was done carte blanche (by any team, for more than one player) it would be the first instance I'm aware of, and I've been following hockey for decades.

There may have been a better way to retain picks / prospects during the Murray tenure, but to believe ALL, or anywhere near all, the draft picks could have developed in the Sabres system long enough to keep only the blossomed flowers and discard the weeds is a definite stretch, IMO.

Logically, if every team could dump a half-dozen contracts at any moment, only a fraction of those could land with another team. The rest would have the fate of the next round of "musical chairs" and find themselves on the outs without a team.
 
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Rowley Birkin

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The biggest one in my time as a Sabres fan is incorrectly prioritising / pursuing Chris Drury instead of Danny Briere.

If they signed Briere to the reported 5x5, letting Drury walk, then the Vanek OS is likely unmatched netting the team 4 extra firsts.

No telling if they would have hit on any of those firsts... But those picks could have been turned into top tier deadline rentals every year if nothing else That late 00s team plus Briere, minus Vanek, plus those four picks or whatever assets they turn into... Probably equal a cup.

This was something which was completely controllable within the organisation as well - unlike not winning Crosby/McDavid lotteries for example.
 

sabrebuild

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Apr 21, 2014
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I was one of the people who, at the time, noted the 50-contract restriction.

The only way I know to dump contracts of lower-tier prospects with no or limited future is to waive them for purpose of unconditional release. If that was done carte blanche (by any team, for more than one player) it would be the first instance I'm aware of, and I've been following hockey for decades.

There may have been a better way to retain picks / prospects during the Murray tenure, but to believe ALL, or anywhere near all, the draft picks could have developed in the Sabres system long enough to keep only the blossomed flowers and discard the weeds is a definite stretch, IMO.

Logically, if every team could dump a half-dozen contracts at any moment, only a fraction of those could land with another team. The rest would have the fate of the next round of "musical chairs" and find themselves on the outs without a team.

So saying a half dozen could be dumped immediately would fairly be described as hyperbole. But if we take the time machine back and plan on the O'Reilly trade and nothing else, borderline sneaky tank for Matthews/Laine.

I don't see how the contract issues really come into play, because most of those picks will still never deserve a contract.

Lets say you commit to 25 contracts to nhl roster guys.

Lets say that you have 15 contracts in Rochester that count and the other ten or so are ahl deals.

That leaves you 10 deals left for some elite junior players that neee another year in the CHL.

We knew at the time, pre drafting Eichel after Sam, that at least two of these high picks are going right to the nhl.

So realistically you would need to find contracts for say the lehner first,the Kane first and a couple high seconds.

If your 3rd rounders or higher hit, they inevitably will need years before a contract, especially ncaa or euros.

Mathematically I have a hard time understanding how the contract pile up would occur if you took the slow and steady approach. We had an epic amount of picks overall, but really only 5-6 of those picks were likely to be worth even a first contract, let alobe say 10 of them.

Now the flip side of this situation and how they strategized, is that I think it would be dumb to wait out and use all those picks, because a lot would miss anyway and have no value. So trading some for known talent was the move, which also cleared up any kind of prospect jam.

I wasn't immune to that concern at the time, but in retrospect I just don't see how the problem realistically comes to fruition.
 

SnuggaRUDE

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It's like making the cap floor. A problem which exists only in the mind of forum posters.
 

dotcommunism

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Aug 16, 2007
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I was one of the people who, at the time, noted the 50-contract restriction.

The only way I know to dump contracts of lower-tier prospects with no or limited future is to waive them for purpose of unconditional release. If that was done carte blanche (by any team, for more than one player) it would be the first instance I'm aware of, and I've been following hockey for decades.

There may have been a better way to retain picks / prospects during the Murray tenure, but to believe ALL, or anywhere near all, the draft picks could have developed in the Sabres system long enough to keep only the blossomed flowers and discard the weeds is a definite stretch, IMO.

Logically, if every team could dump a half-dozen contracts at any moment, only a fraction of those could land with another team. The rest would have the fate of the next round of "musical chairs" and find themselves on the outs without a team.
Realistically speaking, finding enough playing time so that everyone can develop properly is more of a limiting factor in prospect hoarding than the 50 contract limit is.
 

tsujimoto74

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May 28, 2012
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What if we slowly developed Mikhail Grigorenko?

The guy from that draft class I wonder more about is Girgensons. What if we had let him go develop his offense in college rather than rushing him from the USHL to the AHL and then into top NHL minutes? At the draft, I thought he had the potential to be a 20G/40P, or maybe even a 25/50, player.

Bigger what if for me, though, is what if we hadn't traded away several high picks in one of the deepest drafts in recent memory (2015)? Our top 6 might actually contain 6 top-6 caliber forwards.
 

pigpen65

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Jul 25, 2011
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The guy from that draft class I wonder more about is Girgensons. What if we had let him go develop his offense in college rather than rushing him from the USHL to the AHL and then into top NHL minutes? At the draft, I thought he had the potential to be a 20G/40P, or maybe even a 25/50, player.

Bigger what if for me, though, is what if we hadn't traded away several high picks in one of the deepest drafts in recent memory (2015)? Our top 6 might actually contain 6 top-6 caliber forwards.

Girgensons responded well to his development. He had 15 goals and 30 points in 61 games in his second NHL season. It was the tank years that stalled him. Same with McCabe. Same with Ristolainen.
 

Chainshot

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Girgensons responded well to his development. He had 15 goals and 30 points in 61 games in his second NHL season. It was the tank years that stalled him. Same with McCabe. Same with Ristolainen.

That was a factor of ice time, not talent. It's like Vesey's scoring numbers playing 2nd line minutes in NY aren't going to be the same playing 3rd line minutes in Buffalo. Same thing happened with Moore in Toronto - got the icetime, made some things happen, but the points/minute are still about the same. Ditto for Gus and his goals/60. It hasn't changed much. What has changed is how many minutes he gets per night.
 

Chainshot

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The guy from that draft class I wonder more about is Girgensons. What if we had let him go develop his offense in college rather than rushing him from the USHL to the AHL and then into top NHL minutes? At the draft, I thought he had the potential to be a 20G/40P, or maybe even a 25/50, player.

Bigger what if for me, though, is what if we hadn't traded away several high picks in one of the deepest drafts in recent memory (2015)? Our top 6 might actually contain 6 top-6 caliber forwards.

He was slated to go to Vermont and Kelowna held his rights in the WHL. He had a beef with the Rockets, someone had said something there that had offended him and he wasn't open to going at all. While Vermont isn't a powerhouse, even spending a year honing his offensive skills in the NCAA would have been better than being rushed through the Amerks and plugged into the tank. Maybe he doesn't pick up the first of what may be many concussions as a 19-year old with Rochester and instead figures out how to be more productive while still being a hard to play against player.
 
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