Where is the rebuild?

[haseoke39]

Curious where the votes fall right now, seeing we're basically at the end of year 3 since the aggressive tear-down started.

1. Confident. Everything's on pace. Playoffs next year, contention thereafter, we win the cup in 5.

2. Mildly confident. This isn't on pace, but it's not alarming yet. We have 2-3 holes that can be filled pretty readily and the assets to fill them. Maybe Murray missed on a couple players so far, but that's what happens when you roll the dice.

3. Mildly confident with a big caveat. This isn't on pace, but the biggest issue is simply coaching. We're a lost cause until Bylsma is fired, but once he is, the turnaround could be pretty steep.

4. Agnostic. I have no idea anymore. I started drinking about the home and home with Boston, and I just never stopped.

5. Not confident. This is off pace, and I'm concerned. The holes in the roster aren't minor, and I question whether we have the assets to get them filled.

6. Seriously not confident. This is off pace, the holes are huge, and I'm concerned about the management itself. I think we have serious holes, and the management approach that got us here has me worried GMTM isn't the guy who will fix them.

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[ZZamboni]

2 and 3 are mildly confident and kinda dovetails into one another IMO. I feel #2, but with Byslma being an issue that needs to be resolved

 

[sincerity0]

Without turning this into some sort of roster speculation / prospect speculation post -- I selected 2.


As we have all rehashed a million times there are critical mainly on defense. The rebuild is going slower than expected, mainly because of two factors

1) Murray said this wasn't going to be a 5 year rebuild

2) While locking in last place for McEichel, Murray obtained Reinhart, Eichel, Kane and ROR. This year he trades for a veteran defenseman in Kulikov and signs Okposo. These are signs that the Sabres are in / approaching "win now mode."

Losing Eichel for 20 games and Kulikov with the freak injury really hurt the Sabres this year. I don't think that changes the long term outlook of the rebuild. With the core this team has whomever the GM is will figure it out. Eichel, Reinhart and Risto will all be too good to fumble the roster for too long.

Although I consider the rebuild to be slightly behind schedule, it is likely due to injuries. With the possibility of adding some young guns in Bailey, Baptise, Guhle and others like Nylander and ERod (full time), the Sabres look to be in pretty good shape.

Acquiring at least two NHL defenseman will go a long way in stabilizing the entire team. While not an ideal situation it is not like the team is so far off. There is some fat to be shed and muscle to add but the core pieces are there. Remember it's easier to add depth with elite talent than to add elite talent with depth players.

 

[B U F F A L O]

With the pieces he added... O'Reilly, Bogosian, Kane, Okposo, Kulikov, Lehner, along with our high draft picks Eichel, Reinhart, I think the plan was to be a playoff team this year. So by missing the playoffs I consider us slightly off track by one year. By adding the accelerated pieces in Kane, O'Reilly, Lehner and then Okposo this year we expected to contend during Eichel and Reinharts ELC years. But since we didn't (or likely wont) make the playoffs in year 1 and 2 I don't see next year being a contending year for us. So yeah, I'm still confident in the rebuild to turn us into contenders we have a few holes to fill. Defense and coaching. I think our offense is fine once we start replacing the Moulson and Ennis with guys like Carrier, Baptiste and Rodrigues.

 

[La Cosa Nostra]

Winning the cup in 5 more seasons? That isn't being on track even if we were. I would expect to win a cup within 5 seasons of drafting Eichel. Crosby, Malkin and Ovechkin all had their best 2 seasons production wise in the first five seasons of their career. 5 seasons from now ROR and Risto are nearing the end of their contracts. Guys like Okposo will be on their downside and Kane is likely gone. Murray needs to make the playoffs next year or he is gone. It doesn't take over 4 years to make the playoffs no matter how bad your team is, not when you draft a superstar center who looks to be a guy who will be a perennial Art Ross contender.

2020 is when I'd like to see a cup run being feasible.

 

[gallagt01]

I'm confident that this will be a competitive playoff team in a couple of years. I'm not confident that it'll ever be a serious cup contender.

 

[VaporTrail]

combo between 2 and 3....Lehner remains to be seen....Bylsma has to go...With the addition of a few more players this can be a playoff team

 

[pigpen65]

If the goal was just to make the playoffs that could have been accomplished 5 years ago. You don't go through the type of hell we have just to make the playoffs. The most concerning part about Murray right from the get go was his fundamental lack of understanding that defense wins championships. Regier rebuilt and solidified the defense and the first thing Murray did was dismantle it. We saw this year the fallout from that. It's going to take another rebuild now to get the D back to where it was 3 years ago. When Murray is replaced history will show the entire Murray era was one big directionless circle back to the beginning. The sooner he is replaced, the less time wasted. So option 6, but only because an option 7 and replace the GM now isn't a choice.

 

[Gabrielor]

It's 2 and 3 really.

 

[Sabre Dance]

Option 5. I don't think Murray can fix the problems on defense.

 

[Husko]

Winning the cup in 5 more seasons? That isn't being on track even if we were. I would expect to win a cup within 5 seasons of drafting Eichel. Crosby, Malkin and Ovechkin all had their best 2 seasons production wise in the first five seasons of their career. 5 seasons from now ROR and Risto are nearing the end of their contracts. Guys like Okposo will be on their downside and Kane is likely gone. Murray needs to make the playoffs next year or he is gone. It doesn't take over 4 years to make the playoffs no matter how bad your team is, not when you draft a superstar center who looks to be a guy who will be a perennial Art Ross contender.

2020 is when I'd like to see a cup run being feasible.

They had their most productive seasons early because it was a different league then, not because they magestically got worse..

 

[Royisgone]

I'm in the 5/6 area.

We have the core of talent to qualify for the playoffs and maybe win a series now and again, but if we are going to reliably go deep in the playoffs or be viewed as a legitimate Cup contender. we need a lot more core pieces than we have now.

Murray has made some serious errors in judgment but also done some nice things.

In the end, I predict the final product will not be good enough to justify the pain we have gone through and will continue to go through.

We have now gone through some of the worst seasons in hockey history...all in the name of being what we have always been: a middling playoff team.

 

[RiotAct]

2 people selected Option 1?!?

 

[SackTastic]

It's so hard to judge this stuff. I get that it's conversational fodder and everything, but there's no magic formula, no magic schedule. Even if you can execute every player move you want and it works, that still guarantees you nothing.

Even with the major injuries this year (15 is PPG and he hasn't been at 100% all year, RoR looks like he's only at about 80% ), they're basically on last year's pace. They're learning some hard lessons about how you have to play in this league, but they are lessons you have to learn. There's been some benefit to the injuries, some of the young talent has gotten a good taste of the big show.

The question will be if they can apply what they've learned next year, and hopefully avoid the injury bug. TM needs to improve defensive depth, and he knows that. Some dead weight comes off the roster and youth comes in, let's see. To me, that will be what shows us if this team as constructed has a decent chance, or if changes have to be made.

 

[SackTastic]

We have now gone through some of the worst seasons in hockey history...all in the name of being what we have always been: a middling playoff team.

So they haven't even made the playoffs yet, and you can already tell what kind of team they'll be when they get there? Cool.

 

[Der Jaeger]

I'm in the 5/6 area.

We have the core of talent to qualify for the playoffs and maybe win a series now and again, but if we are going to reliably go deep in the playoffs or be viewed as a legitimate Cup contender. we need a lot more core pieces than we have now.

Murray has made some serious errors in judgment but also done some nice things.

In the end, I predict the final product will not be good enough to justify the pain we have gone through and will continue to go through.

We have now gone through some of the worst seasons in hockey history...all in the name of being what we have always been: a middling playoff team.

Kings are an average regular season team. Their heavy game works well in the playoffs. Sabers are sizing up as the same type of team.

 

[Yatzhee]

Option 5. I don't think Murray can fix the problems on defense.

This may be true this off season.

 

[struckbyaparkedcar]

We have two strictly better players and a better asset pool than anyone from our "middling playoff team" years...