When does the hard copy version of your book come out?

Agreed.

Five points

For all of you CFGM's in preorder for free!

ROR is not the problem...... the problem has been unrealistic expectations from a group of players that are just not good enough..... bottom six were horrendous..... Reinhart was played out of position until they finally figured out he needs to be on the RW..... your FA signing of Okposo missed due to his medication reaction that landed him in ICU..... your forwards (except for ROR & a couple more) had no clue what it meant to play a 2 way game so not only did they not score (lowest goals for in the league) but they also were defensive liabilities..... your defense men struggled all year to grasp the new system......

I agree with your statement that ROR should not be an outcast because he was pissed off with how he played and how the team played.... ROR has always been accountable though I would like to see him call out a few guys instead of always saying 'he has to be better'...... if GMBots looks to trade him I think he will want an overpayment to move him.

Thanks for taking the time to provide your thoughts in this manner!!!!

Can I write the Foreword?

Of course.

no doubt hes just valuable and can fill multiple hole on the Sabres roster if dealt. Thats what ACGMs dont understand. We arent moving him cause he wanted out, were moving him to make a complete team. His value is high and he's not going to be sold for scraps and picks.

They were also building for one coach and one system then fired the coach and GM at the same time, scraped all the plans, and went in a different direction. They were close to achieving one goal then had to go back to the start like an atari game. This year was us smashing the controller and going to buy an Xbox (PC is were the real gamers are at IRL though)

Thanks for taking the time to express your beliefs. You are correct DATM may have been the worse choice for GM ever.
He was lazy; instead of making trades to take cap away from other desperate teams; he just signed players (Moulson, Meszaros for example).
He made horrible trades. Really McNabb and two seconds for Fasching and Deslauriers, a second for Gorges, a first for Lehner.
He over played his hand and missed out on Pearson, 1st, 3rd and Greene for Moulson and Ehrhoff, then on Spooner and maybe 2 seconds for Stewart, Flynn and Neuvirth.
He drafted extremely poorly. Among all of his picks not named Eichel nor Reinhart, his entire body of work have 2 goals, one by each Lemieux and Nylander. Over that same period, only the NYR did worse.
He was arrogant to the press, the NHL and other General Managers. I wanted him gone sooner but he is gone.

This is where you and I diverge. Botterill knows what he is doing (your rant seemed to indicate you are not particularly happy with Botterill or Housley). Let us compare the players DATM and Botterill brought onto the team. Collectively O'Reilly, Kane, Lehner and Bogosian have not played in as many playoff games as Pominville, Scandella, Nolan, Wilson, Beaulieu and Pouliot each individually have played in as those four losers DATM dragged in. Jordan Nolan said there is no accountability, from where does that come? Not from the coach, the other players. Botterill traded for, picked off of waivers or signed as free agents this group to help increase the accountability and locker room atmosphere, But My captain, my captain what do you have to say, "I lost my love of the game". Kids get their teeth knocked out for the love of the game, you earn $7,500,000, and you lost the love of "PLAYING A GAME". Get out of town. This is why ANY trade that takes him out of buffalo gets five stars from me. Yes, he is the cancer.

Housley may have been too nice to the players. Pominville said he had great respect for Housley because he only criticized the players in private and never during the press conferences as our previous long time coach Lindy "Not So Smooth" would do after every lose. When I would hear Phil say, "The team cannot handle success" that was his euphemism for "they are not working hard enough to win". Wayne Gretzky learned this when he walked past the Winnipeg Jets locker room after his oilers lost to them in the finals. He was surprised to see how exhausted everyone was. You cannot tell me Jack, nor Ryan, nor Sam, nor Kyle, nor Evander, nor anyone was exhausted at the end of any game. This work ethic (yes I think Scott and Jordan and their center all had it) never did rub off on the rest of the team. PLEASE do not make excuses for O'Reilly. We were sold a bill of goods that he was a character person and a great two-way player. Well he showed his character when he ran away (maybe staggered away) from the newly formed Tim Hortons drive through door. I have spoken to many long time hockey fans who are appalled that he had only 2 penalty minutes all year. He is more concerned about his stats than anything else. WOOWHO look at me I set the record for most face off wins. Great two way players will do anything to stop a scoring chance and will have much more than one 2 minute penalty in 81 games.

There I got that off my mind. Give Botterill a chance, he knows what he is doing and how to build a champion. He purged the team of one cancer just a few more to go.

I agree with what you say about ROR and truly believe he is open to trying to become a solution to this roster. He definitely did regress a little with some of his leadership qualities as I remember him doing “shooting drills” after practice the last couple years but not this one. Just little things like that but I believe he can improve.

Off of this, I still think we see ROR moved if a core player is moved on from. I understand everything he brings, but the big reason I think it’s him over the others (Eichel, Reino, Risto only other core rn?) is his age at 27. Don’t get me wrong that isn’t old, but when the rest of this roster is ready to compete he will be probably into his early 30s and that’s where you see a chance at players starting to regress. You look at what the Flyers got for their veteran 2-way center Mike Richards years ago when they were in a similar position and they landed 2 players that have been part of their core (Simmonds and Schenn who was recently moved.) If Buffalo can haul in 2 young pieces to help further compliment this young core they have put together 2-3 years down the road I think you have to do it. Sorry this was a lot lol

PS I like that Detroit trade but I believe we would need to add more to get them to bite. Howard is still pretty good and Jensen is a younger defender I don’t see them giving away

Buddy come over here..... someone needs a hug...... come on lil buddy......

Thank goodness some Buffalo fans realize ROR is not the problem. I mean every other team was licking their chops at getting him. Of virtually almost all the players on the team, he was one of the only ones that didn't deserve criticism.

He's slightly overpaid for how much he is able to produce offensively but he more than makes up for it with the other aspects of the game he does do. Trading him IMO would be a big mistake. He makes Eichels job a lot easier and in all honesty Eichel will need all the help he can get.

I don't really know a whole lot about the Buffalo goaltending situation but I really don't think trading Lehner for Jimmy Howard will fix any of their problems. Jimmy Howard is way past his prime and is already 34 and although Lehner hasn't been consistent I really think he is the better goalie not to mention the fact that he is much younger, almost 10 years younger than Howard. I completely agree that the team should hold onto ROR though

Group therapy.

I'd quote but there is flat out too much writing already.

ROR wants to win and regardless of his salary, the majority of players play the game to win. The best, the ones that make the big bucks, play to win. I loved that he came out and said he lost the desire to play. Someone had to say it. The Sabers are a slow motion train wreck.

Hate him for his salary or love him for his compete level, he was honest.

Thanks for expressing your idea. I disagree with what you said on ROR and just his 2 PIM, I can agree on the character thing that he regressed but it was not his fault, but fans are always having different ideas so I respect your opinion and I would take it to my heart and do my next suggestions based on that.

And I like Botterill and Housley. They need to get rid of GMTM's crap that he had done. And Buffalo are on a good way, but this past season stinked and we can agree that they were bad, so don't just blame ROR, he is part of the problem and I believe part of the solution, there would be serious talks between him and Botterill and Housley this preseason. Not just about hockey.. and if he gets traded it is automatic win for Sabres as they would get great return for him. But I believe that they will talk it out and he will be the past, good himself he was.. Sabres, either with or without ROR would be a lot better next year

Sabres have a young goalie ready for the NHL in Ullmark and our GM has already committed to him being one of the two in Buffalo. Howard is old and past his prime, but would be a valuable mentor to Ullmark and can still hold his own when called upon. Lehner had 3 years here and hasn’t really taken over the #1 spot you would hope he would have. With a new GM in town Lehne will probably be gone

I just want that loser and all of the losers gone. be honest with me after Botterill filled out the team, did you not feel that it was better than last year? I did, I thought with another PK forward and maybe Vanek it was possibly a playoff team. I loved Housley, but the players just totally ignored him and thought they could get rid of him just as they did Bylsma. But what do I know, I was totally wrong

Actually I think you are spot on about the players thinking that get rid of the coach part 2 would work. They got a rude wake up call when Pegula's stepped in and said GMBots & Phil are good to go.....

I think the only area we disagree is with ROR...... I understand your position on him and you make some great points as to the style he plays etc but that does not mean that I agree he needs to be sent packing.... I am a loyal guy and I value honesty.

I still think you need a hug..... so come on over here and get your hug....

One thing we will never disagree on is that the Sabres will always be the team that we cheer and support!!!!

I think Lehner is extremely misunderstood. But I probably relate because I have a similar personality. He wanted more out of his teammates and he knows how talented they are. So when he’s in net watching players take shifts off while he’s standing on his head that anger builds. I can’t blame him for his stats, he really kept this team in games they had no business being in. His fire is something I want in a playoff run, and he will call someone out for being lazy.

I think last year Housley was feeling it out. His assistants I think were fairly weak as well. I’ll give Housley the free year but expect results starting now. Eichels not going to be running the show with Dahlin in the picture now

I had no clue how good Ullmark looks like he can be but I completely agree with you that Lehner is misunderstood. His stats sucked but so did his team this past year. The year before he had a fantastic for a bottom team in the league .920 save percentage. Why flip him for washed up Howard when you can just run a platoon of Ullmark and Lehner and see who can take over the starting position? They're both young talented goalies

Lehner with good defence in front of him is top-15 goalie in the league. He is unbelievable and a serious beast. You wouldn't want to have scraps with Lehner. I love his passion for the game!

Nothing wrong with 2 good goalies

But did you not think this team would be over 90 pts after the moves Botterill made. He stole Pominville and Scandella. Beaulieu did not work out, but it looked to a good trade at the time, Pouliot brought some stability to LW and seemed to have good speed, Johnson for some reason had a horrible season. Wilson was a great pick up for a 5th, Nolan brought toughness to the team. But Okposo was a still recovering, Moulson was not utilized at all where he can contribute (and the PP went from tops to the bottom) and I thought that Housley missed fired on using his talents properly. Yes, i will always want O'Reilly gone from the team. Thanks again.