Quoting: sabres1108
Thompson was atrocious last year....he can only hope to be as good as Ehlers is one day
Ristolainen was awful as well im ready to move on from him already
Pekar i do not care if we lose him- he projects as a bottom 6 forward...if you can trade one of those in a package to aquire a legit top 6 forward who is still young on a very reasonable contract w term you do it
sobotka is terrible
cj smith is likely a career AHLer
It’s hilarious that you even consider Devante Stephens an “asset”
Your rage and detestation of Sobotka is clouding your judgement. My whole point is that you are not using the best option to torpedo Sobotka which is send him to Rochester by placing him on waivers. No team will claim him and if they do then you are off the hook..... if he does not get claimed and fails to report you are off the hook.... if he does report he plays in Rochester or below.
CJ Smith might never be an NHL player I really do not know if he will or he won't what I do know is that he had a very good year in Rochester therefore if you do not need to deal him (see above) then he will serve a very solid role in Rochester again this year. The organization has to start developing a winning culture and that starts in the minors. You can not expect to gut your minor league affiliates just to get yourself out of a bad contract that has only one year to go. CJ Smith will be plenty useful in Rochester again this year;
Devante Stephens is an organizational asset. He had a very good year in Cincinnati. If you plan to elevate Pilut, Borgen et al at any point in the year from Rochester you will need a filler for that vacated spot in Rochester. Stephens has earned the right to be in Rochester. Do I ever expect him to be in the NHL no but I do think he can fill a spot and be productive player for Rochester. Why give him away if you do not have to see Sobotka solution above.
Is Thompson equal to or better than Ehlers no probably never will be...... you must keep in mind that GMBots wants to keep his job.... by admitting he missed completely on the ROR trade he will be a goner.... He is able to sell Terry & Kim that Thompson has high upside since he is only 21 etc.... do I believe it no not really..... but I do not see him throwing the three players for Ehlers with the situation WPG is in.
I find it interesting you only look at how bad each of the players for the Sabres have been I just ask you to look at the complete ORGANIZATION before you ship off multiple assets...... Does Risto's bad performance have anything to do with being in multiple systems none longer than 2 seasons..... or how awful the forwards were in the defensive zone.....
I really appreciate your point of view and the back and forth dialogue.
As I alway say reasonable people will differ!