What could have been! Which do you prefer?

what should have been, the lottery is a joke

Yea but i guess thats karma for openly admitting to tank lol

Mcdavid. To be fair, We tanked hard so we didnt get the dylan strome consolation, and i firmly believe that if the season went on for a week, we would have passed the leafs and arizona. Nolan had scabs like ennis and hodgson trying to stick to the sabres, if you watched those games, the players werent in on it. Ekblad is a bigger need than reinhart, but hes had issues himself. Wouldnt shock me if draisitl went one in a redraft.

I dont see anything wrong with tanking, Regardless of whether or not Buffalo did it (they did). Their will always be teams that know they are good, teams that know they are on the bubble, and teams that know they have no chance. As long as those teams who know they have no chance aren't actively altering the outcome of a game (playing with out a goalie, scoring on their own net, short handing themselves on purpose), and are actually competing, then I have no problem with it. All those players are playing for their future, they will compete, some of them (Girgensons) will have seasons so good they are kept in the NHL long after they've shown they really cant cut it. The Sabres didn't actively throw games, and in fact, the players were extremely pissed with the fans for wanting a tank. What the Sabres did no one should have a problem with. They cleared out aging valuable assets for prospects and picks and planned for their future. The lottery, mathematically, rewards bubble teams for being decent already and punishes the worst teams in the league who are struggling to attract, develop, and maintain top talent. 2017 draft is a great example, Philly moves up 12 spots, Dallas who was still a bubble team, hampered by goaltending had an off year, they got to move up 5 spots, the new team in the league picks 6th, even NJD moved up 5. Colorado who wasn't trying to tank, had a terrible year, deserved the first, gets 4. Vancouver 5, Detroit picks 9, both were openly trying to be a playoff team but were terrible, get screwed. The lottery doesnt work, at least with its current formula. If they dont get rid of it they at least need to skew it better.

jesus.... the sabers with mcdavid AND ekblad... this team is one of the tops in the east. risto is allowed to play a more fitting role as 2nd pair D, ekblad logs the tough minutes, couple depth trade deadline adds and BOOM the sabres are a threat and Edmonton is in the dumpster still