Quoting: Shibbal18
Connolly has well, would have been a hige improvement over Vesey. I wish he would stop taking flyers on guys that are cheap, like the current Galchenyuk rumors. Not that i dont want him, its just low risk for a guy whos struggled now on 3 franchises, cant say hes a lock for a top 6 wonger. Him and Mitts would make for the most disappointing 3rd line in the league though, so maybe that lights a fire
TBH, I never thought Connolly would sign here, but you are correct he would have been a good signing. Considering how the Sabres finished last year, I sort of think there were not too many decent free agents who entertained offers from Buffalo.
I presume you are talking about Johansson, Vesey and Sheary as cheap.
I was really happy that the Sabres signed Johansson, as I had him pegged as the team's #2 center as soon as I heard of the deal.
I thought Sheary played about as well as I had expected and who would have played wing if we did not have him last year. You are correct maybe he expected more out of Sheary, but I was not unhappy to give up a 4th when the team only had Reinhart, Okposo and Rodrigues as possible top 9 wingers (Skinner was added 2 months later).
Vesey was a good trade and he adds PK depth (unfortunately our PK really is bad this year). I expected more scoring but he may have found his groove now.
Finally, Galchenyuk has hardly struggled in his career. He has been remarkably consistent, especially if one removes his 30 goal season in '15-'16. If we did pick up Chucky, I would put him on the top line and move Reinhart to RW with Johansson and Skinner. Chucky is not Sampson but over the last 5 years (including this dismal year) he has only 12 fewer goals and 29 fewer points, and he has never played for a center as Jack.
Considering Betterall had so much junk to unload and so few assets to start (no extra picks and one of the worse prospects pools in the NHL), it is amazing that the team is in second place after finishing dead last just 18 months ago.
I know you do not appreciate Betterall as much as I do, but look at the Rochester roster for evidence of his capabilities. Eight of the top nine scorers are his additions, and they are in second place in the north division. Remember they missed the playoffs every year Murray was the GM and he blamed Regier for not drafting well.
When he took over the Sabres we had 2 reliable NHL defensemen, McCabe and Ristolainen (here the list who were on that team: Casey Nelson, Brady Austin, Brendan Guhle, Erik Burgdoerfer, Dmitri Kulikov, Josh Gorges, Taylor Fedun, Justin Falk, Zach Bogosian, Cody Franson, that is a sad assortment of defensemen). Now we even have 2 ex NHL defensemen in Rochester (Redmond and Gilmour) who are better than at least 8 from that collection.