Hey look, the Buffalo Sabres have a new player! Maybe we'll see them snag a few more in the next few hours, too!
Who is Brandon Montour and why have I been suggesting that the Sabres trade for him for the last two years? Well, let's run through the checklist:
- Young
- Cost-controlled
- Relatively cheap
- Puck-moving defenseman
- Tons of upside
- Possibly attainable for a reasonable price
Realizing that the first three checks go hand-in-hand, Montour is a great addition. I haven't watched him play every night, but each time the Ducks come to town or the Sabres head to Anaheim, I've got an eye on the guy wearing No. 26. I've never viewed him as any sort of savior, but more of a solid piece that can be added to a team that has had a mess on the blue line for several years now. I liked the Montour idea before I had even heard of Rasmus Dahlin.
It's also interesting that adding a defenseman immediately leads to the conversation about Rasmus Ristolainen. Winning the Dahlin lottery opened up the conversation about Ristolainen… as we all wondered if he'd be more effective with a little less on his plate. Has that happened? I'm not so sure. Now we're rolling through the same cycle with the addition of Montour.
I don't need the Sabres to trade Ristolainen, but I'm absolutely hoping that Jason Botterill is listening to offers. My "Super Secret Sabres Source" tells me that Botterill is listening, but not feeling desperate to make a move. It all feels like last year's deadline with Ryan O'Reilly. The Sabres elected to keep him on the team into the summer where they sent him off for a package of parts. The O'Reilly trade was a "gotta get him outta here" move for the Sabres. The general manager clearly felt it was a move that needed to be made. With Ristolainen, I don't get that same sense. If Botterill is going to move Ristolainen, it'll be to get better… and while that's an exciting idea, I'm not blindly signing up for it. I'm not all that jazzed about trading Ristolainen for a package of prospects and picks… unless that capital is used to bring in players. It's time to win, and if the general manager thinks he can speed that up and improve the team by trading No. 55, I'm into it.
Last week I asked for a "savvy move" and I think Montour is that. It gives us an idea of the Botterill/Housley vision, if only a little peek. Next question is… is Ristolainen in that vision?
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Ok now to catch up on posting something from last week... remember we were kinda mad at the Sabres. So, here's the "Anything but the Sabres Tweetbag!"
— brian m. johnson (@bmjohnson31) February 21, 2019
Option 2, duh. Obviously the first dog is wearing a hospital gown.
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Where is Josh Allen on the "your level of belief" scale now versus the day he was drafted?
— Shaun M. Brennan (@ShaunMBrennan1) February 21, 2019In a word - Higher.
In a few more words - Perhaps not as high as some of you. With that said, I am excited for Josh Allen's second season. I'm so ready to see what the Buffalo Bills have planned for the offensive line, the weapons, and the way they use him. Allen's second season will bring with it a few huge changes:
- It won't be his first rodeo. He got valuable experience and that works in his favor
- He won't be sneaking up on anyone. There won't be a single defensive coordinator that comes in without a gameplay on how to stop him from getting outside the pocket. How effective will they be in stopping him? We'll see
- The weapons… it's a huge TBD at this point, but it's going to be hard to imagine things being worse.
- The standard. I've been complaining all week about the Sabres lack of an actual standard. Last year, Allen blew by the expectations that many had for him. If we're being fair.. in some sense he blew by it like the Sabres have blown by their point total of last year. We get to set a new bar for Allen, and rather than trying to see if the draft experts (haters, to some of you) were wrong about him, we can judge him on his peers. How does he stack up with all of the other quarterbacks?
Sign me up. Can't come fast enough.
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In terms of receiver which route would you most like the Bills to go...Free agency, trade, draft.
— Anthony (@AnthonyPariso) February 21, 2019My knee-jerk reaction is to say "flip a coin". Personally, I would really like the wide receiver at No. 9 (or in a slight trade down as many will suggest), but I'm also aware that if you get the right offensive line in place that'll help the wide receivers you bring in through free agency. When you get right down to it, I think I lean toward the wide receiver at No. 9 because of the ability to have that player on an entry-level contract. Four years signed, a fifth year option… on a rookie wide receiver might be much easier to take than the kind of money that's being tossed around in free agency. The Chiefs shelled $30 million guaranteed for Sammy Watkins, and he wasn't even a focal point of their offense.
There's the financial question. Then there's the issue of learning on-the-job. Do the Bills want a young lineman, or a young weapon? You don't often get contributions from rookie receivers that are taken outside of the first round. So if I'm looking for immediate impact in the draft at wide receiver, it likely has to come early.
Just to give you an idea how much of a coin flip this is… coming into the 2019 offseason the Bills were dead last in money tied up at wide receiver, tight end, and 31st on offensive line.
Whoa, right?
Time to spend baby!
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Do you want the Bills to pursue Antonio Brown if it costs a 4th rounder or less?
— Ben Hoffman (@Benihana314) February 21, 20191,000,000-percent yes. With that said, I don't give it much serious thought. The Bills are in a very small window where I think I can ruefully accept the idea of staying away from Antonio Brown. They have a young quarterback that they're going to want to protect. While Brown would help him immensely, there's also the possibility that the superstar wide receiver could undermine the quarterback and call him out. If Brown can't stay happy catching passes from Big Ben, how could he be happy here?
Brown has had 150 or more targets, every year, for the last six years. Are the Bills even interested in passing enough to make him happy? Probably not. So… I think it's a no-go, but I'd be quite happy if it did happen.
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What made you pick Arsenal?
— McNutty (@WebToeUB90) February 21, 2019They had a cool name, and I went to their stadium.
Arsenal is… a mess these days. Or they're not? Who knows. When I picked the team, I had no idea that I'd be signing up for years and years of inept ownership. "Silent Stan" Kroenke is the worst. As a guy that just glommed on to a team, I feel sorry for the generations of fans that watched their team get bought up buy a guy that doesn't give one flip about winning. I just finished a book on the history of the Premier League and there was an interesting takeaway from it. The league exploded in popularity worldwide and the values of the member clubs double-exploded. Soccer clubs are like fancy cars for the mega-billionaires, and along the way the fans of these rich-in-tradition teams are kinda left on the outside as bystanders. It's a plaything to either make money, or win titles. What do these teams no longer exist for? The fans. Fans are sometimes (and I don't just mean the EPL here) hangers-on and background noise. For the era of mega-rich sports teams where television deals bring in billions, fans sometimes feel like a side effect. They're back in the top-four, which is great… but they want to stay there for the money, it'd seem. For "Silent Stan", winning a title would be a side effect. Just surviving is all that seems to matter.
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Video game and movie you are most looking forward to in 2019?
— Josiah LeRoy (@JosiahDLeRoy) February 21, 2019I googled a list before answering… so here goes.
- Movie: Ford v. Ferrarri
Which reminds me.. have you seen Rush? That movie about Niki Lauda and James Hunt? Holy crap, see Rush.
- Game: Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening
The Switch is doing great things with new/remastered games that combine the beauty of the games of yore (I said yore) with the technology of today.
Honorable mention:
- Hollow Knight - Silk Song
- Last of Us - Part 2
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Jeremy's travel advice: favorite restaurant, bar and local beer to consider when wife and I go to Denver next month
— Len Falsone (@falsone5) February 21, 2019Got two questions about Denver in the Tweetbag, so it's definitely worth getting in to. First tip is to fly in on the right side of the plane if possible. That's the mountain view on approach.
There's a very famous restaurant called Casa Bonita. It's more famous for the absolutely ridiculous scenery and… decor(?) then the food. I haven't been to it, but anyone who hears you're going to Denver is going to mention it. You should walk the 16th street mall, and maybe hit the art museum. Great Divide Brewing is my favorite, and it's right in downtown Denver.
And… Maybe find your way to the inside of a dispensary while you're there. Funny thing about making a trip to Colorado or California, or any state where marijuana is legal… it's just normal. While New York State is likely to make this change in the coming months or years, I'd advise taking a step inside to see what it's like. Up to you if you want to try any of the goods, of course. But every time I come back from Colorado, I'm asked "so what's it like out there with the legal marijuana?" Just an idea… a bit of "show research" if you'd like. The stigma has faded greatly, and I've been one to make the case for the NFL to simply stop testing players altogether. Seriously, just stop testing and don't tell anyone. No fan will ever care or remember. But back to the point, walking through a U.S. city where you see marijuana dispensaries as regularly gas stations is a bit of an adjustment. So pop a head in, and see the kind of people that are in there. People of all walks of life, just doing their thing. It's as normal as walking in to a deli, but for us it's still… weird. Even writing about it is, a little weird haha.
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Political question: how excited are you about the 2020 race coming and the candidates who have already said they running on the Democratic side?
— Joshua I. Keleher (@EskimoKeleher) February 21, 2019Excited? I wouldn't say that yet. The field is gonna grow to crazy numbers and it'll be a bit of a flip from last time. In 2016, the Republicans had to go with separate debates. You had the regular one, and then before that the kids table with people like Rick Santorum wasting everyone's time. While I don't think the Democrats will have quite that many candidates, it'll no doubt be interesting to see how far the progressives have pulled the party in general. And, of course, there's the big question: What's the main issue? In 2016, Donald Trump effectively made immigration a big issue. In 2020, it should be about health care, inequality, and other important issues. But, my very obvious guess is that the real referendum/issue is Trump himself.
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What's the best event you saw in-person at the Carrier Dome?
— pastajoe (@pastajoe5) February 21, 20191998 Syracuse - Tennessee
I think it's the best football game I've ever been to on any level.
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Best book you've ever read about sports and the best non sports one?
— Jimmy Spoon (@jspoon021) February 21, 2019Non-sports: My answer for the longest time was "The Drunkard's Walk - How Randomness Rules our Lives"… but I think I'm ready to dethrone that and say "American Kingpin" by Nick Bilton. I can't recommend it enough. It's the true story of Ross Ulbrecht and the dark web's Silk Road. Pick it up.
Sports: Born to Run: A hidden tribe, super athletes, and the greatest race the world has never seen, by Christopher McDougall.
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If soccer interests in Buffalo can organize a bid for a professional team at some level what do you want the team to be called and where do you want it to play?
— Andrew Uttaro (@EternalRhino15) February 21, 2019I want them to be called FC Buffalo and I want them to play in a 20,000 seat stadium next to Shmome Shmepot on Elmwood.
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How much golf do you plan on playing this year? And what courses do you most want to get to?
— Stephen Dray (@sgdray1029) February 21, 2019A lot. My quest to break 80 will resume, but first I've got to break 90 again, and on a real course. I'm fully aware that my 77 on the Scajaquada Links at Delaware Meadows Country Club doesn't count. Thinking about a membership somewhere… a pass that would cover a few clubs… still forming my plan of attack.
Conservative estimate: 30 rounds.
Goal: 50+
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If a band did a "Farewell/Retirement Tour" and you went to the first one, would you skip their future Farewell Tours out of protest because you got duped into going to the first one?
— Rob M (@rmuzz67) February 21, 2019If you're even asking the question then you feel like your closure was ripped away, right? Meh. See the band.
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Best place for a destination fantasy baseball draft? Spring training game in Florida?
— matt (@Matt_Hervan) February 21, 2019Feels like the obvious answer is…. spring training? Or New Orleans.
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Thanks for the tweets! 'Til next time!
