Did Spittin Chiclets Get The Sabres To Fire Their GM?

The Chiclets bump might work both ways...

I am not saying...I am just saying. This segment of the podcast was posted to YouTube yesterday. They simply ask the question if Jack Eichel should be in his right to demand a trade. Then conclude that...fuck yeah he is because the Sabres have been a fucking joke his entire career even though he's been getting better and better and more and more frustrated. All of that is true. Then BAM...not even 24 hours later the Sabres fire the GM. 

Maybe the Sabres were leaning towards making a change. Maybe they heard the podcast and thought "these guys talk to Jack. They fucking know something is up. We better make a move" and Bobs your uncle. 

Botterill was hired in May of 2017. He is the guy who drafted Casey Middlestadt who is, so far, very meh in my opinion. He created a team bad enough to win the lottery and draft Dahlin in 2018. Then he drafted Dylan Cozens last year who looks like a nice piece of the puzzle that could slide into a center role behind Jack Eichel someday or maybe he can be on his wing. He also FLEECED the Blackhawks in the Nylander-Jokiharju trade. But...the Carter Hutton and Jeff Skinner deals both look a little bit...woof. I love Jeff Skinner, but paying him 9 million AAV for 8 years is insane. I don't care that he got 40 goals the year before. Contract year and a career high shooting percentage. Hutton's deal isn't bad, per se, at 3 years and 2.75M AAV but they signed him to be a #1 goalie and he just isn't. 

Botterill, like most GMs, was a mixed bag of success, but bad contracts sink you and he compounded that problem instead of eliminating it. Maybe he signed Skinner to appease Eichel because Eichel is putting so much pressure on management to give him a better team to win. That was an over-pay. A contract for a guy to get him to stay in Buffalo. That one is probably going to end up haunting them. 

Easy for me to say, but maybe Eichel should try to be patient and #TrustTheProcess. I like the defense with Dahlin, Jokiharju, Ristolainen(although I think he's a touch overrated too), McCabe and Miller. Cozens is coming, Olafsson looks nice, Reinhart is solid. They have some interesting pieces. They have committed ownership. They just need Eichel to be bought-in and have a steady hand steering the ship. A GM that Eichel trusts will make things better as the young core improves around him. Eichel is that dude. Franchise type center. Love how much he cares. I hope it works out for him in Buffalo because those fans and him have something in common...they deserve better. 

Again, behold the power of Chiclets. They move the needle.