from Mike Harrington of the Buffalo News,

The general manager with the Stanley Cup rings was supposed to come in here and fix things. And maybe someday he will. But all we have at this point is the here and now.

And Botterill's team – which, it should be noted, features nine players he's put on the roster since last May – is a disaster.

So given his first chance to wipe out some of the atrocities we've seen for the last 4 1/2 months, the GM basically admitted his team is an NHL laughingstock and punted.

He said got one legitimate offer for Evander Kane, a stunningly low one from the San Jose Sharks, and was painted so far in the corner he had to take it. He apparently couldn't get a bag of pucks for the likes of Benoit Pouliot or Josh Gorges, had no takers in a tight market for either of his goalies and didn't execute any sort of hockey trade.

It's to the point where you wondered if this is some sort of stealth tank.

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