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Yes, but under no circumstances do I operate under the assumption that Ruff has any say in the coaching staff. Ruff taking the position was a way for him to make some money, help out his hometown team, and let Pegula clear the books a bit before the next phase in coaching took over. So, knowing that, the administration of the Buffalo Sabres kept Wilford, who, in my opinion is the problem here. It doesn't matter to me if someone above is responsible for keeping him, Wilford is accountable for coaching the defensive scheme. Let's go RACI charts! Yes.. but we know the Sabres don't have one of those. The GM won't allow it and I'm still not sure Pegula wants it.

Why would anyone who is famous have a social media account open to the public? Gambling or not that seems like an invitation for social parasites to attack.

Players have different skill sets and style of play. Power and Samuelsson are not thumpers and rugged players. That's not their game and never has been. I would also say the same thing about Byram from a stylistic standpoint. The choice is you either get different players or adapt your defensive approach to their assets and not their liabilities. I, like you, am not familiar with Kesserling's play. What I do know is that when he filled in as a second-pairing defenseman as an injury replacement, he played well. If he ends up as the partner for Power, then Samuelsson most likely will move down to the third-pair. The makeup of the unit could end up being Byrum/Dahlin, Power/Kesserling and Samuelsson/Timmons. I consider that a respectable unit.

I am going way back... Stan Johnathan, Danny Gare, Wendall Clark, even Marchant, Brad May, Barnaby, Ray, etc... not sure any of these guys were over 6 feet, but they brought the nasty... So I love the size, but will they use it... or do we have Mike Wilson, Tyler Myers, Richard Smell Ick, Ken Sutton, etc ... I am not seeing anyone on that list that has anywhere near the nasty of a Samulesson (Ulfy) , Pronger, Chara, Stevens, Robinson, Kasparitis, Hatcher, Zadorov, etc... (just randomly naming nasty players, not even fighting, just nasty) Kesslring I honestly have not seen him play... maybe he is one... but if we are going to get that level of physicality to me a bunch of those guys need to change their spots...

I agree that a first round pick would be too much for Mitts. However, if it was a second round pick, I would do it. I just think that our GM could have been more aggressive in adding a second line forward to the mix to create more flexibility to the lines.

Again, I’m not disputing any of this. My only contention is that whatever trends are happening in the draft process, it not yet impacted the league’s mean height and weight for skaters. Maybe that changes in the coming years.

I know it's the dog days of hockey because Bills fans on twitter are going crazy over preseason losses. Preseason.

It's not hard to understand. With the way the league has gone you want D men with long reach. That doesn't mean you can't build a good team with shorter guys (and shorter guys often have other skills) but that longer reach is useful and advantageous around the net. Florida proves it's about strength, not size, as I said. Speed and strength that's what you want. That's how you win.

A first rate coach would have fired all the assistants and brought in better ones.

whatever

That’s usually when I’m able to tune in during the day and I hate it

What are you talking about? Profiling? Odd thing to say.

I won't accept your profiling me. I never said that, you have inferred such. Nice job on the last word as usual. go Sabres

This is Ruff’s staff. If the owner is not allowing him to hire the staff he wants, then he took the job under conditions that most HCs wouldn’t accept. When he first took-over he inherited the staff. This is a new year. This is his staff. If there are problems within the staff, then it is his responsibility to address. If you believe that the Sabres are a well coached team, I’m confident that it is a minority view.

You consistently seem very insistent with your opinions on all topics. I wasn't there at the beginning of last season in the strategy room, were you? Maybe our illustrious owner required that the assistants be retained. Can you disprove this? You seem to have inside information which form your conclusions.

The coaching staff is Ruff’s staff. He inherited them when he first took over but kept them on the following season. Again, this is his staff!

Sorry, Ruff is not 3rd rate. That's a from the cuff, not thought through, low blow. Assistants, ok possibly so. go Sabres

Are you including Ruff in your assessment of the staff? And if you believe that Ruff is satisfied with the staff because he made no changes to the group, then isn't he the most culpable for its mediocre performance? And as you pointedly note, the same shiiiit goes on game after game. Well, if the HC is tolerating the sub-par staffing performance, then shouldn't he be held most responsible for the coaching inadequacies? What's apparent to everyone is that the ownership is third rate, the GM is third rate and the coaching staff is third rate. That's not a recipe for success!

What you don’t thing Kesselring and Timmins will solve all our D problem? What type of fan are u?

True, the assistants don't dictate the system. But they're the ones actually working with the players and they're the ones implementing the drills that the players use to learn where they're supposed to be and how they're supposed to play when the games actually happen. Guarantee that in practice they aren't correcting the D and the F's when they allow somebody to be alone at the back door nor missing somebody sneaking down from up high where the F's are covering to down low where the D are expected to cover. Why? Because that #### happens multiple times every game. Guarantee that they're teaching them that stupid nearly 100' drop pass on the PP. Why? Because THAT #### happens every game and Power insists on it even when a F has snuck behind him anticipating the drop pass. Rather than react to the situation as it evolves, they continue to do what they've been taught to do. The ONLY guy that DOESN'T ALWAYS make that stupid drop pass is Dahlin. He does it until the other team starts cheating and then he takes the easy 4 on 3 entry that he's now been given. (And that stupidity on the PP goes back to what's being said about what they do on D; it's just way easier to describe without having a video example to accompany it. This coaching staff is awful.)

I like big. I like big, skilled, and tough even better. Hoping to see more physical presence and toughness to go with the height.

Structure and system is ultimately dictated by the head coach. Assistant coaches assist with design and implementation they don't dictate it. The most obvious recent example here was when offensive assistant Granato took over for Krueger and dramatically changed the way the team played.

That’s a while different argument. And Willis points out that the numbers are actually inflated by lesser used players so EROD only balances it out. Florida only proves that it’s not all about size. Like LGRM says, teams are drafting bigger defenseman but it still hasn’t manifested itself with the leagues elite.