Taro T

They're talking about the guy who introduced Phat Pannies to the board.

And Krebs is a better all around player than either Hinostroza or Asplund, so while with the way Krebs had been playing it's mildly surprising, but not shocking. Thing is, while people have been very displeased w/ playing the Mittelstadt line as the 2nd line (which again ended 4 games ago), there was IMHO a method to the madness. This team, earlier in the year didn't have ANY line except the Thompson line that could handle 2nd line usage & they were kind of busy being a 1st line. They experimented around w/ a few things, but really didn't come up w/ a good 2nd line by usage. So, Mitts, Olofsson, & whomever became the 2nd line by default to let the others do their thing. They eventually got to reuniting Quinn & Peterka and giving them Cozens as a C. The way things went last year in Ra-cha-cha, they caught something w / Jack & JJ and believe they were hoping/expecting to get those 2 together at some point once they were acclimatized to the NHL. Wouldn't be at all surprised if Cozens is they guy they envisioned with them all along, but that's speculation. They were getting sheltered 3rd line minutes and in fairly short order started thriving. Either because they were thriving or because the Mitts line wasn't, they've decided to give them the harder minutes. Cozens was thrown into that last year against McDavid and did exceptionally well, so they're seeing what he & his linemates can do. In that 1st game as the 3rd line, Mitts & company were outplayed by the 4th line & now are the 4th line. This last game, they did well in that role & were treated as a true 4th line. 2 of the players got a lot of specialty time (PP) & the kid (Krebs) got easy minutes and an opportunity to focus on very few things & get some success. They've tried to use the Jost line as the 4th line, IMHO to see if Mitts, VO, & Asplund or other could be the 2nd or 3rd line with a strong 2 way showing going forward. It would make decisions easier for next season as am expecting they're planning on having 3 of Savoie, Kulich, Rosen, Rousek, &/or other joining the parent club. If Mitts & company can do the job, then if Okposo, Hinostroza, &/or Girgensons are brought back it is in more of a Vinny role (13th F rather than a leadership role or as the vet leading a kid line w/ sonebody rotating in and out) as the other 3 lines are solidified & the kids get sheltered usage. If they can't get it done, they likely get traded for what they can bring & Adams is looking to the outside for 2 more useful forwards in addition to a G & a D (or 2) and there's a strong likelihood Okposo & Gurgensons are depended upon again next year as the team's checkers. (Don't agree w/ going all in on youth - but it seems the direction. And if Mitts & crew right the ship, could see a really young team next year. In which case they probably start legitimately entering the trade market the following year. If they don't, it's this season.) Dropping Mitts & crew to the 4th line is giving them a chance to get their games rolling again & hopefully to bounce them back to the 3rd line by usage. Maybe even into a hybrid 2/3 if they solidify enough as had been happening very early on w/ Mitts' & Cozens' lines being sort of interchangeable there. The other thing interesting about last night is it was the 1st time (or 1st time in a while) Mitts was used at W rather than C. In the offseason, both he & Granato spoke a lot about moving him to W this year. Wondering if he'd kind of prepared himself for that heading into the year & actually is, at this point, more comfortable there than at C. At C, he tends this year to drive things to the boards. Last night, he was driving things to the middle again. 1st time it was noticeable in a while. EVERYTHING was going outside. Have more speculation about this stuff but that's more than enough for now.

You want to know what the difference was in why those lines respectively looked better & a little worse overall in this game than in previous games? It's USAGE. The Mittelstadt line only got caught against the McKinnon line for part of 1 shift. They looked good against the Avs 4th line. And that was pretty much who they were out against exclusively. They also got to start the 1st PP before they'd even taken a shift. Mittelstadt & Olofsson were in their comfort zone and played w/ less (no?) hesitation when their line finally got a shift 7 or so minutes into the game. They also never had an icing go against them but even drew 1 or 2. That's huge. Didn't notice them against Compher's line at all & only caught very brief stints against that top line. Had they been on for an icing, they would definitely faced one of those lines fresh off a rest while they wee at the end of a shift. Cozens line, w/ the possible exception of the shift Peterka got that glorious goal (great look by Quinn to see how open he was), was fed nearly exclusively the Compher line & on occassion the McKinnon line too. And often it was w/ Pilut & Fitzgerald behind them. Considering who they were up against, they played really well. And the Avs #2 line is waaay better than Detroit's. (Heck, IMHO, it is better than Detroit's top line.) Until 4 games ago, Mitts was getting the usage Cozens line is now getting & Cozens line was getting mainly 3rd & 2nd line opponents. (Okposo's line seemed to split between 4th line & top line.) It's part of why this guy isn't as down on Mitts as everybody else. His getting tougher usage helped build up the confidence of that Cozterkinn line. Now that his confidence is shot, HE'S getting lighter usage. They play a relatively weak set of opponents soon. Expect all 4 lines to start/continue to click. Again, darn shame that Comrie is broken because he & Anderson could get results like they had in October through this stretch. Not convinced UPL & Andy can, but am hoping. (UPL needs something to get his head on straight. Maybe this will be that something.) And really hoping that Granato starts having them play a little more responsibly over this next stretch. They SHOULD be able to do so w/out tanking the offense.

Considering they were playing the defending Stanley Cup champs and doing so w/ 1 hand tied behind their backs (UPL), thought they played a very good game. Too bad the schedule makers didn't bother to check what else might be going on last night as there were a lot of STHers disguised ad empty seats. Guessing there were 5-6k in the building, but would believe any estimate from 4,500-7,500. They had chances, Olofsson hit a post in the 1st on the PP & Tuch had a glorious chance alone in the slot in the 2nd. There were other close calls, but those were their 2 best besides the ones they actually buried. All 4 lines, even the 4th line in limited usage (call the Okposo line the 4th if you want, but they're getting 2nd/3rd line ice time & taking 1/2 the shifts against the McKinnon line - so that checking line is the 3rd line at present), were playing well. Granato was definitely line matching more than earlier in the year. There were many TV timeouts that Mitts line hopped over the boards but then went back to the bench when the Avs put their 5 out for the faceoff. But figured we were in for a bumpy ride in net when UPL gave up the entire top of the net expecting Compher to move across the crease on their PP early. He probably would've but saw what he was given & took it. UPLs NHL days will be severely limited if he doesn't get the high shots back under control. A disturbing # of goals went in high. Don't know what they can do about the penalties. At least 2, if not 3, seemed imaginary, but the officials are looking for them & the Sabres PK (Tuesday night noted) is not anywhere close to good enough to give up more than at most 3-4 chances/game. They really need to clean the penalties up. Curious who drew up the play to start the 3rd. They had to have seen something on film to decide to try that. Unconventional, but it worked. Too bad they couldn't build on that momentum. Could go on about things they need to be better at, but they are cleaning stuff up. Frustrating as it might be, they are a work in progress. They're young and they were playing a superior team. They were in this. Clean up the penalties or put an NHLer between the pipes & they might have won. Do both & they likely would've. They knew they were playing the defending champs & played hard.

Isn't the idea to get as many lines working as possible? Why would you pull Quinn off a line that's on fire to presumably help Thompson who is on fire himself? Expect that move would yield decreased production overall.

Umm, you do realize today is a workday, right? Sure, move the game to 5PM and cut the # of fans attending from 8,000 to 3,000. 😒

Guess so. Hope wifey likes clocks & chocolates. 😉

Acceptable or tolerated really seems to be getting deep into nuance IMHO. The timing of the Comrie injury really stinks because he broke right before the D (temporarily) got healthy. He looked OK before the D went MASH unit. He wasn't good enough in front of a bad team. But right now the team in front of him is playing better than what he backstopped. 3 lines are giving what we expected/hoped & the top pairing is playing well too generally though they're taking too many penalties. Would really like to see what he can do when most of the guys in front of him are on their game before writing him off. But he's listed as "week to week." And knowing what we have in Comrie might go a ways towards parsing which side of the nuance Adams is on.

It definitely seems to be an evaluation year. And a development year. Which builds the frustration. They should be evaluating at all times and trying to win. But they seem petty set on their top 2 lines & top 2 pairings. The evaluations there seem complete. Expect they know what they expect from the older guys in the bottom 6 & bottom pairing & where they see them fitting in (or not) for the future. They're still writing their book on the others.

There are 2 options. Drop them to the 4th line, which happened realistically 3 games ago, & let them get their confidence at 5v5 back with sheltered usage or bench 1 or both of them. Right now, it is obvious that the chosen option is the 1st. Personally, expect that's the right choice, but we'll see. Realize that isn't a popular choice around here.

Results-wise they likely won't turn a corner until Comrie is back, and even then it might not happen. But there has been a bit of a shift in the coaching which indicates winning is taking a higher priority. These past 3 games the Cozens line has been used as the 2nd line & the line that hasn't been performing as well as the other 3 was dropped to 4th line deployment & TOI. Additionally, at minimum for the 3rd period last night, possibly the 2nd as well, Pilut & Fitzgerald weren't deployed together. Fitz was out w/ Dahlin the few times he took a shift. & Pilut was out w/ Power. Which would seem to indicate that strict development isn't the overriding factor.

People said Ted Darling was drunk on the air; he swore he wasn't. Turns out he had Pick's disease.

Doesn't work. Sabres are certainly on the M-NTC. They can sign him off waivers but almost definitely can't trade for him. Theoretically, they could claim him and make a side trade to try to effectively cut his salary in half. (An Okposo for a good kid trade, as an example.) But there wouldn't be an incentive for the Kings to do that, presumably. Though they are REAL tight to the cap, so even if they wanted to do something like that, that wouldn't be an option. Heck, w/ the cap space it would free up for them, if the Sabres did claim him the Kings should have a gentleman's agreement in place to give the Sabres a 2nd for Bishop's contract.

Doesn't work. Sabres are certainly on the M-NTC. They can sign him off waivers but almost definitely can't trade for him. Theoretically, they could claim him and make a side trade to try to effectively cut his salary in half. (An Okposo for a good kid trade, as an example.) But there wouldn't be an incentive for the Kings to do that, presumably. Though they are REAL tight to the cap, so even if they wanted to do something like that, that wouldn't be an option. Heck, w/ the cap space it would free up for them, if the Sabres did claim him the Kings should have a gentleman's agreement in place to give the Sabres a 2nd for Bishop's contract.

Hmm, spurned Sabres in the past & has 2 more years after this one at $5MM/yr. Magic 8 Ball, will Kevyn Adams make a claim? Sources say 'no.'

Sabres should win it. Interested to see how much ice time Fitzgerald & Pilut get. Expecting 10-12 each. Has Clague been called up or is Lyubushkin's injury not expected to be more than a game or 2?

The other "sucky" player stays where he is or joins the Hinostroza - Krebs rotation. And no, don't agree that splitting them up ensures that 2 lines are "1/3 suck." But totally get Granato's reluctance to break up the Jost line right now. And absolutely agree that the top 2 lines shouldn't be broken up. IMHO the biggest issue that line has is that Mittelstadt isn't driving play (for whatever reason (yeah, yeah, we know, it's because he sucks), once he gets the puck, if he can't pass it, he gets it along the boards and keeps it there; he doesn't try to get it to the center of the ice which pretty much ensures he'll eventually lose it; and driving to the center of the ice was his trademark whether he kept the puck or not) and neither VO nor Asplund/Hinostroza is going to drive play. Maybe Jost or Krebs could drive play with VO & Asplund/Hinostroza but have doubts on that. One thing lost in the improvement of the Cozens line is that they were getting deployed as the 3rd line most of this season. They got to gel while not getting a steady diet of the other team's top 2 lines & top D pairing. Granato bumped them up against Joisey and played them a lot against the Hischier line and they weren't quite ready for it but as Granato would say they seem to have learned from it as they were matched up against a very good 3nd TB line & dominated. Getting the easier matchups should help that Mitts line get some confidence. They played really well against the Bergeron line, not quite as well against the Krejci line but still were solid except when Dahlin took the puck off his foot, but haven't looked as good since. They can play good hockey, just need to believe it themselves.

Faceoffs "don't matter" for 2 reasons. 1 - a lot of faceoffs are in the neutral zone which rarely get won cleanly enough to have a team on its heels and 2 - they are rarely won cleanly. But make no mistake, cleanly won faceoffs in the zone can & do change the outcome of games.

Yup. And they were needs in the offseason. But, unless this Chychrun rumor has legs, expect what we see is what we get until the offseason.

Which was the point of "(b)ut until we see the Jost line falter am not expecting it as that's the only line left w/ mix & match pieces." 😉

That there's a 7 page thread on this same subject about 5 posts downpage. 😉

But, with the glaring exception of the 4th goal against, he & his line were strictly used as the 4th line. Asplund got a little PK duty, but none of the 3 were getting "all situation" ice time. They were matched against TB's lesser heavy line and didn't do particularly well there. (If TB didn't ave Colton & Maroon on the 3rd line might've seen them going against that line, but they did & they weren't.) 2 games ago they were still being deployed as the 2nd line. Mittelstadt did not see the ice in the OT. Don't believe Olofsson did either. Should they gain their confidence back getting sheltered minutes, expect they'll then be treated as the 3rd line, which they only had against Joisey recently and they scored the 1 goal in that game. Personally, as @Brawndo has been advocating, would like to see Mitts & VO broken up. But until we see the Jost line falter am not expecting it as that's the only line left w/ mix & match pieces. (Really doubt they experiment more w/ moving Tuch around and the Cozterkinn line isn't going anywhere.) My guess is that they see sheltered minutes for a couple of games (easy against Detroit, tougher to pull off against the Avs, good thing that game is at home). And then based on the outcome of those games we see Krebs &/or Honostroza roll into the line up.

Minor point on 'putting them out against Stamkos' on the 1st goal that line was out against. Tampa only dressed 11 F's. Stamkos was out with the "4th line" with Perry & Namestikov. The Mitts line was getting matched up w/ the 4th line. They got the puck out of the zone but the Tampa D recovered the clear & turned the puck back up ice. What else, after the 12 F's were chosen, did you want Granato to do on that one? The 4th goal against was a coaching mistake. And Granato had a chance to rectify it as he got a TV timeout right off the initial faceoff. He could easily have flipped to the Thompson or Jost lines. Also, the FO for that 4th goal was at the Sabres BL, not defensive zone.

You'll have to ask Granato your question because it was a bad decision. Understand that he wanted to get the Mittelstadt line ice time as they hadn't had a shift in a long time, but the shift right after getting the 2 goal lead was not the one to give them. Should have waited 1 or 2 more shifts to give them a matchup they could handle & after TB had made their charge for getting that goal back.

Fully expect to see a steady diet of Levi the last couple of weeks. Hoping that he's alternating w/ Portillo but not expecting it.