Jump to content

grinreaper

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1,224

  • Joined

  • Last visited

 Content Type 

Posts posted by grinreaper

  11. Is WGR doing a disservice to the Sabres?

    in The Aud Club

    Posted

    3 hours ago, JoeSchmoe said:

    Like Inky, I used to listen to quite a bit of WGR, but now I've pretty much given up.

    Even in the car, I can do about 1 hour total per week of listening to Bills coverage, then it just gets too exhausting. 

    I don't know how anyone can listen to so much football talk and still be entertained.  There's only 1 game a week. That's not a lot of material to talk about. At least with hockey there's usually a game every 2 or 3 days.

    Then there's the gambling and fantasy talk... NO THANKS!

    The proliferation of gambling and its promotion on sports shows and even during intermissions of games gives professional sports not only a black eye but does real harm to the way those leagues are and will be seen in the future. I have nothing against gambling and if I wanted to give up being an actual fan I might decide to take the time to be knowledgeable enough to make a living at it. I like being a fan and specifically keep up with the Bills & Sabres as part of my fandom. Years ago I was involved in fantasy sports in the NFL, NHL, MLB, PGA and probably more other sports that I really didn't give a crap about. Not only did they take up a lot of my time but I found out that being involved with fantasy leagues changed my perspective as a fan and gave me mixed feelings about the specifics of a game. It was easy, straightforward and somewhat pure to root for your team to dominate and blow out their opponent. Just hoping for them to win while allowing my starting fantasy WR that happened to play for NE or Miami to do well made me feel sort of dirty and less of a fan. I began to not enjoy sports in general or my favorite teams as much. I ended up quitting all fantasy leagues and have no regrets. Sports are fun again and my emotions are focused on my teams rather than that missed field goal by Barney Fife that caused me to lose this week to "JetsRNY'sBestTeam". 

    Gambling offers the same problems and issues that fantasy leagues do but it takes away from the game in a more fundamental manner. Until recently, professional sports leagues have always had a no tolerance position on gambling. League officials in all sports were of the opinion that gambling led  to public distrust of the honesty and purity of games. Gambling on games was generally illegal and the gambling that did happen was done in the shadows and with the characters that were involved there wasn't much publicity. After all, even those who do gamble on sports need to trust that the leagues would never tolerate the fixing of games. Same with casual fans who may not invest money but do invest their support and emotions. A case in point regarding the importance of trust is the lack of gambling on professional wrestling. Anyway, it seems like sports leagues have changed course over the years and are now cozying up to the people and practices that may actually contribute to their demise. 

    • Like (+1) 2
    • Thanks (+1) 1

  12. 🏒 Buffalo @ Columbus, 7 December 2022 7:30 PM ET, TNT TV, WGR Radio

    in The Aud Club

    Posted · Edited by grinreaper

    1 hour ago, Thorny said:

    It must be the visual because Lehner wasn’t just bad in shootouts, it was literally impossible to do a worse job 

    I remember the game that went to the shootout when Don Cherry was the honorary coach for Ottawa against the Sabre's with Lehner in net and he offered to pull the goalie to even things up. Ottawa won in the 6th round. Future Sabre's coach Don Granato commented after the game that it was a good learning experience for the young Sabre team. -)

    • Haha (+1) 2

  13. Philosophy on the rebuild

    in The Aud Club

    Posted

    3 hours ago, Thorny said:

    I think there’s a very real possibility the types of goalie adds Adams has been making, if par for the course moving forward, do end up being some sort of version of “good enough” considering the apparent looming depth of the other positions. But I have a funny feeling if we do get good enough, to make a run, we’ll be left wanting and needing better than good enough, in net. Maybe Adams really doesn’t have any choice at this point but to hope Levi is that guy while focusing on building an overall team with the ability to mask a good enough option in net while they take swings at buy low aim high moneyball options or whatever. 

    It makes the Ullmark failure worse but I know that’s not supposed to be mentioned 

    I'll miss Ullmark in shootouts. As bad as Lehner was in the SO, Ullmark was absolutely great.

    • Like (+1) 1
    • Agree 1

  14. Philosophy on the rebuild

    in The Aud Club

    Posted

    22 minutes ago, JohnC said:

    I, like you, have heard DG talk on WGR about the sequencing of principles, and which of them are a priority. He has on a number of occasions stated (as you noted) that the first priority is to concentrate on getting an offensive flow, and once that approach has been mastered/installed go on to building a defensive system. Contrast his offensive, north/south attacking approach to Krueger's more defensive posture to the game! One coach believed in suppressing talent while the current coach believes in the expression of talent. 

    I agree with your take and add that the players will most likely enjoy the game better if they're scoring at a high level and will more easily buy in to any defensive system that ends up being introduced. Krueger had the whole team looking over their shoulders and afraid to make a mistake. Good management, whether business or sports, allows their employees to stretch their horizons and improve by pushing their personal envelopes. 

    3 minutes ago, Thorny said:

    No? I wasn’t really sure. My first thought was the implication was we may not even need a roster addition at the position potentially. The replies on the tweet seem to take it that way too, that’s part of the confusion on my end. Ie “we aren’t a goalie away, we just need to develop the system more!”

    It certainly frames the “we give up a lot of chances” thing under the goalie conversation. I’d be surprised if he wasn’t making any assertion about goalie at all, or else why frame it that way 

    I'm thinking that it's an "all of the above" situation.

  15. Practice Lines 12/6

    in The Aud Club

    Posted

    59 minutes ago, Taro T said:

    Considering Okposo & Girgensons are regularly in the 5v5 line rotation & Mittelstadt & Olofsson are getting spot duty, it would seem to be a promotion for Krebs &/or a demotion for Jost.

    And that Jost line will likely be deployed like most NHL teams deploy their 4th line.  All 3 are there for STs.  Jost as a 1st pairing PK F & Mitts & VO are key for the "kid" PP unit.   They'll get the odd 5v5 shift to stay loose but won't get a ton of 5v5.

    It seems to me that Granato is attempting to put Krebs with Okposo & Girgensons to influence him to take an approach similar to them. Jost, who has been a pleasant surprise, could also have a positive affect on VO & Mitts. It's a crapshoot but certainly worth the effort. 

    • Like (+1) 1
    • Agree 1

  16. Doesn't sound like losing is accepted

    in The Aud Club

    Posted

    8 hours ago, LTS said:

    Yep.. the owner came in and wanted to win right away. He tried that strategy.. failed. So the turnaround time elongated. He tried another strategy and failed. He tried a third.. and failed. Each all playing into the time it takes to get to this point.

    Now they are trying a different strategy that relies upon a multi-year plan. The plan includes a focus on winning, but it also includes putting a team together that grows into that focus. They are not at the win at all costs stage, or even manipulate the roster to win stage. They are at the development stage. No one is going anywhere yet.

    At some point they will, at some point that plan will be evaluated against the results and someone will make a decision. As you say, at some point... and the key is, that point is not now.  They're not even trying to hide from that and yet people want to tear them down.

    But, going back to football.. if you failed 3 times in football you could at least still turn things around in 1-2 seasons.  Not so much with hockey.

     

    It's no big news to knowledgeable hockey fans but NHL teams draft kids who have been playing against other kids albeit talented kids with a certain degree of uncertainty. Some people might call the NHL draft an educated crap shoot. These kids, with the possible exception of the few at the top of the draft may take several years to develop their game, physical strength and mental maturity. They generally go from juniors or college to the AHL and maybe never leave Europe until they come to North America to play professionally. Foreign draftees often might need to learn the English language. Again, NHL teams rarely draft someone who can play right away and when they do they are going to be learning on the job in the NHL. NFL draftees have spent their development time in college programs which act as the NFL's farm teams and pretty much prepare those players drafted in the first few rounds to be able to make the NFL rosters. If a good or great player in his Junior or Senior year at a competitive school gets drafted there is a good chance that by his second year in the NFL he can make a difference. NHL teams seem to place a higher degree of importance on making sure that their draftees get developed at levels 2-3 lower than the NHL. Very few of the players that aren't in the top couple rounds end up making the NHL, or if they do, they are marginal players. General Managers in all professional sports need to have a multi year plan for their organization. Due to the uncertainty of drafting such young prospects an NHL GM is most likely going to miss on a higher percentage of prospects than what happens in other sports. The sports that draft players that are young men have the advantage of obtaining people who will fit their systems and culture. If they decide to change schemes they can make that change with compatible players in a relatively short period of time. NHL teams do not have that luxury. Simply put, not only are the GM's not sure of what they have in their pipeline but those players may not even develop into something they can use at the NHL level. Changing GM's, coaches and systems have a cost on a franchise that may not be easy to calculate but slows down the progress of that franchise. If it is done a few times in a decade or so then most likely that franchise is going to have a lot of issues to overcome. The most important thing a team can do is to pick a realistic plan that will get them where they want to go in the time that they need to get there and then stick to that plan. Management can make moves that were not planned but only if they fit into their overall plan. Sitting up in the orange seats it appears as if the Sabres are determined to follow a plan. In the last many years they usurped whatever their plans were by taking shortcuts that not only didn't help but set them back. 

    I am a fan that hates to lose but I think I have a pretty good idea of the Sabres rebuild plan. I root for them to win but get pleasure out of seeing the team's development and the progress of the individual players. The Bolts and Avs games recently showed that the players could compete on the same or even better level with them 5 on 5. What was apparent was that the Sabre's special teams and goaltending need a good deal of improvement. At this stage, viewing a game based on judging progress is a good alternative to kicking the dog if they lose.

  22. Doesn't sound like losing is accepted

    in The Aud Club

    Posted

    3 hours ago, Curt said:

    How soon is “too soon” to give up on Mitts?

    He is the same age now that Thompson was when he broke out, and there are unique reasons that Thompson broke out so late. That’s an outlier.  Most forwards are at or near their peak at 24.

    I think he’ll get the rest of this season, but I’m personally not optimistic.

    I think that the timing of giving up on him depends on what management determines is the problem. I could see giving him the rest of the year but if they determine that the problem is of his own making and he isn't doing anything about it I'd be looking to get rid of him. If they find out that it's something that could be corrected physically or medically I might give him more time but find a way to do it without hurting the team. 

×
×
  • Create New...