nfreeman

Future Of The 716‏ @FutureOfThe716 Sabres Draft Lottery Odds: 1st: 8.5% 2nd: 8.7% 3rd: 8.9% 4th: 0.0% 5th: 8.4% 6th: 34.5% 7th: 26.7% 8th: 4.3% So -- about a 17% chance of a huge win (i.e. Hughes or Kakko), but about a 65% chance of dropping 1-3 spots.

But Howie had all of last year to evaluate Scandella.

What’s the basis for this?

Again — if you don’t want to get called out for trolling, don’t engage in trolling.

Both of these are fair points. From our perspective, though, we really have no idea how applicable they are (if at all) to any particular coach. You could certainly be right that McL is just paying lip service to the use of analytics -- but we'd need a lot more data (heh) to know whether it's actually the case. Put another way, how many coaches have come out and said that they emphasize analytics in their approach to coaching? (For that matter, how many have come out and expressly disavowed analytics? Nolan is the only one I know of.)

Further to the "is McL a stupid dinosaur who rejects analytics?" question, here is an interview with him from just a couple of weeks ago: https://epellefsen.podbean.com/e/leadership-from-behind-the-bench-todd-mclellan/ They get into his approach to analytics at about the 9:30 mark. Essentially, he says that analytics are a tool to be considered, but they have limitations. He repeats the "the best analytics are my 2 eyeballs" line that has given heartburn to some posters here.

I'll also point out that if it ends up being McL -- once again, Buffalo sports reporters are out to lunch while the national guys get the scoop.

From this article: Yes please.

OK -- other thread now unlocked. And I'll probably be disappointed if the Sabres don't get McL.

Sooooo... McL is 51 and from Melville, Saskatchewan -- which really looks like the absolute middle of nowhere, Canada. He played Canadian junior hockey in the WHL, was drafted in the 5th round by the Islanders and played only 5 NHL games. He went to the Netherlands to continue his playing career and his coach there turned him into a player-coach. He came home, coached 6 years in the WHL, then 5 years in the AHL (winning the Calder Cup in 2003), then became an assistant to Babcock in Detroit in 2005 before getting the SJ job in 2008. McL was HC in SJ for 7 years. They made the playoffs every year until his last year, after which he was let go (and hired immediately by Edmonton). SJ made the WCF twice under McL, the 2nd round once and got bounced in the 1st round 3 times. That's a real resume.

Yuck, but you could certainly be right. Separately, and pending further analysis, I think I like this choice more than AV or Boudreau.

Does anyone have a #fancystats breakdown of McLellan?

Works for me. Now get a better goalie please.

Well, the question is pretty reductive and I assume not a real question so much as snark, but of course it’s impossible to know why exactly they underachieved. Certainly crappy goaltending was a major factor. Having said that, the team strikes me as immature, of intermittent focus and in some cases entitled. It’s certainly plausible that these factors contributed to consistent sloppiness in the D zone, and that these failings are susceptible of being remedied with diligent and attentive practice, motivated by the desire to avoid a scary dude. Separately: there is NFW they are hiring a Swedish coach who doesn’t even coach in the SEL.

My top choice is Quenneville; #2 is AV. I think it needs to be someone who the guys are kinda scared of.

No one from ‘05-‘07? McKee Connolly Drury Briere Max Soupy Miller

Serious question: does Skinner getting bounced from Jack's line for the last dozen or so games of the season affect his desire to return?

At the time of that photo? I beg to differ. That looks like pre-Baywatch and pre-Tommy Lee, which IIRC was when she got famous. Of course, her cinematic peak was Borat...

Here's Greg Wyshinski from ESPN, who I think is pretty good, on with Schopp and Bulldog: https://wgr550.radio.com/podcast/896/rss.xml They do a couple of general NHL questions first, then about 10 minutes on the Sabres. Among other things, Wyshinski thinks Howie does not get canned but will be on a short leash next fall.

Completely agree -- I just meant not as big a star as someone like Julia Roberts or Jennifer Lawrence -- so I wouldn't necessarily recognize her old photos.

I'm supposed to recognize a B-list celebrity's 30-year-old, pre-plastic-enhancement photos? Really? Man card revocation officially under protest.

Too early to tell IMHO. We don't know how good (or bad) TT or Guhle will become or for that matter how Montour will handle the opportunity to be a top-pairing guy (or whether ROR will get angsty again and want out of STL in a couple of seasons). Right now the Sabres are clearly on the short end, but there are plenty of scenarios under which the trade is a wash or a net gain for them.

I saw this on a reddit Buffalo thread and thought it was pretty good: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-my-hometown-taught-me-life-business-rob-baiocco/

Who’s the cutie?

I looked at his game log — out of the 10 goals in Jan and Feb, 1 came in the first game of the year, which is fine but was probably before the bottom really started to fall out, and I think 4 came at the end of Feb when it was too late. There was a stretch from early Jan to late Feb of about 19 games during which they went 6-13 and fell from about 3-4 games over DeLuca .500 to about 3-4 games under. That was when the season was lost, and it was during that stretch he was meh (before, as previously noted, closing up shop for the season in March). Certainly Skinner fell off the table too, which is disappointing, although it was immediately after that gruesome-looking ankle twist. He may have been hampered, and was also probably hampered by Eichel’s up-and-down pay during that stretch as well. Even so, Skinner had a better season than Reino, and is currently a better player than Reino, and by more than a little. Reino may get there though, and you are right about the relative contract risks. My bottom line is that I’d like to keep both of them, and I don’t mind making Reino earn it for another year since he’s still restricted a year from now.