thewookie1

Dahlin is Sabre and not a trade chip. His problem is two fold however; Krueger has made him lose his confidence over the past two years by effectively making him overthink everything to the point he standing around trying to process everything going on instead of trusting his gut and abilities. The second issue is with every partner he has had except Borgen this year. Dahlin knew where Borgen would be and thus felt more assured that he could jump up into plays and confident he had his back. Last year Miller did well with Dahlin because he was playing a more defensive posture usually since Dahlin was 19. It seems like this year they decided to throw him to the wolves because Miller, Montour, etc all jump up constantly into plays, leaving Dahlin in a state of constant hesitation. What he needs is a steady Dman who allows him to gain confidence and play his game. It reminds me a bit of Tyler Myers after losing Tallinder and just assuming he'd work with anyone. Dahlin has incredible skill and super edge work at his disposal yet our coach seems hellbent on making him play defense first role. You can see, Dahlin cares about the D-zone and if he doesn't think its safe then he begins to play hesitant when handling the puck. He needs that worry adequately relieved so that his offensive talents can shine and his general defensive skill has a chance to actually form. Bryson right now is getting the treatment that Dahlin had the last couple years, the Dman playing with him is allowing him to play his game and being the vet of the two and making sure the D-zone is covered. This allows Bryson to play loose, confident, and only further prosper as he knows the old guy has his back. Defenseman take years to mature and be cultivated into well rounded players; but that's the thing, they need to be allowed to learn and not feel overwhelmed at every possible moment. Every young Dman needs either savvy vet or defensive stalwart in order to properly bloom into the prospect they are capable of becoming. Said player with the youngster needs to commit to that role however, it isn't a glorious role but it helps the team overall. What we have here are zero Dman being willing to play the role and allow Dahlin to grow and prosper. It's the same reason why many younger Dman have success and later drop off; when they are a young callup or rookie they aren't a threat and the other Dmen sort of baby the youngster. Once he's a little older or becomes a "threat" to their spot is when the less team-oriented players rear their ugly heads. The only real odd exception to this are the non-offensive Dmen who come up into the league; since they aren't going to put up points consistently and will mostly play the defensive role themselves you don't see them drop off unless they are legitimately below-average.

Fire the coach into the sun. Can someone please help Dahlin, his confidence has been destroyed.

Perhaps his shoulder injury was more of a neck injury he had been playing through. Combine that with broken ribs and you would certainly get a player having visible difficulties taking hits and holding the puck. He understands how important he is to this team and wanted to play through it but between multiple additional minor injuries and the team’s inability to do much of anything they have told him to rest and heal

I give it a 5% chance its his burner and a 10% chance its his son and an 85% chance its merely a troll

No I'm just looking for RHDs for Dahlin to play with not potential Eichel trade doomsday prophesies

Nothing makes Raanta worth a 2021 1st. If anything we should of taken Vegas up on their offer of MAF with a 2nd for future considerations. We wouldn’t of got Hall but it would of likely helped us far more.

I would imagine a seriously better looking team but still hampered by Ullmark, Borgen, and McCabe’s injuries. They’d at least be more interesting to watch.

I wouldn’t take that NYR proposal you described since Lafienere is a winger and Zibaneijad has 1 year left on his contract after this year and is cold as ice right now. out of those, the only one I could get behind is Kopitar and Byfield as a 34 year old Kopitar will likely age well due to his style not being dependent on pure speed.

Can anyone name some RHDs that are defense first for Dahlin to play with? Obviously we already have Borgen but I’d rather not have all my eggs in one basket.

Any idea what our record was when Taylor was the interim assistant coach? I’d guess that while he was here filling in that role they became enemies

He may very well want to bring Brind'Amour here, in that case I would fire Krueger and let Ellis just run the team until the end of the season. Otherwise go get Gallant and let's get it going again. Finish the year strong.

I will never trade Eichel in our conference. I hate the idea of trading him but if my hand is forced he is going to the west.

Correct, effectively you are telling Jack and the others who really love Krueger that this isn't any sort of betrayal or blindsided firing. Hell he's giving the players the keys and telling them to go pick Ralph up. I definitely heard this scenario when he mentioning needing to be even-keeled as a GM and not making rash decisions or trades.

I think this was rather well done honestly. Adams is about as close to fan GM as you can get seeing as he’s from Buffalo and was a Sabres fan both before and after his NHL career. He did a good job balancing on the tightrope between the fans and the internal staff’s being angered. To a degree I think this was also Adams telling the players that if they like Krueger and want to keep him around; they need to win these games coming up or else. The only thing I disagreed with is that our goaltending was fine but I do agree we aren’t terrible due to goaltending. We’ve lost maybe two games due to goaltending versus at least six due to an inability to score.

Just a tad worried it will make Dahlin even more self-conscious. The kid is already looking overwhelmed by having to think 50 things a second in this system. Benching him could easily break his spirit further.

Great, lets scratch the young dmen for a couple journeymen..... Certainly should help offensively....

Aside for Rivet, can anyone think of any other Ruff era captains who held the role at the end of their careers?

Don’t forget it takes 2 to tango and we don’t want to overpay to put a bandaid on a heavily bleeding gash. You also have that damn quarantine problem which makes teams even more disinterested in trades

I wonder if Jessie Pegula's tennis run had any influence on the sudden seeming urge to find someone to help run the Sabres. After all, between all the NFL stuff and being a proud Mom; Kim Pegula is likely rather busy. But hey whatever gets us a president of hockey ops and the Pegulas letting hockey people do hockey things is great.

I call trade ideas guy! Sorry Sweetlou but I've been here longer 😁

Seriously... he said "oops?" That's like telling people they are all getting $1000 only to tell them a week later it was a typo and meant to say $10. Oops doesn't cut it! Thank you John though for clarifying the situation for us however.

I can honestly say that is nice to hear that the GM isn't sleeping at the wheel. I wouldn't resign Hall though

Its hard to say if was balanced or more defensive in nature. I just don't think he and Skinner would work well together.

Gallant would be my choice primarily due to his past successful runs with odd groups of players in both Florida and Vegas. Julien, while a great coach, would likely want a defensive system; less than Krueger but still D oriented. Boudreau would be an ok choice but he's rather well known for great regular seasons that die in the playoffs. (Granted at this point I could live with that for a year or two) Babcock is a huge no from me. He stood us up back with Murray and has an atrocious track record with younger players. I want a tougher coach, not one that phytologically and physically bullies them.

Maybe both