dudacek

And Marner didn’t play as an 18-year, but put up 60 at 19 as a rookie. The size matches, but Marner’s got that Housley thing, where his skating agility and puckhandling are so, so good. Zach doesn’t have that. But he’s got something. I keep coming back to Marchand without the elevated ***** element. He’s smarter and more competitive than anyone he matches up against and just finds a way.

I gravitate to smart players who don’t quit. He’s become my favourite player to watch on the team. Really hope he can improve his shot. It stood out to me as a significant hole in his game. His performance relative to physical maturity and experience was remarkable, something I’ve never seen before on this team. Housley, Dahlin and Turgeon were much bigger and/or obviously skilled and that’s more or less where the “regulars at 18” list ends. Guys of his size just don’t play in the NHL without hall-of-fame hands and feet, but he doesn’t seem to have either. So that says a lot about his will and hockey sense. It’s hard to project his ceiling given the lack of comparables. But it’s obvious the kid just gets hockey.

It was concerning. It wasn’t mistaking 25 for 26, it was like literally missing things the whole building could see. The “five players on the ice” sequence was bizarre.

Lindy’s interview with Marty today came across better than the big presser.

I agreed with your take with these players on this team at this time. If we’re talking in generalities though, opportunity is not the same thing as role. My observation has been that NHL teams will give a D3 or D4 1st-rounder coming off a good season a chance at beating someone out for a job in the fall. If yours is different, we’re probably not going to change each others minds.

I mean Kulich, Rosen and Savoie are players who, in most situations, have earned an opportunity. But I agree with this. They aren’t what we need in the bottom 6. I have never got a whiff of Krebs lacking in drive at all. Quite the opposite. What he seems to lack is an NHL identity. I always got the sense he was the guy Donnie never quite got around to. Very interested to see if he develops under Lindy because I think there is potential for a connection.

Clifton had a very rough start that I’m going to chalk up to bad luck and system adjustment. He was a capable 3rd pairing guy in the new year. I don’t see Novikov having any role on the team next year simply because the coach - who just hinted that he lost his job largely to having too many rookie defencemen - isn’t going to want to lose points having Nikita learn the lessons Clifton and Jokiharju have already learned. That Devils team has a lot in common with this Sabres team. The Sabres don’t have Hughes, but the Devils didn’t have goaltending.

This is more important to the team than a lot of people realize. I brought up in season how the players felt the disdain and it affected them. Got a lot of pushback that amounted to “if true they need to suck it up.” They did need to, but that doesn’t make it irrelevant or not true. This is very perceptive and probably the first time I’ve seen someone make this point. Lindy has had great success with exactly the type of personnel he’s being given on the blueline. It’s almost tailor-made for his system. Dahlin, Clifton and Jokiharju now veterans, Power, Byram and Samuelsson are getting closer to that 200-game threshold. This should become the strength of the team and this is a coach who can exploit that. This I think this would have been a thing regardless after last year, but I think the 25 or so players most likely to be playing NHL games next year won’t be seeing a lot of the other 25 in training camp. It’s probably going to be a frustrating fall for most of the prospect pool.

Canucks had just 5 shots nearly half-way into the game after blabbing all day that they needed to stay patient and not deviate from their game plan. I think sometimes that mantra can be taken a little too far.

Since nobody else mentioned it, Adams immediately said (while kissing his ass in many other ways) that Terry was wrong about 06. I just chalk it up to the way some people perceive the game. Owen Power is very good at a lot of things. But he’s not that good at the thing that matters most to them and probably never will be. And until the team wins they will hone in on that as a lightning rod for their anger. Kid is good right now and when he’s a man, he’s going to be very good for a very long time.

I think this is a good point. I doubt he goes all Krueger on him. i think it was Friedman who said Lindy has 3 rules he leans hard into in terms of discipline: be a “good person”; be on time; and the discussion and variation happens before the team locks into a course of action, once it’s decided, you do it. Its the application of the latter where Lindy and Skinner may clash, the consistency. I think he’ll ask Jeff to play a game Jeff can succeed at. Where they’ll clash is those times when Jeff freelances. In my view, Granato coached Skinner to his best season ever last year because he succeeded with the above strategy.

You think Adams has ceded responsibility to Lindy to decide who coaches his minor league team? Ahead of both himself and Karmanos? You think the Sabres are concerned about Rochester? Which just had its 2nd best regular season since 2007? Won 2 playoff rounds last year and another the previous year? Has gone 112/79/20 under Appert? While icing a youth-heavy lineup that has graduated Quinn, Peterka, Lukkonnen, Samuelsson and Bryson to the big club? What, other than your general disdain for the way the Sabres do things leads you to think they are concerned about Rochester?

Comparing this year's 84-point roster to the one Lindy Ruff led to 89 points in his last full Sabres season: Thompson Roy Mittelstadt Leino Cozens Adam Krebs Gaustad Jost Ellis Tuch Pominville Greenway Stafford Okposo Ennis Olofsson McCormick Quinn Kassian Skinner Vanek Peterka Boyes Benson Gerbe Girgensons Kaleta Robinson Tropp Dahlin Ehrhoff Power Myers Samuelsson Regehr Jokiharju Sekera Clifton Leopold E. Johnson Weber R. Johnson Gragnani Bryson McNabb Luukkonen Miller Levi Enroth Comrie McIntyre

Which players said the bold? I recall a lot of players saying different versions of “we need to be more accountable”. I could be wrong, but I don’t recall a single player blaming others for not holding him accountable.

I think reality might be closer to your original thought. Coach contracts are typically one year longer than their leash because owners are typically OK with eating one year if they have to. It’s almost like the last year is at the owner’s option. The summer before the last year is often a time to talk extensions. Most coaches get 3-year deals with the idea that they will get 2 years to prove themselves. Shorter contracts aren’t typically a consideration for coaches with Lindy’s resume. To me it’s unusual and it does seem to indicate playoffs or bust.

You’re gonna need more choices: How can you be happy, what’s this guy ever won? Classic Pegula move. God I want this to succeed, but it just ain’t gonna. I mean at least he’s got some experience… This is the best coach this team ever had and he’s one of us: I *****in love it! Who is this guy anyway? Seems a little old to be a hockey coach.

Fairbairn makes pretty good case here for the hire. Acknowledges the nostalgia factor and basically says 'So, how is that bad thing? It's actually a good thing unless he's a bad fit or a bad coach." And then he goes on to explain why he might be a good fit and good coach. https://theathletic.com/5437340/2024/04/23/lindy-ruff-buffalo-sabres-hired-coach/ Guess we'll find out in October if he's right.

Not really about your post, but it reminded me of a couple earlier posts that I lost in the shuffle. One was about the Sabres needing a get-the-puck-out-of-our-zone defenceman and the other was about what does Owen Power do really well. Once Owen Power gets the puck on his stick in the defensive zone, he moves it up-ice about as well as any Sabre I’ve ever seen: calmly, to a teammate, and in a way that allows that teammate to make a play. He usually makes it look so easy that it may be perceived as unremarkable, but the frequency with which it happens compared to most is anything but.

Not sure what the hate for Wilford is based on. I don’t follow Sabres Twitter. Dahlin just put up his 2 best seasons, Jokiharju his best, Bryson got pulled out of the trash heap, Clifton and Power were course-corrected nicely after rough starts… What is the big knock there? (Not debating, honestly curious.)

Adams has publicly graduated firmly to the “time is now” mindset. Unequivocally repeated it’s about winning. (I’m so happy for so many of you @Thorny, @PerreaultForever, @PASabreFan…😜) Lindy very much seemed to believe in the talent. And you know he’s going to believe in his own ability to unleash it. Really broad brush here, but I feel positive his presence is going to resonate with our growing Western Canadian group: Krebs, Cozens, Byram and Benson. And you know he’s going to challenge Power. Very interested in seeing the response.

Are these guys who are settled in Buffalo? I know Tage and Dahlin have settled into homes there as well, but they seem to summer "back home". Most have seemed to only be Buffalonians in the winter, although I suspect that changes as they grow up.

I mean the reasons why are obvious, but I thought Lindy came across as kinda old. Not as quick, not so much a force of nature.

That is an exceptional Tweet in relation to what the team did this year. As @Thorny has been pointing out, Sabres PR has become pretty sharp.

I think Lindy’s head coaching record is a great indicator of how much a coach’s success is tied to his players. He started in Buffalo with an improving team and a superstar goalie and enjoyed a string of contention that ended when the superstar left. He then had a few mediocre seasons as the GM slowly reset the roster, great success when the roster reset was complete and a slow decline as the talent drained away again. He took an average Dallas roster that had missed the playoffs 5 years in a row to 91 and 92 point seasons, followed by a sudden spike to 109 and a collapse to 79. They put up 92 and 93 points the 2 year after he left. And then he took over a New Jersey team that had missed the playoffs 8 of the past 9 years, floundered for 2 years as they reset the roster with youth, led that young team to one of the biggest improvements in league history the following year, then regressed this year after losing half of his veteran defence core and getting some of the worst goaltending in the league, while his star centre was wracked with injuries. Like most coaches, he’ll be as good as the players he’s given.

Arbour has zero loser points, Lindy 153. Doesn’t show how many OT wins he had. I agree that career winning percentage isn’t great proof of a coach’s ability. And I agree with your point, even if it wasn’t the one I was trying to make. Mine was that it’s kinda like ranking goalies based on the same stat. Too many underlying variables.