dudacek
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Posts posted by dudacek
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I agree with the last few posts as an abstract.
But I am looking at it from a realistic perspective on our roster; this isn't last year's forward corps.
Consider this:
We have eight legitimate full-time NHL forwards: Moulson, Ennis, Stafford, Stewart, Hodgson, Gionta, Girgensons and Foligno.
We also have proven utility NHLers in McCormick, Kaleta and Mitchell, plus a handful of prospects.
If Reinhart's not more effective than the second group, send him down.
If he is better, then being in the NHL is what's best for his development.
It's not like Grigorenko, where they had no other centres.
It looks to me like Tim assembled a roster designed to give him a shot, but also one where he won't be forced to keep him.
They are going to make him earn it.
And if he earns it, if he shows he is better than our fourth liners and our other forward prospect, then he should be here.
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or... he refuses to do the GM's bidding. Which I think we all agree is very likely. Tim needs a tank this year, and he needs it bad.
I think Tim would be perfectly happy with a team that's in the playoff hunt because that would mean a lot of his young talent really stepped up and are showing they could be for real, and that he's found his goalie of the future.
We don't need McDavid to be a contender.
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He's not Tim's guy. The fact that he hired him is more a matter of not upsetting the apple cart too soon. He is PLF's coach and as a result, he has to go. A bad team doesn't get better by firing the coach mid season. They get worse.
Tim is just now putting his stamp on this franchise and TN doesn't fit.
I agree with most of that, except that right now, Ted does fit. He is the right guy to emphasize character and hard work and install the proper culture Tim wants the young guys to grow in.
He gets fired when he shows he isn't the right guy to push a talented team over the top.
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1 Tim hired him
Two and three cancel each other out.
4 Eventually, but not yet. He'll look like a fool firing a winning coach with this roster and will lose the players.
5 The tank gains nothing if he fires a losing coach
6 see one
Ted is a no-lose situation this year - given the franchise's state, he's a success win or lose.
The only way gets fired is if he is openly insubordinate
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LGR is right. it's about the individual kid (even if he is wrong for prejudging whether Sam is ready)
It's simple: Samson should play in bUffalo if he is one of its best nine forwards.
He'll get training camp to show that, and a further nine games if the answer isn't clear.
Girgorenko is the wrong comparison. He wasn't ready and that is why he failed.
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I expect Ted Nolan to be fired by December.
Seriously? Why?
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I think our special teams coaching has been pathetic and that will change this year. Trying to stick to a system that lacks players who fit the system is done. Instead, players will be allowed to use their strengths. Buffalo will be able to attack more... borderline force the puck, as their players will be allowed to use their talents. Ennis will be able to hold the puck and work from the wall without making the point man shoot into the defenders shin pads. Myers will be able to carry the puck in and when he dumps the puck off, we will have someone there to forecheck. I think we will see something refreshing this year. Do I know anything from an inside source? No. Is it a ton of wishful thinking... yes.
I just don't think they have the personnel.
Moulson is the only power play ace on the roster, in the garbage collector role.
I think Hodgson could thrive on the power play, because he can pass and finish, but he needs more elite talent to work with.
Ennis can make plays, but is not elite at this level, stafford and Stewart are big bodies with skill, but they are afterthoughts, and Reinhart will be great in the future, but is too young to make an impact now. Gionta has lost his shot.
That's a mediocre group of forwards, lacking the impact guy.
But it's the blueline that is the real problem. Myers can lug the puck, and knows when to move in, but he can't distribute and he doesn't have a deadly shot. He's a complementary guy when the puck is in the attacking zone. Benoit probably is the best-equipped to be a quarterback, but he's a fringe NHLer. Our only hope is Rasmus turning into Denis Potvin. It could happen but I doubt it's this year.
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It is now September. The Bills talk has already become unbearable and the busiest thread on here at the moment is about PA's rectum.
With training camp here soon, is anyone interested in some actual Sabres talk about how you see this season unfolding?
I expect a more entertaining hockey team this year.
I expect the Ted Nolan stamp to firmly attach itself to this year's squad; we will be on the bad end of a few blowouts; we will spend all kinds of time in our own end; and we will still struggle mightily to score goals.
But at least we will be struggling hard. We will have more depth and better leadership; we will hit and skate and throw ourselves in front of shots. At times we will be hanging on by our fingernails. But we will hang in there. And we will play with pride.
We better hope that renewed pride is at least partly due to dumping Ehrhoff. Because his loss hurts us virtually everywhere else. Unless Pysyk and Risto make big leaps, I expect Myers to be the only defenceman capable of moving the puck out of our zone with any form of regularity. I expect this to be the team's biggest weakness, along with a dismal power play, completely lacking in a real quarterback on the point.
But once we do get it out of our zone, I expect more extended periods in the attacking end, and a much better forecheck thanks to a combination of philosophy and a forward corps more tailored to that kind of game (think Mitchell, Kaleta, Stewart, Larsson, Deslauriers, Gionta, an improving Foligno and Girgensons and the 2014 Stafford.) We will also score more thanks to better depth, but it won't be enough to make a huge difference.
That's because we will also allow more goals, probably a lot more goals. I expect Neuvirth and Enroth to each steal games this year, and I expect them to give a few away as well. I hope one of them emerges as a clear number one, but I don't expect it.
I also don't expect any breakthrough offensive leaps by any sabres player. But I do expect Myers to thrive under Nolan. And I expect that by the end of the season, Zemgus Girgensons will have started to get NHL people talking.
Overall, I expect that a more consistent effort, a better team focus, the chance to watch the ups and downs of a few intriguing young players, more unpredictable goaltending, and less Ville Leino will add up to more interesting games. I certainly expect better than the minor league team we watched after the trade deadline last year, and the deer-in-the-headlights horror show that got Ron Rolston fired.
I think that in the period in between those two segments we were probably on a pace for 60-70 points. I expect that to be what we finish with this year, good for a bottom five ticket in the McDavid derby.
What do you expect?
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I'm gold and (at the moment) can do either night.
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Wouldn't surprise me if the Habs take a step back this year, but they will make the playoffs and should be competitive for the next few years.
The have the goalie and the defenceman to build around and are crossing their fingers that Galchenyuk will be the forward.
They could afford to dump Gorges and Gionta because they have guys coming up behind them.
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Are you more of an NFL fan or a Bills fan? If you really enjoy the league, I see no reason to cancel just because the Bills may be bad.
Bills. Reading TBD makes me sick these days and I'd really like to see the team shut them up.
But I just can't take another season of sucking.
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I think this whole narrative is a bunch of crap. The safe thing for Whaley and Marrone to do was to do nothing and then pull a Reiger and blame their failures on everyone else in the organization.
Trading the number one pick next year was the riskiest thing they could have done and in my mind anyway, was not an act of desparation, but rather an act of conviction. Conviction in the caliber of athlete Watkins is and conviction in what they have in Manuel. They may turn out to be wrong but to accuse them of acting in a way contrary to the best interest of the franchise is at the least, irresponsible.
Truth. And they will live and die with.
(Probably die)
I have purchased Sunday Ticket for about as long as it has been an option.
I have yet to this year. Should I?
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The points above, pro and con, are valid, but they apply to any charitable campaign.
The ice bucket challenge is great marketing campaign that has raised a ton of awareness.
Whether you participate is personal choice. No recriminations.
PS: are Sabrespacers participating?
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Bolts are poised to become the class of our division for a while, and Montreal isn't going away.
Hopefully the lull in Detroit continues and Boston's inevitable decline begins soon.
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Glad you're back Drane.
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I thought that list was put together by CoreyPronman.
It's not a consensus, it's one man's well-informed opinion.
Of course it will have some pick's that vary from the general consensus.
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Something to consider when projecting this year's roster is the clear "pay your dues" attitude implemented by Lafontaine and Nolan when they arrived. We've seen nothing to indicate Murray feels any differently.
That's why I think Deslauriers, Larsson, Ristolainen and Pysyk have the inside track on jobs coming out of training camp and Carrier, McCabe, Grigorenko Zadorov and Armia are longshots.
The former have already shown they are very effective AHL players, the latter have not.
Reinhart is your best shot at an exception.
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Only thing harder on the eyes than the Bills offence is the Two Bills Drive suicide watch.
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So Petrecki, Bagnall, Mckenzie, Strachan and Leduc to go with probably Ruhwedel and McCabe?
Not a bad AHL defence corps.
(For what it's worth, I say there's no way Risto and Pysyk aren't Sabres this fall)
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Myers. He won't turn everyone on here into believers, but he will be a high risk high reward, top pairing, all situation difference making defenceman.
Again Myers. If he isn't a top-pairing guy, our defence is going to look pretty sad.
Reinhart. I want a number one centre again so bad, a guy who can actually threaten to regularly add his name to the league's scoring leader board. We haven't had one for so long and he is the best chance of anyone we've seen in years.
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I'm back to (ahem) defend my title.
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The Anders(s)on's. Shawn and Bo Mikael.
Very good. Shawn was a fifth overall pick and the highest ranked defenceman in that draft.
He did nothing and we could have had Brian Leetch.
For me, this usually focuses on picks that bust. Erik Rasmussen was a number seven overall and at the world juniors he looked like Brendan Shanahan. My hopes were sky-high. He's definitely up there for me.
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I'd include Blues, Hawks, Wings and Sabres in my top five, so I guess I can't complain too much.
Not getting the the Arizona pick.
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Nobody posted this one yet?
The tank lives. Looks like last place still guarantees McEichel.
2014-2015 Roster
in The Aud Club
Posted
I'm amazed at how the 12th overall draft pick in 2012 arrived with sky-high first-line centre expectations and half the fan base was prepared to write him off as a total bust when he wasn't ready to be an NHL regular 18 months later.
Now it will be a mistake if the 2nd overall draft pick in 2014 doesn't wait 15 months before becoming an NHLer and virtually no one is trumpeting him as the long-awaited solution to our first-line centre woes.
Reinhart is and always has been a better prospect than Grigorenko.
Hype and context sure have a way of changing public perception.
Lucky for Samson, too bad for Grigo.
They both can thank Darcy for that.