dudacek

All this

Nothing official. From the way he reacted and moved I was thinking groin, but some were pointing to a Devil falling on him just before that sequence…?

Adams is on record as saying we’ve got 3 good goaltenders. He didn’t get another one because he thought the choices available to him didn’t help the team. He thought Comrie was a better choice than Vanecek. There’s not much else to say about this. He’s right or he’s wrong and the way the season plays out will determine which. Ullmark is not a Bruin because Adams didn’t want him or thought he was a blocker, he’s a Bruin because he got a better offer. Again, that’s an Adams valuation. As far as Vanecek goes, Dahlin and Peterka beat him clean with wristers from above the circle and Cozens scored from the goal line. I don’t think he - or goalies like him - were the answer, at least not as a guy you count on for 40+ games. Devils fans seem to agree.

Best linemates Peterka and Vic have had all season, no more excuses there. The Thompson line was good in pre-season. Due for a refresher course on how good Benson can be.

Love the way Granato has developed the young talent and the team’s trend line under his leadership. I think he’s a smart hockey mind and a good human being. For me at least, he’s successfully managed expectations and instilled hope. But I agree that the point of my earlier post doesn’t apply when it comes to him. He has yet prove himself as a capable NHL coach and if the season plays out as it has started, I’d fire him too.

Watching Lindy Ruff Friday got me pondering the ridiculous percentage of competent coaches who get fired in pro sports. I mean, all of them do, right? Sure, there are obviously overmatched coaches who deserve to get fired, but I wonder if they outnumber the capable coaches who get fired simply because the owner is petty, or unrealistic, or the customer demands a sacrifice and the owner thinks the business is better off listening. ”It’s about winning” is true, but it’s also kinda silly when you think of the context it’s used in sometimes. If it’s the sole barometer, an “average” coach is .500. Those guys get fired all the time. If it’s about “winning it all’ 95% of coaches fail each year. And the few that succeed quickly become failures too. It’s just an odd profession because we all think it’s about teaching, and tactics, and leadership, when actually it’s mostly about your ability to continually sell hope and manage expectations. I’m kinda tempted to get into a discussion about what the culture enveloping pro coaching says about the culture of sports fandom - and culture in general - but that’s a little deeper than I’m ready for right now. But I can say this with a reasonable amount of certainty though: Whoever replaces McDermott will almost certainly be less successful; the analytics on that are undeniable.

Did we know that Comrie has allowed 3 or less in 7 of his last nine, going 6/2/1 in the process? He stats over that stretch aren’t terrific largely because one of the 2 losses was the 10-4 Dallas debacle.

Would be nice if this becomes a thing (Buffalo News): Through seven games, Thompson’s line with Greenway and Cozens on the wings has controlled 65.57% of the shot attempts and 76.4% of the expected goals share at 5-on-5, according to Natural Stat Trick. They’ve earned 11 high-danger scoring chances in those situations and, as impressive, they’ve only allowed four while often skating against the other team’s top players. “You mention top line, and the key is to not have a top line,” Granato explained. “The key is to have top lines. With Mittelstadt, Tuch and Skinner, you have that. I say that because we aren’t the ones to decide who our top line is. It’s the other team and who they are matching against. Are they matching against the Thompson line or are they matching against the Mittelstadt line? Their top defensemen, their top checking line. We’ve seen that alter a bit, which means that you’ve got two top lines – two lines that preoccupy the opponent. “I’ve talked about the importance of that and the importance of offensive depth for that reason. If we can get that going better, that’s a very, very powerful thing that we have not yet gotten to the point where we can. That’s a bit of an initiative for us, to move in that direction.”

It’s not a great parallel because he signed at the end of the year, rather than making the team at the beginning of the year. So the year he burned was about getting to his 2nd contract quicker, not UFA quicker. (Like Power did) But my point was simply that he didn’t do anything on his ELC, so his 2nd contract was 1-year minimum wage. Burning a year proved irrelevant. Consider these 2 scenarios with Benson: 18 9 games, 3 points (slide) 19 80 games 32 points 20 72 games 37 points 21 77 games 62 points (ELC expires, negotiates 2nd deal) versus 18 59 games, 13 points (no slide) 19 80 games 32 points 20 72 games 37 points (ELC expires, negotiates 2nd deal) The Sabres are in a much better negotiating position in the 2nd scenario The whole “burning a year” thing came about in an environment where teams didn’t pay players on their 2nd contracts, or sometimes even their 3rd. Players were trying to get to their UFA years as quickly as possible because that’s where the leverage changed and where they could start making real money. Teams would overpay veterans and underpay kids to compensate under the cap. That situation doesn’t really exist anymore, at least for the young stars and the Sabres are a prime example.

If the goaltending doesn't work over 82 games, it's on Adams. We've been on the same page for this for a long time. Right now, the goals against is 15th in a 32-team league and my eye test says our goalies have neither cost us a game, nor stolen any either. It's been "OK", or "fine". It will be interesting to see where that goes as the year progresses.

Here’s a bonus to “wasting” a year: sometimes you get to sign a player to his 2nd contract before he breaks out which can save you good money. Casey Mittelstadt is a good example. People put way too much emphasis on this. It’s a secondary consideration, not a big deal.

Are we really going to say playing a well-rested, well-prepared 21-year-old goalie 4 times in 8 nights was putting him at risk? Ive been watching goalies do that pretty much my entire life. I watched Levi play 6 in 11 days at the world junior. I watched him play 7 in 15 days to close out last season. Until somebody shows me the numbers, colour me very skeptical.

i'm sure there are individuals who qualify, I'm talking collectively. 6'4" 225, 6'4" 231, 6'6" 220, 6'6" 230.

I’ve been telling you guys since we got him, he has it in him to be this team’s Mike Grier.

There can’t be a bigger/longer quartet in the league than Greenway/Thompson/Johnson/Mule. I wonder if there has been a taller PK in NHL history? Couple that length with the increased pressure they’re bringing and the lanes are smaller and closing fast. They’re also able to win more 50/50 pucks and get clears when those opportunities arise.

They've actually shifted things around a lot. The set-up Tage for the left boards 1-timer 4 times a PP hasn't really been been a thing. We are seeing lots of Tage rotating to the right side, and Skinner up high that wasn't part of the mix before. They are also giving it to Skinner down low more often, and trying to work it to the bumper, though the guys playing the bumper (really, all 4 forwards have rotated in) haven't been particularly effective. Also, Cozens is handling the puck a lot more than he used to. They still aren't using the back door as much as they could, or getting to the net enough for screens, tips and rebounds. And the execution from some of the other guys hasn't been there enough to make it pay off. But they've definitely been mixing things up.

If you want to say a team that had Skinner, Girgensons, Okposo, a 19-year-old Mitts, a 20-year-old Tage, and an 18-year-old Rasmus is the same team, I guess i ain't going to stop you. Lot of baggage on this board.

Here's what it might have looked like 5 years ago: Skinner Eichel Reinhart Nylander Mittelstadt Thompson Olofsson Asplund Rodrigues Girgensons Larsson XXXX Dahlin Ristolainen McCabe Montour Samuelsson Borgen Ullmark Luukkonen How did that one turn out?

Kane had 72 points as a rookie. He wasn’t Jack Quinn or JJ Peterka. If Benson is only Quinn or Peterka does that mean he doesn’t belong? I am speaking to them being the same size at 18 and that not holding Kane back. My entire point is size becomes irrelevant if your awareness and your attitude (and, of course, your skill) are at a sufficiently high level. We don’t know yet if Benson is at the level, but it doesn’t matter how big he is, what matters is how good he is.

Patrick Kane played in the NHL as an 18-year-old at Benson’s exact size. Played every game. In fact, he missed only 11 games total in his first 5 seasons.

Not at all. Im suggesting little guys can thrive with the right mix of awareness and attitude, like Marchand has for 15 years. I’m pushing back against the predisposition he’s going to fail because of things that have nothing to do with how he actually plays. For me, it was and is, always going to be a long haul thing with Benson: against expectations, he’s earned his chance; can he sustain it? He’s looked like he’s belonged in 2 games, looked like an impact player against the Islanders and looked overwhelmed against Calgary. It’s a story that’s still being written.

Yep, they’re trying to be different, they’re just not good enough at it yet, and it’s affecting what they are good at.

I think Botterill chose the return and accepts responsibility for that. I just wonder if he thought the team needed to ship O’Reilly because: He didn’t fit into Botterill’s plan and vision for the Sabres moving forward He really liked the return and thought the Sabres were better off with 2 veteran middle sixers and 2 lottery pieces He thought ROR was a bad fit in the room, or needed to be moved for some “HR” reasons. ROR demanded a trade Pegula demanded a trade Circumstances forced the Eichel trade; the situation was broken beyond repair. I wonder if the same could be said about the ROR trade as well.

I can’t really sink my teeth into the above debate until someone explains “why” ROR was traded. It never made sense from the roster construction they had, so what forced their hand?

I don’t have preference in terms of which guy I think is a better goalie, but I definitely think Comrie is better suited to be Levi’s backup.