dudacek

I am amazed at how the Jack Quinn of the scrimmage looked so much more like the Jack Quinn I watched in Ottawa than the Jack Quinn I saw at the WJC. It appears his defence-first mentality at the tourney was very much by coaching design and masked the offensive part of of his game.

I think this has been well-explored. Mitts has been as bad as Skinner in his own zone and Cozens has never played an NHL game. Sheahan (or Lazar) brings a defensive conscience and a predictable guy who plays on "the right side of the puck" and can allow Skinner to freelance. Ralph has made it clear he wants lines that he doesn't want to have to hide match-up wise. Not arguing with your point, just answering your question. Is this based entirely on Eakin's play last year, or have you not liked what you've seen in camp?

Absolutely. I think that seems to be where the board consensus is going if Ralph doesn't want Skins with Staal and Sam. Semi-related: I mean there was never any doubt, but you really know you're a Sabre nerd when you look at that chart and think 'that Mitts line looks interesting, love to see what it could do in Rochester'

That is outstanding. 😂 I'm loving Jack's new look: at least our top three centres look like hockey players.

From the Athletic's annual goalie ranking, gleaned from a poll of 6 NHL GMs, 4 head coaches, 5 goalie coaches, Linus was 23rd: For a guy who is 27 years old and has never played in more than 37 games in his NHL career, the 6-foot-4 Swede received a sneaky high amount of love. Especially in the goalie-coaching community. “I’m a fan. I like his style. I love his compete. He plays with an edge,” said one. “Ullmark has paid his dues. He’s going to surprise people. He can hold his team up this year.” “I’ve seen enough of him in Buffalo. He made some good improvements last year with (goalie coach Mike) Bales and his skill level with playing a little bit more conservative,” said another. “He’s going to be pretty consistent.” One more vote of confidence from a coach: “He’s the better of their two goalies. I like him a lot. He’s athletic. I think he’s got a great future.” https://theathletic.com/2308397/2021/01/10/nhl-goalie-rankings/

Was watching a presser with my wife in the room and she pipes up "what's up with that guy? Is he asking a question or telling a story?"

Yep. Congratulations to Borgen, Mittelstadt, Asplund and anyone else who made the cut It looks like this is our team this year (from what Ralph said, it doesn't look like it will matter which of the spares are technically on the taxi squad): Hall Eichel XXX XXX Staal Reinhart YYY Eakin Okposo XXX YYY YYY Dahlin Montour McCabe Risto Miller Jokiharju Ullmark Hutton XXX: Skinner, Thompson, Olofsson (Cozens, Mittelstadt, Quinn) YYY: Reider, Lazar, Sheahan, Asplund, Cozens, Mittelstadt, (Quinn), Girgensons ZZZ: Irwin, Borgen, Davidson, Johansson Here's to hoping that Kevyn acquired the right pieces and Ralph makes the right choices.

With all this focus on Skinner/Krueger, I haven’t really heard what you guys think about the macro picture being tested here: Do people like Thompson with Eichel and Hall? How about Olofsson with Staal and Reinhart? Would either Victor or Tage be a better fit with two of Sheahan/Lazar/Cozens on a line Ralph apparently wants to be able to trust both ways? Personally, I suspect it’s going to be Eichel/Hall Staal/Reinhart Eakin/Okposo and a revolving door and the above debate will lose its heat because two of Thompson VO and Skinner click where they are and we’re winning, or two of them don’t and we shake things up because we’re losing. Another development that hasn’t really been a talking point that I am quietly pumped about: Dahlin and Montour have been regular thing with Eichel and Hall.

I got the roster at 31 right now, not including Zemgus. Max they can have between roster and taxi is 29 so at least two more have to go. I think R2, Samuelsson Oglevie and Davidson are the guys left in the Blue group that weren't sent down. Asplund, Bryson, Borgen Mittelstadt, Quinn, Cozens still on the bubble as well?

I must say I am a little surprised about Johansson staying up and not Tokarski. But I guess playing time is irrelevant until the Amerks actually play and Ralph did say players can and will be streaming back and forth regardless of what 3rd of the roster they are listed on.

There's a chance we could grab Zac Dalpe, Nathan Gerbe and Hudson Fasching in one fell swoop to fix our third line? Git 'er done Kevyn!

I can see how it could sneak past you in that clip if you were expecting the usual and weren't familiar with his work. He's worth my Athletic subscription on his own.

it is my understanding that Brind'Amour was one of those who felt that Skinner needed to go.

Like a lot of people in this organization, he's got a lot to prove. Somehow, we've moved to an alternate reality where Sam Reinhart of all people has become the least likely Sabre to start an argument. He's trying to make you laugh. And he's also right.

Down Goes Brown is among the best reads in hockey.

We are having a debate about whether Krueger is a bad coach because he moved Jeff Skinner out of the top six for two days in training camp to get a look at Tage Thompson, who has been outplaying Skinner in training camp? Hockey really is back.

How has he mistreated Skinner? He played him the first half of training camp with two damn good hockey players. He moved him to try somebody else when the unit didn’t click the way he wanted it to. There seems to be an unspoken issue with Skinner not following the “principles” of the system. Are you advocating for Ralph to ignore Skinner’s play and essentially let him do what he wants with who he wants?

Yeah, it’s why they sometimes make a big deal about “true” freshmen.

Good move. It's looking increasingly unlikely the BCHL will play this year outside a small regional cohort, and that may not even be coming back

Personally, I want my coach to put more stock in what a player did over a full season than what he did in training camp. Camp is to confirm and challenge your previous perceptions - essentially change minds. Thompson came into camp as a guy they thought could play in their starting lineup. His play has forced them to look at him as potentially something more. Rieder came into camp as a guy they wanted to improve PK and add to their speed and defensive responsibility in the bottom six. His play has confirmed that and that’s where he is. Ruotsalainen came into camp as a guy they hoped might force his way into the lineup. He didn’t, so he isn’t there. Cozens is ahead of him in the pecking order but is facing a similar situation. He will get a similar, but longer, look. The body language between Skinner Reinhart and Staal in the 1st scrimmage totally looked like this. Count me among the many on this board who respects Carolina’s hockey judgement. It is increasingly obvious there was a reason they wanted Jeff gone.

As far as Larsson goes, it was a two-year hike that was dramatic. 42.5 to 48.8 to 50.1 Fenwick.

I was specifically referring to Corsi and Fenwick in my post.

Fair. Personally, I think possession metrics are a way of removing some of the "luck" factor from +/- by increasing the sample size, but both measure the same thing, with the same flaw: how well a player did in the situations he was used in. I've yet to see a clear demonstration that there is a correlation with how they will perform in a different environment. For example, didn't Larsson's metrics improve dramatically on the LOG line in Krueger's system than they did in Housley's system? I'm very interested to see how effective Larsson is in Arizona, and KO is without him (although there remains the Zemgus factor). I'm curious to see whether Rieder, Eakin and Sheahan can improve their metrics, considering the former two at least seemed to have been handpicked to play specific roles within this system and have all showed significantly higher levels of play in other situations than where they were last year.

But not Sheahan or Lazar? They are the closest stylistically on this team to Larry. And Sheahan did put p 32 points as a 3C in Pit a few years ago.

Id actually be open to trying Skinner/Eakin/Okposo for exactly that reason. Honestly, I think I might be more worried about Jeff's defence dragging the other two down than them dragging down Jeff's offence.