dudacek
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Posts posted by dudacek
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1 minute ago, rickshaw said:
I think it’s time to start hiring some handsome guys. Enough of these balding, or hanging onto their hair guys. Let’s get some stud behind the bench. If we can’t win in the ice let’s win on good looks!
But...
what about Brind'Amour?
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2 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:
Hamilton was saying that Ellis was not responsible for the PP and it was the head coach who dictates the style of the pp. Ellis was also Adams guy so he may just stick around.
I think the only question with Ellis is whether or not the coach wants him on his staff.
If not, he will be offered another role with the organization.
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1 minute ago, pi2000 said:
The standard is set too low, there's no accountability, no sense of urgency anywhere in the organization.
You hear it from all the players who have left, other teams practice harder pay closer attention to detail, the bar is just set much much higher.
Part if that problem is youth, but you also see it across the entire organization.
This feels right on a macro level.
Step one: clear the room
Step two: develop the talent
Step 3: teach them how to win
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9 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:
Of course. Maybe I had a brain fart, but isn't there precedent for GMs hiring assistants?
There was a well-publicized quote a few years back that I think came from a GM/former GM:
Expect the process to be somewhat collaborative, but the exec said coach typically gets to pick one assistant and the GM another. Don't know what the deal is with any additional guys, but I imagine consensus. I'd also imagine the ground rules are part of the process of hiring the head coach.
In the case of the current staff, I always felt Christie was there strictly to be Donnie's crony. He has no obvious role and not much of a pedigree.
I think he was let go because of that personal connection.
I suspect Ellis, Bales and Wilford have more tenure and more respect from the GM and their future will be decided in conjunction with the new coach.
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I realize there is a whole different vibe around the Bills fan perception of Pegula and the Sabres fan perception.
But I wonder how much the Diggs trade has in common with the O'Reilly trade?
Did the owner feel disrespected by the star and decided he no longer wanted him in the organization?
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24 minutes ago, nfreeman said:
I also like that it was done decisively -- immediately following the end of the season. It's a clear statement, both internally and externally, that this past season was an unacceptable failure.
Once again, Adams unexpectedly shows he really is wiling to make the hard decisions, and is not too much in love with "his guys".
I like Donnie a lot. I like the way he treats people and I think he deserves a ton of thanks for pulling our kids out of the Krueger black hole and for developing them into NHL players.
In the end, they let him down and I hope that's the last lesson he teaches them.
This is professional sport: win or be replaced.
Hope he lands on his feet.
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1 minute ago, PromoTheRobot said:
Don't forget a bunch of 1st round picks
Two: Colin White and Jack Roslovic.
Still taking O'Reilly.
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31 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:
We had the #1 rated prospect pool when Tim Murray was GM. He promptly traded most of them away for magic beans. Now that Adams has restored that pipeline people want him to act like Tim Murray again.
For those keeping track (sorry to the majority who won't)
From that "#1 rated prospect pool" Tim Murray traded away Girgorenko, Zadorov, McNabb, Armia, Lemieux and Luke Adam.
Personally, I would still give up that entire group for Ryan O'Reilly alone.
But hey, that's just me.
Edit: Missed JT Compher. Doesn't change my opinion.
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Woke up thinking about the kind of goals the Sabres scored last night: hard forecheck, bodies and pucks to the net.
Every single one of them.
🥹
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8 hours ago, inkman said:
Does any NHL team besides the Sabres have a D core that soft. Clifton is the only one with any jam, at all. Teams need to be leery of skating near the goalie. Dmen actually need to clear players from the crease. It makes me terribly sad that our defenseman don’t touch anyone. It’s a physical game. If you don’t have players that engage physically, you are at a serious disadvantage.
I agree with this point in general: they ain't mean enough.
Sick and tired of how everyone overlooks Dahlin in this conversation. He's an absolute prick out there and everybody seems to look right past it.
He's 6'3 and always dishing out the reverse hits, facewashes, hipchecks, ramming guys into the boards, sneaky elbows, hacks and spears: he does all that ***** people claim to want and nobody notices.
It was very nice a few weeks back to hear Torterella talking about what a competitor he is, because it seems like nobody notices.
It felt like there was at least a dozen games this year where I heard a visiting broadcaster say "Oh, and now --- is getting into it with Dahlin of all people. There's an unlikely combatant."
No it's not. Watch some ***** games. That's who he is.
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Can always depend on Cal to express the most desolate version of Sabres fandom.
I suspect the opposite would also be true. Hope someday we get a chance to see that.
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48 minutes ago, Thorny said:
Dahlin and Tuch finish tied for the team lead in points at 59 apiece
Dahlin lead in assists with 39
Thompson lead in goals with 29
Some poetry in those numbers about this team, isn’t there?
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I’m obviously interested but I don’t feel particularly invested in who they keep or who they fire.
I like the people well enough and I think the assets are here to make the kind of step the Canucks took this year and the Devils took last year.
(If people don’t remember Vancouver had 83 points last year and the bubble was their only playoff appearance over the previous 8 seasons; the Devils had 63 points and had missed 4 straight and 9 out of 10.)
Just make it happen. I don’t care how. I’ll judge you on the results.
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18 minutes ago, inkman said:
Please don’t tell me you honestly put this much stock in these press conferences. It’s verbal *****. No substance, no real answers. Just spewing corporate platitudes appeasing the masses. Or not. They just don’t mean very much.
I do put some stock in them, not so much as gospel in and of themselves, but as an indicator of what message they want out there, and I also like to read into how they react to the tone and the questions that are posed. What isn’t said is often the most interesting stuff.
Taken within the exact context you describe, you can find a few nuggets.
I would never expect Adams to give me the truthful answers to the questions I posed: those are more my way of telling you fine people what I think his priorities should be and what I care about when it comes to fixing the team.
I’ll get my answers by what he does this summer.
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1 hour ago, Night Train said:
OK...Grit. ..or size that isn't afraid of kittens.
This isn’t really about prospects anyway, it’s about wanting more shift disturbers on the actual team.
The number of Tom Wilsons worthy of top 10 picks in the NHL draft are few and far between, year after year. If you’re taking the best one available ahead of a Zach Benson, or an Owen Power, you’re probably not getting the best player.
It’s not that aren’t interested in the type. The Sabres picked Wahlberg and Strbak in the 2nd round last year, they’ve got guys like Miedema, Novikov, Poltapov and Nadeau in the system.
It’s whether or not guys like that work out.
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Always appreciate when the numbers support the eye test.
It felt like the Sabres improved in their own zone this year; if I could say it in one sentence, it would be “instead of giving guys a clear lane and a full second to shoot like last year, they were giving him partially obstructed lanes and a half-second.”
Also interested in the offensive data stating they did not create nearly as much off the rush this year. Am I correct in reading that as they were sending one guy to blow the zone instead of 2? Certainly that would affect the numbers of Tuch and Cozens, who I’ve always found to be extremely dangerous off the rush.
This also feeds into the acquisition of Byram, and type of defencemen they gravitate to: one way to compensate for fewer breakout targets is to employ accurate breakout passers.
Another thing I’m curious about is how the numbers at both ends of the ice compared from the first half to the second. I felt by eye test there were noticeable improvements as the season progressed defensively. I did not necessarily feel the same way offensively.
One would expect a break-in period at both ends of the ice, if we were dealing with a new system.
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I don't need Kevin to make me feel better with rhetoric or sacrificial lambs.
I have three questions I want answered:
1) One of the league's best offence's disappeared this season, apparently for 3 reasons: the power play was awful, the team could never get bodies and pucks to the net to score any greasy goals, and the team's 5 best goal scorers all regressed significantly.
Why did this happen and how are you going to fix it?
2) This team was absolutely terrible in the first period.
Why did this happen and how are you going to fix it?
3) Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen was among the league's best goalies since Jan. 1. Beyond that, the team and its individual players did not post particularly good numbers in any particular part of the game.
What are you going to do to make sure the Sabres won't be so reliant on one man to be the difference between winning and losing?
Good managers diagnose the root cause of problems and they make corrections.
I want to see a plan for addressing these issues and I will hold him responsible for its execution.
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2 minutes ago, inkman said:
If Pegula (?) waits until after then to fire these twits, this team is more ***** than I thought. And I’m not sure I want them fired but make a decision already.
They won’t make it until Friday if they are getting fired.
I will be shocked if Adams is fired. I don’t expect Granato to be, but I won’t be surprised if he is.
I think public relations demands some form of sacrificial lamb, but I doubt he has it in him.
Im not sure if he can do any better than “we’re committed to our plan and we will be working hard to get better”.
Which ain’t gonna cut it with this group.
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This season played out very much like 2016/17.
A 78-point season of regression after a season of hope that the rebuild was coming to a close.
It resulted in Bylsma and Murray getting shown the door.
I see 2 differences: the internal organization was far more fractured then, the fan base is far more impatient now.
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2 hours ago, inkman said:
I’m happy this ***** show is coming to an end. It may be the single most frustrating season I can remember. At least the tank years were by design. What has this abomination been?
Officially, the 2nd most successful Buffalo Sabres season in the past 12 years?
🎉
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Pretty sure it’s the fanbase.
From what I hear half of them are really mean and boo the players and stuff.
And the other half has their heads buried in the sand and refuses to make the team accountable for being so goddam terrible for so goddam long.
😘
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10 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:
Wrong type of defenceman don't you see that?
I clearly see the argument.
I can also see how that argument falls flat if your three “skill” defencemen can also play good defence.
Nobody said the Robinson/Lapointe/Savard Canadiens had too many of the same type of defenceman. Or, if you want more recent, less once-in-a-lifetime examples, the Josi/Ellis/Subban Predators, or the Hedman/Shattenkirk/Sergachev Lightning, or the Theodore/Pietrangelo/Hanifin Knights.
There’s no doubt Power and Byram have to get a lot better in their own zone. Considering they’ve played 162 and 163 games respectively, I expect they will.
How much better they get will ultimately decide if the trade made sense or not.
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Just now, PromoTheRobot said:
What exactly is a "proven NHL backup?" Eric Comrie fit that description in Winnipeg.
I'd tend to hope that guy should have a longer resume than Eric Comrie's one 19-game season as an NHL backup. A Casey DeSmith/Jake Allen/Kevin Lankinen level guy maybe?
But I actually think a guy like the Comrie of 2 years ago is the type of signing we're going to end up with: Adin Hill, Laurent Broissoit, Alex Lyon, Charlie Lindgren...
Not necessarily those guys right now, but a guy in a similar situation to where they were a few years ago: 25-30, tasted the NHL, never quite cracked it.
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6 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:
Well you're sort of right but only partly. No, I don't like the plan. But, while I do believe you build a winning team primarily via the draft, I think you have to build the culture FIRST. That's the part I disagree with. His idea that they grow into that culture collectively is, imo, inherently flawed.
I also do not believe that just throwing players into the NHL and having them learn that way is the best way either. Most teams use the AHL to teach and players only make the big club when they are ready. Most teams aren't willing to sacrifice entire seasons for "development". I think a roster needs to be balanced between rookies, young players and veterans, pros. Young guys developing in the minors and working hard and pressing veterans for opportunities and jobs. It's the cycle of hockey life.
When a pile of kids knows they have the jobs and they get pampered and given free reign to "grow" they don't learn that work ethic. They can instead get spoiled and lazy. The competitive pressure just isn't there. In any event I do not think throwing players into the NHL accelerates their development. They need to learn good habits early and they need the proper development paths. Look at Mitts and Thompson. They only started to come into their own AFTER being sent down and humbled.
As for the trades and signings, they are minimal. I do not see Byrum for Mitts filling a need. Perhaps you could explain that? I see it as creating a hole at center. We already have enough puck moving offensive D men. What we need is Samuelsson back and adding another defensive D man, not a Dahlin-lite. All he did was toss Montour away and now replaced him. Holes created and filled like rearranging deck chairs on the titanic.
I was for the Clifton signing and I think it was fine. He's overpaid, but that's how we got him. That's how you get free agents. Greenway trade was fine, even if his inconsistency annoys me but it's fine. I can't count Tuch and Krebs as great acquisitions because we tossed Eichel away. So far we have less than we had. Maybe Adams had no choice, but it's not a great accomplishment in terms of a plan. There's more tear down than build up there (so far).
Adams hasn't filled the holes we have and we are a team that imo underachieves due to the poor coaching and the lack of leadership and key veterans on the roster. There are simply far too many errors in the Pegula era and so far, we just swap parts and spin our wheels.
Like I said, you don't really like the plan and you really don't like the execution 😁.
My only point is that the hand hasn't fully played out yet.
As to the bold, I think we all wanted Adams to use his depth in young, talented forwards to acquire a top 4 defenceman
That's exactly what he did.
You might say (many did) "not that young, talented forward for that top 4 defenceman".
We shall see.
ESPN+ Article on Prospects
in The Aud Club
Posted
Picks in the 20s most often are Roslovics and Whites, so no.
Look, GMTM was a ***** manager. No one in his right mind would support his tenure and I'm not aware of anyone who does.
But his biggest failing was people: the types he chose for his organization, and how he treated them.
The number of prospects he "squandered" is overrated.