dudacek
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Posts posted by dudacek
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I'm not sure that's a great pair for your second line. Sam and Cody aren't great skaters so you will need some serious speed on the LW to make that work.
Kane has serious speed.
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Yeh I am not sure this was about direction rather than control, but maybe. Either way, LaFontaine was ill prepared for how Murray played the game and Nolan knew he wasn't there. True that is how to be successful in a short term. But it also burns bridges and we will see how long this lasts.
Then it begs the question can Murray find a coach that will work with him and will he relinquish some control and literally work with that coach, not serve as overlord. Conscensus building is crucial for positions of leadership. Letting people take credit for their ideas while still shepherding them in the necessary direction is critical to building a successful organization and showing leadership.
Remains to be seen if Murray has the chops for this and his recent way of going about it does not bode well despite all of the apologists. The choice for next coach will be insightful.
From all indications, Murray didn't serve as overlord at all. He gave Nolan freedom to hire his coaches, select his lineups, pick his lines and run his system. And with that rope Nolan hung himself.
The bold is certainly true.
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You can add a couple of more players and still not equal what Lucic brings. At still only 26 years old the man is a BEAST.
Not wanting Lucic on the Sabres is like not wanting Brock Lesnar as your tag team partner. It's pure insanity. If the Bruins did put him on the market there would be 29 GM's calling the Bruins.
Picking up Lucic not only would you be getting a one of kind player, you'd also wouldn't have to play against him and you would have Lucic on your roster to play against the Bruins.
I was waiting for this.
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You can keep your Crosby too!
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So should we send a 3rd rounder to the Canucks for Miller?
We are in the market for salary dumps and goaltenders,
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No, unless they are giving him away.
And only partly because he's an ass.
He seems to have lost his edge.
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And people that Ted Nolan got a raw deal after finishing last two consecutive years.
I've got mixed feelings on this, coloured by my hate for the Bruins.
On one side, the success of the past five years is hard to dismiss.
On the other hand, the Bergeron/Lucic/Marchand core was more luck than brains, he didn't get enough for Seguin and he's badly muffed his handling of the cap.
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This was never about blaming Nolan for his win and loss record. Everyone expected a poor record. (somewhere between 30-25).
The problem with Nolan was his commitment to the defensive zone collapse. The defensive zone collapse is Nolan's brand of Hockey.
Nolan's brand of hockey means no speed from the back end to the forwards, because there was no speed you almost always saw the cross ice pass through the neutral zone in transition, you might win the offensive zone, but you are almost never going to score because you can't attack the net with numbers.
So you have a bunch of young thoroughbreds. Wouldn't it have been a much more entertaining brand of hockey to have let these kids loose, and let them get up ice ....now the team might have lost by wider margins at times, but there would have been a greater commitment to generating speed and offense especially from the back end and in transition. (This was Ottawa's development model with Paul MaClean....and man was it a blast to watch.)
So here it goes with the choice. Choose A or B
A) Keep Nolan's System and an entire team tethered to its own goalpost with the Zone Collapse losing games 3-2.
B) Open up the hockey and play a system that better trains your thoroughbreds for the future but losing games 5-4
Either way the record might have been the same but I'm pretty sure Murray wanted B.
That's what I see.
Great observations.
Articulates in technical terms what was troubling about Teddy's approach.
Also explains the terrible Corsi numbers and great save percentages.
Have you had this discussion with qualified scouts/coaches?
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Not after the team takes him out for some hookers & blow in Ft. Erie, he won't be.....
Not to mention the drizzled chocolate.
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Well I guess I was wrong there....
Sounds like CoHo and one of the centers gets packed up and shipped out.... but for what? A goalie maybe? And how many of those 14 are 4th liners that end up getting bumped for more talent? (Or do we keep Kaleta and Cody Mack?)
Very few. Maybe McCormick and Deslauriers, but they are valuable fourth-liners IMO.
The others are Hodgson, Moulson, Kane, Ennis, Foligno, Gionta and Grigensons.
Cereal's list has Kaleta too, but I'm positive he is a UFA this year.
In answer to the question, I really have no idea. Hodgson is a chip that somehow needs to be played.
My mock line-ups don't include him because I don't see the space.
But I think he has enough value he could be traded, or find his way into the lineup because of another trade.
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SAM REINHART WILL BE FINE!
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Don't say things like that :blush:
I love your lines dudacek (and your curves)
I didn't say what kind of cups. :ph34r:
With the list that was given (McDavid, Grigorenko, Girgensons, Larsson, and Reinhart), I would use the following lines:
1. Kane, McDavid, Reinhart
2. Ennis, Girgensons, Stewart / Justin Williams / Michael Frolich / Joel Ward
3. Moulson, Grigorenko, Gionta
4. Foligno, Larsson, Kaleta / Bailey / FA
With Deslauriers waiting in the wings. This gives a mix of skill and size on each line.
Reinhart played on McDavid's line in the World Junior, so it makes sense (to me) to pair them. Kane has the speed and skill to play with them, and the size to help to protect them.
I do think that we need at least 1 RW via free agency or trade, and I am also hoping that they trade for OReily (perhaps giving up Grigorenko, McCabe, and a pick).
When they played together, it was McDavid on Reinhart's wing.
I'm not overly hung up on who plays what position, but Reinhart is the most pure centre in the organization, iMO.
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This is the exact thing I had in mine as well, different linemates though (and while I have Z taking center responsibility, I have Grigs taking draws). I take it we have different expectations of what we see Zemgus becoming.
I see Zemgus as a guy who can play multiple roles. Ideally i like him as a secondary scoring line centre who draws all the tough assignments, but on this team down the road that role is probably going to be Reinhart's.
Because of that, I eventually see him as a winger with Eichel.
If we have so many good wingers he becomes our third line centre, there will be a lot of cups in our future.
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Thanks, man. I know it's not ideal to start a lot of rookie centers, but we're already pretty poor in the dot, so it's not going to get worse there. I really think that we've got wingers on this team that suite our centers really well.
Just for reference, Eichel won 51.4% of his draws this year compared to 44.2%. That's a substantial drop, granted Eichel was playing at a lower level. I don't foresee Girgensons going too much longer as a centerman.
Most rookies struggle on draws, but if Eichel is a prodigy, then great.
I'd rather have Zemgus in the middle in our zone purely for defensive assignment reasons.
Larsson the same when he's playing with Jack.
I just trust Johan and Zemgus to play better defence at this point in their careers and it's how I will compensate for the youth of our two young guns.
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My line-up would change depending on the opponent and the desired match-ups.
My base would be
1A Moulson Eichel Girgensons with Girgs taking key draws
1B Kane Reinhart Ennis
3 Foligno Grigorenko Gionta
Larsson would be my jack of all trades, getting 10-12 minutes playing PK and moving up into pretty much any position when guys aren't going well, injuries occur, or when in-game situations warrant.
When we're playing a team with an explosive top line, I would match Foligno Girgensons Gionta against them.
Moulson Eichel Larsson and Kane Reinhart Ennis would be interchangeable as my other two units.
Grigs would be down on the fourth line with Deslauriers and whoever, but he could be switched with one of tank prizes if their play warranted it.
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Shocked as I am, Bucky's column today does a good job putting things into perspective.
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Yeh I am, that doesn't take away from the fact the Kane deal was after the fact and Lemieux was a miscalculation. Remains to be seen if Kane is. Like the potential, but the attitude again gives me pause and is Murray just creating another problem despite getting rid of one of his own making.
Why are you acting like we were forced to trade Lemieux because of some miscalculation? Isn't more accurate to say he the price we had to pay to get what we all hope will be a first-line power forward?
How do you know Lemieux wasn't going to eventually sign anyway? I'd be very surprised if more than a handful of 2nd-rounders have yet. I'd imagine there are a bunch of unsigned first rounders as well.
And you admit you don't know how well the Kane trade will work out.
Doesn't seem like a lot of solid evidence to me.
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The Sabres prospects have been evaluated by several media outlets as being one of the best, if not the best, in the NHL. I think most of those are still in college or juniors and not necessarily in the AHL. My concern is the lack of prospects that are evaluated as top line talent. There's alot of prospects projected as 2nd or 3rd line players in the NHL but only a couple currently are projected to have the ability to play on the top line at the NHL level.
Reinhart may be the best drafted prospect not in the NHL. Risto and Zads have first pairing potential.
And McEichel is coming. So, no longer really an issue.
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Anyone post anything about Mark Pysyk? He was skating with the team this morning.
If there's one thing Mark Pysyk doesn't want to see again: a doctor. He will see the ice again this weekend, though: http://on.rocne.ws/1OaPRGX
Best news I've heard since TM told me the Sabres were going to be getting a better coach.
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After this past press conference I question if Murray has what it takes to be a long term GM in this league. He looked and sounded like he was in over his head.
I wonder if Murray has ever had to fire anyone before.
The Sabres played hard, but they very rarely played well.
That's my view as well, but there is no point discussing it.
One side will say the latter point is is all on Murray, the other will disagree and round, round we go.
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Am I the only that does not see a great farm system here? It may turn out to be ok but I think it is far from the best.
The farm team was terrible this year.
The thought is that with all the extra picks over a four year span that will change.
And, of course a lot of the farm team was playing in the NHL.
That probably rules out Darryl Sutter then.
:w00t:
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Mmmm. Who is that ?
I think it's Wildcard :ph34r:
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Murray said nothing damning about Ted Sunday. Ted said nothing damning here.
I think Ted is the fifth coach fired this year and he won't be the last.
Ted is a good man. He will survive.
It's the NHL guys. Nothing unusual to see here.
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I don't think his problem was being sent to the minors. I think he specifically stated he wouldn't sign with the Sabres (although I'm not sure the quote was exactly that). The Sabres owned his rights but he never signed an entry level contract. He had a bit of a chip on his shoulder after slipping to the second round and (inexplicably to me) seemed to hold it against the Sabres.
This has definitely taken on a life of its own, but never been satisfactorily explained anywhere I've seen.
On the record, Lemieux was very upset about not being picked in the first round, but he's only said very positive things about the Sabres.
There was one tweet from a regional (TSN or Sportsnet?) reporter saying he wasn't going to sign in Buffalo.
Murray later said he was offered a contract and didn't accept it, but that wasn't a factor in the trade.
Beyond that, I've only seen a lot of internet speculation based on those two quotes.
I think it's not a leap to conclude the Sabres offered second-round money and Lemieux turned it down believing he was was worth 1st-round money. Nothing unusual about that, considering he still had two seasons to convince the Sabres otherwise. (See Justin Bailey).
Don't have enough information to draw any more conclusions.
Sabres fire Ted Nolan
in The Aud Club
Posted · Edited by dudacek
To clarify: I think Tim has the right stuff. Only time will tell if I'm right.
I think you are you wrong. I think Nolan's system lends itself to being outshot.
X had a good post on this yesterday.