TrueBlueGED

*raises hand* There has yet to be any evidence to support the notion that faceoffs contribute in any meaningful way to possession. Our possession sucks because we can't transition up the ice effectively, and because we rarely enter the offensive zone with possession (or the ability to quickly regain it). Some of that is roster-based, some is system-based. Most of us in the "Bylsma sucks" camp acknowledge this shared blame, whereas the Bylsma backers want to pin it entirely on the players. I know which group I think is being more reasonable :p

Crosby and Malkin :p

Uh, I mean, you basically just shot your credibility on the matter by not knowing a blocked shot is still a Corsi against. Blocking more shots does not give you a better Corsi.

Correct. Know what teams win Cups? 1, 2, 3, and 4. #10 is not elite. It's good, but it's not elite.

Even when Bylsma had his best rosters in Pittsburgh, they weren't an elite possession team.

I...i...I don't know how to take this :lol:

I believe the consensus was bubble team. Anyway, the team shouldn't be in the same place. Second years for Jack and Sam (and at least in Jack's case, he's taken a leap in his development), and we added a no-BS 1st line player in Okposo. I just don't think we should let this year's underpeformance reduce our expectations.

Should we let Bylsma's second season failure define for us what is reasonable? I'm not lowering the bar of what is acceptable just because our coach is inept. Edit: And FWIW, I think Toronto wins a series this year and, yes, is competitive in round 2. From last place. We need to set our sights higher than the low bar we're used to.

You must have loved the Avs a couple of years ago when Patrick Roy's "great coaching" turned them into a 100-point team, and been completely shocked at the subsequent collapse in the playoffs and following seasons.

If it was Bogo, he'd be on the injury report with an undisclosed injury.

Set your expectations higher.

In what may be a futile attempt to get the prediction thread back on track, I'll bring the discussion of "what if" scenarios revolving around a Bylsma return here. Assuming he comes back, my evaluation of his job performance will have only a small amount to do with point totals or where the team is in the standings. How they get to where they're at is far and away the most important thing to me. I'll look at the underlying numbers. Is their spot in standings a result mostly of luck (or lack thereof)? Being in first place doesn't mean much to me if it's on the back of shooting 12% and saving 94%. That's not an indicator of sustainable success. I'll also look at even strength performance--is it much improved over this year and last year? The best even strength teams are the contenders. Teams that get by on special teams play are pretenders, and routinely lose in the playoffs if they aren't also good at evens. I'm of the belief that Bylsma's system, in 2017, is incapable of high end even strength results. In order for me to change that opinion, those results have to show significant improvement. Has he learned from past mistakes, or is he still running Risto and O'Reilly into the ground while riding Lehner in back to backs? Smoke and mirrors victories can go to hell. Wholly uninteresting to me. If it comes to pass that Bylsma returns, I'll judge him on the metrics which predict playoff success. Bookmark this and quote it back in my face next year if I'm being a hypocrite. That's fine. But don't come at me with "hey they're winning, give the man credit" if the criteria I use to evaluate his performance are just as poor as they have been for two seasons now.

Oh I agree, but this whole thing started with me in EA Sports trade mode. Might as well continue that way :)

Bogo for RNH. Let's do it.

Pretty much. Not only do I think the NFL would have approved a move, I think they desperately wanted the highest bid to be one that gave them the chance to approve it.

EA Sports trade plan: acquire RNH for pennies on the dollar, flip Reinhart for top pair Dman.

I dunno. I really don't buy it. I'm of the opinion that even perceived bad drafts have a few guys go top-10 who are really good NHL players. The Yakupov draft was horrible, but still gave us Galchenyuk, Trouba, and Forsberg. The Reinhart draft was seen as weak, but still produced Reinhart, Draisaitl, Nylander. Hell, RNH came from a poor draft, and he's a very good player too. And that's just off the top of my head.

Yea, I can think of worse things than another Reinhart-level player coming in.

Well, for starters, this thread is for predicting whether or not Bylsma will be fired before next season even begins, not arguing the merits of it happening or not happening ;)

I could certainly see it playing out this way, and it makes some sense from ownership to actually do it this way. I'm just not sure Murray's on such a short leash. Frankly, if Murray's on that short of a leash, I'd rather the Pegulas just cut ties now. A lot of important decisions have to made, and to entrust them to a guy who has 20 games to prove himself...

I dunno. This is what Ovi looked like when he quit on Boudreau and Hunter. Crosby when he quit on Bylsma and Johnson. I know it drives the old school among us up a wall because Eichel is less accomplished than them, but this is a classic case of a star being done with a coach. Happens to the best of em.

For me, he's not off the hook, but I don't really evaluate the job he did during the tank years. From my perspective, he's had two offseasons to take a historically bad roster and try to build it back up. That context is important to my evaluation. Barring catastrophic failure (which I don't think we have...he's had some good, some bad, and a lot of mediocre), I think a GM needs to get more than two years to improve the team. 2016 was a poor offseason for him...he can't afford a second in a row. That said, I'm not sure he (or anyone else) can accomplish everything this offseason he has to...his misses have put him in a really tough spot. So maybe he's already set up to fail in 2017...but I don't have much sympathy, as it's largely of his own doing.

This is essentially how I see it. The post-deadline record with a basically healthy team put him in the coffin, and player exits will seal the coffin. I think he had a lot of rope due to the cascade of injuries to start the season, but almost inexplicably, he has still managed to run out. On the other hand, if Murray keeps him on, he'd completely reclaim the ZFG championship belt. In a bad way, but still.

This shows tremendous personal growth on your part :thumbsup: :p

What in the world would possess a person to do this? Is this what Buffalo sports have done to you? :p