matter2003

GMTM basically trashed Bylsma without trashing him..."I think he should spend a little less time worrying about the other team and maybe a little more time with a coffee in his hand walking through the locker room getting to know the players more". That is about as damning a thing to say as you possibly could about a coach. No matter what you want to believe, coaching and management, in general, is about PEOPLE. If you cannot build some type of relationships with the people you manage, the chances of you being able to succeed with them are very slim. It's obvious the players didn't have much of a relationship with him, and when you don't have much of a relationship with them, it's a lot easier to simply put in the "minimum" amount of effort. To tune him out. To not go to the wall for him. To just shrug your shoulders and say "Well, today just isn't our day" than to stand and fight when things go bad. People want to think this type of thing doesn't matter but it does...a LOT more than most people realize. This is why great managers and leaders can take over a company and get phenomenal results with 95% of the SAME people the previous manager had who got crappy results. It's about knowing your people, holding them accountable, putting them in a position to succeed, believing in them when maybe they don't believe in themselves and letting them know you care about them not only as players but also as human beings...you showcase strengths and hide weaknesses, as you work on improving their weaknesses. The same exact thing happened in Pittsburgh with Bylsma as it is here and if he cannot build some type of relationships with his players it's pretty obvious why. You cannot be an effective leader when your employees think you don't care about them and they don't know or understand what you want from them. If this is true, there are a lot of frustrated players in that dressing room.

GMTM basically trashed Bylsma without trashing him..."I think you should spend a little less time worrying about the other team and maybe a little more time with a coffee in your hand walking through the locker room getting to know your players more". That is about as damning a thing to say as you possibly could about a coach. No matter what you want to believe, coaching and management, in general, is about PEOPLE. If you cannot build some type of relationships with the people you manage, the chances of you being able to succeed with them are very slim. It's obvious the players didn't have much of a relationship with him, and when you don't have much of a relationship with them, it's a lot easier to simply put in the "minimum" amount of effort. To tune him out. To not go to the wall for him. People want to think this type of thing doesn't matter but it does...a LOT more than most people realize. This is why great managers and leaders can take over a company and get phenomenal results with 95% of the SAME people the previous manager had who got crappy results. It's about knowing your people, holding them accountable, putting them in a position to succeed, believing in them when maybe they don't believe in themselves and letting them know you care about them not only as players but also as human beings...you showcase strengths and hide weaknesses, as you work on improving their weaknesses. The same exact thing happened in Pittsburgh with Bylsma as it is here and if he cannot build some type of relationships with his players it's pretty obvious why. You cannot be an effective leader when your employees think you don't care about them and they don't know or understand what you want from them. If this is true, there are a lot of frustrated players in that dressing room.

By far my most popular thread I've ever started on any message board...this just seems to have a life of its own, lol I dunno..Lombardi kept allowing the Kings to get older by bringing in veterans even when it was clear to everyone else that team needed to get younger... He basically allowed them to "fade to black" by not bringing in younger talent...the older vets just kept aging until they could no longer maintain...

I'm wondeesing if he might even be calling out Reinhart...I was mostly unimpressed by his progress this year...5 on 5 he did next to nothing Right...so they can put their employees on board. What the hell other industry would sacrifice customers for their employees after the customer has paid that wants to stay in business? They might be "right" but "right" doesn't always mean correct. Just because you can legally do something didn't mean you aren't committing "business suicide" by doing it.

I think the roster needs some work but I don't think it "sucks" by any stretch of the imagination. Honestly I don't think it's much worse if at all worse than Toronto, Boston or Ottawa. It's the coach pulling the strings who isn't getting the most of the players on it or the players don't want to play for him. Either way, regardless of whose fault it is, he is a dead man walking, no matter how long he is here. This team is simply uninspired by him, and that is a death knell for any coach

There is a lot wrong. Young teams on the rise should not take a step backwards in development and results in the second year...there should be improvement

I want to know all this supposed "Veteran Leadership" from Gionta, Gorges and O'Reilly how this team continues to put forth efforts like last night?? It's happened far, far too often this year. Whether it's a period, two periods or the whole game, almost every game has featured a long stretch of play from this team where the appear completely disinterested in playing hockey and seems to be going through the motions or mailing it in. Something doesn't add up to me. If we had such good leadership this would have happened once or twice in the beginning of the season and they would have been all over the guys Chris Drury style. Now THAT was a leader. It's unacceptable and it starts at the top...this dude HAS to go. They've said it all season long. At some point you've got to stop talking about it and start doing. Put up or shut up. No this team worked hard in spurts. One period they play well, the next period they suck. Then they turn it on for 5 minutes and score 3 goals. It's been going on all year. And it's not good enough, not by a long shot. No reason this team couldn't be challenging for the last playoff spot...do we really think Boston has that good of a team? That Ottawa has that good of a team?? We smoked Ottawa this year...the only divisional team we seemed to play well against.

How does his team with all its supposed "Veteran Leadership" mail it in so often?? Gionta, Gorges, O'Reilly are all supposed to be top notch leaders, but yet this keeps happening?? That's not acceptable...something doesn't add up to me. There is no way possible this can be true and the effort we saw last night continues to happen in half their games for at least a period or two...

If anyone thought this team didn't mail in the rest of the season after the last game, be assured now that they have...just a disgusting performance...if there were more Sabres fans there, maybe they'd hear the boos instead of cheers...

Nice to see the guys are so ready to play tonight... Getting outshot 19-3? Are you kidding me? Are they literally trying to have Bylsma get fired at the end of this game?

There has really been no improvement this year...it's been stagnant. When you have a young, talented team and you are stagnant already after only a year, there is a serious, serious problem somewhere.

Why don't more right handed players shoot "left handed"? The first time I picked up a hockey stick, that's what felt natural to me, and so I have always shot "lefty". People used to ask if I was left handed because of it all the time. I told them no I'm right handed and they'd ask me why I was shooting the wrong way. I tried doing it the other way but it just feels weird. Ended up being known for a wicked wrist shot that was both hard and accurate back in the day. Was it because I was shooting lefty? I dunno, but I've always wondered why more right handed players don't do it.... Also...how do more players not end up with serious injuries from blocking pucks?? Frozen rubber is pretty damn hard and I'm sure it hurts like hell if it hits you in an unprotected area...

Uh no it hasn't. Stop making things up to fit your narrative.

And Bellichick...don't forget he basically created the blueprint for how to stop those teams, or at least slow them down.

Had no idea when I started this thread a few months ago, it would grow to become one of the larger threads and larger than some threads that have been going for 3 or 4 years now... Guess Bylsma really is a polarizing figure here, lol.

He makes it look effortless...guys look like they are stuck in the mud skating skating next to him and are quickly behind him.

No, Ennis is in Tim Connolly territory....a player who was on the cusp of becoming a star that got a very bad concussion and never was anything close to the same player again. Ennis was a first round pick. He was doing what he was supposed to do, if that....he has never had more than 49 points in a season...that constitures "over producing" as a first round pick these days??

He definitely contributed greatly to the no D being played

McGinn didn't play well above what he was capable of...the dude has been a 17-23 goal scorer most of his career. Points sometimes are simply the result of more ice time...someone has to get them after all...if you pass the puck to someone who passes to someone who makes a play, you didn't really have much to do with it, but you get a secondary assist. And who the hell is Cy Hsgn?

Alex Mogilny when he scored 77 goals? Probably could have had 100 if he was better on breakaways...his only move was slipping it backhand through the 5 hole...

If what they do is considered "help", I'd hate to see what hurting would be... After 70 games of: Leaving guys wide open in the slot like they are ghosts and just appeared there out of thin air.... Not paying attention to 3rd men in cruising down a wide open slot to get great scoring chances period after period... Getting peppered with the most shots per game in the NHL... Yeah...so much "help" they give him. What help are you talking about? The kind where they help dive on a loose puck in the slot because they didn't bother covering anyone so the other team gets 4 or 5 whacks at the puck? This might be one of the dumbest teams I've ever seen...they have literally not improved at all over the entire season and still allow the same things to happen over and over now as they did in game 1. With teammates like that, who needs opponents??

This guy gets hung out to dry night after night by this crappy D who 70 games into the season still hasn't learned how to do fundamental things you learn in major-junior hockey like cover wide open guys in the slot or pick up a basic 3rd man trailing into the zone without allowing him to get the puck in stride and cruise down the slot for great chances period after period. He damn well right has earned the ability to speak up. He bails their @sses out time after time and he deserves better than this garbage. He gets to watch this team play fundamentally crap hockey game after game and decide they want to play for 10 minutes a night or 20 minutes a night and is just supposed to keep his mouth shut?? Gets used as target practice because of it, facing the most shots in the NHL?? F that. Call these mofo's out. Either they can get their @ss in gear or they can get the hell out of here. I've had enough watching this lackadaisical BS that these guys think passes as professional hockey...half the time they look like they are more interested in figure skating out there. The bigger concern I have is this has been a problem for at least this whole season if not longer, to a man they talk about how it's unacceptable and how it's a problem, but yet it never improves. So either they just don't care, or Bylsma isn't holding anyone accountable. Start sitting people and docking their ice time and that message will get through really quick.

Fleury is not a great player...he is average at best. Who cares if he is a #1 pick, he definitely hasn't lived up to it.

This team is brutal to watch right now

This team fvcking sucks