DarthEbriate

Exactly. The best coaches adapt to what they have available. The best players make the best coaches look better. But the best coach can take a bunch of players and get a team out of them.

Wayne and I have had a lot of good discussions. He’s working on the things that we need and he’s really positive about it. But in the meantime I think a game up above the ice will help him see what we’re trying to do and refocus.

And if you’re going to go defense/suppression as your primary mode then you need to become a counter-transition team. The isles are good at this. The Hasek-Sabres were the poster child for this. And that means you need to look like you have a clue what you’re doing when you get a 2-on-1. And you need to get the puck and explode up ice because that is your primary form of offense. Ullmark makes a save... full attack!

Sure. But McJesus would be miserable in this particular Sabres outfit, too.

Any coach, even a retread, that would get these players to look like a real hockey team that plays at NHL speed regardless of who is on the ice, and has some shred of battle consistently from game to game (not even shift to shift)... and maybe even gets average play out of the likes of Hall, Eichel, Eakin, and Montour and Joker would make this team amazingly better. And... respectable. Goaltending could still sink them. But at least they could look like an NHL team that plays for each other and has each other’s back.

Well... he was a super small goalie in a world where pad size and positioning is key. He was what he was, a capable backup who can get hot, if you have a true #1. He’d be better than Hutton!! But he wasn’t going to become a steady .916+ guy if you played him more than 15 games a season.

Yeah. This team is flat and lost. And has been since December of last season. Any self-respecting owner/GM fires their coach after this much garbage. The coach has lost the team. That is rule number one for making a coaching change.

Enroth got rolled into the tank. And then he got traded when he stole wins during the official McEichel season.

It’s very possible Skinner is rebelling as best he can. But he also isn’t saying anything until he waives his NMC. Reinhart. Or someone like Montour who’s been elsewhere. Okposo. One of those guys saying “get me out of here” would be doing something.

HCRK won’t do it. They’re all about the veterans and they’re going to keep Hutton as the #1 while Ullmark is out unless GM Sheevyn makes a move for a goalie. Maybe JJ gets a shutout and wins some extra starts, but I don’t see it happening unless he’s demonstrably better in games and practice. And if the team in front of him is going to have the breakdowns they did today he’s not going to have a chance to look good or build any confidence.

True, but Miller got to go back to Rochester to hone his craft over multiple seasons after that first taste of the bigs. Johansson has been languishing on the taxi squad and playing only in practices this season. He’s not played a game in nearly a year.

The owners should, but they won't. There is no sense of urgency anymore. Disobedience (like JBott refusing to axe everyone) or financial-based decisions (like the decision to axe the AHL staff), sure... but until RK stands up to them or offends them in a way they don't like, he's going to be the guy. I seriously wonder why the players aren't more upset. Why isn't anyone lashing out in some capacity? What do they have to fear? They'll get traded? That the word of being a malcontent in this mess will somehow haunt them? Heck, if I'm a GM on another team I see capitulation and acceptance and indifference to what's happening here as a reason not to sign anyone from this spot. Especially the established veterans, Staal, Hall, Eakin, heck, they might all be washed up, but they could still get traded to a contender for the playoffs. Ristolainen and Reinhart should be absolutely begging to get out of here while they still have value on the market. Their fear has not led to hate... but it has led to suffering.

That's Jabba-tongue levels of gross.

This is just it. The core: Eichel, Reinhart, Ristolainen, Girgensons, McCabe haven't played an intense, do-or-die, playoff game in 6+ years. They don't know how any more (by any more I'm including WJs, Olympics, etc.). It takes a postseason of two for young teams to "figure out how to win in the playoffs". This core is now objectively worse than the core that couldn't win in the playoffs that the owners wanted to blow up for McDavid in the first place. Individually, they're good players, sure. But they don't know what playing hard means anymore. We've seen it time and time over the entirety of their careers. Good teams will occasionally "turn it on" against us. We'll score a goal, and then Boston will light us up for the next 10 minutes, get the lead back, and push us around. And we have no answer. Because our players don't know how to do that. They've never had the opportunity to learn how to, or gain the experience of pushing back even harder, like the playoffs brings out in the game.

He'd get a solid return, too. That shot is worth 15 goals on the PP minimum every season. It's not a bad contract, and you put him on a 3rd or even the 4th line where he belongs. Olofsson is going to give a good effort as a forechecker, but he's not a possession or go to the corners guy and so you use him accordingly. Here and now, Olofsson should be on a limited-5-on-5 line of specialists. Olofsson (PP1), Mitts (PP2, SO specialist) or Eakin (PK), and Rieder (PK). They're only going to get 8 minutes at night 5 on 5, if that, and yes --- they could get caved if they get caught in their own end, but they could turn the puck up-ice fast for an occasional transition goal. More importantly, they each have a really important role on the special teams.

We've been really bad for a long time. A long time.

The capfriendly buyout calculator on Skinner is brutal. He is a Jedi cap crusher, like Ehrhoff's front-loaded contract, Moulson, and Okposo before he. This team desperately needs someone with passion. Or craziness. They need either a Kaleta or Foligno, or... someone who's a total a-hole like Avery that they're ashamed of, but at least wakes them up.

Yup. Rematch tomorrow midday... Sabres send no message at the end of the game, no hit, no real threat at a goal. No energy whatsoever.

We beat this team 6-1???? Never tell me the odds.

So you're saying TPeg is gonna send the Pegula-copter out to get Brian Elliott for 6 x 6? Anything it takes!

A couple games ago the Sabres were up 3-0 in the third and the Devils were desperate to break up the shootout and try to make a game of it. We have generated maybe one decent shot? Montour had a short handed opportunity to take a shot or pass to the slot... passed it back to the trailer outside of the zone. Yay -- you killed a penalty. You're down by 3 goals with under 7 minutes to play. Time to switch up the philosophy.

Eakin... gotta get that one on net post, there.

Skinner attempts to solve the Hutton issue himself.

Three arbitrary and unrelated thoughts: We are not responding well to these reverse jerseys (unlike say last season where we played well in the 50th jerseys) We aren't playing well in the morning/midday game like we normally do. The Flyers are not the NJ Devils.

Let's see JJ. At least to wake up the team in front of him. And let Ristolainen rest some in the 3rd.