JoeSchmoe

This is Dahlin all year in his own end. Low effort, too cool to care play.

More nonchalant play from Dahlin in his own end almost costs us.

When mentioning Krebs and Cozens, I'm talking effort, not skill. That is clear- no embarrassment here. Power was soft in Michigan- that was well known when we drafted him. As I mentioned before, Craig Rivet ripped him a new one a few weeks back for his weak defensive play. I don't agree with a lot of what Rivet says, but when it comes to analyzing the defensive play of a young prospect, you or I would be foolish to think we'd know more than he does.

What I'm saying Cozens and Krebs are at least trying. Sure they're young as you say, but with age and strength respect will come. All Power has shown us is that he wants to be a Makar, with a fraction of the skill. If he was true to himself, and showed a little heart, he could be much more effective given the tools (i.e. size) he was born with.

There are a lot of young kids that come in with a chip on their shoulder. Look at Cozens and Krebs. They know it's an honour to play in the league, and will do whatever it takes to help their team win. Power has 6min in penalties. If you're bringing everything to the table as a defender and you're playing the minutes he does, you're going to inadvertently get more time in the box just by being aggressive on pucks... Especially during size mismatches.

I put a celebrity on the same footing as anyone I don't know personally. I put a Sabrespacer or anyone I remotely know / interact with ahead of a celebrity.

I floated it out there to see who'd agree with me, as I really don't understand celebrity worship. My view is to give celebrity's private lives the same regard as anyone else I don't know personally (the same regard I'd expect from them). As people, I wish them the very best, but whatever happens outside the arena is their business. If a Sabrespacer has a baby or life event... I'll give that a lot more of my attention. We're a community here (albeit a highly dysfunctional one!), and hopefully one day I hope to meet up with some of you guys.

Who said anything about Tage Thompson checking? Just don't want to see him playing half effort. Tonight was a step forward.

I think I'm in the total minority here, and I've been known to be quite the cynic, but I care about Tage Thompson having a baby just as much as I'd expect him to care about me having a baby. Not a lot. Same goes for any sports star or celebrity. As a human, I wish him and his family all the best, but at the end of the day all I really only want is him putting pucks in nets for the Sabres. (Time to start scoring Tage 🤑).

I agree 100% with this, but I got roasted in another thread for mentioning something similar. It did look like he had a little extra jam to his game today though.

I said it before but he's too cool to try. If he can't do it making it look easy, he doesn't want to do it.

An hour later, your prophecy appears to be fulfilled. I'm surprised this type of thing doesn't happen more often. It's not uncommon for people to get hammered by a cold or flu every couple years or so. I can think back to some of the doozies I've had over the years and there'd be no way I could coach an NHL team in that condition.

I agree because they're my favourite team.

I wouldn't say inconsequential... But I would say he gets the toughest matchups which keeps him lower. For what it's worth, he was tops on the team last year. Seeing Clague near the top last year has me wondering how he's doing in Rochester? I don't remember hating him last year. Part of me wonders if he's been typecast as an AHL guy but might silently have more worth than a Clifton. We could use a guy that makes the good, safe plays, even if he's otherwise unremarkable.

What are you using for your metrics? Moneypuck has Dahlin last in expected goal % among our non-trainwreck defenseman (i.e. Clifton and EJ)

Seems like Sabremetrix just jumped in with some additional shade on Dahlin. Again, the talent is there. The urgency isn't, especially coming out of his own end.

I don't agree with this tweet, mostly because I'm really not a fan of Power's play this year... But this is our there. I don't think he's accounting for matchups.

23-24 he hasn't looked much different post-injury as pre-injury. Last year he was a big part of this team leading the league in scoring for a large part of the season. He's currently at 19pts in 26 games. That drop-off in offense is a killer. It'd be one thing if he was trying and failing... But it seems he's not even attempting those plays where all 6'6" of him would blow around (and through) defenses. What happened to his highlight reel hands? The shot's still there, but he doesn't seem to have the will to get in the positions to get it off as much. Among many, many faults on this year's team, his drop off in play has hurt us most.

Last year at this point he was in the conversation for MVP. Where would he be in MVP voting now?

He's been pretty darn lackadaisical on the breakout all year and PP zone entries have been a nightmare. His defense was for sure better last year. Getting sucked in behind the net on the PK was pretty Sunday League. I didn't say he was bad because he's still our best player but he's playing pretty uninspired hockey.

Here's my ranking. It's almost like everything that could go wrong did. The only bright spots were Mittelstadt, Peterka, and Benson. Skinner gets a conditional pass as well, since his linemates appear to have packed it in. 1. Thompson's a lot worse and seems disinterested 2. Our 5 and 6 D are a lot worse 3. KA didn't get a #1 goaltender, and kept Comrie and UPL on the roster 4. Cozens is a lot worse 5. Tuch is worse 6. Samuelson is worse 7. Dahlin's effort is suspect most nights 8. Power hasn't improved at all, especially defensively 9. Quinn has been hurt 10. Krebs is likely not an NHL of any significance but still plays a lot 11. Granato won't play Ryan Johnson despite him being at worst our #5 D. 12. VO and our backlog of offense prospects failed to get moved for defensive help. 13. We still give a roster spot to brain-dead ZG. 14. Big guys like Greenway, Robinson, and Power play like 🐱

What do you see in his skillset that leads you to think this? Are you sure you're not being fooled by his draft position or his non-stop cheating on D for offense?

What's Girardi doing?

He doesn't appear to care this year either. Last year he was all heart. What happened?!?!

Dahlin doesn't try. Yes, he's our best player and we have no one to replace him, but I'm running 5 F's next PP.