JoeSchmoe

The elephant the room is that Granato's team lost 18 in a row prior to him taking the team.

He's at the age of decline, but can we sign Nick Foligno to the FA1 spot above for decent term and price? I'm thinking he could be the mentor Staal never was. Maybe his dad would talk him into taking a team friendly contract???

Skinner Eichel Reinhart FA1 Cozens Olofsson Asplund Mittelstadt Thompson Ruots Girgs Bjork Scratch:Okposo, FA2 -FA1 is a defensively responsible playmaker that can PK. -FA2 is the grit guy that gets limited starts. -Ruots and Bjork fill in on lines 1-3 for injuries -Peterka starts the year in ROC and either him or Quinn replace Girgs at the trade deadline IF ready

This is the best quote I've read since regularly visiting this site. Thanks for this. It really keeps things in perspective.

In my opinion, Granato is as good as it gets for this team. I'm curious, who you think might be better, and why? If Trotz was available, that would probably be a good answer. Besides him, I'm not sure if I know any coaches on the market with a long track record of taking a roster, and making it better. Though I don't have all the data in front of me, I'd say all of their successes have come at times when they're working with world class rosters. Maybe not... What do you think?

Do you know how many crummy Sabre teams made heroic runs in March/April only to suck again in October? I think it's different this time than all the years you're talking about. In those cases, you just saw a not too bad veteran team getting hot. In this case, you see a coach taking a long list of seemingly dead prospects, and turning them into legit NHL players in a matter of weeks... and doing so with a depleted veteran core.

And the risk of Eakin and the other washed up vets going back to getting prime minutes.

Spotted somewhere just outside Winnipeg...

If I'm Jack at home watching this I'm not going to want any part of being traded.

I was down on taking on the Swedish Chef and giving away Lazer, but if we're going to play a fast wide open style like this, Bjork was a great pick-up (so far).

But nobody wants to believe hockey players party As someone that's never done any hard drugs, but has owned a stick driven car with a bad battery, I interpret this completely differently.

I know I'm a complete minority here but I enjoy his folksy nature and his malapropisms.

Where's advanced stat guy that says we're as bad or worse under RK? I'd be hard pressed to think of a single period where we looked as put together as that. Against a lesser team, we'd be in a comfortable lead by now.

Screw the Rangers. Let's get Jack back, a decent goalie tandem, and let our growing stable of young guns beat them at their own game. It's going to be a long summer reading these boards! Is it next year yet?!??

I still like WGR, but it's not without its flaws. Everything said about Schopp not being a sports fan anymore is spot on, and next to Peters he's my least favourite of the on air talent (though I don't listen to One Bills Drive). I still find him entertaining on the non-sports stuff that seems to bug a lot of people.🤡 I'm a casual Bills fan, but I listen for about an hour a week (tops) during football season. After an hour I'm all caught up and then it's just the same thing over and over again. Another thing... When the Sabres were good and the Bills weren't, the Sabres dominated the channel. I recall most of the hosts were on the record with saying they were Sabres fans first and Bills second. If the Sabres get good again, hockey will come back.

Bulldog is still dialed right into the Sabres though.

I wonder if this is what hampered him since training camp.

Rebound control is one thing... Sprawling yourself out on the ice for a routine save is another.

Whatever I just saw from Tokarski, it can't be considered goaltending.

I was waiting for someone to mention this as this is a relatively new development, but the point remains the same.

And it's as I said before... The human brain can beat a supercomputer in chess. Some things are just better modeled than others. On that note, I would say baseball is much easier to model than hockey. Hockey advanced stat guy wants to be Moneyball guy, but the nature of the game makes it much less accurate of a science (or should I say art).

I know what you're trying to say. But with Granato, you'd have 25-30 games or so of real in game evidence of him turning the team around (provided the team continues to progress). With an interview, you'd have a few hours of someone talking a bunch of BS about what he can do with a bunch of players he doesn't even know.

Agreed, but lets keep in mind that: -Eichel who was figuring on 50% of all goals last year is not in the lineup -We lost an $8m free agent (albeit an underperforming one) -We have a career AHL'r in backup goal -Our defense is learning on the job after being handcuffed the last two years

McCabe being out and Irwin being in must be a large part of this. Bryson is learning on the job and Dahlin is rightly focusing on getting his offense back right now.

Q. What available coach would have done more with this shell of a roster in less time than Granato? A. There isn't one. It's a small sample size we're working with, but if the team finishes out the season playing as well as they are now, you have to give Granato the job.