GASabresIUFAN
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Posts posted by GASabresIUFAN
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Who will be the next coach of the Buffalo Sabres? How extensive will the coaching search be?
The obvious candidates are no NHL experience Seth Appert and Sabres re-tread Lindy Ruff. Are there any other serious contenders? Will TP spend on Brind’amour or someone else of that quality? During TP’s ownership we have hired re-tread with a Cup (Bylsma), NHL Rookie coaches (Housley, Granato) and one semi-experienced coach from left field (Krueger). So what’s next?
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5 minutes ago, dudacek said:
Once again, Adams unexpectedly shows he really is wiling to make the hard decisions, and is not too much in love with "his guys".
I like Donnie a lot. I like the way he treats people and I think he deserves a ton of thanks for pulling our kids out of the Krueger black hole and for developing them into NHL players.
In the end, they let him down and I hope that's the last lesson he teaches them.
This is professional sport: win or be replaced.
Hope he lands on his feet.
I think you are giving Adams more credit than he deserves. The 1st period starts made some coaching changes inevitable and the captain goes down with his ship. A bolder GM makes this decision mid season after the Sabres only won 17 of their first 41 games. The O and 1st period issues were all firmly established by then and KA did nothing.
I do wonder whether this decision was made by Adams at all. TP is on the hook for DG’s extension and all major money matters all flow through him. I also wonder if this decision happens if Ruff was still coaching in NJ. I’m now firmly in the TP wants Ruff as the next coach camp.
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How does Ellis still keep his job? His job performance was the worst on the staff.
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4 hours ago, Thorny said:
Re: your last sentence -
yes, the plan devotes one full year to the players learning each skill. 26-27 is “how to body check safely”
What year is learning to back check and learning to drive the net on offense?
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Sadly, both guys will be back.
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HDCA (775 through 81 games ytd vs 881 in 82 games last season) and SCA (1803 vs 1957 last year) are both down. This is pretty illustrative that the defense is better. Unfortunately it also proves that the defense remains poor. Our HDCA is the 6th worst in the NHL (we were 4th worst last season) and our SCA is 12th worst vs 11th last season. So while the gross numbers are better so was the entire NHL and our position relative to our peers is about the same.
The Sabres have needed improved defensive defenseman for years and KA’s response has been to add Stillman, Lyubushkin, Johnson, Clifton and Byrum; a pantheon of defensive stalwarts. Does this guy have a clue?
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We don’t have….
1. Accountability at any level of the organization
2. A winning culture
3. Good coaching
4. Any elite forwards
5. A competent GM
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We need a 3rd poll category - "Undecided"
As much as I don't think KA has a real master plan and that I believe the coaching staff needs to be replaced, I do believe with the correct tweaks, this "core" could become a playoff team.
1. Goaltending - once a black hole of failure now there is hope both short term and long-term with UPL finally developing and Levi. I do think Levi needs another year in the minors and KA should sign a veteran backup. That's not going to happen however .
2. Defense - there are some good pieces here. Dahlin, Byrum and Clifton should each anchor a pair. I like the idea of Mule combining with Clifton for a rock'em sock'em pair. I'm not sold on Power and KA needs to take advantage of Joki's best season and trade him. I'd also put Power on the market to see what is offered for him. We need atop 4 RHD.
3. Forwards - There are some really good pieces here, but they aren't meshing as we'd hoped. The whole offense took a step back with the exception of two players (JJP and Mitts) so of course our goofy ball GM traded Mitts. I believe Quinn and JJP will be our best forwards next season, just in time for their new contracts. I don't believe TNT or Cozens are elite centers. TNT is a 2 and Cozens a 3. What the Sabres really need is an elite center, which isn't happeneding unless we win the draft lottery. I like Tuch. I know people here love Benson, but all I see is a guys who keeps getting knock on his butt and off the puck coupled with a few great plays now and again. Until he is stronger on his skates and add some body mass, his production will remain 3rd/4th line level. Krebs needs to go, so do Jost, Girgensons, and Robinson, but some changes higher in the lineup are also needed to move this team forward.
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Atlanta Sabres? 🙂
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20 minutes ago, dudacek said:
That’s how Adams rolls.
I think you mean stagnates.
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9 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:
I was all over Cozens earlier in the year. I think as much as many complained about him, I can't imagine anyone doing more complaining than me (not just the scoring, but his 200 foot game). A couple months ago, I thought he turned the corner, the scoring 'kinda' came back, and his overall game got better too. But now the last 2-3 weeks, I feel he has regressed almost all the way back to earlier in the year.
I get he is only 23 years old. He had the talent to score over 30 goals as a 22 year old, so he could/might be a guy that blossoms into a 40 goals scorer when he is 25 or 26. I get that, but right now I think he hurts this team more than he helps. I posted this elsewhere the other day, but since the Sabres beat Vegas 7-2, THAT moment was the moment they were on a roll, had the best chance of getting back into the playoff race. The next few weeks were the make-or-break stretch for this team, who would step up and play well? Since that game, Cozens has 1 regular goal in 20 games (2 counting the empty netter the other night) only 4 assists in those 20 games, is a negative player too. I don't think you could come up with a worse stretch of play from a top 9 forward on your team in a crucial stretch.
(for comparison sake, Thompson has played in 19 of those 20 games, has 11 goals, 21 points and is a plus 10)
So yeah, I'm legit worried about Cozens again. I'm not going to be shocked if he gets back on track because he still is young, but he's not a good player right now. First thing I do next year if I was coaching is move him off center and get him on the wing. I know you need Centers, but right now, he's not a good one.
They should have signed Mitts and traded Cozens. Maybe Cozens has better upside, but he certainly doesn't seem to have a decent hockeyIQ
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6 hours ago, LGR4GM said:
Entirely, no. But I think there's picks in his resume that ignore analytics.
Did it? I know the goaltending improved but I've little evidence the D did.
The D metrics are improved but not enough to cover for the decrease in offense. https://naturalstattrick.com/teamtable.php
The Sabres have allowed the 7th most HDCA, last season they were 4th worst. The totals are better 881 last season vs 759 YTD, but the entire NHL is better in this category. This is about an 11.7% improvement year over year. Last season the Ducks were the worst at 1055 HDCA and 15 teams allowed 800 or more HDCA. This season SJ is the worst at 862 and only 4 teams so afar have given up 800. Scoring chances against are also improved from 11th worst to 14th worst and overall the numbers are also improved somewhat from SCA of 1957 down to 1773 YTD. That amounts to about a 7% improvement year over year.
Sadly those improvements aren't helping the team as the offense has fallen even more. HDCF are down 12.5% year over year and SCF is down 11.9%
If they keep Granato, he needs to replace his entire staff except Bales. The improvement in UPL, especially given the limited improvement of the D, is a testament to Bales coaching and UPL's work ethic.
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I'm hoping they trade this pick for an actual NHL player.
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7 minutes ago, klos1963 said:
Will the players need to wear the magic underwear?
No idea.
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31 minutes ago, OverPowerYou said:
Please tell me the team name would change
To the SLC Tabernacle? SLC Saints?
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1 hour ago, Weave said:
This is the height of hyperbole. Noone is suggesting Murray made good choices. Demonstrably, he selected poorly, both at the draft, and who he chose to trade for picks/prospects. But that wasn’t the point of conversation. The point of conversion was regarding whether Murray traded away too any picks, and it is a fact that he made more draft picks than we were granted through normal means.
Noone is arguing about the quality of Murray’s choices. Do you even context?
How is this for context? Murray acquired 1 more pick then he traded away, but downgraded the quality.
From 1/2014 to 4/2017 - Murray acquired 14 draft picks (1 1st, 5 2nds, 6 3rds, a 5th and a 7th) and traded away 13 (2 1sts, 6 2nds, 4 3rds and a 5th). However, he downgraded the quality of the draft picks. He acquired 6 premium picks (1st & 2nd rd picks) and traded way 8 premium picks. (a net -2 Premium picks for those counting at home).
Did he make more picks that we were allocated? Yes, but Regier had already acquired 5 premium picks for the 2014 & 2015 drafts (and traded away a 4th rd pick) before TM was hired. So while TM made 25 picks, the net for over the allotment is really from Regier.
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3 hours ago, thewookie1 said:
Murray will always be known as an overspender, regardless of the facts due to his tendency to throw assets at particular players he wanted to get. For instance, trading 2 2nds for Fasching and Deslauries was very unlikely to pan out. 1 very raw player and a guy switching from D to F. There was potential there but we already had and continued to bring back Bailey and Baptiste which created a logjam in Rochester which was in dire need of a center. The other major example was the Evander Kane and Bogosian deal seeing as he traded two NHLers, a 1st and then some for an injured head case who was literally being shopped around and a disappointing injury riddled defenseman + a throwaway goalie. Effectively it felt like they should of been able to get Bogosian for Myers straight up and that they traded a King’s ransom for a guy WPG wanted to be rid of.
Don't try to argue with the TM apologists. It's just not worth the effort.
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1 hour ago, Weave said:
but he demonstrably did not squander draft picks.
Yes he did. Compare the quality of his draft picks to Jbot and KA. He drafted horribly. How many top 3 round busts did he draft? Nylander, Cornel, Asplund, Guhle, Pu, Fitzgerald, Johansson, Martin, and Karabacek. In fact, his best top 3 round pick after Eichel & Reinhart is Lemieux and he said he wanted out before he even got here. TM’s only draft pick on the roster is VO and he is in the pressbox most nights.
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3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:
No offense to PA or Hoppe but there's no source or even suggestion of how or why Hoppe thinks that other than the Sabres were bad this year. Just wish there was more meat here because I don't believe it. Terry seems content to do nothing.
His headline said expect firings, but made no reference to actual possible changes. He outlined what went wrong and probably used messages on this board as the reference for what went wrong. Truthfully there is better insight on this board then in that article. In your should we keep Granato thread, we do a better job of outlining who should be fired and why.
Personally I'd start by firing Howdy Doody.
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This team was eliminated from playoff contention on October 12, 2003 with a 5-1 loss to the NYR. It just took another 77 games for the math to catchup to the eye test.
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Come on guys, they won the 1st period.
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Other than the goalie coach, no member of this coaching staff should return next season.
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No amount of staying the course will change the complacent culture permeating this failed organization.
We need substantive change. We need accountably at all levels of the organization.
We need leaders in the clubhouse who will install a winning attitude in the players and accept nothing less. To his credit KA thought Clifton and Johnson might help in that area, but to truly help in that area the player(s) need to be making significant contributions on the ice as well as in the locker-room. Sadly, both UFAs failed on the ice, so no one cared what they said off the ice. Think Teppo and Drury for good examples. Finding a top 9 center who plays significant minutes and has a Cup or two would help.
We need a stronger coach. One that will bench star players when they don't give 100% each shift or call out the entire team when they fail to play hard from the opening puck drop again and again. We also need better assist coaches. We need a special teams coach and a forward coach who know what the hell their doing.
We need a better GM or a team President who will fire the current GM if the team struggles out of the gate next season. To be honest, I'm sick of our Howdy Doody GM and his lame excuses for being bad at his job. The organization needs someone who knows how to build a championship roster as KA has not a clue.
We also need to hear from the darn owner. He needs to come out and say that the team isn't living up to the standard he expects and if this continues next season heads will roll.
The off-season should be marked with two words: "Accountability & Winning." No more with the plan and patient development.
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Bo knows hockey
In his last 11 games he has 0 goals, 1 assist and is -6. I guess the Sabres no accountability culture has already won him over.
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The players that improved, who got better this season?
in The Aud Club
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Quinn should not be on his list. Yes his production fell in total numbers, but that was due only to injury. He actually increased his goal and pts/gp. His goals per game went from .187 to .333 and his pts per game went from .493 to .7. He was on pace for a 27g 57 pt season.