GASabresIUFAN

That loyalty is part of the problem. If KO would rather play out the string than try to win, I think that's a huge indictment of his leadership.

He doesn't have an NTC/NMC, but I agree KA would discuss it with him before making a trade. I do think there is a market for KO. Playoff teams are looking for vets who can add some depth scoring. His recent scoring should help. I also think KO is well respected in the league and someone will want him in their locker room. However, if I were KA I'd make the move sooner than later. He needs to change the dynamic here and that would be a great start.

Appert

???? What does this mean? You would think that the youngest team in the NHL that gave their coach maximum effort last year would do the same this year. What changed? The coaches are the same. The majority of the roster is the same (They brought back all the same forwards, all the same goalies, and 6/8 of the same D). All they did was add two veteran D and an 18-year-old rookie forward who plays hard every shift. The only real change is that all the big contracts. Cozens, Power, TNT, and Dahlin now all have big $ and the only one making an effort to earn those $ is Dahlin. As to who is going to make the changes, it's going to be KA until TP fires him, which sadly I don't see happening this season or even next. KA is TP's yes man.

There have been 4 players all season who have played with effort every night. Their names are Dahlin, Mittelstadt, Benson and Peterka. Injuries have slowed a few key guys (TNT, Cozens and Tuch), but their efforts have been lacking many nights when they are in the lineup. Outside Dahlin, the other D have been consistently inconsistent. It's time to make a change in the leadership. Time to trade KO and let him hook up with a team heading to the playoffs. It's also now time to make this Dahlin's team. He is the team's best player, most consistent contributor, and toughest competitor.

It's an age thing.

Did Robinson play last night?

Of course, I care about the team. I wouldn't post here otherwise. Maybe the better question is whether someone is going to take a more passive approach to the team going forward until they actually make an effort to justify our interest. Most fans are completely fed up with the entire organization from the owner to the players and they should be fed up. What makes this so strange is DG had them playing hard nearly every game last season win or lose. They were entertaining, fun to watch, and had a never-say-die attitude. This season, with basically the same coaches and personnel, they play like they are going through the motions and collecting their checks. Why? I watched the KO 1000 game video and it struck me that KO has been focused on creating a family atmosphere inside the Sabres locker room and that has created a very unified bunch. One thing lacking in the video was any emphasis on winning on a KO lead team. Sure it was a hype video, but that struck me as odd. Family atmosphere is great. The unified locker room is also great. No accountability for not winning, not so great and I think this is where the franchise is. As I wrote previously, this season is done from a playoff perspective. It's time for KA to make serious changes. Until that's done, I'll keep an eye on the score, maybe watch some highlights, but the Sabres are firmly moving to the back burner.

The real question facing this team is why they simply don’t care to put in the effort needed to win. Here you have a team coming off 3 good performances with the return of 3 key players in Mule, Tuch and UPL plus a big night for FA signee EJ against his old team, a team we beat 4-0 last time we played them. Add their coaches family situation and the team should have come flying out of the dressing room. Instead they slept for the 1st 17 minutes of the game and were consequently blown out. Given the number of flat starts and that the few times they come to play follow being embarrassed (like the 2nd period), I’m rapidly moving to the fire DG camp. Enough.

But they scored on 3 of them.

Sandman from Santa Clause 3 puts Colorado team to sleep.

Benson scores.

EJ’s return and the team can’t be bothered to make an effort. Remember this is the team UPL shutout. Of course they were going to make an effort.

Lol. What a friggin train wreck. Terrible.

Oh look. Santa Clause 3 is on Freeform.

When do the refs give the Sabres a standing 8 count? They look out of their feet.

Interference by McKinnon on Clifton. No call of course.

Flat start as usual. Way to coach them up Donnie.

Nice save, but what a terrible pass by Joki.

Only thing I’d say differently is that the goal should have been better players than KO, Z and Robinson.

I actually agree with some of the above. In the last 9 or so games Casey has struggled with carrying the weight of an under-performing team. The biggest change is that he has been looking for his shot more. In his first 20 games, Casey had 25 total shots. He has taken 21 in the last 9. It's resulted in 3 goals over the 9 games, but I think it's taken away some of his playmaking (0 assists in his last 7 games), which is his highest and best use. The shocking thing is Casey is tied for the forward lead in points with 22 and has only 3 pts (all assists) on the PP this season. JJP, who has 21 pts, also has only 3 pts on the PP (1g, 2a). Where I am going to disagree is I don't see the rash of alleged turnovers referenced above. It seems to be about the same as always or about one turnover for one takeaway. One other big change in Casey is vastly improved performance in the faceoff circle of late. Over the last 10 games, Casey has won well over 50% of his draws and was over 80% last night. I think this is a case of one of our few consistent players trying to do too much in the face of a struggling underperforming roster with little or no help from the big $ players on the roster including TNT and Cozens. DC has zero goals in his last 10 games and is -5. TNT is -7 in his last 10 with only 2 goals.

Shooting % tends to very, sometimes significantly, from year to year, but the good shooters, even in their off years are significantly above the NHL average. Take Sam Reinhart for example. Other than his 2nd NHL season, Sam has shot 12% or better every season with peaks as high as 17 and 19%. His career average is 14.7% and this season he is en fuego at 25.8%. TNT's first 3 years were all under 10%. Then he was 15.9, 15, and this season back down to 11%. Skinner is an 11% career shooter but his success has varied wildly from 6.3% to 3 seasons over 14% (high 14.9%). He also has 6 seasons under 10%. I'm not sure I'd read anything negative into DC's shooting just yet. He has been lousy this year. Maybe it's just the injuries, but it also could be the weight of expectations and a big contract on a young player. Another DC stat that pops out is his TK/GV this year vs the last couple of seasons. Last year his takeaways were nearly double his giveaways. This season his giveaways are nearly 3 times his takeaways. Something is just not right with DC this season.

Are we surprised?

It will also help him. Look what playing in the Worlds did for JJP's confidence and game. I hope we send everyone the teams want even Benson (yes I know that probably not happening).

I just thumbed through the Stillman thread and this is a better acquisition than Stillman. Why? We traded away an asset for Stillman and given our injuries, at least Robinson may have some use for a short period of time. Robinson also doesn't have the baggage of another contract year like Stillman and Bjork did. I guess you are done. 🙂 If KA was serious about winning he'd have made a move that upgrades the team. Robinson is just a band-aid over a blown rivet on the Titanic. All this move did was bridge a 4th line injury issue since all the prospects failed to make even a dent (Kulich, Rousek, Rosen or Biro). So far so good, but he will revert to the mean and Girgensons will unfortunately be back in the lineup.