erickompositör72

What you're doing is like seeing half of the puzzle pieces put together, and then complaining the picture doesn't look good. You haven't seen how Ralph is going to match the lines up. You haven't seen how these linemates feed off one another. Yet you're so convinced? Skinner did very well on the 2nd line with Sobotka. I'm sure he can play fine with Sheahan, against more favorable matchups.

Last year, every team focused on the Eichel line to shut us down. This year, I think teams won't be able to shut that line down, no matter how hard they try. Also, our second line can now be lethal, as well. Which line do you all think will benefit the most from matchups?

And they were on fire. I watched all September '19 highlights the other day.

It's because this ad nauseam argument, without actual empirical evidence (stats of Skinner in an actual game with these actual lines) made by people who haven't even seen these lines practice, gets tiresome.

Yes, and what I meant was, let's see if this fails or succeeds before flipping out.

That's not actually the argument I'm making. I'm saying that Ralph has an idea of what he wants to do, and is assembling lines to try to accomplish that. They might not work, in which case, he will 1) not adapt, and create more outrage on this forum, or 2) adjust things to bring out the best of the players, without compromising his system. Your argument is that his dislike of Skinner is prompting to intentionally sabotage the team.

Many, including Ralph, I'm sure, would take extreme issue with this characterization.

So the whole team should just be designed around Jeff Skinner? I think this shows why Krueger is taking the approach he is taking.

It's amazing how so many people know with certainty how Skinner's line will perform in game situations—without having ever seen his line together in a game, or even in a practice, for that matter.

If this coach/GM duo was able to create this top 6, I'm confident they'll be able to figure out the bottom 6. I just feel like the focus on the bottom 6 is like winning the lottery but only mentioning/complaining about how you have to pay taxes on it.

Somehow, half the forum seems to find the bottom 6 more interesting than any of this, which is bizarre to me.

Just for some historical context: Was the word that JBott didn't want to give Skinner that big of a contract, but Terry insisted?

Ah, OK. But they took off under Krueger! right?

Wasn't everyone pessimistic about Girgensons, Larsson, and Okposo, in general, last year? Yet Krueger found them to have magic together? Krueger will get the lines right, and we will have a great team.

To the bolded: true, but we need that line to be a good 3rd line, not a good 2nd line

Let me remind everyone that Skinner - Johansson - Sobotka was a very productive second line last year, until Sobotka got injured. Good enough to get us to #1 in the standings for a bit.

Maybe Eichel/Hall work something out where Hall signs a team-friendly contract and Eichel picks up all the dinner tabs

This is an oversimplification, but generally, a weak bottom 6 and/or goaltending are generally exposed in the playoffs. Teams with a strong top 6 & defense corps (like the Sabres) generally make the playoffs. The variable here may be the strength of our division, as others keep mentioning.

Am I incorrect about you being similarly doom & gloom about the Bills a season or two ago? If so, I hope your judgment of the Sabres is consistent with that 😛

By "might work," did you mean, might be one of the best top 6s in the league? Yeah, that might work 😉

It was alluded to before, but I think it's important to point out that Skinner-type players are "streaky" because so many of their chances are based on good/bad bounces. Someone mentioned he did create many chances last year and didn't get the right bounces, etc. Understandably, every coach wishes you could be more like Eichel (or even Reinhart) than Skinner. But Skinner is one of the best in league at what he does, and I really think last year he was mostly just unlucky. Predicting a big bounce-back for Skinner this season (or, at least- what's the term- "regression to the mean"- but in this case, "progression," rather than "regression")

Exactly. Let's see how Skinner performs with favorable matchups. The top two lines may not need any more help.

Skinner was lighting it up early last year playing with Johansson and Sobotka. I think there is a potential for a line to be constructed outside the top 2 where he succeeds.

This x1000 And that is not to say anyone overrated Larsson on this forum. He was fantastic at what he did. What some people seem to miss is that you can change the style of that line to fit the players on it, and have it be just as effective as the GLO line, but in a different way. Another take on Mittelstadt. How would everyone feel if he kept developing his sense of "defensive responsibility," and became a reliable two-way 3C, who could be depended on to not give up chances to the other team? And who had occasional flashes of putting the puck in the net? I can see he growing into this role very well.