PerreaultForever

I was thinking today that if we do want to swap some talent for grit and toughness Utah might be the best team to talk to. They will want a little more offensive flash for their new fan base.

Now that Ruff has been hired as coach, the next step is to name Tuch as captain. Why? Because he already has a relationship with and a love for his coach and thus is the best possible bridge between players and coach, which is what a captain has to be.

I do think it's now playoffs or bust for Adams next season. I could even see a scenario where, should it fail badly, Adams gets fired and Ruff stays in an interim capacity where he eventually moves into an upper advisory role after helping handle a transition to a new GM and possibly new coach. But I am hoping we never find out and are talking playoffs this time next year instead. Damn, @Brawndo is always beating me to Sabres news, now he's beating me to my own thoughts!

Start at 4:39

The money doesn't matter. We can't afford any sort of negative division at this moment. Ruff has to be allowed complete control or this will fail miserably.

Possibly. or the KHL. I think he might get a 1-2 year deal out of San Jose or Chicago though. Both teams are in full rebuild and might want a placeholder for some of their draft choices.

It's hilarious to me that I'm all too often accused of being too negative and yet I'm extremely positive about this hire. For all you Ruff haters I guess it's time for me to say: You're not real Sabres fans.

Peca, Peca, Peca..................

lol, Bruins fans going crazy with Ullmark hate (even though he actually played well) and screaming for Montgomery to be fired for not starting Swayman. Those guys mood swing like crazy. Guess that comes from high expectations. Canes comeback makes them look destined. Only saw the end but what an end it was. Now on to Vegas and oh look Stone's playing.................

I thought so. I remember this all from my youth. My father was an amateur boxer so I got schooled on all the boxing stuff early on. Everything from the "Brown Bomber" and Max Schmeling and then Ali and all the history. Boxing was a different kind of thing back then. Anyway, Winnipeg will give up a lot of shots every game against Colorado but it's kind of by design. Ullmark in for Boston, this is a new thing. Time to watch.

It's possible it pre-dates him but not to my knowledge. He was pretty much the first heavy weight to fight the way he did with speed and motion, avoiding punches and thus wearing down his opponent. He never really had a (comparatively) heavy punch and he brought a light weight style to the heavy weight division. It was revolutionary at the time and his rope-a-dope style was part of it.

safe maybe, desperation I don't think so.

It was Ali. I think when he was still Cassius Clay.

I'm perfectly fine with this. Kind of expected it. It's good for marketing. It's good for the history. It's good for an idea (even if it's fake) of turning the page and returning to glory. Ruff is a proven commodity who does know what he's doing and if these players don't play for him I doubt they play for anybody. Granato's extension came before Ruff's firing in NJ correct? If so I have to wonder if they didn't start thinking about Ruff the second he was free. About the extensive search, I look at it more positively. Bring in the coach NOW. Let him have a voice on the roster and who he wants or who he thinks might not be worth keeping. Have him here before free agency and before the draft. Let him start talking to players and telling them what he expects before they head off to Sweden or Germany or wherever. Get it started before the summer starts. I think this is smart. My only wish/concern is that I would hope Lindy can bring in his own assistants rather than sticking with Adam's guys. Maybe that'll still happen. Otherwise, I feel good about this.

I did watch it. Not as closely as I watch the Bruins but I saw the whole game. Yup, lots of shots, but not a huge difference in actual dangerous scoring chances imo. It was a classic offensive team vs. defensive team match up. Rope a dope if you are old enough to remember the analogy.

Well then that means he's the perfect choice. F'em with what they want. Only thing that matters is what they need.

I'm not burying him on PP2. You've seem to have an idea that PP1 should be the threat and PP2 is just what? prayer? I'm thinking you want TWO solid units that can give you a full 2 minutes plus threat. With this roster my PP1 is Dahlin, Thompson, Tuch, Benson, Peterka (this is assuming Benson keeps improving and doesn't have a sophomore slump) PP2 is Power, Byram, Quinn, Greenway, Cozens Tuch and Greenway are net front. Benson and Cozens play the bumper. Quinn and Thompson are the snipers, the rest are on the points. (if you notice, no Skinner)

I'm fine with a coach trying Quinn but I'd want to see what he does at the NHL level before proclaiming him the savior. I really think one of the biggest problems for this (and many things) comes down to coaching and how they've set this team up and built it. All the emphasis has and is on developing these young players and it's not about winning hockey games in the NHL. All this development is supposed to take place in the AHL and some in practice (and part of the job of assistants is to work one on one with players on things they need to improve) but the head coach should be working on winning games, making adjustments, game planning, and in game decisions. You need to have scouted the oppositions PK and adjust your PP to exploit their weaknesses. We are far from a level where we can try to just dictate the game.

Benson should become the bumper guy. I'd want a bigger body in front and Benson with more motion also entering that area when appropriate. Peterka might be able to become the point man opposite Dahlin. Quinn as the shooter on PP2 in Tage's spot.

That's part of it. His shot is a weapon, but to make it a better PP he has to do more than just wait for the shot in the same general area. We need to move people around more and Tage has to not shoot when it isn't there and also move into the net front at times and just create more motion and variability. It's not as simple as just sticking another shooter on the other side and saying okay, that's fixed. The PP has to adapt to the opposition's PK scheme. This is on the coaching and game prep, which is sorely lacking here and hopefully a new head coach will be less concerned with developing players and more concerned with game prep and game management.

Definitely comes across that way to me. I think I mentioned it in the other thread but he's a weird guy and often looks shall we say detached or not quite there. When he is engaged he's good but other times he's just floating around. Could be stoned. Could be on meds of another kind. Might just not really like hockey. But 420 enthusiast is definitely a possibility.

I could see this happening but it depends on what their ownership believes. Seattle wanted to make an immediate winning impact so they spent and had some playoffs but then they had to let a number of good pieces go and fell off but the idea of winning was implanted in their fanbase. If Utah feels they need to create hockey excitement they will be looking for some "star power" to build around. Reinhart's not that guy imo, but if that's what's available that might be what they do.

Stop relying on Dahlin so much as QB. Stop looking for the Tage shot all the time. More net front presence. More activity down low and from the bumper. Also win face offs in the O zone. Most of all though it just comes down to pace and winning the puck battles when they occur. Not enough urgency and tempo.

True. I think I remember when the Rags fired him there was talk that management felt he was too much of a players coach and Laviolette, despite his exterior demeanor, was considered more of a demanding hard ass. Tuch played for him and had good things to say about him in his exit interview so that had value for me.