PerreaultForever

This is a factor for sure. This is the stuff I'm thinking of when I've said I'm undecided on Granato yet. Good teacher but how is he with game stuff, line matching and so forth. He did okay in this one. It'll become a bigger issue if we keep rising in the standings and get into serious games with good teams.

Big goalies have that problem sometimes. They've learned to rely on their size too much and they are often worried too much about leaving holes down low. It'll come in time. He just needs to keep working on it. He needs lots of goalie coach time, wherever that can be done best 1 on 1.

No, I don't think so. Cozens has been the driving force of that line and has carried the two rookies many times. The conundrum is perhaps that he sees (and uses) the 2-way abilities of Cozens and wants him matched against the other team's top centers but that puts the 2 kids up against top players and their 2 -way game simply isn't there (yet). Cozens can lead a primary scoring line but he can't do everything at once. The odd thing for me is he seems to be stuck on the idea of turning Mitts into a 2-way player and I just don't see it. Maybe it's just for a lack of alternatives at the moment.

Exactly. That was what Bill Hajt did. Not the best D man we ever had but I'd say the most consistent and reliable.

At this point in my book Samuelsson has officially reached Bill Hajt status and is heading towards Jay McKee. We need one more just like him and the D will be all set.

lol, umm, no, they don't. There's improvement, and there is more team unity, but we have quite a way to go still to play up against physical hockey. "hooligan" that's so funny. Is it Sweet and Tender too? 🙂

Well as I said, that win impressed me more than some previous ones where they lit it up. I might seem to focus on the "rough stuff" but only because I feel it has been an area not well addressed by the Sabres. I don't want to become the Leafs plain and simple. There was progress here. Soon we will start facing first string goalies instead of back ups and teams will prep harder for us. It's the next phase as we get taken seriously. We shall see how that unfolds.

Well I actually found that win more impressive than some of the flashier earlier ones because they went up against a team that is playing a form of shut down hockey (Bylsma-like maybe) where they don't let you do what you want to do and you have to find ways to plug along and overcome it. And they did. Almost blew it, and they needed good goaltending to hold on, but they did, and that's a huge accomplishment. I think the kids learned a lot in this one even if the youngsters had to sit a fair bit when the going got tougher. There was sweat coming down some of their faces at the end. That's a huge positive in my book. Huge.

It was universally agreed that Philly was going to be a dead last or near dead last team after last year. They have botched previous drafts and squandered picks and have a depleted prospect cupboard. Nobody thought they would win at all this year. Philly fans I know were like "damn we're going to be worse than Buffalo". They were split on the hiring of Tortorella. Now, talking to them, they want Torts in charge of player movement and most think he's making a huge difference, they just fear he will still be hampered by Fletcher. It's a ridiculous and facile argument to say "Buffalo's better than Philly so Granato's better than Torts. " Just plain dumb non logic. The teams need to be compared to themselves, not each other.

No. NO. NO and a big fat NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO. The counter arguments to what I've been saying always go to these nonsensical extremes like "plow horses". Nowhere have I advocated a Murray style trade off of all our prospects and resources for some old tired vets. It's about plugging holes and balancing the roster. Veteran contracts end and come off at the same time you need money for rising stars. You, and others arguing the same logic, always seem to ignore how low our payroll is. You put your thumb up for a has been like Okposo who brings very little right now but scoff at adding a veteran defenseman to a team relying on cast offs, KHL losers and AHL lifers. Adams botched defensive depth and goaltending. You have to keep goals out of your net as well as scoring them. There simply aren't enough "race horse" defensive prospects in the system so moving a few - A FEW - forward prospects (or later picks) to rectify that would make this team better sooner.

Highest scoring and yet out of the playoffs and not too far from the bottom. 18 points behind division leading Boston. 12 points behind the Leafs. It's only all about scoring goals in videogames. (I cut the Philly stuff cause I'm not really interested in talking about them. Totally different team and set of circumstances with a bungled upper management circle. All I will say is Torts is winning fans over from what I've heard. Fletcher is the guy they all want gone)

If you want goals and wide open offense then yes, Trotz is probably not your guy. If you want to win, he is. As for Tortorella, that's a myth. It's not at all what he's doing in Philly. Hayes being the most recent veteran to sit in the stands. The kids are the ones he's playing. They simply don't have enough of them.

I agree fully on Krebs but I also think he's not big enough and strong enough (yet) to play as edgy as he maybe should (develop into). Having some muscle to finish some of his battles would help him grow faster imo. Disagree on Mitts. I'm not a fan at this point and wish there was a better option.

So your argument is based on the two teams having exactly the same amount of talent and skill I guess. Talk about a strawman argument. Philly has virtually no talent whatsoever yet Torts has them playing hard nosed hockey and most games are very close. They are as they say, hard to play against, when they probably should be dead last in the league but whatever, I'm sure in your videogame simulation Torts teams lose. Probably not enough pixels.

Maybe that's how we differ. I do not believe in building a regular season team and then trying to turn it into a playoff team. I prefer to build a playoff team from the outset and to instill that attitude and ethic right from the start so that once they make the playoffs the league better watch out. Again I point to the Leafs as what I do NOT want to be.

Kind of. I mean I do believe in drafting your team as the main source, but not as the only source. The holes are there and we can mostly agree on what they are. They are glaringly large. I wanted a better effort to fill them rather than to be a cap floor team waiting for next year.

Is there a reason? Injuries? Goaltending slump? There's probably some issue, much like us with Samuelsson's injury and the lack of D depth for our losing streak.

Oh I know Reaves isn't ideal, but he was available for next to nothing. The minute a better option presents itself I'd move on that upgrade. Right now, if you'd added him, my bottom would be: Okposo-Jost-VO Girgs-Krebs-Reaves Mitts is the guy I'd sit, and Asplund rotates in and out like he is cause he's just kind of meh. Allows me to bench VO when he sucks hard one night.

Bigamy? You forget I'm also following the Kraken. I got a full on harem 🙂

The real thing for me that I think has been lost in recent discussions is I firmly believe Adams missed an opportunity this year. People here think I'm the resident pessimist, but if you go back to free agency and before the season I said I thought there was the possibility of a breakout season but a lot depended on whether or not Cozens matured to a high level and how the 2 rookies played. Kid line has shown that moment is right there and right now. The other key for me was filling the holes, which were 3C, goaltending, and defensive depth (I wanted 2 solid D men signed or traded for). These holes are the thing likely keeping us from the playoffs and I think it's an opportunity missed. Adam's timeline is slow and future based. imo TOO SLOW. That's my beef. Not picking up Mike Reilly for example was a spendthrift moment that tells me winning this year doesn't matter to him. So imo Adams could have and should have done more than he has. (and before anyone says Reilly sucks, he's way better than Pilut)

I don't think the team showed enough last year to warrant an extension. If this year ended with a significant improvement over last year, then yes. I don't dislike Granato. I see him as a guy you'd definitely want on your staff as an assistant to work with young players, just still not sure he's a great head coach. Who would I have hired? So that the youngsters and soft hockey fans can scoff, I'm a big fan of Torts. It would have meant a whole different team/style, but he was available and he'd have been my hire. Now? Trotz, without question. Torts or Trotz there ya go. (and always and still, Rick Dudley as Czar)

Very little of that is actually comparable. He inherited Thompson, Dahlin and Cozens, the latter two of who were high picks and expected to be good, that's why JBot drafted them. Quinn and Peterka were Adams picks so, as I've said many times, you can't judge any GM on his drafting until about 3 to 4 years go by. So a first and a second panning out is good. If some later picks eventually pan out even better. Hasek? I don't remember anyone referring to him as "lucky" but maybe they did. He had a wild unorthodox style that baffled people but he had will, concentration, focus and incredible athleticism. I do remember seeing him come in during a Chicago game when he was unknown and thinking this guy is weird but looks pretty good. Then we got him and he was. That was a good GM move. But ya, maybe the GM was lucky 🙂 Thompson? That's the wild card isn't it? Nobody saw that coming. It's an ingredient. A necessary one. I'd prefer it not to be "last" as I firmly believe the presence of more toughness on the roster now would help our kids develop and play more fearless. A guy with leadership and toughness (Foligno type) would be the ideal.

or traded Dahlin for a bag of pucks...............I mean hypothetically ANYTHING could have happened so I don't really see your point. We're only talking about what Adams has done and hasn't done (or has failed to do or done badly). If there's a comparison it would be to JBot not being fired and he wouldn't have given up on Thompson either since he brought him in.

Back to the theme of is Kevyn doing enough, I did find this interesting in light of my argument that we need a player(s) who can take on guys like Maroon when they run at our goalies, from tonight: https://www.hockeyfights.com/fights/n266296 Undrafted remember. Now if Kev found us players like that for depth I might be more impressed.

Yes, but my point is they are the team most likely to be better in the second half of the season and thus harder to pass in the standings.