Drag0nDan

Methinks goalies didn't want to play here... and still don't.

There's more to center than draws though. Eakin is by far buffalo's best faceoff guy, but he's also their worst center. Seems fine - 12 points in 21 games. 1 behind skinner 😉

Perhaps he asked to lead the stretch? Its his first day on ice with the team, he probably doesn't know the players that well etc.

Eakin has been better this year (than the worst player in hockey seemingly) - but when you put him on an actual 4th line without line mates who can cycle well the offensive deficiencies are very apparent. That 4th line can't get the puck off the wall, and can't make anything of note happen in front of the net. Bringing in a big body with NHL experience could allow you to move eakin to the press box if he continues to struggle.

R2 wasn't playing well, let him try to find his game in the AHL again. Limited minutes on the 4th line weren't helping.

Yeah i tend to agree. Some kind of brand ambassador maybe but why would i hire a coach who's never coached? For the fans! We deserve better lol

I think you gotta try something. Tokarski isn't good, but he's at least shown some ability. He's a 50/50 proposition most nights, and most nights he doesn't kill you (obviously coming off his worst start of the year). Dell on the other hand... yikes. 0 confidence, 0 feel, always out of position, and sloppy as hell. A change needs to be made there - hes brutal. Whats dubnyk doin? does he wanna make an easy 750k to roll out there 20 times?

They have d-men who are good at taking the puck away. I shut it off at 2-0 but we were having trouble on the forecheck, and getting pucks in danger areas. Seemed like the line changes were even sloppy at times. They also got dominated on the dot.

Looks like Holtz most likely. Both goalies are under 21 and playing really well, but that'll be some time id guess.

After about the 10 minute mark, I'd say Buffalo's chances were better than most of pittsburghs. The first 10 minutes were just brutal. After that we kind of kept them on the walls and created some scoring chances.

If tokarski is the starter for this stretch - UPL should stay down. He needs to be starting the majority of games wherever he plays.

I guess? If all your season ticket holders are brokers then if/when the team is good, you lose out on money you could make with flex pricing, and the brokers make all the profit. They went to a flex pricing model instead of giving seats away. And I'm certain Delaware north makes a good chunk of the concessions.

They aren't just selling tickets to brokers anymore for 30 cents (or less) on the dollar. So the 10 dollar get in price doesn't exist anymore. It'll result in lower sales, but they don't want it to be known as a place u go for like 10 bucks a seat.

How long is Anderson out?

If you have hulu the espn+ games are on there.

Fun Kassian story time! A friend of mine was volunteering during the 2011 juniors tournament in buffalo, and as a former hockey player they had him in the locker rooms. Putting out towels, waters, whatever. During one of the games Kassian got tossed for a game misconduct hit: https://www.sbnation.com/nhl/2010/12/28/1900945/zack-kassian-ejected-big-hit-canada-czech-republic So my friend is in the locker rooms during the period so it can be picked up etc. Kassian walks in super pissed off, so he decides to kind of give him a couple to cool off. He comes back with filled water bottles and towels, and Zach is standing in the middle of the locker room butt-naked watching the rest of the 2nd period. His comment to my friend "Nothin like watching the game naked, right?", and my friend just kind of nodded in agreement. In any case, that's when I knew the guy was a nutso hockey player 🤣.

Yeah - and nowhere near the depth to account for it. I think they're trying to crack down on - headshots and fights. As those are the career killers and cause all the concussions. And they do a crappy job even cracking down on that.

Skinner is an interesting player - not great defensively or even on the walls really - but he seems to just find loose pucks. That works on a line with a couple of shoot first players honestly. Oloffson probably works there too - but I'd like to see what a healthy first line looks like with him on it. Its the same reason he works on the tage line - he's on a line with a couple of net drivers and players who can dig pucks out in the forecheck. He's got that nose for the net that just seems to spring open at times. I think they're set with Eakin centering that - but who knows how long that lasts.

I like that he's shooting more. Him and Asplund seem to have some solid chemistry - and if he can continue to improve defensively you have space to put skinner or oloffson on that wing and not have them be bogged down in the zone. I don't think he'll ever be some elite center, but assuming the top 6 will eventually (hopefully...) contain players like Tuch Krebs Cozens Mitts Quinn and Peterka (in addition to other players further down the pipe), i think that line makes for a solid middle 6 group that can contribute secondary scoring and take some d-zone draws. Then Girgensons and other's (Bjork maybe Pekar or another younger forward, but this type of line tends to be easy to fill with affordable free agents) can play that energy 4th line, and take d-zone draws.

Hagg and Pysyk played terribly. Cozens was a liability. Thompson was a disaster in the d zone. Skinner and hino couldn't gain the zone all night. They were also absolutely crushed on the dot all night long, so in the o zone they were losing it, and in the d zone they already start out without the puck.

I show it lower here: https://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/BUF/index.html ▼

Tage had a poor game, especially defensively. But thats been buffalo's best line so far and i wouldn't want to mess with it. The 2 lines outside of that one and the KO/Girgs line are the messy ones to me. Haydens clueless out there and just drags down whoever he plays with be it ruots and bjork or bjork and cozens. Cozens hasn't figured out how to play with skinner and hino. Getting eakin back, and moving hayden off the ice will do wonders to me.

Yeah he's all over the place, he either loses t he puck at his own blue line, or passes to no one. He's been a mess for a minute this year.

I think its basically because he's considered the #1 prospect there and vegas has been connected to Eichel multiple times. It'll look like a loss if all they get out of it is mid to late first round picks. I'm good with Krebs, or brisson or whatever as the big piece, and picks. But what salary are they sending back, or is buffalo almost forced to retain salary? Are they going to just LTIR him and activate him if they make the playoffs like Kucherov? Or is it Reilly smith (Alternate captain, and pretty solid playoff performer)? Tuch? Some combination of other pieces - maybe Brossoit and stevenson? Who does buffalo package with Eichel at a cheaper cost to actually play while he's hurt? Hino maybe? I look at it like, if i have to eat some salary - I'm wanting a top prospect, tuch, picks, and probably brossoit (Selfishly, this would be insurance as to never having to see aaron dell play hockey with Buffalo)

Yeah. He seemed to move anyone from any line except hall-eichel. And it was pretty plain to see that they didn't mesh well enough.