Drag0nDan
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Posts posted by Drag0nDan
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3 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:
Small consolation is an understatement. While he got RK pieces he wanted upfront to shore up the PK and get some what better 2 way play from the forward group, he completely failed to get RK the goaltending and D help to make his system work. Not upgrading Hutton or moving Montour or Miller for a defensive D man, has comeback to haunt this team once Ullmark and McCabe went down. Honestly upgrading Hutton and getting better skill balance on the D should have been done regardless of who the coach was.
Nobody wanted montour when their teams were healthy. I think this is a large reason they considered non-tendering him. Almost 4 million for a bottom pair defenseman is a lot. They could possibly trade him now to a team in need of help on the blue line, but his value is pretty minimal at this point on an expiring contract. Miller has another year at almost 4 million so we'll likely see him blasting slapshots from the wall til at least the offseason.
The team was bad with Ullmark, but they're a LOT worse without him. I would've liked to see another goalie brought in as well, but Hall was supposed to help the offense and hasn't. Honestly I think hutton somehow got worse.
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4 hours ago, OhMyDahlin said:
Ralph must have a pretty weak ego to be scared of a coach who couldn't win an AHL playoff game with a stacked veteran roster.
Olofsson is a product of Sweden.
Borgen and Bryson are a product of the NCAA.Very true. Ullmark would qualify as a "barely" as well, since he only played under him in 2017 (and he was an assistant in 2015). But i wouldn't give him credit for "developing" Ullmark either.
1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:He thought he did though. He actively acquired a player that was a center and could play 2c. Botts acquired a winger and forced him to play c.
Also saved some scratch and ended up with the better player.
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Just now, LabattBlue said:
You mean like the “full process” they went through that ended with Kevyn Adams as the GM?
I mean not hiring say - boudreau mid-season without speaking with other candidates. But I hear ya... they have the meddlesome owner stink on them now. The only way to get rid of it is to... stop being meddlesome. I don't think a hockey president needs to be much more than a layer away from ownership. They even tried it and screwed that up (not that i felt like Lafontaine was going to lead this team to the promised land). At the same time, people talk - murray, housley, bylsma, botterill etc.
Fact is - Lafontaine was hired to be hockey ops - and he quit. Black was fired for russ brandon. Brandon wasn't replaced. So atop the organization they have no hockey ops president, or just... president. Its all ownership.
While they operate the same way for the Bills, the GM Beane is essentially the bills president of operations. He also has put together a solid group below him with Schoen, Boyd, Morgan etc. Usually you promote the GM to keep one of those by promoting them to GM, asst. etc.
Just now, That Aud Smell said:That was a great episode - of course, the monorail bit is a spin on a story that is as old as the hills -- snake oil salesman, trouble here right here in River City, and such.
I don't think RaKru has that sort of guile, though. I think his failure here is more akin to a Michael Scott type persona.
It put them on the map though!
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19 minutes ago, Torpedo Forecheck said:
I'm of the belief that modern hockey is a transition game, built on speed of attack when even the slightest advantage can be obtained. The Islanders do this really well. We do none of that and as a result score 1 goal a game 5-5 and if lucky sometimes a pp goal. You need to get goals off turnovers, broken plays, and guys making bad reads etc. with the transition game.
Helps when they have an actual goalie tandem. Our forwards don't buy into the theory that a backcheck can result in offense either. Loose pucks always find the other team because of how they play in their own end.
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7 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:
E-Rod was on Pitt's 4th line I think only because of an injury to someone. Against Philly he skated in on an open net (goalie pulled ) and he actually managed to hit the post. Seriously, wide open, and he hit the post.
I'm really not sure what any of this means. Fact is only ROR and Lehner have gone on to massive success post Sabres. Evander Kane still ruins every team he gets to 🙂
And we replaced him on the wing with never-playoffs skinner 😞
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9 hours ago, darksabre said:
I mean, the Pegulas made up their mind about the "character" of O'Reilly before they moved him, so applying the same thing to any other player is within reason. They're worried about "culture" and it worked for the Bills, so...
GM and coach in lockstep though. They moved off the "talent" that they had in watkins, dareus, darby, glenn, etc. But the timeline for rookie contribution is so much faster than in the nhl draft. You'd have to trade them for high level prospects you thought just needed a chance. I'm surprised the team hasn't done more prospect swapping in general. I think having 0 identity and no idea what identity you want to have is what makes it challenging.
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Just now, Radar said:
I'm still at about 50/50 that they keep him until end of season. More money issue as well. In fact it could be Pegulas don't want to pay another person to sit at home. Further, how many coaches want the job. Most out there are also probably still getting paid and will want to wait and see what happens after season ends. My hope is that they are looking to someone to come in to oversee this franchise and work with KA.
If you fire him and promote his assistant its probably the same price. I'd wait til the offseason to hire a fulltime coach. I think you need to go through a full process to try and get this right.
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4 hours ago, gilbert11 said:
I think there is some similarity of Eichel’s relationship with the Sabres to Joe Thornton’s when he got traded by Boston to San Jose.
Thornton was selected first overall by the Bruins in the 1997 draft. (Jack of course was taken 2nd)
Thornton’s career started out slower than Jacks’s as he had only 7 points in 55 games his first season and then 41 pts in 81 games in his second season.
Thornton eventually became a point per game player and exploded in his 6th season (the 2002/03 season) with 36 goals and 65 assists for 101 points in 77 games.
Thornton was named team captain prior to that 2002/03 season. (Eichel was named captain before the 2018/19 season and had his best season to that point with 28 goals and 54 assists for 82 points in 77 games).
Thornton regressed in the season following his career year. (Eichel regressed this season after arguably his best season in 2019/20)
Thornton eventually became unhappy with the state of the Boston franchise and upset with criticism of his play. He was under heavy scrutiny for his leadership style and was criticized for not raising the level of his play in the playoffs. (Some similarities to Eichel)
The Bruins were struggling to begin the 2005/05 season so he was traded to San Jose for forwards Marco Sturm and Wayne Primeau and defenseman Brad Stuart, the 3rd overall pick of the 1998 draft.
Now, if the Sabres were to trade Eichel, I sure the he!! hope they get a better return. Marco Sturm became a 20+ goal, 40+ point player for the Sharks and continued that pace for 5 seasons with the Bruins before his career fizzled out. Primeau was mediocre with the Sabres and continued as such after the trade to Boston at the age of 29. Brad Stuart made the NHL ALL-Rookie team in 2000 but never lived up to his high draft position. Overall, a mediocre return.
Returns are always pretty bad. Look at Seguin too. And thats one of the best run organizations in hockey.
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10 hours ago, Zamboni said:
If you HAD to chose one of Boudreau, Gallant, or Julien to replace RK ... who would you logically choose? And Why? Sell the rest of us on why your choice is best.
Mods, if this deserves its own thread, feel free to move it.
Boudreau almost always makes the playoffs. Julien has cup winning resume. Gallant did some magic with an expansion team. All 3 have won jack adams trophy once.
Honestly - I'm probably partial to Gallant. Julien seems to be a defense first guy, and that's not going to help the team with goal scoring troubles.
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Just now, LGR4GM said:
This will probably be a very very boring game. Two teams that play low event hockey and one of them is bad.
Oh, and one has terrible goaltending....
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22 minutes ago, pi2000 said:
It's true that he's playing well, but at $6m/yr he needs to be scoring and creating more.
It sucks... but that was 2 GMs ago. I don't think he should be benched when you have cody eakin just dragging an entire line down. No offensive zone ability, and can't pass or skate. I guess he's good defensively, but he's living in the defensive zone anyway.
Put a new center out there, give those minutes to casey.
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1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:
They were decidedly neutral. Their corsi is just over 50%. xGF% is 50.3, HDCF% is 59 so that is interesting and they started in the o zone or neutral zone most of the time with only 4 def zone starts.
Right but watching the game they generated chances, didn't seem trapped in the defensive zone a ton.
Eakin to me is more of a problem than okposo at this point. The line had a goal, but they can't get it out of their zone. And yet they continue to start in the d zone.
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20 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:
Because Ralph is more concerned with veterans that he likes as opposed to winning hockey games. He plays favorites.
I thought the line played well with okposo on it
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4 hours ago, steveoath said:
Is he gone yet?
I'd say the earliest is the 10th due to the road trip.
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1 hour ago, John Tucker said:
Hell, I'd take Ron Rolston again at this point!!
I would not.
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10 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:
I recall one of the BBGs (I think) where Kim told a story about getting through a rough stretch of Sabres hockey and remembering that her husband said something like, "It's OK, we still have Jack." I bet Terry will be a hard sell on pulling the trigger. Folks should also remember Perreault wanted out circa 1978 after several frustrating playoff ousters.
Yeah - the owner has final say so on trading the franchise player. I don't think anyone wants to trade him either.
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18 minutes ago, dudacek said:
Josh Allen won over the fan base by winning games.
Jack Eichel, well you know the rest.
There are leadership qualities that Allen possesses. When they talk about him its like he's a brother, a guy they want in the foxhole, the guy leading the charge etc. After losses he goes to almost every player on the bench and makes sure they got their head on straight for the next one, same with playoff losses. Hell, he makes sure that the guys don't get too high after a win as much as he makes sure they aren't too low after a loss. It's a sense of, we will be back, and we WILL win.
Nobody seems to say that stuff about Jack. He doesn't seem to lead at all at least from any discernable way on the ice.
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Hutton starting? barf.
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2 hours ago, LTS said:
if I had the money I would be interested, even if I weren't a Sabres fan. You have a large, geographically dispersed fan base from a city that is dying for a championship of any kind. Owning the Sabres and properly running it should be able to make you money and definitely get your ego stroked by fans who would adore you for bringing back a competitive, fun team that had a chance at winning. I wouldn't move the team from Buffalo, the market has proven how insane it is for hockey and you only need to fill the arena. Even in a city the size of Buffalo that was possible, I recall not too long ago when they had to put STH on a waiting list.
The new model. Bars themselves are seeing reduced traffic, store sales, while up, are more competitive than ever. However, the traffic at micro-breweries, and targeted brewpubs is through the roof. Those are popping up all over and they need to open their own locations to remain relevant and to support the size of brewing operation that they have.
Hockey teams right now are all losing money with no fans. The TV money isn't nearly enough to make profit. Then you have to factor in whether they'd be interested in moving to somewhere else. Some Canadian billionaire could move them to toronto or something.
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On 2/26/2021 at 6:53 PM, PerreaultForever said:
Honestly, the bar's pretty low so they actually might. They shouldn't, but they might.
I don't want to go to the kid though, he will be ruined with this D. Let him develop properly.
Skinner for Bobrovsky would work for me, but I very much doubt that's an option even though Florida does have several good young goalies in their system.
Bobrovsky and price are the only ones who might do it. And they both have NMCs.
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1 hour ago, Pimlach said:
Where? If he is replaced as coach what is his job? Please don’t suggest some executive level position, all that does is create confusion (see LaFontaine era organizational issues).
VP of soccer scouting
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10 minutes ago, LabattBlue said:
For those who think the Pegula’s will sell the Sabres in the near future, think again. I believe the plan is still to build the Bills new stadium in the cobblestone/HSBC Atrium/Perry Projects area, and they will have their little kingdom complete...Sabres, Bills, stadium, arena, harbor center, PSE HQ, Labbatt brew house, 716, etc...
Of course from a Sabres fan perspective, none of this is good news. Any owner who can run a hockey team so poorly over a decade, gives fans NO HOPE that there is light at the end of the tunnel.
So we want to go back to the ownership that wouldn't pay players? Tends to not work either.
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On 2/27/2021 at 7:50 PM, Carmel Corn said:
Sorry, but Ralph has done absolutely nothing to justify getting kicked "upstairs". Granted the Pegula's probably don't want to keep paying for their bad hires, but I don't want any more of Ralph's BS in the organization. I don't think much of our assistants either.
And for god's sake, keep him FAR AWAY from the Buffalo Bills!
If he's going to make 4 million anyway you may as well have him do some paperwork or something
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1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:
As much as he has not delivered like we hoped 5 on 5 Hall has made the big difference on the PP. He is a very good and quick passer and makes the right decision often. Adding that to what we already had puts enough weapons on at the same time that teams can't over focus on Eichel or any other one player. When they do, Olofsson is wide open or Sam is unchecked in front. We could still screen goalies a bit better but otherwise, it's a pretty lethal unit.
yeah, even if he hasn't been primary a ton. He rotates well, knows where to go to help maintain the zone and kick it back out to jack or VO.
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Eichel/Sabres situation similar to JoeThornton/Bruins?
in The Aud Club
Posted
Right - that happens all the time. Look at the thornton, seguin, kessel trades. You aren't getting a war chest - he has one of the highest cap hits in the NHL and is performing well below. This also hamstrings them with 3 players making more than 10 million - insanely top heavy.
The trade has to include someone expensive - Probably Carter, maybe quick as well (if ullmark is healthy).
1 top prospect (probably 1 of turcotte and vilardi - not both, and since they're in the hunt it'd likely be turcotte), and 1 lesser prospect/fringier roster player - probably a defenseman.
1 1st round pick, probably 2022 non-protected.
Any overpay would likely come from draft pick compensation - 2 2nds, or another 1st. Maybe you bring in more here if you package ullmark in there as well.