PickaPecaPickles
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Posts posted by PickaPecaPickles
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2 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:
It's an interesting idea. I'm going to wait and see before deciding on Savoie's readiness. I really don't want another year of "development". Greenway as a relentless forechecker appeals to me. I am hoping that "aggressive forechceck" is part of the team strategy going forward.
I know people disagree, and they might be right, but I still think the possibility of Thompson on the wing with Cozens and Mitts centering Skinner and Tuch is a possibility.
So MAYBE (just maybe) Skinner-Mitts-Tuch, Thompson-Cozens-Greenway, Peterka-Savoie-Quinn, Krebs and ? (possibly Girgs or Kyle or Jost or?) Have to wait and see what else happens in free agency etc.
Read an article a couple weeks ago about Boston and how moving Pastrnak from the first to the second line helped create more balanced scoring and was one of the keys to their success during the regular season. Given how successful the top line was with Mitts, I won't be surprised if DG tries something similar. Personally, I don't want to see the Cozens line change, but they would be the third line with the second including TT and Greenway--I'm just not sure who should be the other winger? Three lines that could score 80-90 goals each.
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Good piece on Greenway in The Athletic this morning: https://theathletic.com/4464552/2023/05/04/can-jordan-greenway-be-don-granatos-next-reclamation-success-with-sabres/
Basically says, Great Guy/team mate, a little stifled in Minny and lost his confidence, going to be in the gym all summer, Granato thinks he's got much much more to offer, concluding:
Quote“I think he recognizes that this is your second team, right?” Bartlett said. “At some point, you don’t have the excuse of, ‘Hey it was just this system or that coach. This isn’t specific to him. Once you get into that second place, if it doesn’t work out and you don’t score at the rate you want or turn into the player that you want, in on you, right? You just look in the mirror, and I think he recognizes that this is a fresh start for him, a new opportunity and you have to take advantage.”
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59 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:
It wasn't brought up directly but I listed to an interesting discussion early in the season about hitting:
-Patrice Bergeron was brought up. Not a huge hitter, but it was said what makes him effective as a defensive forward is partly because he doesn't hit. The few hits he does make are ones where there is virtually zero chance of it causing him to be out of the play. In today's NHL, you want to make no more contact than you need to make to not put yourself out of position, or to even make it 1 second slower to get back 'into the play'. Basically, the way the NHL is played today, most (not ALL, but most) hits do more to put a player out of position than the benefits they bring for 'finishing a check'.
Does this apply to the playoffs? From what I've seen so far, it's rare when someone doesn't hit.
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These last two games have been unbelievable!
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One of the best if not the best games of the season!!!
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6 hours ago, pi2000 said:
They outshot both the Bruins and Preds.
UPL .720 sv% vs BOS
Anderson .700 sv% vs NSH
If Buffalo had Saros and NSH had Anderson in net, Buffalo smokes them.
Same can be said for the Boston game.
Let's not throw the baby out with the bathwater.
I was at last night's game, and the problem with using this stat to blame the GT is the difference in the quality of the shots. Most of the shots from the Sabres were outside the slot (easier to defend a shot coming from one side or the other), and most of the chances the Preds got were point blank or odd man rushes. My impression (can't back it up with stats) on the season is there aren't many teams that give up more quality chances than the Sabres.
Yes, the Sabres need a high-quality GT, but any GT's stats will be significantly worse with the type of shots the Sabres D allows.
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Important night in the race (ok, they all are). If Sabres win and Isles lose, puts them 3 points back with the same 3 games in hand they start with tonight.
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9 minutes ago, Brawndo said:
I like what these offensive pairings did in the TO game. Looking forward to what that second line does tonight.
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2 hours ago, Indabuff said:
Not gonna lie. I think tonight is gonna suck.
I'm leaning more toward the chips are down but we get an unexpected win in their building.
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16 hours ago, BlueAndGoldTankCommander said:
Greetings again Sabres fans, I regret to inform you that B>M's crew is going to the game again tonight.
We are 0-7 in-person.
Go Sabres, plan accordingly!
All the complaints about Bryson and/or Olofsson ignore the true cause of the loss.
If you have plans for another game this season, maybe think about donating the tickets B>M? 😄
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18 hours ago, mjd1001 said:
B+. I could go to an A though. I'm someplace in between there.
Why? I think you are going to get a lot more options in the offseason when the teams who were bidding for guys now might have to be dumping guys in the offseason. A different selection of players might be available, but I think a much larger selection will be there. I want my assets available for moves at that time. Plus, its going to be a lot easier to integrate a new guy into the team when you have the offseason and training camp to do so, rather than throwing him in now. Finally, Yes, I would LOVE for this team to get a 2nd pair quality D-man now, but I didnt expect it, and other than that I am more than happy with the current young team getting experience together to fail or succeed the rest of the season.
I agree with this sentiment, giving him a higher grade for what he didn't do, rather than what he did.
In his presser, KA said something like "I'm giddy about the arms race going on in the east." I believe what he meant was, while they are all mortgaging the future for a cup run this year, he is content to maintain his patient approach of building the team for an extended Cup run. While many Sabres fans have run out of patience, I'm glad the leader of the franchise has not.
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3 minutes ago, Norcal said:
This thread didn't disappoint, thank you all
Yeah, the discussion is really overshadowing Lyubushkin setting a career high in points today. Shame...
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26 minutes ago, sweetlou said:
With less than two months left in the season I figured I'd start a thread that we haven't seen in many years.
So far today things looking good.
Preds stomp Panthers
Bruins crush Isles.
Devils up on Pens.
Tonight we need:
Canes to beat Caps
Kraken to eat some Wings.
Doesn't matter if the Sabres don't win tonight. This is a MUST WIN.
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FL losing is a good thing today. Must get these 2 points before the playoff gauntlet starts 2/21 when 21 out of the last 28 games will be against current playoff teams or rivals for the last spots.
I'm excluding Sens, Habs, and Flyers from that group.
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It appears the Panthers have gone into playoff mode.
It'll be interesting to see how the Sabres handle being in this race.
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Some questions about his relationship with Jeremy Jacobs of Delaware North fame.
QuoteWalsh got the offer partly because of his close ties to Boston Bruins owner and NHL Board of Governors Chair Jeremy Jacobs, who has donated thousands of dollars to Walsh’s campaign committees over the years.
https://prospect.org/blogs-and-newsletters/tap/2023-02-08-labor-secretary-marty-walsh/
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1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:
This is who we're playing, they came back in the 3rd being down 3 goals.
FYI, ESPN tells me the game is on TNT, not MSG.
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10 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:
With the Washington loss tonight the Sabres are now 2 pts back of the Caps (with 3 games in hand) and one pt behind Pitt.
Wash (58 pts) has 26W (in 52 games), 21 RW, 25 ROW P% - .558
Pitt (57 pts) has 24W (in 49 games), 20 RW, 23 ROW p% - .582
Buff (56 pts) has 26W (in 49 games), 19 RW, 25 ROW p% - .571
Florida worries me the most of the teams behind us. They have 54 pts (in 52 games) P-%.519
A statement victory over Carolina before the All-Star break would be huge for the Sabres at home. Carolina plays the night before.
Interestingly Washington plays Columbus on the 31st, while Pitt is already on vacation.
Thanks, that answers my question above, and that's the team I was leaning toward. Looking at their stats, their issue has been goal tending as well. Not sure how long Bobrovsky is out, so it could continue to hurt them.
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10 minutes ago, Taro T said:
2 things.
1. As the playoff races heat up, quite often those teams on the bubble pick up their pace a bit so, though pacing for ~94 appears that it'll be good enough, it very well might not be when all is said & done.
2. In the modern era, exactly 1 team has gotten to an NHL 0.600 and missed the playoffs. Shooting for 98 (well 98.4 technically which isn't precisely attainable) should be the goal. Get to 96 through 80 & then get the 2 or 3 more points they might need in those final 2 games.
Let the Sabres take care of their own business & then they don't have to worry about what their rivals are doing.
Yes, regarding that first point, I was thinking about it and wondering who among the pack will pick up the pace?
At this point, I'd include the Caps, Pens, Sabres, Panthers, Isles, Flyers, Wings, and Sens vying for the last 2 spots. It really should be a great finish for the last spot.
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28 minutes ago, pi2000 said:
So they need about 42 points over their final 33 games to put them at 98 points... which probably gets them in?
That's something like 19-10-4 to finish the season. That's gonna be tough.
That said, whatever happens at least we're talking about playoffs in late January which is fun.
Given the conference is so much more competitive this year, I think the playoff target number will be a lower than 98. The Caps are currently on pace for 93 points and the Pens for 95. There are a lot of teams chasing a spot this year compared to last, when the bottom 8 were essentially done with 2 weeks left to play. This year is going to be a real battle, and will most likely come down to the last game or two. Fortunately, the Sabres end the season with CBJ.
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While the Sabres have put themselves into position for a playoff spot, their last 33 games will be (in general) tougher in terms of facing teams in the top half of the league in GAA. Of the 49 games played to date, 22 (45%) were against teams in the top half of the league. For their last 33 games, 20 (60%) will be against teams in the top half, and 15 against teams in the top 10.
Fortunately, this last road trip has shown they are up to the task, as DAL and WPG are both top 5 GAA, and MIN 12th. They certainly won't average 3-0-1 through this, but if they can average 2-1-1 (16-9-8), that would put them at 96 points and should get them in this year since the conference is much more competitive. Last year, the Isles were 9th in the standings, 16 points behind the Caps, the last team in. At this point, I'd say only CBJ and the Habs are out of the race.
It should be quite a finish.
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3 minutes ago, JohnC said:
The Tage goal was exquisite with two exceptional passes from Tuch and Skinner. As good as Tuch's was I thought Skinner's saucer pass to him was exceptional.
These are the kind of goals the opposing team always scored, or so it seemed to me for a long, long time. Reminds me of comments from DG in the fall about how they've been focusing on offense as it's much more difficult to learn than D. Hopefully, they are now turning the focus toward D as the playoffs beckon.
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2 minutes ago, Broken Ankles said:
The Anaheim broadcast team (Brian Hayward) was very complementary of VO’s goal scoring ability and elite shot. That line is playing so much better lately.
He eclipsed his previous season record of 20 goals today with 37 more games to play.
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11 hours ago, erickompositör72 said:
Sorry if this has been discussed already:
6'6" - Tage Thompson
6'6" - Owen Power
[6'5" - UPL]
6'4" - Alex Tuch
6'4" - Mattias Samuelsson
6'3" - Rasmus Dahlin
6'3" - Dylan Cozens
Girgensons, Mittelstadt, Quinn, Lyubushkin all 6'1" or taller
Seems to me height (and girth?) hurts the most on D. I'm sure there are/were examples of 5' 9" D-men who are good, but Bryson doesn't seem to be one of them.
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Zach Benson signs His ELC
in The Aud Club
Posted
A lot of teams would be happy if either of the next two on the list (Kulich and Savoie)* were their "best prospect in the system".
* Listed in alphabetical order, because I'm not sure which one should be ranked second.