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HumanSlinky39

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Posts posted by HumanSlinky39

  1. GDT: Predators @ Sabres - Mar. 21, 2023, 7:00pm, MSG 📺, WGR 📻

    in The Aud Club

    Posted

    Just now, Contempt said:

    This is a serious question, last year they finished with 75 points and on a clear up trajectory. This year if they finish with barely more than that and completely crapped their pants to end the year can this year still be considered progress?

    "It's not how you start, it's how you finish."

     

    Getting blown out 7-0, 6-1, etc to close out the year burns a lot of goodwill built with the gains we saw for over the first 3/4 of the season.

     

    Maybe it's that we're a very young team that just isn't ready for the pressure cooker of a playoff race. That's fine if you're at least competitive. These guys have regressed to the Raaaaalph days.

    • Like (+1) 2

  9. GDT: Predators @ Sabres - Mar. 21, 2023, 7:00pm, MSG 📺, WGR 📻

    in The Aud Club

    Posted

    6 minutes ago, lowsabre said:

    100%, you can't just solve defense by dropping in a few studs

    that's a band aid solution

    hell it might be a very strong band aid, but you can't build a sustainably great team that way

    Greenway was known as a plus defender in Minnesota. He looks as useless as everybody else on this roster defensively in a Sabres sweater. The problem isn't all players, it's systemic.

    • Like (+1) 3

  10. GDT: Predators @ Sabres - Mar. 21, 2023, 7:00pm, MSG 📺, WGR 📻

    in The Aud Club

    Posted

    Their inability to stop ANYTHING has sapped the entire team of any gusto. The offense, that led the NHL in scoring for a chunk of the season, has shriveled up like George Costanza following a brisk dip in the pool. 

    Whoever the leadership on the ice is, ostensibly Okposo, needs to be ripping these guys. Guys like Tuch, Girgs, Dahlin need to be right there with him. It looks like this entire team has checked out.

     

    • Haha (+1) 1

  11. GDT: Predators @ Sabres - Mar. 21, 2023, 7:00pm, MSG 📺, WGR 📻

    in The Aud Club

    Posted

    I like Meatballs. I think he's moved this team forward from the depths of Raaaaalph. But goddamn, he needs to do something this summer in regards to defensive coaching. Yes, better players are needed on the blue line, but there's a coaching/philosophy issue here, too.  Defense is too often a total afterthought.

    Trying to win games by hoping you can score at least 5 every night isn't a winning strategy. Nor is hanging your tender out to dry to get drilled by breakaways and odd man rushes 27 times a game. I don't care how good/talented Levi is, he's gonna get lit up playing behind these guys.

    • Agree 1

  14. GDT: Big Bad Bruins at Sabres, 3-19-2023 1pm ESPN+, MSG

    in The Aud Club

    Posted

    Another thing - anybody thinking Granato is on any kind of hot seat is fooling themselves. He's Adams' boy and he was just extended. He's not going anywhere. I still like him as the coach of this team overall. Right now he's icing a team that has one of the worst defensive corps of any team in this league and detritus in net. Only team close off the top of my head is Vancouver. He needs better players there. But, I do agree he needs to emphasize defense more. Probably needs to bring somebody in from outside to help.

    I also believe breaking Levi in in net with this group in front of him could so more harm than good. The only teams I'd even considering putting him in against would be the Habs and Columbus in the finale.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    • Agree 1

  15. GDT: Big Bad Bruins at Sabres, 3-19-2023 1pm ESPN+, MSG

    in The Aud Club

    Posted · Edited by HumanSlinky39

    37 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

    Agree on the players only meeting.  That should have happened already. 
     

    Levi will get killed playing behind this team with the current defensive system in place.  He might win a game or two, but once the team settles into their normal complacent level of play Levi will no better than the rest. The Granato system is flawed defensively.   
     

    And it will cost him his job eventually if he doesn't fix it. Clearly an upgrade in coaching that department is needed. The team clearly misses 'Muel right now, he's their best defender, but there are 2-3 other spots that probably need to be upgraded - obviously Bryson is number one, he's an AHL player. I'm not sure about Boosh. As a bottom pairing guy he's probably sufficient. I've never been high on Jokiharju and I'm even less so after the past few weeks. Yes, UPL has been bad; no, I do not think he has a real future as an NHL goalie anymore. But the guys in front of him have not helped him out much at all.

    KA is going to have to try to upgrade in FA this summer. I'm not talking some $2M/per "blah" defenseman. He needs to take a swing. I'm not too sure who's out there, but he's gotta get someone. If not in FA, then he's gonna have to loosen his grip on some of those prospects. A bushel of forward prospects means diddly poo when you can't defend anything and keep the puck outta your net.

    I'm still bullish on their future. I think the main ingredients are here to be a legit contender, but right now, defense and goaltending is torpedoing everything. Honestly, coming into the year, playoffs weren't my expectations yet given how beastly the east is; just expected to play meaningful games in March and here we are. That said, if we continue getting our teeth kicked in the next few weeks, a lot of good will will be snuffed out. Gotta get to work.

    • Like (+1) 2
    • Agree 1

  16. GDT: Big Bad Bruins at Sabres, 3-19-2023 1pm ESPN+, MSG

    in The Aud Club

    Posted

    If Okposo doesn't call a players only meeting and this team doesn't come out with their hair on fire next game then this culture they claim to be building is just worthless word service. The talent is here. We've seen them pull off a bunch of really impressive wins over the last 13 months. Right now, they're broken mentally. Gut check time.

    I'm also now fully convinced we need a legitimate veteran goalie to pair with Levi next year. UPL ain't it. No, not all of them are on him; but his rebound control is a major issue and his lateral speed/athleticism isn't good enough. That's not something that more "development" is gonna fix.

    • Like (+1) 2

  24. GDT: Buffalo Sabres @ Washington Capitals 3/15/23 7 pm tv and radio

    in The Aud Club

    Posted

    27 minutes ago, Mango said:

    Let me start by saying I agree with all of this.

    I think part of the problem is that UPL should still be considered a “prospect” in that he has moments. But he’s incomplete at the moment. 24 years old for a goalie is pretty young. But the problem is there was a stretch where he was our way goalie. Now he is G1 because the nursing home won’t let Anderson come out to play more than once a month. 

    From a UPL centric standpoint he’s likely a decent guy to have on the bench behind a goalie who is playing 60 games per year. Or could use some time in the AHL and slow some things down for the 24 year old.

    But I think that has sailed for him in Buffalo. 
     

     

    Yeah, that’s kind of how I now see him…a guy that might be okay behind a workhorse. And I’m sure there are those that will still say he’s still young and a prospect, hell I was one of them, but no amount of reps or coaching is going to improve his quickness. He lumbers in the net, and for a guy who likes to play as aggressively as he does, that’s the kiss of death. It’s most obvious in the shootouts where he has been flat out embarrassing.

    • Like (+1) 1
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