Jorcus
-
Posts
63 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Posts posted by Jorcus
-
-
14 minutes ago, French Collection said:
Tage is definitely playing mostly and east-west game. It allows the back pressure to catch up and then he tries to dangle his way out of trouble. Tuch on his line gained the zone with speed and then they could perform some magic.
Cozens had a few bursts last night that reminded me of last year, I think he gets the gorilla off his back very soon.
Mitts needs to shoot more. Quite often these guys are trying to pick high corners and miss the net, I like the low shots for rebounds when you have more players on the ice. Of course you need to crash the net for rebounds.
One thing I thought of is there is no rule that says it's better to have only 1 D on the power play. Dahlin can't be super offensive if he has to be the defenseman too. Put Joki or someone else on the other side and let Dahlin be more creative. Mainly you want the other D to be responsible for the blue line and have the ability to take open shots or passes. Having forwards cover up for defensemen gets this team in trouble.
-
19 hours ago, mjd1001 said:
I posted this in another thread yesterday, but here goes the PP part of it here:
Want to know what is different about the PP this year vs last? Mostly Cozens and Tage.
Those 2 guys had 11 pp goals by this time last year. This year? 2 PP goals between them. This year the team is at 14.29% on the PP. If you add those extra 9 goal shortcoming between those 2 guys, you get the PP back to 25%, which is 6th or 7th in the entire league.
Have Tage pick up the pace and get CLOSE to his form of last year, and have Cozens do ANYTHING of value offensively to justify $7+ millon dollars, and there is your power play fix.
And it is not the style/coaching the PP that is bringing those guys down, its really those guys that are bringing the PP down. Its not just the PP, both of them are producing a lot less than they have last year in all aspects of their game. (the last 2 years with Tage). Tage probably due much to injury..and Cozens just needing to be better all around.
The Style of the PP, the coaching, the number of passes, etc...all looks a LOT better if Cozens and Tage get back on track.
Tage just seems to be turning back against pressure too much. He is doing it every zone. This was a good transition team last year but it starts with getting the puck to open ice. He is not playing the direct game that Granato keeps asking for. Is it my imagination or is Cozens skating slower this year? Not sure what the line juggle in the last two games accomplished. Hopefully the return of Tuch resolves that issue. Can't really have Mittlestadt on the PP if he won't shoot when open. Even if he only going to cause a rebound it would be better than whats going on now.
-
2
-
-
Another listed left winger. He would have to clear waivers to go back down. Maybe precursor move to a trade package?
-
2 hours ago, Brawndo said:
If the Sabres followed the pathway laid out by Taro and barely gave Comrie any practice time, there would be pressure on the Sabres from His Agent and the NHLPA to waive or trade Him.
Comrie does not figure into the teams future plans, but he will be an UFA in July and is going to want to play for another opportunity elsewhere next season.
The Sabres as an organization cannot afford to appear to screwing over a player (no matter how bad they suck) with the teams less than stellar reputation around the league with players.
I don't see Comrie having any leverage in this. He will be on his own soon enough and given the Sabres luck with goaltender health over the last few years even three doesn't seem like enough. If the Sabres thought Levi was going to be an Amerk he would have been there game 1 but instead he starts the first 4 for the Sabres. I don't think that was the right thing to do but here we are. I doubt he spends more time in Rochester because I can't see the Sabres putting Comrie back in the net unless Levi gets destroyed. The one thing about Levi is that he may be the smartest guy in the building and if any one can figure out how to play in the NHL without doing it in the AHL it is probably him.
-
1
-
-
My healthy line up in the short term.
Skinner Thompson Tuch
Benson Cozens Peterka
Quinn Mitts Olaf
The 4th line is a big question. Right now you have too many left wingers and not enough right, when healthy. KO is the right side, but he needs to go on the Anderson plan. Rosen is not really a 4th line type at the moment. Your looking at Greenway, Robinson, and Girgensons for the 1 leftwing spot. Maybe Robinson was an elaborate rental plan who ends up right back In Columbus. There could be some other swap for a 4th line right winger trading away one of the lefts.
I would not break up the Cozens line right now they are going too well and expect scoring more scoring shortly.
-
9 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:
I'm wondering if you mean offensively, scoring, or in his complete game? I was referring to the latter, while I know many of the Quinn fans here are looking primarily at his point total. Peterka last year showed me signs of grit and fortitude, determination, drive, and even a little 2 way ability. All of that matters to me and is why I had him above Quinn and still do. Was Quinn a better complete player in your opinion?
It's quite possible Quinn will put up bigger scoring numbers than Peterka in the future, but I'm not convinced he will be a better hockey player.
I guess I have always been more of a Peterka fan. It's the case of this 2 guys come into together and one is a higher draft pick, that starts like gangbusters in the AHL then things go kind of side ways due to illness and Injury and the number 2 keeps growing and getting better. Peterka was a terror in the 21-22 AHL playoffs while for whatever reason Quinn was floundering around. The only goal he scored was against his own team. Then they both come up and the Cozens, Quinn, Peterka line clicks for a fast hard to handle second line. Quinn was given more opportunities than Peterka, Peterka was viewed as the the 2nd guy again mostly racing for pucks and trying to feed the others. Last year Peterka did have a habit of not having his stick on the ice when around the net or hesitating on the shot. Those habits are gone. When in attack mode puck on stick then off stick. If he is open he shoots. He has also gotten a lot stronger over the summer.
I am not trashing Quinn but I have felt for a long time that Peterka has played equal or better. Quinn's return will be interesting. We all hope he goes on an improving path but I would not start him on the second line at the moment. Let him earn his way back up there.
-
1
-
-
On 12/4/2023 at 10:31 AM, mjd1001 said:
I can see that. But the question is is it really gone or different?
They're scoring is down. Their quality chances are down also, but remember this is a team that was getting outshot and out chanced in many games last year also.
The difference this year? Thompson. He had 13 goals in December last year and I think he was in the teens going into December. So by the end of December he was closing in on 30 goals. He's hurt right now sure but he has six. That's a big difference.
Cousin's also. Over 30 goals last year and many were expecting him to repeat it or maybe improve on it but he's at what? 4?
Skinner and Tuch are producing like they were last year. VO and Peterka have basically exchanged production levels but they're about the same also only slightly behind.
So really, it's not the whole team to me, most of the drop in production, and the drop in quality chances, is due to Thompson's slow start and now injury, and Cozens... Whatever is wrong with him.
To me, that's not a change in coaching or coaching's problem. That is mostly Thompson and Cozens.
I agree but part of what caused the problem with the scoring was how the lines were set up to start the season. I generally like Granato but I think he made some errors to start the season and then the injuries piled onto the other issues. The problem to start the year was what to do with Benson? What could he handle and should he even be here. Instead of just having him replace Quinn on the left wing of Cozens and Peterka, they tried to protect him buy having him play with Tuch and Thompson Or Casey. in various combinations. It left Cozens on the wing and that is just not working out. I like that line the way it is right now and once Cozens starts finding his shot things should get better.
The other issue that contributed to this problem was having Thompson play the penalty kill to start the season. Sure he helped it but I don't see a lot of other number 1 centers around the NHL on the 1st line PK. It sucks up time you could be used 5 on 5 or the power play and you often get hit with pucks. I hope that experiment died with Thompsons injury.
I do eventually see the scoring coming back around for this team. I do think barring further injuries I assume the lines would start to resemble what they did last year. Depending on how things work out. Tuch-Thompson-Skinner, Benson-Cozens-Peterka, Quinn-Mittelstadt-Olofsson. Take your pick for line 4. Benson and Quinn could be interchangeable depending on things are going. I know people are going to freak out seeing Olofsson play with Mittlestadt again but he has played at lot more defense then ever before this year. The upside is you would be back to 3 lines if playing well that can score.
-
26 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:
I posted this in the gameday thread but I'm putting it here after looking at things a bit more and watching the replays of the goals allowed.
The forwards on this team are historically bad at helping out the defense and any kind of positional play in their own zone. The Defense isn't THAT bad. A lot of times they 'look bad' covering up for the forward being non-existent in their help. Power has taken a step back and Clifton hasn't been playing GREAT, but they aren't as bad as they look at first glance. The effort and the positioning of the forward, however, needs to be shot into the sun.
The first goal allowed...The D were caught back by themselves, where the heck are the forwards? It was off of an offensive zone faceoff, The d-men had to cover the whole zone and make decisions because NONE of the forwards hustled back.
That is not on the D, that is not on coaching (directly). These Forwards are awful. When the shot was taken, Cozens was just finally showing up in the zone and Benson? He was still at center ice and coasting. AFTER AN OFFENSIVE ZONE FACEOFF. Be carful with how much credit we are giving both Cozens AND Benson for an all around game.
2nd goal, Carolina takse the puck out of their zone, skate through the forecheck like it isn't even there. Who's the right wing? Biro? No where near his side and that is where the goal comes from.
3rd goal allowed. scored from right in front of the net. Who is the center and where was he? Oh, Cozens AGAIN just deciding to skate away and chase the puck into the corner, by the time he gets there the puck is gone, and it makes it back to the slot where an opposing player is right there to score again. Cozens does this AGAIN and AGAIN and NEVER changes or learns.
5th goal. Cozens AGAIN. Now I understand at this point you might want to take a chance. BUT, when this team gives up PP goals MOST Of them, when you watch the replays, are when they get out of position. Cozens chases the puck AGAIN, goes all the way to the Blue line, but he had no chance of getting it. The Carolina defenseman got there well before Cozens and Cozens was still 10 feet away. The puck easily makes it down low to the goal scorer, while Cozens is totally out of the play.
These forward....unreal how bad they are defensively, and Cozens has to be one of the worst in the league in D-zone positioning. He is awful, dreadful. He just does whatever he wants and his decisions in his own end are almost always wrong.
And everyone who says you need a coaching change? IF a new coach is going to get these forward to get their heads out of their butt with how they play in their own zone AND skate harder on the backcheck, that is the only way this team gets better now.
This D is not good but they aren't THE problem. The forwards absolutely are hideous and playing positionally and backchecking. I don't think I've ever seen a team worse.
Interesting analysis on the forwards. I remember comments by Granato last year about teaching teams/players offense first and then the defense part comes after and more quickly. They obviously tried to work on the D in the offseason and early part of this year, and for awhile it seemed to work as far as cutting down the goals against. Now for a number of reasons that seems to have come apart. I agree the forwards are not coming back to help but the D seems to also have problems clearing the front of the net and at times getting caught deep in the offensive zone. I know it was late in the game but watching Clifton go down behind the opposing goal leaves someone hung out to dry on the way back. Power and Dahlin get caught down there as well. If they were scoring goals like they were last year some of these flaws could be covered up but they just are not right now. Are they caught between an old an new system? That can, and has to change for this team to be any good. It can change in a hurry because there are guys on the team that can score but they have to get at it pretty quick or it's going to be a long season.
-
1
-
-
To talk about the future of Casey M. you have to keep the current team philosophy in perspective. One thing Don Granato is good about is explaining his view on things. During an interview he commented on the need to develop younger players quicker due to NHL salary cap constraints. Given the Power and Dahlin signings I think going forward they are going to identify who they want for the long term at an early age and hope at the end of the day those end up looking like good deals.
Where does that leave Casey? He does one thing extreamly well. He can gain and maintain puck possesion. He might be one of the best in the NHL at doing that. Some times the problem is what comes next. At times he overhandles the puck or worse makes soft backward passes that get picked off and leaves everyone scrambling back to the defensive zone. I will say that there is much less of that this year than there was at this time last year. Many Sabres are good at instinctive east west passing Casey is not one of them. He is much better as a direct down the ice player go get the puck and find an open man. The other thing I would like to see more of is shooting the puck without hesitation. He can't just seem to let one fly without thinking about it. So there is the biggest issue going against him, goal scoring. If you look around the NHL you are not going to find many first or second line centers that don't score in at least once in every 4 games. Tonight will be his 300th game. It's pretty rare that we don't know what a player is with that many games played. He could pop one day and have a 30 goal year but it would probably be a one off. I have to give him credit for the growth in his game but I can't see giving him a big long term contract. Hopefully it won't take that much to keep him around a few more years.
-
12 hours ago, Porous Five Hole said:
Reino was the consensus #2 by all accounts and draft resources. Hindsight is the only reason to lament the pick because Drai has dramatically outperformed his draft status.
Well let me clarify since I was the one who brought the whole thing up. I was lamenting the fact that we took Sam over Leon because I was expecting that we were going to take Leon. There was a lot of steam on Leon and the talking heads on WGR seemed to be pushing in that direction. At least that's the way I remember it. Having said that, Sam is fine player and he was cursed into going into a bad situation. But think about this, what if we screwed up the tank job and picked higher than second the following year? All our collective Sabre blame and hate would probably have come down on Sam. He kind of got a free pass when Jack came to town. It's possible Leon would have ended up in the same boiling pot with the same result. Not that it's worked out all that great for the Oilers. At the end of the day I don't really think Sam fits with what's going on around here at the moment.
-
17 hours ago, Doohickie said:
I have his jersey and everything but... I dunno, feels like getting back together with an ex or something. Besides on his way out he seemed to indicate he was done with Buffalo.
To me he is just a painful reminder that we should have taken Leon Draisaitl.
-
Don't Freak out if Levi does not knock them dead in Rochester. Amerks give up tons of shots on goal so he sure will get some practice. Defensive structure goes out the window in the AHL sometimes and when you get to lines 3 and 4 it can get scary. As far as the arena goes it's a lot better than Syracuse and some how Vasilevskiy survived. In spite of the Arena Syracuse draws big crowds.
-
2
-
1
-
Sabres are loaning Jiri Kulich to Czechia for the WJC
in The Aud Club
Posted
As I recall Kulich was devastated by the way the czech lost in overtime last year to Canada. Going back for another run at it. Interesting move by the Sabres letting him do it. I would bet a lot of teams would not as if nothing else he is a depth forward if there is a rash of injuries.