pi2000

Hall shouldn't have forced the puck to Dahlin with Reinhart wide open down low. That said, I'm OK with the turnover... it happens, good stick by Goodreau. What I'm not OK with is Dahlin's initial move at Goodreau. His stick AND body angle toward the puck. That's a play you see in squirts and peewee, which any decent coach will correct at a young age. He should have had stick on puck, BODY ON BODY. For me this all goes back to bad practice habits. You can tell by the way they play that they aren't physical enough in practice and it shows up in this sequence.

I'll allow it.

I predict they win one of their next 3 games... and 2 if their next 5.

I disagree 🙂 Their biggest weakness is scoring 5-on-5. IMO there's enough talent that they should be better than what they've shown the past 6 weeks.

Not so much the GAA, but the sv%. Giving up 4 goals with a < .900 sv% is a losing recipe.

Positioning, recovery, athletic ability, rebound control, depth, vision... etc.. all apoeared very amatuer to my trained eye. Sure its his first NHL game action in a few years, but I consider him a downgrade from JJ.

Granato is refreshingly honest with the media compared to the past few coaches. He's attempting to address the things we as fans have agreed are plaguing this team... pace, thinking too much and puck management. Housley had a similar approach, but for whatever reason he failed at getting the players to consistently buy in. Can Granato get through to this group? All he can do is try his best, time will be the final judge.

You also need to consider the number of people who have antibodies fron past infection. Personally, I know more people who have been sick with covid than those who have been vaccinated.

Tokarski was what I thought he would be. Below average. In the land of the blind, one-eyed man is king.

good idea as long as capacity remains limited and masks are still required

Leamans associate head coach at Providence is Ron Rolston. Not sure I'm ready for another gardening gloves experience quite yet. Coaching pro's is an entirely different experience than coaching college or junior players. Karl Taylor has a very successful history of coaching pro's. I'd rather go that route at this point they don't have the luxury of experimenting with amatuer coaches.

I hate this trade. JJ has improved at every level, he's obviously not NHL ready yet, but he's only 25. We probably won't here his name for a few years, but and some point I wouldn't be surprised if he matures into an above average NHLer.

There's no checking in women's hockey and anybody who's ever played knows it's a completely different game without hitting. I can't watch it either, it's a slower softer sport, like watching rec league. Why is that a bad take? It's the truth. Don't get me wrong, I love the fact that women play and there's a women's league, good for them, and I've watched some, it just isn't entertaining to me. Eventually therr will be women coaches, we're not there yet tho.

He's still young for a goalie.

Considering it's the Sabres my guess is their fax machine is probably down.

He's only 25 and was an AHL all-star. Goalies can take a long time to develop, he was on a nice trajectory I would've kept him around.

Do we know if Don Granato is vaccinated due to his at-risk status after his bout with pneumonia?

They drafted him 7 years ago and developed him slowly, working his way up the ranks, SHL, ECHL, AHL, AHL all-star, etc.. developing like a goalie prospect should.... and now he's gone, some other team gets to reap the rewards of all the resources BUF put into his development. And we keep Carter Hutton. SMH I woulda put JJ back in Roch with UPL. Tokarski backing up Hutton with Ullmark out, and Houser on taxi squad.

I'll say it again, they should not have played yesterday, take a day and see if it's spreading. Foolish.

This is great to hear, but will likely be a few weeks before we see it translate into game action.

please waive Hutton

I liked Granato's post game presser, sounds like he has a plan, and is chomping at the bit to get after it and start to fix this mess at practice. He was spot on about puck management and playing with pace. I expect practices will be much more demanding and up tempo. Might take a few weeks with the sparse practice schedule, but I expect to see an improvement.

I can imagine for the majority of practice time the players are just standing around huddled around a whiteboard trying to figure out RKs wacky system while he rambles on with long winded philosophical responses to every little question.

Circling back on Dahlin, he was never explosive or fast but he's slower and more sluggish than his first 2 seasons. Reason one is he's put on weight... which is good, but only if done correctly without sacrificing speed and quickness. Reason two is RK's practices which are mentally more than physically challenging... you can tell because the entire team plays slow and is one or two steps behind in all areas.

The team overall looks poorly conditioned. That won't change this season. Lots of mistakes at the end of shifts. You can tell training camp and the practices (do they even practice?) are not demanding whatsoever. They all looked gassed heads down struggling to get back in the play. Bag skate them for 2hrs/day for a month please K thanks.