pi2000

If he's too mentally weak to handle a reporter asking a valid question, then honestly... I don't want him around.

They're still largely a mess in their own end. If he can clean that up them I'm all for keeping him around. If not, then you need to bring in somebody who can coach both ends of the ice. Believe it or not, there are other coaches who believe in high pace, physically challenging practices who let players play to their strengths AND can coach them up in the d-zone.

Sam, 2 for 8 on faceoffs, even plus/minus... (he's a minus 1 over the past 10 games). His goals were nice shots from distance, very out of character for him. He's not getting any better at faceoffs. He came off as a douche in the post game. That said I believe he's best deployed on the wing. I don't necessarily want to see him traded, but I'm.not sure he's a fit for what KA us trying to build (guys with quickness, speed and very high motors).

Hall and Staal were huge drags on the team. Okposo is too, he tries hard, but he's slow and looses every race. This is probably the fastest team we've had in Buffalo in years. Best I've seen their transition game in a long time. Ullmark coming back helped and now Tokarski is playing well.

At the time of the pick I wanted Zegras or Caufield. Zegras reminds me of a young Jason Spezza. Skill for days, creative, unlimited upside. Caufield not just because of his shot, but because he simply has a knack for scoring. Guys like him only come around once every 7 or 8 years and what he has can't be taught. Cozens is already a hell of a player tho and happy we have him.

The young guns are being allowed to stretch their wings... that's great. They look excellent, I'm all for whatever he's doing with them, they're 1000% more fun to watch and with above average goaltending they're winning some games. That's all fantastic.... but let's not kid ourselves. They're catching teams off-guard right now, but once that wears off, and teams start actually game-planning for their attacking style, they're going to have to adjust... even focus on playing a more defensive game at times depending on the matchup. Can Donny adjust and stay ahead of the curve? I don't know, maybe, maybe not... that's why you have to continue to seriously evaluate your options at the HC position, especially when there are proven veterans available.

Put Toronto in Holiday Twin Rinks... or Caz Park.

Casey is playing for a contract. Does he go back to his tabacco fueled late night Fortnite sessions once he gets paid?

He should be a head coach..... in Rochester. They're playing fast, free and loose. But in a 7 game series vs Barry Trotz they get smoked. They need a HC who can continue to generate offense, but also shore up the defensive side of the puck.... not an easy thing to do. There's an old saying in Tennessee.... Do better.

3 https://www.hockey-reference.com/teams/BUF/2013_games.html

I didn't say that, smh. Sure they played a great game, took advantage of a sluggish Caps squad. I loved how they played. But, lets be honest, the Caps are the cream of the crop in the Mass Mutual East Division, they simply didn't show up tonight.

Nice win, they had their foot on the gas for 60min. But... IMO, and I'll prolly get crucified for this, the outcome was a product of the Caps simply not showing up to play.

Hold up... if they remove the disk, don't the adjacent vertebrae eventually fuse together? That can't be good in the neck area for a hockey player.

Just in time to help oversee trade deadline deals.... oh wait.

posted the numbers in another thread... Even strength possession numbers (corsi), and high danger chances for/against are a bit worse under Granato. Near the bottom of the league in HDCA. Even strength shooting percentage has doubled from 6% to 12% (2nd in the league during that stretch). HDSH% is up from 12% to 19%. ES save percentage is up a few percent thanks to Ullmark. So the only way they keep staying un games is if they continue their high shooting % and get above average goaltending. Is that sustainable? In the short term yes, maybe even to the end of the season. Over an entire 82 game season? Not likely, which is why the should pump the brakes on hiring Granato as full-time HC.

I agree, I was expecting them to be generating more scoring chances under Granato.... which is what my eyes were telling me. RK was fired march 17th. Considering it may have taken 2 weeks for the stink of RK to wear off, we'll take a look at high danger numbers since April 1st. HDChancesFor/60: 9.99 (11th worst in the league) HDChancesAgainst/60: 12.25 (7th worst) ...those numbers are actually significantly worse than under RK. That said, even strength shooting % since April 1st is 12% (5.9% under RK)... second best in the entire league. Is that sustainable? Based on these numbers you could even say they're playing worse as a team under Granato, but are getting lucky recently.

I compared fancy stats (at even strength) for both Kruger and Granato's time with the team this season. The short summary is that I believe the turnaround is primarily because of two things.... improved shooting %, and Ullmark. Kruger: GF/60: 1.59 GA/60: 3.29 xGF/60: 2.09 xGA/60: 2.59 Shooting %: 5.92 Save %: 88.98 CF%: 48.87 High Danger Chances For / 60: 10.04 High Danger Chances Against / 60: 10.4 Granato: GF/60: 2.69 GA/60: 3.14 xGF/60: 2.18 xGA/60: 2.81 Shooting %: 9.62 Save %: 91.09 CF%: 48.03 High Danger Chances For / 60: 10.3 High Danger Chances Against / 60: 10.75 They're generating the same amount of high danger chances as they were under Kruger, but their SH% (high danger) improved from 12 to 19%. HDSV% stayed about the same at 80-81%, but overall SV% as improved a few percentage points with Ullmark. What does this say about Granato? Well, he's successfully brought the team out of their shooting % funk. But that's about it. Their CF% and HDCA are actually a bit worse under Granato, albeit a smaller sample size. Does he deserve consideration as full-time HC moving forward? Sure, however the underlying possession and high danger numbers are actually slightly worse than they were under Kruger, so buyer beware.

I lost trust when he let RK stick around too long. Coach Donny knew right away what needed to be fixed. The fact that KA didn't realize this sooner is a major red flag when it comes to his ability to judge coaching candidates.

They have a losing record under Granato and Ullmark is bailing them out. They're scoring more but still giving up way too many high danger chances. That's fixable with the right coach. Can Donny fix hit? They haven't improved in that area.

That's the job of the GM, I'm not privy to those conversations. Do you trust Adams to make the right hire?

That's just an example. d-zone draws, end of period, end of game, over time, PK, can't ice the puck when he's out there, what if the opposing team puts out their best face-off guy (Bergeron, O'Reilly) do you let Sam take the draw? etc. etc etc. What if you're in one of those situations and his line is due up? Do you sit him? Then he's not getting enough ice time... it's just something extra a coach has to be aware of, that he would be better of not wasting time thinking about. At some point, he'll say ***** it and just put him back at wing because of the severe migraine Sam is giving him.

At what point does it become a concern? mid to low 40's, I'm not too worried about it... but Sam is 38%, career 36%... meaning BUF loses possession roughly 2 out of every 3 times he lines up on the dot. That's a red flag IMO... and the only way I keep him at center is if he absolutely excels in every other area of playing center... and I'm pulling him immediately for d-zone draws, end of game, over-time, etc... It complicates things immensely for a coach, eg Sam absolutely cannot take a face-off in overtime or at the end of a close game, ever.

https://www.the-rink.com/despite-what-some-experts-say-faceoffs-matter/ "if you want to be a possession team—ie, fuel the ongoing Corsi frenzy of so many would-be analytics gurus—and direct more shots at your opponent’s net than they direct at yours—you have to first possess the puck."

Please, I'm begging you, show me where I said we should dump him because he's not good at face-offs. Stop putting words in my mouth and making stuff up to fit your weak narrative.

Nice deflection... JoJo like reflexes, impressive 🙂 Being able to at least break close to even at the faceoff dot is a pre-requisite for playing center in the best league in the world. His 38% is nowhere near breaking even... he's taken 842 faceoffs in his career and Buffalo has gained possession on only 36% of them.... he sucks at it. Let me put this way, there are 248 players who have taken at least 800 faceoffs since Reinharts rookie season.... of those 248, Samson ranks 247th in win percentage. The only player worse than him is Jack Hughes. 3rd worst is a full 2 percentage points better than both them. So, should he stick at center? I think he's a better winger, and not just because of face-offs, but it is part of the equation.