pi2000

If he's gone I certainly won't miss his 38% FOW, career -92, sluggish feet, and pissy post game attitude. Again, if he's not scoring he's a liability. For a guy who supposedly has great vision and setup skills, his numbers don't tell the same story. 159 assists in 443 games... thats 1 assist every 3 games.... playing mostly with one of the top snippers in the game you'd expect more.

lol, he took 8 of 61 faceoffs. As a team they won 54%, and for that reason, and that reason alone, they won... because faceoffs matter 😛

Ralph Donny last 10 games (league ranking in parens) CF% 48.87(18) 43.90(28) SF% 47.27(28) 44.83(26) xGF/60 2.09(29) 2.41(13) xGA/60 2.59(29) 2.72(25) HDCF/60 10.04(17) 10.68(12) HDCA/60 10.40(20) 11.29(21) SH% 5.92(31) 11.72(2) HDSH% 12.14(31) 21.13(7) SV% 88.98(30) 92.56(8) HDSV% 80.40(22) 89.47(6)

I don't know that's the reason. If it's not I've lost even more respect for Sam. He was a douche in the post game... admit it. The team is playing well, he buries a couple, and brings that ***** attitude to the presser? What a loser.... at least be happy for the team, mention the guys who helped you score, give them some credit, mention what a great job Donny has done, etc.... instead of coming off as an entitled little prick still butt hurt about what some reporter said about you months ago. Selfish.

His plus/minus was zero, and he lost 6 of 8 faceoffs. The goals were nice and I didn't notice him sweeping the ice with his backside as much as usual, so ya he's a great center, give him all the money... smh.

haha what? I don't shut people out because they criticized me over a year ago. I'm a big boy, I can handle criticism, Sam obviously cannot. He's not a guy I'd enjoy coaching, god forbid you look at him the wrong way, he might shut you out.

Haha, I'm not rattled one bit. Just wish he wasn't so mentally fragile that he has to hold a grudge against a reporter who asked a legitimate question over a year ago about his lack of effort a day after Sam himself called out his teammates effort.

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.