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Doohickie

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Posts posted by Doohickie

  1. 6 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

    After watching that interview, I'm more convinced Alex is the best choice.

    I won't impugn Dahlin's character or work ethic, but I feel Alex is a better communicator.  It's not Dahlin's fault that English is his second language, but answering the questions you can almost see him still thinking in Swedish and then trying to find English words.

    • Agree 1
  2. 21 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

    I love everything Cliffy says here and he's absolutely right. They need structure and accountability and a hard nosed driving leader/coach but that constant smirk makes me think he knows this is all BS - until it isn't. 

     

    Yeah, I enjoyed his presser.  He was on a team with a long history of success.  I think he was just as sure as the rest of the Sabres that Buffalo would make the playoffs.  It sounds like it was a slap in the face to him that they didn't.

    Watching the exit interviews and wondering which of these players will be gone in the fall.

    Skinner?  Joki?  Comrie? (okay, Comrie for sure), Olofsson?  Krebs?  Jost?  Possibly all dead men walking.

    It wasn't an exit interview, but I watched Comrie's postgame from game 82.  He knows he's done in Buffalo.  It's kind of sad.

    • Agree 1
  3. 5 hours ago, Thorny said:

    I feel like someone around here, maybe it was Randall Flagg (system never allows for him to be tagged) came up with a deep dive on the perils of dumping the puck in for retrieval like half a decade ago haha 

    I think it's comparable to run versus pass in football.  If you always try to carry it in, the other team defends that.  To break that you dump it in and get their Dmen chasing the puck so they don't prevent zone entry.  When the drop off because they're expecting the dump in, you carry it in.  The two types of zone entries complement each other.  If you only do one, the opposing defense will stop you.

    I think that's part of the reason the offense declined this year:  They scored a lot on the rush last year.  Opposing teams jammed up the middle to make that more difficult and the team never countered it until... late in the season where dump ins and forechecking worked.

    Go figure.

  4. 2 hours ago, dudacek said:

    See, I saw the Mitts trade as exactly this.

    Do you disagree, or think it wasn’t enough?

    I think Kevyn picked the wrong center to jettison.  Unfortunately he apparently decided when he signed Cozens that he was going to keep only two of the stud centers, and Casey, for whatever reason, was the odd man out.  I don't understand the reasoning behind it other than Tage and Cozens were already locked up but Casey was on an expiring bridge contract.

    I've felt for at least the last season or so that you need a player like Mitts on the team- can play virtually anywhere in the Top 9 with very little drop off.  When Tage got hurt late last season he took over the top line and they didn't miss a beat and even allowed Donny the luxury of bringing Tage back as a second line winger so he didn't have to step right back in at the top spot.

    I hope that, as some people have said, this trade wasn't in a vacuum and that Kevyn has a plan to replace Casey.  But I'm not sure the team will be better off with Byram + Replacement Center than they would have been with Casey + the Dmen they had.

    • Agree 1
  5. 2 hours ago, RochesterExpat said:

    The failure to promote Peca internally is one of the biggest “little” failures of this organization recently.

    For what it’s worth, Gallant was my choice for coach when DG was hired as the full-time HC. He is still my choice today. I’m not against Lindy and I don’t see Rod “the Bod” Brind-mi-amor as available.

    Gallant and Peca behind the bench would be my dream scenario. Gallant gets his run and then the reigns get passed to Peca eventually once Gallant is abandoned on the side of the road after an away game.

    fify 😉

  6. I don't really think I've "having" either of these things.  I'm just trying to capture the sentiment of the forum.  Overall I think everyone here feels that Donny was at his max, perhaps a little over his head, at the NHL level.

    There are some people here who feel the same about Kevyn, there are others who still think he's doing a good job.

  7. 1 hour ago, LETSTUCHINGO said:
    2 hours ago, phil_soisson said:

    It's a legitimate question. In his presser, he was emphatic that this debacle of a season was on him. 

    What is he suppose to do, put all the blame on the players and coaches and take no responsibility himself. Good leaders share in the blame and take responsibility. 🙄

    The blame isn't as important as the solution.

    I think everyone on this forum would agree that Donny was a great guy, good at developing players, meh at game coaching at the NHL level.  He had to go.

    The board is split as to whether Kevyn is capable of building a contending team.  This has to be weighed against the pros and cons of giving Kevyn another year or two versus turning it over to someone new, which brings its own risks and may further delay the current build or event trigger a new rebuild.

    In simple terms, TPegs looks at progress (or lack thereof) to date, and has to figure out if Kevyn is part of the problem or part of the solution.

    He's given every other GM two coaching hires.  Kevyn had the "penalty" of having to run the previous coach back at the beginning of his administration.  Giving him one more coaching hire follows the TPegs pattern.

    • Thanks (+1) 1
  8. 9 minutes ago, inkman said:

    He’s just inconsequential at this point.  He doesn’t scream “get him off my team” like Skinner or Olofsson.  

    Okay I can deal with that.... so long as Kevyn doesn't have plans for him to play a significant role on the team next season, such as 3C.  If he grows into that, fine, but Kevyn better have other options.

    But the ultimate check and balance I think will be the new HC.  He will look at the roster with fresh eyes and let Kevyn know where the holes and useless players are.

    And I don't expect any significant moves until the new HC is on board.

  9. 3 minutes ago, triumph_communes said:

    Frustrating part was how many pointless dumps there were when last year we’d pass it back to the defense and retain possession during changes. 

    That was frustrating:  They'd "safely" pass it back to the D pair who would then proceed to cough it up when opponents forechecked them.  A lot of the time the Sabres D would have full control but would be too casual with the puck and eventually cough it up.  The most egregious in this regard to my eyes are the Golden Boys:  Power and Dahlin.  It's like they think they are so good (arrogance again?) that they can draw the forecheckers in and then pass at the last moment.  But the longer they wait, the more likely the forecheckers are to steal the puck away.  Dahlin's gaff in Game 82 directly led to a goal against when the thought he was so good, he could carry the puck through a double team right in front of his own net.

    Dahlin *is* very good but he needs to be more conservative in his play deep in his own zone.  Don't cut it so close.  I know most here consider Bryson to be a scrub but late in the season one thing he did very well was quickly clear the zone and not mess around with the puck near his own net.  Not fancy, but effective.

    • Like (+1) 1
    • Agree 1
  10. The things Chad dinged Kevyn for this year have largely self-resolved:

    • Connor Clifton improved (albeit still only a 3rd pairing guy, but with the rest of the D that's not much of a concern to me)
    • Erik Johnson is gone
    • UPL is the clear #1

    There is still an open issue about who #2 will be.  Will Levi be ready, or does Kevyn need to bring in another NHL backup and let Levi work on his game in Rochester?

  11. 52 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

    Here's something that reiterated a lot of what this board has said.

     

     

    From the linked article,

    Quote

    All the Sabres did for the majority of the season was turn the puck over by dumping it into the offensive zone. They were unable to regain possession and were chasing the puck again.

    That's something I mentioned a day or two ago.  When they *did* make a concerted effort to win the puck away from defenders in the Sabres offensive zone, they looked a lot better.  It just didn't happen enough.

    • Like (+1) 2
  12.   

    15 minutes ago, sabresouth said:

    Hopefully KA thinks his job is in jeopardy and is willing to take large steps instead of baby steps.

    I'm not sure large steps are required to get the team over the top.  You don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

    For instance, everyone bags on Krebs right now, but for number of NHL games played I wonder how his fancystats compare to those of Mitts at the same point in Mitts' career?  We could trade him away right now as an accessory piece on a larger deal, but might Kevyn think he's the next player to blossom and trading him would be throwing value away?  I mean realistically, if they think Krebs is on the same trajectory as Mitts play-wise, *and* he plays with more of an edge, *and* projects as being hurt less often, maybe Krebs is the right guy to keep.  It's not so long ago that many here considered Mitts a bust.  (I'm  not saying I believe this is the case, just citing as an example of possible drivers behind who they keep and who they deal that are not readily apparent to fans.)

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