What would you do if you were in charge?

[carpandean]

He broke up what was, at the time, the most productive line in the NHL. Why, because Jochen Hecht, a guy who actually is not even a center, got healthy?

 

Not saying it was a smart move to take Luke off of the top line, but it was done long before Jochen came back healthy. For example, Roy centered that line for the two games (Nov. 18 and 19) before Jochen returned (Nov. 23.) I didn't look back any further, but I know that the move was made earlier.

[stenbaro]

Edmonton did bottom out the next few years, but by the same token would they have if they'd have taken Vanek? Impossible to see if it would have made us better imho. I'm happy we have Vanek, not sure there are that many goal scorers of his ilk around so why not keep the one we have.

We have seen more than enough of Vanek to be able to give a reasonable answer to that I believe. He has scored a ton of goals, weve made the playoffs once since then. Maybe 4 games difference?????..Its all hindsight and blah blah blah anyway Im just saying that maybe they shoulda just started over then instead of treading water with the crap hand weve been getting dealt since then...When it all shakes out by the end of this season and the offseason starts again bottom line is were still gonna be left with the same crappy players this management has been relying on for 4 yrs now...( as long as Darcy is left to run the team) With that being said Vanek is the one player on this team that the opponent has to be concerned with and he has developed into a very very good player...If he only had someone to get him the puck in the right spot it would be scary...

[SwampD]

Not saying it was a smart move to take Luke off of the top line, but it was done long before Jochen came back healthy. For example, Roy centered that line for the two games (Nov. 18 and 19) before Jochen returned (Nov. 23.) I didn't look back any further, but I know that the move was made earlier.

I know there was some hyperbole in my statement but the point is the same. Why do it at all. I hate the phrase "roll four lines". Secondary scoring is only important if there is primary scoring.

[dEnnis the Menace]

We have seen more than enough of Vanek to be able to give a reasonable answer to that I believe. He has scored a ton of goals, weve made the playoffs once since then. Maybe 4 games difference?????..Its all hindsight and blah blah blah anyway Im just saying that maybe they shoulda just started over then instead of treading water with the crap hand weve been getting dealt since then...When it all shakes out by the end of this season and the offseason starts again bottom line is were still gonna be left with the same crappy players this management has been relying on for 4 yrs now...( as long as Darcy is left to run the team) With that being said Vanek is the one player on this team that the opponent has to be concerned with and he has developed into a very very good player...If he only had someone to get him the puck in the right spot it would be scary...

 

twice. But otherwise, yupp

[Huckleberry]

why not put leino for a streak of 15 games on the top line as center, we bought the ###### as center lets put him there for

a longer period of time, instead of shuffling him around. the season is a wash anyways. And hope he finally finds his groove.

[Who Else?]

why not put leino for a streak of 15 games on the top line as center, we bought the ###### as center lets put him there for

a longer period of time, instead of shuffling him around. the season is a wash anyways. And hope he finally finds his groove.

 

Leino can't play center because he doesn't know where the center of the ice is. This guy is hardly ever more than five feet from the boards.

Of all the problems with this team he is the one I am most frustrated with. I liked his game in Philly. The only real difference other than production is this reluctance to get off the wall.

 

You can be great at battling on the wall, but if everytime you get the puck you skate it to the wall you are not winning battles but creating them instead of scoring chances. And what is up with those horrible weak backhand passes all the time.

 

However' I did notice him skating down the middle during the third period last night. He was banging his stick like crazy when he seen open ice. Then he flubbed the reception as soon as the leaf defender was in sight.

 

I know there isn'tr a damn thing you can do with him transaction wise, but I would like Lindy to make him stand in front of the net and let Myers and the other pointmen fire shots into him instead of Vanek.

[dEnnis the Menace]

I know there was some hyperbole in my statement but the point is the same. Why do it at all. I hate the phrase "roll four lines". Secondary scoring is only important if there is primary scoring.

 

We have primary scoring. In fact Vanek and Pominville single handedly account for 30% of this teams points. The other 23 players that have points account for the other 70%. That's pretty bad.

 

total points: 289 points

Vanek and Pominville: 83 combined points (29%)

Rest of the team (23 players with points): 206 points. 71%

 

What I'm getting at is that 2 players account for 30% of the scoring, while 28 other players that have dressed have the remaining 70%. 206 points divided by 28 is anywhere from 7 to 10 points per player not named Vanek or Pominville, and 40+ for those two. There is NO secondary scoring.

 

Luke Adam has 20 points. Most of his points came when he centered Vanek and Pominville. Hecht has 7 points since he's been back, all on that line. Roy has 24 points, and I still don't know why or how...he is so scattered.

 

We have very limited scoring elsewhere...

[spndnchz]

I know there was some hyperbole in my statement but the point is the same. Why do it at all. I hate the phrase "roll four lines". Secondary scoring is only important if there is primary scoring.

 

Adam first 11 games - 11 points

Adam next 7 games 2 points

 

Kassian first 6 games - 5 points

Kassian next 12 games - 1 point

 

I think these guys get all hyped up for the early games of their career and then think it's going to be sooo easy, stop trying as hard as they were, and the production or lack of it follows.

[stenbaro]

Leino can't play center because he doesn't know where the center of the ice is. This guy is hardly ever more than five feet from the boards.

Of all the problems with this team he is the one I am most frustrated with. I liked his game in Philly. The only real difference other than production is this reluctance to get off the wall.

 

You can be great at battling on the wall, but if everytime you get the puck you skate it to the wall you are not winning battles but creating them instead of scoring chances. And what is up with those horrible weak backhand passes all the time.

 

However' I did notice him skating down the middle during the third period last night. He was banging his stick like crazy when he seen open ice. Then he flubbed the reception as soon as the leaf defender was in sight.

 

I know there isn'tr a damn thing you can do with him transaction wise, but I would like Lindy to make him stand in front of the net and let Myers and the other pointmen fire shots into him instead of Vanek.

Kinda interesting that Pominville and Leino's game suffered when a certain center(briere) was removed from their line..He is still paying us back for not signing him...lol

[...]

A while ago I mentioned firing Darcy, and if the new GM were to fire Lindy I would be okay with that. Assuming the Sabres hold on to Lindy, then at least the new GM should force Lindy to adopt a new system.

[shrader]

This is the 23rd day since I started this thread. It was obvious to me, and I would guess to everyone else here, that they needed to do something 23 days ago.

 

On that day, they were 16-13-3 and 1 point out of the playoffs. Since then, they've gone 2-8 and are now 5 points out of the playoffs.

 

I would also assume that the trade value of virtually everyone on the roster has declined since then.

 

This is on Darcy.

 

That's a bit of an overstatement. A player's trade value isn't going to trade much due to a 10 game stretch. These guys are viewed a specific way from team to team by GMs/scouting staffs. That's not going to change much over the course of a season.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

That's a bit of an overstatement. A player's trade value isn't going to trade much due to a 10 game stretch. These guys are viewed a specific way from team to team by GMs/scouting staffs. That's not going to change much over the course of a season.

 

Except with young players who have a small sample size. I would wager that you could have gotten more for Adam or Enroth 4-6 weeks ago than you could right now. See *Rob Johnson

[nfreeman]

That's a bit of an overstatement. A player's trade value isn't going to trade much due to a 10 game stretch. These guys are viewed a specific way from team to team by GMs/scouting staffs. That's not going to change much over the course of a season.

 

You're right in the abstract, but in reality, any trading partner knows that the Sabres have entered desperation mode and accordingly the price for trades has gotten higher. Also, Roy, who has to be high on the list of trading candidates, got hurt again.

[shrader]

Except with young players who have a small sample size. I would wager that you could have gotten more for Adam or Enroth 4-6 weeks ago than you could right now. See *Rob Johnson

 

I would think it would be the exact opposite with them. They're so early in their careers that they're still mostly judged by their reputation leaving juniors. There's at least some book to go by with a Pominville or a Hecht.

 

I like the Rob Johnson example though. I think we're just viewing them in a different portion of their career than he was. I say Adam, Enroth, and some of the other young guys are still at that Jacksonville stage and you think they're at the first year with the Bills stage.

[R_Dudley]

Okay, deep breaths and baby steps, I am assuming status quo will continue to prevail and now espouse a different apporach.

 

If I were in charge right now I would ask the coach whats he specifcally doing to get this team out of this funk? I would ask him if he has looked at what successful teams are doing or have done ? I would then show him what the team leading the league has been doing and ask why this wouldn't work for us..

 

 

Taken from Rangers site ... His team is first in the league with a four-game winning streak and 56 points, but coach John Tortorella didn’t like what he saw when the Rangers took the ice Monday morning in Greenburgh.

 

So he sent his club back to the dressing room, pushed the “reset” button and started over.

 

Even a team 9-1-0 in their last 10 games needs the occasional reminder.

 

“When you’ve found ways to win some games and you’re getting your points, it’s human nature to forget about the details,” said Tortorella.

 

The message was received and, judging from the high-paced, up-tempo practice that followed his initial admonishment, it resonated among the players.

 

“We were pretty gross that first shift or first drill,” veteran Mike Rupp admitted. “He just wants us to be accountable for our actions. You don’t want anything carrying over for the game tomorrow. I think that’s been one of our strongest assets -- that we don’t let thing slide, at all.”

 

Rupp, who has played with five different organizations since breaking into the league in 2002, said that’s a refreshing message from a coach hell-bent on coaxing the most out of his players by any means necessary.

 

“Whether it’s kicking us off practice for a minute or sitting one of our top guys for a couple shifts, everyone‘s accountable,” Rupp said. “We understand you need to bring it every time you step on the ice.”

 

Tortorella’s tactics could be more grating if, say, he were only to discipline certain players. But no one appears safe from the fiery coach’s ire, and that approach has forged a certain sense of unity among the 26-9-4 Blueshirts.

 

“Every one of us is a Ranger, no matter who we are, what our name is, how much we make,” said center Brian Boyle. “He pushes us to get out of our comfort zones and become better players. I think that’s a good thing. I think we’ve come a long way with him as our coach. We have the most points right now, but he doesn’t want us to be satisfied. We haven’t reached our goal yet.”

[SwampD]

Adam first 11 games - 11 points

Adam next 7 games 2 points

 

Kassian first 6 games - 5 points

Kassian next 12 games - 1 point

 

I think these guys get all hyped up for the early games of their career and then think it's going to be sooo easy, stop trying as hard as they were, and the production or lack of it follows.

Is the 12th game right around when Adam was taken off the first line? I really don't know. Either way, his production on that line was greater than Hecht's.

[spndnchz]

Is the 12th game right around when Adam was taken off the first line? I really don't know. Either way, his production on that line was greater than Hecht's.

 

Adam was taken off the top line after his 18th game. Hence, my point of why he was taken off of it and why Kassian is no longer here (beside cap reasons). That was in my non-snarky voice.

[SwampD]

Adam was taken off the top line after his 18th game. Hence, my point of why he was taken off of it and why Kassian is no longer here (beside cap reasons). That was in my non-snarky voice.

And that's the tinkering that drives me crazy. In those 7 games, 4 of the 5 in which he didn't score were wins. There was no need to change the chemistry of not only the top line but the ones that were working.

[Pullup Champ]

whats Craig Ramsey up to?

[Sabres Fan in NS]

whats Craig Ramsey up to?

 

Ramsay.

[RazielSabre]

We have seen more than enough of Vanek to be able to give a reasonable answer to that I believe. He has scored a ton of goals, weve made the playoffs once since then. Maybe 4 games difference?????..Its all hindsight and blah blah blah anyway Im just saying that maybe they shoulda just started over then instead of treading water with the crap hand weve been getting dealt since then...When it all shakes out by the end of this season and the offseason starts again bottom line is were still gonna be left with the same crappy players this management has been relying on for 4 yrs now...( as long as Darcy is left to run the team) With that being said Vanek is the one player on this team that the opponent has to be concerned with and he has developed into a very very good player...If he only had someone to get him the puck in the right spot it would be scary...

 

IMHO our problems start and end with Ruff and Regier. Until their gone we can't begin to see what might happen. Classic sports, team performs badly and management have to take the fall first. In this case they deserve it, this is pathetic.

[TheChimp]

I trying to think of a dumber reply.

 

 

I can't.

Not a Bill Cosby fan, I guess. Sheesh, you guys need to stop taking yourselves this seriously.

 

But if you must always get Shakespeare as responses to your drivel, what I was angry at was his assumption that firing Lindy and re-hiring Ted Nolan was somehow a step backwards. I won't go into how stupid that assumption is, because I seem to not be able to breathe around here without someone attacking me for existing. But there is zero logic in his argument and it made me upset to read it.

[RazielSabre]

Not a Bill Cosby fan, I guess. Sheesh, you guys need to stop taking yourselves this seriously.

 

But if you must always get Shakespeare as responses to your drivel, what I was angry at was his assumption that firing Lindy and re-hiring Ted Nolan was somehow a step backwards. I won't go into how stupid that assumption is, because I seem to not be able to breathe around here without someone attacking me for existing. But there is zero logic in his argument and it made me upset to read it.

Rather than bringing in new blood you can't see how going back to a coach who lasted next to no time and couldn't get a job in the entire NHL for years, is backwards? Infact isn't he coaching the mens Latvian team? Powerhouse...

[TheChimp]

Rather than bringing in new blood you can't see how going back to a coach who lasted next to no time and couldn't get a job in the entire NHL for years, is backwards? Infact isn't he coaching the mens Latvian team? Powerhouse...

I'm not saying Ted Nolan is a great coach. I'm saying the reasoning in the dude's argument was severely lacking. Because it was. If he used the arguments YOU just used I wouldn't have had the kiniption.

[RazielSabre]

I'm not saying Ted Nolan is a great coach. I'm saying the reasoning in the dude's argument was severely lacking. Because it was. If he used the arguments YOU just used I wouldn't have had the kiniption.

Right, ok. I'll leave that there then :D