LTS Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Even if he is going to make deals, it isn't going to happen until the trade deadline. Relative values of players increase dramatically in that 1-2 day period. And I'm fine with this.. right now the only thing that matters to me is that the Sabres can maximize their benefit from any trade they make. This season is hopeless and all that matters is what happens for next season at this point. Whether the trade comes at the deadline or the moves happen after the season it doesn't matter to me anymore. The one thing I know, regardless of fault, is that this team is dysfunctional and it is broken. This season is lost. The only way it's not lost is if this roster (with any moves) suddenly makes a deep playoff run in which case I'll be a happy fan and won't care about today. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabres Fan in NS Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 I will try again ... I have a source, of a source, who has an uncle, that is good friends with someone close to a source's cousin once removed that says ... Darcy is looking to deal! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrader Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Stop looking at stats and start watching the games. Every defenseman on this team has been a bad for at least a good part of the season(some for the majority of the season). The bad play varies from giveaways, to guys who become enamored with watching the puck instead of covering opponents, to not playing physical, prone to wilting under a hard forecheck, etc... The vast majority of it stems from the forwards not helping out enough in their own zone. These blue liners can't do everything. When they're forced to make long clearing passes to the forwards, the turnover rate is bound to go through the roof. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabattBlue Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 The vast majority of it stems from the forwards not helping out enough in their own zone. These blue liners can't do everything. When they're forced to make long clearing passes to the forwards, the turnover rate is bound to go through the roof. While I agree that the forwards share some of the blame in terms of their defensive zone coverage, I sitll think the blueliners as a group have been below average. Not that you are implying this, but there has to be more in terms of being a defenseman than just being mobile. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deluca67 Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 My point was only that skill based teams can be successful. That Sabres arent losing because of toughness, they cant score. Its not like they are being beat down and not getting scoring chances. Every team is going to get scoring chances. Even the worst teams in the league can get scoring chances. The Sabres don't have the talent up front to be successful playing soft hockey. This team needs to bang bodies and stay on top of the D with their forecheck and create turnovers. A strong, physical and agressive forecheck would cure many of the Sabres offensive ills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nfreeman Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Stop looking at stats and start watching the games. Every defenseman on this team has been a bad for at least a good part of the season(some for the majority of the season). The bad play varies from giveaways, to guys who become enamored with watching the puck instead of covering opponents, to not playing physical, prone to wilting under a hard forecheck, etc... Well, I think the bolded part is overstated, but there is plenty of truth to it. Myers has been inconsistent (although pretty good IMHO since returning from injury), Weber has looked worse than last year and downright lost at times, MAG has been more down than up, and Leopold has been very spotty. I think Ehrhoff, Sekera and Regehr have been pretty good. I will say that for Myers, Ehrhoff, and Sekera, I was expecting/hoping to see them produce more offense -- more rushing the puck up ice, more acting as the trailer on odd-man rushes, more everything. And I think that the lousy goaltending Miller and Enroth have delivered have been chiefly responsible for this -- i.e. the defensemen don't want to play a freewheeling game if they don't have confidence that their goalies can bail them out. This in turn produces more pressure on the forwards to produce without the help of the D -- and the forwards have unequivocally demonstrated that they aren't up to the task. So my bottom line is that it's all connected. It doesn't really work to say that the D is fine but the forwards are lousy. None of the 3 units has done what it has needed to do, and as a result all 3 have been dragged down. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deluca67 Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 I wasn't cherry-picking. Weber was brought up by someone else as a specific example of someone who hits, but picks his spots. Even in picking his spots, he has more offensive talent than any Sabre, and still manages to hit at a level compared to our 5 skilled defensemen combined. I don't think Nashville is a tough team. I was responding to the specific example of Weber. We have Regehr, but he has nowhere near the offense that Weber does. Weber manages to lead in all aspects of play.....that was the point. I "cherry-pick" Callahan because he is everything you want in a player. He is skilled, smart, a true captain and leader.....and he hits almost as much as the Sabres top 9 forwards combined. Again....to prove that skill and grit DO exist in other cities....but not Buffalo. Could you teach Darcy how to "pick cherrys?" The cherrys that Regier picks leave a lot to be desired. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabres Fan in NS Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 I tried, but this puppy is officially off the rails. Knightrider (or other mod), I realize that it will take concerted effort but could you please merge all the junk out of here ... to anyplace, not sure where? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
apuszczalowski Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 WTF is your problem? Every time someone disagrees with you, you feel the need to throw a temper tantrum? Maybe if you are not in the "mode" and "want to say inapproriate things", you should logout, and come back later when you have your big boy pants on. I replyed to Delucas comment about how someone could say that the defence has been goodMy response wasn't serious, I never meant for him throw a tantrum because I said he didn't watch hockey. Just that by reading stat lines and not watching the games, its possible to determine that the defence is playing good. Also if you believe that hitting = playing good defence Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nfreeman Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 My point was only that skill based teams can be successful. That Sabres arent losing because of toughness, they cant score. Its not like they are being beat down and not getting scoring chances. Every team is going to get scoring chances. Even the worst teams in the league can get scoring chances. The Sabres don't have the talent up front to be successful playing soft hockey. This team needs to bang bodies and stay on top of the D with their forecheck and create turnovers. A strong, physical and agressive forecheck would cure many of the Sabres offensive ills. DeLuca beat me to it. The Sabres' forecheck is terrible. The puck goes in, the Sabres get zero or one shot, and it goes right back out again. There's a reason that the Sabres haven't been scoring more than 1 goal a game, or forcing the opponents to commit more than 1 or 2 penalties per game. If you can't forecheck, you can't win in the NHL. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabres Fan in NS Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 On second thought ... Forget the merge ... that would be to much work for the mods. PLEASE LOCK THIS THREAD! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deluca67 Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 On second thought ... Forget the merge ... that would be to much work for the mods. PLEASE LOCK THIS THREAD! What would you expect? A thread about Regier making trades is like a thread about Rosie O'Donnell looking sexy, neither are likely to happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LabattBlue Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 So my bottom line is that it's all connected. It doesn't really work to say that the D is fine but the forwards are lousy. None of the 3 units has done what it has needed to do, and as a result all 3 have been dragged down. I'm fine with this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nfreeman Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 On second thought ... Forget the merge ... that would be to much work for the mods. PLEASE LOCK THIS THREAD! Settle down. There are a bunch of posters in the middle of a conversation that is related to the OP. If you don't like it, feel free to vote with your feet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darksabre Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 DeLuca beat me to it. The Sabres' forecheck is terrible. The puck goes in, the Sabres get zero or one shot, and it goes right back out again. There's a reason that the Sabres haven't been scoring more than 1 goal a game, or forcing the opponents to commit more than 1 or 2 penalties per game. If you can't forecheck, you can't win in the NHL. Precisely the problem. You see good teams take over the offensive zone multiple times per game. Detroit does it with talented guys like Datsyuk, Boston does it by grinding it out with Lucic. Any good team is going to bring a combination of speed and grit to the forecheck in order to win puck battles. There are no forwards in our top 6 capable of winning battles and fighting for the puck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Derrico Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Well, I think the bolded part is overstated, but there is plenty of truth to it. Myers has been inconsistent (although pretty good IMHO since returning from injury), Weber has looked worse than last year and downright lost at times, MAG has been more down than up, and Leopold has been very spotty. I think Ehrhoff, Sekera and Regehr have been pretty good. I will say that for Myers, Ehrhoff, and Sekera, I was expecting/hoping to see them produce more offense -- more rushing the puck up ice, more acting as the trailer on odd-man rushes, more everything. And I think that the lousy goaltending Miller and Enroth have delivered have been chiefly responsible for this -- i.e. the defensemen don't want to play a freewheeling game if they don't have confidence that their goalies can bail them out. This in turn produces more pressure on the forwards to produce without the help of the D -- and the forwards have unequivocally demonstrated that they aren't up to the task. So my bottom line is that it's all connected. It doesn't really work to say that the D is fine but the forwards are lousy. None of the 3 units has done what it has needed to do, and as a result all 3 have been dragged down. Bingo, I still think our D is atleast average but the real appeal to this group was the offensive capabilities. I really thought we would get some legit scoring from our D. So far this year, only Leopold has contributed on that end of the rink on a regular basis. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
K-9 Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 What would you expect? A thread about Regier making trades is like a thread about Rosie O'Donnell looking sexy, neither are likely to happen. Hey, Rosie O'Donnell would be a fox if she lost 10 pounds. There's a Sabres/hockey analogy in there somewhere. GO SABRES!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabres Fan in NS Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Settle down. There are a bunch of posters in the middle of a conversation that is related to the OP. If you don't like it, feel free to vote with your feet. No problem ... Have fun, but I fail to see how talking about everthing but the possibility of DR making a trade is on topic. A mod even tried to get it back on topic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knightrider Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 I tried, but this puppy is officially off the rails. Knightrider (or other mod), I realize that it will take concerted effort but could you please merge all the junk out of here ... to anyplace, not sure where? Thanks for the effort. ;-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabres Fan in NS Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Thanks for the effort. ;-) You're welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Weave Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Every team is going to get scoring chances. Even the worst teams in the league can get scoring chances. The Sabres don't have the talent up front to be successful playing soft hockey. This team needs to bang bodies and stay on top of the D with their forecheck and create turnovers. A strong, physical and agressive forecheck would cure many of the Sabres offensive ills. I don't necessarily think this team needs to bang bodies to be successful, frankly I don't think they have the personnel to make it work. But I do think you used the correct word in the last sentence. They need to be aggressive. They have not played an aggressive 60 minutes all season. Heck, I'm not sure they've played an aggressive 40 mintues all season. When this team is aggressive on the puck, aggressive to cover bodies, aggresive in challenging rushers they look like they can compete with all but the elite of the league. The problem is this has been a passive season for nearly every player on the ice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrader Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 Settle down. There are a bunch of posters in the middle of a conversation that is related to the OP. If you don't like it, feel free to vote with your feet. A discussion about the holes in this team definitely fits right in with what could and should be done via trade. They are directly connected. Unfortunately, certain Nova Scotians feel the need to police every single thread on this board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabres Fan in NS Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 A discussion about the holes in this team definitely fits right in with what could and should be done via trade. They are directly connected. Unfortunately, certain Nova Scotians feel the need to police every single thread on this board. And others would disagree with you, including a mod. I'm not policing anything, just tried to help out. If you are referring to that Jackel thread that was completely out of control and I suggested it be locked, with good reason ... you may have noticed it is locked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knightrider Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 What would you expect? A thread about Regier making trades is like a thread about Rosie O'Donnell looking sexy, neither are likely to happen. The problem is that I get my hopes up when I see a new post in this thread. It seems like there are plenty of other places that the team's softness could be discussed... Without loading the list, I would say the Lindy on the hotseat or It all started with Lucic threads would be better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
shrader Posted January 31, 2012 Report Share Posted January 31, 2012 And others would disagree with you, including a mod. I'm not policing anything, just tried to help out. If you are referring to that Jackel thread that was completely out of control and I suggested it be locked, with good reason. You may have noticed it is locked. You've done it in several threads recently. The mods don't need to be told how to do their ridiculously high paying jobs. They've been doing it for years. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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