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GDT Sabres at Pens 11/14/17 7pm MSG WGR 550


Brawndo

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I probably wouldn't play Eich at C in OT, he's just lost in his own zone and that gets made worse when it's 3v3 with all that space. 

 

Not blaming that play on Lehner at all, but is there a worse goalie when the play is to the short side, and the save attempt would be a post-hug of some kind?

Bad teams are bad by Thanksgiving, bad teams continue to play bad. We're a bad team

He better learn then

Jack and Evander(around 25%) were dominated in Corsi this game. Starting ROR and Pouliot(both around 50%) against Crosby and Sheary would have been a better choice

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There is no world in which we're getting a "stud" defenseman for Kane. At best you're getting a Larsson-level player. And Nylander just started skating again, and you want to call him up? Yeesh. Overreaction city.

At best we take a solid D prospect near the edge of the NHL from a team with too many spots to call him up to the big league

 

Jack and Evander(around 25%) were dominated in Corsi this game. Starting ROR and Pouliot(both around 50%) against Crosby and Sheary would have been a better choice

Starting them, sure. But Jack has to play center on 3v3

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At best we take a solid D prospect near the edge of the NHL from a team with too many spots to call him up to the big league

 

Starting them, sure. But Jack has to play center on 3v3

I don't really think there's a "center" in 3v3, other than to take faceoffs, that's what I meant earlier about Jack doing that

 

it's just two waterbug forwards and a guy that "plays D"

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Question: How would people feel about Eichel's season, if it were to project out like it is currently, over the remaining 64 games, and Eichel finished with a stat line of:

 

82gp, 23g, 50a, 73p?

 

Successful season? Disappointment? Just ok? Great?

 

Just curious.

Edited by Thorny
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Question: How would people feel about Eichel's season, if it were to project out like it is currently, over the remaining 64 games, and Eichel finished with a stat line of:

 

82gp, 23g, 50a, 73p?

 

Successful season? Disappointment? Just ok? Great?

 

Just curious.

Not bad for me. Not great either. I would still expect a general production jump and conclude that the jump doesn't happen in his 3rd season in which he turned 21, is all.

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Not bad for me. Not great either. I would still expect a general production jump and conclude that the jump doesn't happen in his 3rd season in which he turned 21, is all.

Right. It would be his highest assist and point totals of his career, but his points per games played is/would be slightly lower than last season.

 

It would still be a good year for Jack, 73 points would have been good for a tie for 13th in league scoring last season. Pretty good for a 21 year old.

 

He seems to have a longer development process ahead of him than guys like McDavid and Matthews and the Crosby's of the world, but that's not a shot at Jack, they are the best of the best.

 

Just because it's not instant for him, doesn't mean he's not going to find himself among the upper echelon of players. Look at someone like Scheifele, who Jack is considerably further ahead of development wise when comparing them at Jack's current age. You could argue Scheifele is right up there with those guys. Maybe not at McDavid levels, but his production recently bears it out.

 

It was a reasonably paced climb for Scheifele, and that's usually how things work. The lighting quick rises of a few generational, 1st overalls notwithstanding.

 

Jack taking a few years is very normal, and if he progresses at the same rate as someone like Scheifele did, I think we'll really like the player we have, considering as mentioned Eichel has been above Scheifele's production when comparing them at the same age.

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Question: How would people feel about Eichel's season, if it were to project out like it is currently, over the remaining 64 games, and Eichel finished with a stat line of:

 

82gp, 23g, 50a, 73p?

 

Successful season? Disappointment? Just ok? Great?

 

Just curious.

 

With Eichel I think were going to be getting more of a Mike Modano type of player than a Sydney Crosby which are/were both awesome for different reasons and Eichel seems more on par with Modano his 1st 3 seasons Eichel 56 pts., 57 pts. (75 pts., 64 pts and 77 pts), if we can get that type of production out of him I'll be quite happy..

 

I disagree with Kane, goal scorers will come at a premium and teams will see that his past character concerns look to be behind him, I think he'd fetch a top defensemen for sure, just my opinion though.To trade him away for a prospect would be dumb unless he is very highly rated since we could just draft one this season and resign Kane.

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Just got done watching. I really thought we were going to win the whole game,... until we didn't.

 

Pretty good game against a much better team.

 

Reinhart got hooked pretty good seconds before Moulson got called, but other than that, the refs were fine. It's not like we do anything with power plays, anyway.

 

Jack's just gotta be on that guy. Oof.

 

Something something Gorges shouldn't be in the NHL. Um, yes he should.

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Question: How would people feel about Eichel's season, if it were to project out like it is currently, over the remaining 64 games, and Eichel finished with a stat line of:

 

82gp, 23g, 50a, 73p?

 

Successful season? Disappointment? Just ok? Great?

 

Just curious.

only thing that matters is making the playoffs. I don't care about stats

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I guess we're at the point where an acceptable effort is good enough.

I’m going to say essentially this but with a slightly different emphasis. Effort is difficult for me to discern. I think effort, talent and coaching are the three levers one can pull. Talent is most obviously, to me, our weakest link. Talent takes the longest to address. I’ll trust the talent process for two years.

 

With that said, last night’s product, a good road game that was exciting and entertaining hockey, “is good enough” for me. You are correct in that I’ve lowered my expectation bar.

 

I flew 1,300 miles and bought eight tickets to watch last Friday’s “touch hockey” game against the Panthers in a mausoleum. I wondered if hockey had passed me by as a passion.

 

The Penguin game reminded me why I watch.

Just got done watching. I really thought we were going to win the whole game,... until we didn't.

Pretty good game against a much better team.

Reinhart got hooked pretty good seconds before Moulson got called, but other than that, the refs were fine. It's not like we do anything with power plays, anyway.

Jack's just gotta be on that guy. Oof.

Something something Gorges shouldn't be in the NHL. Um, yes he should.

I’m with you on Gorges. I enjoy the game more when he’s playing. My feelings relate to the whole game, not solely to his play. There’s an engagement vibe. Am I manufacturing something? Edited by Neo
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I watched the OT goal... Eichel can't get beat by Crosby on the boards.  I'm not sure I like the rotation where Kane goes low and Eichel goes to the front.  I think that creates an unnecessary change in coverage.

 

It got me thinking however that the strategy might be to try and get Jack higher in the zone as often as possible.  If you consider that for a moment and then watch the next sequence you'll see that Eichel notices Beaulieu coming down and then Eichel turns away from Sheary.  Beaulieu then peels away to move back to cover the high Pens player and that leaves the gap open for Sheary to score.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if Eichel expected Beaulieu to cover Sheary and then the plan was for him to follow the pass from Crosby to the high Pens player in the hopes of causing a turnover (using Eichel's long stick and closing speed).  The coverage was blown and a player like Crosby will make you pay for it.

 

None of this dismisses that the coverage was blown (one way or another) and that they need to improve.  I was just hypothesizing given the interesting change of Kane coming down low behind the net to take Crosby.

 

If that's the case I can understand it the thinking but I don't like it.  Eichel can't be some primadonna just left to float around in the hopes of getting a loose puck and racing down the ice to score.  I think he should have stayed on Crosby and forced him around behind the net.  

 

Also.. I might need to watch more of the replay. :)

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I thought last night was a good illustration of how good this team should be when they are firing on all cylinders: Their top six playing to their potential, their plumbers being hard to play against, Housley’s system being executed.

 

Over the next 20 games we need to play that way 2/3 of the time instead of the current 1/3

 

We aren’t good enough to hang with the Pens, but we can be competitive and we should win our share against the great unwashed.

It’s what makes games like the Florida one so disheartening.

Edited by dudacek
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Looks like the Sabres held their own against a far superior team.  On the road at that.

 

I am happy with the effort and the point.

 

I like the optimism, but I also get frustrated when the team goes into the third leading, only to lose.  They really need to work on that.

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