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Practice Updates 10-12-18


Brawndo

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15 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

Phil continues to understand his players and build better lines than I'd hoped for. 

I'm not sure what should be done with Skinner/Reinhart. Getting Skinner and not pairing him with Jack seems "why did you bother?". I get why the three of them didn't work so well, but Skinner on the 2nd line all year guarantees he is a one and done with the Sabres.

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2 minutes ago, SDS said:

I'm not sure what should be done with Skinner/Reinhart. Getting Skinner and not pairing him with Jack seems "why did you bother?". I get why the three of them didn't work so well, but Skinner on the 2nd line all year guarantees he is a one and done with the Sabres.

It's unfortunate for Jeff that his entire history with Carolina is generating offense by himself, lifting bad players to good ES numbers, and doing bad things to top lines, then, because the Sabres and hurricanes aren't the only teams that have noticed that. 

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4 minutes ago, SDS said:

I'm not sure what should be done with Skinner/Reinhart. Getting Skinner and not pairing him with Jack seems "why did you bother?". I get why the three of them didn't work so well, but Skinner on the 2nd line all year guarantees he is a one and done with the Sabres.

Does it? If they suck together, which they will, then how is it any better than them not playing together? Stick him with Mitts and let's see some damage

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26 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

It's unfortunate for Jeff that his entire history with Carolina is generating offense by himself, lifting bad players to good ES numbers, and doing bad things to top lines, then, because the Sabres and hurricanes aren't the only teams that have noticed that. 

I'm having a hard time processing the bolded. Wha?

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27 minutes ago, WildCard said:

Does it? If they suck together, which they will, then how is it any better than them not playing together? Stick him with Mitts and let's see some damage

I guess my thought is what pairing would give you the most scoring chances and hopefully goals to follow. I figured Skinner was brought here to skate with Jack. Maybe Reinhart isn't the best guy to skate with those two at the moment... Maybe that guy isn't on the roster.

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7 minutes ago, SDS said:

I'm having a hard time processing the bolded. Wha?

Like we took Jeff off our top line immediately because he wasn't meshing, helping their defense, and getting the chances he usually gets when he controls a line. The Hurricanes did the same, that's why his linemates were always so bad in Carolina. And that's going to happen everywhere he goes, so hopefully that isn't the thing that drives him away from here, because then he'll never be satisfied 

5 minutes ago, SDS said:

I guess my thought is what pairing would give you the most scoring chances and hopefully goals to follow. I figured Skinner was brought here to skate with Jack. Maybe Reinhart isn't the best guy to skate with those two at the moment... Maybe that guy isn't on the roster.

I think of those three groups, Skinner-Jack would be the worst. 

Jack-Sam has controlled games so far, Sam-Skinner had preseason chemistry, and in game one, Jack and Jeff ran into each other twice and didn't generate anything. They both want to control the puck and have a tough time reading off of other players who want to control the puck historically (How many times did Jack and Evander skate into each other's lanes driving us nuts) 

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24 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

Like we took Jeff off our top line immediately because he wasn't meshing, helping their defense, and getting the chances he usually gets when he controls a line. The Hurricanes did the same, that's why his linemates were always so bad in Carolina. And that's going to happen everywhere he goes, so hopefully that isn't the thing that drives him away from here, because then he'll never be satisfied 

I think of those three groups, Skinner-Jack would be the worst. 

Jack-Sam has controlled games so far, Sam-Skinner had preseason chemistry, and in game one, Jack and Jeff ran into each other twice and didn't generate anything. They both want to control the puck and have a tough time reading off of other players who want to control the puck historically (How many times did Jack and Evander skate into each other's lanes driving us nuts) 

Thanks. I'll watch for this.

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10 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

Like we took Jeff off our top line immediately because he wasn't meshing, helping their defense, and getting the chances he usually gets when he controls a line. The Hurricanes did the same, that's why his linemates were always so bad in Carolina. And that's going to happen everywhere he goes, so hopefully that isn't the thing that drives him away from here, because then he'll never be satisfied 

Said it before and I'll say it again, he is our Kessel. Kessel in Toronto on the top line with no talent wasn't great, and couldn't carry a team. Kessel on a 2nd/3rd line in Pittsburgh, going against lesser d-pairings and competition and able to do whatever he wants, is great. Same with Skinner; at least here he won't be facing top pairing and forward lines, he should be able to eat up lesser competition 

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I also think, offensively, Jeff has played pretty well, and has had some significant chances that didn't bounce his way. He will score 25 this year, and we'll be a stronger team when they start going in

I'm worried about the other parts of the lineup because we have no guarantee that any of Okie, Berglund, Tage, Mitts, and their LW start producing and controlling things at ES anytime soon. 

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18 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

I like putting Skinner and Mittsy together.

I wouldn't mind seeing TT take KO's place on that line though if it doesn't work.

I love the idea of Skinner and Mittlestadt together. I have no idea who I'd want on the other wing, though. There's nobody on the roster I like there to balance it out. 

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Just now, TrueBlueGED said:

I love the idea of Skinner and Mittlestadt together. I have no idea who I'd want on the other wing, though. There's nobody on the roster I like there to balance it out. 

Imagine a sound defensive hockey player that could step in to take the faceoffs at an elite level, be one of the top 2 point producers on the team, and feed pucks to those two at will, and have a killer beard to boot 

 

(just messing around) 

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15 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

Imagine a sound defensive hockey player that could step in to take the faceoffs at an elite level, be one of the top 2 point producers on the team, and feed pucks to those two at will, and have a killer beard to boot 

 

(just messing around) 

Ryan Fitzpatrick? 

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5 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

Imagine a sound defensive hockey player that could step in to take the faceoffs at an elite level, be one of the top 2 point producers on the team, and feed pucks to those two at will, and have a killer beard to boot 

 

(just messing around) 

Sounds an awful lot like Michael Peca, but he'd only be a top-two point producer in the dead-puck era from whence he came... 

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My favorite part of these lines are Larsson and Girgensons as the extra skaters. 

Also love the theory of Casey and Skinner together. Aside from the Erod -> Pommers goal I don't think we've had any offense outside of the top line. We need even strength scoring, and the PP to not go 0-7, and the penalty kill to suck.

Hopefully Phil is bag-skating these chumps.

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2 hours ago, nfreeman said:

I like putting Skinner and Mittsy together.

I wouldn't mind seeing TT take KO's place on that line though if it doesn't work.

Will be fine w/ Skinner & Mittelstadt together next season (assuming Skinner re-signs) & probably good w/ it a little later in the season, but really not convinced he's ready for true 2nd line duty yet.  (Did think he looked pretty good in the 1st 2 periods relative to his play earlier this season, so hopefully he's ready.)

Wondering whether / expecting this move is being made to keep Mittelstadt & Thompson apart on the road when Housley can't control matchups.  Could see those 2 being part of a line that could seriously get hemmed into their own end.

All things considered, thisis likely the best lineup Housley can come up w/ for road games out of the 23/24 (depending on whether broken Bogosianisincluded) skaters he has to work with at present.

The cool thing (looking LT at least, especially if Skinner is re-signed, & likely even if he isn't) with this lineup is that with any sort of typical growth of players in Ra-cha-cha this team's lineup will be better next year without bringing any players that aren't already in the organization onto the roster.  That's with bringing a far more typical 3-6 players worth of change next year rather than the recent dozen player's worth of turnover.  The tank is FINALLY in the past.

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