Jump to content

Practice Report: Friday, 11-9-2018


WildCard

Recommended Posts

Send him to Rochester.  Upset the winning chemistry there and potential interfere with the growth of the players there.

No thanks. 

I still think that if Rochester begins losing a few too many that he'll end up down there to try and spark things.  The Sabres are a team with a lot of young players and it means that some are going to get caught in no man's land.  It's kind of a nice problem to have for once.

  • Like (+1) 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, LTS said:

Send him to Rochester.  Upset the winning chemistry there and potential interfere with the growth of the players there.

No thanks. 

I still think that if Rochester begins losing a few too many that he'll end up down there to try and spark things.  The Sabres are a team with a lot of young players and it means that some are going to get caught in no man's land.  It's kind of a nice problem to have for once.

If he upsets the winning chemistry of an AHL team, we have bigger problems with him than we thought.

  • Like (+1) 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, WildCard said:

If he upsets the winning chemistry of an AHL team, we have bigger problems with him than we thought.

I don't agree with this.  Development is driven throughout the organization.  They have players in Rochester who they want developing with a team that is winning to help drive longevity of success within the organization.  If you send Thompson down you are going to put him in the top 6 and it's going to mess with a team that's been winning.  They may still win, they might not.  So why bother sending him down right now?  It's not even directed at Thompson being a problem, just that you don't mess with the chemistry that's working right now.

3 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

Let's put the worst player currently up here on the 4th line that is our first 4th line to not get caved in in a decade

I know Tage is going to get games once in a while, but he's not good here and needs to be playing games in Rochester. 

Whose spot does he take in Rochester?

I see a lot of people questioning a lot of decisions the Sabres are making with players.  If I thought for a moment that the purpose of the team this year was to make a deep playoff run I would probably be more upset.  I don't see it that way and I don't think the management of the Sabres do either.  This year was about turning the culture and I think they've done that (to date).  There may be a few players on the team that are being given their last chance to prove they belong (Larsson, Girgensons, Reinhart, Ristolainen, etc.)  If we continually wonder why some of these players are around you have to begin to question what the purpose is, this year, for this team.  If you think Botterill is incompetent then all bets are off.  I think he's exceedingly methodical and as such when I look at the "head scratching" decisions they seem to be less "head scratchers" when I think that this year is the prep year for what they expect will be full throttle next year.

 

  • Like (+1) 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, LTS said:

I don't agree with this.  Development is driven throughout the organization.  They have players in Rochester who they want developing with a team that is winning to help drive longevity of success within the organization.  If you send Thompson down you are going to put him in the top 6 and it's going to mess with a team that's been winning.  They may still win, they might not.  So why bother sending him down right now?  It's not even directed at Thompson being a problem, just that you don't mess with the chemistry that's working right now.

He was the principle point of return for RoR. Letting him sit idle at the NHL level is the worst thing for him right now. They've invested too much in him to just have his development be stagnant. He needs to be playing, and I don't care if that's at a hypothetical risk to the AHL team's chemistry. The AHL team exists specifically for this purpose, use it as such

Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

Well, the checking line did give up a couple of goals last night, and overall team D was pretty spotty.  I can't get too worked up about Zemgus getting benched, especially if the coaches think TT has been looking good in practice. 

I blame a lot of that on Larsson. He was pretty bad last night IMO

Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 minute ago, WildCard said:

He was the principle point of return for RoR. Letting him sit idle at the NHL level is the worst thing for him right now. They've invested too much in him to just have his development be stagnant. He needs to be playing, and I don't care if that's at a hypothetical risk to the AHL team's chemistry. The AHL team exists specifically for this purpose, use it as such

The AHL team exists for the development of ALL prospects, not just one.  It's clear the Sabres management care a great deal for the success of the AHL club and have mentioned it numerous times.

So, I guess it leaves us at an impasse.  I have zero issue with the current path the management is taking with regards to Thompson and the other prospects and it's clear that some do.  I'm not sure we're getting much further on selling each other on the situation.

  • Like (+1) 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

28 minutes ago, LTS said:

I don't agree with this.  Development is driven throughout the organization.  They have players in Rochester who they want developing with a team that is winning to help drive longevity of success within the organization.  If you send Thompson down you are going to put him in the top 6 and it's going to mess with a team that's been winning.  They may still win, they might not.  So why bother sending him down right now?  It's not even directed at Thompson being a problem, just that you don't mess with the chemistry that's working right now.

Whose spot does he take in Rochester?

I see a lot of people questioning a lot of decisions the Sabres are making with players.  If I thought for a moment that the purpose of the team this year was to make a deep playoff run I would probably be more upset.  I don't see it that way and I don't think the management of the Sabres do either.  This year was about turning the culture and I think they've done that (to date).  There may be a few players on the team that are being given their last chance to prove they belong (Larsson, Girgensons, Reinhart, Ristolainen, etc.)  If we continually wonder why some of these players are around you have to begin to question what the purpose is, this year, for this team.  If you think Botterill is incompetent then all bets are off.  I think he's exceedingly methodical and as such when I look at the "head scratching" decisions they seem to be less "head scratchers" when I think that this year is the prep year for what they expect will be full throttle next year.

 

Some guy named Tyler Randall? they have a few forwards that don't project to our organizational long-term plans and aren't great. Justin Bailey? How could there NOT be a spot in Rochester for a RW who would likely be one of their best players, who we traded a significant asset for as the main piece of a trade a couple of months ago? 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

25 minutes ago, WildCard said:

He was the principle point of return for RoR. Letting him sit idle at the NHL level is the worst thing for him right now. They've invested too much in him to just have his development be stagnant. He needs to be playing, and I don't care if that's at a hypothetical risk to the AHL team's chemistry. The AHL team exists specifically for this purpose, use it as such

I think the fact that he was a key piece in the ROR deal is irrelevant. TT's utilization should not be predicated on "showing we got something out of the trade," etc.

If we end up not needing/using TT at all, it is a good thing, not a bad thing. It shows we already have the pieces in place. I don't think we're there yet, and as mentioned, JBot seems to have a method to what he's doing.

If JBot was obsessed with making it look like the ROR deal was a win for us, I'd be more worried.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Just now, erickompositör72 said:

I think the fact that he was a key piece in the ROR deal is irrelevant. TT's utilization should not be predicated on "showing we got something out of the trade," etc.

If we end up not needing/using TT at all, it is a good thing, not a bad thing. It shows we already have the pieces in place. I don't think we're there yet, and as mentioned, JBot seems to have a method to what he's doing.

If JBot was obsessed with making it look like the ROR deal was a win for us, I'd be more worried.

I agree with the principle of not misusing pieces to win a trade. However I think that's exactly what we are doing by keeping him up here. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, WildCard said:

I agree with the principle of not misusing pieces to win a trade. However I think that's exactly what we are doing by keeping him up here. 

This is just a random theory I'm throwing out, but maybe they still think TT is close to being on our roster permanently, and they worry sending him down to Rochester may be worse for his confidence they letting him sit until he takes full advantage of his opportunity on the big club's roster.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Playing Tage tomorrow with Larry and Bergie isn’t going to end this discussion.

Related: Girgensons and Larsson have responded well to their roles this year. Didn’t notice Zemgus too much yesterday, but if this is about depth being leveraged to avoid complacency I can live with that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Organizing my thoughts a little better, 

IMO it's just not how teams work that adding in what would be a good AHL winger might somehow screw things up, especially since Rochester's forwards corps certainly hasn't been perfect and certainly has weak spots. Teams add and lose players all the time and apart from potential initial chemistry-building, there's no reason to expect and assume problems from this. It's sports, and that's what happens in sports. The body of NHL and AHL and sport history suggests that this can't be a reason they keep Tage away from Rochester. It's just not in line with anything I've ever seen or anything they've ever said. I'm sure the Moose were quite troubled by Kyle Connor's frequent visits when he was in a similar limbo - the difference was, whether he was one place or another, he was playing games, which is vital for prospects between 18-22 years old to be doing. It's the single most important thing in development. 

So while I understand that there's likely benefit to be had in having Tage practice with the big club, there will quickly hit a threshold where this is less beneficial than him playing hockey games every second or third night. And since his performance to date has been "totally overwhelmed" for him, and damaging for the team that's trying their best to take steps forward, it will be hard to convince most Sabres fans that this will continue to be the way to go, especially when it regularly breaks up lines that do well. When Phil changes lines after a win, often to get Tage in, the Sabres have zero wins and six losses, and Tage has continued to put up putrid metrics and dubious play to supply the visual evidence. That gets less and less convincing as being "beneficial" to anybody as time goes on. 

Sometime soon, he either needs to drive and contribute, or go to the AHL (it didn't hurt Kyle Connor, who in an exact replica of the situation, actually got 20 overwhelmed NHL games before going down and getting 50+ in the AHL, starting the next year in the AHL for a few games, and then exploding and scoring 31 NHL goals). Kyle was playing. Kids that age, at the end of the day, need to be playing. I don't know what is so valuable here that's impossible to get in Rochester, but he's gotten it since mid-September. 

 

  • Like (+1) 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, LTS said:

Send him to Rochester.  Upset the winning chemistry there and potential interfere with the growth of the players there.

No thanks. 

I still think that if Rochester begins losing a few too many that he'll end up down there to try and spark things.  The Sabres are a team with a lot of young players and it means that some are going to get caught in no man's land.  It's kind of a nice problem to have for once.

How about the concept of him benefiting from playing regularly on a team that's hot?  I'm more concerned about overall player development within the organization, to eventually benefit the Sabres, than the risk of a potentially very good player not developing because he's cemented to the Sabres bench.  The guy needs to be playing and not waiting for Rochester to start slipping.  What if they don't?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is OLD. A NEW topic should be started unless there is a VERY SPECIFIC REASON to revive this one.

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Restore formatting

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...