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Has a team ever led the NHL in points in late November then finished in the Bottom 5?


matter2003

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I'm guessing no because it would require an almost mind boggling collapse of epic proportions and an equally inept coaching job for a team to fall that far...

 

The Sabres have managed to accompliah this in under 4 months...this team is a joke...the coaching staff is a joke and JBotts better start cleaning house at the end of the year. Tired of watching this complete defensive zone ineptitude year after year...they Give the puck away so often in their own end you'd think they are being coached to do it...its a complete joke show.

 

This crap has got to end. Its not good enough and giving more time to a coach who clearly has no answers and has created far more problems than he has fixed is not good enough either.

 

Watching this team play is just utterly maddening...it makes your blood boil to see the stupid ways they lose games game after game.

 

The same dumb mistakes. Over and over again the entire year. How many games into a season is fair not to expect the same mental breakdown??  How many games Can you keep doing the same stupid play and givign the other team 5-7 prime scoring chances they should never have gotten?  Is this team the dumbest team in the NHL? I mean I don't know...I think if the coach points out the same mistake over and over again every game that I'm making,maybe after a few games Of actually learn from it? How many games is fair? 5 games? 10 games? 20 games? 50 games?  

 

Nope...not this team...its been 70+ games and the same idiotic Bantam level mistakes are being made...just give the puck away with reckless abandon in our own end like its their goal to set up the other team with point blank scoring chances.

 

I just can't take this anymore...then you have to listen to the coach talk about how you can't fault their effort after every game...well who cares?? The thing that matters is results. When you make it hard on yourself game and game by making absolute boneheaded rookie mistakes 5 times a game, you are giving yourself almost NO chance to win. How about figuring about a way to stop doing this?? It just shouldn't be that hard..what other team does this?? None that I see...its been going on 5 years here now...when can we expect this team to get its collective head out of their ***** and play smart hockey??

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I’ve taken my shots at the goalies for their role in this collapse, but the other thing that has really slipped from the first half of the season is the play of the first line.

Reinhart has been mediocre, uncharacteristically forcing things that aren’t there; Eichel has reverted to the old “I’ll do it myself” Jack, not using his teammates properly; and Skinner has been a mess, costing possession and flailing in traffic like a fish out of water.

Skinner and Reinhart have 2 goals and 4 assists combined in their last 12. Eichel went 9 games in a row without an assist before adding one in each of his last 2 games. Skinner has scored once in 17 games. That’s Sheary-esque. And the minuses are piling up.  

How much do you blame Housley? How much is apathy spawned by another lost season? Are these players intrinsically flawed and incapable of being a core? 

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And not only are they going to miss the playoffs, they're going to miss the playoffs by A LOT! It would be one thing to miss the playoffs in the last week after leading the league, but to be realistically knocked out of the playoffs with two months to go is unacceptable. 

This entire coaching staff should be unemployed within the next couple of weeks. Alas, it will not happen and we'll go through this same tire fire next year. 

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1 minute ago, dudacek said:

I’ve taken my shots at the goalies for their role in this collapse, but the other thing that has really slipped from the first half of the season is the play of the first line.

Reinhart has been mediocre, uncharacteristically forcing things that aren’t there; Eichel has reverted to the old “I’ll do it myself” Jack, not using his teammates properly; and Skinner has been a mess, costing possession and flailing in traffic like a fish out of water.

Skinner and Reinhart have 2 goals and 4 assists combined in their last 12. Eichel went 9 games in a row without an assist before adding one in each of his last 2 games. Skinner has scored once in 17 games. That’s Sheary-esque. And the minuses are piling up.  

How much do you blame Housley? How much is apathy spawned by another lost season? Are these players intrinsically flawed and incapable of being a core? 

I think the question becomes how closd to 100% of what a player has to offer is the coach able to get from him on a consistent basis, and how often is he able to get the entire team to give it on a nightly basis.

It does no good if the coach can get 5 players to Give him 100% of what they have to offer in a game if the other players are giving him 50%. It would be better if he could figure out a way to get the whole team to give him 75% than a few players giving max effort and the rest half effort.

And this is where Housley seems to fail. To be a successful head coach you need to be able to get at least 80% of what a player has to give each game consistently, with closer to 90-95% for long stretches. This is why some coaches will make the playoffs with the same roster another coach has near the bottom of the league.

Housley consistently gets less than what he should from his players ability, which is not the sign of a good coach. This team woukd be in the playoffs or within 2-3 points of the playoffs with at least 10 other coaches in the league in my opinion. Thats why Housley needs to go, he is never going to get the best out of what he has.

 

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1 hour ago, matter2003 said:

I think the question becomes how closd to 100% of what a player has to offer is the coach able to get from him on a consistent basis, and how often is he able to get the entire team to give it on a nightly basis.

It does no good if the coach can get 5 players to Give him 100% of what they have to offer in a game if the other players are giving him 50%. It would be better if he could figure out a way to get the whole team to give him 75% than a few players giving max effort and the rest half effort.

And this is where Housley seems to fail. To be a successful head coach you need to be able to get at least 80% of what a player has to give each game consistently, with closer to 90-95% for long stretches. This is why some coaches will make the playoffs with the same roster another coach has near the bottom of the league.

Housley consistently gets less than what he should from his players ability, which is not the sign of a good coach. This team woukd be in the playoffs or within 2-3 points of the playoffs with at least 10 other coaches in the league in my opinion. Thats why Housley needs to go, he is never going to get the best out of what he has.

 

I'd like to see Ted Nolan. Most underrated coach in nhl history.

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2 hours ago, dudacek said:

I’ve taken my shots at the goalies for their role in this collapse, but the other thing that has really slipped from the first half of the season is the play of the first line.

Reinhart has been mediocre, uncharacteristically forcing things that aren’t there; Eichel has reverted to the old “I’ll do it myself” Jack, not using his teammates properly; and Skinner has been a mess, costing possession and flailing in traffic like a fish out of water.

Skinner and Reinhart have 2 goals and 4 assists combined in their last 12. Eichel went 9 games in a row without an assist before adding one in each of his last 2 games. Skinner has scored once in 17 games. That’s Sheary-esque. And the minuses are piling up.  

How much do you blame Housley? How much is apathy spawned by another lost season? Are these players intrinsically flawed and incapable of being a core? 

IMO, yes.  They remind me very much of the core we broke up when we started this whole thing, back when Lindy Ruff was still the coach.  

But these factors you cite need not be mutually exclusive.  Not sure why Phil can't be a terrible coach, why the big line can't underachieve, why the goaltending can't be terrible, why the D core can't be horrible, and why the middle 6 forwards can't be f-ing atrocious.

This is a 50-something point scoring team over the course of an 82 game season.  Or at least it has been since the end of November.  That's pretty bad! Lots wrong here.

 

 

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2 hours ago, dudacek said:

Are these players intrinsically flawed and incapable of being a core? 

I've inferred this thought in the past.  I'm genuinely concerned that it may be the case.

And if they are, I think fault is on the team.  We didn't provide the right environment for their development.  And I've posted my thoughts about that enough times that I won't bother to do it again.  IMO it is an inherent flaw in the path they chose.

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4 hours ago, dudacek said:

I’ve taken my shots at the goalies for their role in this collapse, but the other thing that has really slipped from the first half of the season is the play of the first line.

Reinhart has been mediocre, uncharacteristically forcing things that aren’t there; Eichel has reverted to the old “I’ll do it myself” Jack, not using his teammates properly; and Skinner has been a mess, costing possession and flailing in traffic like a fish out of water.

Skinner and Reinhart have 2 goals and 4 assists combined in their last 12. Eichel went 9 games in a row without an assist before adding one in each of his last 2 games. Skinner has scored once in 17 games. That’s Sheary-esque. And the minuses are piling up.  

How much do you blame Housley? How much is apathy spawned by another lost season? Are these players intrinsically flawed and incapable of being a core? 

I really struggle with this being a thing, and I suspect I'll have to argue against it until the team starts wining. The team has three top-6 forwards and 1 defenseman who belongs on the top pair (who is 18), and somehow it's their fault? Not that we're missing 4 parts of a useful middle-6 or that the coach rolls out a horrible defenseman (defensively) as Drew Doughty? That's just a real tough sell to me. 

The team has 5 top-9 forwards (4 depending how you feel about Rodrigues), 1 top-9 center, and Vlad Sobotka being relied upon to contribute. And somehow it's the fault of our best players that they can't drag half a roster of corpses to respectability. The league as a whole has had an explosion of talent recently, which means it's harder than ever for the few to carry the many. It doesn't matter if our top line regularly wins its match-up if the other 3 lines regularly lose theirs. 

Auston Matthews is having a season nearly identical to Jack, and he even went through a Skinner-esque 12 game goal drought at one point. It didn't matter. Why? Because that team still had Tavares, Marner, Jounsson, Kadri, etc. to carry the offensive load. Our stars hit a slump and it's pure death because there's nobody else. 

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50 minutes ago, TrueBlueGED said:

I really struggle with this being a thing, and I suspect I'll have to argue against it until the team starts wining. The team has three top-6 forwards and 1 defenseman who belongs on the top pair (who is 18), and somehow it's their fault? Not that we're missing 4 parts of a useful middle-6 or that the coach rolls out a horrible defenseman (defensively) as Drew Doughty? That's just a real tough sell to me. 

The team has 5 top-9 forwards (4 depending how you feel about Rodrigues), 1 top-9 center, and Vlad Sobotka being relied upon to contribute. And somehow it's the fault of our best players that they can't drag half a roster of corpses to respectability. The league as a whole has had an explosion of talent recently, which means it's harder than ever for the few to carry the many. It doesn't matter if our top line regularly wins its match-up if the other 3 lines regularly lose theirs. 

Auston Matthews is having a season nearly identical to Jack, and he even went through a Skinner-esque 12 game goal drought at one point. It didn't matter. Why? Because that team still had Tavares, Marner, Jounsson, Kadri, etc. to carry the offensive load. Our stars hit a slump and it's pure death because there's nobody else. 

Dammit, now I'm relying on Blue to restore my faith.

What has this season done to me? ?

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4 hours ago, calti said:

I'd like to see Ted Nolan. Most underrated coach in nhl history.

Dude flat out sucks.

Are NHL teams clamoring for the great coaching prowess and intellect that is Ted “no system, just try hard” Nolan.

Where’s he coaching now? Even Poland didn’t want him back Bahahahahaha. 

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13 hours ago, dudacek said:

I’ve taken my shots at the goalies for their role in this collapse, but the other thing that has really slipped from the first half of the season is the play of the first line.

Reinhart has been mediocre, uncharacteristically forcing things that aren’t there; Eichel has reverted to the old “I’ll do it myself” Jack, not using his teammates properly; and Skinner has been a mess, costing possession and flailing in traffic like a fish out of water.

Skinner and Reinhart have 2 goals and 4 assists combined in their last 12. Eichel went 9 games in a row without an assist before adding one in each of his last 2 games. Skinner has scored once in 17 games. That’s Sheary-esque. And the minuses are piling up.  

How much do you blame Housley? How much is apathy spawned by another lost season? Are these players intrinsically flawed and incapable of being a core? 

...  The play of Risto, Bogo, Hutton, Linus, Larsson, Girgs have all gone down since November. 

 

Add to to that we get little from Sobie, Okposo, Tage and Mittsie 

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Whether or not we end up with a top 5 pick, does it really matter that we had a good run early in the season?  

It's pretty clear we need more talent and more depth.  We are a mediocre team with mediocre D play and goaltending and no depth at forward.  We are what the standings say we are.  

 

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when the entire team fails to take a step forward in year 2... Or collapses the way this team has in the last 2/3 of the season then you look for the common denominator. Botterill is not firing himself so the only option is to fire Housley. I don't see the Pegula's firing Botterill. 

 

As of this junction the majority of blame falls on Housley. If the next coach fails in similar fashion then we look at the GM.. But this offseason we will be looking for a new coach or the majority of sabres fans will sit home next season

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16 minutes ago, JJFIVEOH said:

I had more fun watching his tank teams than this pile of garbage.

Why? The tank teams were like watching paint dry.

The only bits of excitement involved seeing how long Michal Neuvirth and Jhonas Enroth Could withstand the inevitable 40-shot barrage. The team didn’t score, didn’t defend, didn’t hit, didn’t fight...if they allowed two in the first, the game was over, they went period after period without scoring chances.

You got to witness Cody Hodgson and Ville Leino earn $2 million per goal, Brian Flynn, Torrey Mitchell and Matt D’Agostini anchor your middle six, and the immortal Messy Balls defence in all its glory as you tried to fool yourself into thinking Mike Grigorenko, Phil Varone and Linus Omark might turn into NHL players.

How soon we forget. It was among the most god-awful NHL hockey ever played.

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1 minute ago, dudacek said:

Why? The tank teams were like watching paint dry.

The only bits of excitement involved seeing how long Michal Neuvirth and Jhonas Enroth Could withstand the inevitable 40-shot barrage. The team didn’t score, didn’t defend, didn’t hit, didn’t fight...if they allowed two in the first, the game was over, they went period after period without scoring chances.

You got to witness Cody Hodgson and Ville Leino earn $2 million per goal, Brian Flynn, Torrey Mitchell and Matt D’Agostini anchor your middle six, and the immortal Messy Balls defence in all its glory as you tried to fool yourself into thinking Mike Grigorenko, Phil Varone and Linus Omark might turn into NHL players.

How soon we forget. It was among the most god-awful NHL hockey ever played.

Because they played like they actually gave a damn. It's painful to watch a team twice as talented as the tank teams with a win percentage almost equal to the teams that were built to fail. 

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They have 71 pts with 8 games left. I honestly don't think they will get to 80 pts. Housley can't stay or the fans will mutiny.

Look standings 12/1/2018 

Eastern Conference

 
  • Standings through December 1, 2018
  GP W L OL PTS GF GA RPt% ROW
Atlantic Division
Tampa Bay Lightning* 27 19 7 1 39 103 79 .730 18
Toronto Maple Leafs 27 19 8 0 38 98 70 .587 19
Buffalo Sabres 27 17 7 3 37 85 76 .405 14
Boston Bruins 26 14 8 4 32 71 64 .620 13
Montreal Canadiens 26 12 9 5 29 82 85 .513 10
Detroit Red Wings 26 12 11 3 27 76 85 .373 10
Ottawa Senators 27 12 12 3 27 98 109 .353 12
Florida Panthers 25 10 10 5 25 82 91 .460 9
Metropolitan Division
Washington Capitals 25 15 7 3 33 90 77 .559 14
Columbus Blue Jackets 26 15 9 2 32 90 83 .547 15
New York Islanders 25 13 9 3 29 76 72 .586 12
Carolina Hurricanes 25 12 9 4 28 66 69 .560 11
New York Rangers 27 13 12 2 28 77 84 .378 9
Pittsburgh Penguins 25 10 10 5 25 83 84 .546 10
Philadelphia Flyers 25 11 12 2 24 76 88 .467 10
New Jersey Devils 25 9 11 5 23 74 86 .375 9

Western Conference

 
  • Standings through December 1, 2018
  GP W L OL PTS GF GA RPt% ROW
Central Division
Nashville Predators 27 18 8 1 37 88 66 .539 18
Colorado Avalanche 26 15 6 5 35 97 73 .447 15
Winnipeg Jets 25 15 8 2 32 87 74 .593 15
Dallas Stars 27 14 10 3 31 74 71 .513 14
Minnesota Wild 26 14 10 2 30 83 76 .480 14
Chicago Blackhawks 27 9 13 5 23 75 101 .433 9
St. Louis Blues 25 9 13 3 21 74 85 .540 9
Pacific Division
Calgary Flames* 26 15 9 2 32 88 74 .653 15
Anaheim Ducks 28 13 10 5 31 64 78 .403 11
San Jose Sharks 27 12 10 5 29 82 88 .593 12
Vegas Golden Knights 28 14 13 1 29 82 78 .553 13
Edmonton Oilers 26 13 11 2 28 70 79 .433 13
Arizona Coyotes 25 12 11 2 26 66 66 .461 11
Vancouver Canucks 29 11 15 3 25 82 102 .428 10
Los Angeles Kings 26 9 16 1 19 56 82 .365 8

 

Then look where they were on Christmas day 37 games in which is half of the games played where they are now 74.

Eastern Conference

 
  • Standings through December 25, 2018
  GP W L OL PTS GF GA RPt% ROW
Atlantic Division
Tampa Bay Lightning* 37 28 7 2 58 154 106 .730 25
Toronto Maple Leafs 37 25 10 2 52 140 103 .587 25
Buffalo Sabres 37 21 11 5 47 111 105 .405 18
Boston Bruins 37 20 13 4 44 105 96 .620 19
Montreal Canadiens 37 19 13 5 43 115 117 .513 17
Florida Panthers 35 15 14 6 36 115 125 .460 14
Detroit Red Wings 38 15 17 6 36 109 126 .373 13
Ottawa Senators 37 15 18 4 34 118 144 .353 15
Metropolitan Division
Washington Capitals 35 22 10 3 47 129 103 .559 19
Columbus Blue Jackets 36 21 12 3 45 117 109 .547 21
Pittsburgh Penguins 36 18 12 6 42 119 110 .546 17
New York Islanders 35 18 13 4 40 101 98 .586 16
New York Rangers 35 15 14 6 36 102 115 .378 10
Carolina Hurricanes 35 15 15 5 35 90 103 .560 14
Philadelphia Flyers 35 15 16 4 34 104 125 .467 13
New Jersey Devils 35 12 16 7 31 102 125 .375 12

Western Conference

 
  • Standings through December 25, 2018
  GP W L OL PTS GF GA RPt% ROW
Central Division
Winnipeg Jets 36 24 10 2 50 128 101 .593 23
Nashville Predators 37 22 13 2 46 111 95 .539 21
Colorado Avalanche 37 19 12 6 44 129 115 .447 19
Dallas Stars 37 18 16 3 39 99 102 .513 18
Minnesota Wild 35 17 15 3 37 103 99 .480 17
St. Louis Blues 34 14 16 4 32 96 114 .540 14
Chicago Blackhawks 39 13 20 6 32 111 145 .433 13
Pacific Division
Calgary Flames* 37 22 12 3 47 127 103 .653 22
San Jose Sharks 38 19 12 7 45 124 115 .593 19
Vegas Golden Knights 39 20 15 4 44 117 112 .553 19
Anaheim Ducks 38 19 14 5 43 95 109 .403 16
Edmonton Oilers 36 18 15 3 39 102 111 .433 17
Vancouver Canucks 39 17 18 4 38 117 125 .428 16
Arizona Coyotes 36 16 18 2 34 93 101 .461 14
Los Angeles Kings 37 14 20 3 31 86 112 .365 13
Edited by Ross Rhea
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