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Risto Under Ralph Krueger


WildCard

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8 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

I thought Risto committed a major gaffe on Montreal's 2nd goal -- although he was contested by a Hab, Risto didn't push hard enough to get the puck out along the wall and it ended up on Armia's stick for an easy PPG.  (Good for Armia, btw, getting 2 goals and an assist in his return to Buffalo and coming very close to a natural hattie.)

I'll have to go back and look. That sounds like he got beat. The plays I have in mind are the ones where you're just left wondering "WHAT are you DOING, man?!"

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2 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

I'll have to go back and look. That sounds like he got beat. The plays I have in mind are the ones where you're just left wondering "WHAT are you DOING, man?!"

He basically just spun the puck out into the slot from behind the net and it went right to Armia for an easy goal. He needed to be stronger on the puck and get it hard around the boards or at least tie it up. Instead he made a soft play with it.

This whole team has a habit of doing stuff like that though. They think they're playing well so they start getting cute with the puck and then all of a sudden they're getting caved in.

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29 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

He seems to be playing more within himself than in the past. I don't notice nearly as many (and sometimes no) low hockey IQ gaffes. The proverbial "he was trying to do too much" may apply.

This. I’ve been fine with both his game and how he’s been used. 

Looks like Ralph has told him to not worry about making plays with the puck so much, and concentrate on taking the body and playing safer defence and he’s listening.

He’s getting similar deployment in defensive situations as before, but just lost some in offensive situations.

His +/- is going to improve without the 10 empty-netters against as a result.

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9 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

I'll have to go back and look. That sounds like he got beat. The plays I have in mind are the ones where you're just left wondering "WHAT are you DOING, man?!"

 

4 minutes ago, darksabre said:

He basically just spun the puck out into the slot from behind the net and it went right to Armia for an easy goal. He needed to be stronger on the puck and get it hard around the boards or at least tie it up. Instead he made a soft play with it.

This whole team has a habit of doing stuff like that though. They think they're playing well so they start getting cute with the puck and then all of a sudden they're getting caved in.

I think he got beat and it was pretty close to one of those "WTF are you doing" moments.

McCabe yelled at him afterwards -- which I kinda liked as a leadership move.

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10 minutes ago, darksabre said:

He basically just spun the puck out into the slot from behind the net and it went right to Armia for an easy goal. He needed to be stronger on the puck and get it hard around the boards or at least tie it up. Instead he made a soft play with it.

This whole team has a habit of doing stuff like that though. They think they're playing well so they start getting cute with the puck and then all of a sudden they're getting caved in.

I thought he was trying a hard out past the forechecker and his stick got clipped at the last moment which slowed the attempt and spun it right to Armia. The only reason he was in that dangerous situation to begin with was the puck hit ref.

Edited by dudacek
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5 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I thought he was trying a hard out past the forechecker and his stick got clipped at the last moment which slowed the attempt and spun it right to Armia. The only reason he was in that dangerous situation to begin with was the puck hit ref.

This is correct. He did not make an errant pass to Armia. He was sending the puck up to his winger, because his forechecker was taking the wall away, and the forechecker's stick hit his stick which redirected the puck. 

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1 hour ago, Scottysabres said:

He's physical from time to time, I like that.

But if you can get a top 6 RW'er with speed for him (Ehler's) you pull the trigger and don't look back imo.

If this were true he'd already be gone.  We all know he's a good defenseman who has flaws.  In a trade the Sabres would have to either add to the package to get that top winger kind of player, or be willing to accept less.

I'm not saying he won't be moved once other Dmen are healthy, but trading him is not a slam dunk.

1 hour ago, That Aud Smell said:

He seems to be playing more within himself than in the past. I don't notice nearly as many (and sometimes no) low hockey IQ gaffes. The proverbial "he was trying to do too much" may apply.

RFK's system has the forwards supporting the Dmen much more, providing shorter passes, etc.

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19 minutes ago, SabresFanInRochester said:

This is correct. He did not make an errant pass to Armia. He was sending the puck up to his winger, because his forechecker was taking the wall away, and the forechecker's stick hit his stick which redirected the puck. 

Wrong.  This is the NHL.  You have to be stronger on the puck than that, especially in your own zone.  That was a weak play by Risto and it was costly.

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I think he looks a lot like early-season Risto of past years. His late-winters usually make people forget, but the Risto of the Toronto game last December, or the Washington/Oilers games of 16-17, and others, is an incredible hockey player. He has it in him to be pretty good all the time. He just falls apart physically and mentally playing 26 hard minutes for bad teams for 82 straight games. I think, if Ralph is going to be a positive influence on Risto, we won't see anything appreciably different until it's time for Risto to start declining, and he doesn't. 

He did play a LOT last night. Didn't see the ice time. 

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12 minutes ago, bunomatic said:

Sounded like mutiple scouts from a variety of teams. It was a long list of teams that they read off but i can’t remember the exact number. They did say 30 scouts.

Don't they have a scout seating list? Thought I've seen those from time to time, if so, isn't there somewhere we could view it? Just curious.

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1 hour ago, WildCard said:

Interesting I missed that. Where'd you see/hear that?

They had Friedman on instigators about an hour ago too.  He said there were very few games around the league last night which partly contributed but also no secret with Montour and bogo coming back at some point there’s obviously depth there to move him.  Lots of scouts in the stands.  Also mentioned Ducks as a team really trying to bring in a rhd. 

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