LGR4GM Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 Welp, even though the forward group looks like swiss cheese in the hot sun we have another game. Bogosian isn't in for this one but is getting healthier. Vesey got magically promoted to the Eichel line because... this team doesn't have accountability. Mitts apparently has 4 shot attempts in the last 30 periods. People want to to trade Reinhart... which is insane. And here are our most likely lines: After winning 6 games, Boston dropped 4 games and then won, lost, won... so if we are lucky we catch them on a loss. In all seriousness though this will be a hard game to win as the Sabres are currently in a scoring drought caused by a lack of talent and overall mediocrity. I would predict a 5-3 loss and if Hutton is in goal, I might say 6-2. Enjoy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
... Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGR4GM Posted November 21, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 (edited) Bruins projected lineup: NOTE Bergeron is expected to play. LW C RW Forwards BRAD MARCHAND Rating: 84.3#1 LW DAVID KREJCI Rating: 76.2#30 C DAVID PASTRNAK Rating: 83.5#2 RW FL1 Rating Rating: 81.34#2 FL1 ANDERS BJORK Rating: 71.2#109 LW CHARLIE COYLE Rating: 73.6#69 C DANTON HEINEN Rating: 72.6#67 RW FL2 Rating Rating: 72.45#29 FL2 JAKE DEBRUSK Rating: 73.8#41 LW PAR LINDHOLM Rating: 69.3#176 C BRETT RITCHIE Rating: 69.8#117 RW FL3 Rating Rating: 70.97#27 FL3 JOAKIM NORDSTROM Rating: 70.3#128 LW SEAN KURALY Rating: 70.5#153 C CHRIS WAGNER Rating: 70.3#108 RW FL4 Rating Rating: 70.37#27 FL4 DEFENSIVE PAIRINGS Defense ZDENO CHARA Rating: 75.8#16 LD CHARLIE MCAVOY Rating: 76.6#12 RD DL1 Rating Rating: 76.21#7 DL1 MATT GRZELCYK Rating: 74.9#27 LD BRANDON CARLO Rating: 75.5#18 RD DL2 Rating Rating: 75.18#5 DL2 URHO VAAKANAINEN Rating: 73.3#56 LD CONNOR CLIFTON Rating: 72.6#63 RD DL3 Rating Rating: 72.97#10 DL3 Edited November 21, 2019 by LGR4GM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Doohickie Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 MOST IN Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darksabre Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 Jimmy Vesey on the top line probably doesn't end up working the way it should. We'd like to assume that putting him with better players will get him going because he's produced in the past with more minutes than he's had here so far. But all I see is Jack and Sam facing more coverage. At least Olofsson is a shooting threat. Vesey? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freester Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 This is a Botteril recipe for success, putting a 4th liner on the top line. Ugh... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTS Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 Look at the lineup and injuries. Olofsson has been ineffective on the top line as well. Who else do you put there? I know people want Skinner, but you're effectively neutralizing every other line by putting the best players on a single line. That said, it might still happen during the game. I could see separating Jack and Sam and seeing what happens. It might get there. At the same time, the perception might be that separated, and with this lineup, it might not generate anything. Anyway... the Bruins are damn good. I expect Buffalo to get lit up tonight. Plenty of backdoor goals being scored because the Bruins can move the puck effectively and Buffalo will be leave the backside open. It'll be ugly. Good luck! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunomatic Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 I’m starting to lose my belief that Ralph has any ability to actually coach . By coach I also mean the ability to change ones mindset and adapt your thinking based on a different set of circumstances. In his defence he really has shite to work with but he keeps trying the same thing. Maybe he truly is out of options ?anyways there’s next to no chance we win this game and for the first time in many years I may sit this one out for my own sanity. Who knows ? I may opt for the hot poker in my good eye and watch. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTS Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 3 minutes ago, bunomatic said: I’m starting to lose my belief that Ralph has any ability to actually coach . By coach I also mean the ability to change ones mindset and adapt your thinking based on a different set of circumstances. In his defence he really has shite to work with but he keeps trying the same thing. Maybe he truly is out of options ?anyways there’s next to no chance we win this game and for the first time in many years I may sit this one out for my own sanity. Who knows ? I may opt for the hot poker in my good eye and watch. Can any coach correct Ristolainen's terrible passing? Just curious.. ? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGR4GM Posted November 21, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 The obvious answer is to put Reinhart at center, move Mitts to wing and then fill that line out with Asplund to provide defense and center support. Skinner - Eichel - sheary (olofsson, erod) Mitts - Reinhart - Asplund Olofsson - Erod - Lazar Zemgus - Larry - Vesey 2 minutes ago, LTS said: Can any coach correct Ristolainen's terrible passing? Just curious.. ? No, that is precisely why he should be getting less minutes and needs to be jettisoned off this team. How many more games of him just tossing the puck up the boards or just flinging it away into the zone do we need before we realize he isn't that good? 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torpedo Forecheck Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 (edited) 42 minutes ago, darksabre said: Jimmy Vesey on the top line probably doesn't end up working the way it should. We'd like to assume that putting him with better players will get him going because he's produced in the past with more minutes than he's had here so far. But all I see is Jack and Sam facing more coverage. At least Olofsson is a shooting threat. Vesey? 14 minutes ago, LTS said: Look at the lineup and injuries. Olofsson has been ineffective on the top line as well. Who else do you put there? I know people want Skinner, but you're effectively neutralizing every other line by putting the best players on a single line. That said, it might still happen during the game. I could see separating Jack and Sam and seeing what happens. It might get there. At the same time, the perception might be that separated, and with this lineup, it might not generate anything. Anyway... the Bruins are damn good. I expect Buffalo to get lit up tonight. Plenty of backdoor goals being scored because the Bruins can move the puck effectively and Buffalo will be leave the backside open. It'll be ugly. Good luck! I'm not saying I agree with Vesey being moved to the top line, but I wonder if this is the reasoning. 1. Olofsson has been awful 5v5 and if Jack and Sam are out against B,M&P, perhaps having a PK guy like Vesey out helps defensively. 2. Vesey returning to Boston and an attempt to get him going on the scoreboard, I mean he is more of a 15 goal scorer, not a zero scorer like this year. It's a bit like shuffling the chairs on the Titanic as you guys implied. Move Skinner up and the other lines suck. I worry about Mitts and Oloffson on ice against BMP, and they'll have last change. Edited November 21, 2019 by Torpedo Forecheck 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CallawaySabres Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 Why does it feel like were are playing the Stanley Cup Oilers tonight......It should not feel this helpless when your team faces another NHL team sadly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Torpedo Forecheck Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 2 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said: Why does it feel like were are playing the Stanley Cup Oilers tonight......It should not feel this helpless when your team faces another NHL team sadly. For me, it feels much worse than the Bills playing the Pats back a few years ago. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunomatic Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 5 minutes ago, LTS said: Can any coach correct Ristolainen's terrible passing? Just curious.. ? If he had someone else he trusted to play 25-26 minutes he could sit him or play him lower in the D pairings but he’s just as addicted to Ristos ability to eat minutes as every other ‘ coach ‘ who’s had him so... This team is hot garbage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darksabre Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 26 minutes ago, LTS said: Look at the lineup and injuries. Olofsson has been ineffective on the top line as well. Who else do you put there? I know people want Skinner, but you're effectively neutralizing every other line by putting the best players on a single line. That said, it might still happen during the game. I could see separating Jack and Sam and seeing what happens. It might get there. At the same time, the perception might be that separated, and with this lineup, it might not generate anything. Anyway... the Bruins are damn good. I expect Buffalo to get lit up tonight. Plenty of backdoor goals being scored because the Bruins can move the puck effectively and Buffalo will be leave the backside open. It'll be ugly. Good luck! The argument that I've come around on is that spreading talent out among the lines is a good idea if you have the talent to spread out. Otherwise your only option is to concentrate limited talent together in order to prevent it being neutralized by putting it with less talented players. The Sabres, right now, are not deep enough to spread talent out. They don't have the horses for balanced lines. So their only option is to concentrate it on one or two lines and hope the rest of the lines can at least not ***** their pants. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freester Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 I'm not blaming RK for this quagmire. Blame rests solely on Botteril for assembling this horrific lineup. Toe Blake or Scotty Bowman would not succeed with this lineup 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTS Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 14 minutes ago, bunomatic said: If he had someone else he trusted to play 25-26 minutes he could sit him or play him lower in the D pairings but he’s just as addicted to Ristos ability to eat minutes as every other ‘ coach ‘ who’s had him so... This team is hot garbage. Well, if the coach doesn't have someone, then it's not really the coach's fault right? Just curious, because you were questioning the coach's ability. I'd like to see more from Ralph to shake things up, but I think he's also handcuffed and most of the problems on this team fall on the players. They are the ones who are not completing passes, not skating hard enough, not covering the back door passes, etc. 2 minutes ago, darksabre said: The argument that I've come around on is that spreading talent out among the lines is a good idea if you have the talent to spread out. Otherwise your only option is to concentrate limited talent together in order to prevent it being neutralized by putting it with less talented players. The Sabres, right now, are not deep enough to spread talent out. They don't have the horses for balanced lines. So their only option is to concentrate it on one or two lines and hope the rest of the lines can at least not ***** their pants. Yeah, I agree. I'll be curious if more changes occur. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTS Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 1 minute ago, freester said: I'm not blaming RK for this quagmire. Blame rests solely on Botteril for assembling this horrific lineup. Toe Blake or Scotty Bowman would not succeed with this lineup Think deeper. The problems of the Sabres STILL date back to before Botterill. You can assume that there were moves out there that could have been made that would have helped this team. You may be right. The Sabres might have been slightly better this year. Then the expansion draft of 2021 would hit and the Sabres would not be able to protect enough players. Their prospect pool would be crap because they likely had to give up picks and players to get those better players and in 2022 the Sabres might be back to complete suckitude. That said, the injury to MoJo is big... he improves the lineup. The depth isn't there for the Sabres.. we knew that. Injuries will kill the team. They have plenty of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
darksabre Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 2 minutes ago, LTS said: Well, if the coach doesn't have someone, then it's not really the coach's fault right? Just curious, because you were questioning the coach's ability. I'd like to see more from Ralph to shake things up, but I think he's also handcuffed and most of the problems on this team fall on the players. They are the ones who are not completing passes, not skating hard enough, not covering the back door passes, etc. Yeah, I agree. I'll be curious if more changes occur. They have to. Or else the message from Botterill will be loud and clear: "I wrote this season off in July". 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freester Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 Just now, LTS said: Think deeper. The problems of the Sabres STILL date back to before Botterill. You can assume that there were moves out there that could have been made that would have helped this team. You may be right. The Sabres might have been slightly better this year. Then the expansion draft of 2021 would hit and the Sabres would not be able to protect enough players. Their prospect pool would be crap because they likely had to give up picks and players to get those better players and in 2022 the Sabres might be back to complete suckitude. That said, the injury to MoJo is big... he improves the lineup. The depth isn't there for the Sabres.. we knew that. Injuries will kill the team. They have plenty of them. You're a Botteril apologist. He has done a terrible job assembling a roster. I'm not worried about next years expansion draft. Botteril has led us to 3 of the worse years in Sabres history and next year is likely to be more of the same. Injuries are part of the game. We didn't lose Sydney Crosby, we lost Marcus Johanssen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miles Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 I think the sabres are ready to turn it around. they will play a solid game tonight and pull it out in a shoot out 4 to 3 1 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGR4GM Posted November 21, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 12 minutes ago, LTS said: Think deeper. The problems of the Sabres STILL date back to before Botterill. You can assume that there were moves out there that could have been made that would have helped this team. You may be right. The Sabres might have been slightly better this year. Then the expansion draft of 2021 would hit and the Sabres would not be able to protect enough players. Their prospect pool would be crap because they likely had to give up picks and players to get those better players and in 2022 the Sabres might be back to complete suckitude. That said, the injury to MoJo is big... he improves the lineup. The depth isn't there for the Sabres.. we knew that. Injuries will kill the team. They have plenty of them. It may date back before Botts but he has not done enough to fix the issues and in some cases has made them worse. The expansion draft is irrelevant at this point because this team doesn't have enough talent to worry about losing someone like Larsson or Gilmour or whoever. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LTS Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 Just now, freester said: You're a Botteril apologist. He has done a terrible job assembling a roster. I'm not worried about next years expansion draft. Botteril has led us to 3 of the worse years in Sabres history and next year is likely to be more of the same. Injuries are part of the game. We didn't lose Sydney Crosby, we lost Marcus Johanssen. Ahh, attack me and label me. The perfect response from a person who cannot think deeper. Thank you for proving my point. Then you follow it up with "I don't care about next year" You won't care about next year now.. no. You will next year, when the team has put itself in a position to continue sucking even longer because they made really bad trades in an attempt to win now. So, you'll be moderately happy this year and then when the team has no depth you'll be off whining about how the GM sucks. Oh yeah, and when you have no depth the injuries that are part of the game hurt the team even more because the drop off from talented player A to replacement player B is greater. But.. yes.. trade all the depth for a few good players and then wonder why things suck when they get injured. Johanssen isn't Crosby.. Rodrigues isn't Johanssen. Go check out the 2010-2011 and 2011-2012 seasons for the Penguins.. they didn't have Crosby but still made the playoffs. Why? They had depth. 2 minutes ago, LGR4GM said: It may date back before Botts but he has not done enough to fix the issues and in some cases has made them worse. The expansion draft is irrelevant at this point because this team doesn't have enough talent to worry about losing someone like Larsson or Gilmour or whoever. The expansion draft is relevant if you were lobbying for Botterill to trade prospect and picks to get roster players that then would have to be exposed and potentially put the team back into the dark ages. That was my point. Certainly the team has nothing to fear right now... He clearly hasn't done enough to fix the roster. That is answered by the state of the roster. The question, is whether there was the ability to make those changes or not. Is Botterill incompetent or is the league situation such that he is unable to make the changes without taking significant risks? I'm not sure we know the answer to that one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LGR4GM Posted November 21, 2019 Author Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 12 minutes ago, LTS said: He clearly hasn't done enough to fix the roster. That is answered by the state of the roster. The question, is whether there was the ability to make those changes or not. Is Botterill incompetent or is the league situation such that he is unable to make the changes without taking significant risks? I'm not sure we know the answer to that one. Fabbri was traded for nothing and Botterill didn't get him so I firmly believe there has been an ability but the Sabres have not made a move. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bunomatic Posted November 21, 2019 Report Share Posted November 21, 2019 47 minutes ago, LTS said: Well, if the coach doesn't have someone, then it's not really the coach's fault right? Just curious, because you were questioning the coach's ability. I'd like to see more from Ralph to shake things up, but I think he's also handcuffed and most of the problems on this team fall on the players. They are the ones who are not completing passes, not skating hard enough, not covering the back door passes, etc. Yeah, I agree. I'll be curious if more changes occur. Yeah thats why I added that this team was hot garbage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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