Jump to content

Sabres Waive Dalton Smith


Brawndo

Recommended Posts

25 minutes ago, Broken Ankles said:

Didn't say scoring was not a problem.  Said it's not their biggest problem.  Being in the bottom third in Goals Against, DFL in PP goals defended, and Carter Hutton are far bigger problems.  Second line scoring has improved, and will continue to improve.   Bottom 6 scoring is down, which is why we are here.....talking for 5 pages about a singular substitution.  If the sabres start both invisible men (Erod and Vesey), what is your upside for this game?  Do you honestly think either will score?  Possible, but unlikely based on history.   

Exactly how will second line scoring continue to get better?

And great idea with our pitiful penalty kill, bring in a player that will undoubtably take a dumb penalty or two.

Just take an unbiased look at this division. The forward talent is nowhere near where Boston, Florida and Toronto are. Only having Eichel puts them above Montreal.
 

I want to state for the record, I value grit and toughness. I just want it in players that actually can help you make the playoffs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, miles said:

I'm hoping this guy whales on cernak for a solid minute or two. 

This guy took sobotka out nearly the entire season and 3 weeks on dahlin.

I lost complete respect for the entire team after dahlin hit and I'm hoping this guy was brought in for retribution. If this guy is only brought up for Tampa games to whale on cernak, I would be fine with it.

If I was cernak I would be treading very lightly 

It was Kucherov who took out Sobotka, not Cernak.  If Dalton lays a finger on Kucherov you will see Tampa come to his aide.  
 

BTW, Cernak is 6’3 235 so he is pretty large boy but I don’t think he is a fighter.  Not in the old NHL sense of a fighter.  

Edited by Pimlach
  • Thanks (+1) 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

47 minutes ago, tom webster said:

Exactly how will second line scoring continue to get better?

And great idea with our pitiful penalty kill, bring in a player that will undoubtably take a dumb penalty or two.

Just take an unbiased look at this division. The forward talent is nowhere near where Boston, Florida and Toronto are. Only having Eichel puts them above Montreal.
 

I want to state for the record, I value grit and toughness. I just want it in players that actually can help you make the playoffs.

It’s is obvious that they need much more talent at forward to improve this team.  Until we get a 2C and some better wingers we are stuck in the bottom half.   It is not to fair to say Dalton can’t help them, all he has to do is be good at his role as 1/20th if the team.  
 

It is also reasonable to expect as fans that while they go about building this team that they don’t lose sight of players that play with passion and toughness.  We clearly lack those traits on this team.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

20 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

It’s is obvious that they need much more talent at forward to improve this team.  Until we get a 2C and some better wingers we are stuck in the bottom half.   It is not to fair to say Dalton can’t help them, all he has to do is be good at his role as 1/20th if the team.  
 

It is also reasonable to expect as fans that while they go about building this team that they don’t lose sight of players that play with passion and toughness.  We clearly lack those traits on this team.  

My problem isn’t the thought itself, my problem is with the actual player. There have to be better options then a guy on an AHL contract. 
Listen, I’m a fan, a season ticket holder and someone who desperately wants to care again. This just smacks too much of a guy who has no clue what to do(JNOT) and he’s throwing the fans a bone.

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

3 hours ago, TrueBlueGED said:

You know the Sabres are in a bad stretch when the signing of a 27 year old AHL fighter with 0 NHL games played generates 5 pages (and counting) of discussion. 

True about the bad stretch.  In this bad stretch we got to see Reinhart fight a defenseman on Boston.  Do you think if say McCabe dropped them the with a guy like  Krejchi the rest of the Bruins on the ice would have watched it. No way.   

Before that we saw Eichel fight. We constantly see little Skinner agitate and get pounded with no help.  Until this team decides that they are going to stick together this will continue.  Adding one guy like Dalton won’t change a lot, but maybe it will change something. 
 

The point is not fighting either.   It’s playing the body, finishing checks, being there to police the other team.  The NHL did not do a great job with the Kucherov and Cernak hits.  Counting on the refs and the league to police the game is for the teams that don’t win. 

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

32 minutes ago, tom webster said:

My problem isn’t the thought itself, my problem is with the actual player. There have to be better options then a guy on an AHL contract. 
Listen, I’m a fan, a season ticket holder and someone who desperately wants to care again. This just smacks too much of a guy who has no clue what to do(JNOT) and he’s throwing the fans a bone.

We agree on Botterill.  This is one more indication that he is over his head.  
 

As for better options - that would require JBot to make a trade.  He has not shown much in that area.  He picked  up some players that teams had to move for cap reasons ( Skinner, Miller), his trade for Joker looks good, the rest of his moves range from pretty bad  to terrible. 
 

Edited by Pimlach
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So we’ve traded Mitts for Smith with the farm team.  Hey Mitts, you feeling a bit unappreciated yet?

I seem to recall the gist of an interesting stat from last season.  Roc’s record was way higher with Smith in the lineup than when he was out.  My gut is he will have a minimal impact in Buffalo, but placate the fans for a game and the Amerks will miss him while he’s up here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

18 hours ago, tom webster said:

For me toughness is going to the front of the net without having an exit strategy already in your head. All the fighting stuff is crap and as much as I enjoy a good fight, it does nothing to help you win. Score more goals. 

To me this screams of appeasement. All those fans that want a return to Ted Nolan days here’s your guy. We might plummet even further in the standings but we will go down fighting. 

Go down fighting. That says it all to me and that element has been what is missing. Every friggin player on the team should have that mentality from the get go. Before they’re drafted. Thats the trait you want. no one is pining for the days of Ted Nolan. The opposite of go down fighting is roll over. This team has a reputation for what its worth, of not liking to get hit. Embarrassing.

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

57 minutes ago, Weave said:

So we’ve traded Mitts for Smith with the farm team.  Hey Mitts, you feeling a bit unappreciated yet?

I seem to recall the gist of an interesting stat from last season.  Roc’s record was way higher with Smith in the lineup than when he was out.  My gut is he will have a minimal impact in Buffalo, but placate the fans for a game and the Amerks will miss him while he’s up here.

He will be missed but the Amerks actually have plenty of grit to overcome it.  They still have guys that do the things that Smith does. Randall, Cornel, Borgen, MacWilliam, Malone, Wilson, Ellie.  They are the polar opposite of the Sabres, almost all grit, limited skill players. The improvement of the health of CJ Smith, Tyler Leier and Remi Ellie has added to the skill department. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 hours ago, SwampD said:

So, we’re starting by adding one guy. I’m confused. Do you want the entire team swapped in one day for toughness?

Ya gotta start somewhere.

Should start by adding a player who will actually make a single iota of difference 

4 hours ago, Weave said:

Because constantly taking things out of context is directly related to you, of course.

Nearly all, if not all, agree that signing Smith is not THE solution, but may begin to address one specific area of concern, so to go to the extreme in your responses, you might want to expect it to become part of the conversation.

It won’t begin to address anything. He’s not good. At anything - at the NHL level.  

3 hours ago, tom webster said:

They added a guy that anyone in the league could have had and didn’t want. So now, apparently, two guys that no one else wanted, Lazar and Smith are going to save their season from their GM’s ineptitude! I may lay $1K on Tampa winning 6-1 tonight with Buffalo winning a fight and some fans will apparently be happy. 

Right? Lol like come on 

- - -

It’s nothing more than a cheap, see through ploy to appease a segment of the fan base in the hopes of keeping SOME of that season ticket revenue, ticket revenue, flowing. Hell, there’s already talk of his jersey being purchased if he fights. 

Weak sauce from Botterill, trending more into the “embarrassing” side of the ledger. 

Edited by Thorny
I hope he scores tonight
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2 hours ago, Pimlach said:

It was Kucherov who took out Sobotka, not Cernak.  If Dalton lays a finger on Kucherov you will see Tampa come to his aide.  
 

BTW, Cernak is 6’3 235 so he is pretty large boy but I don’t think he is a fighter.  Not in the old NHL sense of a fighter.  

i must have mis-remembered. either way, here hoping cernak get a beat down  tonight. wasnt it cernak who checked jack and stood over him to show him up?

Edited by miles
Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 minutes ago, miles said:

i must have mis-remembered. either way, here hoping cernak get a beat down  tonight. wasnt it cernak who checked jack and stood over him to show him up?

Yes.

Wish we had someone to do that to someone else’s star player.

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

5 hours ago, Weave said:

I suppose you could loosely claim Ogre made that point

I did? I remember saying I liked Dalton. I don’t recall saying anything about why the Sabres aren’t scoring. I also never mentioned a single thing about the “liberties” taken by anyone. The guy has been a big part of my favorite hockey team for the last three years. I won’t bottle up my enthusiasm for the young man. He deserves the game or two that he is going to get. I hope he does well and enjoys the ***** out of it.
 

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

8 minutes ago, Ogre said:

I did? I remember saying I liked Dalton. I don’t recall saying anything about why the Sabres aren’t scoring. I also never mentioned a single thing about the “liberties” taken by anyone. The guy has been a big part of my favorite hockey team for the last three years. I won’t bottle up my enthusiasm for the young man. He deserves the game or two that he is going to get. I hope he does well and enjoys the ***** out of it.
 

LOOSELY.  Your post was closest if he was filtering out context and nuance.  Maybe that's what cheeky means.

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

8 hours ago, Neo said:

I’m a neanderthal, too, in many hockey senses.  Oh, I quit on fights because of head trauma in young men, but I still love a grinding, physical, game.  My lack of enthusiasm for Dalton is that this “sign a bruiser”  approach to physicality is just “so Buffalo” since the end of the 1970s.  The twenty guys in the room have the ability.  Only culture (there’s that word, again) brings it out.  Nineteen guys standing around watching Dalton doesn’t thrill me.

I hear ya. My hope is that it is infectious. You have to start somewhere and Krueger has to reward effort and push back (in all ways) and bench or reduce ice time for the floaters and non participants. You take a guy like Bogo, he's useless unless he plays physical. If he isn't willing to play physical he sits, as he should. Lazar gets more ice time for effort, Vesey gets less etc.  

The culture is definitely the problem. I think back and remember when the new owner came in did he not add a bunch of luxuries and upgrades to the dressing room and so forth? Made it all a fancy spa atmosphere. Was that the beginning of the culture of privilege we see now? I dunno, but the culture has to be changed, and really my only other answer for that is a complete (and I mean complete) tear down and restart from scratch. Otherwise, why not try adding a tough guy or two. 

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

5 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Why are you trying to make this personal? One player who is a 4th line jag doesn't help toughness. It's gotta be a team concept. Happy New Year.

True, but it has to start somewhere and if no one on the roster steps up you add players who will until it becomes a team concept and then you can replace them with more skill one by one.

I will direct you to Ottawa and their rebuild strategy. Complete tear down, all the big names gone, rebuild around toughness and grit. Supposed to be worst in the league, already better than us. When their kids and prospects they got in the tear down emerge they will be a complete team much faster than us. Our speed first philosophy has proven flawed. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

13 minutes ago, Neo said:

It occurs to me.  Assuming he’s a healthy scratch, Bogo’s done, here.  Imagine having his skill set and being benched for a marginal AHLer because of “grit”.

One marginal player being benched for another, as the world turns 

Just now, inkman said:

They don't play the same position...

Don’t they? We’ve had a few games with a D man dressing as a forward 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 minutes ago, inkman said:

They don't play the same position...

I know ...  But wouldn’t he think “the team believes it’s better with him at forward, at some forward cost, than it is with me as 7D, with the cost being who ever I’d replace?”

Not as obvious as the same position, but still.   I’d think “I’m done”.

In other words, rather than dress Bogo, they call up someone like Smith ....  musings.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, Broken Ankles said:

You have had 5 posts since you promised not to return.   Do yourself a favor.  Hide in your fear bunker for a few days.  Enjoy the New Year festivities and come out when either your proven right, and Dalton is sent down after two games at a minus 5.  Then gloat.  Or, if the Sabres can string together a few W's and certain players actually elevate their game, not at the expense of goals scored, come back with your proverbial tail between your legs with a mea culpa.   Either way, Happy New Year.  

After game 1, no mea culpa needed......

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...