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GDT Montreal at Buffalo, January 30, 2020, 7 o'clock post meridiem, MSG Network, WGR 550 amplitude modulation frequency.


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Not at all surprised at them losing after finding out Hutton got the start, but very surprised at the game flow and Hutton only giving up 1 bad goal.  (And it wasn't even a terrible goal, it simply was a lack of a makable but tough save at the time they needed the save.)

Have Skinner's shot be just 1/2 an inch lower and have Hutton make that save and then who knows?  But the shot on the wide open net hit the crossbar and stayed out and the blocked shot went right back to Kovalchuk who found it long before Hutton did.  Pretty sure it was officially over at that point even though Gallagher (?) hadn't been left as the only skater on the entire right side of the ice yet.

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2 hours ago, darksabre said:

I'd be fine with Ralph doing double duty as coach and GM. Just give him enough assistants to delegate to. It'll be like managing a soccer team again.

Really?    He cant even handle the head coach job. 

Hire Assistants?    Look at the PP and PK under his current assistants. 

 

Agree with moving him to a front office job but not HC and/or GM and not even President of Hockey Operations.  Something involving strategy, scouting, development of players. 

Boterill hired Ralph, there is no conspiracy for Ralph to replace him as GM. If one goes then its very likely they both go. 

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4 hours ago, Pimlach said:

How is Ralph a Czar?   He was been in the NHL less than one year.  He is learning as he goes. 

Ralph doesn't need to be a HOCKEY czar. He just needs to be a leader of an organization, establishing the tone, making sure things run smoothly, and making sure his GM and coach and players are doing their jobs well. He can do this without specifically being well-versed in the Florida Panthers' potential trade chips, and the hottest new coaching trends etc. I have no doubt he's capable of doing this job, which is by default Terry Pegula's right now, a helluva lot better than Terry does. He's been in sports management his whole life.

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2 hours ago, darksabre said:

I'd be fine with Ralph doing double duty as coach and GM. Just give him enough assistants to delegate to. It'll be like managing a soccer team again.

how do you come to this idea? He's not proven as a coach and what evidence is there he would be a good GM?

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53 minutes ago, bunomatic said:

Why would you again hand the reins to someone with little to no experience ? Look at some of Ralphs decisions as a coach. I’d hate to see what he could do as a “ hockey Czar “. 

Ralph's coaching has been a pleasant surprise for me, personally. I have no major qualms with anything he's done to this point. You won't find a single coach whose lineup decisions don't bug you a good chunk of the time

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2 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Not at all surprised at them losing after finding out Hutton got the start, but very surprised at the game flow and Hutton only giving up 1 bad goal.  (And it wasn't even a terrible goal, it simply was a lack of a makable but tough save at the time they needed the save.)

Have Skinner's shot be just 1/2 an inch lower and have Hutton make that save and then who knows?  But the shot on the wide open net hit the crossbar and stayed out and the blocked shot went right back to Kovalchuk who found it long before Hutton did.  Pretty sure it was officially over at that point even though Gallagher (?) hadn't been left as the only skater on the entire right side of the ice yet.

Yes we could have won with "puck luck".  Every game we can find missed shots and missed saves that would have changed things. 

So explain the long durations with no shots on goal, the defensive breakdowns, and the fact the Montreal dominated the game after the first 9 minutes of the first period.  Hutton played a good game and they did not support him. 

Explain why Risto is battling with three guys in front of the net and Shea is allowed to jump in with no Sabres getting involved.  I take that back, Frolik - the new guy - came in late.  Apparently he does not have "full apathy" disease yet, give him another week.

 

This group does not play for one another.  They don't support each other.  It goes back a long way. 

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3 hours ago, Weave said:

This situation is interesting in all kinds of bad ways.  When Hutton was brought in he had a reputation as a good locker room guy. A team guy.  
 

There is more than just Hutton that is broken here. Yet again, we have another player who mentally walks away from this team.  Its a pattern now with multiple players over multiple seasons.  WTF is going on in Pegula-ville?

I'm sure it's so many unknowable things, but one of the ones I like to keep highlighting is that, each of the last three seasons, we've gone through several unthinkably bad stretches that most franchises only see one of every few years (losing 22 games out of 29, or stretches even worse, stuff like that). I went through and picked a couple out, and we've gone through like 5 two-month stretches of severe ineptitude in the standings, and I think the psyche of these players gets worse and worse each one of them, because we have not once made a move of significance to address the root issues of those stretches. It took only one season of it to burn out a guy like O'Reilly, who had basically been on incompetent teams his whole career outside of one Avs season. It's wearing on Eichel, but he's younger. A guy like Hutton isn't used to this, because the Blues and Preds were quite solid many of his years there. I really think the psychological impact of sitting on our hands for many long stretches of being the worst team in the NHL during those stretches permanently impacts these guys. It's miserable for us, but it's literally dominating their day-to-day LIVES. 

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10 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

Jason -> gone

Ralph -> hockey czar whose job it is to make sure the new GM is good, and remains good. Do it now so that GM has Gallant available if he so chooses. He can choose someone else too if he wants 

 

9 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

Ralph doesn't need to be a HOCKEY czar. He just needs to be a leader of an organization, establishing the tone, making sure things run smoothly, and making sure his GM and coach and players are doing their jobs well. He can do this without specifically being well-versed in the Florida Panthers' potential trade chips, and the hottest new coaching trends etc. I have no doubt he's capable of doing this job, which is by default Terry Pegula's right now, a helluva lot better than Terry does. He's been in sports management his whole life.

 

Well you called him a hockey czar, not me. 

Agree.  There is a front office job for him, but it is not GM.  I guess you think he will fire the GM that hired him? 

I do agree he will be better than Terry, or Kim, or Black, or Batissta, or Lafontaine, or any of the rest. 

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1 minute ago, Pimlach said:

 

 

Well you called him a hockey czar, not me. 

Agree.  There is a front office job for him, but it is not GM.  I guess you think he will fire the GM that hired him? 

I do agree he will be better than Terry, or Kim, or Black, or Batissta, or Lafontaine, or any of the rest. 

Forgot I phrased it that way last night, but you know what I mean. He'll be the "hockey czar" but that doesn't mean he needs to be able to do the jobs of everyone below him, he just needs to be able to watch them intelligently 

Edited by Randall Flagg
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7 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Yes we could have won with "puck luck".  Every game we can find missed shots and missed saves that would have changed things. 

So explain the long durations with no shots on goal, the defensive breakdowns, and the fact the Montreal dominated the game after the first 9 minutes of the first period.  Hutton played a good game and they did not support him. 

Explain why Risto is battling with three guys in front of the net and Shea is allowed to jump in with no Sabres getting involved.  I take that back, Frolik - the new guy - came in late.  Apparently he does not have "full apathy" disease yet, give him another week.

 

This group does not play for one another.  They don't support each other.  It goes back a long way. 

You totally missed the point.  Should have been stated better / more clearly then.

Was saying that had they gotten the "puck luck" then the game becomes a toss up.  But without it, the game was lost before it officially was lost.  The result had become inevitable at that point, even though technically it wasn't.  We all (apparently including most of the Sabres) knew it was done.  Which is exhausting; can't imagine how much worse it must be for them.

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29 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

Ralph doesn't need to be a HOCKEY czar. He just needs to be a leader of an organization, establishing the tone, making sure things run smoothly, and making sure his GM and coach and players are doing their jobs well. He can do this without specifically being well-versed in the Florida Panthers' potential trade chips, and the hottest new coaching trends etc. I have no doubt he's capable of doing this job, which is by default Terry Pegula's right now, a helluva lot better than Terry does. He's been in sports management his whole life.

Kim's not Terry's.  But I agree with the sentiment.

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Just now, Randall Flagg said:

I don't pay a lot of attention to them - was it Kim that hired Jason? 

Kim holds the title of President of both the Bills and Sabres.  Terry is technically not an executive in any manner of PSE. As to the hire I believe it pre-dated the firing of Brandon and the announcement of Kim ascending to her new role.

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9 minutes ago, Taro T said:

You totally missed the point.  Should have been stated better / more clearly then.

Was saying that had they gotten the "puck luck" then the game becomes a toss up.  But without it, the game was lost before it officially was lost.  The result had become inevitable at that point, even though technically it wasn't.  We all (apparently including most of the Sabres) knew it was done.  Which is exhausting; can't imagine how much worse it must be for them.

I respect your posts a lot but I cannot agree with the notion that the game was lost that early.  They were down 2-1 and had the entire 3rd period to go.  The game ended on Reinhart's terrible play with the goalie pulled.  Until then they were one shot away from tying the game and getting at least one point.  I cant stand any players who gave up before this. 

I must be an idiot fan because even though hey frustrate me I am waiting for them to get the tying goal. 

I am reading a lot of stuff on the internet about the Sabres fan base boiling over.  Maybe this will wake up the Pegula's as they are killing this franchise. 

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32 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

Ralph's coaching has been a pleasant surprise for me, personally. I have no major qualms with anything he's done to this point. You won't find a single coach whose lineup decisions don't bug you a good chunk of the time

I don't know.  The team has no personality. Nobody plays hard for Krueger. The special teams are a mess.  There are defensive breakdowns every game. The locker room is dead. Players are requesting trades after one benching.

If Krueger was coaching this team with no Jack Eichel, how many wins do the Sabres have this year? 6? 7?

Sabres games have the tone of a death March.  Everyone, fans and players include, wait for the one mistake in the game that ends their chance for a win.

The roster is to blame for much of this, but Krueger sure isn't doing much to help.

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5 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

I respect your posts a lot but I cannot agree with the notion that the game was lost that early.  They were down 2-1 and had the entire 3rd period to go.  The game ended on Reinhart's terrible play with the goalie pulled.  Until then they were one shot away from tying the game and getting at least one point.  I cant stand any players who gave up before this. 

I must be an idiot fan because even though hey frustrate me I am waiting for them to get the tying goal. 

I am reading a lot of stuff on the internet about the Sabres fan base boiling over.  Maybe this will wake up the Pegula's as they are killing this franchise. 

Am just really frustrated right now and not looking forward to going to tomorrow's game at all.  

A good meal before the game will help to give a better attitude, but pretty sure my view of this season broke when Ullmark's kneecap dislocated (or whatever he actually did to it).

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17 minutes ago, jad1 said:

I don't know.  The team has no personality. Nobody plays hard for Krueger. The special teams are a mess.  There are defensive breakdowns every game. The locker room is dead. Players are requesting trades after one benching.

If Krueger was coaching this team with no Jack Eichel, how many wins do the Sabres have this year? 6? 7?

Sabres games have the tone of a death March.  Everyone, fans and players include, wait for the one mistake in the game that ends their chance for a win.

The roster is to blame for much of this, but Krueger sure isn't doing much to help.

The bolded sentence is really apparent.  I don't think I have  seen this level of frustration in a fan base. 

Fans are quitting, just like the players.  I could feel it from the many posts here during the 10 day break.  Many of the regular posters here were already saying we are dead, and its over, when in fact this had been one of the better seasons in recent years.   Sure we were a long shot to make the playoff but the odds were not zero  - finishing strong with an 85- 90 point season would be something to build on.   Instead the players lay two eggs on home ice, we lose our goalie, and the fans are revolting. 

Any players that do not want to help the cause of winning as much as possible should be removed.    If this team does not play every game hard then no one is going to want to come here next season.  The players are at fault as much as the coach, the GM, and the owners.  The players are mentally very weak. 

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1 hour ago, Randall Flagg said:

Ralph's coaching has been a pleasant surprise for me, personally. I have no major qualms with anything he's done to this point. You won't find a single coach whose lineup decisions don't bug you a good chunk of the time

Agree totally. Coaching is not the problem.

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1 hour ago, nucci said:

how do you come to this idea? He's not proven as a coach and what evidence is there he would be a good GM?

I've been fine with this coaching and the dude was a chairman of a Premier League team. So I think he can handle a sh*t-stain NHL franchise just fine.

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3 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Hutton was fine. More than fine maybe.

That's not the point.  The decision to start him was either based in complacency or simply insane.  Whether he played adequately on one particular night doesn't matter.

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5 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

The bolded sentence is really apparent.  I don't think I have  seen this level of frustration in a fan base. 

Fans are quitting, just like the players.  I could feel it from the many posts here during the 10 day break.  Many of the regular posters here were already saying we are dead, and its over, when in fact this had been one of the better seasons in recent years.   Sure we were a long shot to make the playoff but the odds were not zero  - finishing strong with an 85- 90 point season would be something to build on.   Instead the players lay two eggs on home ice, we lose our goalie, and the fans are revolting. 

Any players that do not want to help the cause of winning as much as possible should be removed.    If this team does not play every game hard then no one is going to want to come here next season.  The players are at fault as much as the coach, the GM, and the owners.  The players are mentally very weak. 

Owners and GM are responsible for the players. So let's put the blame where it is. Go ahead hire Gallant or pick a name and the players still will be the same. We've had sub par management (owners responsibility) and sub par players (GM) responsibility. Seems it gets right back to ownership ultimately. As Truman said"the buck stops here".

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This homestand had a chance to be a blessing (we had a good record at home; get some momentum and make a heroic run to 9th, at least get the team looking good and playing competently game-in and game-out). Or, it had the chance to be a curse (be flat, lose hope, get further injuries, have the fans/wolves start howling). In two games, it's become the latter.

The problem is that JBot knows (and we all do, somewhere deep inside) that the team is still a year away from competing for playoffs based solely on timeline of prospects and clearing out some contracts. So last year and this year were low investment. The problem with that stagnation is burning the years of your young studs, and having to patch a lineup rather than building it.

Last year -- fast start. #1 in the league. Sustainable? Emphatically no! But we lost Berglund's role (not necessarily Berg the player, but the role. Steady middle-6 veteran C). JBot never replaced him. A traded player and pick and maybe we miss the playoffs, but at least stay relevant all year (sadly, then no Cozens. But we could still be excited about whoever we drafted in the 1st round). Instead, Mitts, Sobotka, and Rodrigues were pushed at that role -- ERod with ... some minor success, but nothing that said "2C". We learned Mitts and Thompson both needed AHL seasoning.

This year, still no 2C. But again the fast start. More depth! Sustainable? Very likely no, but a glut of D, including Pilut and Bogo coming back shortly --- the assets were there to get the 2C. Instead, Mitts cooled off after a good first few games. And JBot did nothing. This team needs centers, and nothing was done about it. MoJo is a good winger, he hadn't played center in 5 years when WSH determined he'd be a better fit at wing. So we were going to Leino-ize him? That's not a plan.

Why am I writing this? You all know this. Never mind I just lost my starboard engine. Get set up for your attack run. AAAAAAAIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEE!

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