GDT:Sabres at Seattle 10/25/22 10pm, MSG, Root WGR550

[Taro T]

2 hours ago, Pimlach said:

Ray's comment on Eichel was correct but clearly a bit of a dig at Jack.  Mitts had a lazy shift that cost us a goal.  The gift of instant replay and a teaching moment.  

Pilut looked out of place to me.  Hoping Joker gets back soon to alleviate the need to play both Pilut and Fitz.   I don't agree with your comment on Power.  Expectations of him after 14 games are getting unrealistic.  He is as rookie playing with a few AHL level backups.  

Thompson does not play like a small man.  Far from it.  Skinner is Skinner, we know what he is.  The whole team looked spent, we are going to have games like this, even the best teams have them.  This was a tough match up for a tired and depleted team.  We never tested their goalie. 

Let not overreact to a bad game. 

Sure, Beniers looked good, he is good, and he got to feast on our situation last night.   

Said in another thread, would keep Lyubushkin with Power until at least 1 of the 2 injured guys get back.  (Probably longer. ;) )

Don't like it when Granato makes Power carry Jokiharju.  It is really unfair to expect a rookie to cover a journey man.  Keep Dahlin w/ 1 of the lesser 3 and they should have essentially 2 2nd pairings and a 3rd, which should be good enough at home against teams that are in the lower 1/2 of the league. 

And technically, Henri could be back Saturday.  (Not saying he necessarily will be back, but he can be brought off IR on Friday.)

[mjd1001]

38 minutes ago, Huckleberry said:

Casey strolling back on that offside goal to the bench , man I would have him doing reps next practice for that.

But the team overal was just bad,  Only good thing I noticed was peterka and cozens kept trying to skate hard.    Was at work during game though so I watched flashes of it mostly.

Cozens will get better, but sometimes he needs to know/learn when to go all out and when to coast.  I want the quality in a player who gives full effort, but at the moment he occasionally gets out of positin because of it.  A good example was the first goal against last night.  He was the deepest in the Offensive zone so he was the last one coming back into the D-zone right before the goal was scored.  He was in the center of the ice, and both D-men and wingers were down low in the Buffalo D-zone right before the goal was scored. He had full visibility of where all of his teammates were,  decided to skate down low into the play himself, leaving the center of the ice wide open where the goal was scored from.  Again, he WANTS to be in the play and that is great, but if he just held up a bit and filled the center of the ice (which I assume is where he should have been), he very well might have broken up or prevented the goal from being scored.

Cozens, Krebs, and Peterka all should be very good players.  Peterka needs experience playing with his teammate and knowing where to be. Krebs is slower and doesn't win many battles on the boards so he has to learn how to cover for those physical deficiencies.  Cozens?  he knows the positioning of the game by now..he has good speed and wins battles, he just needs to learn to sometimes 'let up a bit' and not go 100% all the time.

Edited October 26, 2022 by mjd1001

[Doohickie]

1 hour ago, NAF said:

Didn’t get a chance to watch — how was Quinn? I saw he had a goal disallowed, but other than that?

Largely invisible.  But the whole team was ass last night.

[Norcal]

I was wrong about the Power Surge v the Kracken 

In Power, you can see a player trying to figure it out on the ice he just hasn't yet, but he will. 

[PerreaultForever]

5 hours ago, Pimlach said:

Ray's comment on Eichel was correct but clearly a bit of a dig at Jack.  Mitts had a lazy shift that cost us a goal.  The gift of instant replay and a teaching moment.  

Pilut looked out of place to me.  Hoping Joker gets back soon to alleviate the need to play both Pilut and Fitz.   I don't agree with your comment on Power.  Expectations of him after 14 games are getting unrealistic.  He is as rookie playing with a few AHL level backups.  

Thompson does not play like a small man.  Far from it.  Skinner is Skinner, we know what he is.  The whole team looked spent, we are going to have games like this, even the best teams have them.  This was a tough match up for a tired and depleted team.  We never tested their goalie. 

Let not overreact to a bad game. 

Sure, Beniers looked good, he is good, and he got to feast on our situation last night.   

A couple things I disagree with (but we're not really that far off).

I know Power is a rookie and he's being given too much too soon imo. So he's floundering from time to time. I'm not sure how this will work out but you and I both know we've done this before and it's not gone well. It's a concern. 

Thompson is passive too often. Uses his stick and not his body. If he drove through players the way Tuch tries to (and does) he would be a beast. As is, he's a skilled player who occupies (and sometimes controls) a lot of ice. Not a bad thing, but he could be so much more. 

The real issue I have is on the team looking "spent". There's no excuse for a young team with a day off before to look spent. Maybe the D can have that excuse in part but not the team. If anything, Seattle had the tougher travel/schedule. They were flat, not tired. 

It is just one game, and the next one really matters as I said. If it continues we see a slide to what was. If they bounce back, we see the promise. Montreal game is huge. 

 

2 hours ago, Doohickie said:

Largely invisible.  But the whole team was ass last night.

He was good on that off side goal but otherwise I agree. 

Switch him for Krebs next game. Then go from there. 

[Norcal]

What's the possibility a bunch of young men cut loose on their day off and celebrated their early season success a little too hard in Vancouver? 

Wouldn't surprise me.

 

[Thorny]

2 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

A couple things I disagree with (but we're not really that far off).

I know Power is a rookie and he's being given too much too soon imo. So he's floundering from time to time. I'm not sure how this will work out but you and I both know we've done this before and it's not gone well. It's a concern. 

Thompson is passive too often. Uses his stick and not his body. If he drove through players the way Tuch tries to (and does) he would be a beast. As is, he's a skilled player who occupies (and sometimes controls) a lot of ice. Not a bad thing, but he could be so much more. 

The real issue I have is on the team looking "spent". There's no excuse for a young team with a day off before to look spent. Maybe the D can have that excuse in part but not the team. If anything, Seattle had the tougher travel/schedule. They were flat, not tired. 

It is just one game, and the next one really matters as I said. If it continues we see a slide to what was. If they bounce back, we see the promise. Montreal game is huge. 

 

He was good on that off side goal but otherwise I agree. 

Switch him for Krebs next game. Then go from there. 

With who, Grigorenko?

[Thorny]

58 minutes ago, Norcal said:

What's the possibility a bunch of young men cut loose on their day off and celebrated their early season success a little too hard in Vancouver? 

Wouldn't surprise me.

 

In an 82 game season I'm not even sure we need to be looking for an, "Ah, *that's* the reason we lost!* out for games quite yet 

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, Norcal said:

What's the possibility a bunch of young men cut loose on their day off and celebrated their early season success a little too hard in Vancouver? 

Wouldn't surprise me.

 

Not saying it is the reason, but IF it is, better they learn what will come back & bite 'em the next night w/ 76 games left rather than 10 games left.  A lot more room left to get those 2 points back if it turns out they need them.

[Pimlach]

5 hours ago, Taro T said:

Said in another thread, would keep Lyubushkin with Power until at least 1 of the 2 injured guys get back.  (Probably longer. 😉 )

Don't like it when Granato makes Power carry Jokiharju.  It is really unfair to expect a rookie to cover a journey man.  Keep Dahlin w/ 1 of the lesser 3 and they should have essentially 2 2nd pairings and a 3rd, which should be good enough at home against teams that are in the lower 1/2 of the league. 

And technically, Henri could be back Saturday.  (Not saying he necessarily will be back, but he can be brought off IR on Friday.)

Taro, I am surprised at your misuse of the term journeyman given your veteran status around here.   Joker is only 23, a former first rounder (29th overall) and he played for only one other team, Chicago.  He played 38 games in his rookie season which was split with their AHL team.  After that trade he has been a Sabre ever since.  

A true journeyman is a more seasoned veteran that played for many teams. Some journeymen were pretty good players too. 

I take you just mean he is average or less.  

[Taro T]

1 minute ago, Pimlach said:

Taro, I am surprised at your misuse of the term journeyman given your veteran status around here.   Joker is only 23, a former first rounder (29th overall) and he played for only one other team, Chicago.  He played 38 games in his rookie season which was split with their AHL team.  After that trade he has been a Sabre ever since.  

A true journeyman is a more seasoned veteran that played for many teams. Some journeymen were pretty good players too. 

I take you just mean he is average or less.  

Wasn't calling Jokiharju a journeyman.  Was calling the other 3 guys that dressed last night journeymen (albeit prematurely).  THOSE are the 3 that it is REALLY unfair to saddle a rookie with.

 

Should've started the 2nd sentence w/ the word "but."  Would've been clearer.

[Norcal]

2 hours ago, Thorny said:

In an 82 game season I'm not even sure we need to be looking for an, "Ah, *that's* the reason we lost!* out for games quite yet 

I'm just wondering out loud, on a message board.

It's not meant as a serious concern on my part. 

The boys are coming off their first three game Western Canada sweep in several years.

I could just see a scenario wherein the leagues youngest team enjoyed their day off just a little too much and it affected their overall abilities the next game.

Drinking age is 19 still isn't it? 

They did look slightly off for parts of the game so it might help explain it. 

 

[Thorny]

5 hours ago, Norcal said:

I'm just wondering out loud, on a message board.

It's not meant as a serious concern on my part. 

The boys are coming off their first three game Western Canada sweep in several years.

I could just see a scenario wherein the leagues youngest team enjoyed their day off just a little too much and it affected their overall abilities the next game.

Drinking age is 19 still isn't it? 

They did look slightly off for parts of the game so it might help explain it. 

 

Oh is it 19 there? 18 in my province!

[PerreaultForever]

8 hours ago, Thorny said:

With who, Grigorenko?

Risto and Myers. 

[Thorny]

12 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Risto and Myers. 

Myers won the rookie of the year and Risto wasn’t damaged by being rusted his hockey IQ just isn’t very good, he is what he is as a player 

[PerreaultForever]

31 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Myers won the rookie of the year and Risto wasn’t damaged by being rusted his hockey IQ just isn’t very good, he is what he is as a player 

I disagree.  Their natural abilities have overcome some of their development flaws so they do what they do and can play in the league but neither was developed properly. 

I honestly don't think we did a good job with Dahlin either. Too much too soon. He's finally overcoming things and his natural abilities are showing through but I think he'd be even better (and sooner) if we'd taken it slower and coached him more. 

It's a long argument and other teams have done it too, but D men take more time. We handled Samuelsson properly and you see what we get there now. Yes, different players have different paths, but imo ALL D men need a slower path and some AHL time early in their careers. 

[Thorny]

7 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

I disagree.  Their natural abilities have overcome some of their development flaws so they do what they do and can play in the league but neither was developed properly. 

I honestly don't think we did a good job with Dahlin either. Too much too soon. He's finally overcoming things and his natural abilities are showing through but I think he'd be even better (and sooner) if we'd taken it slower and coached him more. 

It's a long argument and other teams have done it too, but D men take more time. We handled Samuelsson properly and you see what we get there now. Yes, different players have different paths, but imo ALL D men need a slower path and some AHL time early in their careers. 

You can’t argue we’ve handled Samuelsson properly and Dahlin not when Dahlin was better through the amount of games Samuelsson has played and within those games nominated for the Calder. Dahlin had an exceptional rookie year. We should have sent him down after it? 

The issue with Dahlin was coaching carousel not being up too early 

[PerreaultForever]

1 minute ago, Thorny said:

You can’t argue we’ve handled Samuelsson properly and Dahlin not when Dahlin was better through the amount of games Samuelsson has played and within those games nominated for the Calder. Dahlin had an exceptional rookie year. We should have sent him down after it? 

The issue with Dahlin was coaching carousel not being up too early 

You've forgotten some of the really bad streaks Dahlin had but still played. Some people here even called him a draft bust (silly, but it happened). We needed him paired with a solid veteran and at times he needed a step back. AHL for him is debatable but he did develop bad habits that could have been avoided imo. Still remains to be seen if those habits will creep back now that Samuelsson isn't beside him. We shall see.