Mittelstadt, Olofsson and the 3rd and 4th Lines

[nfreeman]

1 minute ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

You realize that that play was in the 1st period last night with the score 0-0?  The blowout happened in the 3rd period.  

Fine -- he made a nice pass in the first period of a game that turned into a blowout win.

The key point, of course, is that he's still a major net negative.

[GASabresIUFAN]

3 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

Fine -- he made a nice pass in the first period of a game that turned into a blowout win.

The key point, of course, is that he's still a major net negative.

DG doesn't agree with you.

[Doohickie]

35 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

DG admitted the after the Pitt game that some of VO and Mitt's issues stem from his use of our bottom tier D while they were on the ice.

You know who plays okay with the bottom D?  The Cozens line.  Maybe because they can generate O without much help from the D.... just dump the puck up ice and let them take over, none of this driving offense from the blue line crap.  And defensively the Cozens line is very good about backchecking so they can help make up for deficiencies of a bottom pairing.  Quinn in particular is great on the back check; almost like he's greedy and wants to get back on offense as quickly as possible.

Edited December 14, 2022 by Doohickie

[French Collection]

8 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

You know who plays okay with the bottom D?  The Cozens line.  Maybe because they can generate O without much help from the D.... just dump the puck up ice and let them take over, none of this driving offense from the blue line crap.  And defensively the Cozens line is very good about backchecking so they can help make up for deficiencies of a bottom pairing.  Quinn in particular is great on the back check; almost like he's greedy and wants to get back on offense as quickly as possible.

Quinn has a bit of Mark Stone in him.

[GASabresIUFAN]

2 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

You know who plays okay with the bottom D?  The Cozens line.  Maybe because they can generate O without much help from the D.... just dump the puck up ice and let them take over, none of this driving offense from the blue line crap.  And defensively the Cozens line is very good about backchecking so they can help make up for deficiencies of a bottom pairing.  Quinn in particular is great on the back check; almost like he's greedy and wants to get back on offense as quickly as possible.

As I mentioned before these 3 guys process the game so quickly, once the puck touches one of their sticks the 3 guys are gone.  They seem to already know where they each are on the ice at all times.  Quinn and JPP played together last season in the A, but their instant chemistry with Cozens is wonderful to watch.  That give and go and give back goal last night was a thing of beauty.  Bold prediction time: Quinn and maybe JJP will catch Berniers for the rookie scoring lead in the NHL by year's end. Quinn is averaging a pt a game over his last 12 games.  Beniers is at .82 for the season.

[Doohickie]

1 minute ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

As I mentioned before these 3 guys process the game so quickly, once the puck touches one of their sticks the 3 guys are gone.  They seem to already know where they each are on the ice at all times.  Quinn and JPP played together last season in the A, but their instant chemistry with Cozens is wonderful to watch.  That give and go and give back goal last night was a thing of beauty.  Bold prediction time: Quinn and maybe JJP will catch Berniers for the rookie scoring lead in the NHL by year's end. Quinn is averaging a pt a game over his last 12 games.  Beniers is at .82 for the season.

Cozens is a good pivot and provides stability and backbone for the line.  Peterka is speedy (both ways) and a good finisher.  Quinn is just the complete package.  Is there anything he doesn't do well?  And the extra factor of them all seeming to know where they are puts them over the top as an effective line.  On JJ's goal yesterday everyone oohs and ahs at Quinn's pass but Peterka's pass was just as good, perhaps better considering he had to get it through the defenseman.  And even before that, the break was made by some tough board work by Quinn and Cozens and a quick pass up ice from Cozens.  Cozens was caught up behind the play but Clague had joined the rush to further confuse the defense.

If the vision those three have could be transferred even a little bit to Casey, with his tool set, he'd be so much better than he is.  Instead he skates into a dead-end and then looks for an outlet but by then he's under too much pressure to make a play.  If he were a quarterback he'd be admired for his passing but would have terrible pocket awareness and would take too many sacks.

From that standpoint, I think spending a couple of games in the press box with a coach might do him a world of good.

[French Collection]

3 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Cozens is a good pivot and provides stability and backbone for the line.  Peterka is speedy (both ways) and a good finisher.  Quinn is just the complete package.  Is there anything he doesn't do well?  And the extra factor of them all seeming to know where they are puts them over the top as an effective line.  On JJ's goal yesterday everyone oohs and ahs at Quinn's pass but Peterka's pass was just as good, perhaps better considering he had to get it through the defenseman.  And even before that, the break was made by some tough board work by Quinn and Cozens and a quick pass up ice from Cozens.  Cozens was caught up behind the play but Clague had joined the rush to further confuse the defense.

If the vision those three have could be transferred even a little bit to Casey, with his tool set, he'd be so much better than he is.  Instead he skates into a dead-end and then looks for an outlet but by then he's under too much pressure to make a play.  If he were a quarterback he'd be admired for his passing but would have terrible pocket awareness and would take too many sacks.

From that standpoint, I think spending a couple of games in the press box with a coach might do him a world of good.

Quinn is good in multiple aspects of the game, I am still waiting for him to unleash some shots that are VO like. He’s got that in him.

I think Mitts should sit a game or two because Krebs has taken a step and Asplund plays well with VO. Jost is a good fit with them or the vets.

[GASabresIUFAN]

2 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

 

If the vision those three have could be transferred even a little bit to Casey, with his tool set, he'd be so much better than he is.  Instead he skates into a dead-end and then looks for an outlet but by then he's under too much pressure to make a play.  If he were a quarterback he'd be admired for his passing but would have terrible pocket awareness and would take too many sacks.

 

I'm not sure what Casey's problem has been this year.  When he came back last year he was creating offense every night, now there is until the last couple of games, a timidity in his game that wasn't there late last year.  Maybe he is over thinking about being defensively aware, maybe he just has no chemistry with VO and whichever the flavor of the day on the other wing he's playing with.  

DG said himself that he has given Mitts/VO poor D coverage.  Ultimately Casey may just be a average NHL player who will find a role somewhere as a 3rd line player who can help on the PP.  He is on pace for a 15g 45 pt season.  That's solid production from a 3rd line player even if half is from the PP.  

I have always like Asplund with Casey.  Maybe the move is Asplund Casey KO and then a 4th line of Girgensons Krebs/Jost VO. 

[tom webster]

I haven’t read the whole thread but, in my opinion, Casey and VO fall under the “Vinny Prospal Theorem.” 
They reach their ceiling when getting top 6 minutes but their ceiling isn’t good enough for top 6 minutes on a Cup contender and they won’t embrace a bottom 6 roll. Now the game has changed a little since Prospal played so they might have more usefulness but the trick is still trying to shelter them when you don’t need them to contribute so you have them when you do.
On the other hand, the Sabres are reaching that point where eventually they will have to trade players who excel for other teams so it may be a temporary problem.

[matter2003]

The 3rd and 4th lines have been turning it up for the last few games...at times they are our best lines on the ice lately.  If this can continue and we get solid contributions from them even half the time, the Sabres are going to be one tough out.

Krebs with 3 goals in 4 games, VO with goals in 2 of the last 3 and a nice assist to Krebs while driving the net and shielding a player with his body, Mittelstadt with 3 assists against the Pens and has looked really good the last few games, setting up Tuch for what should have been an easy tap in the goalie made an incredible save on last night...

They are seemingly figuring some things out and I'm here for it.

Edited December 14, 2022 by matter2003

[nfreeman]

9 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

I'm not sure what Casey's problem has been this year.  When he came back last year he was creating offense every night, now there is until the last couple of games, a timidity in his game that wasn't there late last year.  Maybe he is over thinking about being defensively aware, maybe he just has no chemistry with VO and whichever the flavor of the day on the other wing he's playing with.  

DG said himself that he has given Mitts/VO poor D coverage.  Ultimately Casey may just be a average NHL player who will find a role somewhere as a 3rd line player who can help on the PP.  He is on pace for a 15g 45 pt season.  That's solid production from a 3rd line player even if half is from the PP.  

I have always like Asplund with Casey.  Maybe the move is Asplund Casey KO and then a 4th line of Girgensons Krebs/Jost VO. 

Mitts had 12 ES points last year in 40 games.

DG is going what he's supposed to do -- nurture Mitts' confidence, including by making excuses for him and not throwing him under the bus in the media.

Mitts' story isn't fully written yet, but what has been written is lousy.  Pretending otherwise is just pretending.

[Doohickie]

41 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

The 3rd and 4th lines have been turning it up for the last few games...at times they are our best lines on the ice lately.

There was a shift late in the third against L.A. where Okie/Jost/Gus didn't *do* anything in the offensive zone... other than totally disrupt the Kings' attempts to clear the puck and get it up ice.  You could tell they weren't really trying to score but they totally stymied the Kings from actually doing anything themselves.  It was a thing of beauty.