The next captain of the Sabres will be/should be

[Thorny]

3 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

What does a captain do? would be a good place to start.

As I see it the captain's duties are in no particular order...

1. Represent the team in the community and in the league

2. Communicate with the officials

3. Be a go between between the players and coaches

4. Represent the team in the media and maybe even talk to the media behind the scenes... Hey you're being tough on this kid... Off the record he has this and this going on

5. Communicate with teammates, put out fires, keep the room happy and in line

6. Command and lead... Stfu we are NOT disrespecting the fans here

7. Be an honest player on the ice. Model behavior

Does this sound like Tuch or Dahlin?

Dahlin 

[Thorny]

I don’t know who the captain should be but it sure as shite shouldn’t be this fool

“Still.”

We got *younger* this year, by choice. It’s a choice. It’s not a hidden loophole for having expectations. Dear lord. They may be even younger next year. No expectations if that’s the case? 

dear LORD. Ice a winner. Stop tricking the fans into saying anything needs to be “built.”

Just insulting the fans right to their face. Sometimes I’m ashamed to be a fan of this organization 

Edited March 18 by Thorny

[Weave]

Just now, Thorny said:

I don’t know who the captain should be but it sure as shite shouldn’t be this fool

 

Perfect captain for this team.  He represents the words and actions of the coach and GM perfectly.

[Thorny]

1 minute ago, Weave said:

Perfect captain for this team.  He represents the words and actions of the coach and GM perfectly.

Freaking frauds. All of them 

[Slack_in_MA]

2 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Freaking frauds. All of them 

...who are hamstrung by an owner that obviously doesn't want to invest heavily in the team. Cheap, young players. Cheap first time GM and coaches. Sometimes you do get what you pay for, unless you're THAT good at drafting and developing young talent and discovering diamond-in-the-rough coaches and executives. Recent experience suggests the jury is still out, but a guilty verdict may be coming.

[LGR4GM]

9 minutes ago, Thorny said:

I don’t know who the captain should be but it sure as shite shouldn’t be this fool

“Still.”

We got *younger* this year, by choice. It’s a choice. It’s not a hidden loophole for having expectations. Dear lord. They may be even younger next year. No expectations if that’s the case? 

dear LORD. Ice a winner. Stop tricking the fans into saying anything needs to be “built.”

Just insulting the fans right to their face. Sometimes I’m ashamed to be a fan of this organization 

[WhenWillItEnd66]

C - Skinner

A - Oloffsson

A - Krebs

 

Just as good as anything, right???? LOL

[LTS]

3 hours ago, Thorny said:

I don’t know who the captain should be but it sure as shite shouldn’t be this fool

“Still.”

We got *younger* this year, by choice. It’s a choice. It’s not a hidden loophole for having expectations. Dear lord. They may be even younger next year. No expectations if that’s the case? 

dear LORD. Ice a winner. Stop tricking the fans into saying anything needs to be “built.”

Just insulting the fans right to their face. Sometimes I’m ashamed to be a fan of this organization 

What do you want him to say instead? I'm not sure what you expect, but your first critique has to do with something he does not control. He doesn't choose who is on the team.

I'm not necessarily defending Tuch here, but I'm not sure what people expect to hear from a player. 

[Thorny]

1 hour ago, LTS said:

What do you want him to say instead? I'm not sure what you expect, but your first critique has to do with something he does not control. He doesn't choose who is on the team.

I'm not necessarily defending Tuch here, but I'm not sure what people expect to hear from a player. 

I expect cliches, don’t get me wrong, I’d just rather not hear the worst part of the GM’s schtick, the part most insulting to my fellow fans, regurgitated.

Granato was saying this, pre season: 

“2 years ago, we weren't in a position to really go after wins,” Granato said. “We had to grow, we had to gain experience. And we've got it to the point now where these guys, winning should be expected on a nightly basis. Should go into games expecting to win”

Tuch seems to just be offering an excuse. The worst excuse, at that. I don’t expect answers from Tuch. Especially not in this format. I think just avoiding that sort of active insult to our intelligence, which is honestly how I perceive it, would be what I’m after. Again, no answers necessary.

If he sat there and said “goal was playoffs, and we weren’t good enough. Need to be better.” then, for me, that would have been a nothingburger, expected, and fine 

hope that clarifies my stance 

Edited March 19 by Thorny

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, LTS said:

What do you want him to say instead? I'm not sure what you expect, but your first critique has to do with something he does not control. He doesn't choose who is on the team.

I'm not necessarily defending Tuch here, but I'm not sure what people expect to hear from a player. 

You will hate this, but I have to go back to Boston again. The line there is always "we have to better" "we weren't good enough" "no excuses". 

imo Tuch is just towing the party line. Players on this team in general buy into the propaganda the team puts out and I think they forget the kind of competitiveness that some of them had before they go here. 

[Carmel Corn]

I don't care if they don't name a captain for the rest of this season, but I think it is embarrassing for them to not name Tuch as a third "A" for the remainder of this one.  They gave him an "A" when KO was out, so why the hesitation to do so again?  Just another example of the stupid decision making by this organization....they think they're smarter than everybody else, but don't realize how foolish they look.  Yet another fail for management.

[BullBuchanan]

10 hours ago, Weave said:

Perfect captain for this team.  He represents the words and actions of the coach and GM perfectly.

 

10 hours ago, Thorny said:

Freaking frauds. All of them 

That's exactly what any captain should say. Their job is to downplay anything bad with the team and overemphasize the positives. If you want an honest Captain, they won't be captain very long.

[LTS]

14 hours ago, Thorny said:

I expect cliches, don’t get me wrong, I’d just rather not hear the worst part of the GM’s schtick, the part most insulting to my fellow fans, regurgitated.

Granato was saying this, pre season: 

“2 years ago, we weren't in a position to really go after wins,” Granato said. “We had to grow, we had to gain experience. And we've got it to the point now where these guys, winning should be expected on a nightly basis. Should go into games expecting to win”

Tuch seems to just be offering an excuse. The worst excuse, at that. I don’t expect answers from Tuch. Especially not in this format. I think just avoiding that sort of active insult to our intelligence, which is honestly how I perceive it, would be what I’m after. Again, no answers necessary.

If he sat there and said “goal was playoffs, and we weren’t good enough. Need to be better.” then, for me, that would have been a nothingburger, expected, and fine 

hope that clarifies my stance 

It does.  And Granato is a bit closer to the problem.  But even he can't make people expect to win.  That comes from confidence and each player has in themselves and their teammates to execute.  I know people like to talk about Herb Brooks excellent speech and its absolutely iconic, but that speech alone doesn't translate across the full game. Certainly how Brooks coached that team to believe in themselves matters probably as much as the speech itself.  But I don't want to dissect Granato here as his statements have to be different than a players.

I think Tuch, by saying he doesn't want to offer excuses, is prefacing that while he has to acknowledge how young the team is, he doesn't want to.  I see that as a statement outward that had the team had a little more experience they could be better.  At the same time, he isn't throwing his young team under the bus.  He's building them up and keeping their confidence higher.  The team is absolutely playing with more confidence but as we saw during the Detroit game, it's easy for them to lose it.

Perhaps I am off, but I read Tuch's statement as a way to not undermine his teammates while still throwing a little shade at how young the team is.. and how it only got younger.  Being one of the older guys on the team I have no doubt he wants to be in the playoffs, not just for the Sabres and Buffalo but very much for himself.

And of course.. it's all media speak.. so there's only so much I put into it all.

14 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

You will hate this, but I have to go back to Boston again. The line there is always "we have to better" "we weren't good enough" "no excuses". 

imo Tuch is just towing the party line. Players on this team in general buy into the propaganda the team puts out and I think they forget the kind of competitiveness that some of them had before they go here. 

I don't hate this at all.  I'm not sure Tuch was responding specifically to the Detroit game as it sounds like he's just commenting on the overall state of things. I would 100% expect him to reflect on the Detroit game and simply say, "We weren't good enough."  A a general reflection I go to what I said above.

Great discourse on this.  Love that we can have this kind of discussion. Thanks to both of you.

[thewookie1]

1 hour ago, LTS said:

It does.  And Granato is a bit closer to the problem.  But even he can't make people expect to win.  That comes from confidence and each player has in themselves and their teammates to execute.  I know people like to talk about Herb Brooks excellent speech and its absolutely iconic, but that speech alone doesn't translate across the full game. Certainly how Brooks coached that team to believe in themselves matters probably as much as the speech itself.  But I don't want to dissect Granato here as his statements have to be different than a players.

I think Tuch, by saying he doesn't want to offer excuses, is prefacing that while he has to acknowledge how young the team is, he doesn't want to.  I see that as a statement outward that had the team had a little more experience they could be better.  At the same time, he isn't throwing his young team under the bus.  He's building them up and keeping their confidence higher.  The team is absolutely playing with more confidence but as we saw during the Detroit game, it's easy for them to lose it.

Perhaps I am off, but I read Tuch's statement as a way to not undermine his teammates while still throwing a little shade at how young the team is.. and how it only got younger.  Being one of the older guys on the team I have no doubt he wants to be in the playoffs, not just for the Sabres and Buffalo but very much for himself.

And of course.. it's all media speak.. so there's only so much I put into it all.

I don't hate this at all.  I'm not sure Tuch was responding specifically to the Detroit game as it sounds like he's just commenting on the overall state of things. I would 100% expect him to reflect on the Detroit game and simply say, "We weren't good enough."  A a general reflection I go to what I said above.

Great discourse on this.  Love that we can have this kind of discussion. Thanks to both of you.

The interview was recorded prior to the Isles game I believe.

 

I think your spot on about Tuch’s “excuses” Frankly he’s likely very torn over the whole situation as a whole seeing as he’s a vet now and wants to play in the playoffs but also understands we have a very young roster. Any derogatory comments he made always included himself as a part of the problem and solution. My favorite comment though was about how the new baby affected his play due to sleep disruptions. He downplayed it yet still held it as a fact although minimally so. 
 

In the end facts do not automatically mean he’s hiding something and making excuses through them. Fact is they have a very young team, experience related problems have shown up many times these past two years. (Primarily in consistency) That doesn’t mean the team is excused of all wrong doing but has to be taken into account. Should they have got a couple more vets, probably, but both can be true.

[Scottysabres]

[LTS]

1 minute ago, thewookie1 said:

The interview was recorded prior to the Isles game I believe.

 

I think your spot on about Tuch’s “excuses” Frankly he’s likely very torn over the whole situation as a whole seeing as he’s a vet now and wants to play in the playoffs but also understands we have a very young roster. Any derogatory comments he made always included himself as a part of the problem and solution. My favorite comment though was about how the new baby affected his play due to sleep disruptions. He downplayed it yet still held it as a fact although minimally so. 
 

In the end facts do not automatically mean he’s hiding something and making excuses through them. Fact is they have a very young team, experience related problems have shown up many times these past two years. (Primarily in consistency) That doesn’t mean the team is excused of all wrong doing but has to be taken into account. Should they have got a couple more vets, probably, but both can be true.

These are good points.  They are the ups and downs that occur during a season and I'd like to think he's taking all of it into account. In my mind, the difference between an excuse and a reason on why something happened boils down to whether it was in one's control or not.

The other aspect of this is that while these players understand that the club has not made the playoffs in 12 seasons (potentially 13), they are not responsible for the vast majority of those seasons. So, part of the pain is wanting to change that but knowing that the plan of the people who've been here slightly longer is to take an approach of youth first.

Finally, youth is a reason. Experience provides the wisdom on how to handle the myriad situations that occur during a season. It's not enough to want do something and it's not enough to know simply how to do it. it takes experience doing it, to do it well.

As fans it still does not change the frustration. My frustration is with ownership primarily for failing all of these years. The GM for getting out over his skis with this playoff talk garbage.  Certainly there are other frustrations to go around but they are limited compared to the first two.... especially the owner.

[PerreaultForever]

19 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:

facts do not automatically mean he’s hiding something and making excuses through them. Fact is they have a very young team, experience related problems have shown up many times these past two years. (Primarily in consistency) That doesn’t mean the team is excused of all wrong doing but has to be taken into account. Should they have got a couple more vets, probably, but both can be true.

idk, it'll never happen but maybe I'd like to hear him say "we have a lot of really young guys on this team. We have to get them off their phones and into the weight room."  🙂

 

[Ogelthorpe]

22 hours ago, Thorny said:

I don’t know who the captain should be but it sure as shite shouldn’t be this fool

“Still.”

We got *younger* this year, by choice. It’s a choice. It’s not a hidden loophole for having expectations. Dear lord. They may be even younger next year. No expectations if that’s the case? 

dear LORD. Ice a winner. Stop tricking the fans into saying anything needs to be “built.”

Just insulting the fans right to their face. Sometimes I’m ashamed to be a fan of this organization 

This organization is hopeless and lost. This is supposed to be veteran leadership. What a bum

[PerreaultForever]

Tuch doing the final game fan appreciation thing made me wonder.........................

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:

Tuch doing the final game fan appreciation thing made me wonder.........................

He did it because he was the Rick Martin Award winner.

Anyone who doesn't think it's going to be Dahlin hasn't been paying attention.

Neither has anyone who doesn't think it should be Dahlin.

I honestly wonder if there's some weird mix of Euro-bias and people who are still thinking of 18-year-old Dahlin when this conversation happens.

He's the best player, the hardest worker, the guy who sticks his nose in the most, and the guy who cares the most.

I hope the "stand-up for his teammates" crowd was watching how that meeting of the minds at the end of tonight's game got started.

If his name Stemhavolinski and he had a five-o'clock shadow the poll would be unanimous.

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

He did it because he was the Rick Martin Award winner.

Anyone who doesn't think it's going to be Dahlin hasn't been paying attention.

Neither has anyone who doesn't think it should be Dahlin.

I honestly wonder if there's some weird mix of Euro-bias and people who are still thinking of 18-year-old Dahlin when this conversation happens.

He's the best player, the hardest worker, the guy who sticks his nose in the most, and the guy who cares the most.

I hope the "stand-up for his teammates" crowd was watching how that meeting of the minds at the end of tonight's game got started.

If his name Stemhavolinski and he had a five-o'clock shadow the poll would be unanimous.

yes. sometimes, iffy, unknown. (to the bold)

I have no idea who cares the most or who is the best locker room motivator. A captain does not have to be the most talented player on the team. Boston named Marchand, not Pasternak for example. 

It likely will be Dahlin but I'm no sure that's the right choice. 

To the Rick Martin Award Winner -" “The Rico” is presented annually to the player who fans believe best embodies what it means to be a Buffalo Sabre based on on-ice excellence, resiliency, and dedication to the community."  Is that not what the captain should be??? Dahlin didn't win it. 

[Weave]

6 hours ago, dudacek said:

He did it because he was the Rick Martin Award winner.

Anyone who doesn't think it's going to be Dahlin hasn't been paying attention.

Neither has anyone who doesn't think it should be Dahlin.

I honestly wonder if there's some weird mix of Euro-bias and people who are still thinking of 18-year-old Dahlin when this conversation happens.

He's the best player, the hardest worker, the guy who sticks his nose in the most, and the guy who cares the most.

I hope the "stand-up for his teammates" crowd was watching how that meeting of the minds at the end of tonight's game got started.

If his name Stemhavolinski and he had a five-o'clock shadow the poll would be unanimous.

I’ll readily admit to not paying mich attention this season, so I’ll not comment on what he’s done captain-worthy this season.  In season’s past its seemed forced.

Regarding the anti-Euro comment, it’s an over-stated reaction on my part, but I think it bears stating anyway, ***** that idea.  It’s a ***** thing to throw out there blindly, and I don’t appreciate it.  The only bias I have is what’s best for the sweater.

[Weave]

On 3/11/2024 at 11:21 AM, That Aud Smell said:

 

Dahlin is the team's best player, signed to the biggest contract. If history is prelude, he will be made captain. I've come to conclude that he lives too much in his own head and otherwise lacks the intangibles needed to effectively serve in the role.

Anti-Euro bias? Or you can’t let go of 18yr old Rasmus?

[Believer]

On 3/12/2024 at 1:48 PM, PASabreFan said:

What does a captain do? would be a good place to start.

As I see it the captain's duties are in no particular order...

1. Represent the team in the community and in the league

2. Communicate with the officials

3. Be a go between between the players and coaches

4. Represent the team in the media and maybe even talk to the media behind the scenes... Hey you're being tough on this kid... Off the record he has this and this going on

5. Communicate with teammates, put out fires, keep the room happy and in line

6. Command and lead... Stfu we are NOT disrespecting the fans here

7. Be an honest player on the ice. Model behavior

Does this sound like Tuch or Dahlin?

Nice job, @PASabreFan…Solid list of Captains duties… Think you got them all…

Dahlin could mature into a C in a few years… Too soon to say… Tuch is of the Okposo mold… Nice guy but not demanding enough of himself and his teammates, imo.

Don’t see a long term C on the roster yet… Next C should be a bridge.

[SwampD]

7 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

 

To the Rick Martin Award Winner -" “The Rico” is presented annually to the player who fans believe best embodies what it means to be a Buffalo Sabre based on on-ice excellence, resiliency, and dedication to the community."  Is that not what the captain should be??? Dahlin didn't win it. 

Yeah, but,… fans are stupid.