2025 Playoffs Rd 2

[PerreaultForever]

13 hours ago, Flashsabre said:

It’s almost like when players play for awful teams they look much worse then when they play for good teams.

It's not that though because there are lots of players on bad teams that still look good. It's more that the bad teams are bad teams because of the way the team plays. I have questioned the Sabres style and philosophy for years and I still do. I honestly don't know what we are doing or trying to do. 

[PerreaultForever]

2 hours ago, JohnC said:

It shouldn't be a surprise that when players play with a better cast of players their performances usually improve. Conversely, when players play on a team with a lesser talent base their production numbers decline.  Basically, if you improve the team, it will rise the production tide for other players. 

I don't agree. I think it is the coaching and style that matter. The culture and the system. I mean really, E-Rod works there. Come on, E-Rod!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Let me put it this way, we have youthful energy, size and speed. Why on earth do we NOT have an aggressive forecheck like Florida? That's the crux of it for me. 

[...]

Okay, this is pretty cool. Always wanted to be a fly on the wall in one of those lines...

 

[JohnC]

12 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

I don't agree. I think it is the coaching and style that matter. The culture and the system. I mean really, E-Rod works there. Come on, E-Rod!!!!!!!!!!!!! 

Let me put it this way, we have youthful energy, size and speed. Why on earth do we NOT have an aggressive forecheck like Florida? That's the crux of it for me. 

In general. I disagree with your take but do heartedly agree with you about the poor roster construction and the necessity to add more grit and toughness to the roster. But let's be realistic about our talent base and player roles with a substandard team. I like Benson a lot but on any credible team he would not be playing on the first line. The same judgment applies to Peterka who also did play on the first line. There are no upper tier teams that would have had him playing on their first lines at his stage of development. Samuelsson played on the first pairing as the season wound down. And I would say that he did a decent job. But what serious team would have him playing a first pairing role? I'm comfortable in saying none. 

Teams with fuller rosters are able to play players in the roles they are suited for. For many players here, they are playing an elevated roll because there is a dearth of talent, at least compared to competitive teams. The mismatch is clearly due to insufficient talent on the roster.  It's obvious to all that  Sabres have a number of problematic roster issues. In believe that much of it can be attributed to a lack of required talent. 

11 hours ago, ... said:

Okay, this is pretty cool. Always wanted to be a fly on the wall in one of those lines...

 

Exhibition of class and grace. 

[PerreaultForever]

5 hours ago, JohnC said:

In general. I disagree with your take but do heartedly agree with you about the poor roster construction and the necessity to add more grit and toughness to the roster. But let's be realistic about our talent base and player roles with a substandard team. I like Benson a lot but on any credible team he would not be playing on the first line. The same judgment applies to Peterka who also did play on the first line. There are no upper tier teams that would have had him playing on their first lines at his stage of development. Samuelsson played on the first pairing as the season wound down. And I would say that he did a decent job. But what serious team would have him playing a first pairing role? I'm comfortable in saying none. 

Teams with fuller rosters are able to play players in the roles they are suited for. For many players here, they are playing an elevated roll because there is a dearth of talent, at least compared to competitive teams. The mismatch is clearly due to insufficient talent on the roster.  It's obvious to all that  Sabres have a number of problematic roster issues. In believe that much of it can be attributed to a lack of required talent. 

Exhibition of class and grace. 

This is pretty much the truth, but all of that is on Adams and yet Adams is still here. Why do we not have more bodies in place? We don't spend to the cap, Adams didn't add players. There were waiver wire players even that could have been added here and there. AJ Greer was a waiver guy playing for Florida and they also got Boquist that way. 

In terms of roster construction the Florida lines fit the bill better. What they have done is cobbled together a 4th line that has toughness and grit but also doesn't yield too much and so isn't a liability. If the top 2 lines in the playoffs cancel out the game falls on that third line and that's where they killed Toronto. Post deadline they have the best 3rd line in hockey. 

Sabres 3rd line? Constantly cobbled together leftover pieces that didn't fit elsewhere. 

This will never happen but if they added Marchand and Bennett and then traded Norris for a top 4 D man to play with Power then they might actually have the basis of a good competitive roster. Byram could also be moved for another D man or solid winger. The "core" of this team just isn't a solid competitive core. 

[shrader]

17 hours ago, ... said:

Okay, this is pretty cool. Always wanted to be a fly on the wall in one of those lines...

 

It’s fun to see it, but I kind of wish it was left private. We’re too spoiled sometimes.