Kesselring comments. That didn’t take long.

[PASabreFan]

29 minutes ago, Eleven said:

He liked playing in a market new to hockey where everything was positive and also respects the fact that Buffalo has educated and more demanding fans.

There's no reason to read anything negative into it unless you want to.

If you're going to do this, and I have long thought it's a decent idea, the percentage is 100% and goes all the way to the mailroom.  Everyone.  No survivors.

But he said the word critical.

So we also agree on the purge. You have to dig up the deep state. Please start with the two equipment clowns behind the bench. You have to get at everyone who is in the players' ears. I always astounded that new coaches don't want their own people in those roles.

[Eleven]

23 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

But he said the word critical.

Yep, we're likely more critical than fans in Utah.

[pi2000]

I don't understand how his comments are offensive.

He speaks the truth.

A market of knowledgeable hockey fans will be more critical of their team than fans who are just learning the game.

To me, it's a compliment to the great fans in Buffalo.

Now if only management was as critical as the fans, we might have something 😂.

[Mr Peabody]

2 hours ago, inkman said:

Super alarming comment from a guy who has been completely invisible.  If you are involved in a trade where the player going the other way is already exceeding expectations, should you really be bumping your gums about how “hard it is to play” for fans that aren’t just simps waiting for the next goal. This attitude is disgraceful. 

This is the reaction Lance was looking for 

Edited 7 hours ago by Mr Peabody

[mjd1001]

He was coming off of an injury, but he's played 7 games now.  He needs to play better.

-He has zero points. None. No goals, no assists. he's a -4 through just 7 games.

-His corsi is 10 percentage points on the wrong side of even. Fenwick -6. Shots nearly -10. Actual goals for/allowed he's 20 percentage points below even. Hes negative in expected goals, negative in high danger chances, negative in pure scoring chances.

-He hasn't been used on the PP. He's not even used all that much on the PK, so he's not giving you anything on special teams.

-For me personally, take all of that away, and my 'eye test' doesn't see anything special.

Its not based on his comment from last night, but in terms of his regular play he needs to step up. He's not playing like a top pair guy, he's not even playing like a 2nd pair guy.

Edited 7 hours ago by mjd1001

[MISabresFan]

11 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

He was coming off of an injury, but he's played 7 games now.  He needs to play better.

-He has zero points. None. No goals, no assists. he's a -4 through just 7 games.

-His corsi is 10 percentage points on the wrong side of even. Fenwick -6. Shots nearly -10. Actual goals for/allowed he's 20 percentage points below even. Hes negative in expected goals, negative in high danger chances, negative in pure scoring chances.

-He hasn't been used on the PP. He's not even used all that much on the PK, so he's not giving you anything on special teams.

-For me personally, take all of that away, and my 'eye test' doesn't see anything special.

Its not based on his comment from last night, but in terms of his regular play he needs to step up. He's not playing like a top pair guy, he's not even playing like a 2nd pair guy.

Because he is neither.  We wanted him to be a 2nd pair guy because of the trade.

[French Collection]

Timmins has been better than him.

[mjd1001]

14 minutes ago, French Collection said:

Timmins has been better than him.

So far Timmins has played pretty well. Totally happy to have him get 3rd pair minutes, yet he looks like a guy who can move up to the 2nd pair/2nd pair minutes for a period of time and not hurt you too much. Also has the ability to fill in, in a pinch, if needed on the PP or PK.

Happy with him so far. Coming from low expectations, but there are only 4-6 guys on this team I'm happy with so far.

[DarthEbriate]

54 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

He was coming off of an injury, but he's played 7 games now.  He needs to play better.

-He has zero points. None. No goals, no assists. he's a -4 through just 7 games.

-His corsi is 10 percentage points on the wrong side of even. Fenwick -6. Shots nearly -10. Actual goals for/allowed he's 20 percentage points below even. Hes negative in expected goals, negative in high danger chances, negative in pure scoring chances.

-He hasn't been used on the PP. He's not even used all that much on the PK, so he's not giving you anything on special teams.

-For me personally, take all of that away, and my 'eye test' doesn't see anything special.

Its not based on his comment from last night, but in terms of his regular play he needs to step up. He's not playing like a top pair guy, he's not even playing like a 2nd pair guy.

We've also seen the way Utah plays. Their forwards are everywhere and with pace (and did the same last year). They make things a lot easier on their defensemen than the Sabres forward do. Kesselring looked good jumping up the lineup all last season in part because he was on a solid team and played a bunch with veterans like Cole, Maata, and Sergachev.

Most nights (and especially when Benson/Dahlin/Zucker are out, and TNT isn't feeling it) the Sabres don't make anything easy for their teammates.

Kesselring looked top-4 capable with Utah and if you put him with a fully operational Dahlin he probably looks great. But with Power, or Byram, or Bryson --- he's going to be exposed at times.

[GASabresIUFAN]

I’m not really surprised Kesselring is struggling some in his new role.  His partner most of  last season was defense first seasoned vet Ian Cole.  I also wrote that he was a third pairing guy worthy of 17 minutes a night and that the best part of his game was offense as evidenced by his 29 pts last year.  

I think he is good player and a solid D in general but we were trying to get a partner for Power who needs an Ian Cole not a Kesselring.  
 

 

[Cranky old man]

This is a non story as it concerns Kesselring, who I don’t fault. He is probably talking about the booing and short fuse of home crowds. Buffalo crowds were once very positive, as were Sabre fans in general. What other NHL city could understand the number that’s been done to Sabre fans over the last 10 years, even the last 6 years. Our cheapskate owner doesn’t value coaching, scouting or the work of competent hockey executives; otherwise he would have hired competent people by now. Pegula runs the team so as not to lose money day to day, while the team’s value continues to rise. Pegs is such a haircut, he doesn’t even pretend to care about winning. 

Edited 4 hours ago by Cranky old man

[Believer]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

There's only 1 way to fix this and Pegula doesn't have the balls to do it. You go through this list and fire 75% of these people. You fire everyone who's been here for 10+ years. Some won't deserve it, you are right, but at this point it is about a hard reset. 

Senior Advisor Jarmo Kekalainen

Special Asst. to General Manager Eric Staal

Associate General Manager Jason Karmanos

Assistant General Manager Mark Jakubowski

Assistant General Manager Jerry Forton

VP of Hockey Strategy and Research Sam Ventura

Director of Pro Scouting Jeremiah Crowe

Assistant Director of Amateur Scouting Jason Nightingale

Scout Craig Anderson

Scout Graham Beamish

Scout Kevin Devine

Scout Brad Dexter

Scout Austin Dunne

Scout Justin Falk

Scout Anders Forsberg

Scout Frank Musil

Scout Tristan Musser

Scout Ruslan Pechonkin

Scout Marty Stein

Scout Lukas Sutter

Scout Tommi Vesanen

Data Engineer Matt Barlowe

Data Scientist Domenic Galamini, Jr.

Manager of Hockey Technology/Team Operations Kyle Kiebzak

Coordinator of Team Operations Hunter Kelly

Manager of Hockey Administration Brett Ruff

Executive Assistant Terri O'Brien

COACHING STAFF

Head Coach Lindy Ruff

Assistant Coach Seth Appert

Assistant Coach Mike Bales

Assistant Coach Matt Ellis

Assistant Coach Marty Wilford

Video Coach Justin White

Video Coordinator Amir Gulati

Skating and Skills Instructor Mike Ansell

This is the cast of characters responsible for the current condition of our Buffalo Sabres?

(Just to clarify, does Eric Stahl really have a GM title?)

Can only imagine what the players think. Would fire Ruff, every Assistant Coach, and evaluate the entire Scouting group. 

Also evaluate the Conditioning Staff and the Medical Staff. 

Make some changes Pegula.

 

[Pimlach]

7 hours ago, COSabreFan said:

 

What is the question, who asked it, and what context goes with the quote?   Another wonderful nugget of sports news from the internets.   

I think we have to give him sometime to acclimate.  The Quick Look report says he starts on the 3rd pair.  What he does with this opportunity will be up to him, but let’s give him a chance.  

I did notice that Ray and Dan called out the Utah fans for cheering the wrong thing a few times.  Many do not understand the nuances of the game, but they really like the action and effort. 

Edited 4 hours ago by Pimlach

[Pimlach]

3 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

But he said the word critical.

So we also agree on the purge. You have to dig up the deep state. Please start with the two equipment clowns behind the bench. You have to get at everyone who is in the players' ears. I always astounded that new coaches don't want their own people in those roles.

So Frank Christie and Rip Simonick would not have had great careers?  

[Sidc3000]

The reporter who interviewed him cleared up the out of context comment. 
 

 

[shrader]

So wait, you’re telling me that Twitter was used to take a single quote out of context? That never happens. 
 

Edit: Wait, I’m not sure I can listen to a single word from someone named Brogan. I have no idea what to believe anymore. 

Edited 3 hours ago by shrader

[LGR4GM]

29 minutes ago, Sidc3000 said:

The reporter who interviewed him cleared up the out of context comment. 
 

 

So this is a nothing burger. 

[HumanSlinky39]

6 hours ago, K-9 said:

I gotta wonder if the PP wouldn’t be at least a little better if it weren’t currently missing four contributors. 

A little better? Maybe. Guys like Zucker, Dahlin, Benson should just with the talent/experience injection (not including Norris because he's a ghost, a myth). But it'd still be awful because it was awful dating back to last year. Hell, it was faltering at the end of the Grenato days, it just fell off a cliff when Appert took over. Watching it this year, it looks more like a schematic issue than a talent issue. They remain obsessed with the drop pass which has never added anything. When they get it into the offensive zone I see a lot of standing around and almost no purposeful movement. There looks like there is zero plan. They just waltz into the zone and stand around waiting for something to happen and this has been happening for almost 100 games under Appert. Seth Appert is the issue, he SUCKS.

[John Tucker]

Regarding his comments… Eh, oh well.  Arizona and Utah aren’t exactly hockey hotbeds so the fan bases generally get excited when a goalie makes a save on shot from center ice.  
 

Regarding Kesselring himself…  haven’t really seen much good in his game anyway.  Hes a right handed version of Samuelsson that supposedly that has a harder shot.  Wouldn’t know it

[COSabreFan]

I just think whether you are Kesselring, Thompson or Josh Allen you shouldn’t say anything that can be perceived as a jab at fans.  Especially Buffalo fans considering what they have been though and how loyal they are.  Not end of world, but nothing can be gained by doing it.

[shrader]

 

[DarthEbriate]

This is why every player interview is, "gotta get pucks in deep, go to work."

I'm fine with players talking about fans, wildly inaccurate expectations, and whatever else. Be a human when you're in an interview. It'll be fine. Fans are idiots, just like 24-hour sports cycle hot takers.

The only problem right now is Kesselring hasn't gelled with his partner (I don't know who it will be from game-to-game yet), or his new team and structure, and as much as we all want him to be a top-4 and his Utah metrics say he could be top-4 --- he's only been that player for one season. He'll have that shield down, we gotta give him more time.

[inkman]

5 minutes ago, COSabreFan said:

I just think whether you are Kesselring, Thompson or Josh Allen you shouldn’t say anything that can be perceived as a jab at fans.  Especially Buffalo fans considering what they have been though and how loyal they are.  Not end of world, but nothing can be gained by doing it.

Yep just toe the company line.  In the immortal words of Will Smith:

[PromoTheRobot]

 

[Thorny]

9 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

There's only 1 way to fix this and Pegula doesn't have the balls to do it. You go through this list and fire 75% of these people. You fire everyone who's been here for 10+ years. Some won't deserve it, you are right, but at this point it is about a hard reset. 

Senior Advisor Jarmo Kekalainen

Special Asst. to General Manager Eric Staal

Associate General Manager Jason Karmanos

Assistant General Manager Mark Jakubowski

Assistant General Manager Jerry Forton

VP of Hockey Strategy and Research Sam Ventura

Director of Pro Scouting Jeremiah Crowe

Assistant Director of Amateur Scouting Jason Nightingale

Scout Craig Anderson

Scout Graham Beamish

Scout Kevin Devine

Scout Brad Dexter

Scout Austin Dunne

Scout Justin Falk

Scout Anders Forsberg

Scout Frank Musil

Scout Tristan Musser

Scout Ruslan Pechonkin

Scout Marty Stein

Scout Lukas Sutter

Scout Tommi Vesanen

Data Engineer Matt Barlowe

Data Scientist Domenic Galamini, Jr.

Manager of Hockey Technology/Team Operations Kyle Kiebzak

Coordinator of Team Operations Hunter Kelly

Manager of Hockey Administration Brett Ruff

Executive Assistant Terri O'Brien

COACHING STAFF

Head Coach Lindy Ruff

Assistant Coach Seth Appert

Assistant Coach Mike Bales

Assistant Coach Matt Ellis

Assistant Coach Marty Wilford

Video Coach Justin White

Video Coordinator Amir Gulati

Skating and Skills Instructor Mike Ansell

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