K-9

I think that depends on the specific types of mistakes being made on the ice and by whom that lead to the blowout losses. DG strikes me as someone who finds teaching opportunities, regardless.

Finally had a chance to watch the first 10 minutes of Adams’s presser. The first mention of the captaincy issue wasn’t made until nearly 7 minutes in and several other questions had already been asked and answered. Kudos to the press for not making that issue the focal point. And I gotta say that knowing KA didn’t “lead off” with any statement regarding the captaincy issue and after actually seeing and hearing the question and response, I find many of the reactionary takes around here to be completely overboard. The Aud Club is gonna Aud Club, so I’m not surprised at these takes at all.

What other message is KA sending? I haven’t heard him say Eichel wasn’t a good captain and leader.

Brisson is gonna perform the ADR himself?

There were classier ways for KA to handle those questions, but some of what I’m reading here is way over the top. I suspect because of our insatiable need to assign blame for our disappointment. Removing a player from his captaincy is destroying a person? A PR attempt to “beat up” their former captain? Were the reporters who asked all those leading questions in on it, too? If the Sabres had agreed to everything Eichel wanted when he wanted it, would Eichel have wanted to stay here and play? As captain? I strongly doubt it. Here’s a novel idea; maybe Eichel should have done the classy thing, too, and resigned his captaincy voluntarily.

Based on what we saw after he improved their conditioning when Krueger left, I’d say your perception is spot on. He wants speed in every zone from what I saw. Speed and pressure. It’s a good strategy because if you aren’t as talented as the opponent, you especially need to be a pain in the ass to play against.

Like I said, he lacks the savvy required for these pressers. Many ex-players now in management positions do.

If that’s the case then I, too, have to withdraw my objection. I just assumed the report of KA leading with the statement was true.

True, KA didn’t have to make a statement, but the Mike Harringtons in the room were hellbent on doing it for him, anyway. There was no way Adams was not going to have to say Eichel was no longer captain. Still, Adams lacks the necessary savvy required.

Great point about Eichel going straight to the media after his exit interview and I agree totally that he didn’t take a moment to cool down. I suspect Eichel wasn’t totally aware of the Sabres’ position vis a vis the insurance issue and he just couldn’t accept the reality of the situation. So I don’t believe he was ever in the frame of mind to hear “let’s figure out a solution together” in the first place. IMO, he got pissed, drew a line in the sand, and he and his former agent set about their propaganda campaign. But as I’ve said repeatedly, I give him credit for wising up, firing his agent, and choosing a more professional one in Brisson, so perhaps there’s still a chance for those cooler heads to prevail after all.

I think everybody involved sees it as the tough situation it is. But I see a team not indemnified against a certain type of surgery on an asset they have tens of millions invested in and a frustrated player. The only “my way or the highway” sentiments I’ve seen expressed have been from Eichel’s camp starting with his exit presser in May and culminating with the propaganda stunt with the doctor in Colorado in the summer.

I think that’s worth a lot in terms of pointing towards a wider circle seeing the same thing Sabres coaches are seeing. It’s a shame that the pandemic short-circuited the plan.

Because Eichel’s toxicity is totally related to his situation here and the presumption is that he wouldn’t carry that toxicity to a new situation with a team eagerly looking to welcome him aboard. It’s all a moot point until he proves he’s healthy though, so patience is all we have at the moment.

Well, any center KA would have drafted wasn’t gonna be ready for a while anyway, so it’s not like Quinn is missing out on some golden opportunity to skate on the wing of some can’t miss center prospect. In the meantime, if Quinn pans out, then that wait to develop an nhl center is mitigated.

So as long as the Sabres prescribed the medical best practices, from the 12 week rest and rehab to the ACDF surgery, then they were likely to prevail in arbitration. Seems the players should take this up with their union next time the CBA comes up for renewal.

I appreciate the explanation. Seems it’s a totally feckless provision in the CBA if teams still retain ultimate decision making power over the player regardless of the arbiter’s decision. But as you imply, this is not a standard case.

I guess my understanding isn’t clear. Why have a collectively bargained agreement for players to seek medical arbitration in the first place then?

How could the Sabres have done all that if Dahlin and his agent said “stop the bus?”

Nothing this team has done over the last 10 years has given any indication they know what they’re doing and all the questions regarding KA’s lack of drafting success are legit until those drafts bear fruit or not. But that’s not within the control of the coaching staff and until I have proof this current coaching group also doesn’t have a clue, then I have no problem with them getting a look at players at different positions at the time it’s best to do so, early in camp and preseason. I don’t get the impression they are forcing square pegs here. Instead, I believe that Quinn has shown them enough of something to at least take a look and satisfy their curiosity. I just don’t see that as a negative.

Oh, so it’s been sarcasm this entire time. Right.

Perhaps, but if he’s so passionate about his cause it seems to me that he’d exhaust every viable option to get his way.

Victory? On an internet forum? Your melodrama has reached critical mass. Perhaps I am mistaking the essence of where your mind is at with the situation, but in reading your posts over the last several months, one can’t blame me for that. Someone needs to ascend to the permanent role. In the meantime, give an A to Okposo as the ranking vet and get on with it.

But it’s just so much easier to think the Sabres coaches are clueless, that Quinn couldn’t possibly possess a hint of C qualities worth exploring at the BEST time to do that, in camp. I mean it’s not like everyone involved in player development has had a year to observe the kid on the ice and off.

I don’t think I’m blaming our better players for the losses as it takes much, much more than great players to become a sustainable winning franchise. In any team sport. But it turned out that they weren’t part of the solution we all hope for when we tanked to get them and they wanted out as a result so, ironically, they are part of that very inability to give them a reason to want to stay. Time to move on.