dudacek

Intriguing column from former Canuck and Devil employee Rachel Doerrie on how things really work inside NHL organizations. https://thehockeynews.com/news/when-an-nhl-gm-becomes-a-dartboard

Tommers was fighting so hard to get through the blanket they were trying to put on him tonight. He’s not a guy who shuts down when the competition ratchets up. He’s still learning how to beat tough defence, but he’s got the mental toughness to make it happen. Jokiharju with another outstanding game: 4 hits +2, 27 minutes. It feels like Sabrespace only notices him when something doesn’t work and takes for granted what he does well.

Dudley was hard to replace

Yes, in June everyone knew the six best Sabres would all simultaneously have career years, so the brain trust ignored all the fantastic goalies lining up to come to Buffalo and targeted the most milquetoast goalie they could find in order to not raise expectations too much. That’s certainly what I would have done under the same circumstances. Who wouldn’t?

Can’t remember the last winger this franchise has had who combines size, strength, skill, character and likability the way Alex Tuch does. I was surprised but a little skeptical of how good he was last spring. But he’s been all that and a lot more this season. He’s far better than I ever thought he could be. My god, did Adams ever make a 5-star meal out of the ***** sandwich that was the Eichel situation.

The very nature of the type of game Granato wants to play screams for an athletic goalie who excels at making saves in high danger situations as opposed to a shot-blocking systems goalie who excels at not making mistakes. (Fights the urge to check and see if anybody has left Northeastern in the past hour.)

Oh he’s under contract and definitely will be in the mix. He’s also shown in the past that he can be better than his performance this year has shown. It’s just the idea that someone who has performed to the level he has this year might not be targeted for an upgrade that makes people twitchy. At least people who care about making the playoffs.

The book on him as a Sabre might be unfinished, but it’s not unknown. In his 17 games he has not proven himself to be an NHL caliber goalie. He has done no more to suggest he should get a shot to carry the load next year than Dustin Tokarski did last year.

I had a goal for this season of not getting too invested in what I called “Armchair GMing” - “why aren’t they doing this? They need more of that” and simply try to enjoy the games in and of themselves as entertainment and focus on appreciating the things that I like. Stepped back from posting as much for a long stretch to help myself with the process. Can’t say I’ve always been successful, but I’ve tried, and for the most part this team has given me the most fun of any Sabres team in years. It’s interesting to me that we’ve used almost the identical phrase to describe what seem to be exactly the opposite approaches. In retrospect your phrasing is better. In answer to your question: for me, results of the whole matter now, but they matter less than improvement from the pieces. At some point those items are going to trade places, but I don’t think that was ever going to be this year.

This is painfully cynical and the fact that many of you seem to buy into it as a major motivating factor in the decision-making process makes me sad.

I don’t look down on this at all and am sorry if my posting has come across that way.

I think one of the Sabres major miscalculations this season was in the aptitude of Jacob Bryson. the contract they gave him suggests they were expecting a lot more than the sub-Kale Clague like performance they got.

Putting all your eggs into a rookie goalie who has never played an NHL game is an exercise in job security?

I know you don't believe anything we see they players actually say or do, but don't you don't think the team has a pretty good sense of whether Dahlin wants to be here or not?

I haven’t seen anything that leads me to believe Greenway’s IQ is questionable at all. On the contrary, he usually seems to be on the right side of the puck defensively and he seems to make safe decisions with and without it offensively. Are you referring more to a lack of creativity, perhaps?

FInally? It just seems to be the right call right now.

My point was simply that Adams thought Comrie could supply capable goaltending this year. To me the fact that he hasn't even been NHL calibre means Adams poorly read his ability. @LGR4GMdisagrees.

I have no idea. I'm not well-versed enough in PK strategy to offer a tactical breakdown as to why it's failing. I also don't know who is responsible for those tactics and what else he is succeeding/failing in. Certainly gets underplayed around here as an issue though.

I think we both think Comrie was signed last summer because Adams thought that was the "best"move available to him given market circumstances. If I'm reading you correctly, where we differ is that I think Adams "targeted" him and, you think he "settled".

I don't that's the case any more based on his play this year. Don't see him as top 4, but he's an emerged as an every day player and shown signs there might be more in there.

So this is what people mean by not taking winning seriously?

I think it's pretty clear the team is grooming Dahlin to be the captain and would be surprised if it's someone else.

If you're reading this as another mindless rant of "that idiot Adams should have acquired Husso" (or Jack Campbell) you're reading it wrong. It was simply a reference to other goalies who were available on the market last summer. Do you think Adams expected this Eric Comrie when he signed him, or do you think he expected more from him?

With this, you’ve improved your 4-7 spots by effectively adding a real top 4 defenceman. That #4 also insulates you from an injury to your top 3, because you know Joki is capable of playing top 4 minutes in a way a Bryson and Lyubushkin can’t. Meanwhile, pushing Joki down to the 3rd pair significantly improves that pair. You also may have improved the corps even more with the very real possibility Johnson is an upgrade on Stillman and Bryson, and may even be on par with Lyubushkin or Jokiharju. That means you could have two guys out and still run your 7/8 guys in your bottom pair without losing much there. And Bryson is still under contract, and whatever you think of his ability, he certainly represents better depth than our #9 right now (Davies?) Given the possibility of a bump from Power next year as well, and this might be all that’s necessary, assuming the fresh #4 is a good add.

I don’t get what people mean by needing to see “serious commitment to winning”. Because I don’t think most of them define “serious commitment” as in overpaying for free agents, or trading Matt Savoie’s for Patrick Kane’s. I don’t think playing JJ Peterka this year instead signing David Perron represents not being committed to winning. It represents an attempt at smart long-term player development and cap management I don’t think signing Eric Comrie instead of Ville Husso or Jack Campbell represents not being committed to winning. It represents a poor reading of Eric Comrie’s ability. I don’t think trading a 2nd-round pick for Jordan Greenway represents not being committed. It represents dealing from a position of depth (picks/young players) to address a flaw on the NHL roster. Same with trading for Stillman. I don’t think Granato’s offence-first system represents not being committed. It represents their philosophy on how to make this team better. You can’t fall back on the excuse of “oh, it’s a development year” if the team doesnt show any development. I can accept the results this year because there clearly was development. I’m not sure how we can show continued development next year without making the playoffs. Not upgrading the goaltending won’t mean they aren’t “committed,” it will mean that they think UPL, Comrie and Levi will be good enough to win. If the Sabres don’t improve next year, it won’t mean they weren’t committed to winning, it will mean they miscalculated about how to get there. It will mean the guys they are counting on to improve them: Krebs, Quinn, Peterka, Power, Samuelsson, UPL, Greenway, Stillman, and whatever other adds they might make between now and October didn’t do what was expected of them.. Not improving next year wouldn't mean they werent committed, it would mean they were wrong.