dudacek

No, it's all Krueger's fault. How can he bench a player that hasn't done his ***** job in a year and a half? Now I'm off to the Eichel and Dahlin threads to complain about how Krueger hasn't benched them yet. This board (not you, and you are right on the money with this post) is so schizophrenic at times.

4 goals in his past 46 games has nothing to do with it?

When was the last time Jeff Skinner was clearly playing better than the guys who are dressing ahead of him? We're talking October 2019, right?

Six weeks into the year and we've only seen five teams.

This is good news This is better news. I am making up all sorts of wild rumours already. Eichel and Skinner to the Rangers for Lafreniere and their two worst contracts, confirmed.

It's funny, Curtis Lazar hasn't had trouble scoring goals playing on the Sabres fourth line — has nearly twice as many over the past calendar year as Jeff. Zemgus too. Stop making excuses for Jeff Skinner.

I know everyone looks good compared to the Sabres, but in the past 10 years, they've missed the playoffs four times and won three playoff rounds

Another buy high sell low special, eh? With Risto and Jake out it will be a sign of tossing in the season.

Nice work. The lack of authority with which he is moving and protecting the puck (feeding the high number of turnovers) are the in-game manifestations, but the most troubling thing is the body language. The number of times he projects '(deep sigh), what's the point' on a turnover, a rush, a puck battle, a backcheck, or even skating to the bench tells me his mindset has approached Sabrespace levels of fatigue. Have you seen this dramatization of Jack's career?

Feel for Jake. Guy can play for my team any time, and deserves better than what the Sabres gave him. This might improve our chances of re-signing him, because I was more or less convinced he was heading to Chicago this summer.

But he's not. He's not productive at all. He has no goals and one assist the entire year, and if I remember correctly that was a secondary assist that came thanks to an amazing (flukey?) pass by Sheahan. I'd be more willing to buy into the fancy stats if Skinner's dip was short enough to call a slump. Eichel is in a slump. As @PASabreFan correctly pointed out, Jeff is in down stretch that predates Krueger, encompasses nearly two calendar years, and (other than a month-long bump when Krueger first took over) has gotten progressively worse. Things like ice time, linemates or slumps change players from 35 goal scorers to 23 goal scorers, not 35 goal scorers to 10-goal scorers. I don't think people have really put into perspective how non-productive Jeff has been, and for how long. In the past 45 games Skinner has 4 goals and 3 assists! Brian Flynn, Nick Deslauriers, Cody Hodgson and Torrey Mitchell put up better numbers with similar ice time, playing with each other in the depths of the tank! It's funny how everyone says Jeff's bad play coincided with Krueger (which isn't entirely true) and almost no one talks about how it also coincided with a contract that set him up for life. The second might be true. The first undoubtedly is. Jeff Skinner was magical his first three months in Buffalo. That player hasn't been seen for years and I suspect he never will be again. Blaming it all on Krueger is just fooling yourself.

Since Nov. 1, 2019 — despite playing more games — Jeff Skinner has scored fewer goals (7) and/or fewer points (14) in a Sabres uniform than Marcus Johansson 5/21 Jimmy Vesey 9/18 Johan Larsson 5/16 Zemgus Girgensons 11/15 Conor Sheary 6/15 Kyle Okposo 8/14 Curtis Lazar 8/14 He's well behind Risto, Dahlin and Montour in points and barely ahead of McCabe, Miller and Jokiharju. Heck, he's only 4 points ahead of Taylor Hall. Mittelstadt has as many points in two games this year as Jeff has in 14. This isn't a slump, it's 60 games and 18 months of not producing. I say it's about ***** time he sits out.

I played in a 3-on-3 ball hockey league for a few years that had all its games in small elementary school gyms. Missed or blocked shots or big rebounds became scoring chances at one end or the other end literally within seconds. Power plays clicked at about 80 per cent. It seemed like 80 per cent of the time the ball was within high-danger range of one goal or the other and at almost all times, the attacking team only had to beat one defender to get a scoring chance. Compare that to the NHL where the puck spends at least 80 per cent of the time out of high danger range and you can go whole periods without seeing a puck carrier with just one man to beat. The more distance to the goal and the more bodies on the ice, the larger the advantage to the defender. It should be obvious to anyone who has played variations of the standard game.

This isn't about the Sabres, it's about the game.

"The clever cat-and-mouse game between goalies and shooters has run its constructive course. The goalies, by winning, have changed the game. Hockey is a game that needs open ice. It is made for open ice. The problem is the goalies. The answer is the goalies." Hall of Famer Ken Dryden has convinced me that changes must be made to open up the offensive zone, the same way the three-point shot opened up basketball. A must-read for fans of the game. https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2021/02/hockey-goalies-are-too-big-now/618021/?utm_source=pocket-newtab

UPL brought that one home. Good to see.

So Samuelsson handled that speedy push to the outside pretty easily. I wonder of this game will start to ease the myth that he cant skate.

It's scheduled to happen. It will be interesting to see whether the COVID list gets any shorter by then.

Ah, the Facebook live feed just kicked in

You got a feed? Mine hasnt started yet

Burger King is to Timmy's as Terry is to the Sabres

Ville was misundersood on the ice and now he's misunderstood off the ice

#SkinneriswhatCarolinathoughthewas

So he's basically a limited NHL hockey player: a streaky goal scorer who works hard in bursts and draws penalties, but cannot produce away from optimal players/situations, elevate the play of his linemates, or be trusted to protect the puck or play responsible defence. It's hard to imagine that people thought he was better than Sam Reinhart, eh? Or that he was worth $9 million.

Can Jeff Skinner be a better, more effective player than what he has been over the past 50-odd games given 14 minutes a night away from Jack Eichel?