Thorner

Was never very good at breakaways

remember that one year where for like 20 games you couldn't tuck your jersey in

Hey the announcer guy said Tage is a future olympian with Jack. Pretty good recognition

We are less the Buffalo Sabres, and more so the Buffalo Lost-3-In-A-Rows

We need to make absolutely sure he sucks It needs to be made abundantly clear

That's a big rebound

Comrie steady. Eichel in command out there. Need a big kill here

Reasonably healthy lineup all things considered. Can’t expect to have a completely full roster once things get going. Expect we take this one!

There’s always the distinction between the aims of management, that of coaching, and that of the players. I don’t think the sorting of priorities from on up changes on a game to game basis. I do however acknowledge the fact that last year they had a really good record in games like this - I do think it comes down to the psyche of the players. If no “must wins” are going to be intimated from higher up, the players will choose their own.

I’m not mad at you. just disappointed

thread should honestly be locked w/that ^ post, I'll delete this one, and then the name of Chris Neil never spoken of again for all times

ftfy

There's very much room for this - there's a variable here, "why is Mittelstadt playing so much", Mittelstadt playing better in perception to the eyes that matter explains it away, just as well as "winning isn't the priority" does. I am less drawn to that take, as it's more difficult to make the jump to how they could be viewing Casey's play in that way, but it's certainly a reasonable possibility.

I wonder if a positive goal differential represents some kind of mark?

I think you've done a good job laying out why deluca .500 USUALLY represents a good team and also why .600 always does. Considering how often merely okay teams reach the deluca mark but miss, I still think there's a more easily attainable record out there that identifies a good but not ready for prime time team, that one might hope we aspire to. chances are, if we hit deluca, we are well in the playoffs. Again, not for sure, but very likely.

We can probably allow for a situation where more than 1 thing is true: I think they care about winning, but not at the expense of definitively proving to themselves that Casey isn't part of the long-term. They are sacrificing performance in the now in the aid to augment the Future. Is that not a fair reading based on the ice time Mittelstadt is getting? I'm open to interpretation but I'm coming down firmly on that stance right now

respectfully I think a sentence like this just serves to muddy It's not that they "don't want" to win. They do. They aren't tanking. The point of distinction is whether or not that is priority numero uno for this team, and whether or not it should be. To the first - I think it's obvious it's not To the second - I have my leanings but truly do not know I don't really want to throw out terms like "job security" right now when much of the details underneath the surface, like say with drafting and the off-ice personnel they've added look very promising. But....they are certainly going for long-form rebuild. Like, really long. Like, maybe 5 years to make the playoffs long. And people like to count last year as Adams year 1.

I was shocked.

I agree with you, but we should also read the messaging the team is sending out. I've spoken of this before, without it gaining much traction - the social media enterprise of this franchise has undergone a massive shift in the last year - it's often a choreographed message and, imo, I've come to realize information can be gleaned from it. They want us to know *every* game the focus is on winning. A timely message to the fans, indeed. I do not believe that to be the case - brawndo's post from a bit ago had Granato admitting to basically exactly what I am saying, it's about building a team that wins in the playoffs, winning "more" is of course desired now but it's not Priority 1. Event games, these vibes games, they are a different story. The team approaches them differently imo and I think the statistics from last year clearly bear that out. Maybe they get shellacked tomorrow but I don't think so. I think they win.

lmao this is so hilarious now Thanks Elon

Do they think Mitts is good? Or are they giving him the runway to definitively prove he is not? Is it more likely they have a very wonky talent analysis of Mittelstadt that flies in the face of what the underlying numbers would be telling them, or that they view this as a season where experimenting with individual players is the priority? Disclaimer: *This is not an endorsement of said priority alignment*

I just wonder about the WHY. They must have a reason beyond the two I laid out, neither of which makes a very good argument. There must be something we are missing?