PerreaultForever

likely, a stronger immune system.

I said it ALMOST LOOKED intentional. I don't think it was, but it was the laziest dumb play I've seen from a Sabre this year by far. There are coaches in this league that would bench a player for it.

If Reinhart can't go, this is the perfect opportunity for Ralph to try Skinner with Jack and see what happens. Switch Olofsson over to RW and play Skinner-Eichel-Olofsson and not the giraffe. If it works, Skinner earns his top line spot and we have Skinner-Eichel-Reinhart again when Sam is back. If it doesn't, back to line 4 Skinner goes. Ralph gets to save face as it was an injury move and nobody has to placate their ego. It's the perfect opportunity and if Ralph isn't taking it it means he will never give Skinner another real chance to prove himself.

To be clear, the lack of effort was for the entire team, not Eichel specifically. When you are being outshot 14-4 in the opening period it means either the other team is really good or your team hasn't shown up. The Rangers are not really good.

The nonchalant way he did it is what got to me. Almost looked intentional.

Scheme and chemistry don't account for a lack of effort. Leadership I agree with and have commented on it before. Eichel is a crap captain. Good player, crap leader.

I can only imagine how this conversation might have gone had Skinner's incredibly lazy puck flip over the glass resulted in the game winning goal for the Rangers.

Basically just saying he was not missed.

Another uninspired effort pretty similar to the previous one. Slightly better in the 3rd and Ullmark saved a point for us but really, this kind of effort won't get us in the playoffs. Bot even close.

I agree with this. Dahlin needs to sit a few games. When Mcavoy was struggling in Boston I think it was 2 seasons back they benched and then sat him out and it caused rumblings there about him not being as good as first thought. Woke him up or he took a step back or whatever and they paired him with a veteran (to say the least) and now, in the bruins game I watched this year he looked like a Norris candidate. We have a history of developing D men poorly and we might be doing it again. I still think this falls on Steve Smith and he should have gone with Housley. But whatever, it's time he sat.

Buffalo has been quiet on it and good for them as any issues shouldn't be fought in the media or on twitter or whatever IF they exist. Not saying they do, just saying it's pretty obvious that Skinner and Kreuger have some sort of issue(s). As for you not hearing, did you not pay attention to the things coming out of Carolina? Pretty much well known. Uncoachable was a word often used, and Carolina, as a team, got better without him. That's old news.

Dude, I'm not "hiding." I watch hockey with friends and none of us talk about corsi and fenwick and all that stuff cause it's just not interesting or fun to look at team sports that way. Go play videogames if you want to look at everything in a dissected analytical way. We watch sports for fun and entertainment. Analytic worship tends to be an age thing, but if you are old and into stats too good for you. Pretty sure you're in a minority view for your age cohort but it DOESN'T MATTER. Enjoy your thing and I'll enjoy mine Ok? Now as for Sam, the eyes don't lie. The stat will tell you he was in that part of the ice but it won't tell you that he backed away at the moment the other guy gave him a stern look. (Obviously exaggerating there to make a point, but I think you know what I mean). By the way, it's not a bias. He's played better this season than usual imo. Better than Eichel at times. That's what my eyes say. I'm not going to do this, cause I'm not into stats, but since you are I have a challenge for you out of curiosity. Take Sam's stats and run a comparison with other wingers who clearly do go to the dirty areas often. Tell me how they stack up. I'd suggest Marchand. Maybe Tkachuk. Somebody like that. How do they stack up? Cause if Sam's stats say he's in there as much as those guys, then the stats clearly don't tell you everything they need to.

Maybe but I'm too old to start watching hockey like a mathematician. Where's the fun in that? We old timers might not bother to try to understand all these fancy dancy numbers but we've seen winning hockey and know what it takes to win. And for you youngsters believe it or not, we've seen winning Sabres hockey too lol. many a night those stats have said Sam was good but that top line was held scoreless. Go figure. and no, he DOESN'T go into the dirty areas. 🙂

I think Ted could have gotten back into the league if he'd checked his ego a little and accepted an assistant coach job somewhere but if I remember correctly he was not keen on what he viewed at the time as a step backwards. I think he could still be a really good member of a coaching staff. That player friendly guy who bonds with and talks to guys who struggle. The bridge between the head guy and the players. As a head coach though he was a little headstrong and deserved or not, got the reputation of being hard to work with in not getting along with GMs. and a little too old school of course.

He's putting in a certain kind of "effort" but we don't really know all the issues between them. At this point it's all behind closed doors but I have to believe he's not doing what the coaches are asking of him. The Kreuger philosophy is a simple one. Play well and get more ice time, play with better players. Do your job and you will be rewarded. Fight the system and the opposite happens. The thing that bugs me personally is JBot gave him BOTH a no movement clause AND a massive salary. (One that every single league expert said was too much) . Usually you negotiate one at the expense of the other at least a little. It's a horrible contract and a terrible bind for the team.

That's a difficult argument the way you phrased that. It implies I think that the player is playing well, just not being allowed to be in his best spot. So regarding Skinner, I find it hard to think that Ralph is just demoting him because he doesn't like the style of his haircut (if you get my drift). It has to be about his play and/or his attitude and/or his not listening to his coaches and at least trying to do what they ask. I think Kreuger is probably in the right on this issue BUT, and it's a big BUT, we are stuck with Skinner more than any other player on the roster so he has to give in to some extent and we should at least give Skinner some shifts on a top line to see if he delivers. If he doesn't, argument over and back down to the bottom he goes and it's all on JBot (I guess) and we work with less cap space than other teams owning the worst contract in the league (or maybe close to Louie Erikson) but just digging your heels in and hoping he comes around one day, I don't think that will work and Skinner will outlast Kreuger.

Coaches shouldn't have to be. Players are paid to play and the coach is their boss. The minute you start pampering a player the team falls apart.

Totally. Hall has looked better than Eichel so far no question. His passing ability and awareness of where his team mates are is really good. Maybe Jack isn't 100%, maybe he's just starting to get there or waking up (as he looked better last night) or, and I don't really like this possibility, maybe he's not as good in the sniper role and needs to be the guy carrying the play and so those two should really be on different lines.

Don't be so sure of that. Boston pummeled Philly the other night and Pittsburgh and Boston just went to OT in a pretty even game. None of this means anything until we beat them (and the Islanders, and maybe even New Jersey as Ruff has them playing decent hockey too).

We've always lacked good leadership. The threads about culture pop up every year. I said in the long term fix thread that Eichel is a great player but he's a crap captain and I stand by it. Smashing your stick on the bench out of frustration (which he usually does several times a year) is not how you rally the troops and get everybody going. And Reinhart? I think he's a vulcan. Skilled but one of the flattest and most unemotional players I've ever seen. We can be up by 5 or down by 5 and he looks (and to some extent plays) exactly the same. But we're stuck with it. Can't exactly strip Eichel of the C and who would you give it to? Cozens isn't ready YET. I know this isn't a popular view, but I still believe our big mistake was not naming a captain and holding it for Jack rather than giving it to ROR. If we had, I think he'd still be here and he'd be leading us as he does St. Louis. No going back though. Is what it is.

See, that's the thing though. He shouldn't be. We're so used to lack of effort uninspired and unmotivated hockey that a journeyman working his ass off stands out a little too much. They ALL should be working like him, including the big 3 on that top line. If the entire team bought into a work ethic and played as hard as Lazar every night we'd be in first place and probably undefeated.

I guess I'm one of those sourpusses cause I thought that was a pretty uninspired effort. Glad we won, but it was only because the Rangers clearly suck. I expect them to finish dead last in the division as their hotshot draft picks aren't there yet. Without the PP we lose that game 5 on 5 all the same. Irwin played better D than Dahlin does (at this point). We need the so called stars to give the same level of effort we are getting from the cast offs (Rieder, Lazar,Sheahan). then we'll be ok and not before.

Maybe too early to say MUST WIN but it kind of is. As was mentioned above, next 4 games we need to get on a roll and pick up most if not all of the possible points.

I've seen a few posts praising Montour and I just don't get it. What am I seeing differently because to me he is horrible and the Dahlin/Montour pairing is our worst. Risto is clearly our best D man this year and McCabe is a close second. The other two are average. Montour is a horrible role model for Dahlin and that pairing makes absolutely no sense to me. As for the team looking better, well it has to, we added an allstar FA to the top line but a lot of the same problems are there and we are soft as butter.

No, I think the model we used built us backwards. You give me a team filled with hard working 20 goal scorers and I will beat your team of 2 or 3 (potential) 40-50 goal scorers almost every time. This is why Toronto falters in the playoffs, Edmonton sucks, we suck. Tampa got lucky with Point and thy have a good goalie, or they'd be in that group too. imo you build from the goalie and defense out not from the top down in a cap league. otherwise you end up with too much money spent on the top scorers and not enough left for the rest of the team. Only way you win with that method is if the refs give you tons of power plays every night.