Pimlach

Ok. KA said last year was development; this year is play to win. What other options are there?

The goaltending was been good. The team defense as measured by GA is 18th out of 32. Last year we ranked 29th out of 32 in GA. This is a clear improvement. I believe that much if the improvement is because EJ and Clifton are so much better than last years crew of Clague/Boosh/Bryson/Stillman, plus team defense is being emphasized by all skaters. These factors are helping our goalies. UPL looks better than last year. Comrie is always hurt, hard to tell, probably about the same. Levi is playing below the level he played last year, his sample size of 7 NHL games last year was woefully too small for KA to think he was ready. Levi has had good moments and has the look of a kid that will make it. Lack of scoring is due to many reasons - injuries, slow starts to key players, changes in system emphasis, and most of all they just aren’t playing hard enough long enough

Probably because Tuch missed action twice so far and they moved lines around a lot. With Cozens in the doldrums and playing hurt, playing Peterka elsewhere was wise. When Quinn comes back I suspect they reunite the three again.

Ok, I get you on Cozens. We are in a bench Cozens thread. I disagree with it, you disagreed with rational for it, then added in the Power benching. Power sitting out one night is much more reasonable than Cozens right now since we have 7 decent defensemen and it might help him to watch and think through things. Without knowing what is in his head it’s hard to say if it’s the right thing to do. Confidence cannot be underestimated. Speaking of confidential, he was officially “hunted” last night and I prefer that he right now starts the ritual of pushing back and playing a tougher game. You can’t do that from the bench. I haven’t seen his fancy stats in a while, the last time I did he was grading well even with fans complaining about him. I try to look at the players total performance and their overall contribution to the team. Cozens and Power are important players. They all make mistakes on occasion and they all get scored on.

FIFY Conservation of energy today? Too much turkey?

Sad but true.

Most of this I like. Trading for a mid 6 guy is at the top of my list. Bench EJ and give Ryan more minutes? This I can't agree with. I think EJ is doing great for us. If Ryan gets more minutes he should get them from a combination of Joker, Clifton and EJ. Play 6 out of a rotation of 7.

True because of the lack of action by KA to replace Quinn, or to do anything to improve his roster at the forward position - which of course he views are "blocking" his prospects. Injuries are unpredictable but you should assume you will have some. If Tage was not hurt, and if Quinn was never hurt, and if Cozens was not playing hurt - then Benson falls from top 6 to top 9. He still makes our top 9 on his own merit. So some of this is great news, if not very fortunate drafting. Skinner - TNT - Tuch Quinn - Cozens - Peterka Greenway - Mitts - Benson Girgs - Krebs/Jost - KO/VO There are 4 players drafted this year that are playing in the NHL. #1 Bedard (Chicago), #2 Carlson (Anaheim), #3 Fantilli (Columbus), and #13 Benson (Buffalo). Benson is freaking good but note all the teams with these players are losing teams right now. Benson just blows away our bottom 5 forwards on this roster and that makes keeping him a viable choice. He was also clearly better than Savoie, Kulich, and Rosen in the preseason. He was better than Biro and Rousek too. The decision on Benson will be what is better for long term. Side note: Because of the injuries and the poor quality of the bottom 5 on this roster the coach is playing 11-7. So in essence we are developing Ryan Johnson in the NHL and he is averaging 10:15 minutes of ice per game. Food for thought: Is 10 minutes of NHL ice for Little Johnson better than 20 minutes of AHL ice? Given the injuries to Quinn and Tage, and the possibility that Benson goes, you can bet that Kulich will be up next. So are we really playing "all in" to win or are we still developing players in the NHL?

Yes you did hear some complaints and they were from me. Because for most of the mid-season DG did in fact shelter Quinn and Peterka in the 3rd period against big physical teams, and Cozens moved from line to line. It was incredible that he got 31 goals and played a strong two way game given all the combination and roles he had. That is the guy I want back. Cozens has been with Skinner and Tuch for one week - I guess that is stability in this hectic season. He was with Tage and Tuch for about one week earlier in the season.

People forget that Pronger was a big snarling kitty cat when he was Power's age. At Hartford he took stupid penalties, made all the mistakes young defensemen make, and no one feared him - there were lots of big tough guys out there. His first year in St Louis that continued, His second year in St Louis he got the strength to match his size and he changed. After that he became a big mean beast. Power is not Pronger, and the NHL today is not the NHL of the 90's. None of the best defenseman in todays NHL play like Pronger. We can all agree that Power has to play meaner.

Well, Power just turned 21 on Wednesday. At 6'6' and 218lbs, I will agree that he needs to play with more physical presence. I like defenseman that bang forwards at every opportunity. This is something Power will have to do if he wants to reach his potential. Last game he got run by Wilson several times. Greenway was there to put an end to it but Power will see more of that until he decides to push back. Not that Power has to take on a heavyweights either, but he does need to play with much more physicality. Clifton (another of the hated here because he made mistakes his first month) is only 5'11 and 190 and he can pack some power in that frame of his but so much of it is mentality. I recall Dahlin getting bashed around a lot in his first 3 years, with no help from teammates. I think it was after the 2022 All Star game that he really started to push back and he took on some tough middleweights. His time with Hedberg at the All Star game seemed to help mature him. Power needs to do what Dahlin did - get more physical and give himself some room to play. Samuelsson is 23, 6'4' and 231. A big guy who has the frame to get even stronger. He baffles me this year. For several shifts he is automatic and completely solid. Then the next one you see player get behind him and crash the net for a goal (Appleton), or he is lazy clearing rebounds and bodies around the net. He was been inconsistent this season. Defenseman do not start their peak until later so you just have to stick with them. Are we going to bench every player that makes a mistake so we can replace them with minor league players? They are already griping their sticks to tight. We might have a great prospect pool but they are teenagers. We have very little NHL depth on this team. Speaking of Benson. Did you notice how much time John Carlson of Washington, their big veteran defenseman, spent messing with Benson? Benson is fearless. They had several little tussles and even a few after the whistle. Carlson kept it clean, but several times Carlson had to back Benson down. It was pretty funny for me to see that actually. Benson's intensity and determination reminds me of Danny Gare, but without the 70's fighting aspect.

You’re confusing Cozens and Power in my comments. See @PerreaultForeverpost. Bring up Kulich and play him at 3C, keep Cozens at 2C, Keep Mitts at 1C. We have nothing else. As “bad” as Cozens is right now, he is miles ahead of Krebs and Jost, our other centers. I think Cozens is coming out of it. The shield will be gone soon. Let him play his way back. And play him with a stable line for once. He is always the center bring up the rookies or carrying the weaker players - ever notice that? Ever wonder why? Power - we already play 7 defense because we have 4 garbage forwards in Krebs, VO, KO, and Jost. Why are you not calling to replace the worst players, instead of 2 of our better players. If you’re so set on benching Power then play 6 defenders and add a 12th forward. Then you can watch both Joker and Johnson go from 10 sheltered mins to 20+ minutes and see how that works. Joker struggles in high minutes, we already know that. Johnson might be ok, but I’ll bet he starts to break down if asked to take Powers 22-24 minutes per night for the next 4 games. But hey, you sure showed Power. The best thing that can happen to Power is that he gets fed up at himself and starts pushing back, like Dahlin did. Growing pains, he literally just turned 21 this week.

Cozens and Power, both who you want to sit, each have 9 points and are tied for 7th on the team in points. Not producing is a problem for almost every player on this roster when compared to last season. Dahlin, Tuch, Thompson, and Skinner are all behind last years pace, even more so than Cozens and Power. Why not sit them all? Look, I see that Cozens is having a hard time. I get it. He scored in the last game, he works, he cares, he just needs to work his way out of it. I am probably in the minority here but I believe you have to let him play his way out of it. I don’t think treating him like a bantam level player is going to help him. Next game let’s roll out these three centers: Mitts, Jost, and Krebs, and put Cozens on the bench. Do you really think this is starting our best players? We will probably lose another 2 points to Pittsburgh. But hey, we sure showed Cozens. When should he come back? After two games? After skating 100 mountain drills at practice like on TV? Power? sure bench him too. We are playing 7 defenders anyway. Let Ryan Johnson or Joker play 22 minutes a night for the next week while we teach Power a lesson. good grief.

I am tired of the overblown Cozens criticism. It is getting to the point that any perceived "mistake" is magnified by some of the folks here at Sabrespace. It’s getting to the same level of baloney as the old Dahlin threads. Ok - He is not playing as well as last year, he started slow (like most of the team did) and he is hurt. Who on this team is playing better now than they did last season? Peterka, Greenway, UPL, and really no one else. Bench Cozens and who plays center in his place? He logged 21 minutes. Who do you want to play those 21 minutes? Jost? Krebs? Biro? He just scored last night. He had 3 SOG and many more shot attempts. He was working hard out there. He should be taking off the visor soon. Keep playing him and let him work through it and figure it out. Before you tell me he was on the ice for the OT goal consider this - Last night Dahlin, Power, and Samuelsson were all -2 with just 1 assist between the 3 of them. Should they sit as well? What exactly is Samuelsson excuse lately? He is failing to clear the net, failing to clear rebounds, and bringing even less physical play to the game than an injured Cozens.

signing a punk like Phil Kessel just might push me over the edge as a fan.

Yes is playing better and is more useful right now than all of the players that you listed. Only the Sabres .... (shakes head and looks down).

Good post. It will sting to send Benson down because he is one of our better forwards this season - and that says a lot about the roster that Adams has constructed during the off season.

See bold. Where do you get this from? They look at every shift on an iPad. That is to see what the opponent is doing and then adjust. That is correcting on the spot, you can point it out all day long but the player has to execute. Last night they kept attacking to try to score the 4th goal, they just didn't do it. DG is not a perfect coach but look at the roster, for every up and coming player there is either a boat anchor or a kid making rookie mistakes. If you feel they need more veterans you should be talking about Adams, not the coach.

Please. We will never know if UPL gets a shutout or if he stinks it up and gives up 5. Same with Comrie. Why bother discussing it? The loss is a team loss. The effort was there for most the game, but not enough of it. We still are not going to the net enough. Benson does it, why won’t more of our forwards get dirty? I thought Girgs played well, especially when paired with Benson and Mitts. Yet, he missed his man on a goal. I thought Levi played ok. Some big saves, and then some mistakes, like with 4 seconds left in OT. We outplayed them but they hung around and took advantage of our youth and our propensity to blow up under pressure. As for Levi? Are we going to develop him in the NHL and take our lumps watching him play every 5 or 6 days? Or, can we send him to Rochester and he can play almost every game, get better, build confidence and come back later. Same with Krebs. If he truly is waiver exempt then send him down to find his game. Tage and Mitts needed it. It’s not a big deal except we are seeing how thin we really are at center with Tage out. Adam’s has to find help at forward, especially at center. We can’t rotate 11. Winning teams run 4 lines.

Sounds more like it. I am not giving up hope. I think they can be a team to hit their groove and take off. We need Tage back asap, and hopefully Quinn can really contribute by the end of Jan. That will enable us populate 3 good lines, with the 4th being filler, but is forces 2 low performers out. The biggest question is will UPL and Comrie hold up? Damm Adams , he just didn't leave much margin for error.

I thought the OT was close but we didn’t shoot enough. We don’t shoot enough period. I thought we outplayed them for most of the game too. Levi was good and Levi was bad. He needs to play more - in Rochester. It will help him immensely. I don’t know if they outcoached us either. They out vetted us. There are still a lot of old Cup winners there and they pulled it out.

Ok. But I think they might. I think I’ll keep watching to see what’s up in January. Then I’ll keep watching to the end.

They played well tonight. They will start winning the close ones.

Cozens was out of gas, as they all were. They used it all trying to score. Hence a 2 on 1 and Levi blew it. Power correctly took away the pass. Levi incorrectly did not play the shooter and was out of position and late. A rookie in the NHL.

Wow. Goalie gets the shooter Levi