Marvin

Must be a misprint.

C because the the goaltending situation is still trouble. On paper, the off-season was one of the best in ages.

That is a really interesting thought. When the league started to relax the rules after 2006-7, a lot of the players from those Sabres teams became far less effective. We might be seeing here. What we are also seeing is that whoever is coaching the power play is using the talent close to optimally. For we in the anti-RK crowd, this should give us pause.

The red light went on. I think that's why he stopped.

How in the heck did Larry and Zemgus manage to be so effective with Okposo?

Who employs the guys in the radio broadcast? They are really trying to align the fans with Krueger and turn us against Skinner.

I am sorry to read that. My sympathies.

Thompson in? Really? Paul Hamilton said that you hear a lot about Jeff Skinner off the record. What does that mean?

Some perspective: Complaining about his performance in January and February seems a bit churlish: 5 goals in January 2019 was over 10 games, so still a 40 goal pace. The Sabres scored 30 goals that month. 3 goals in first half of February 2019 was over 6 games, or a 40 goal pace. The Sabres scored 19 goals in that fortnight. He scored at lower rates on a higher scoring team in October and December. On the other hand, you can rightfully complain about him from 15 February through 2 April 2019: 2 goals on 15 February against the Rangers, 1 goal against Carolina on 16 March, 1 goal against Nashville on 2 April, and 6 games with an assist over a 3-18-3 stretch. His funk was far worse than either Jack's or Sam's. Also, relative to the team, it was by far the biggest drop-off in scoring. The Sabres scored only 35 goals in this 24 game stretch; they went from scoring 3.3 goals per game to 1.46. Even if skinner scores 10 more goals, that's still less than 2 goals a game for the team. Yes, Skinner scored far less than everyone else and his drop off was the worst drop-off for the regulars, but everyone else went dry too. It looks like he had 2/3 of a season at a 51 goal pace and 1/4 in a funk with the team. I refuse to pin his scoring slump on just him -- he had a lot of company. (I pin most of it on GMJB with some on PH coming unglued due to frustration, but that's just me.) Moreover, your numbers clearly show his deteriorating performance under Ralph Krueger. Clearly, his playing style and Ralph Krueger's system are not miscible as it is. And, if you pin Skinner's deteriorating play on him (I agree to some extent, and, IMHO, this evaluation is eminently fair), why don't you then pin some of the team's mediocre performance on Krueger as well and seem to completely absolve him of any responsibility for Skinner's fade?

Opposing players also have a say in a player's shooting percentage. Also, the playing environment matters. For instance, maybe not having people in the stands is throwing off Jack just a hair. Maybe there is a season ticket holder in an lime green cap, orange coat, purple shirt, and pink tie with whom jack orients himself during the game. Lastly, is there a way to drill this, like running zone and rush drills with most of the net blocked except a few inches off the iron?

Ugh. I just had flashbacks to Real Cloutier.

Your plan for Seattle is what I would do. If I am Seattle, I don't even think about taking Skinner at 50% without at least 2 of Cozens, Quinn, and this year's 1st. This fustercluck is killer.

This drives me nuts. Back into the early 1980's, some top scorers could shoot a wrist shot with essentially a stick-handling grip. This meant that the goaltender and defencemen had to always be alert because they could shoot the puck at any time. Yes, the shot isn't as hard, but they caught players slightly out of position because they didn't telegraph when they were going to shoot. Just not wasting the second getting wound up would almost certainly help.

What makes this worse than Jost thinks is that this is the first year since before the tank where don't have at least one line which gets caved in on most shifts. If our 3 line were, ad arguendum, Skinner-Lazar-Okposo, I can't think of a 4th line since Darcy and Lindy which I would prefer to any 3 of Eakin, Asplund, Reider, Mittlestadt, Thompson, and Sheahan. And that's sad.

This seems like the 10 season where Sabres fans get the Piggy in the Middle.

I decided to watch highlights of games where Skinner scored with Housley at the helm versus Krueger. Then I picked through a few random games with Carolina. First, Skinner is a great garbage man. He has a skill to find the puck around the net and then to beat the goaltender. He just seems to have an instinct to cash in when rebounds are lying around the net. That makes him more effective in scrambles, converting rebounds, and on the power play. He is a shoot-first player, so he should not be the expected primary puck-handler in any game situation; when he carries the puck a lot, he often seems to be unaware of where some of his linemates should be. He can generate chances on his own with defencive linemates, but he is far less effective finishing the same kinds of chances than when he has offencively-minded linemates. In Buffalo and in Carolina, it looked like he feels like he has to do it all when his linemates are not as offencively skilled as he is. He presses too much, tries to beat players 1-on-1 rather than taking a shot in a decent spot, and looks more tired on any shift when was generating chances with lesser offencive players. IMHO, he needs at least one linemate whom he can trust to cash in rebounds from his shots. Housley's offencive system played more to Skinner's instincts than Kreuger's. Housley's break-outs and offencive set plays seemed very natural to Skinner, even when the team went 1-17-2 before the last 2 games of 2018-9. He seemed to always find a good spot in the ice wherever the puck was when the Sabres had possession. He routinely generated chances, even in tough times. (Aside: the Sabres noticeably lost confidence after the ASG and fell apart after the TDL. Skinner's results fell off more than Eichel's or Reinhart's, but the effort was still there -- albeit more grim determination than the relaxed push from earlier in the season.) When he did not have the puck, he cycled well below the face-off dots to get separation from the defencive coverage. Krueger's system seems to inhibit Skinner mentally, even when he was scoring successfully. He often seems confused or hesitant when going up ice on a break-out. He seems to fight his own instincts in the offencive zone -- I saw a few times where he started to turn down low, hesitate momentarily, and then peel off to a different position as if he suddenly remembered what Krueger's system required. When he gets the puck, he can make good things happen with it. He is generating first chances as a puck carrier, but he seems to be unaware of what his linemates are doing. His defencive instincts on the backcheck or in defencive zone coverage vary from rudimentary to atrocious. Even when he plays well, he has a tough time reading the coverages and can get caught running around or settle in wildly out of position. This season, he seems to have somewhat improved defencive positioning and his read of defencive zone coverage. The brain cramps he has in his own zone from virtually every year before this one seem to be less frequent. IMHO, as he plays the game now, Krueger's system works against every instinct Skinner believe makes him an effective offencive player. Krueger has clearly made him better defencively, but the trade-off looks dubious.

Based on the times when I and others I know have spoken with them at the KBC, the daughters are bigger fans than their parents. The eldest said explicitly to me that she hopes the Pegulas were a dynastic ownership of generations of Cup winners with the Buffalo Sabres. There are times when I think they want to win a little *too* badly.

Here's the original. It might work better or be more offencive to the Hockey Gods, depending on whether they are woke, hidebound, our somewhere in between.

We do need to start filling in the LHD in the pipeline over the next few years as well. For the moment, forward depth and consistent goaltending have to be our priorities.

Does that mean that we could actually go 3 pairs deep next season -- even if we lost one of the top few to Seattle? McCabe-Ristolainen, Dahlin-Borgen, Bryson-Jokiharu, Samuelsson-Miller, Pilut-Laaksonen, Davidson. (Assumes neither Miller nor Montour are here next season.) There have to be at least 3 NHL-quality pairs in there somewhere. At last, erm, At least we could competently exit the D-zone with possession.

Sorry, I just can't resist.

That may be the most objectively positive information I have seen here this season. It's almost as if we could say, "just imagine if everyone just starts scoring normally."

As my will, so mote it be. (Eoh evohay! Eoh evohay! Eoh evohay! ... ) ogo terru sawb maleht tnew yram tah tereh wyreve wons saetih wsawece elfstib malelt tiladah yram. Eko, eko Azal! (Eko, eko Azal!) As my will, so mote it be. (Might as well go with something Buffalo Science Fiction fandom is known for finding...)

I want to fill this up with ever Johnathan Quayle Higgins III rant from the old "Magnum, p.i." Krueger's rationale reminds me of an old Doctor Who scene: "I've got a memory like a...like a...Oh, dear, what is it that I have a memory like? What's that thing you drain rice in?"