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1. Should Buffalo be the hub for USA hockey? (Team USA, Juniors, Women, Sled, etc). (yes/no) 2. What should be forum shorthand for Dan Bylsma, just DB or DDB for Disco Dan Bylsma)? 3. How many years will Dan Bylsma last in Buffalo? 4. As a percentage, the chance a Dan Bylsma led Buffalo Sabres make the playoffs in 2015-16? 5. Finish the sentence. Hey Dan, welcome to town, just beware of ____________________ .

What say you?

Some draft pick crap to figure out but looks like he's in. (Which I think is a load of crap) Chime in... I'm curious who you guys and gals think he'll pull in for assistant coaches? Chime in...

I don't think there's any thread specifically pertaining to this. It's a good discussion to have regardless of the coach of this team, though. I don't mean it to be a "let's pile on DD" thread, I want to learn about his system and the way our players are taught to play. The quote that we most remember from Dan at the start of his tenure was that it's a tough play for the defenseman to turn around and find the puck. As such, we see a lot of rushes where the puck gets thrown in the zone, when perhaps you'd expect that player to carry, especially if it's a guy like Reinhart/O'Reilly/Okposo doing it, this is on top of the dumps that are obvious, which every player on every team does - when alone at the end of a shift, when the neutral zone and blue line are totally clogged, etc. I obviously don't like this, but others might think differently. I've outlined this elsewhere, but it seems we have the defensemen get the puck to the one with the best shot at a stretch pass, not just an outlet pass. These passes are almost always long. The wingers are slow/stationary in the neutral zone on the boards waiting for them, and deflect them behind the defensemen of the other team, and go to get them. When Bylsma says "fast hockey" I think he means that the puck gets zipped up and tipped in very quickly, and we skate fast to go get it. It's not the fast hockey I thought we'd get, the passing plays we see lots of teams like Florida/Pittsburgh/Dallas etc play. I'm trying not to be positive or negative, I'm just trying to state what I see. When we dump the puck in, it feels like the forwards aren't sure where to go, or that the dump-er isn't sure where to put the puck. Not sure if that's on them or the coaches. We lose a lot of the races we should be winning as a dump-first team, though. In the d-zone, we FINALLY have a system that puts pressure on the point-men, and so those point shot goals we became so used to seeing have gone way down. I still believe that that had nothing to do with Miller's vision. In the o-zone, we try and cycle. The FLG line is great at it, and so is O'Reilly. And Okposo. The center, when in the middle of the ice, seems to rove along the top of the slot. There aren't a lot of guys close to the net, but we're pretty good along the boards and Kulikov/Risto can really handle the puck well at the point. Whatever anyone else wants to add and discuss about the system the Sabres use, post here!