Kassian to Vancouver for Hodgson

[Bmwolf21]

Hodgson isn't "down," and Ruff is concerned about fatigue, thus the limited time last night: http://wgr550.com/Sa...t-down/12536417

"I saw a little bit of fatigue there and I don’t even know if his fatigue is on the physical side for sure, I think there’s some mental fatigue he’s gone through with the emotions of being traded and the circumstances around it so I told him don’t get frustrated.."

 

- Lindy Ruff

 

Sounds about like what we were speculating - that was a nightmare road trip for him, and the idea of being traded and your role dramatically changing, new city, new teammates, new system....it must have been physically, mentally and emotionally draining for him.

Hodgson has played eight games with the Sabres, and has nothing to show for it. He's been pretty much invisible in terms of any tangible contribution since the trade. That's a long drought.

 

I doubt Kassian would have done much either in those 8 games, so it's not like we've lost out. But it would have been nice to get a player who can actually get a point now and then.

 

Somebody better make Hodgson aware the honeymoon with the team, the fans, the press is coming to a close, and that he is expected to start producing. Especially with Myers on a 3 game suspension, it would be the perfect time for Hodgson to shine, if he's going to. If he goes 11 games without a point, I think there's gonna be serious doubts about him.

 

Sorry, not from me, and I doubt from most who have a shred of hockey sense. As has been mentioned before - he is 21 years old, in his first full year as a pro, and was just traded from a loaded offensive team where he was the 3rd-line center into a much bigger role on a team pushing to qualify for the postseason. I would expect a seasoned veteran to struggle given his situation in the last 2+ weeks, let alone a 21-year-old rookie.

 

From what I've seen (albeit in a limited amount, to be fair) he has skills. His vision is pretty damn good, he finds open ice, and his lines were getting good scoring ops the first few games. He seems to have hit the wall. I hope the crux of Lindy's talk with him was "relax, don't press, just go home, take a long nap, get a good night's sleep and be ready to go on Wednesday night."

[Eleven]

Sounds about like what we were speculating - that was a nightmare road trip for him, and the idea of being traded and your role dramatically changing, new city, new teammates, new system....it must have been physically, mentally and emotionally draining for him.

 

 

Sorry, not from me, and I doubt from most who have a shred of hockey sense. As has been mentioned before - he is 21 years old, in his first full year as a pro, and was just traded from a loaded offensive team where he was the 3rd-line center into a much bigger role on a team pushing to qualify for the postseason. I would expect a seasoned veteran to struggle given his situation in the last 2+ weeks, let alone a 21-year-old rookie.

 

From what I've seen (albeit in a limited amount, to be fair) he has skills. His vision is pretty damn good, he finds open ice, and his lines were getting good scoring ops the first few games. He seems to have hit the wall. I hope the crux of Lindy's talk with him was "relax, don't press, just go home, take a long nap, get a good night's sleep and be ready to go on Wednesday night."

 

Freaking reasonable people, always ruinin' it...

[Bmwolf21]

Freaking reasonable people, always ruinin' it...

 

I think I am on Team Wet Blanket.

[drnkirishone]

It's gonna be awesome seeing Hodgson play the point. He'll shut down every team's forward until Myers comes back.

haha

 

I'm not gonna worry to much about Cody until next season. This season is for him to get to know his teammates, the team, and the community. Now that I have said that. ###### cody get some points gosh darn it

[That Aud Smell]

Meh. James Neal was a far more seasoned player when he came over to Pittsburgh last year and he did very little there. This year, he's only got 30G, 65P in 68GP, and was just given a 5 year, $30 million contract.

 

It does take time to learn your teammates, especially for skill players. Add to that, the extreme travel log and the increased ice time (prior to last night), and it's not too surprising that he's not producing yet. He's basically a rookie, who hasn't really practiced with his team. The raw skill is there, you can see it at times, but he wasn't brought in to be the solution this year; he was brought in to hopefully be a long-run solution. I'd like to see him produce on this stretch run, but next year is when I'd actually expect to see production. It's not a TSC vs. SAK things, but rather the realization of what they really traded for (basically, a prospect) and the realities of deadline deals.

 

lindy?

 

http://blogs.buffalonews.com/sabres/2012/03/sabres-ruff-hoping-for-neal-like-surge-by-hodgson.html

[Randall Flagg]

 

 

lindy?

 

http://blogs.buffalonews.com/sabres/2012/03/sabres-ruff-hoping-for-neal-like-surge-by-hodgson.html

I can't picture lindy starting a sentence with "Meh".

[Jsixspd]

Sounds about like what we were speculating - that was a nightmare road trip for him, and the idea of being traded and your role dramatically changing, new city, new teammates, new system....it must have been physically, mentally and emotionally draining for him.

 

 

Sorry, not from me, and I doubt from most who have a shred of hockey sense. As has been mentioned before - he is 21 years old, in his first full year as a pro, and was just traded from a loaded offensive team where he was the 3rd-line center into a much bigger role on a team pushing to qualify for the postseason. I would expect a seasoned veteran to struggle given his situation in the last 2+ weeks, let alone a 21-year-old rookie.

 

From what I've seen (albeit in a limited amount, to be fair) he has skills. His vision is pretty damn good, he finds open ice, and his lines were getting good scoring ops the first few games. He seems to have hit the wall. I hope the crux of Lindy's talk with him was "relax, don't press, just go home, take a long nap, get a good night's sleep and be ready to go on Wednesday night."

 

I disagree - he needs to have more pressure put on him, not less. Push harder!!! Ride him, bust his chops, day in day out until he produces. Shooting drills, shooting drills, and more shooting drills. Work work work work work!!! We're not interested in his little problems - we want results, not excuses!!! Sulzer scores a point before he does - hammer that home too. He clearly has not been provided the proper motivation yet to succeed! I would keep hammering until he gets it done!!!

Edited March 15, 2012 by Jsixspd

[Bmwolf21]

I disagree - he needs to have more pressure put on him, not less. Push harder!!! Ride him, bust his chops, day in day out until he produces. Shooting drills, shooting drills, and more shooting drills. Work work work work work!!! We're not interested in his little problems - we want results, not excuses!!! Sulzer scores a point before he does - hammer that home too. He clearly has not been provided the proper motivation yet to succeed! I would keep hammering until he gets it done!!!

 

I'm glad you're not an NHL coach.

[TrueBlueGED]

I disagree - he needs to have more pressure put on him, not less. Push harder!!! Ride him, bust his chops, day in day out until he produces. Shooting drills, shooting drills, and more shooting drills. Work work work work work!!! We're not interested in his little problems - we want results, not excuses!!! Sulzer scores a point before he does - hammer that home too. He clearly has not been provided the proper motivation yet to succeed! I would keep hammering until he gets it done!!!

 

And you would lose the player. Glad you're not the coach.

[deluca67]

With this talk of Hodgson struggling, people really weren't all that crazy about Ehrhoff and Leino a few months back. That seems to have changed now. It took time and those guys are seasoned vets.

Not many complained about Ehrhoff and Leino still sucks, there goes your point.

[Bmwolf21]

Not many complained about Ehrhoff and Leino still sucks, there goes your point.

 

Sure they did.

[deluca67]

The only reason I know Hodgson dressed tonight is because he took a penalty, otherwise he was completely invisible. Stat line says he played 13:30, I would have never guess it was that much.

 

Watching how well Foligno has been playing makes me wish the Hodgson trade hadn't been made even more.

[Claude Balls]

Not many complained about Ehrhoff and Leino still sucks, there goes your point.

 

Amen and I agree 1000%. I have no clue what anyone here sees in Leino. For what he is being paid he is a complete waste. Detroit is the best team in the league at judging talent and they let him go. That tells me something.

Edited March 15, 2012 by Claude Balls

[Bmwolf21]

The only reason I know Hodgson dressed tonight is because he took a penalty, otherwise he was completely invisible. Stat line says he played 13:30, I would have never guess it was that much.

 

Watching how well Foligno has been playing makes me wish the Hodgson trade hadn't been made even more.

 

Right now the best part about that trade is that it removed a player who was blocking Foligno from getting his shot in the NHL.

[Bmwolf21]

Again I agree. The best thing about the Hodgson trade is Foligno getting ice time, although Sulzer has been a pleasant surprise. I'd still rather have Kassian over Hodgson at this point though.

 

Did you really mean to reply to yourself, or was that off my post?

[Claude Balls]

Did you really mean to reply to yourself, or was that off my post?

 

Was meant to be off DeLuccas post. I don't know how the hell I quoted myself, this laptop has a mind of it's own. :doh:

 

What really pisses me off is that people keep saying to be patient with Hodgson, he is gonna be fine and will be a good player for a long time. Unfortunately the Sabres don't have the time to be patient, they are fighting for their playoff lives and needed him to be producing from the time he got here. Kind of like McGinn has for Colorado. He now has like 11 pts in 9 games with the Avs.

Edited March 15, 2012 by Claude Balls

[deluca67]

Right now the best part about that trade is that it removed a player who was blocking Foligno from getting his shot in the NHL.

A team that dresses Boyes, Leino and Stafford has enough room for another physical winger. It's not Kassian or Foligno, there is no rule in the NHL saying you can have only one physical winger.

[TrueBlueGED]

Was meant to be off DeLuccas post. I don't know how the hell I quoted myself, this laptop has a mind of it's own. :doh:

 

What really pisses me off is that people keep saying to be patient with Hodgson, he is gonna be fine and will be a good player for a long time. Unfortunately the Sabres don't have the time to be patient, they are fighting for their lives and needed him to be producing from the time he got here. Kind of like Winnick has for Colorado. He now has like 10 pts in 9 games with the Avs.

 

I'm sure they thought he'd have more than zero points right now, but, there's no way you can think they made that trade for the playoff push. That trade was made to benefit the team long term.

[Claude Balls]

I'm sure they thought he'd have more than zero points right now, but, there's no way you can think they made that trade for the playoff push. That trade was made to benefit the team long term.

 

Are you saying that the Sabres gave up on the season when they traded for him and didn't care if they made a run at the playoffs? I hope that's not the case because I would hate to be a fan of a team that gives up before they are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. It's bad enough I'm a Bills fan.

 

A team that dresses Boyes, Leino and Stafford has enough room for another physical winger. It's not Kassian or Foligno, there is no rule in the NHL saying you can have only one physical winger.

 

True the NHL doesn't have that rule, but I do believe Ruff and Regier have that rule amongst themselves. I wonder if they have taken Foligno's balls yet.

[TrueBlueGED]

Are you saying that the Sabres gave up on the season when they traded for him and didn't care if they made a run at the playoffs? I hope that's not the case because I would hate to be a fan of a team that gives up before they are mathematically eliminated from the playoffs. It's bad enough I'm a Bills fan.

 

That's not even remotely what I said. I'm sure they thought they were going to get some production out of Hodgson down the stretch, but this isn't some rental deal where we got him specifically to push for the playoffs. We traded for him to fill a gaping organizational hole at center over the long run.

[Bmwolf21]

A team that dresses Boyes, Leino and Stafford has enough room for another physical winger. It's not Kassian or Foligno, there is no rule in the NHL saying you can have only one physical winger.

No argument here about having them both in the lineup over Boyes or Stafford. But you know they weren't going to play both rookies at the same time when they have so much cap space tied up in Staff and Boyes.

I'm sure they thought he'd have more than zero points right now, but, there's no way you can think they made that trade for the playoff push. That trade was made to benefit the team long term.

Exactly. Frankly, anything short of picking up a bona fide superstar should have tempered expectations.

 

I look at it like this - anything we would have gotten from Kass would have been a bonus, so I am looking at Hodgson the same way.

[deluca67]

No argument here about having them both in the lineup over Boyes or Stafford. But you know they weren't going to play both rookies at the same time when they have so much cap space tied up in Staff and Boyes.

 

Exactly. Frankly, anything short of picking up a bona fide superstar should have tempered expectations.

 

I look at it like this - anything we would have gotten from Kass would have been a bonus, so I am looking at Hodgson the same way.

That wasn't supposed to ever be an issue again.

[Bmwolf21]

That wasn't supposed to ever be an issue again.

 

How much salary do you reasonably expect Pegula to eat and bury in the AHL and overseas?

 

Stafford was just re-signed. I get that you don't like the deal or the player (and I am leaning that was as well) but he is coming off a 31-goal career year and is one of Lindy's favorites. It wasn't likely that he would get moved or buried in the AHL.

 

Boyes' biggest value to the team is the expiring contract, and they still couldn't get anyone to take him off their hands.

[Claude Balls]

That's not even remotely what I said. I'm sure they thought they were going to get some production out of Hodgson down the stretch, but this isn't some rental deal where we got him specifically to push for the playoffs. We traded for him to fill a gaping organizational hole at center over the long run.

 

And as it looks right now, we may still have that gaping hole at center even with Hodgson here. Although I am already looking forward to next season to see how CH does after a full training camp with this organization, because hopefully there will be many new faces here replacing all the slugs in the lineup now. I'm not giving up on him yet, but I'm definitely not sold on him yet either. Buffalo seems to have a way of stripping players of their talent when they get here.

Edited March 15, 2012 by Claude Balls

[Eleven]

Sure they did.

 

How long ago were people calling him "Errorhoff?" Not that long.