Game Discussion Thread GDT: Tampa Bay at Buffalo 10-8-13 at 7:30 PM

[waldo]

550am should sync their game call with the video on the nbc broadcast..

[Taro T]

Porter is the new Hecht, minus the offensive ability (aka 34 year old Hecht rather than 28 year old Hecht). We've all accepted this by now, right?

Not really. Hecht never had set linemates after he was long in the tooth. Porter & Flynn are like Laverne & Shirley or Beavis & Butthead - virtually inseperable.

[TrueBlueGED]

Not really. Hecht never had set linemates after he was long in the tooth. Porter & Flynn are like Laverne & Shirley or Beavis & Butthead - virtually inseperable.

 

I was thinking more along the lines of how Hecht was Ruff's favorite and could do no wrong, and now Porter is Rolston's favorite. But that works too :lol:

[nfreeman]

Porter is the new Hecht, minus the offensive ability (aka 34 year old Hecht rather than 28 year old Hecht). We've all accepted this by now, right?

 

I haven't accepted this. He had good scoring #s at a major college hockey program and in the AHL, plus a 14-goal NHL season. I think his offensive potential is at least as good as Hecht's was (which wasn't particularly good).

 

Now, I would much rather the Sabres had enough legit offensive talent to keep Porter on the 4th line (or in the AHL), but that ain't the case this year.

[26CornerBlitz]

Is there any reason why Scott is in the lineup over Larsson? I can't come up with any justification.

[billsrcursed]

Is there any reason why Scott is in the lineup over Larsson? I can't come up with any justification.

 

I'm beginning to wonder if there's some "riff" with Larsson we're not aware of. It's weird.

[dEnnis the Menace]

I'm glad Foligno is back for this game. Really need a win here tonight. Buffalo sports have got me down!

[Jsixspd]

They'd better win this game, or at least get a point.

[26CornerBlitz]

@BuffaloSabres

WATCH: Pre-game comments from @OtterN9ne. "We need more compete." http://goo.gl/zM045B

 

@BuffaloSabres

WATCH: Pre-game comments from Marcus Foligno. "I'm ready to go." http://goo.gl/sYFvOV

#Sabres #GameDay

[That Aud Smell]

Is there any reason why Scott is in the lineup over Larsson? I can't come up with any justification.

 

that tampa has a heavyweight in labrie?

 

I'm beginning to wonder if there's some "riff" with Larsson we're not aware of. It's weird.

 

he's a left-handed center (and therefore a LW if not centering) who's supposed to be centering that 3rd line where grigorenko's being sheltered. i'm not sure there's anything weird about him not dressing.

[LGR4GM]

I'm beginning to wonder if there's some "riff" with Larsson we're not aware of. It's weird.

There is. We didn't draft him. Outside of that there is absolutely no reason Larsson should ever be taken out of the lineup in favor of Porter or Scott

[nfreeman]

Once again, there are a lot of people here making a lot of assumptions about how good/ready Larsson is without the sine qua non of actually having seen him play.

[LGR4GM]

Once again, there are a lot of people here making a lot of assumptions about how good/ready Larsson is without the sine qua non of actually having seen him play.

I have seen him play in 3 games. He is better than John Scott and tougher to play against and better than Porter.

[JujuFish]

A multi-goal game sure would be dandy.

[That Aud Smell]

the larsson:scott/porter thing is, i think, a bit of an apples:oranges analysis.

 

certainly when it comes to scott:larsson, there's no basis for comparing the two of them. rolston is dressing scott for one reason. if there's a hope or a thought on RR's part about dressing scott because he's a serviceable NHL player, then fook it, we're all done here.

 

the porter:larsson thing is a bit more interesting, a closer question. it just strikes me that the organization sees larsson as higher up the food chain than porter, but perhaps not as suited to current 4th line duty as porter.

 

and that's fair.

 

it was telling to me that, when larsson's number was called, they put him on the second line and moved ennis to wing.

 

and, yeah, porter wound up on that second line as the game went on (and larsson went down to the 4th line), but that's not the way the planned it.

 

i'm waiting to see larsson get sent to the A, where he can play 20+ minutes a game. he'll be back up in 2013, to be sure.

[dudacek]

Larsson played two games. He was invisible against Ottawa and better, but not good, against Pittsburgh.

He's certainly not outplaying Porter, who has had skated well and been reasonably effective in a shutdown/penalty kill role.

I am very high on Larsson and I want Porter to become irrelevant, but we ain't there yet.

[That Aud Smell]

Larsson played two games. He was invisible against Ottawa and better, but not good, against Pittsburgh.

He's certainly not outplaying Porter, who has had skated well and been reasonably effective in a shutdown/penalty kill role.

I am very high on Larsson and I want Porter to become irrelevant, but we ain't there yet.

 

agreed - good post.

[bcsaberks]

There is. We didn't draft him. Outside of that there is absolutely no reason Larsson should ever be taken out of the lineup in favor of Porter or Scott

And RR hasn't coached him until last month...so he's likely a minus in the rapport column relative to the other bubble players like Porter, Flynn, etc.

[LTS]

Isn't there also consideration on how many games Larsson plays before he needs to clear waivers? He's not up on an injury call up right? I don't know all those rules (although if they are posted somewhere please let me know). Still, it seems that if Larsson is not dominating then you keep him OUT of the lineup in favor of Porter to retain roster flexibility. Kaleta is due an injury soon right?

 

Now I'm super curious about those rules.. gotta go find them.

[Derrico]

Did the Sabres make a roster move that I missed? If Foligno is back and off of IR then don't we have to send someone down? Or have we already?

[dudacek]

We didn't call anyone up when Leino went on IR, so we are clear.

[TrueBlueGED]

I haven't accepted this. He had good scoring #s at a major college hockey program and in the AHL, plus a 14-goal NHL season. I think his offensive potential is at least as good as Hecht's was (which wasn't particularly good).

 

Now, I would much rather the Sabres had enough legit offensive talent to keep Porter on the 4th line (or in the AHL), but that ain't the case this year.

 

Hecht would score around 45 points like clockwork. I've seen zilch from Porter to suggest he can tally even 30, let alone over 40 consistently. What have you seen to make you think this, not to mention more, is possible?

[nfreeman]

Hecht would score around 45 points like clockwork. I've seen zilch from Porter to suggest he can tally even 30, let alone over 40 consistently. What have you seen to make you think this, not to mention more, is possible?

 

Hecht only had good scoring #s during the 3 seasons when the Sabres were a top-5 offense -- i.e. he rode the coattails (and did a lot of other things) well. After 2007-08, he only had 1 season above 29 pts. That's about where I see Porter -- who had 25 pts in his only full NHL season -- if he becomes a full-time Sabre.

[That Aud Smell]

man. i'd be delighted if porter had hecht-ian upside in the offensize zone.i doubt very much that he does.

 

Hecht only had good scoring #s during the 3 seasons when the Sabres were a top-5 offense -- i.e. he rode the coattails (and did a lot of other things) well. After 2007-08, he only had 1 season above 29 pts. That's about where I see Porter -- who had 25 pts in his only full NHL season -- if he becomes a full-time Sabre.

 

:o

 

Here's a cut and paste of Hecht's point totals in his (mostly) full NHL seasons through 07-08. (I dropped 2002-2003 because it looked like he was injured for most of it.)

2000-01 44 (72 GP) .61 PPG

2001-02 40 (82 GP) .49 PPG

2002-03 26 (49 GP) .53 PPG

2003-04 52 (64 GP) .81 PPG

2005-06 42 (64 GP) .66 PPG

2006-07 56 (76 GP) .74 PPG

2007-08 49 (75 GP) .65 PPG

 

I think it's interesting that he had a .61 PPG season with St. Louis in 2000-01 and then a .65 PPG season in 2007-2008 with the remains of a great Sabres' team. If you throw out his low and high seasons, he averaged ~.64 per game.

 

That's a very nice player to have - good for 45-55 points or so. Throw him on the second line, even. I don't think Porter will ever reach that level -- I don't think he'll even come close.

[TrueBlueGED]

Hecht only had good scoring #s during the 3 seasons when the Sabres were a top-5 offense -- i.e. he rode the coattails (and did a lot of other things) well. After 2007-08, he only had 1 season above 29 pts. That's about where I see Porter -- who had 25 pts in his only full NHL season -- if he becomes a full-time Sabre.

 

Hecht also had 3 40+ point seasons at the height of the dead puck era. I'd have to check at home later, but I suspect some of the decline in his aggregate scoring totals was due to missing time. On Porter, I guess I was after some sort of skill set analysis to demonstrate how in the world you think he's a 40+ point player. I see next to nothing from an offensive skill perspective to think he can put those numbers up.