GAME DISCUSSION THREAD GDT: Detroit at Buffalo 11-24-13 at 5:00 PM EST

[North Buffalo]

 

 

This is why I can't get on board with those who harp so much on Hodgson's deficiencies. He's not a well-rounded player and he's not the style of player some want to see here, I get all of that. But he's the only one on the team producing anything even remotely resembling consistent offense. It's not so much that he should be immune from criticism, but rather he's pretty far down my list of things to complain about.

 

I hear you still he might be good trade bait given a good return but you are right not till they can find other scorers.

[Eleven]

This is why I can't get on board with those who harp so much on Hodgson's deficiencies. He's not a well-rounded player and he's not the style of player some want to see here, I get all of that. But he's the only one on the team producing anything even remotely resembling consistent offense. It's not so much that he should be immune from criticism, but rather he's pretty far down my list of things to complain about.

 

Right there with you. I'll worry about Hodgson and the goaltending once the real problems are addressed.

 

I hear you still he might be good trade bait given a good return but you are right not till they can find other scorers.

 

What? If they're not rebuilding around the young ones, who are they rebuilding around?! Picks traded for picks traded for picks?

[JJFIVEOH]

It's Hecht's fault.

[North Buffalo]

i know isnt it fun. just not thrilled with Hodg but wouldnt want pics for him. Too afable need an alfieable

[Weave]

Right there with you. I'll worry about Hodgson and the goaltending once the real problems are addressed.

 

 

 

What? If they're not rebuilding around the young ones, who are they rebuilding around?! Picks traded for picks traded for picks?

 

It's the deferred hockey program.

[Ross Rhea]

Yup. Detroits 3rd game in 4 nights. Buffs been off for 3. Teds got them afraid to take penalties so they don't play physical. Other than McNabbs hit ? They should have come out outhitting and wearing them down setting up for a tired third by Detroit but with virtually no physical play by the Sabres Detroit had it easy.

 

It's not that physical of a team. Take away Weber, Scott, Kaleta, McCormick, and there isn't really any other hitters. Not to say that those 4 are the most physical guys in the league but they are the best Buffalo has, and that is not saying much.

 

This team needs rugged players instead of stick checkers. We have one guy who is a dirty agitator and everybody wants him to never wear a Sabres sweater again. I don't get it, other teams are loaded with guys like that, yet our, one guy like that, most here don't want him. Anaheim won with cheap, dirty, rugged players, Boston did too and they are right there every year, with cheap, dirty, rugged players, and now Toronto is becoming a force with a similar blueprint. Hmmm....but here in Buffalo, no no we don't want players like that. I would love a team full of Kaletas, 100% effort, cheap, dirty and rugged would win more than this group of softies.

[JJFIVEOH]

Get Hamilton off the air! I'm so sick and tired of the same old 'rub it in your face' belittling of every single player he interviews. It's one thing to want answers, it's another to sound like a disappointed father. Get him out of WGR and start from scratch!! The broken record is getting old.

[26CornerBlitz]

Ted Nolan Post-Game (11/24/13)

[Darryl Shannon's +/-]

I was happy to see Myers playing physical tonight and I hope penalties like that don't deter him from playing the same way in the future. And count me on the "jerseys weren't that bad in person" bandwagon. I was at the game, and the comments in my section were positive.

[Robviously]

Get Hamilton off the air! I'm so sick and tired of the same old 'rub it in your face' belittling of every single player he interviews. It's one thing to want answers, it's another to sound like a disappointed father. Get him out of WGR and start from scratch!! The broken record is getting old.

mmmmm.... Irony.

[darksabre]

I was happy to see Myers playing physical tonight and I hope penalties like that don't deter him from playing the same way in the future. And count me on the "jerseys weren't that bad in person" bandwagon. I was at the game, and the comments in my section were positive.

 

Myers was decent tonight. He is constantly plagued by a team that has no clue how to break out. He gets the puck, looks up and....nothing.

[Eleven]

It's the deferred hockey program.

 

I think our search for the right phrase is done now.

[JJFIVEOH]

mmmmm.... Irony.

 

Yeah, OK.

[Iron Crotch]

While everyone gushes over Big Tyler's improved game under Nolan, he still takes too many penalties and is still good for a couple of bad giveaways per game. He was a -2 tonight (-12 on the year) and was in the box during the Wings go-ahead power play goal.

 

On another note, I actually though our best skater tonight might have been Stafford.

[Robviously]

While everyone gushes over Big Tyler's improved game under Nolan, he still takes too many penalties and is still good for a couple of bad giveaways per game. He was a -2 tonight (-12 on the year) and was in the box during the Wings go-ahead power play goal.

 

On another note, I actually though our best skater tonight might have been Stafford.

He's -2 for the month of November and that's because of tonight. Considering that the Sabres are dead last in the league in goals and goal differential, he's not doing too bad.

 

He's also crashing the net like he used to. I'll take it.

[Ghost of Dwight Drane]

I was happy to see Myers playing physical tonight and I hope penalties like that don't deter him from playing the same way in the future.

 

He has been upping that aspect under Nolan. Problem is for now, he has to "think" about being physical, thus slight hesitation and penalties come about. Once a true physical game is in your nature, you get very few penalties called on you. It just, happens.

 

I do like what I have seen from Myers so far. Nolan is getting better effort from the "hugs" so far.

[darksabre]

 

 

He has been upping that aspect under Nolan. Problem is for now, he has to "think" about being physical, thus slight hesitation and penalties come about. Once a true physical game is in your nature, you get very few penalties called on you. It just, happens.

 

I do like what I have seen from Myers so far. Nolan is getting better effort from the "hugs" so far.

 

I liked that Myers finished his shift with a big hit even though he was going to the box for cross checking.

[dudacek]

I'm getting a little tired of complaints about hitting.

You guys know we're fifth in the league in hits, right?

 

Steve Ott is fifth in the league on the individual hit list. Foligno is in the top 30.

Tyler Myers is 62, Girgenson is 76, Ristolainen is 107.

Four more guys have at least 30 hits, which means we have nine guys in the top 200 in hitting.

 

Hitting ranks up there with Cody Hodgson on our list of major problems.

[darksabre]

I'm getting a little tired of complaints about hitting.

You guys know we're fifth in the league in hits, right?

 

Steve Ott is fifth in the league on the individual hit list. Foligno is in the top 30.

Tyler Myers is 62, Girgenson is 76, Ristolainen is 107.

Four more guys have at least 30 hits, which means we have nine guys in the top 200 in hitting.

 

Hitting ranks up there with Cody Hodgson on our list of major problems.

 

It has a lot less to do with hitting and a lot more to do with being soft on the puck.

[Robviously]

I'm getting a little tired of complaints about hitting.

You guys know we're fifth in the league in hits, right?

 

Steve Ott is fifth in the league on the individual hit list. Foligno is in the top 30.

Tyler Myers is 62, Girgenson is 76, Ristolainen is 107.

Four more guys have at least 30 hits, which means we have nine guys in the top 200 in hitting.

 

Hitting ranks up there with Cody Hodgson on our list of major problems.

Hodgson is the best offensive player on the team so many of our fans are compelled to hate him.

 

Pretty sure this is called the Vanek Rule.

[thesportsbuff]

While everyone gushes over Big Tyler's improved game under Nolan, he still takes too many penalties and is still good for a couple of bad giveaways per game. He was a -2 tonight (-12 on the year) and was in the box during the Wings go-ahead power play goal.

 

On another note, I actually though our best skater tonight might have been Stafford.

 

I'm glad you guys are having this discussion. I had something I wanted to post about Myers but wasn't sure what thread it would fit in -- but now I know, so...

 

I keep hearing about how Nolan is "giving Myers the green light" to pinch, be aggressive, join the rush, etc. From Rayzor reminding me 5x a game, to WGR folks, to twitter people in general, it keeps coming up. But I guess my question is... have people forgotten the first 2-3 weeks of the season? Myers was making bad pinch after bad pinch and constantly turning the puck over on the rush. His mistakes alone led to probably 10+ odd man rushes against, several of which resulted in goals and subsequently resulted in Weber getting grilled for "not playing 2-on-1s correctly" even tho Myers left him out to dry over and over and over.

 

Now, I realize that the fault isn't 100% on Myers, as forwards are supposed to cover for a pinching D-man.. but it wasn't happening. Whether that's due to a lack of two-way forwards, poor coaching, or just general confusion altogether I'm not sure. But my point is, IF Rolston was "holding Myers back" or not allowing him to join the rush in the weeks before his dismissal, he certainly had reason to do so. Myers was a train wreck and his careless gung-ho offensive-minded play hurt this team countless times in the early going this season.

 

As an aside: I actually never noticed a drop in Myers' risk-taking to join the offense. Maybe it's because the games were becoming less & less interesting before "the purge" (as I've seen it called :P ) and I wasn't paying as close attention, but to me, Myers joining the rush, pinching, going down low and occasionally to the front of the net is not really anything new or a result of Ted Nolan's coaching. He has been doing it all season from what I can recall. And it was a big problem early in the season.

[bunomatic]

I'm getting a little tired of complaints about hitting.

You guys know we're fifth in the league in hits, right?

 

Steve Ott is fifth in the league on the individual hit list. Foligno is in the top 30.

Tyler Myers is 62, Girgenson is 76, Ristolainen is 107.

Four more guys have at least 30 hits, which means we have nine guys in the top 200 in hitting.

 

Hitting ranks up there with Cody Hodgson on our list of major problems.

 

And in todays game ? That was as close to a non contact hockey game as I've seen this season. Mind you I didn't see the first period. Maybe they layed it all out there in the first. I certainly didn't see much contact in the 2nd and 3rd but that may have been due more to the fact that I was having trouble staying awake. This game was a perfect opportunity for this team to grind Detroit ( 3 games in 4 nights ) into the ice and make them earn their win.

[Kristian]

It has a lot less to do with hitting and a lot more to do with being soft on the puck.

 

And not finishing checks.

 

Ray was complaining about the lack of finished checks all night again, and he was right.

 

There's more to hitting that board-rattling collisions, it's also shoving people off the puck.

[qwksndmonster]

Myers was fun to watch. He was using his wing span to take away space from forwards, he was hitting people, and he was skating up ice well. Every time I see one of our D-men get called for cross checking like that it makes me wonder why Vanek never used to draw like 7 penalties a game. I hope Nolan told Myers not to worry about taking penalties like that.

 

The Ott Leino Ennis line was fun to watch tonight. I hope they can keep it up. Girgensons flashes more and more talent the more used to the NHL he gets. I think we see him pick up a few more points in the second half of this year.

[JJFIVEOH]

While this season has reason for criticism, I don't see why we're still harping on it. Over the last three weeks I've seen steady improvement from many aspects of their game. There have been 3-4 very winnable games over the last month whereas there were no bright spots (besides goaltending) through the first three weeks. McNabb looks much improved, Myers is nowhere near what he was to start the year, Leino looked great today, Stafford has put together a string of three good games for the first time in probably two years, Girgensons...... nothing needs to be said about him. I know I haven't covered everything. All in all they look pretty damn good lately considering everything that's transpired since the start of the season. There is still criticism of Hodgson? Really? When we become a division contender, maybe we can start to nitpick. But at this point to criticize a young kid who was thrown into a #1 center spot on the worst team in the league, is just asinine.

 

Time to accept the fact that we're not going to the playoffs this year and enjoy watching the new kids make the transition.