The Joke's Over

[qwksndmonster]

Let him improve his own level of play and then his words will actually have meaning. At this juncture, he has no room to talk about anything being a joke.

Weber was so bad because he was playing top 4 minutes. Weber is not a top 4 defenseman, and was paired with Jaime McBoner half the time. Playing defense more than you should and against more difficult competition with weaker partners is going to make any player look terrible. Especially when you consider how freakin' hard of a position it is to play in the first place. Weber was put in that bad spot by Darcy's decision making and his comments were pointed at Darcy.

[26CornerBlitz]

Weber was so bad because he was playing top 4 minutes. Weber is not a top 4 defenseman, and was paired with Jaime McBoner half the time. Playing defense more than you should and against more difficult competition with weaker partners is going to make any player look terrible. Especially when you consider how freakin' hard of a position it is to play in the first place. Weber was put in that bad spot by Darcy's decision making and his comments were pointed at Darcy.

 

Press Box Caliber on a Real NHL team. Before all of the injuries hit, Weber was in the 5-6 pairing most of the time and he was god awful on many nights. You guys are making excuses for him because he's a try hard Sabre.

Edited April 16, 2014 by 26CornerBlitz

[darksabre]

 

Weber was so bad because he was playing top 4 minutes. Weber is not a top 4 defenseman, and was paired with Jaime McBoner half the time. Playing defense more than you should and against more difficult competition with weaker partners is going to make any player look terrible. Especially when you consider how freakin' hard of a position it is to play in the first place. Weber was put in that bad spot by Darcy's decision making and his comments were pointed at Darcy.

 

Yup. Mike knows his role and that he wasn't playing it this year. A big part of GMTM and Ted Nolan philosophy is putting guys where they fit. It was NEVER Darcy's.

[bunomatic]

Yup. Mike knows his role and that he wasn't playing it this year. A big part of GMTM and Ted Nolan philosophy is putting guys where they fit. It was NEVER Darcy's.

 

or as they say. In a position to succeed. He never was.

[Kristian]

Yup. Mike knows his role and that he wasn't playing it this year. A big part of GMTM and Ted Nolan philosophy is putting guys where they fit. It was NEVER Darcy's.

 

Which is how you build a team in the first place.

 

Darcy had NO clue how to properly build a team

[X. Benedict]

Press Box Caliber on a Real NHL team. Before all of the injuries hit, Weber was in the 5-6 pairing most of the time and he was god awful on many nights. You guys are making excuses for him because he's a try hard Sabre.

I've never been one to think Weber had much talent. He's a guy that should be scratched most nights.

 

Locker clean out is an emotional day. Half this team should be gone next year. Perhaps Weber too.

It's a day that players can tell the press pool the nagging injuries, the pent up emotions, etc.

 

A locker room is a family. If your 7th d man is saying his family - that he's battled for - can't be a joke anymore. That's worth hearing in this age of soup-canned-pre-packaged-media savy- jargon speak.

 

I can respect what he said, his effort, his heart , and still want better talent to replace him, can't i?

Edited April 16, 2014 by X. Benedict

[kishoph]

We don't know this, but I disagree. He's trying to make a public statement against tanking next season which the old front office has nothing to do with.

 

I love how protected Mike Weber, a scrub, is on here while a young and talented player like Hodgson gets ripped.

 

Hodgson got ripped (at least by me) because he is a young and talented player that floated for two months. Having poor linemates has nothing to do with skating hard and giving some kind of effort.

[Drunkard]

Weber was so bad because he was playing top 4 minutes. Weber is not a top 4 defenseman, and was paired with Jaime McBoner half the time. Playing defense more than you should and against more difficult competition with weaker partners is going to make any player look terrible. Especially when you consider how freakin' hard of a position it is to play in the first place. Weber was put in that bad spot by Darcy's decision making and his comments were pointed at Darcy.

You can basically argue that about everyone on the team though. Ennis and Hodgson would probably perform better against lesser competition but both of them spent a good amount of time this season against our sorry excuse for a top line and they didn't stink up the place. Hell, as much as I love Ott he spent a good part of the season in our top 6 and there's no way in hell a player like him should be playing on a scoring line on a good team other than as a temporary injury fill in. The point is that most of our guys were put into a position where they were slotted at least one line or one pairing too high so Weber wasn't alone in that. That's what happens when you have no true top line talent and no true shut down defensemen. Hell, a portion of our top 6 was filled with guys that we picked up off waivers. All that being said, I have no problem with what he said as long as he realizes that his defensive gaffes were also part of the problem and not just some of the other players dogging it and mailing it in.

[Kristian]

You can basically argue that about everyone on the team though. Ennis and Hodgson would probably perform better against lesser competition but both of them spent a good amount of time this season against our sorry excuse for a top line and they didn't stink up the place. Hell, as much as I love Ott he spent a good part of the season in our top 6 and there's no way in hell a player like him should be playing on a scoring line on a good team other than as a temporary injury fill in. The point is that most of our guys were put into a position where they were slotted at least one line or one pairing too high so Weber wasn't alone in that. That's what happens when you have no true top line talent and no true shut down defensemen. Hell, a portion of our top 6 was filled with guys that we picked up off waivers. All that being said, I have no problem with what he said as long as he realizes that his defensive gaffes were also part of the problem and not just some of the other players dogging it and mailing it in.

 

I'd say two slots, if not three, too high.

 

"One line or pairing too high" was a trait that plagued Darcy's teams for years, both before and after the "no-touch" years.

 

It became even worse when Regier, in his infinite idiocy, publically declared "tank on".

Edited April 16, 2014 by Kristian

[Johnny DangerFace]

I'm not going to judge anyone from last year because we were so freaking bad. Weber is a bottom pairing D and that's his role. He didn't play his role and played with garbage like everyone else. I remember people wanting to get rid of players like Aaron Williams and Dareus when the bills had that historically bad defense in 2012 (now those players are fan favorites).

 

Who cares what weber said, what else would he say realistically. But weber did sick this year, but almost everyone sucked on this sucky team. It's not the right setting to judge players.

 

2013-weber is future captain

2014-weber flat out sucks

 

I'm sure the truth is in between that and weber hopefully turns into a very solid bottom pairing D who can eat up PIM, block shots, and bring toughness. Don't judge someone who was playing a role they shouldn't be playing with no supports in that historically bad season.

Edited April 16, 2014 by Numark

[drnkirishone]

Good players rise to the challenge presented to them. Weber is not a good players. Good leaders not only lead with words but with their actions. Weber is not a good leader.

 

Weber is a easily replaced spare part. At this point in his career he is who he is. And he is at worst an AHL defenseman and at best a spare d that can provide sheltered minutes. On most teams i dont think he cracks 8 or 9th on the depth chart

[dEnnis the Menace]

I've never been one to think Weber had much talent. He's a guy that should be scratched most nights.

 

Locker clean out is an emotional day. Half this team should be gone next year. Perhaps Weber too.

It's a day that players can tell the press pool the nagging injuries, the pent up emotions, etc.

 

A locker room is a family. If your 7th d man is saying his family - that he's battled for - can't be a joke anymore. That's worth hearing in this age of soup-canned-pre-packaged-media savy- jargon speak.

 

I can respect what he said, his effort, his heart , and still want better talent to replace him, can't i?

 

this.

[Doohicksie]

So anyway, 26CB, you can be honest with us. What do you REALLY think? :angel:

[nfreeman]

Weber's performance this season is an excellent example of the whole "support" thing TM spoke of today. Weber may just be a decent bottom pair defenseman with a non-AHL team around him.

Agree 100 per cent and it's not just Weber. We had too many guys playing outside their optimum role.

Cody Hodgson, Tyler Ennis, Steve Ott, Zemgus Girgensons, Christian Ehrhoff, Drew Stafford - drop each of these guys down the depth chart a notch or two, or give them better linemates, or easier opponents and you'd see better results.

 

Not making excuses for these guys - we need better players - I'm just agreeing with Murray's point.

 

Totally agree with these.

 

Weber's statements might have more credibility if he hadn't had such a horrible season. What did he do to remedy this joke of a season? Not a damn thing IMO since he was one of the biggest jokes on the ice on most nights.

 

Certainly Weber could've been better, but there are at least a dozen other guys I would point the finger at before him. And effort was definitely not an issue with Weber.

 

I hope he's back next year.

 

I'm not going to judge anyone from last year because we were so freaking bad. Weber is a bottom pairing D and that's his role. He didn't play his role and played with garbage like everyone else. I remember people wanting to get rid of players like Aaron Williams and Dareus when the bills had that historically bad defense in 2012 (now those players are fan favorites).

 

Who cares what weber said, what else would he say realistically. But weber did sick this year, but almost everyone sucked on this sucky team. It's not the right setting to judge players.

 

2013-weber is future captain

2014-weber flat out sucks

 

I'm sure the truth is in between that and weber hopefully turns into a very solid bottom pairing D who can eat up PIM, block shots, and bring toughness. Don't judge someone who was playing a role they shouldn't be playing with no supports in that historically bad season.

 

Good post.

[Jsixspd]

I think there's room for Weber on the team - maybe just not a number one defenseman.

 

One stat I never saw mentioned - Blocked shots - Weber was 12th best in the league in this stat with 161 blocked shots. And that's with playing only 68 games. Most of the top ten in this stat were playing 75 games or more. If we averaged the shots blocked per game for players who played more than 50 games, I bet Weber is in the top 5.

 

The problem is, the team was so poor, it was just allowing the other team far too many scoring opportunities.

Edited April 16, 2014 by Jsixspd

[drnkirishone]

One stat I never saw mentioned - Blocked shots - Weber was 12th best in the league in this stat with 161 blocked shots. And that's with playing only 68 games. Most of the top ten in this stat were playing 75 games or more. If we averaged the shots blocked per game for players who played more than 50 games, I bet Weber is in the top 5.

not a huge accomplishment when teams where getting 40 shots on net and like 70 attempted shots a night

[LastPommerFan]

For the record: we are still allowed to joke around on here, right?

[Jsixspd]

No.

[LastPommerFan]

Dammit

[Andrew Amerk]

Dammit

 

As the title states.

[Doohicksie]

For the record: we are still allowed to joke around on here, right?

 

Wait a minute... that wasn't some kind of subtle joke, was it? :pirate: