2018 - 2019 Lineup

[Sabre1974]

11 minutes ago, WildCard said:

We need McCabe and Scandella back so bad

And for the love of god, can SOMEONE not on the first line do something??

Totally agree. Nylander call up??

[inkman]

2 hours ago, Sabre1974 said:

Totally agree. Nylander call up??

Why Nylander? At best, he'd be the third forward I call up and Bailey may be surpassing him shortly. 

[Randall Flagg]

There is no line quite like 10-28-22 in terms of its ability to be leveraged as a tool by the coach. This is not to say that it's our best line, or that it's going to score a lot of goals. But putting our best two shot suppressors on the entire team together, with Larry, who is also no slouch defensively and on faceoffs, does two things. 

1.) It keeps defensive minutes out of the wrong hands. (Casey, Jack&Skinner, Rodrigues, Pominville, THOMPSON)

2.) It minimizes these guys' severe lack-of-hands or any offensive abilities whatsoever. 

And when this line is together, they don't exactly do a bad job of facing top lines either. These three forwards have the toughest QoC usage of any forwards, they chase top lines all day, keeping them away from our vulnerable defensive lines, and the do a fine job. If you're into metrics, they're our best Corsi line we've had this season, despite playing all their minutes together against tough guys and predominantly in the D-zone. They approach 60% of shots, and in terms of weighted quality of shots, their xGF% is also well over 50%. They've only allowed 5 goals together in 125 of these minutes, which comes out to, if you play them 10 minutes per game at ES, chasing top lines the whole time, every 2.5 games they'll allow a goal. I'll take a goal from other teams' top lines at ES every 2.5 games, thank you very much. They do legitimately great work together. And if you don't like the metrics, close your eyes and think back, and surely you can see them cycling endlessly in the offensive zone, because that's mostly what they do more than anything else out there. I've said fifty times how great and important that is from a fourth line, so I won't do it again.

Spreading these guys out would look a lot like the Sabres of the last few years, having a set or two of stone hands and zero offensive creativity/instinct on every line. But when this line is together, not only do we bottle up and minimize that, we actually get something functional and useful out of it from the line that has given us problems since we decided to tank. 

The main problem for the normal NHL coach is that when he gets a line like that, he rides it a little too much. Picture Babs and Draper. Babs and any 4th liner. The Islanders giving that 4th line a lot of money and 20 minutes per game a few years ago. Our coach's problem with this line actually is something different. We have "depth" to a point where there's a fairly regular healthy-scratch carousel. When posters' favorite players are up, they get angry, and that's understandable. But this carousel regularly 

a.) skips over the two comprehensively worst forwards on the team
b.) throws a stick of dynamite in this 4th line to do so, turning every attempt to build a 4th line in its wake a disaster of possession and defense

We effectively ate it today to make sure we play Vlad, sticking Tage in Zemgus's spot so Zemgus can sit. Zemgus, of equal point total to Tage Thompson despite getting zero offensive usage to speak of. Well, Tage can't play defense, and was in for another 30% shot share, which is actually pretty damn high compared to his usual defensive-focused-line outings, which are lucky to get out of the teens in any sort of split you could ever want, chances, goals, shot attempts, shots. Tage can help us win games and scores goals for us when he's playing with Mitts, with Sheary, guys like that. But in his 4th line games he's got about 1 point in 20, and posts metrics that make the tank Sabres look great. Literally. Appeal to the eye test all you want, because it was something else today. I'd happily record everything if I had the time. I just don't during finals. 

So jerking around with Tage, who is a main source of secondary scoring in the last ~10 games, is only hurting both his play and the team's chances. And it's important for Phil to keep an eye on what Tage he's getting. When it's Tage like today, he should absolutely sit. If 10, 28, 71, 22 can be healthy scratched, so can 72. When it's good Tage, let him play with some good players. 

---------------Sobotka time--------------------------------------------------------

And I know Hoss and nfreeman are going to yell at me about Vlad, but I've been explicitly watching him for about 12 games now, looking for two things. A scoring chance put on net by him, or a shot-assist for a linemate in a good spot by him. In 12 games, I have seen zero instances of either, without exaggeration. And this is with oodles of ice time with Kyle, sometimes Sheary, sometimes Reinhart. I've seen him get wide open looks in the slot that dribble wide, get blocked, and have not once hit the goalie. I've seen passes into OUR slot directly onto the other team's stick (Nashville). I've seen decent PKing, but in general it's the most obvious spot for an easy roster upgrade as soon as possible. I get not trusting your eye test if the metrics say different, I get not trusting the metrics if the eye test says different. I don't understand when both are dreadful, by far the worst on the team outside of  bad-Tage. Despite a whole line of Sabres getting notably tougher minutes, no Sabre makes more than half of the players they play with worse, let alone making every player 10% or more worse in any statistical category split, the way Vlad does. This is 16-17 Nic Deslauriers stuff I'm seeing out there, with marginally-lesk-risky decision making that has stopped paying off when our secondary scoring has dried up. 

These are Vlad and Tage's percentiles among all NHL forwards for various things. Expected goals and shot shares are scraping the bottom of the entire league's barrel for both of them, but you can clearly see how Tage's shot is an asset. Which is why selective coaching for Tage is required to maximize the lineup each night. If he's feeling it, get him in situations where he can use that shot, and don't put him in situations where he's just defending. And include Vlad in the pressbox carousel, at the very very least. Can you imagine what that would look like if Rodrigues didn't give him two tap-ins in Montreal?

These are event charts for guys who see the press box over Vlad, who has not been healthy-scratched this season. Four forwards get non-negligibly-more defensive zone starts than Vlad and flip the ice, while he gets absolutely cratered and obliterated. Those players all bring things to the table he doesn't, but I'm not even asking that he gets regularly sat. I'm just asking that he's treated more like THIS batch of players than getting more ES TOI than Okposo, Sheary, and Mitts, ie, stop giving him the 4th most minutes of all forwards at ES maybe? And surely, stop blowing up a good line to keep him in.
-----------------------------End Sobotka time--------------------------------------------------------------

I like Reinhart up scoring with Jack as much as anyone else, but he was coming on before the move happened, and even if Jason isn't quite up to the task, I didn't see him slowing Jack and Jeff themselves down in the last 5 games of the streak. Furthermore, Pominville is utterly useless on a depth line, for all intents and purposes. 53-9-29 scores so many goals and allows very few, winning ES matchups in a huge way. I see zero reason to do anything other than
53-9-29
xxx-xxx-xxx
xxx-xxx-xxx
10-22-28 
With chemistry and hot-hand-balancing dictating the middle six. Hopefully a callup or two if Nylander, Smith etc. keep playing well. When we use these lines, things work, for reasons that are simple to explain and understand, that play out on the screen in front of us. Explanations which are directly observable. Since we first created the checking line, we have used it 13 times and neglected to use it 10 times, most by choice, some (~3?) because of injury. These are fairly large sample sizes in terms of in-season line analysis. And took about 3 hours to procure 

In the 13 games with the checking line: The Sabres' Corsi is 52.14%, the non-Eichel-lines' Corsi is 51.25%, and the Sabres' non-Eichel lines average 1.62 goals per game, scoring 21 times in those 13 games.

In the 10 games without the checking line: The Sabres' Corsi is 43.59%, the non-Eichel-lines' Corsi is 41.75%, and the Sabres' non-Eichel lines average 0.9 goals per game, scoring 9 times in those 10 games. 

Scoring increases 80% whenever we use the line 1 and line 4 scoring-checking balance with 22-10-28 and 53-9-23/29. When we throw dynamite into the 4th line, we lose that much scoring and our possession as a team and below Eichel drops about 10 full percentage points, which is an amount that separates top three possession teams from bottom three possession teams.

These are shot attempt sample sizes of anywhere from 600 to 1000 shot attempts through 10 to 13 games. Use the checking line Phil, and don't scratch Zemgus while tripping over yourself to avoid scratching your two worst forwards.

 

 

Edited December 9, 2018 by Randall Flagg

[Taro T]

44 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

There is no line quite like 10-28-22 in terms of its ability to be leveraged as a tool by the coach. This is not to say that it's our best line, or that it's going to score a lot of goals. But putting our best two shot suppressors on the entire team together, with Larry, who is also no slouch defensively and on faceoffs, does two things. 

1.) It keeps defensive minutes out of the wrong hands. (Casey, Jack&Skinner, Rodrigues, Pominville, THOMPSON)

2.) It minimizes these guys' severe lack-of-hands or any offensive abilities whatsoever. 

And when this line is together, they don't exactly do a bad job of facing top lines either. These three forwards have the toughest QoC usage of any forwards, they chase top lines all day, keeping them away from our vulnerable defensive lines, and the do a fine job. If you're into metrics, they're our best Corsi line we've had this season, despite playing all their minutes together against tough guys and predominantly in the D-zone. They approach 60% of shots, and in terms of weighted quality of shots, their xGF% is also well over 50%. They've only allowed 5 goals together in 125 of these minutes, which comes out to, if you play them 10 minutes per game at ES, chasing top lines the whole time, every 2.5 games they'll allow a goal. I'll take a goal from other teams' top lines at ES every 2.5 games, thank you very much. They do legitimately great work together. And if you don't like the metrics, close your eyes and think back, and surely you can see them cycling endlessly in the offensive zone, because that's mostly what they do more than anything else out there. I've said fifty times how great and important that is from a fourth line, so I won't do it again.

Spreading these guys out would look a lot like the Sabres of the last few years, having a set or two of stone hands and zero offensive creativity/instinct on every line. But when this line is together, not only do we bottle up and minimize that, we actually get something functional and useful out of it from the line that has given us problems since we decided to tank. 

The main problem for the normal NHL coach is that when he gets a line like that, he rides it a little too much. Picture Babs and Draper. Babs and any 4th liner. The Islanders giving that 4th line a lot of money and 20 minutes per game a few years ago. Our coach's problem with this line actually is something different. We have "depth" to a point where there's a fairly regular healthy-scratch carousel. When posters' favorite players are up, they get angry, and that's understandable. But this carousel regularly 

a.) skips over the two comprehensively worst forwards on the team
b.) throws a stick of dynamite in this 4th line to do so, turning every attempt to build a 4th line in its wake a disaster of possession and defense

We effectively ate it today to make sure we play Vlad, sticking Tage in Zemgus's spot so Zemgus can sit. Zemgus, of equal point total to Tage Thompson despite getting zero offensive usage to speak of. Well, Tage can't play defense, and was in for another 30% shot share, which is actually pretty damn high compared to his usual defensive-focused-line outings, which are lucky to get out of the teens in any sort of split you could ever want, chances, goals, shot attempts, shots. Tage can help us win games and scores goals for us when he's playing with Mitts, with Sheary, guys like that. But in his 4th line games he's got about 1 point in 20, and posts metrics that make the tank Sabres look great. Literally. Appeal to the eye test all you want, because it was something else today. I'd happily record everything if I had the time. I just don't during finals. 

So jerking around with Tage, who is a main source of secondary scoring in the last ~10 games, is only hurting both his play and the team's chances. And it's important for Phil to keep an eye on what Tage he's getting. When it's Tage like today, he should absolutely sit. If 10, 28, 71, 22 can be healthy scratched, so can 72. When it's good Tage, let him play with some good players. 

---------------Sobotka time--------------------------------------------------------

And I know Hoss and nfreeman are going to yell at me about Vlad, but I've been explicitly watching him for about 12 games now, looking for two things. A scoring chance put on net by him, or a shot-assist for a linemate in a good spot by him. In 12 games, I have seen zero instances of either, without exaggeration. And this is with oodles of ice time with Kyle, sometimes Sheary, sometimes Reinhart. I've seen him get wide open looks in the slot that dribble wide, get blocked, and have not once hit the goalie. I've seen passes into OUR slot directly onto the other team's stick (Nashville). I've seen decent PKing, but in general it's the most obvious spot for an easy roster upgrade as soon as possible. I get not trusting your eye test if the metrics say different, I get not trusting the metrics if the eye test says different. I don't understand when both are dreadful, by far the worst on the team outside of  bad-Tage. Despite a whole line of Sabres getting notably tougher minutes, no Sabre makes more than half of the players they play with worse, let alone making every player 10% or more worse in any statistical category split, the way Vlad does. This is 16-17 Nic Deslauriers stuff I'm seeing out there, with marginally-lesk-risky decision making that has stopped paying off when our secondary scoring has dried up. 

These are Vlad and Tage's percentiles among all NHL forwards for various things. Expected goals and shot shares are scraping the bottom of the entire league's barrel for both of them, but you can clearly see how Tage's shot is an asset. Which is why selective coaching for Tage is required to maximize the lineup each night. If he's feeling it, get him in situations where he can use that shot, and don't put him in situations where he's just defending. And include Vlad in the pressbox carousel, at the very very least. Can you imagine what that would look like if Rodrigues didn't give him two tap-ins in Montreal?

These are event charts for guys who see the press box over Vlad, who has not been healthy-scratched this season. Four forwards get non-negligibly-more defensive zone starts than Vlad and flip the ice, while he gets absolutely cratered and obliterated. Those players all bring things to the table he doesn't, but I'm not even asking that he gets regularly sat. I'm just asking that he's treated more like THIS batch of players than getting more ES TOI than Okposo, Sheary, and Mitts, ie, stop giving him the 4th most minutes of all forwards at ES maybe? And surely, stop blowing up a good line to keep him in.
-----------------------------End Sobotka time--------------------------------------------------------------

I like Reinhart up scoring with Jack as much as anyone else, but he was coming on before the move happened, and even if Jason isn't quite up to the task, I didn't see him slowing Jack and Jeff themselves down in the last 5 games of the streak. Furthermore, Pominville is utterly useless on a depth line, for all intents and purposes. 53-9-29 scores so many goals and allows very few, winning ES matchups in a huge way. I see zero reason to do anything other than
53-9-29
xxx-xxx-xxx
xxx-xxx-xxx
10-22-28 
With chemistry and hot-hand-balancing dictating the middle six. Hopefully a callup or two if Nylander, Smith etc. keep playing well. When we use these lines, things work, for reasons that are simple to explain and understand, that play out on the screen in front of us. Explanations which are directly observable. Since we first created the checking line, we have used it 13 times and neglected to use it 10 times, most by choice, some (~3?) because of injury. These are fairly large sample sizes in terms of in-season line analysis. And took about 3 hours to procure 

In the 13 games with the checking line: The Sabres' Corsi is 52.14%, the non-Eichel-lines' Corsi is 51.25%, and the Sabres' non-Eichel lines average 1.62 goals per game, scoring 21 times in those 13 games.

In the 10 games without the checking line: The Sabres' Corsi is 43.59%, the non-Eichel-lines' Corsi is 41.75%, and the Sabres' non-Eichel lines average 0.9 goals per game, scoring 9 times in those 10 games. 

Scoring increases 80% whenever we use the line 1 and line 4 scoring-checking balance with 22-10-28 and 53-9-23/29. When we throw dynamite into the 4th line, we lose that much scoring and our possession as a team and below Eichel drops about 10 full percentage points, which is an amount that separates top three possession teams from bottom three possession teams.

These are shot attempt sample sizes of anywhere from 600 to 1000 shot attempts through 10 to 13 games. Use the checking line Phil, and don't scratch Zemgus while tripping over yourself to avoid scratching your two worst forwards.

 

 

Absolutely keep the checking line together.  But if by having that line together, non-Eichel lines get 1.62 gpg, there's no reason to break up 53-9-23 when it's scoring almost 2 gpg.

[thewookie1]

I wonder what Toffoli and Anisimov would cost. Their charts aren't half bad and I've always liked Toffoli.

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

Calling all advanced stat people.....which I am not.

Has anyone looked into... why the change in Berglund ? I honestly hoped that he would show us the offensive prowess that he had in St. Louis where he was scoring about 20g/yr.

Is it usage? Is it linemates? Is it aging? I hoped that his scoring ability would help ease the O'Reilly Factor even if he was used in certain roles. Yes, the ROR "lite" as you will.

I'm not convinced yet that you just lose that aspect of your game so suddenly without some reason. I'm not unhappy with him in the role he's playing, just hoped for a little bit more.

Just wondering if there is a better situation we could put him in to draw that out.

Edited December 9, 2018 by MakeSabresGrr8Again

[Sabre1974]

Is it time to change things up again. Time to try Sam again at centre???

Skinner-Eichel-Pommer

Sheary-Reinhart-Mittlestadt

Thompson-Rodrigues-Okposo(or a Nylander, CJ call up for this line??)

Berglund-Larrson-Girgensons

Press box - Sobokta

 

 

 

 

[pastajoe]

I don’t get the desire by some to call up Nylander. He is still not playing to expectations in the AHL. If anyone, they should call up Olofsson who is playing above expectations, and has a wicked shot that they could use on the power play.

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

2 hours ago, pastajoe said:

I don’t get the desire by some to call up Nylander. He is still not playing to expectations in the AHL. If anyone, they should call up Olofsson who is playing above expectations, and has a wicked shot that they could use on the power play.

first off I would like to say that I was at Development camp and the WOW factor of Olafsson is....just that, WOW. Love the player but, because of that WOW factor I didn't pay much attention to the rest of his game. Great skater and great shot and would love to see him on a call-up to see what he can do. His "lower" expectations arise from being a 7th rd pick and being smaller in stature. He has come in at "above" expectations so far but has cooled off a bit recently.

Also, I'm not a big fan of Nylander but more because of "high" expectations that seemingly are not being met. He also has cooled off a bit recently and coincidentally(?) both players have "cooled" since Pilut has been up here. Can't say that's the reason though.

Let's compare the two for a moment....Nylander is 20yrs old while Olafsson is 23 and has had plenty of SHL experience that Alex didn't have.

Nylander seems to have been more consistant offensively than Olaf and while Nylander is a +11...Olaf is only +1.

Do you know that Olafsson's "wicked shot" on the PP has only produced 2PP goals? Yet Alex has 3PP goals.

I'd like the both to get an opportunity so we can evaluate better at this level. However, I don't think either one is the savior we are looking for right now. Are they an upgrade? maybe and maybe not.

For the time being why mess with the future and possibly derail what we've built throughout the organization. If we bring up both AND Pilut what will that do to our future and depth built in Roch? Will they be able to overcome the loss of those players? Sending TT down might help some but who do we send down to replace Pilut?

I guess where I'm going is that we just might have to address our issues elsewhere outside the organization for the time being so we don't break down what we've built, which is strong organizational depth. If need be, using draft picks and expendable players to solve current issues. We have more possible help coming down the road with players like Laaksonen, Samuelsson, 6k's, etc. The problem right now is that offensively our #8 over-all picks are not performing as well as we hoped (not quite the same as "below expectations").

Edited December 9, 2018 by MakeSabresGrr8Again

[dudacek]

We haven’t seen much of Sobotka with Girgensons and Larsson.

Maybe drop him into Berglund’s role and give Berglund a shot higher up the lineup? He has yet to show it in Buffalo, but he certainly has a better offensive pedigree than Sobotka and is much more trustworthy than Tage. 

Skinner Eichel Pominville

Sheary Berglund Reinhart

ERod Mittlestadt Okposo

Girgensons Larsson Sobotka

I’d consider flipping Sheary and Skinner and/or giving Nylander or Olofsson a chance on Jack’s right if Pominville continues his current play. I don’t trust Tage enough to put him out against the type of competition Jack gets, but his talent level does warrant a look there at some point I guess.

 

Edited December 9, 2018 by dudacek

[Sabres Fan in NS]

3 minutes ago, dudacek said:

We haven’t seen much of Sobotka with Girgensons and Larsson.

Maybe drop him into Berglund’s role and give Berglund a shot higher up the lineup? He has yet to show it in Buffalo, but he certainly has a better offensive pedigree than Sobotka and is much more trustworthy than Tage. 

Skinner Eichel Pominville

Sheary Berglund Reinhart

ERod Mittlestadt Okposo

Girgensons Larsson Sobotka

I’d consider flipping Sheary and Skinner and/or giving Nylander or Olofsson a chance on Jack’s right if Pominville continues his current play. I don’t trust Tage enough to put him out against the type of competition Jack gets, but his talent level does warrant a look there at some point I guess.

 

It looks like you don't trust that kid with the silly name at all.

Unless I am missing something, I don't see him anywhere on your lineup.

[dudacek]

Casey Mittelstadt, 2/1 in his last 14.

Jason Pominville 1/2 in his last 12

Kyle Okposo 0/1 in his last 8

Conor Sheary 0/3 in his last 10

Tage Thompson 5 points in 6 games, then nothing in his last 4.

Patrick Berglund, pointless in 14 of his last 15.

 

We’ve got only three guys producing. Could flipping Jack and Casey wake some of the sleepers up?

Sheary Eichel Okposo

Skinner Mittelstadt Reinhart

Edited December 9, 2018 by dudacek

[Broken Ankles]

3 hours ago, dudacek said:

Casey Mittelstadt, 2/1 in his last 14.

Jason Pominville 1/2 in his last 12

Kyle Okposo 0/1 in his last 8

Conor Sheary 0/3 in his last 10

Tage Thompson 5 points in 6 games, then nothing in his last 4.

Patrick Berglund, pointless in 14 of his last 15.

 

We’ve got only three guys producing. Could flipping Jack and Casey wake some of the sleepers up?

Sheary Eichel Okposo

Skinner Mittelstadt Reinhart

Don’t risk the damage that would be caused taking Skinner off the top wing.  The experiment with Sheary earlier this year was not sucessful.  What is the rationale for giving Casey more minutes, when he’s already being marginalized by the coach?   He’s playing 11-12 per game and doesn’t deserve that.   I think Phil has a serious problem at 2C.  It’s not Mittelstadt, and from Flags post, it shouldn’t be Vlad, or the other 3 Centers which should remain together.   I agree the second line needs a shake up, but not at the expense of the first or fourths.   Two more losses and I foresee a mid-December call up (maybe Nylander probably Olofson) and Casey might be well served spending some time riding the bus.  

[inkman]

2 hours ago, Broken Ankles said:

Don’t risk the damage that would be caused taking Skinner off the top wing.  The experiment with Sheary earlier this year was not sucessful.  What is the rationale for giving Casey more minutes, when he’s already being marginalized by the coach?   He’s playing 11-12 per game and doesn’t deserve that.   I think Phil has a serious problem at 2C.  It’s not Mittelstadt, and from Flags post, it shouldn’t be Vlad, or the other 3 Centers which should remain together.   I agree the second line needs a shake up, but not at the expense of the first or fourths.   Two more losses and I foresee a mid-December call up (maybe Nylander probably Olofson) and Casey might be well served spending some time riding the bus.  

Skinner seems to have cooled off but I haven't checked the stats. Maybe it's time for a shakeup.

[Weave]

Having Casey as the only good 2nd line center option was a huge risk.  I don't think this kid is a legit 2C for another season.  At least.

[Two or less]

1 hour ago, Weave said:

Having Casey as the only good 2nd line center option was a huge risk.  I don't think this kid is a legit 2C for another season.  At least.

Yeah, i think we're all waiting for that second half of the season explosion that Reinhart had last season with Mittelstadt. I wonder if it'll ever come this season though.

[inkman]

25 minutes ago, Briere48 said:

Yeah, i think we're all waiting for that second half of the season explosion that Reinhart had last season with Mittelstadt. I wonder if it'll ever come this season though.

JBOT should go find a placeholder for a season or two and let Casey tear up the A and grow some facial hair. He needs a lot of situational opportunity. 

[Huckleberry]

9 hours ago, inkman said:

Skinner seems to have cooled off but I haven't checked the stats. Maybe it's time for a shakeup.

Not really, just Eichel and Samson been scoring the goals, he has been getting the assists on it.

[thewookie1]

I wonder if we could get Derek Stepan from Arizona with the SJS 1st, Guhle and Okposo?

[Randall Flagg]

I'm 97% as done with Sam-at-C as We've, and yet I am almost thinking about wanting him to be moved there, because continuing to use Casey in a 2C role is quietly submarining this team as much as anything else is. Our center depth (not center spine - Eichel saves that) is the worst in the league as far as I can tell. 

It's Jack's 4th season already and we really need to get playoff games for these starved players, it'll be as important to their development as any "one more year" first round draft pick that takes 3 years to become what Alex Nylander is right this second 

[nfreeman]

On 12/8/2018 at 8:54 PM, Randall Flagg said:

In the 13 games with the checking line: The Sabres' Corsi is 52.14%, the non-Eichel-lines' Corsi is 51.25%, and the Sabres' non-Eichel lines average 1.62 goals per game, scoring 21 times in those 13 games.

In the 10 games without the checking line: The Sabres' Corsi is 43.59%, the non-Eichel-lines' Corsi is 41.75%, and the Sabres' non-Eichel lines average 0.9 goals per game, scoring 9 times in those 10 games. 

Scoring increases 80% whenever we use the line 1 and line 4 scoring-checking balance with 22-10-28 and 53-9-23/29. When we throw dynamite into the 4th line, we lose that much scoring and our possession as a team and below Eichel drops about 10 full percentage points, which is an amount that separates top three possession teams from bottom three possession teams. 

Good stuff here sir.

[Crusader1969]

On 12/9/2018 at 7:19 AM, pastajoe said:

I don’t get the desire by some to call up Nylander. He is still not playing to expectations in the AHL. If anyone, they should call up Olofsson who is playing above expectations, and has a wicked shot that they could use on the power play.

from what I've seen over the last few weeks, I think Nylander should be first to come up. I think he is doing most everything they've asked for from him. Maybe not showing up on the scoreboard as much as I'd like but I think he shows as much skill as anyone  and as much speed as everyone not named Bailey.  

However, Nylander isn't going to solve the problem they having at center.  No doubt Mittelstadt has a lot less points that what most would expect but he is still only a minus 1. I would have thought he'd have at least double the points but a liability on D. I still feel the points are going to come for him, though

The real problem is the bottom 2 lines - Erod, Larrson, Bergland et all are literally killing them. Same ole'  story of lack of depth.  

 

 

 

[Crusader1969]

16 hours ago, inkman said:

JBOT should go find a placeholder for a season or two and let Casey tear up the A and grow some facial hair. He needs a lot of situational opportunity. 

I dont agree at all. I would agree if he had 9 points and was a minus 10 But he is a minus 1 playing tough minutes against players must more experienced than he is. 

 

[Weave]

4 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

It's Jack's 4th season already and we really need to get playoff games for these starved players, it'll be as important to their development as any "one more year" first round draft pick that takes 3 years to become what Alex Nylander is right this second 

If you have a newsletter I would like to subscribe to it.

[North Buffalo]

Berglund was hurt and not sure he back to skating the way he was at the beginning of the season.  Wouldnt mind moving him up if his bumps and bruises are better.  Seems to have more ice awareness than Sobotka.  Put hkm with Casey and KO and see, love his size.  Sheary, Erod and a sniper Pommer may work.  Give Sobotka a maintenance day.  Just not sure of Gigensons health... Sobotka could be put back there and it might balance things out a bit if no Girgensons.  Man would love to see a sniper alongside Jack ala a young vs of Pommer moving Sam back with Mitts just not sure because of TT being bad version recently.  Agreed time to change things up right now.