WTF is wrong with this team?

[Thorner]

Haven't read what Thorny is referring to and have no idea about the credibility, but the bold is definitely true.

The what now?

[Pokey Jones]

But is the Director of Amateur Scouting a scout and talent evaluator or simply an administrator handing out scouting assignments?

 

I don’t know the answer, but jbot and Sexton are extremely experienced at running scouts and making decisions on their reports. If they didn’t think Jankowski was a fit for the job they wouldn’t have hired him.

 

Our neighbors to the North are just pissed that, at least at the World Jr level, the US is beating them on a consistent basis.

My understanding in most well run organizations is the scouts do the grunt work and bring the names they find to guys like Jankowski who correlate, compile, rank, and so on based on team criteria. The big difference with teams is what main criteria management values the most. Analytics, personality, size, speed, all those things and more matter, but each team has their priorities which they as a group have presumably agreed upon. 

[LTS]

Interesting discussion about him on HF boards. The majority find him lacking in identifying talent. He is a jock sniffer and doesn’t put in the work to find the gems. He likes front runners and media darlings. I don’t know him and couldn’t verify any of the accusations but many north of the border were glad to see him leave hockey Canada.

 

Maybe talent has a certain smell?

[GASabresIUFAN]

My understanding in most well run organizations is the scouts do the grunt work and bring the names they find to guys like Jankowski who correlate, compile, rank, and so on based on team criteria. The big difference with teams is what main criteria management values the most. Analytics, personality, size, speed, all those things and more matter, but each team has their priorities which they as a group have presumably agreed upon.

 

Which is why there is no such things as a universal BPA.

[Pokey Jones]

Maybe talent has a certain smell?

Yup, it's sweat. 

[inkman]

Yup, it's sweat.

I thought it was the smell of success

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Teen Spirit ...  :unsure:

[GASabresIUFAN]

Freeman brought it up in another thread, but it makes sense to look at it here. Why is the PP so bad. 5 pp goals ytd (3 in one game) and 6 shorties. Terrible is an understatement.

 

You have the same guys as last year, but they seem to be trying a different system on the PP and it isn’t working. Is it really so hard to look at film from last season and talk to the guys and go back to what was working last year and put that system back in place?

[nfreeman]

Something something Bylsma long passes something freedom.

[GASabresIUFAN]

I’m talking about the PP, not the 5 on 5 system.

[inkman]

I’m talking about the PP...

 

Here you go again :nana:

[GASabresIUFAN]

????

[MattPie]

Freeman brought it up in another thread, but it makes sense to look at it here. Why is the PP so bad. 5 pp goals ytd (3 in one game) and 6 shorties. Terrible is an understatement.

 

You have the same guys as last year, but they seem to be trying a different system on the PP and it isn’t working. Is it really so hard to look at film from last season and talk to the guys and go back to what was working last year and put that system back in place?

 

In the other thread, someone (d4rk?) pointed out teams are keying on stopping the Eichel one timer from the Left faceoff dot. That was a fair bit of the success last year. The Sabres need to adjust.

[dudacek]

In the other thread, someone (d4rk?) pointed out teams are keying on stopping the Eichel one timer from the Left faceoff dot. That was a fair bit of the success last year. The Sabres need to adjust.

Last year we complimented that with the ROR one timer from the opposite side, the Risto blast from the point and the Okposo rotation to the high slot. These, in turn, opened Jack again. We were so successful, because we were multi-faceted.

Edited October 25, 2017 by dudacek

[GASabresIUFAN]

Last year we complimented that with the ROR one timer from the opposite side, the Risto blast from the point and the Okposo rotation to the high slot. These, in turn, opened Jack again. We were so successful, because we were multi-faceted.

Agree.  Cam someone please explain why he;d change that structure?

[matter2003]

Freeman brought it up in another thread, but it makes sense to look at it here. Why is the PP so bad. 5 pp goals ytd (3 in one game) and 6 shorties. Terrible is an understatement.

 

You have the same guys as last year, but they seem to be trying a different system on the PP and it isn’t working. Is it really so hard to look at film from last season and talk to the guys and go back to what was working last year and put that system back in place?

 

I have no idea WHY a coach would change the style of PP when we were the #1 PP in the league last year.  Hey, I get it if we had bad results and he came in with a new idea and way of doing things...but if our way was obviously better than the new way by the results we got, why wouldn't you leave it in place? 

 

I mean what, he wanted to improve the PP from 25% to 30%??  Sometimes you just have to realize when the way someone else does things might be better than your way and you learn from it, and incorporate it not try and change it to fit your way.

[LTS]

The Umbrella with Jack on LW for a one-timer, ROR on right for one-timer, Okposo high slot, RIsto on blue line, and someone in front for deflections was the style they were playing to open the season.

 

This style resulted in 6 SHGs.

 

Housley switched it back to a traditional PP with two point men for now (both defense) to slow down the PK attack of the other team.  They are less likely to give up a SHG with two players at the blue line and both of them being defensemen.

 

The start of the season saw the same players on the ice in the same configuration as last year and it was broken.  That's not a coach problem.. that's a 5 players on the ice problem.  They were horrible with the puck.

[Derrico]

Freeman brought it up in another thread, but it makes sense to look at it here. Why is the PP so bad. 5 pp goals ytd (3 in one game) and 6 shorties. Terrible is an understatement.

 

You have the same guys as last year, but they seem to be trying a different system on the PP and it isn’t working. Is it really so hard to look at film from last season and talk to the guys and go back to what was working last year and put that system back in place?

I'm not patting myself on the back here but I wanted the assistant coach brought back to run the pp. The old coach for the Kelowna rockets. Many said it was all the players that made the difference but the pp looks night and day from last year.

[darksabre]

The Umbrella with Jack on LW for a one-timer, ROR on right for one-timer, Okposo high slot, RIsto on blue line, and someone in front for deflections was the style they were playing to open the season.

 

This style resulted in 6 SHGs.

 

Housley switched it back to a traditional PP with two point men for now (both defense) to slow down the PK attack of the other team. They are less likely to give up a SHG with two players at the blue line and both of them being defensemen.

 

The start of the season saw the same players on the ice in the same configuration as last year and it was broken. That's not a coach problem.. that's a 5 players on the ice problem. They were horrible with the puck.

Are you sure it was Okposo? I don't recall Okposo being on Jack's PP unit at all, which is why I've been asking for it since it worked last year.

[dudacek]

The Umbrella with Jack on LW for a one-timer, ROR on right for one-timer, Okposo high slot, RIsto on blue line, and someone in front for deflections was the style they were playing to open the season.

 

This style resulted in 6 SHGs.

 

Housley switched it back to a traditional PP with two point men for now (both defense) to slow down the PK attack of the other team.  They are less likely to give up a SHG with two players at the blue line and both of them being defensemen.

 

The start of the season saw the same players on the ice in the same configuration as last year and it was broken.  That's not a coach problem.. that's a 5 players on the ice problem.  They were horrible with the puck.

At least two of the shorties happened with Beaulieu on the ice. And I believe last year’s top unit lasted just the first two games and certainly can’t be blamed for all six shorties.

 

What should get more weight: one bad game or an entire season of excellence?

[GASabresIUFAN]

I'm not patting myself on the back here but I wanted the assistant coach brought back to run the pp. The old coach for the Kelowna rockets. Many said it was all the players that made the difference but the pp looks night and day from last year.

I wanted him back as well, but obviously Phil wanted his guy. However, even without the coach, his players are back, they know what worked for them, and there is last year game films to show what they did. Why is so hard to put that system back in place.

 

The PP needs to go through Jack. His Ovie style one timers usually came after significant puck movement. I want to see faster decisions with the puck on the PP. Fast passing usually leads to the PK box getting out of allignment which leads to good shooting lanes. Last year at it’s best ROR, Jack and Risto worked the boards and point while KO and Sam patrolled down low. We need to get back to that.

[LTS]

At least two of the shorties happened with Beaulieu on the ice. And I believe last year’s top unit lasted just the first two games and certainly can’t be blamed for all six shorties.

 

What should get more weight: one bad game or an entire season of excellence?

 

Fair enough... although they were still playing the same umbrella style.  The key was not the players but the style.  In order for the one-timer to work you have to get a team playing a diamond PK and not a box PK.  If you play umbrella you get a diamond PK.  The trick is then to move the puck into a corner, back to the top, and back over for the one-timer before the diamond can reset itself.  

 

For example, Risto down to ROR.  The high slot has to slide toward ROR and the player in front shifts accordingly.  The left diamond player has to drop to cover ROR and the right diamond player has to move into the high slot or else it leaves the high-slot player open.  By doing this it leaves Eichel with more space to position for the one-timer.  Now the puck has to make it either through the gap from ROR to Eichel or to Risto depending on the top diamond PK stick and body position.  If it's to Risto it has to then make it to Eichel fast enough that the PK from the slot can't get back to properly defend the shot.  Any off the mark pass or too slow and it breaks down.

The pass from ROR to Eichel is even more difficult to one-time just from a pure distance standpoint.

 

If teams fade to Eichel then the Sabres had to adjust.  I should go back and just watch the SHGs and see what happens.  

 

In any event.. the Sabres went to the traditional two defenders at the top.  This is designed more to get the puck to the player in front of the net to score as the PK shifts to a box and they float up and down the ice to keep pucks to the outside but in theory leave the player in front for the goaltender to deal with since the players should be in the shooting lanes to keep the screen from being an issue.

 

Are you sure it was Okposo? I don't recall Okposo being on Jack's PP unit at all, which is why I've been asking for it since it worked last year.

 

I thought it was... I thought they started with ROR-Eichel-Reinhart-OKposo-Risto.

 

Again I'd have to look.  Either way.. the high slot and man in front are only there to occupy bodies and serve as potential shot deflectors when the outside 1 timers are not there.

[North Buffalo]

Still team lack talent snd ok is still recovering imo.

[Mustache of God]

Defensive scoring, that's what's wrong with this team. Do you know how many total goals the sabres D have scored this year? Zero. How many other teams have scoreless defenses? Zero. We are alone in that category and prior to the start of the season I was really hoping PH would help solve that as it hurt us last year.

Edited October 26, 2017 by mustacheofgod

[Thorner]

Defensive scoring, that's what's wrong with this team. Do you know how many total goals the sabres D have scored this year? Zero. How many other teams have scoreless defenses? Zero. We are alone in that category and prior to the start of the season I was really hoping PH would help solve that as it hurt us last year.

I'm not sure Housley can do much about it if he doesn't have the horses. When you draft a Defenceman 8th overall four and a half years ago, you'd hope he'd be an effective stalwart on the top pair and so far Ristolainen is not that. He's certainly being given the minutes, but the production and results both offensively and defensively this year hasn't been enough. He's only been ok. I'm definitely not putting all the defensive problems on him, but eventually we need one of these guys who has the potential to be great, to be great. Not just adequate.