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Posted
39 minutes ago, darksabre said:

The problem with the Sabres tanking when they did was that the cupboard was bare Rochester. If they had tanked while keeping good players in Rochester to develop and then brought them all up a few at a time after the tank things would probably have worked a lot better. 

Darcy started the tank, but the aftershock is owed to his YEARS of poor drafting that we are only just now recovering from. 

This is where GMTM’s Trades made things worse. Trading two second round picks for Fasching. Trading three of the Top 31 Picks in the deepest draft since 2003. That’s five players who would probably be either on the Sabres Roster or in Rochester right now. 

 

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Posted
8 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

One large concern with Housley is how he uses his match ups in games. Despite having the last line change at home he put the Eichel Line out consistently versus Bergeron’s Line in the home opener. Also during the Tampa Game on Saturday, Sobotka’s Line was getting destroyed by  Kucherov’s  while Larsson and Zemgus who are the the best at shutting down opponents where matched up against the Tampa Fourth Line. 

Granted the Kucherov Line is one of the best in hockey, but at least put your best defensive line against them. 

 

Housley is on record as saying that he doesn't line match. 

Posted
11 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

Pommer also started well last season before quickly running out of gas, as he did this season.  I don't think he's got anything left.

I too would like to see if Reino can consistently lead a 2nd line and thus improve their 2ndary scoring.

 

This is fair.  I complain to myself every time I see Eichel's line take a D-zone faceoff or Larsson's line take an O-zone faceoff (neither of which happen that often, but arguably it should never happen).

My favorite is after the Larsson Line grinds down the opposition to the point where they are exhausted and ices the puck, Housley puts the Sobotka Line out for the ensuing face off, even though the Eichel Line is rested , and the puck is carried out of the zone allowing a line change ten seconds later. 

Posted
1 hour ago, darksabre said:

The problem with the Sabres tanking when they did was that the cupboard was bare Rochester. If they had tanked while keeping good players in Rochester to develop and then brought them all up a few at a time after the tank things would probably have worked a lot better. 

Darcy started the tank, but the aftershock is owed to his YEARS of poor drafting that we are only just now recovering from. 

Which is what JBot is trying to do.  Hence the reason I'm more inclined to look at this season as the first real attempt to recover from the Tank Years.

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Posted
4 minutes ago, ... said:

Which is what JBot is trying to do.  Hence the reason I'm more inclined to look at this season as the first real attempt to recover from the Tank Years.

Agreed. We're basically playing catchup from Darcy, and it's worse because GMTM messed up so bad.

Posted

I’m not advocating for Housley  to be fired at the end of the season, just to change coaches, but if there is a better choice out there to Coach the team make the move.

If he is resistant to line matchups he is going to get rolled in the playoffs, if he can get a team there, even when the Sabres have talent. 

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Posted
Just now, Brawndo said:

I’m not advocating for Housley  to be fired at the end of the season, just to change coaches, but if there is a better choice out there to Coach the team make the move.

If he is resistant to line matchups he is going to get rolled in the playoffs, if he can get a team there, even when the Sabres have talent. 

Throw the power play mess in there and that would be my one-two punch of coaching criticisms at the moment.

Posted
2 minutes ago, darksabre said:

Throw the power play mess in there and that would be my one-two punch of coaching criticisms at the moment.

It’s interesting that was Nashville Fans biggest complaint about him was the PP and not surprisingly it has improved since he came to Buffalo. 

Posted
1 hour ago, darksabre said:

The problem with the Sabres tanking when they did was that the cupboard was bare Rochester. If they had tanked while keeping good players in Rochester to develop and then brought them all up a few at a time after the tank things would probably have worked a lot better. 

Darcy started the tank, but the aftershock is owed to his YEARS of poor drafting that we are only just now recovering from. 

So much this.

People tend to want to look at things in a very black and white way, but in truth, there are a multitude of factors for why the Sabres are where they are. 

Posted
12 minutes ago, ... said:

Does anyone have a link to something where Phil says he won't line match.  I would like to understand his thinking.

I forget when it was, but it was maybe back during the streak, or shortly after? I think he said it in a pre-game interview somewhere. I remember hearing it and being stunned.

It was something to the effect of "the other coach likes to match lines but I'm not worried about doing that".

He made it sound like line-matching was something fiddly people do.

Might have been the Toronto game after the streak?

 

Posted
8 minutes ago, darksabre said:

I forget when it was, but it was maybe back during the streak, or shortly after? I think he said it in a pre-game interview somewhere. I remember hearing it and being stunned.

It was something to the effect of "the other coach likes to match lines but I'm not worried about doing that".

He made it sound like line-matching was something fiddly people do.

Might have been the Toronto game after the streak?

That's not a lot to go on.

Posted
4 minutes ago, ... said:

That's not a lot to go on.

Yeah. I really don't remember when it was. I just remember thinking it was weird. I think someone asked him, maybe on WGR, what his plan was against the opposing coach. I really want to say he was talking about Babcock.

Someone with more time than me might be able to dig it up. I can't have been the only person who heard it.

Posted
1 minute ago, darksabre said:

Yeah. I really don't remember when it was. I just remember thinking it was weird. I think someone asked him, maybe on WGR, what his plan was against the opposing coach. I really want to say he was talking about Babcock.

Someone with more time than me might be able to dig it up. I can't have been the only person who heard it.

 

^That guy did. Still looking for the actual quote. 

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Posted (edited)
39 minutes ago, darksabre said:

No dice for me. But of note is he thinks the powerplay is "good" as of December 5th. 

Edited by Thorny
  • Haha (+1) 1
Posted (edited)
23 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

Here is the response 

 

This is what I keep finding. Even last year he was often speaking about his preferred desire to "roll 4". 

https://www.nhl.com/sabres/video/phil-housley-pregame-13018/t-277437090/c-57129203

Now, this isn't saying "I don't do line matching" but rolling 4 certainly comes up enough that it seems to be a strong preference for him, at least. Says it's "really important" at around the :30 second mark. 

Edited by Thorny
Posted
23 hours ago, SDS said:

That was Kelly and Ted. Kelly had a nice, 2-minute drive one game and when he trotted off and told Ted how comfortable he was in that setting. Ted went with it. Marv hated it. 

Sort of sad irony: Ted died three years ago today

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