GDT: Leafs @ Sabres, 7pm MSG, 9/22/2018

[Doohicksie]

Oh, I thought Reino scored....

[Doohicksie]

I've seen enough... Hutton is the #1 goalie.  I hope he tutors Linus well.

[Sabel79]

Random thought: nothing makes me more excited for this coming season than how up for it, and how able to do it, KO has looked thus far.  

[Randall Flagg]

1 minute ago, Sabel79 said:

Random thought: nothing makes me more excited for this coming season than how up for it, and how able to do it, KO has looked thus far.  

I could not feel more differently - he looks exactly the same to me. 

17 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

Certainly just confirmation bias, but I haven't seen Berglund directly involved in anything remotely resembling skill hockey and dangerous chances, in either zone. This will be an excellent tool if Phil can leverage it correctly. 

I just watched Toronto's two goals closer and need to slap myself on the wrist. Berglund was real bad on both of them.

[Cityo'Rasmii]

3 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

I've seen enough... Hutton is the #1 goalie.  I hope he tutors Linus well.

Yep

[Randall Flagg]

Larry has had a better game than his last one. ERod has had his worst.

[...]

Just saw someone with a Boyes jersey on in the first row.

[TheAud]

I have to say whenever I hear the name Rosen, Ie the goal scorer, I think of this:

 

[Cityo'Rasmii]

Brutal, Kyle

[Randall Flagg]

I don't mean this as an argument specific to Kyle, who is still one of our 12 best forwards, but in general that is why the "we need the slow, clumsy, grizzled vets around to teach the kids how to play the right way" trope is dead to me. We need good players of all ages, and good is the only relevant qualifier to the kinds of players we need. Vets take bad penalties which lead to go-ahead goals late in the third period too, even if they "play and prepare the right way."

Edited September 23, 2018 by Randall Flagg

[Sabel79]

1 minute ago, holzinger'sgone said:

Brutal, Kyle

I just had to go and say something... 

[Sabel79]

Skinner needs to not miss from there.  

[...]

Just now, Sabel79 said:

Skinner needs to not miss from there.  

I thought the pass was about waist high.

[TheAud]

I just don’t want to eat at a place called The Healthy Scratch no matter how pithy the play on words.

Edited September 23, 2018 by Sakman

[Sabel79]

Just now, ... said:

I thought the pass was about waist high.

Not off Jack’s feed, he had it on his tape when it came back in front. 

[Weave]

7 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

I don't mean this as an argument specific to Kyle, who is still one of our 12 best forwards, but in general that is why the "we need the slow, clumsy, grizzled vets around to teach the kids how to play the right way" trope is dead to me. We need good players of all ages, and good is the only relevant qualifier to the kinds of players we need. Vets take bad penalties which lead to go-ahead goals late in the third period too, even if they "play and prepare the right way."

Noone has ever said we need slow, clumsy vets.  Noone.

[Sabel79]

1 minute ago, Weave said:

Noone has ever said we need slow, clumsy vets.  Noone.

Tim Murray kinda did... not that he was right. 

I’m starting to think Risto is an abject idiot.  

[Randall Flagg]

4 minutes ago, Weave said:

Noone has ever said we need slow, clumsy vets.  Noone.

Sure, but that exact defense has been used on forwards who are slow, clumsy and tank our ES play. 

My point is not an anti-vet one, I understand that most posters want vets, and good ones. But our team very much falls in that trap with bad hockey players. And it has a much more measurable affect on our team's misfortunes than vague and ill-defined things that get blamed instead

Edited September 23, 2018 by Randall Flagg

[...]

Nice tan, Bogo.

[bob_sauve28]

Dahlin is not NHL ready 

[Randall Flagg]

We're seeing that the team is still bad-but-technically-justifiable roster decisions away from being a little too slow, a little too clumsy, and a little too full of bad habits to be an effective even strength hockey team again. I am a little worried about where Jason and Phil go with it. The right mix is there somewhere, but it's going to be hard to find, especially on the personal level we don't really get to see, and we need them to find it.

And again, the reason some of us were not excited about the "prospect" of getting to see healthy Bogosian/McCabe/Beaulieu as D options versus the trash behind them when they were injured is that these guys are still objectively bad hockey players when the game is going full speed. They just don't make enough hockey plays to their teammates' sticks, and don't do well enough defending and recovering in their own zone. Rome wasn't built in a day, but when we get a good defense, McCabe in a bottom pairing role is the only guy I can picture being a part of one.

I think Hutton looks like a pretty good goalie. I think Jack had a strong game. 

I have no idea why Bogosian took that shot at the end there. 

[...]

So...

Hutton is our number 1.

Eichel can take face offs.

Dahlin will need to catch up.

Good to have Reinhart back.

 

3 minutes ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Dahlin is not NHL ready 

I don't know about that.  He's never seen competition like this before in a rink this size.  He made some mistakes, but he also made some decent defensive and offensive plays.

[...]

8 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

We're seeing that the team is still bad-but-technically-justifiable roster decisions away from being a little too slow, a little too clumsy, and a little too full of bad habits to be an effective even strength hockey team again. I am a little worried about where Jason and Phil go with it. The right mix is there somewhere, but it's going to be hard to find, especially on the personal level we don't really get to see, and we need them to find it.

And again, the reason some of us were not excited about the "prospect" of getting to see healthy Bogosian/McCabe/Beaulieu as D options versus the trash behind them when they were injured is that these guys are still objectively bad hockey players when the game is going full speed. They just don't make enough hockey plays to their teammates' sticks, and don't do well enough defending and recovering in their own zone. Rome wasn't built in a day, but when we get a good defense, McCabe in a bottom pairing role is the only guy I can picture being a part of one.

I think Hutton looks like a pretty good goalie. I think Jack had a strong game. 

I have no idea why Bogosian took that shot at the end there. 

 

You've been a downer all game.  I thought, for a pre-season game, it was fun to watch or at least not boring and I see a different team out there than last season.  I think the score would have been pretty lopsided were they as bad as you've been saying all game, and it wasn't. It's not like Toronto sat back.

This is only about your first paragraph, mainly, BTW, and I'm definitely not trying to pick a fight...just trading thoughts.

 

Edited September 23, 2018 by ...

[Randall Flagg]

5 minutes ago, ... said:

So...

Hutton is our number 1.

Eichel can take face offs.

Dahlin will need to catch up.

Good to have Reinhart back.

 

I don't know about that.  He's never seen competition like this before in a rink this size.  He made some mistakes, but he also made some decent defensive and offensive plays.

Yep. It was pointed out on hfboards just now that Doughty was having nights like this in his 21 year old season. These defensemen need to do what they do and figure out what works, and it's going to lead to some nights like this. It's also going to lead to careers like Drew Doughty's and Erik Karlsson's. 

[Andrew Amerk]

The team, as a whole, needs to practice shooting pucks on the net. 

Its a basic fundamental. Saw way too many shots going wide or over the net. Getting a shot on net not only increases the chances of it squeaking through a pad, but also rebound opportunities. Missing the net is useless. I can appreciate why it happens to a sniper, but we don’t exactly have many of those on the roster.