Canceled Practice

[Mustache of God]

I like the idea of them not practicing. Remember when Zemgus fell on Jack the last practice before the regular season? Can't have that again (although is seems like Wilson was our sacrificial lamb this year).

[pi2000]

19 minutes ago, sabills said:

1) That misconstruing my point, 1 less practice over the 10 months that these guys play is a rounding error, instead of 1 a week.

2) It might actually BE beneficial to practice less. The NFL cut down on practice days by 1 every week after the last CBA negotiations, along with significantly cutting down on required training camp time, and eliminating 2-a-days. I didn't notice the skill level of the NFL take a hard nose dive.

1) It's 1 less practice immediately before the home opener.    You don't think guys like Sheary, Skinner, Berglund, Sobotka, Dahlin, etc... could've benefitted from more system reps?

2) I do agree that NHL players spend too much time on the ice during the season... game day skates IMO are largely unnecessary IMO.. and guys would benefit long term by skipping them.   That said, they need to prepare for the season.   Skipping practice 2 days before the season opener is irresponsible and sends the wrong message.    It tells the players "we're good enough", giving them a built in excuse.    Not a good message to send to a young team IMO.   

If this team was largely composed of grizzled vets who've been in the system for years and had success, then yeah, by all means cancel the practice.    But we're talking about a last place team, with a bunch of new faces, and young players up and down the lineup.    They need as much practice time as possible at this point in the season.  

[woods-racer]

To many new faces and finishing DFL 3 out of the last 5 years don't point to the merits of canceling practice and a fun day right before the season opener.

 

I'm not going to die on this hill, it just does not sit well with me.

[TrueBlueGED]

Sometimes, you just gotta let Pi be Pi. 

[That Aud Smell]

43 minutes ago, sabills said:

The NFL cut down on practice days by 1 every week after the last CBA negotiations, along with significantly cutting down on required training camp time, and eliminating 2-a-days. I didn't notice the skill level of the NFL take a hard nose dive.

33 minutes ago, Radar said:

I've heard several discussions about the quality of the NFL first month of games being hurt by the limited practice time dictated by the CBA. Skill still needs cohesiveness and practice serves that we'll. Having said that I'm not concerned about one practice. Housley is the one who should be most concerned by another bad start. Marked improvement or he may be unemployed.

Scoring's way up this year. Of course, that may have more to do with rule changes and how lack of preparation is affecting defensive schemes.

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

With the rosters having to be set today, I think I'd rather have coaches and management making the more important decisions sitting on their butts in the office by the phones.

[SwampD]

3 minutes ago, MakeSabresGrr8Again said:

With the rosters having to be set today, I think I'd rather have coaches and management making the more important decisions sitting on their butts in the office by the phones.

Or they're playing quarters to determine the last two roster spots.

[pi2000]

20 minutes ago, woods-racer said:

To many new faces and finishing DFL 3 out of the last 5 years don't point to the merits of canceling practice and a fun day right before the season opener.

 

I'm not going to die on this hill, it just does not sit well with me.

^this^

 

13 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

Scoring's way up this year. Of course, that may have more to do with rule changes and how lack of preparation is affecting defensive schemes.

They're not allowed to tackle anymore, so yeah of course, scoring is up.   It's part of the plan.

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

18 minutes ago, SwampD said:

Or they're playing quarters to determine the last two roster spots.

I would think that has already been decided .....pending any acquisitions made in the office today.

[shrader]

34 minutes ago, TrueBlueGED said:

Sometimes, you just gotta let Pi be Pi. 

I'm amazed that people continue to fall for this act over and over.

[darksabre]

7 minutes ago, shrader said:

I'm amazed that people continue to fall for this act over and over.

Listen, if we can't give pi sh*t for his bad takes then what are we even doing here?

[sabills]

32 minutes ago, shrader said:

I'm amazed that people continue to fall for this act over and over.

 

24 minutes ago, darksabre said:

Listen, if we can't give pi sh*t for his bad takes then what are we even doing here?

If people think he's just trolling then he should be banned. If he's not trolling then he has bad takes and discussing opinion is the whole reason we're on this site, dammit.

[pi2000]

4 minutes ago, sabills said:

 

If people think he's just trolling then he should be banned. If he's not trolling then he has bad takes and discussing opinion is the whole reason we're on this site, dammit.

I don't get it.   How is it trolling?    A young team that finished DFL last season and 3 of the last 5 years, with a bunch of new faces, should be practicing twice a day until the season starts.    What is sooooo unreasonable about that take?  

I'm a fan, I want to see the best product possible on the ice... cancelling practice to goof off 2 days before the season?   COME ON!

[sabills]

2 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

I don't get it.   How is it trolling?    A young team that finished DFL last season and 3 of the last 5 years, with a bunch of new faces, should be practicing twice a day until the season starts.    What is sooooo unreasonable about that take?  

I'm a fan, I want to see the best product possible on the ice... cancelling practice to goof off 2 days before the season?   COME ON!

I don't think you are trolling, shrader seems to think you are. I think you're almost always wrong, but not trolling.

[That Aud Smell]

20 minutes ago, sabills said:

If people think he's just trolling then he should be banned. If he's not trolling then he has bad takes and discussing opinion is the whole reason we're on this site, dammit.

Is trolling, without more, grounds for the ban hammer? News to me, if so.

Also: I do not think pi trolls. He believes what he posts. I'm sure he engages in some exaggeration and hyperbole, as do we all, but I am confident he believes the substance/essence of what he posts.

[WildCard]

If we ever ban pi I'm out of this place. We'll be taking stuff way too seriously at that point, if we're not already

Edited October 2, 2018 by WildCard

[North Buffalo]

Pi is pain in how wed he is to his convictions... but he’s Pi so you take his absolutism like you would a football coach.... every once in a while he needs to be told to f off... His hockey sense is usually spot on.

[sabills]

18 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

Is trolling, without more, grounds for the ban hammer? News to me, if so.

Also: I do not think pi trolls. He believes what he posts. I'm sure he engages in some exaggeration and hyperbole, as do we all, but I am confident he believes the substance/essence of what he posts.

To me it should be. Jumping into topics solely to cause trouble, annoy people, and get them off topic? Sounds like you're not trying to be a member of the community, you're just starting sh*t for your own amusement.

 

Again, I don't think pi trolls.

[pi2000]

It's one thing if I started a thread that said "PRACTICE CANCELLED FIRE HOUSLEY IMMEDIATELY"... but I didn't start this thread, I don't think Housley should be fired (yet, haha)... I'm simply sharing my opinion on him cancelling practice two days before the season for a young team with new faces that finished DFL last year.    

Frankly, I'm shocked more folks aren't more alarmed by this.    A playoff team with solid core and history of success, sure give them a day off to have some fun.... a last place young team with new faces, not a good idea IMO... and a microcosm of why this team is so bad year after year.   

[sabills]

7 minutes ago, North Buffalo said:

Pi is pain in how wed he is to his convictions... but he’s Pi so you take his absolutism like you would a football coach.... every once in a while he needs to be told to f off... His hockey sense is usually spot on.

This is really part of the reason I don't think he's a troll. Dude knows his stuff, just wish he'd post more about that.

[sabills]

2 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

It's one thing if I started a thread that said "PRACTICE CANCELLED FIRE HOUSLEY IMMEDIATELY"... but I didn't start this thread, I don't think Housley should be fired (yet, haha)... I'm simply sharing my opinion on him cancelling practice two days before the season for a young team with new faces that finished DFL last year.    

Frankly, I'm shocked more folks aren't more alarmed by this.    A playoff team with solid core and history of success, sure give them a day off to have some fun.... a last place young team with new faces, not a good idea IMO... and a microcosm of why this team is so bad year after year.   

https://www.nhl.com/penguins/news/pens-make-team-bonding-trip-to-west-point/c-684569

https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/capitals/caps-work-team-building-fighting-each-other-fbi-training

https://thehockeynews.com/news/article/bruins-get-away-from-boston-with-team-building-exercise-in-vermont

https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/sharks/sharks-go-arizona-early-some-team-building

This is super common this time of year. I literally googled "[Team Name] Team Building/Team Bonding" and these 4 came up. These were the only teams I searched by.

[darksabre]

8 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

It's one thing if I started a thread that said "PRACTICE CANCELLED FIRE HOUSLEY IMMEDIATELY"... but I didn't start this thread, I don't think Housley should be fired (yet, haha)... I'm simply sharing my opinion on him cancelling practice two days before the season for a young team with new faces that finished DFL last year.    

Frankly, I'm shocked more folks aren't more alarmed by this.    A playoff team with solid core and history of success, sure give them a day off to have some fun.... a last place young team with new faces, not a good idea IMO... and a microcosm of why this team is so bad year after year.   

It seems alarmist to be alarmed by something so mundane.

[pi2000]

3 minutes ago, sabills said:

https://www.nhl.com/penguins/news/pens-make-team-bonding-trip-to-west-point/c-684569

https://www.nbcsports.com/washington/capitals/caps-work-team-building-fighting-each-other-fbi-training

https://thehockeynews.com/news/article/bruins-get-away-from-boston-with-team-building-exercise-in-vermont

https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/sharks/sharks-go-arizona-early-some-team-building

This is super common this time of year. I literally googled "[Team Name] Team Building/Team Bonding" and these 4 came up. These were the only teams I searched by.

Those are arguably the top 4 teams in the league.... understandable that they can afford to goof off for a bit before the season.     IMO, Buffalo isn't at that point yet where they can afford to skip practice time.

[...]

1 minute ago, pi2000 said:

Those are arguably the top 4 teams in the league.... understandable that they can afford to goof off for a bit before the season.     IMO, Buffalo isn't at that point yet where they can afford to skip practice time.

I can't think of a more miserable way to begin the season than to feel the dark shadow of expectations once again seeping into the locker room.  As I mentioned earlier today, with the buzz word being "culture", another practice when the schedule is so tight early will suck the fun out of it for the boys.  I think one of the priorities of the team is to try and somehow allow the players to have fun with what they're doing and re-capture the loose-ness of the game from their youth that made it special for them.

As Stephen King once wrote "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy."

[sabills]

1 minute ago, pi2000 said:

Those are arguably the top 4 teams in the league.... understandable that they can afford to goof off for a bit before the season.     IMO, Buffalo isn't at that point yet where they can afford to skip practice time.

Naw, thats a bad point. Either it hurts your team or not. I searched for them BECAUSE they were the top four teams in the league. If I go and find one for literally every team do you get to draw the line of "Well they're good so they can do it." or "Well see, thats why they were bad"? What if I find one for a team who was bad the year before but then was good that year? That one from the caps is from 2017, who went out in the second round the year before; did they 'earn' that break? Or was it retroactively ok because they won later?

I'm not even saying you're ABSOLUTELY wrong. Maybe something happens in that last practice that really puts them over the edge. Or maybe something happens on the bonding trip that gels them as teammates. There's no way to know. Worrying about it, calling them soft, and saying "I CAN'T BELIEVE NOONE ELSE IS UPSET ABOUT THIS" is wayyyyy over reacting.