Tage Thompson: what's the deal?

[GASabresIUFAN]

24 minutes ago, That Aud Smell said:

^

Good take.

Also, I am fairly flabbergasted that the team's stated preference to keep Thompson up with the big club -- rather than giving him minutes in Roch -- has apparently worked (to a point, so far). Tip of the hat to that approach. I was sure it was dead wrong to go about things that way.

We don’t see practices.  I think PH and Jbot felt he was an NHLplayer after his stint in Stl and wanted to supervise his learning of the system in Buffalo plus specifically working on using his size to his advantage.

i expect him to start seeing more PP time.  The cannon needs to bombing in from the point.

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, Eleven said:

Dressing room mythology aside, it's clear to me that the Sabres needed depth more than they needed one star 2C.

I dabbled a bit in the HF Forums St. Louis forum.  I said something like this and was laughed out of the thread for "mental gymnastics" trying to justify an obviously bad trade from the Buffalo perspective.  So I can only surmise you are just as crazy as I am.

[Doohicksie]

13 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

The cannon needs to bombing in from the point.

I think he could be a dominating Dman if they ever decided to move him.  It's not a pressing area of need at the moment, but if he's truly getting his act together he'll be a physical force no matter where he plays.

[Taro T]

5 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

I think he could be a dominating Dman if they ever decided to move him.  It's not a pressing area of need at the moment, but if he's truly getting his act together he'll be a physical force no matter where he plays.

Huh?

Is there any reason at all to believe he could play D other than he is extremely tall?  For all we know he can't skate backwards to save his life.  Considering how awkward he is skating forwards at times, REALLY don't want to see him at D.

He has played every F spot.  Leave him at 1 of those.

[Doohicksie]

Don't worry, I don't work in the front office.  ?

[klos1963]

On 11/25/2018 at 12:04 AM, Briere48 said:

Not only was that awesome, but it was with the game on the line. Pretty impressive to keep the game going for a kid who just 2 weeks ago everyone in the fanbase wanted to be send to the AHL. Also, speaking of the shootout goal, you guys notice Rob Ray call Jimmy Howard "Larkin" during the replay of his attempt? lol

We could write of book of all the dumb things Ray says during a broadcast. That was just a mistake, he usually makes just plain stupid comments during the game. Every game he says the Sabres need to slow things down. We draft, sign and trade for speed and he wants us to slow down.

[Randall Flagg]

1 hour ago, Eleven said:

Dressing room mythology aside, it's clear to me that the Sabres needed depth more than they needed one star 2C.

I would add "goaltending, healthy defensemen, and points from the D" to depth scoring there. 

Tough to say how this team would look with only forward depth scoring and not that other stuff which also improved greatly from last season.

I still can't get over how long it took our D to score last year.

[Mustache of God]

45 minutes ago, klos1963 said:

We could write of book of all the dumb things Ray says during a broadcast. That was just a mistake, he usually makes just plain stupid comments during the game. Every game he says the Sabres need to slow things down. We draft, sign and trade for speed and he wants us to slow down.

When Ray says to "slow things down" he's not advocating for the team to be skating slower, he's referring to the mental part of the game. Instead of getting the puck and reacting immediately, he's asking that the players think about their next play. Slowing the game down in their heads, to think a bit and make smart decisions with the puck, that's what he's implying. At least that's how I interpret it.

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, Randall Flagg said:

I would add "goaltending, healthy defensemen, and points from the D" to depth scoring there. 

Tough to say how this team would look with only forward depth scoring and not that other stuff which also improved greatly from last season.

I still can't get over how long it took our D to score last year.

Considering the bulk of their games are 1 goal games & they win almost all of those now it is easy to say how they'd be with only 1 of the 4.  On the outside looking in.

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, Doohickie said:

Don't worry, I don't work in the front office.  ?

No worries.  Just really confused by that take & curious what you see in him that says "D-man" rather than "power forward" when looking at his potential?

[Doohicksie]

He has been pretty good at the backcheck lately.  I have no idea whether can skate backwards or not.

 

[Taro T]

11 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

He has been pretty good at the backcheck lately.  I have no idea whether can skate backwards or not.

 

OK.  Thanks.

Would say that gives him an opening potentially to eventually settle onto any of the 4 lines usefully.  Would never have considered putting him on D until you started mentioning it.

[Doohicksie]

Don't let that settle in your brain; it's probably an idea that's DOA.

I guess the other thing is he kind of reminds me of ol' Tyler Myers.

[klos1963]

2 hours ago, Mustache of God said:

When Ray says to "slow things down" he's not advocating for the team to be skating slower, he's referring to the mental part of the game. Instead of getting the puck and reacting immediately, he's asking that the players think about their next play. Slowing the game down in their heads, to think a bit and make smart decisions with the puck, that's what he's implying. At least that's how I interpret it.

You're giving him too much credit for thinking- even if that were the case, he says it every single game. He's an idiot and shouldn't be on TV. I really think he means speed, if you listened to the context it's about the pace of the game.

[Weave]

3 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

We don’t see practices.  I think PH and Jbot felt he was an NHLplayer after his stint in Stl and wanted to supervise his learning of the system in Buffalo plus specifically working on using his size to his advantage.

i expect him to start seeing more PP time.  The cannon needs to bombing in from the point.

Very Ken Hitchcock like.  I thought of JBott's handling of TT when I read the article as well.

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/oilers-hitchcock-puljujarvis-growth-want-responsibility/
 

Quote

 

When you see something that good, and that much (of it), as a coach you want to take responsibility for the growth of the player,” Hitchcock said Saturday. “You don’t want to sit there and watch him play in the American Hockey League.

I want to be able to work closely with him, and quickly with him, to get the glide out of his game when the other team has the puck,” Hitchcock said. “I want to teach him, work with him, to stay on the hunt longer. Like any young player, he shows the league a little bit too much respect. I want him to hunt (the puck) a little bit harder.

So, I’m going to stay on him. I’m going to push really hard here.

 

 

 

[Doohicksie]

The quote that jumped out at me was

Quote

And of course, as is de rigueur in Edmonton, Puljujarvi was placed on a National Hockey League roster light years before he was an actual NHL player.

I think the Sabres did the same (albeit to a lesser extent), but thankfully JBot and HCPH seem to get it, which made TT's presence on the NHL roster that much more perplexing.

[Doohicksie]

You're right though... the passage you quoted could have been written about TT.

[Andrew Amerk]

4 hours ago, Doohickie said:

Don't let that settle in your brain; it's probably an idea that's DOA.

I guess the other thing is he kind of reminds me of ol' Tyler Myers.

IIRC, there were Sabres fans wanting the team to try out Myers at wing a few different points in time. 

[Taro T]

6 minutes ago, Andrew Amerk said:

IIRC, there were Sabres fans wanting the team to try out Myers at wing a few different points in time. 

SIGNIFICANTLY easier for a D-man to become a winger than the other way around.

(And, never really saw the point to that suggested move.  Now, moving HOUSLEY to F, was totally on board with. ;))

[Doohicksie]

What about Lindy Ruff?  Should we convert him from D to winger?

[Hoss]

35 minutes ago, Taro T said:

SIGNIFICANTLY easier for a D-man to become a winger than the other way around.

(And, never really saw the point to that suggested move.  Now, moving HOUSLEY to F, was totally on board with. ;))

Brent Burns and Dustin Byfuglien are both former forwards

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, Hoss said:

Brent Burns and Dustin Byfuglien are both former forwards

Didn't say it is impossible.  Would not be at all surprised if each of those 2 had played D at lower levels as well.  (Had thought I'd read that Byfuglien had, no data on Burns.)

And Sergei Fedorov did it quite often for the Wings as well.  

And none of those 3 making the shift change the fact that it is easier to move a D up to wing than the other way around in general.  The transition is far easier to make moving from D to W as the responsibilities are less & the skills a winger need are pretty much all possessed by a D man, whereas there are skills a D needs  that wingers don't necessarily possess.

Thompson is a former C that plays either wing.  Have not seen any interview nor indication that Thompson has played any D.  Pretty sure that Doohickie is the only person suggesting Thompson be moved to D.  (Playing point on the PP, especially now that the umbrella is so prevalent, is NOT moving a forward to D by most normal definitions of that move.)

[Taro T]

And Tanneyhill was initially a TE in college but plays QB in the NFL.

Doesn't change the fact that he is an exception and the transition usually goes the other way.

[Doohicksie]

Geez, guyz, it was a throw-away comment.  ?

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

Let's not forget Dahlin was a C.