What was broken, what changed?

[Doohicksie]

3 hours ago, Andrew Amerk said:

Then there is Jack, who doesn’t appear to be having tantrums this season like in the past. He’s in an environment where it’s fun to play, and easier to be a leader. 

He's not a "co-leader" with ROR.  I suspect part of the locker room troubles was that there were cliques- the Jack clique, the ROR clique, the "I'm just doing my job" clique.  Remember also that earlier there was also the Gionta clique which rumor was not the clique Jack wanted to be a part of.  All this team building may have been to do with breaking down the cliques and making sure new ones didn't form.  One team.  No cliques.

[Doohicksie]

2 hours ago, Robviously said:

The fact that we have multiple players going from liabilities to contributors says a lot.

At least three of them seem to be getting over injuries that were hampering their performance.  Okie's troubles are well known.  Although Larsson was officially "healthy" last year, I don't think he was 100%, but is much better this year.  And Bogo had the surgery needed to correct his problem.  The team was so lacking in depth that all those guys tried to play through injuries, and it hurt the team.  Now that they're over their injuries, they're all playing at expected levels.

[nfreeman]

11 hours ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Three TM players were shown the door - Kane, ROR and Lehner.  Jack was named Captain 

 

Excellent thread.

 

GA — agree, and those were 3 key pieces of GMTM’s team, at that.  

 

10 hours ago, dudacek said:

I would suggest that a huge portion of the “improved goaltending” is about mental perception.

2.45 GAA .915 SP and 2.90 GAA .905 aren’t hugely different. What is more different is the team perception last year that the goalie could implode at any moment, whereas this year’s guy is as steady and competitive as they come.

Hutton whiffed on Virtanen’s weak backhand, then let in Gudbranson’s butterfly from the point in absolute Lehner-esque fashion yesterday. But the team didn’t deflate, it rallied.

Guys are playing better because they trust their goalie and want to win for him.

I’ve noticed a few lousy goals allowed by Hutton, but very few 3rd period killers of the sort that Lehner let in on the regular.

So I agree that his teammates trust him more than they trusted Lehner, but they have good reason to do so IMHO.

 

 

 

[pi2000]

There was something toxic in that locker room the past few years.  

Why it's different this season?  I have no idea.

[North Buffalo]

The more I read this thread, the more I think about the ROR situation.  ROR to me was one of the those hypercritical people that you really couldn't argue with because he worked so hard... still he wasn't fun to be around and had no joy. It's hard to be around someone with those expectation and it just becomes a grind with everyone gritting their teeth.  Jack and Sam seem like guys who want to have fun playing hockey... Skinner fits that bill for Jack and Pommer is an even keel that enjoys just playing.  Sam is playing with now with Sheery who just works hard and keeps his mouth shut, but I think he is just a rink rat and adding Erod to that line who seems like a positive guy is a good thing for Sam... Sobtka is another no nonsense kind of guy and he and Erod can flip depending on how each line is working.  Casey is coming along and the resurgence of KO helps him...  Sabres still need to find another goal scorer and possession guy and they may have them in the AHL developing...  but at least it looks like these guys are playing faster and have some toughness to their game.  Hope it continues.

[WildCard]

9 hours ago, pi2000 said:

There was something toxic in that locker room the past few years.  

Why it's different this season?  I have no idea.

Lehner being a dck, Kane partying, RoR being depressed. I'd say that about sums it up

[Sabres Fan in NS]

18 hours ago, WildCard said:

I think Skinner is much better than Kane on the ice.

I will say that I rather have Skinner than Kane on the ice, but I won't say that Skinner is 'much better'.  They are very different players and bring very different things.  I was big on bringing Kane back for what he brought.  That is not to say that his trade was terrible and that I am not thrilled that we have Skinner.

[sabills]

I don't really know where else to put this, but I'd bet they were way below average last year:

 

Quote

Sean Tierney‏ @ChartingHockey

I love this. Please say hello to the absolute average NHL hockey club, your Buffalo Sabres.

 

[dudacek]

Right now the Sabres defencemen have 8 goals and 34 points.

Last year at this time it was 0 goals and 16 points.

[R_Dudley]

48 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Right now the Sabres defencemen have 8 goals and 34 points.

Last year at this time it was 0 goals and 16 points.

Yep, w/o mentioning the stats this is where I was focused in my earlier post. The Defense playing as a 5 man unit has really made the transition game out of the their zone as well as jumping into the offensive play work well.  The back checkers seem to have regularly cover their spot when they do and I would say Housleys stated desired style of play is finally working with the players we have.   

Upgrade in talent and time in the system definitely help that.  

[GASabresIUFAN]

1 hour ago, dudacek said:

Right now the Sabres defencemen have 8 goals and 34 points.

Last year at this time it was 0 goals and 16 points.

Does this mean that the players are finally listening to PH and PH just may know what he is doing?  It also nice to have a fully healthy D group since there is really only one new addition and that is Dahlin.  However having a healthy Bogo and McCabe has made a huge difference. I just wish PH would cut another 2-3 minutes off Risto’s ice time.  

[Thorner]

On 11/11/2018 at 7:37 PM, WildCard said:

We still desperately need offense, especially goals, from anyone not named Jeff Skinner.

I feel like, at least while Eichel and Skinner are playing together, if Jack increases his goal total it'll generally just mean Skinner is the one getting the assists instead, so as long as the goals are coming from that first line, Eichel-Skinner combo at the rate they are, I'm good with it no matter who's doing the finishing.

We can hope for a few more goals from guys like Rodrigues, who has zero, but realistically I don't think we are going to see much secondary scoring until Mittelstadt is truly settled in at 2C and producing, and elevating his line mates. 

But as has been suggested, perchance by Flagg, you can have success as a one-line team if they are really on, and your PP and special teams are clicking. Add in good goaltending and a D corps having more success moving the puck, and I have no issue with continuing this somewhat "lightning in a bottle" start  (due to the reliance on one line) considering Casey provides that long-term sustainability. The active components may carry us to surprising success this season.

 

[Gatorman0519]

It will be interesting to see the future as we have Nylander, Oloffson, Smith, Pilut, and Guhle getting nearer to make the jump maybe next year.  

[Taro T]

2 hours ago, Gatorman0519 said:

It will be interesting to see the future as we have Nylander, Oloffson, Smith, Pilut, and Guhle getting nearer to make the jump maybe next year.  

Kevin O was on GR today talking up the possibility of Malone &/or Cornel being close to challenging for bottom 6 slots as well.

The future looks bright.

[dudacek]

37 minutes ago, Taro T said:

Kevin O was on GR today talking up the possibility of Malone &/or Cornel being close to challenging for bottom 6 slots as well.

The future looks bright.

I have no illusions of Nylander or Olafsson replacing Skinner; if we’re lucky, one might be able to replace Sheary.

But I think it is a lot more likely that Botterill will use an NFL model of grooming and replacing from within than re-signing guys like Bogosian, Scandella and Sheary to the types of deals players of their age and stature typically get.

Skinner might be a different story, but it will take 40 goals and the playoffs for Botterill to even consider the type of long-term deal you guys have been throwing around.

He’s going to run this team like a business.

[Thorner]

45 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I have no illusions of Nylander or Olafsson replacing Skinner; if we’re lucky, one might be able to replace Sheary.

But I think it is a lot more likely that Botterill will use an NFL model of grooming and replacing from within than re-signing guys like Bogosian, Scandella and Sheary to the types of deals players of their age and stature typically get.

Skinner might be a different story, but it will take 40 goals and the playoffs for Botterill to even consider the type of long-term deal you guys have been throwing around.

He’s going to run this team like a business.

If the Sabres are in the goal scoring business, he best resign Jeff Skinner.

[PerreaultForever]

Like most people, I think it's a combination of many things but changing the leadership was a big one. It's not that Kane and O'Reilly are bad hockey players, obviously they are very talented, but they play like individuals, their way and only their way. We play like a team now and are much better for it. No one guy we got for O'Reilly is all that special, but they are all decent, and thus we have less weak links and a deeper roster. Better character and team unity, that's the key to build on and we have that now.

I also still think last year was a cleverly disguised tank year. Dahlin, for Housley's system, was always the goal. I doubt it was ever explicitly stated, but I am sure JBot was quite happy to start at the bottom and win that lottery. The odds were with him. 

[Marions Piazza]

There is obviously a lot of talk about RoR here and rightfully so. Something occured to me just now after reading all these posts.

I'd like to share a story, I will try to keep it as short as i can. Bear with me, i do have a point and it's about RoR.

In Eichel's rookie year, I had just got stationed in Texas about 4 hours away from Dallas. I met 2 other Sabres fans that were also stationed there with me. That year the Sabres were scheduled to play in Dallas just before T-giving on a Saturday night so we decided to get tickets and make a weekend out of it. Remembering that Moulson was in charge of the "tickets for the troops" program, i reached out to him on Twitter, told him that 3 Buffalo guys stationed in TX would be at the game and that we were hoping to get some auto-graphs. He messaged me back a day or two later and asked for our names and if we needed tix. I gave him our names but told him we had tickets. Fast forward to game day, we spent the day in Dallas (tons of Sabres fans around) Moulson messages me again and asked if we got our VIP passes yet, and i didn't know what he was talking about, so he told me to go to will call and give them my name, turns out Moulson got us passes to come down to the VIP area just outside the locker room for after the game! 

Sabres lost 3-0, but we still had fun. We head down to the locker room area and while we are waiting, these 3 super hot girls started making fun of us for our zubaz pants, my santa sabres hat etc. Moulson comes out and chats with us, super cool guy, sad he didn't work out for us. I got pictures with Kane, Eichel, Reinhart, Risto and got a hat auto-graphed as well. So Moulson spends the whole time chatting with us and all that, then says hey I have to head to the bus, thanks for your service and wish we couldve won for you guys. So the team heads to the bus and we leave, as we come around the side of the arena to find a place to drink, we see all the players together walking to the bus except for RoR, who's not with the team, he's on the other end of the block getting into a limo with the same 3 hot girls that were making fun of us earlier. At the time we laughed and that he was the man, but, looking at it a different way, it's almost like he only cared about himself and didn't want to be with the team after a tough loss. Maybe I am reading too much into it, but, that could speak to RoR's character a bit.

 

[Sabel79]

^^^^^^^

I’m laughing a super villain style belly laugh. There’s a reason Moulson, despite his abject uselessness was allowed to collect the full value of his contract and RoR was punted with all possible haste. 

[LGR4GM]

Just now, Sabel79 said:

^^^^^^^

I’m laughing a super villain style belly laugh. There’s a reason Moulson, despite his abject uselessness was allowed to collect the full value of his contract and RoR was punted with all possible haste. 

Botts did right by Moulson while still doing what was best for the team. 

[Marions Piazza]

1 minute ago, Sabel79 said:

^^^^^^^

I’m laughing a super villain style belly laugh. There’s a reason Moulson, despite his abject uselessness was allowed to collect the full value of his contract and RoR was punted with all possible haste. 

Yeah, it was a shame that Moulson didn't work out, great person, but the game moved on from him unfortunately. 

[Sabel79]

7 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Botts did right by Moulson while still doing what was best for the team. 

Which included punting ROR as hard as he could.  

[Marions Piazza]

4 minutes ago, Sabel79 said:

Which included punting ROR as hard as he could.  

punting is word that needs to be used more outside of football, i like 'sacked' as well. my wife and i watch the Premiere League and i loved it the first time i heard that a manager was 'sacked' for the team being garbage

[GASabresIUFAN]

What has really changed besides great goaltending by Hutton and Ullmark?  How about PH’s system that activates the D

Through 20 games top D

Dahlin 2g 8a 10pts

Risto 2g 7a 9pts

McCabe 2g 7a 9pts (had 12 pts all of last season)

Other 3 D 4g 9a 13 pts. 

Totals after 20 games 10g 41a

last season totals all D for the entire season - 19g 111a

Edited November 18, 2018 by GASabresIUFAN

[WildCard]

Insane to think that Dahlin, getting less minutes than most, is leading the blue line in points.