Round Three:2019 Stanley Cup Playoffs The Conference Finals

[Zamboni]

48 minutes ago, SwampD said:

Wasn't sure who I was going to root for, then the puck dropped.

Go Canes.

Yea ... I’m reluctantly rooting for the candy canes too.

 

[Formerly Allan in MD]

Can someone please clone Aho and put a Sabres uniform on II?  This guy is rapidly becoming my favorite player not wearing a Sabres uniform.  Talk about heady play, he's the poster child.

[Brawndo]

13 minutes ago, Formerly Allan in MD said:

Can someone please clone Aho and put a Sabres uniform on II?  This guy is rapidly becoming my favorite player not wearing a Sabres uniform.  Talk about heady play, he's the poster child.

 

[SwampD]

That was a curious set of calls and non-calls.

[SwampD]

That's another bad call. I ***** hate the Bruins.

[Claude Balls]

2 minutes ago, SwampD said:

That's another bad call. I ***** hate the Bruins.

It's really starting to look like the NHL wants a Thornton vs Bruins final. Those last two calls were total horseshit.

[Wyldnwoody44]

Carolina was in control and then the stripes showed up, total junk, league really needs to look into these things 

[Claude Balls]

NHL - 1  Carolina - 0

Really starting to make this unwatchable.

Edited May 10, 2019 by Claude Balls

[CallawaySabres]

Man, will Buffalo ever be good again? Seriously, just making the playoffs in the next 2 years seems like a pipedream. 

[Formerly Allan in MD]

It was a trifecta loss by the Canes.  Staal takes a dumb penalty and Bruins tie it.  Refs allow Svechnikov to get whiplashed with no interference call while a penalty is called on Carolina; Bruins score.  Finally, coach pulls his goalie much too soon and Bruins feast.  Bad penalties, bad reffing, and bad coaching.  Tough way to lose. 

[Formerly Allan in MD]

3 minutes ago, CallawaySabres said:

Man, will Buffalo ever be good again? Seriously, just making the playoffs in the next 2 years seems like a pipedream. 

Especially when you watch the play of the teams in these playoffs.  We're nowhere close, although a real coach would help.

[Pimlach]

On 5/8/2019 at 2:53 PM, MakeSabresGrr8Again said:

I try to be a little optimistic on the other hand.

San Jose was only 1pt better in the standings with the addition off Kane than they were last year.

St. Louis only 5pts better with ROR. Last year they missed the playoffs with 94pts....those same 94pts this year would've got them in the playoffs.

The Sabres were 14pts better than last year without either of them and Lehner, while having coach lynched at the end of the year. Lehner was probably the one player that made the most difference to the team he joined. Good for him if he has changed his life around. 

Good post.  It gives me hope that we could be only a few key players, plus a goalie, and a coach away from a playoff team.  Of course that list seems formidable at times. 

 

I think the Blues are much improve with ROR and Binington, despite how the numbers compare to last season.  Also noticing that Schenn is a key playoff performer for them.   Their 2C is playing like a 1C in the playoffs. 

[That Aud Smell]

On 5/8/2019 at 3:20 PM, Weave said:

The pain for me resides in the idea that two supposed cancers that couldn’t be a part of this teams’ success are enjoying a great deal of success while our team continues to whither.

On 5/8/2019 at 6:44 PM, Weave said:

All y'all missed the point.  It wasn't that one of those guys made a difference, it was that no cancer is evident on those squads and both players are contributing well to success leading up to, and in, the playoffs.  They weren't cancers.  And they didn't need to go to build a winning team.

Two different players, for sure. I'm comfortable having concluded that Kane can fit in and do well with San Jose because they're a veteran team, and that he wasn't as good a fit in Buffalo because it's a team that needs to be led by young players.

As for ROR, the more distance I get from the situation the more it confuses me. Terrific player. Invaluable player. And yet, he had to go?

10 hours ago, Formerly Allan in MD said:

Can someone please clone Aho and put a Sabres uniform on II?  This guy is rapidly becoming my favorite player not wearing a Sabres uniform.  Talk about heady play, he's the poster child.

Sweet Baby Jesus, yes. I love watching him.

My context is limited in terms of being able to compare him to other players. Who's his veteran comparable?

[#freejame]

1 hour ago, That Aud Smell said:

Two different players, for sure. I'm comfortable having concluded that Kane can fit in and do well with San Jose because they're a veteran team, and that he wasn't as good a fit in Buffalo because it's a team that needs to be led by young players.

As for ROR, the more distance I get from the situation the more it confuses me. Terrific player. Invaluable player. And yet, he had to go?

Sweet Baby Jesus, yes. I love watching him.

My context is limited in terms of being able to compare him to other players. Who's his veteran comparable?

The O’Reilly situation continues to perplex me and I’ve more or less landed on there’s a lot of information we’re missing. To me, there’s four explanations: 

1.) ROR “lost his love of the game at times.”—I can damn near guarantee that anyone who is fully invested in any line of work, to include other Sabres on last years roster, would have a severe lack of fun and enjoyment over the course of a year in which they constantly failed, and I couldn’t imagine a single one of them held that against him, especially considering the effort was still there night in and night out.

VERDICT: Not an issue/no reason to trade/bad look for the franchise 

2.) ROR is a quitter and the fans/media revolted—see previous bullet. The fans saw ROR comments on the season and saw a quitter and a cry-baby and revolted against him as being a member of the organization. The fans pay the bills and Terry recognizes this and “ordered/requested” J-Botts move him. 

VERDICT: Huge issue from both a management standpoint and an ownership standpoint. Nobody wants their owner meddling in hockey ops and nobody wants to see their GM be a pushover to appease stupid people. Not a real reason to trade/bad look for the franchise

3.) Locker room strife—Jack and ROR just could not get along and Jack would not tolerate a single more day on the team with ROR/ROR wanted to be the leader of the team and it was clear that this team is intended for Jack and ROR asked to be traded because he didn’t want to play second fiddle. 

Verdict: this takes a little bit more speculation, but it’s possible XGMTM made assurances about leadership, roles, and responsibilities that were not held up by J-Botts when he took over. J-Bott wanted to be an “honorable franchise” and when he could no longer fulfill the promises of GMTM he got the best return he could (Biggest problem is the return, but the intentions are “pure.” But id take a scummy organization that wins over this nonsense.)/Jack saw himself and ROR as competing for leadership roles and responsibility and this irked Jack because he saw it as ROR encroaching on his territory and wanted him gone (huge issue of this is the case, as Jack puts himself over the team. My least favorite possibility but I feel like some combination of this scenario is what happened)

4.) J-Bott felt ROR was expendable/depth was more important for the team than a 2C/Mitts would equal ROR production

Verdict: Huge issue. J-Bott would have been right that the team needed depth, but not at the expense of the 2C. If this is the reason for the trade, J-Bott isn’t long for the NHL. 

 

The moral of the post post is I’m right there with you. He had to go? Something is missing and I doubt we ever know. Regardless, I’m over the trade, but not quite over being confused by it. 

Edited May 10, 2019 by #freejame
This is definitely the wrong thread for this...sorry

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

1 hour ago, Pimlach said:

Good post.  It gives me hope that we could be only a few key players, plus a goalie, and a coach away from a playoff team.  Of course that list seems formidable at times. 

 

I think the Blues are much improve with ROR and Binington, despite how the numbers compare to last season.  Also noticing that Schenn is a key playoff performer for them.   Their 2C is playing like a 1C in the playoffs. 

We definitely have some work to do.....I don't envy whomever the next HC is. We need to hit on this draft and maybe a draft day deal.

The Bozak line played well in the Dallas series as well. Just don't understand why that team was so bad early on with all that talent.

[Doohicksie]

20 minutes ago, MakeSabresGrr8Again said:

Just don't understand why that team was so bad early on with all that talent.

Yeo and Jake Allen.

[LGR4GM]

7 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Yeo and Jake Allen.

[MakeSabresGrr8Again]

1 minute ago, Doohickie said:

Yeo and Jake Allen.

Sorry but not necessarily true. ROR was performing well right from the start of the season....most others were below career averages in all stats. Coaches and goalies don't score goals and Dmen are supposed to help keep pucks out. That team wasn't doing anything right. The coach is a better bet maybe because of the system they played...not sure that was the problem though. They struggled in all areas. The coaching change came early on and didn't change that until after Binnington came along. But they had problems offensively too in the beginning. 

[Doohicksie]

4 minutes ago, MakeSabresGrr8Again said:

That team wasn't doing anything right.

Poor system = bad coach.

And I did some reading on the Blues forum.  The fan base clearly felt that Jake Allen's time had come and gone.  He was viewed much the same as we viewed Lehner. 

Edited May 10, 2019 by Doohickie

[dudacek]

1 hour ago, #freejame said:

The O’Reilly situation continues to perplex me and I’ve more or less landed on there’s a lot of information we’re missing. To me, there’s four explanations: 

1.) ROR “lost his love of the game at times.”—I can damn near guarantee that anyone who is fully invested in any line of work, to include other Sabres on last years roster, would have a severe lack of fun and enjoyment over the course of a year in which they constantly failed, and I couldn’t imagine a single one of them held that against him, especially considering the effort was still there night in and night out.

VERDICT: Not an issue/no reason to trade/bad look for the franchise 

2.) ROR is a quitter and the fans/media revolted—see previous bullet. The fans saw ROR comments on the season and saw a quitter and a cry-baby and revolted against him as being a member of the organization. The fans pay the bills and Terry recognizes this and “ordered/requested” J-Botts move him. 

VERDICT: Huge issue from both a management standpoint and an ownership standpoint. Nobody wants their owner meddling in hockey ops and nobody wants to see their GM be a pushover to appease stupid people. Not a real reason to trade/bad look for the franchise

3.) Locker room strife—Jack and ROR just could not get along and Jack would not tolerate a single more day on the team with ROR/ROR wanted to be the leader of the team and it was clear that this team is intended for Jack and ROR asked to be traded because he didn’t want to play second fiddle. 

Verdict: this takes a little bit more speculation, but it’s possible XGMTM made assurances about leadership, roles, and responsibilities that were not held up by J-Botts when he took over. J-Bott wanted to be an “honorable franchise” and when he could no longer fulfill the promises of GMTM he got the best return he could (Biggest problem is the return, but the intentions are “pure.” But id take a scummy organization that wins over this nonsense.)/Jack saw himself and ROR as competing for leadership roles and responsibility and this irked Jack because he saw it as ROR encroaching on his territory and wanted him gone (huge issue of this is the case, as Jack puts himself over the team. My least favorite possibility but I feel like some combination of this scenario is what happened)

4.) J-Bott felt ROR was expendable/depth was more important for the team than a 2C/Mitts would equal ROR production

Verdict: Huge issue. J-Bott would have been right that the team needed depth, but not at the expense of the 2C. If this is the reason for the trade, J-Bott isn’t long for the NHL. 

 

The moral of the post post is I’m right there with you. He had to go? Something is missing and I doubt we ever know. Regardless, I’m over the trade, but not quite over being confused by it. 

 

I think Occam’s Razor applies: the brass spoke about culture change and essentially auctioned ROR to the highest bidder.

Not saying it was the right move, but I don’t think the “why” requires any more answer than that.

Edited May 10, 2019 by dudacek

[LGR4GM]

6 minutes ago, MakeSabresGrr8Again said:

Sorry but not necessarily true. ROR was performing well right from the start of the season....most others were below career averages in all stats. Coaches and goalies don't score goals and Dmen are supposed to help keep pucks out. That team wasn't doing anything right. The coach is a better bet maybe because of the system they played...not sure that was the problem though. They struggled in all areas. The coaching change came early on and didn't change that until after Binnington came along. But they had problems offensively too in the beginning. 

hard to play offense when you can't trust your goaltending. 

Allen: .905sv%

Binnington: .927sv%

[dudacek]

Just now, LGR4GM said:

hard to play offense when you can't trust your goaltending. 

Allen: .905sv%

Binnington: .927sv%

Hmm...so your saying that the Sabres second-half collapse could have been prevented entirely by above-average goaltending.

Because our guys had less than Binnington numbers when we were a winning team and worse than Allen when we were not.

[LGR4GM]

5 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Hmm...so your saying that the Sabres second-half collapse could have been prevented entirely by above-average goaltending.

Because our guys had less than Binnington numbers when we were a winning team and worse than Allen when we were not.

Probably not entirely but goaltending would have helped. The defense was also atrocious. I mean if we had gotten .920% we might have made the playoffs. We could actually do the math and figure out how many goals we needed to prevent. 

Ullmark, .905%

Hutton, .908%

Edited May 10, 2019 by LGR4GM

[Doohicksie]

4 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Hmm...so your saying that the Sabres second-half collapse could have been prevented entirely by above-average goaltending.

Because our guys had less than Binnington numbers when we were a winning team and worse than Allen when we were not.

Goaltending clearly helped the Sabres early, so, yeah.

[LGR4GM]

Out of 42 goalies who started at least 20 games, Ullmark is tied for 40th with Copley and Allen. Hutton is tied for 33rd with Domingue, Nilsson, and Crawford. Those are some atrocious save percentages. Again I think Phil Housley had one of the worst defensive zone structures in the league but still that is basement level gt and even mildly competent GT would have helped. 

Binnington ranked 4th while Allen was tied for 40th. That's how you get the Blues from basement to Conference Finals. Granted why the GT is good is more nuanced but still interesting to see. 

Edited May 10, 2019 by LGR4GM