Game 1, Ice time....

[mjd1001]

Good win by the Sabres, but I was surprised by some of the ice time given to players....

D-unit: -Mcabe 25:11 ice time, Risto 23:53 ice time.

-but Dahlin only 15:45 ice time 

 

Forwards: -Despite the goals scored, Sheary and Mittlestadt both about 9:20 ice time..and both with about 1.5 minutes on the PP, so they would get just under 8:00 even strength for the game.

-Sabotka 16:14 ice time (about 14:00 even strength), even Larson 14:01 ice time (about 9 minutes even strength)

 

Its just game one, but it will be interesting to see how much everyone is used going forward.

 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

The Sabres played like a real *team*. It was a complete team effort, which is what RaKru has been preaching. 

I would not worry about ice time. It worked and next time the times will likely come out different. 

[WildCard]

16m for Dahlin and 25 for McCabe is asinine 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

12 minutes ago, WildCard said:

16m for Dahlin and 25 for McCabe is asinine 

I bet a lot that much of that difference was in the 3rd period when, as @Taro T pointed out, they were defending a 2 goal lead.

Not to worry, my friend. 

Edited October 4, 2019 by New Scotland (NS)

[inkman]

13 minutes ago, WildCard said:

16m for Dahlin and 25 for McCabe is asinine 

Dude.  They won. Handily. 

[Curt]

1 minute ago, New Scotland (NS) said:

I bet a lot that much of that difference was in the 3rd period when, as @Taro T pointed out, they were defending a 2 goal lead.

Not to worry, my friend. 

I don’t think so.  McCabe was leading team in mins from 1st period on.

[Stoner]

12 minutes ago, WildCard said:

16m for Dahlin and 25 for McCabe is asinine 

Would you really want to replay this game and give Dahlin 26 minutes? RaKru knows what he's doing. He's already hinted at sheltering Eichel a bit from the mantle of "leadership." And Jack is in his fifth season.

[WildCard]

2 minutes ago, inkman said:

Dude.  They won. Handily. 

Right I'm not complaining about that, but it's not a wild thing to say that Dahlin is significantly better than McCabe. I wouldn't trade the result, and it's one game so maybe the matchups and Krueger's first game dictated this; I'm not condemning him I just hope it's not a theme 

[Curt]

This will be sort of interesting to watch going forward.  I’m sure it will fluctuate a bit from game to game.  If they keep looking as good as tonight, I won’t care who is getting ice time.

[WildCard]

5 minutes ago, New Scotland (NS) said:

I bet a lot that much of that difference was in the 3rd period when, as @Taro T pointed out, they were defending a 2 goal lead.

Not to worry, my friend. 

This is a good point, I didn't see Taro's post tbh

[Sabres Fan in NS]

2 minutes ago, Curt said:

I don’t think so.  McCabe was leading team in mins from 1st period on.

OK. I think for a very good reason. Dahlin should not get the minutes he got last season, IMHO. At least not early in the season.

[Thorner]

1 minute ago, WildCard said:

This is a good point, I didn't see Taro's post tbh

Dahlin was behind even before the 3rd. 

[WildCard]

Just now, Thorny said:

Dahlin was behind even before the 3rd. 

Can't say I love that but we'll see how it plays out going forward 

[Thorner]

Just now, New Scotland (NS) said:

OK. I think for a very good reason. Dahlin should not get the minutes he got last season, IMHO. At least not early in the season.

Dahlin was our best defender last season, with the possible exception of Montour. 

[WildCard]

1 minute ago, New Scotland (NS) said:

OK. I think for a very good reason. Dahlin should not get the minutes he got last season, IMHO. At least not early in the season.

The thing is young guys are better now than ever before. This isn't the 90s or even early 2000s where you have to ease them in, especially not a sophomore and especially not Dahlin

[Thorner]

7 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Would you really want to replay this game and give Dahlin 26 minutes? RaKru knows what he's doing. He's already hinted at sheltering Eichel a bit from the mantle of "leadership." And Jack is in his fifth season.

He's not gonna do that with ice-time. Jack had more today than his average last year. 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

1 minute ago, Thorny said:

Dahlin was our best defender last season, with the possible exception of Montour. 

This is a new season, new coach and new system. 

Was Dahlin our best defensive defenseman last season? I don't think so.

[Curt]

3 minutes ago, New Scotland (NS) said:

OK. I think for a very good reason. Dahlin should not get the minutes he got last season, IMHO. At least not early in the season.

I’m not complaining about it tonight, but those ice time numbers are going to need to even out.  I’d honestly ideally like to see the top 4 get pretty even ice time with everyone between 20-22 mins per night.

[Thorner]

2 minutes ago, New Scotland (NS) said:

This is a new season, new coach and new system. 

Was Dahlin our best defensive defenseman last season? I don't think so.

Ok, but isn't the inherent logic in the argument that your best overall players 5 v 5 players should play the most 5 v 5 ice time? I'm not looking to reshuffle the game we just played I'm just speaking in general moving forward. 

If Dahlin is better than McCabe, he should play more. I feel like that's a given. If you want to argue McCabe is a better all around player, that's a different matter. 

Edited October 4, 2019 by Thorny

[In The Buff]

By all accounts Dahlin had a lackadaisical preseason, so perhaps RK was limiting his ice time because he wasn't sure which Dahlin was gonna show up, or bcuz he wanted to ease him into the game/season or perhaps it was to limit his ice time to motivate him to elevate his play to earn more.

Whatever the reason was, it worked. I wouldnt read too much into it personally with it being just the 1st game on the road vs a talented Pen team

[Thorner]

3 minutes ago, MillerVaive said:

By all accounts Dahlin had a lackadaisical preseason, so perhaps RK was limiting his ice time because he wasn't sure which Dahlin was gonna show up, or bcuz he wanted to ease him into the game/season or perhaps it was to limit his ice time to motivate him to elevate his play to earn more.

Whatever the reason was, it worked. I wouldnt read too much into it personally with it being just the 1st game on the road vs a talented Pen team

Right, it's totally fine for the game today. Or next next game, whatever. But if we are half way through the season and Dahlin isn't right there with the top minute eaters, there's an issue, whether with who's dolling out the minutes, or with Dahlin's play itself. 

Edited October 4, 2019 by Thorny

[Randall Flagg]

You can find lots of individual wacky TOI deployments in random games any given year, I wouldn't really take them to heart for another few weeks.

[Curt]

It’s probably just that Krueger is asking the D to do some different things than Housley, and Housley asked Dahlin to do different things than his HC in the SHL, and Dahlin may just be adjusting.  It’s ok if Krueger sees Dahlin as not quite fully on the same page yet and is giving him the time to settle in without overexposing him.  It’s going to work itself out.

[Thorner]

4 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

You can find lots of individual wacky TOI deployments in random games any given year, I wouldn't really take them to heart for another few weeks.

Right, that's totally fair. 

[Zamboni]

I couldn’t care less about ice times, as long as it helps to result in a win.