Game 1, Ice time....

[Thorner]

1 minute ago, Zamboni said:

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

You should start an "I couldn't care less about ice times" thread. 

[Taro T]

15 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.

And, again, completely uncertain why, but it seemed Scandella and Jokiharju were on the ice with Eichel a LOT.  Probably, with not having the last change, Krueger wanted the "defensive" defenseman Scandella out against Crosby should Sullivan continue to put that line out against Eichel.

Mildly surprised that Jokiharju got a lot of PK time but Miller got almost none but pretty sure RK wanted to keep his pairs together (he's been said to keep forward lines together to a fault, so not surprising he does that with the D as well) and he really wanted Scandella on the PK.

Surprised people were surprised at how little the Mittelstadt line played.  That kind will be 4th in ice time the entire year.  And wouldn't be surprised if Larsson's line ends up 2nd in ice time on home ice, especially against 1 team lines like Colorado.

[SwampD]

82 games is a lot of hockey for a 19 year old. I have no problem with RaKru pacing him. Especially because we had the lead the whole game.

[Randall Flagg]

I could honestly buy into Dahlin being sheltered a bit. I wouldn't make him last in ice time or anything, but let's see what fine-tuning Ralph has in store for him. Surely Ralph noticed the propensity for hand grenades last year.

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, mjd1001 said:

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

-but Dahlin only 15:45 ice time 

This doesn't surprise me at all.  I have no problem with giving Dahlin light minutes.  I think he was overused last year.  I think RFK is trying to groom/develop him by giving him favorable situation minutes.

He might be as good as Denis Potvin eventually, but he's still only 19. 

McCabe was a beast, but this has been true of McCabe (when healthy) for a while now.  I think the A on his sweater gave him a boost though.  He plays physical like Risto, but with a higher defensive hockey IQ.

Edited October 4, 2019 by Doohickie
or.... what Randall said about Dahlin.

[Doohicksie]

1 hour 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.

One of XHCPH's faults was riding his best players too hard.

[Thorner]

Just now, Doohickie said:

One of XHCPH's faults was riding his best players too hard.

Again, I don't think Eichel's ice time is going to go down, if tonight was any indication. In fact, it'll probably go up when we get more PPs. 

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

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

Eh...... he had too many brain farts where he beat himself.  He also made a lot of amazing plays that no one else even tries, but he had a lot of OH ***** moments.

4 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Again, I don't think Eichel's ice time is going to go down, if tonight was any indication. In fact, it'll probably go up when we get more PPs. 

I think RFK "manages" a game more consciously than any Sabres coach in recent years.  Usage will vary according to how games play out.

Edited October 4, 2019 by Doohickie

[pi2000]

BUF also had to kill off 3 penalties in the 3rd.   I'd rather have McCabe out there for those than Dahlin.     He's more experienced, better defensive awareness in his own end, probably stronger physically on pucks and just is in his prime right now.     Not worried at all about the minutes for Dahlin.

[Randall Flagg]

McCabe is a MAN who eats minutes for BREAKFAST

[Thorner]

22 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Eh...... he had too many brain farts where he beat himself.  He also made a lot of amazing plays that no one else even tries, but he had a lot of OH ***** moments.

I think RFK "manages" a game more consciously than any Sabres coach in recent years.  Usage will vary according to how games play out.

Yup, Dahlin was a net neutral I guess!

[Doohicksie]

No, a net positive for sure.

But don't exhaust him to the point that he makes mental errors.  Instill good habits in him.

[Thorner]

39 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

No, a net positive for sure.

But don't exhaust him to the point that he makes mental errors.  Instill good habits in him.

Ya, I guess it depends on what side of the ledger you come down on. I think his (relatively few, to good/great plays) are more often by far the product of lack of experience, rather than fatigue. He was already 4th on the team in average D ice time per game last season, I don't think that needs to be lowered, rather I'd expect that to increase in his second season if all goes to plan. 

He's going to be able to handle more than the 15 minutes he played today. But I'm sure it'll increase especially when we get more powerplays, but even still at even strength. 

Edited October 4, 2019 by Thorny

[dudacek]

3 hours 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.

The ice time seems odd, but he scored an awesome goal, was on for another, kept the egregious giveaways to a minimum and was on for none against, while his team dominated.

It worked.

[Stoner]

5 hours ago, dudacek said:

The ice time seems odd, but he scored an awesome goal, was on for another, kept the egregious giveaways to a minimum and was on for none against, while his team dominated.

It worked.

Right. It did work. Why would anyone want to flip Dahlin's and McCabe's ice time?

7 hours ago, Randall Flagg said:

I could honestly buy into Dahlin being sheltered a bit. I wouldn't make him last in ice time or anything, but let's see what fine-tuning Ralph has in store for him. Surely Ralph noticed the propensity for hand grenades last year.

And maybe he noticed another puck with the pin out last night.

7 hours ago, Thorny said:

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

 I wasn't suggesting Jack's ice time would be cut.

[triumph_communes]

McCabe was great out there he deserved it. The aggressive style suits him better than what Housley was doing. 
 

Miller was having a funky night and is probably what took away from Dahlin.

 

 

I liked the third line more than the second line that’s the only decision I was confused by. 

Edited October 4, 2019 by triumph_communes

[miles]

I'm going to trust Kruegar 's decisions. I like what he had to say in his press conference and the way the team played was incredible. 

If That means mckabe plays all the time then so be it

[nfreeman]

My only concern about the ice time last night is that I am skeptical that McCabe’s body can handle consistent high-minute usage given his injury history.  
I am fine with sheltering Dahlin a bit and am totally on board with him not playing on the PK.  Your Ferrari might be able to pull the tree stump out, but others are better suited for that job.  

I was pleasantly surprised by how well and in control the Scandy-Joker pairing played and if they keep that up I am fine with them getting plenty of ice time.  
Go Sabres.  
 

[LTS]

9 hours ago, WildCard said:

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 

I didn't watch every minute of pre-season, but I recall Dahlin turning the puck over quite a bit.  This might be one reason to lower his minutes.  Also, by lowering his minutes you reduce the workload as it stretches across the season.

That said, the trend could reverse itself in other games too.  If you believe your D pairings are somewhat equal, then perhaps you are rotating who is eating up minutes each night.  It would be a different concept, but when I look at the Sabres D, I don't see a clear 1D pairing.  McCabe looked good, but Risto is still Risto and if he drags that pair down on a night perhaps the Miller-Dahlin pairing is expected to step up.

We shall see. Dahlin will need to prove himself and I think we should be confident that it will happen.

[inkman]

11 hours ago, Thorny said:

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

Who made terrible glaring mistakes game in and game out.  Me thinks RaKru is putting Rasmus in the best position to succeed. Let's give it time and see where it goes. 

[Wyldnwoody44]

Also, take 4-6 minutes off the board he would have been out there, had the officials actually called a fair game. I'm trying to to gripe about the stripes so early, but that was a terrible opening night showing by them,and it did affect the ice time spread with all the PK's

[bob_sauve28]

2 hours ago, nfreeman said:

My only concern about the ice time last night is that I am skeptical that McCabe’s body can handle consistent high-minute usage given his injury history.  
I am fine with sheltering Dahlin a bit and am totally on board with him not playing on the PK.  Your Ferrari might be able to pull the tree stump out, but others are better suited for that job.  

I was pleasantly surprised by how well and in control the Scandy-Joker pairing played and if they keep that up I am fine with them getting plenty of ice time.  
Go Sabres.  
 

Yes! Was very surprised by that. Scandella looked like a new player and Joker played way better than in the last few pre-season games. Those long passes! ?

[WildCard]

8 minutes ago, Let's Go B-Lo said:

McCabe had 6 minutes of PK time, Dahlin had none.

Dahlin had about 13 minutes of 5 v. 5 time.

You want more minutes? Earn them. I like the approach to be honest.

As others have said I think the ice time was also skewed by playing with the lead and having only 2 PPs compared to 5 PKs.  Krueger also seemed to be playing matchups more towards the end and he took Olofsson off the top line at least once and put Vesey on in his place.  Given that Vesey also had almost 4 minutes of PK time compared to Olofsson's 0 I'd imagine that Krueger sees him as a better defensive option at this point.

 

 

In what way has Dahlin not earned ice time over McCabe? In what way has Rodrigues not earned ice time over Sobotka?

The whole "earn it" thing is so annoying and old school. Just play the players that are better, it's that easy

[erickompositör72]

12 minutes ago, WildCard said:

In what way has Dahlin not earned ice time over McCabe? In what way has Rodrigues not earned ice time over Sobotka?

The whole "earn it" thing is so annoying and old school. Just play the players that are better, it's that easy

I understand your perspective, but it also slightly comes across as a solution in search of a problem.

All the decisions made led to a win. I don't care who was on the ice- the decisions made by RK led to us dominate the game.

[Weave]

55 minutes ago, WildCard said:

Just play the players that are better, it's that easy

Except it's not.  Context matters. As does complimentary roles for the gameplan.

Last night worked.