GDT 2/25/21: 7pm ET, NJ Devils @ Sabres, local TV and Radio

[dudacek]

39 minutes ago, nucci said:

I was just gonna say (3) 30 goal seasons and (1) 40 goal

My question was about how much more leeway does he get?

He's had one good month out of the past 10. When does his current performance start outweighing his past performance?

[nucci]

1 minute ago, dudacek said:

My question was about how much more leeway does he get?

He's had one good month out of the past 10. When does his current performance start outweighing his past performance?

I wasn't arguing that point. I'm trying to figure why this is happening

[Marvin]

1 hour ago, Mustache of God said:

He was on the ice...with the taxi squad. 

 

At this rate he'll be in the AHL by the weekend, EHL by April and on my beer league team by May.

Ugh.  I just had flashbacks to Real Cloutier.

[That Aud Smell]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

1. I am not stalking you.

2. I wouldn't discount some psychic connection. I mean we're all in each others' heads anyway. I honestly don't know why kitchen reno came to me. Weird.

1. Thought I got Hank'd.

2. That is really something.

[dudacek]

48 minutes ago, Brawndo said:

And with those Stats 

Skinner was third on the team for ES Goals behind Jack and Sam and was fourth in total goals scored last season.

Krueger is a Sub .500 Coach, he gets the benefit of the doubt for one scratch, but three games in a row?

Nah, I’m done.

Skinner got 7 of his 14 goals in the first month of the season, playing with Sobotka and Johansson.

He got 12 goals in Housley's final 41 games playing mostly with Jack and Sam. Krueger has not done everything he could to restart Skinner's game, but Skinner stopped scoring long before Krueger got here.

8 minutes ago, nucci said:

I wasn't arguing that point. I'm trying to figure why this is happening

And you don't think the numbers I posted have anything to do with it (the benching, I mean)?

Edited February 25, 2021 by dudacek

[pi2000]

1 hour ago, thewookie1 said:

Here's my theory on Eichel...

Although a workout junkie and such; he let himself go a little during the whole pandemic thing. After all many people became depressed or gained weight; even very disciplined people fell to it. The mere fact Buffalo nearly made the expanded playoff but quite literally missed it in the way we did could of certainly left him depressed and angry over the whole situation. He started getting back into preparation stage at the start of the new offseason but likely underestimated how much time he would need to get back to peak performance. Then he ends up injuring himself near the season's start only furthering the issues. As such he's been physically playing catch up the entire season trying to re-find his body's peak like it had last year. 

So I don't see this as much as him being lazy but rather a combination of external and personal issues creating a perfect storm where he just doesn't feel right.

 

nah

i'm convinced it's one or more of the following...

1. fortnite addiction (thanks Casey)
2. developed a marijuana habit to soothe his fragile emotional well-being
3. bad hair day
4. rabies
5. rickets
6. dysentery
7. undiagnosed neurological disorder
8. IBS
9. ran out of sock tape
10. villeleinoitis
11. IBS
12. lost his love of the game
13. possessed by demons
14. simply forgot how to hockey after the long layoff
15. was abducted by aliens, transported to parallel universe... replaced with beserko Eichel
16. forgot he's actually a lefty
17. optical disorder / huttonitis 
18. forgot to sharpen his skates
19. paul hamilton
20. constipation
21. syphilis (@Doohickie)

 

 

Edited February 25, 2021 by pi2000
Doohickie gave him syphilis apparently

[Doohicksie]

1 minute ago, pi2000 said:

nah

i'm convinced it's one or more of the following...

1. fortnite addiction (thanks Casey)
2. developed a marijuana habit to soothe his fragile emotional well-being
3. bad hair day
4. rabies
5. rickets
6. dysentery
7. undiagnosed neurological disorder
8. IBS
9. ran out of sock tape
10. villeleinoitis
11. IBS
12. lost his love of the game
13. possessed by demons
14. simply forgot how to hockey after the long layoff
15. was abducted by aliens, transported to parallel universe... replaced with beserko Eichel
16. forgot he's actually a lefty
17. optical disorder / huttonitis 
18. forgot to sharpen his skates
19. paul hamilton
20. constipation

Syphilis should be on that list too.  Where is the syphilis???

[pi2000]

3 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Syphilis should be on that list too.  Where is the syphilis???

fixed

[Torpedo Forecheck]

When you take a guy who's been a big scorer his whole life, as Jeff has been  (a Top 6 at worst-usually more), and start jerking him around and make him a bottom 6 forward as Krueger did last year. And, then start spouting off about not working on what needs too, it begs the question Mr.Coach- what the hell's goin on?

I wonder what the hell some of our other stars would be doing if Rakru had come in and put these guys down in Skinner's role? 

It could be that Skinner's psyche is a mess now and pounding into him I don't like you is having an impact now. I mean this has been building up for a year and half.

Is it not coach's job to get the most out of the players?

[Pimlach]

3 hours ago, Trettioåtta said:

The Skinner stuff is odd. There must be some drama behind the scenes.

Even a punishment benching is usually 1-2 games at most

There is more.  

[Getpucksdeep]

2 hours ago, Gatorman0519 said:

I still am stunned JBot handed Skinner that contract.  Incredible.

Fwiw - old thread waiting for Skinner signing here: 

My quick look says board consensus was 8 x 8.  I don't think the frustration here would be much less if that's what it was (8 vs 9). #drillanotherwell

Also from that thread, Eichel propping up his boy:

 

[dudacek]

46 minutes ago, Torpedo Forecheck said:

When you take a guy who's been a big scorer his whole life, as Jeff has been  (a Top 6 at worst-usually more), and start jerking him around and make him a bottom 6 forward as Krueger did last year. And, then start spouting off about not working on what needs too, it begs the question Mr.Coach- what the hell's goin on?

 

Just because people keep saying this doesn't make it true.

Skinner continued to play close to 18 minutes a night in November and December last season despite the fact he only scored 4 goals in that period and started what eventually became a 22-game goalless drought.

Skinner stopped scoring well before Krueger started "jerking him around"

 

[woods-racer]

2 hours ago, New Scotland (NS) said:

GO SABRES!!

MUST WIN!!

+++++

That said, WTF is going on with Skinner.  He needs to play.  Bloody hel!!

You know it's getting really bad when NS lets a naughty word slip out, but two, in the same sentence even?

It's surely means the tipping point has been reached.

 

[Torpedo Forecheck]

41 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Just because people keep saying this doesn't make it true.

Skinner continued to play close to 18 minutes a night in November and December last season despite the fact he only scored 4 goals in that period and started what eventually became a 22-game goalless drought.

Skinner stopped scoring well before Krueger started "jerking him around"

 

Stop it, check out his OZ starts and usual linemates, they have both been posted today.

[Radar]

42 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Just because people keep saying this doesn't make it true.

Skinner continued to play close to 18 minutes a night in November and December last season despite the fact he only scored 4 goals in that period and started what eventually became a 22-game goalless drought.

Skinner stopped scoring well before Krueger started "jerking him around"

 

Couldn't that be said for the entire team. Come on he's the one possible player that may be able to get us a five on five goal at this point. Further more isn't coaching to get the best out of your players? If so this team as a whole looks pretty underachieving. 

[Marvin]

2 hours ago, dudacek said:

How much more?

Jeff Skinner's monthly goal totals since the second half of his last season in Carolina (the bolded marks his first three seasons in Buffalo:

• Jan. 2018 3
• Feb. 2018 5
• Mar. 2018 4
• Apr. 2018 0
• Oct. 2018: 6
• Nov. 2018: 14
• Dec. 2018: 6
• Jan. 2019: 5
• Feb. 2019: 5
• Mar. 2019 1
• Apr. 2019: 3
• Oct 2019: 7
• Nov. 2019: 3
• Dec. 2019: 1
• Jan. 2020: 0
• Feb. 2020: 3
• Mar. 2020: 0
• Jan. 2021: 0
• Jan. 2021: 0

Think a graph might show and interesting trend? He's had one good month out of the past 10, four out of the past 19.

Kyle Okposo has a good history of scoring goals prior to turning 27 and signing a big contract.

EDIT: Also, interesting to note that his second-best month came playing under Ralph (italics)with Sobotka and Johansson on his line.

Some perspective:

• Complaining about his performance in January and February seems a bit churlish:
  • 5 goals in January 2019 was over 10 games, so still a 40 goal pace.  The Sabres scored 30 goals that month.
  • 3 goals in first half of February 2019 was over 6 games, or a 40 goal pace.  The Sabres scored 19 goals in that fortnight.
  • He scored at lower rates on a higher scoring team in October and December.
• On the other hand, you can rightfully complain about him from 15 February through 2 April 2019: 2 goals on 15 February against the Rangers, 1 goal against Carolina on 16 March, 1 goal against Nashville on 2 April, and 6 games with an assist over a 3-18-3 stretch.
  • His funk was far worse than either Jack's or Sam's.  Also, relative to the team, it was by far the biggest drop-off in scoring.
  • The Sabres scored only 35 goals in this 24 game stretch; they went from scoring 3.3 goals per game to 1.46.  Even if skinner scores 10 more goals, that's still less than 2 goals a game for the team.  Yes, Skinner scored far less than everyone else and his drop off was the worst drop-off for the regulars, but everyone else went dry too.

It looks like he had 2/3 of a season at a 51 goal pace and 1/4 in a funk with the team.  I refuse to pin his scoring slump on just him -- he had a lot of company.  (I pin most of it on GMJB with some on PH coming unglued due to frustration, but that's just me.)

Moreover, your numbers clearly show his deteriorating performance under Ralph Krueger.  Clearly, his playing style and Ralph Krueger's system are not miscible as it is.  And, if you pin Skinner's deteriorating play on him (I agree to some extent, and, IMHO, this evaluation is eminently fair), why don't you then pin some of the team's mediocre performance on Krueger as well and seem to completely absolve him of any responsibility for Skinner's fade?

[SABRES 0311]

4 minutes ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

Some perspective:

• Complaining about his performance in January and February seems a bit churlish:
  • 5 goals in January 2019 was over 10 games, so still a 40 goal pace.  The Sabres scored 30 goals that month.
  • 3 goals in first half of February 2019 was over 6 games, or a 40 goal pace.  The Sabres scored 19 goals in that fortnight.
  • He scored at lower rates on a higher scoring team in October and December.
• On the other hand, you can rightfully complain about him from 15 February through 2 April 2019: 2 goals on 15 February against the Rangers, 1 goal against Carolina on 16 March, 1 goal against Nashville on 2 April, and 6 games with an assist over a 3-18-3 stretch.
  • His funk was far worse than either Jack's or Sam's.  Also, relative to the team, it was by far the biggest drop-off in scoring.
  • The Sabres scored only 35 goals in this 24 game stretch; they went from scoring 3.3 goals per game to 1.46.  Even if skinner scores 10 more goals, that's still less than 2 goals a game for the team.  Yes, Skinner scored far less than everyone else and his drop off was the worst drop-off for the regulars, but everyone else went dry too.

It looks like he had 2/3 of a season at a 51 goal pace and 1/4 in a funk with the team.  I refuse to pin his scoring slump on just him -- he had a lot of company.  (I pin most of it on GMJB with some on PH coming unglued due to frustration, but that's just me.)

Moreover, your numbers clearly show his deteriorating performance under Ralph Krueger.  Clearly, his playing style and Ralph Krueger's system are not miscible as it is.  And, if you pin Skinner's deteriorating play on him (I agree to some extent, and, IMHO, this evaluation is eminently fair), why don't you then pin some of the team's mediocre performance on Krueger as well and seem to completely absolve him of any responsibility for Skinner's fade?

Skinner had success on Eichel’s line in the past.  The current way is not working.  Seems like a simple solution to a simple problem.  At this point I think we can speculate whose gone first, Skinner or RK.  My money is on RK.

[Kruppstahl]

Anyone listen to Krueger's pre-game PC?  

He was asked about Skinner.

He went out of his way to emphasize that he loves being transparent with the press, he would love to be able to tell everything that is going on, and that there is a lot of stuff going on in totality behind the scenes.

But he can't say everything and he assured everyone they are making decisions with all factors in mind for the good of the entire team/organization.

It was interesting...basically saying "Hey guys, if you knew everything I know, you'd know why he's been scratched 3 games in a row too!"

I wonder if Skinner straight up skips team meetings or something? And has been warned not to, and he thumbed his nose at the organization anyway?  Something like that?

Then again, Ralph has suggested Skinner is a consummate professional.

I have no idea what is going on!

 

 

 

[Zamboni]

Maybe he waived his NMC. And asked to be traded.

 

of course that should be kept quiet and under wraps.

Edited February 25, 2021 by Zamboni

[IKnowPhysics]

22 minutes ago, Kruppstahl said:

Anyone listen to Krueger's pre-game PC?  

He was asked about Skinner.

He went out of his way to emphasize that he loves being transparent with the press, he would love to be able to tell everything that is going on, and that there is a lot of stuff going on in totality behind the scenes.

But he can't say everything and he assured everyone they are making decisions with all factors in mind for the good of the entire team/organization.

It was interesting...basically saying "Hey guys, if you knew everything I know, you'd know why he's been scratched 3 games in a row too!"

I wonder if Skinner straight up skips team meetings or something? And has been warned not to, and he thumbed his nose at the organization anyway?  Something like that?

Then again, Ralph has suggested Skinner is a consummate professional.

I have no idea what is going on!

He said before the last game, after specifically being asked, that Skinner being benched was not disciplinary in any way.

edit: And definitively repeated that again today.

Edited February 25, 2021 by IKnowPhysics

[Zamboni]

Uni’s .... 

 

[Zamboni]

Eichel out

[IKnowPhysics]

Anyways, ***** all the off ice stuff.  Must win.

[steveoath]

Gawd. What are the lines tonight then?

[IKnowPhysics]

1 minute ago, Zamboni said:

Eichel out

Now wait a minute.