Sabres Practices Under Ralph

[JoeSchmoe]

Is it possible that the Sabres either practice with less frequency or less intensity than other teams? 

Anecdotally it seems like you hear Ralph talking a lot about rest days. 

Visually, they just don't seem sharp, in that they don't execute on the little things (missing point blank opportunities, hitting posts, passing just a little off, etc).

When you look at almost the entire roster playing below their career norms, lack of practice could be the prime reason.

I could just see Ralph playing the nice guy card and taking the easy route over and over just to keep a positive attitude in the room. Also, I could see some of Terry's nouveau conditioning pros taking on a less is more attitude you hear about these days (kind of like my kids' "new" math!).

I'm not saying he needs to bag skate them as punishment old school style... But he could still make sure they're working hard on a consistent basis, keeping the skills sharp at game speed, and just teaching overall work ethic. Maybe I'm wrong, but I think he's just not pushing them hard enough.

[Randall Flagg]

I'd pay money to be able to watch footage of 5 different teams' practices over the span of a couple months to compare to ours 

[SDS]

Do the game schedule there’s virtually no practices this year.

[Randall Flagg]

I'd definitely request footage from last year and training camp 

I'm convinced that for a team to be bottom of the barrel at 5v5 scoring chance generation for so long, we have to be missing something at practice lol

 

[SwampD]

2 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said:

I'd definitely request footage from last year and training camp 

I'm convinced that for a team to be bottom of the barrel at 5v5 scoring chance generation for so long, we have to be missing something at practice lol

 

PHam said a couple of games ago that they don't care about offsides in practice, so it's no wonder that it happens in games.

[JoeSchmoe]

1 minute ago, SDS said:

Do the game schedule there’s virtually no practices this year.

Is that a rule, or is that a decision made by the team that they're better off resting? 

I used to compete in rowing... I never quite made the national team, but I was in the system. We trained 2 and 3 times a day, and went a lot harder than what hockey players do. Sure we'd rest a bit before key races, but if we rested every other day, we'd never get better.

[SDS]

3 minutes ago, JoeSchmoe said:

Is that a rule, or is that a decision made by the team that they're better off resting? 

I used to compete in rowing... I never quite made the national team, but I was in the system. We trained 2 and 3 times a day, and went a lot harder than what hockey players do. Sure we'd rest a bit before key races, but if we rested every other day, we'd never get better.

They are playing an extraordinary amount of games on a short period of time. There’s just simply not time for it. 

[ubkev]

They do practice against the worst goaltending in the league. Maybe they think they have good schemes. 

In case they don't know, just because you can score on Carter Hutton and JJ doesn't mean you can beat an NHL tender.

[pi2000]

Eichel talks about it a bit here at the 44:20 mark...

https://youtu.be/vFxWOL1LXn4

...summary is that they didn't do any fitness testing, or bag skates to get ready for the season.

Also with their condensed schedule I think the CBA prevents then from practicing on single rest days or some weird rule like that.

[JoeSchmoe]

9 minutes ago, SDS said:

They are playing an extraordinary amount of games on a short period of time. There’s just simply not time for it. 

Again, as someone that's done 2 or 3's a day 6 days a week, you can practice hard every off day, and have a light skate on game day. The light work actually helps with recovery.

[LGR4GM]

1 minute ago, JoeSchmoe said:

Again, as someone that's done 2 or 3's a day 6 days a week, you can practice hard every off day, and have a light skate on game day. The light work actually helps with recovery.

Pretty sure the CBA prohibits 2 a day's

[Curt]

1 minute ago, LGR4GM said:

Pretty sure the CBA prohibits 2 a day's

What about 3 a days?

 

Sorry, I’ll see myself out.

Edited March 16, 2021 by Curt
I’m really sorry.

[Pimlach]

Ralph said it tonight.  They play every other day so no practice.  They learn his magical system in games.  
 

They have great meetings though.  

[SwampD]

2 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Pretty sure the CBA prohibits 2 a day's

We've been witnessing no-a-days for the past month.

[JoeSchmoe]

My point was if the CBA allowed it, they should be practicing on days off. 

[pi2000]

I just downloaded the CBA and it states a min. of 4 days off per month.   

They have 14 off days this month, so they should be practicing twice with a day off per week.

[LGR4GM]

4 minutes ago, JoeSchmoe said:

My point was if the CBA allowed it, they should be practicing on days off. 

The cba does have rest day requirements but someone with more knowledge would have to speak to it. 

[Randall Flagg]

49 minutes ago, SwampD said:

PHam said a couple of games ago that they don't care about offsides in practice, so it's no wonder that it happens in games.

That has stuck with me too. Vogl also said the same thing. 

[PerreaultForever]

I've wondered about this team's fitness level for a few years now. They never seem to be able to sustain effort for all 3 periods of any game. I've tended to attribute that to laziness and a simple lack of desire/effort, but maybe it's just lousy fitness for this level of athlete. 

[LTS]

I would imagine that the stuff you see in the games is accepted in practice and that's the problem.  There is clearly no attention paid to the little things and those little things make a difference.

Everything about how they play, to me, indicates poor coaching.  A team that is not sharp and not required to be sharp. 

[Marvin]

17 hours ago, SDS said:

They are playing an extraordinary amount of games on a short period of time. There’s just simply not time for it. 

 

17 hours ago, pi2000 said:

I just downloaded the CBA and it states a min. of 4 days off per month.   

They have 14 off days this month, so they should be practicing twice with a day off per week.

 

17 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

The cba does have rest day requirements but someone with more knowledge would have to speak to it. 

There are also limits on how you can allocate that time.  For instance, I recall that "travel days" can't be rest days...but they are useless for practise.  Ralph may be a bad coach, but that break from COVID-19 exacerbated the problems and super-magnified every problem he and this team have.  Moreover, because NJD suddenly couldn't score on a soccer net either after that hiatus with Buffalo, I figure that the hiatus was a killer for both teams: they were already rusty and then had a 2 week stoppage on top of it to lose whatever chemistry they had.

The difference is, we could deal with just an interim coach right now.  I don't care if it is Matt Ellis, Ted Nolan, or Pete DeBoer -- just get RK outta here.  Just his presence is undermining the team.

[grinreaper]

My observations from watching the games is that the Sabre's passing is imprecise and lazy. They give up too many opportunities by giving the puck away by no look drop passes and passes that are rarely on the tape. They can enter the offensive zone on a 3 on 1 and expertly put the puck in their linemate's skates.

[SDS]

17 hours ago, LTS said:

I would imagine that the stuff you see in the games is accepted in practice and that's the problem.  There is clearly no attention paid to the little things and those little things make a difference.

Everything about how they play, to me, indicates poor coaching.  A team that is not sharp and not required to be sharp. 

How does one coach being onside  at the NHL level? They have literally played hockey all their lives.

[LTS]

7 minutes ago, SDS said:

How does one coach being onside  at the NHL level? They have literally played hockey all their lives.

Yes, and yet here are all these players having trouble with the basics of the game. 

It's not coaching onsides so much as coaching the details in the game.  You allow the players to cut corners and they will adapt to that level of play. The overall play deteriorates because opponents don't allow those corners to be cut.

The team being held to the precision required to push the line but NOT be offsides is one example of demanding focus and precision across all aspects of the game.

[SDS]

10 minutes ago, LTS said:

Yes, and yet here are all these players having trouble with the basics of the game. 

It's not coaching onsides so much as coaching the details in the game.  You allow the players to cut corners and they will adapt to that level of play. The overall play deteriorates because opponents don't allow those corners to be cut.

The team being held to the precision required to push the line but NOT be offsides is one example of demanding focus and precision across all aspects of the game.

Not to be a demanding member, but offsides should say offside. 😀

Next thing you know, if we let this slide, people will be posting all sorts of nonsense.