GDT 3/22/21 Sabres at NY Rangers 7pm MSG, WGR550

[pi2000]

10 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Because 4 goals? Insightful.

Positioning, recovery, athletic ability, rebound control, depth, vision... etc.. all apoeared very amatuer to my trained eye.   

Sure its his first NHL game action in a few years, but I consider him a downgrade from JJ.

[GASabresIUFAN]

4 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

I won't miss him if they trade him, but include Tage in that list. He had a couple of good looks and actually tried to fight.

Tage needs to use his big body to hit someone.  He doesn't have to be a Kassian or Wilson, but he needs to be more physical.  

[pi2000]

6 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

It's not fair, but it's how goalies are evaluated. Name a goalie with a 4.00 GAA who stuck around.

Not so much the GAA, but the sv%.   Giving up 4 goals with a < .900 sv% is a losing recipe. 

[Drag0nDan]

4 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Tage needs to use his big body to hit someone.  He doesn't have to be a Kassian or Wilson, but he needs to be more physical.  

He doesn't seem to use his length well enough to protect the puck either. 

[GASabresIUFAN]

7 minutes ago, Drag0nDan said:

He doesn't seem to use his length well enough to protect the puck either. 

..... and he isn't scoring, but other then that he is fine.

[Drag0nDan]

Just now, GASabresIUFAN said:

..... and he isn't scoring, but other then that he is fine.

At least he's moving his feet and trying to make plays.  The lack of cohesion in transition is the biggest barrier to this team.  Defensemen are constantly trapped cycling it behind the net and giving additional possession opportunities.  They rarely gain the zone with speed either due to poor stretch passing, or the forwards hold the puck too long before passing.  When you watch the islanders its a 1 touch pass to a forward with speed, with buffalo they hold it and wait to see a player.  Night and day.   

[Randall Flagg]

16 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

Not so much the GAA, but the sv%.   Giving up 4 goals with a < .900 sv% is a losing recipe. 

Welcome to the wonderful world of Sabres backup goaltending! 

If Lalime had won just 6 of his 21 starts, 6 is all I ask, 6, that team makes the playoffs in 08-09

[dudacek]

4 minutes ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

..... and he isn't scoring, but other then that he is fine.

Thing about Tage (Bryson is like this too) is that they try things. The Sabres so rarely try to beat somebody.

[Randall Flagg]

The Rangers are incredibly flawed, but we made them look like the Globetrotters. Some of those passing plays were jaw dropping. When was the last time we saw a Sabres team that could look like that? 

Cozens struggled, but it's still fun to see him getting these minutes, and I've never been more sure of a prospect becoming a very good NHL player. 

Bryson struggled again too. That was a sick breakaway though. 

Part of the reason the Rangers were so good in transition was that they know how to hit the line at varying speeds and in different planes to create a bunch of different passing lanes. We are so cautious and scared, that backing off in the face of this gives them acres of space. The Sabres all hit the line in the same plane at the same speed, and never have anywhere obvious to go with the puck, even if it's an odd man rush. The Rangers always had 2 wide open options, the Sabres rarely have a guy you can even hope has a 50% chance at collecting a pass. Are we just dumb?

[GASabresIUFAN]

I'm not looking for 20 minutes of solid play from any of the kids. I'm looking for periods of good to excellent play.  Mitts winning a puck battle and setting up Skinner (which is happening more often already that RK is gone), Cozens seeing a crack in the D and using it to go to the net (and score), Dahlin and Bryson getting the puck at the blueline and essentially becoming a 4th forward as they carry the puck up the ice.  I saw all those things from the kids in the Rags game.  Bryson isn't close to good enough defensively and as a small D, he needs to get his positioning down, but his instincts are excellent.  RK would have crushed those right out of him, like he did Dahlin, Montour, Miller and Jokiharju.

[Thorner]

14 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

No reason not to. Seasons done. They need to get it right. 

Get started on implementing a new system, let the new coach get a look at the players so they can have roster input..there are certainly reasons to bring in a new coach as soon as possible, even if you do want to do a thorough search. 

[Thorner]

14 hours ago, Pimlach said:

Wow. Hall out worked.  Miller outworked.  
 

get them off the ice 

I remember legitimately thinking in the offseason we'd have an MVP level player capable of buoying us to a few wins if Jack went down. 

I was quite off base. 

[Thorner]

11 hours ago, SwampD said:

And is it me, or does Zibanejad look like he should be an extra in the Twilight series?

Looks like Jake Gyllenhaal

2 hours ago, inkman said:

Nothing on Eakin?  He may be taking the title of worst NHL forward from Sobotka.  

He's so bad. They targeted him instead of Larsson. 

Better hope that was Ralph and not KA cause that's bad evaluation 

Edited March 23, 2021 by Thorny

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, GASabresIUFAN said:

Tage needs to use his big body to hit someone.  He doesn't have to be a Kassian or Wilson, but he needs to be more physical.  

He's getting there.

[inkman]

25 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Looks like Jake Gyllenhaal

He's so bad. They targeted him instead of Larsson. 

Better hope that was Ralph and not KA cause that's bad evaluation 

I wish I had empirical data but I definitely heard Ralph wanted him and KA went and got him.  Shame of Kevyn for not refuting the notion but maybe Ralph’s stick was bigger than his and he had no choice. By any metric, Eakin has always sucked.  I don’t know why he keeps getting contracts.  How many players have to come through Buffalo to prove out everything the metrics have indicated their whole careers.  Please hire Chad Demonmetricstatschamacallit or someone like him to have 100% authority to funnel all player acquisitions through. It’s not that hard.  

[Thorner]

17 minutes ago, inkman said:

I wish I had empirical data but I definitely heard Ralph wanted him and KA went and got him.  Shame of Kevyn for not refuting the notion but maybe Ralph’s stick was bigger than his and he had no choice. By any metric, Eakin has always sucked.  I don’t know why he keeps getting contracts.  How many players have to come through Buffalo to prove out everything the metrics have indicated their whole careers.  Please hire Chad Demonmetricstatschamacallit or someone like him to have 100% authority to funnel all player acquisitions through. It’s not that hard.  

This is what we have to hope. 

Otherwise, between that, the goalie evaluation, and the Staal for 2C move, I struggle to have a lot of confidence in the current GM's chances of pulling off whatever it is he attempts. That's not to say he can't do it, but I would see little reason for outright optimism at this time. 

He's not really hanging his hat on...much of anything at this time. 

What's his best move? The Thompson signing? lol

We need to hope Ralph's influence was the focus organizationally, as poor as that would look on those who gave him that power 

Edited March 23, 2021 by Thorny

[dudacek]

38 minutes ago, Thorny said:

This is what we have to hope. 

Otherwise, between that, the goalie evaluation, and the Staal for 2C move, I struggle to have a lot of confidence in the current GM's chances of pulling off whatever it is he attempts. That's not to say he can't do it, but I would see little reason for outright optimism at this time. 

He's not really hanging his hat on...much of anything at this time. 

What's his best move? The Thompson signing? lol

We need to hope Ralph's influence was the focus organizationally, as poor as that would look on those who gave him that power 

In retrospect, Adams off-season look like the moves of a well-informed fan without the benefit of fresh scouting information: "Eakin looked good in the playoffs with Vegas" "Staal's numbers are still great in Minnesota" "Taylor Hall was an MVP".

[Thorner]

Just now, dudacek said:

In retrospect, Adams off-season look like the moves of a well-informed fan without the benefit of fresh scouting information: "Eakin looked good in the playoffs with Vegas" "Staal's numbers are still great in Minnesota" "Taylor Hall was an MVP".

Reading this board, only the latter 2 pass the smell test 

The Eakin move was a bad one and people knew it from the beginning. 

[Thorner]

Same with goaltending. That's why I mentioned those 2. Gave him the benefit of the doubt on Hall. Staal is pretty questionable as many mentioned age as something that could become a real factor. A lot of the goodwill being given to Adams in that regard is that ANYTHING at 2C was better, relatively, than what Botterill did. 

[MidwestSabresFan]

17 hours ago, Marvin, Sabres Fan said:

As a defenceman, any one skating towards my goaltender was either directed far wide or into the ice.  Anyone trying to get to my goaltender ended up on his back with my knee in his crotch.  I wasn't the skill guy; part of my job involved defending my goaltender at all costs.  D-men pushing players into their goaltenders drive me nuts.

We need more players like you. 

[PromoTheRobot]

3 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

It's not fair, but it's how goalies are evaluated. Name a goalie with a 4.00 GAA who stuck around.

Tokarski's NHL stat line going into that game was 2.85 GAA and .905 SVP. But he gave up four so...

[dudacek]

42 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Reading this board, only the latter 2 pass the smell test 

The Eakin move was a bad one and people knew it from the beginning. 

Not sure you got my point there: I think it is quite possible that the Sabres failed to do an NHL-calibre homework check on any of their acquisitions.

How many live viewings by how many scouts, how much tape watched by how many scouts? How many hockey numbers crunched by how many analytics people? How many contract numbers crunched by how many salary cap people? How much digging into mindset and character with how many insiders? How many debates by how many seasoned hockey executives?

Instead of a professional-standard routine of checks and balances, I think the Sabres may have had one guy say "I know him and like him" (Krueger: Rieder, Hall; Adams: Staal) and made their move.

It explains why no one else was willing to play anything close to what Hall and Eakin (and Girgensons) got, and why Staal was available so cheaply. Other teams had done their homework.

Edited March 23, 2021 by dudacek

[Thorner]

2 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Not sure you got my point there: I think it is quite possible that the Sabres failed to do an NHL-calibre homework check on any of their acquisitions.

How many live viewings by how many scouts, how much tape watched by how many scouts? How many hockey numbers crunched by how many analytics people? How many contract numbers crunched by how many salary cap people? How much digging into mindset and character with how many insiders? How many debates by how many seasoned hockey executives?

Instead of a professional-standard routine of checks and balances, I think the Sabres may have had one guy say "I know him and like him" (Krueger: Rieder, Hall; Adams: Staal) and made their move.

It explains why no one else was willing to play anything close to what Hall and Eakin (and Girgensons) got, and why Staal was available so cheaply. Other teams had done their homework.

No, i got the point - I was saying that in the case of eakin, it actually fell below the standards of even the common fan 

I agree that staal and hall were "fan like" and non nhl calibre 

[PromoTheRobot]

3 hours ago, pi2000 said:

Positioning, recovery, athletic ability, rebound control, depth, vision... etc.. all appeared  very amateur to my trained eye.   

Sure its his first NHL game action in a few years, but I consider him a downgrade from JJ.

You trained eye should re-look at the breakdowns that lead to the 4 Ranger goals.

 

[Stoner]

31 minutes ago, PromoTheRobot said:

Tokarski's NHL stat line going into that game was 2.85 GAA and .905 SVP. But he gave up four so...

... he had a bad game?

57 minutes ago, dudacek said:

In retrospect, Adams off-season look like the moves of a well-informed fan without the benefit of fresh scouting information: "Eakin looked good in the playoffs with Vegas" "Staal's numbers are still great in Minnesota" "Taylor Hall was an MVP".

Or an ill-informed fan.