GDT: 4/3/21 Rangers @ Sabres. 7:00 pm est. MSG, WGR550

[Doohicksie]

Mitts has matured very nicely all of a sudden.  Tage is taking giant steps as well.

[CallawaySabres]

We all love hockey again ❤

[Doohicksie]

Had we dumped RFK at the beginning of the season and let Granato run the team the whole time, we're probably in the playoff mix.

[Zamboni]

6 minutes ago, Doohickie said:

Had we dumped RFK at the beginning of the season and let Granato run the team the whole time, we're probably in the playoff mix.

You really think he’s that good of a coach?

wouldn’t he have already gotten his shot before he came to the Sabres if he was that good of a coach? A coach good enough to get them into the playoffs. I guess is what I mean. I guess I’m just not sold on the fact that if he was the coach all season long they would be in the playoffs. Instead of looking like an embarrassment every night and losing games. They would look a lot better as a team, but still lose the majority of their games. Maybe lose by a goal instead of 2 or 3 goals 😂

I’m just not entirely convinced of that yet. I think the team is responding to a different coach and different system and playing an underdog role knowing that there’s no expectations at this point because they’ve sucked so much. Less pressure overall.  I wouldn’t mind keeping Granato around… But strictly an assistant role. I hope KA swings for the fences and brings in a much much better coach than Granato. Just my O.

[darksabre]

Just now, Zamboni said:

You really think he’s that good of a coach?

wouldn’t he have already gotten his shot before he came to the Sabres if he was that good of a coach? A coach good enough to get them into the playoffs. I guess is what I mean. I guess I’m just not sold on the fact that if he was the coach all season long they would be in the playoffs. Instead of looking like an embarrassment every night and losing games. They would look a lot better as a team, but still lose the majority of their games. Maybe lose by a goal instead of 2 or 3 goals 😂

I’m just not entirely convinced of that yet. I think the team is responding to a different coach and different system and playing an underdog role knowing that there’s no expectations at this point because they’ve sucked so much. Less pressure overall.  I wouldn’t mind keeping Granato around… But strictly an assistant role. I hope KA swings for the fences and brings in a much much better coach than Granato. Just my O.

No one thinks Granato is that good. They think he's so much less bad. 

[Pimlach]

Granato is doing a fine job but I hope the Sabres braintrust- Adams and Terry/Kim keep things in perspective.  They still need a veteran hockey operations exec to help work the Hockey strategy and provide influence within the league.  They need an an experienced NHL Coach, they need to fill holes in the scouting department, they need an AGM to help Adams, they need more focus on player development.  
 

Within all these needs there should be a job for Granato.  If not, another team will take him.  

[Doohicksie]

15 minutes ago, Zamboni said:

I think the team is responding to a different coach and different system and playing an underdog role knowing that there’s no expectations at this point because they’ve sucked so much. Less pressure overall.  I wouldn’t mind keeping Granato around… But strictly an assistant role. I hope KA swings for the fences and brings in a much much better coach than Granato. Just my O.

You're probably right. 

But let's put it this way:  Let's say the Sabres had a potential range of outcomes this season, from best to worst.  Krueger's time with them represents the worst.  There's little doubt in my mind that *any* coach could have done worse. 

Granato, maybe he's somewhere around achieving 50-70% of the Sabres potential.  These last 4 games it looks like more than that, but like you said this is still the freshness of a new coach after a really bad one, and a team with no expectations playing loose (both the players and the coach, since I don't think Granato expects an interview).  If we can find a coach that can get 80-100% of the potential out of this team then obviously we should and thank Granato for what he did.  There are better coaches out there.  But I still appreciate what we've seen of this team with Granato.

One thing I really like about Granato is that he took a team that was whooped, had no confidence, and turned them around in pretty short order from a team that was losing every game by 3 goals to a team that's on a 4-game point streak, and is looking much better doing it, even with the team's center depth decimated.  He might not be a good strategist and might not be able to work miracles over a full season, but he's a pretty damned good tactician and has certainly gotten some good short term results.

Edited April 4, 2021 by Doohickie

[gilbert11]

3 hours ago, Doohickie said:

 

That was awesome!  😄

[Figster]

40 minutes ago, Zamboni said:

You really think he’s that good of a coach?

wouldn’t he have already gotten his shot before he came to the Sabres if he was that good of a coach? A coach good enough to get them into the playoffs. I guess is what I mean. I guess I’m just not sold on the fact that if he was the coach all season long they would be in the playoffs. Instead of looking like an embarrassment every night and losing games. They would look a lot better as a team, but still lose the majority of their games. Maybe lose by a goal instead of 2 or 3 goals 😂

I’m just not entirely convinced of that yet. I think the team is responding to a different coach and different system and playing an underdog role knowing that there’s no expectations at this point because they’ve sucked so much. Less pressure overall.  I wouldn’t mind keeping Granato around… But strictly an assistant role. I hope KA swings for the fences and brings in a much much better coach than Granato. Just my O.

Less then two weeks ago the Sabres were being described by many as the worst hockey team ever assembled with a losing streak to match it. The transformation from then until now.

if I'm the Pegula's Granato's got my attention.

 

[triumph_communes]

1 hour ago, Doohickie said:

You're probably right. 

But let's put it this way:  Let's say the Sabres had a potential range of outcomes this season, from best to worst.  Krueger's time with them represents the worst.  There's little doubt in my mind that *any* coach could have done worse. 

Granato, maybe he's somewhere around achieving 50-70% of the Sabres potential.  These last 4 games it looks like more than that, but like you said this is still the freshness of a new coach after a really bad one, and a team with no expectations playing loose (both the players and the coach, since I don't think Granato expects an interview).  If we can find a coach that can get 80-100% of the potential out of this team then obviously we should and thank Granato for what he did.  There are better coaches out there.  But I still appreciate what we've seen of this team with Granato.

One thing I really like about Granato is that he took a team that was whooped, had no confidence, and turned them around in pretty short order from a team that was losing every game by 3 goals to a team that's on a 4-game point streak, and is looking much better doing it, even with the team's center depth decimated.  He might not be a good strategist and might not be able to work miracles over a full season, but he's a pretty damned good tactician and has certainly gotten some good short term results.

I know the on ice play is different but Ullmark coming back made a huge difference too 

[pi2000]

1 hour ago, Figster said:

Less then two weeks ago the Sabres were being described by many as the worst hockey team ever assembled with a losing streak to match it. The transformation from then until now.

if I'm the Pegula's Granato's got my attention.

 

Rolstonitits

[nucci]

4 hours ago, Zamboni said:

You really think he’s that good of a coach?

wouldn’t he have already gotten his shot before he came to the Sabres if he was that good of a coach? A coach good enough to get them into the playoffs. I guess is what I mean. I guess I’m just not sold on the fact that if he was the coach all season long they would be in the playoffs. Instead of looking like an embarrassment every night and losing games. They would look a lot better as a team, but still lose the majority of their games. Maybe lose by a goal instead of 2 or 3 goals 😂

I’m just not entirely convinced of that yet. I think the team is responding to a different coach and different system and playing an underdog role knowing that there’s no expectations at this point because they’ve sucked so much. Less pressure overall.  I wouldn’t mind keeping Granato around… But strictly an assistant role. I hope KA swings for the fences and brings in a much much better coach than Granato. Just my O.

it just shows how bad Ralph was

[Kristian]

4 hours ago, Zamboni said:

You really think he’s that good of a coach?

wouldn’t he have already gotten his shot before he came to the Sabres if he was that good of a coach? A coach good enough to get them into the playoffs. I guess is what I mean. I guess I’m just not sold on the fact that if he was the coach all season long they would be in the playoffs. Instead of looking like an embarrassment every night and losing games. They would look a lot better as a team, but still lose the majority of their games. Maybe lose by a goal instead of 2 or 3 goals 😂

I’m just not entirely convinced of that yet. I think the team is responding to a different coach and different system and playing an underdog role knowing that there’s no expectations at this point because they’ve sucked so much. Less pressure overall.  I wouldn’t mind keeping Granato around… But strictly an assistant role. I hope KA swings for the fences and brings in a much much better coach than Granato. Just my O.

Nobody’s convinced, but the man has a crap hockey team, missing a superstar and two key players, playing competetive hockey.

Let’s at least acknowledge that Head Con-Artist Ralph Krueger was most likely an even worse coach than we know of.

I haven’t seen a Sabres team work this hard since 1999. There, I said it.

[Kristian]

3 hours ago, Figster said:

Less then two weeks ago the Sabres were being described by many as the worst hockey team ever assembled with a losing streak to match it. The transformation from then until now.

if I'm the Pegula's Granato's got my attention.

 

Most likely Kim Pegula is interviewing coaching prospects from volleyball, as we speak.

You know, because “she knows stuff”.

[MODO Hockey]

8 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Dahlin was not great there but his stick lift attempt definitely gave Ullmark an extra .5 seconds to react. 

Id say the lead 30 yard pass to Hall was amazing

[gilbert11]

1 hour ago, Kristian said:

Most likely Kim Pegula is interviewing coaching prospects from volleyball, as we speak.

You know, because “she knows stuff”.

Wait, their daughter most likely had tennis coaches.  They could just hire one of them.

[LGR4GM]

2 hours ago, MODO Hockey said:

Id say the lead 30 yard pass to Hall was amazing

I'd say I was talking about a completely different play in the game. 

[woods-racer]

Caught a quick snippet while watching the highlights on my phone.  Ullmark is the all time NHL leader in shootout save percentage .895(?).

[lost in dc]

I love the way they’re looking with Granato as coach. No more brother of Cammi jokes.

[Pimlach]

3 hours ago, Kristian said:

Most likely Kim Pegula is interviewing coaching prospects from volleyball, as we speak.

You know, because “she knows stuff”.

You mean woman’s volleyball coaches, because they are trained to use less dirty words.  

[StuckinFL]

I think the thing to remember with Granato is that when a coach takes over during the season they tweak and improve the previous coach's system to work better rather than starting from scratch with their own. It's in this exact scenario that DDB won a Stanley Cup. And then we saw what happens when he created his own system in both Pittsburgh and here.

[Sabres Fan in NS]

17 hours ago, LaPerreausek said:

A must win for what ?? Lol

You're a clown.

If you do not care about wins why follow this, or any other, team?

[Cityo'Rasmii]

so Sabres

[Doohicksie]

10 hours ago, Zamboni said:

You really think he’s that good of a coach?

I typed a long answer to you yesterday, agreeing that he might not be all that.

But then again, maybe he is.  Just looking at the Wiki summary of his coaching experience, it looks like he checks a lot of the boxes you want to see in an NHL HC candidate who hasn't actually been a HC at the NHL level yet.  Coming into his mid-50s, he still young enough to have a decent NHL head coaching career.  If the Sabres don't consider him for the opening I'm okay with that really, but I think the interim HC spot may be another box checked and will put him in the conversation for future HC hires around the league.

So to your question... he just might be.

[Figster]

4 hours ago, StuckinFL said:

I think the thing to remember with Granato is that when a coach takes over during the season they tweak and improve the previous coach's system to work better rather than starting from scratch with their own. It's in this exact scenario that DDB won a Stanley Cup. And then we saw what happens when he created his own system in both Pittsburgh and here.

I think its more about being synchronized to the plan your coach wants you to follow. Sabres went from a defensive mode to going on the offensive vs the Rangers between a 2 game set and controlled the tempo last night. Its the kind of adjustment that beats your opponent in the playoffs IMO.  

The previous coaches system is history...

Edited April 4, 2021 by Figster