Sabres place Will Butcher on IR

[IKnowPhysics]

1 minute ago, nfreeman said:

seems is pretty over the top.

 

[PerreaultForever]

3 minutes ago, nfreeman said:

Geez.  He's a young man who's looking at a career-threatening injury that is pretty likely to jeopardize his ability to keep his dream job.  Yes, he was lousy here, but this seems pretty over the top.

Maybe you feel that way, but I don't see pro sports that way. There's periodic discussions of why do these guys get so much money compared to doctors or other actually important societal contributors, and part of that argument goes to they have short careers and can get injured. Sometimes it happens, but he got a boat load of money for his short career (if it is short) and he really didn't deserve it, so he will be fine. Can go into coaching if he wants to stay in the game. 

Guy made more money in one year than many people earn in a lifetime and you want me to feel sorry for him because his career might end? Sorry, just can't do it. 

[nfreeman]

1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:

Maybe you feel that way, but I don't see pro sports that way. There's periodic discussions of why do these guys get so much money compared to doctors or other actually important societal contributors, and part of that argument goes to they have short careers and can get injured. Sometimes it happens, but he got a boat load of money for his short career (if it is short) and he really didn't deserve it, so he will be fine. Can go into coaching if he wants to stay in the game. 

Guy made more money in one year than many people earn in a lifetime and you want me to feel sorry for him because his career might end? Sorry, just can't do it. 

Well, I agree that part of the argument is that they have short careers, but by far the biggest reason they make that much cash is simple supply and demand.  It's not his fault that fans pay what they pay for tickets, TV packages, merch, etc., or that teams pay what they pay for players.

Do you think he wasn't trying, or that he treated fans or others around him poorly?  I have no reason to think he wasn't a decent guy.  He just isn't a particularly good player (although he might certainly be good enough to stick in the NHL in the right situation). 

I guess you can feel sorry or not feel sorry for whomever you like.  Your post seemed quite a bit nastier than not feeling sorry for him though.  "...poor injured Will.  Good riddance" -- sounds like scorn and resentment.

[woods-racer]

3 hours ago, IKnowPhysics said:

And this isn't even necessarily the case.  Needs might be a strong word, but by doing the math on the defensive pairings for this post, a few notes about Butcher came out from that.

1. The partner he played the most minutes with was Dahlin as a lefty-lefty pair, which is abnormal for the Sabres, and that pair didn't perform well.  But it wasn't as bad as Dahlin-Joker or Dahlin-Miller.
2. Butcher's next-most minutes was with Hagg, also a lefty-lefty pair, and that was worse.
3. However, for a brief time, Butcher was Joker's best partner (finally a lefty-righty pair for Butcher).  While they allowed a lot of shots overall (high CA/60, against the Sabres' apparent doctrine of limiting CA/60 and xGA/60), they created a lot of high-danger shots for the Sabres (HDCF/60), resulting in one of the highest xGF% pairs we ever tried.
4. Butcher was also Pysyk's best partner (also a lefty-righty pair).  They were one of the best pairs at limiting CA/60 (well within Sabres' doctrine).
5. When paired with Bryson, Joker, or Pysyk, Butcher allowed the fewest high danger shots against (HDCA/60) and allowed zero high danger goals (HDGA/60).  He's solid in front of his own net.
6. The downside of his game is two-fold.
   1. His pairings's performance aren't overall perfect, they all lack in one area or another.  For example, he plays well defensively with Pysyk, but that pair doesn't generate the much in the way of shots for (CF/60) or the or goals for (GF/60).  But as mentioned in the other thread, this hasn't mattered to the coaches.
   2. Butcher has been sheltered as fuuuuuck.  His player usage puts at the most sheltered player on the team (maybe along with R2), and this is on a team that doesn't typically line-match competition.  Butcher noticeably has a the highest OZ% and the lowest QoC.  His usage is way weird and it's unclear why.

 

I hope he heals up soon.

He didn't match well here. His skills/and his deficiencies where to similar to the rest of the defensemen to get a nice pairing. I look at Muel and Fitz and they both have their strengths and weaknesses but ones strength is the others weakness so they complement each other. He very well could be a better compliment to Muel than Fitz.

I just don't think he is as bad as as we perceive him. I think we perceive him as the worst defenseman on a team bad at defense.

[IKnowPhysics]

5 minutes ago, woods-racer said:

I just don't think he is as bad as as we perceive him. I think we perceive him as the worst defenseman on a team bad at defense.

I think quality of defenseman is too much in the eye of the beholder: if you asked people for their quantitative reasons why they think a defenseman is or isn't good, you might get 50 different answers, or worse, qualitative answers.

None of Butcher's stats are the lowest or worst on the team, with the exception of: PIM/60, Hits/60, team GF/60, team HDCF/60, and team xGF/60 (but not HDCF%, xGF%, or xGF/60).  Maybe that's why he's gets looked at funny: his stats say he's a stay-at-home type with good HDCA/60, but he doesn't hit or get penalized.

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, nfreeman said:

I guess you can feel sorry or not feel sorry for whomever you like.  Your post seemed quite a bit nastier than not feeling sorry for him though.  "...poor injured Will.  Good riddance" -- sounds like scorn and resentment.

Nah, not at all. Maybe it reads that way unintentionally. Should read as complete indifference.

A few years from now we won't even remember he was here.