K-9 Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 22 minutes ago, Pimlach said: I know we lost a few like that with Lehner in goal. Lehner-like indeed. It was as though Anderson channeled him. Quote
LGR4GM Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 (edited) 10 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said: What was the Bills' biggest need after the 2017 season? Clearing 100 mil in dead cap. They did that, got their franchise QB in the meantime, and were immediately in shape to build an elite team. What was the Bills' biggest need after the 2018 season? Well, they had one of the worst offensive lines in history, and Spain/Morse/Feliciano/Nsekhe made it average so that Josh didn't get himself killed in 2019. Some well-placed receiver additions got the team right back to the playoffs. What was the Bills' biggest need after the 2019 season? Offense, finishing drives, and a #1WR. Enter Diggs and the best offensive season in Bills history. What was the Bills' biggest need after the 2020 season? Continuity, shoring up the run defense. They didn't really add anyone to do this, but became the #1 defense statistically while maintaining an offense capable of scoring 12 TDs in 16 playoff drives What was the Bills' biggest need after the 2021 season? They needed one more stop against Patrick Mahomes on 3rd down, one more KC punt to win that game. So he got The Closer. We still have all our draft picks, he will make sure CB is at least adequately filled and I know this entirely because of his track record of attacking weaknesses I am waiting for Kevyn to show me for the first time that he can identify and attack his team's weaknesses, the circumstances of his 2 offseasons have kind of prevented him from really shaping the team himself (Krueger first, then needing to blow it up), it's his first real shot to mold a promising pile of clay into a beautiful vase, I hope he can do it You okay? I don't need a lecture on the Bills. Well aware of what Beane has done. Edited March 31, 2022 by LGR4GM Quote
JohnC Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 (edited) I thought the Sabres played well. As @SwampD noted Hellebuyck was the difference in this game. He doesn't get caught out of position and always seems to square up to the shooter. I was really impressed by him. Anderson had a good game but his shootout performance was brutal. If Tokarski would have been in net Winnepeg would have stampeded by us. The Asplund/Mitts/Olofsson line is starting to gel as a line. Mitts is becoming one of our best on the wall battlers for the puck. Skinner created some good chances for himself but Hellebuyck prevailed. Kudos to Girgs for scoring two goals. Eakin attracts a lot of criticism here but he fills a critical need in taking the draws in our end. The Sabres have earned points in seven consecutive games. Hellebuyck demonstrated what exceptional goalie play can do for a team. Edited March 31, 2022 by JohnC 5 Quote
LGR4GM Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 11 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said: I am waiting for Kevyn to show me for the first time that he can identify and attack his team's weaknesses, the circumstances of his 2 offseasons have kind of prevented him from really shaping the team himself (Krueger first, then needing to blow it up), it's his first real shot to mold a promising pile of clay into a beautiful vase, I hope he can do it You mean like coaching, jack culture, New leadership, development, those weaknesses? 4 Quote
Randall Flagg Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 5 minutes ago, LGR4GM said: You okay? I don't need a lecture on the Bills. Well aware of what Beane has done. I wasn't trying to lecture you, just trying to provide context to my comments on Beane. I think the dude laser-focuses on the worst aspects of the team and is incredibly resourceful at making sure it doesn't happen again, I hope some of that rubs off on Kevyn 2 minutes ago, LGR4GM said: You mean like coaching, jack culture, New leadership, development, those weaknesses? Kevyn has entered 2 seasons with bottom 10 rosters and had 2 bottom 10 finishes, with problematic goaltending derailing both seasons, while we screamed that that would obviously happen back in July both times. He "fixed coaching" by waiting a very long time to fire a bad coach, and promoting from within mid-season, these are not offseason moves geared at attacking his team's weakness so they don't flail around in the fall 1 Quote
Randall Flagg Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 I don't think Kevyn is all bad, but he COULD leverage the offseason to propel this team to crazy heights. Will he? Quote
erickompositör72 Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 37 minutes ago, Believer said: Granato needs to devote One Hour of Target Practice… every day at the rink… Corners… It's not that simple. Rarely do you get a chance in the NHL to line up your shot and pick your corner on a goalie who doesn't have time to come out and cut off the angle. Quote
thewookie1 Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 37 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said: What was the Bills' biggest need after the 2017 season? Clearing 100 mil in dead cap. They did that, got their franchise QB in the meantime, and were immediately in shape to build an elite team. What was the Bills' biggest need after the 2018 season? Well, they had one of the worst offensive lines in history, and Spain/Morse/Feliciano/Nsekhe made it average so that Josh didn't get himself killed in 2019. Some well-placed receiver additions got the team right back to the playoffs. What was the Bills' biggest need after the 2019 season? Offense, finishing drives, and a #1WR. Enter Diggs and the best offensive season in Bills history. What was the Bills' biggest need after the 2020 season? Continuity, shoring up the run defense. They didn't really add anyone to do this, but became the #1 defense statistically while maintaining an offense capable of scoring 12 TDs in 16 playoff drives What was the Bills' biggest need after the 2021 season? They needed one more stop against Patrick Mahomes on 3rd down, one more KC punt to win that game. So he got The Closer. We still have all our draft picks, he will make sure CB is at least adequately filled and I know this entirely because of his track record of attacking weaknesses I am waiting for Kevyn to show me for the first time that he can identify and attack his team's weaknesses, the circumstances of his 2 offseasons have kind of prevented him from really shaping the team himself (Krueger first, then needing to blow it up), it's his first real shot to mold a promising pile of clay into a beautiful vase, I hope he can do it One issue with NFL vs NHL are how contracts work. In the NFL, a guy like Bjork or Butcher would get released or sent to the practice squad while Eakin has the honor of being a spot starter. But since NHL contracts are fully assured, buyouts are more often than not a great way to fix your team. Additionally, the draft in the NFL is an immediate plug in play situation versus a 1 or 2 year minimum in the NHL draft for players to reinforce your team more often than not. Disappointed in losing but the point streak lives on and we were the better team most of the game. 1 Quote
DarthEbriate Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 32 minutes ago, JohnC said: ... The Sabres have earned points in seven consecutive games. Hellebuyck demonstrated what exceptional goalie play can do for a team. Take Hellebuyck off Winnipeg and they are not near the playoffs. Put him on the Sabres and they are ... 20 points better in the standings. Near playoff contention. Quote
GASabresIUFAN Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 Honestly, after the first 30 minutes the Sabres were outplayed. They also fooled around with the puck to much and really didn't create enough traffic in front of Hellebuyck. 2 Quote
Randall Flagg Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 1 minute ago, thewookie1 said: One issue with NFL vs NHL are how contracts work. In the NFL, a guy like Bjork or Butcher would get released or sent to the practice squad while Eakin has the honor of being a spot starter. But since NHL contracts are fully assured, buyouts are more often than not a great way to fix your team. Additionally, the draft in the NFL is an immediate plug in play situation versus a 1 or 2 year minimum in the NHL draft for players to reinforce your team more often than not. Disappointed in losing but the point streak lives on and we were the better team most of the game. Yeah it's not going to look exactly the same, and there is a lot of stuff I won't hold against Adams from these last two years. But he really does have a sort of blank slate this summer. The patience and philosophy of the last two offseasons has to be different given the trajectory of the franchise (which I am confident will be the case) and the execution of this vision needs to be spot on (I am worried about this part because I don't have a real body of evidence that tells me Kevyn can do it) Quote
Believer Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 35 minutes ago, erickompositör72 said: It's not that simple. Rarely do you get a chance in the NHL to line up your shot and pick your corner on a goalie who doesn't have time to come out and cut off the angle. Corners and Angles… Quote
thewookie1 Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 4 minutes ago, Randall Flagg said: Yeah it's not going to look exactly the same, and there is a lot of stuff I won't hold against Adams from these last two years. But he really does have a sort of blank slate this summer. The patience and philosophy of the last two offseasons has to be different given the trajectory of the franchise (which I am confident will be the case) and the execution of this vision needs to be spot on (I am worried about this part because I don't have a real body of evidence that tells me Kevyn can do it) Ok I do feel our biggest issue is goaltending but that is arguably the hardest position to guess at. Goalies get hot the drop; play terrible except 1 year where they win a Vezina; and sometimes a bit of both and more. Look at Anderson in Carolina, he looked cooked in Toronto just this past year. Where did the Hamburgler go after his miraculous 30 game run he had in Ottawa? Murray won two Cups as a rookie and then imploded within the next 5 years. Choosing goalies to fill in holes is like one of those aggravating fair games where you toss rings at bottles and try to get them to go around the top. Drafting them is almost just as much a crapshoot seeing as goalies can take anywhere from a year to a decade to actually come into their own. Analytics can help, but even they have serious flaws in truly predicting goalie talent. Im not saying Adams shouldn’t even try; but I certainly won’t crucify him if he gets a seemingly good goalie to hold the crease for a few years only for them to flop 2 Quote
Randall Flagg Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 1 minute ago, thewookie1 said: Ok I do feel our biggest issue is goaltending but that is arguably the hardest position to guess at. Goalies get hot the drop; play terrible except 1 year where they win a Vezina; and sometimes a bit of both and more. Look at Anderson in Carolina, he looked cooked in Toronto just this past year. Where did the Hamburgler go after his miraculous 30 game run he had in Ottawa? Murray won two Cups as a rookie and then imploded within the next 5 years. Choosing goalies to fill in holes is like one of those aggravating fair games where you toss rings at bottles and try to get them to go around the top. Drafting them is almost just as much a crapshoot seeing as goalies can take anywhere from a year to a decade to actually come into their own. Analytics can help, but even they have serious flaws in truly predicting goalie talent. Im not saying Adams shouldn’t even try; but I certainly won’t crucify him if he gets a seemingly good goalie to hold the crease for a few years only for them to flop Yeah, the only way I would get mad is if I hate the summer moves in net and they fail as predicted. If it was a real attempt at an upgrade met by approval from fans and doesn't work out, I'll be bummed but won't necessarily be mad at Adams 1 Quote
woods-racer Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 1 minute ago, thewookie1 said: Ok I do feel our biggest issue is goaltending but that is arguably the hardest position to guess at. Goalies get hot the drop; play terrible except 1 year where they win a Vezina; and sometimes a bit of both and more. Look at Anderson in Carolina, he looked cooked in Toronto just this past year. Where did the Hamburgler go after his miraculous 30 game run he had in Ottawa? Murray won two Cups as a rookie and then imploded within the next 5 years. Choosing goalies to fill in holes is like one of those aggravating fair games where you toss rings at bottles and try to get them to go around the top. Drafting them is almost just as much a crapshoot seeing as goalies can take anywhere from a year to a decade to actually come into their own. Analytics can help, but even they have serious flaws in truly predicting goalie talent. Im not saying Adams shouldn’t even try; but I certainly won’t crucify him if he gets a seemingly good goalie to hold the crease for a few years only for them to flop How much draft capital do they spend on a goalie that had a hot year? How much draft capital do they spend on a goalie that was good (NHL average?) for 3-4 years? Does acquiring either mean future play will be at or near past performance? The only way you win with a goalie is to bring one up through the ranks. Quote
pastajoe Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 Granato has to stop putting Mittlestat out in OT. He’s neither fast or strong enough to maintain puck possession. 1 Quote
Believer Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 3 minutes ago, pastajoe said: Granato has to stop putting Mittlestat out in OT. He’s neither fast or strong enough to maintain puck possession. Great vision… Top passer and disher… Not impressed with his shot… Slow release… Quote
Gatorman0519 Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 Maybe Quinn & Power on the Powerplay will make it better next year. 2 Quote
LGR4GM Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 6 hours ago, Randall Flagg said: I wasn't trying to lecture you, just trying to provide context to my comments on Beane. I think the dude laser-focuses on the worst aspects of the team and is incredibly resourceful at making sure it doesn't happen again, I hope some of that rubs off on Kevyn Kevyn has entered 2 seasons with bottom 10 rosters and had 2 bottom 10 finishes, with problematic goaltending derailing both seasons, while we screamed that that would obviously happen back in July both times. He "fixed coaching" by waiting a very long time to fire a bad coach, and promoting from within mid-season, these are not offseason moves geared at attacking his team's weakness so they don't flail around in the fall I think most of this is wrong Mainly because hockey isn't football But also because it deliberately ignored context Quote
nucci Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 Wheeler stopped skating forward on his shootout goal. Should have been called off 2 Quote
LGR4GM Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 4 hours ago, Gatorman0519 said: Maybe Quinn & Power on the Powerplay will make it better next year. Doubt it. They don't cross ice pass enough or work low to middle 5 hours ago, pastajoe said: Granato has to stop putting Mittlestat out in OT. He’s neither fast or strong enough to maintain puck possession. We watched different games last night 2 1 Quote
North Buffalo Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 1 hour ago, nucci said: Wheeler stopped skating forward on his shootout goal. Should have been called off Yeh and on slow motion even stick handled backwards 1 Quote
Huckleberry Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 8 hours ago, Randall Flagg said: I wasn't trying to lecture you, just trying to provide context to my comments on Beane. I think the dude laser-focuses on the worst aspects of the team and is incredibly resourceful at making sure it doesn't happen again, I hope some of that rubs off on Kevyn Kevyn has entered 2 seasons with bottom 10 rosters and had 2 bottom 10 finishes, with problematic goaltending derailing both seasons, while we screamed that that would obviously happen back in July both times. He "fixed coaching" by waiting a very long time to fire a bad coach, and promoting from within mid-season, these are not offseason moves geared at attacking his team's weakness so they don't flail around in the fall You want a goalie, where will we get it ? Goalie statistics league wide are abysmal (especially in march) , scoring never been so high. I don't even think we should trade for one, look abroad (strauss mann ? ) or hope one of UPL/Portillo/Levi can step up. The good goalies we are not going to get, and I wouldn't trade a 1st rounder for goalies like georgiev or other 1B options. Quote
That Aud Smell Posted March 31, 2022 Report Posted March 31, 2022 8 hours ago, Eleven said: Frustrating. Inspiring. The outcome was a bummer, but that team was *flying*, and I loved watching them. 2 hours ago, LGR4GM said: We watched different games last night What a game 37 had. Quote
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