Sabres Lines, Nov. 9, 2022

[Thorner]

The ROTATION! continues. Quinn sitting now. 

Discuss today's lines. 

Hinostroza, from press box to top line. 

[Weave]

4 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Discuss today's lines. 

Throwing XXXX against the wall.  Seeing if any of it sticks.

[Thorner]

2 minutes ago, Weave said:

Throwing XXXX against the wall.  Seeing if any of it sticks.

Have they made it clear to Quinn, and the others in the rotation, that regardless of how well they play (Quinn has been one of our best 6 forwards by the metrics - we care about those now, right? Ventura? Bueller?) that they CAN'T bust out of said rotation? No dangling carrot?

Or is it that they don't adjudge Quinn to have done enough to escape said rotation?

It has to be 1 of those 2, doesn't it?

 

Not sure I can argue for the merits of either 

[Thorner]

On another note, Joki is back rotating in and Power is still on the right, are we thinking that's his home now? The no space for Ryan Johnson thing definitely seems overplayed and it seems to be he might be able to slot right in on our left side

Edited November 9, 2022 by Thorny

[kas23]

What happened to the Skinner-TNT-Tuch line? Seems like it was working very well.

[Thorner]

 A note on Quinn 

 

[Taro T]

52 minutes ago, Thorny said:

The ROTATION! continues. Quinn sitting now. 

Discuss today's lines. 

Hinostroza, from press box to top line. 

W/ the exception of Hinostroza, those lines are what Granato has been leaning towards the past 2 weeks.  He loves the Mittelstadt line, has gone to that Krebs lines several times, & has been kind of mix & matching the RW on the 1st line but has been having Tuch w/ Cozens quite a bit lately.  Will be interesting to see who comes out against Vancouver when Quinn's 2 game press box pass expires.

Will also be interested to see who ends up w/ Power: Lyubushkin or Jokiharju when both are healthy enough to play.  Also interesting that Granato seems to be seeing if Clague can keep from getting blown up playing with another bottom of the lineup guy.   Either that, or they're the 7-8 until Samuelsson comes back.

[LGR4GM]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

The ROTATION! continues. Quinn sitting now. 

Discuss today's lines. 

Hinostroza, from press box to top line. 

Quinn sitting so Mitts can play is just straight up stupidity. 

[Thorner]

2 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Quinn sitting so Mitts can play is just straight up stupidity. 

I just wonder about the WHY. They must have a reason beyond the two I laid out, neither of which makes a very good argument. There must be something we are missing?

[LGR4GM]

18 minutes ago, Thorny said:

I just wonder about the WHY. They must have a reason beyond the two I laid out, neither of which makes a very good argument. There must be something we are missing?

I gave you the reason. Stupidity. They think Mitts is good. 

[Thorner]

4 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

I gave you the reason. Stupidity. They think Mitts is good. 

Do they think Mitts is good? Or are they giving him the runway to definitively prove he is not?

Is it more likely they have a very wonky talent analysis of Mittelstadt that flies in the face of what the underlying numbers would be telling them, or that they view this as a season where experimenting with individual players is the priority? 

Disclaimer: *This is not an endorsement of said priority alignment*

Edited November 9, 2022 by Thorny

[LGR4GM]

14 minutes ago, Thorny said:

Do they think Mitts is good? Or are they giving him the runway to definitively prove he is not?

Is it more likely they have a very wonky talent analysis of Mittelstadt that flies in the face of what the underlying numbers would be telling them, or that they view this as a season where experimenting with individual players is the priority? 

Disclaimer: *This is not an endorsement of said priority alignment*

They are definitely trying to experiment and make him fit. They should trade him for RHD help. 

[Refuting]

Need to make a trade for a power forward. How much better/entertaining would this team be with one of the Tkachuk Brothers? Exponentially better. 

This is a team that's been devoid of gritty/grinders for several years. I want a guy that scores a goal then blasts someone on his next shift. Like a Shane Doan.

 

All the coaches seem to value is speed and shot. 

 

 

 

[PerreaultForever]

These lines are closer to what was working earlier so I guess the experiments go down as failures.  Pilut-Power troubles me. 

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

Quinn sitting so Mitts can play is just straight up stupidity. 

Or they don't actually want to win this year. 

[Thorner]

2 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Or they don't actually want to win this year. 

respectfully I think a sentence like this just serves to muddy

It's not that they "don't want" to win. They do. They aren't tanking.

The point of distinction is whether or not that is priority numero uno for this team, and whether or not it should be. 

To the first - I think it's obvious it's not

To the second - I have my leanings but truly do not know

I don't really want to throw out terms like "job security" right now when much of the details underneath the surface, like say with drafting and the off-ice personnel they've added look very promising. But....they are certainly going for long-form rebuild. 

Like, really long. Like, maybe 5 years to make the playoffs long. And people like to count last year as Adams year 1. 

[Taro T]

9 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

These lines are closer to what was working earlier so I guess the experiments go down as failures.  Pilut-Power troubles me. 

Pretty sure that pairing becomes Power - Jokiharju if Henri is ready to go and then we see Pilut - Lyubushkin as the 3rd pairing.  

[Hank]

1 hour ago, Thorny said:

 A note on Quinn 

 

I have a higher opinion of Mittelstadt than what that chart shows. Not saying I'm right, I may not be, YMMV. 

[Thorner]

5 minutes ago, Hank said:

I have a higher opinion of Mittelstadt than what that chart shows. Not saying I'm right, I may not be, YMMV. 

There's very much room for this - there's a variable here, "why is Mittelstadt playing so much", Mittelstadt playing better in perception to the eyes that matter explains it away, just as well as "winning isn't the priority" does. 

I am less drawn to that take, as it's more difficult to make the jump to how they could be viewing Casey's play in that way, but it's certainly a reasonable possibility. 

[inkman]

2 hours ago, Thorny said:

On another note, Joki is back rotating in and Power is still on the right, are we thinking that's his home now? The no space for Ryan Johnson thing definitely seems overplayed and it seems to be he might be able to slot right in on our left side

Tomorrow 

[inkman]

2 hours ago, Thorny said:

The ROTATION! continues. Quinn sitting now. 

Discuss today's lines. 

Hinostroza, from press box to top line. 

Bryson has not done anything lately to deserve to be paired with Rasmus.  I hope this is just for practice. 

[Thorner]

10 minutes ago, inkman said:

Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow 

ftfy 

[JoeSchmoe]

Krebs is the guy I'm sitting. 

[K-9]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Quinn sitting so Mitts can play is just straight up stupidity. 

While I agree entirely, I’ll have to refrain from further comment because every time I criticize Mitts’s game, I seem to get dragged into a discussion with somebody who insists on bringing Cozens into it. And then Mitts will have his once in every six games good game and the “I told you so” posts start up in his defense. I like Mitts but not so much that he deserves to take development time away from younger players with far more potential. 

[Pimlach]

I saw Hinestroza on the first line and stopped reading.