GDT: Sabres @ Blue Jackets - April 14, 2023 - 7:30PM, MSG-B📺WGR📻

[Stoner]

13 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

That's not what happened. But nice try 

Ralph wouldn't let Jeff score. Got it.

This board loves to revise history.

[LGR4GM]

5 hours ago, jsb said:

Disagree a bit with you. Skinner-Mitts-Tuch

                                         TNT-Cozens-Quinn

                                         JJP-Krebs-(Rousek)Whomever else wins this spot

                                         Girgs-Jost-Greenway

2 1A lines a 3rd line and a 4th line. This is all depending on Mitts continuing his upkeep. You've got speed on the 3rd line and you need guys on the 4th line that can play the PK and give you a few minutes of competency on the 4th. If you can't find guys that are ready to fill holes on the bottom 6, trade some of your assets for them. You still need some vets to fill those holes if at all possible. Olofsson's trade should fill either a bottom 6 role of a 5-6th Defensiveman. One of the GK's and a pick should be able to fill another role while the 2-3rd GK'r stays as Levi's backup. 

Tage Thompson won't be moved back to wing for Casey mittelstadt. 

I'm just stunned the guy who got us 48g and 96pts is being demoted by half the board because he played 3 weeks of injured hockey. Recency bias is a hell of a drug. 

[LGR4GM]

8 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Ralph wouldn't let Jeff score. Got it.

This board loves to revise history.

You certainly love to ignore things. Like the apocalyptic dumpster fire that was Kruegers system. A system a decade behind nhl strategy. Every single player except Eichel saw their worst statistical season under Barf Krueger. But that's not a contrarion view so you'll revise history to make one. 

[Stoner]

23 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

You certainly love to ignore things. Like the apocalyptic dumpster fire that was Kruegers system. A system a decade behind nhl strategy. Every single player except Eichel saw their worst statistical season under Barf Krueger. But that's not a contrarion view so you'll revise history to make one. 

Stop copying me.

And I don't care if RaKru was a POS or the team was a POS. Jeff was the poster boy for POS.

Everyone has less than ideal work situations at times. Do your job.

Jeff went out behind the dumpster to smoke.

 

[JohnC]

21 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

Stop copying me.

And I don't care if RaKru was a POS or the team was a POS. Jeff was the poster boy for POS.

Everyone has less than ideal work situations at times. Do your job.

Jeff went out behind the dumpster to smoke.

 

The story you have fictitiously created about Jeff during the Krueger era is categorically wrong. On a WGR segment, Granato was asked about Skinner and his quick resurrection under him. The coach pointed out that even when Jeff was essentially exiled by the previous coach, he still assiduously worked on his game in practice. While Jeff was getting limited minutes in games, his practice habits never dropped off. This is what Granato witnessed and so stated on the radio. 

Your memory of the gruesome Krueger era is far from being accurate. The verbosely talented coach idiotically believed in his outdated system and forced players to play within in. Jeff as a player had attributes that would never work in the coach's restrictive system. The same stultifying system straitjacketed Dahlin, Tage and most of the other players on the roster. The coach's approach to the game and his religious devotion to his system never made sense. You work with the players that you have, including their strengths and weaknesses. It's like a baseball manager ordering his single hitter to concentrate on hitting home runs, and your bulky home run hitter to concentrate on hitting singles and stealing bases, and the basketball coach ordering his rebounder who has no shooting touch to shoot more three-point shots, and your track coach having his sprinter running the distance races and your distance runner run in the sprint races. It made absolutely no sense. The team's dismal record attested to that failure. It shouldn't be a surprise that when Granato took over, even when the wins didn't come right away, the style and level of play dramatically changed. 

You mentioned Jeff and going behind the dumpster to smoke. That's not the real story. The real story is that the coach metaphorically threw the player into the dumpster and set it on fire. The end of the story is that the coach is gone and relegated to the ash heap of failed coaches while the player is still playing with passion and is thriving. 

[K-9]

Tage Thompson, as his two season breakout attests, is a CENTER. Granato moved him to wing the last handful of games to protect his injury, NOT to spread out the scoring. Please. No more talk of moving him back to wing. 

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

Tage Thompson won't be moved back to wing for Casey mittelstadt. 

I'm just stunned the guy who got us 48g and 96pts is being demoted by half the board because he played 3 weeks of injured hockey. Recency bias is a hell of a drug. 

Tage is likely going to be the center for the top line. But when he got hurt and Mitts moved up it became evident that when Mitts is assigned more talented offensive finishers, he becomes so much more productive. In his short stint with the Tuch/Skinner line he stood out and thrived. The real issue is what line is Mitts going to be on? And will it be at center or wing? My preference is to keep the Quinn/Cozens/JJ line intact. Just a number of interesting issues to consider for next season. 

[JohnC]

Attached is a link of Granato's postgame comments. This is a 3 minute segment. He made some comments on Mitts. This link was taken from Sabres.com.

 

https://www.nhl.com/sabres/video/don-granato-postgame-41423/t-277822760/c-16618251

[MBD]

10 hours ago, MBD said:

Wouldn't one point from an OT loss to a regulation win (like the Wash game) have given them 43 wins and the tie-breaker over FLA?

Can anyone confirm is this is true? 

[DarthEbriate]

A side note on Skinner: When asked to waive his NMC for the expansion draft, he did so. His contract prevented him from being taken, but his resurgence easily could have been as a part of the Kraken's top line instead of helping guide Thompson-Tuch. The Sabres elected to protect Bjork instead.

[steveoath]

30 minutes ago, JohnC said:

Tage is likely going to be the center for the top line. But when he got hurt and Mitts moved up it became evident that when Mitts is assigned more talented offensive finishers, he becomes so much more productive. In his short stint with the Tuch/Skinner line he stood out and thrived. The real issue is what line is Mitts going to be on? And will it be at center or wing? My preference is to keep the Quinn/Cozens/JJ line intact. Just a number of interesting issues to consider for next season. 

I'd like to see a run out of Savoie/Mittelstadt/Greenway. Keep lines 1 and 2 in tact. 

[Stoner]

The OP claimed Jeff was getting eight minutes a game. Not true. Haven't been able to find the number of times he was scratched those two seasons, but it couldn't have been many.

Nothing was stopping Skinner from scoring goals. He had his supporters here and his detractors. Any of the detractors care to step forward?

And everyone loved Ralph during the winning streak.

I'm over it. Who cares. Onward and upward.

But let's be accurate and honest.

[inkman]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

Stop copying me.

And I don't care if RaKru was a POS or the team was a POS. Jeff was the poster boy for POS.

Everyone has less than ideal work situations at times. Do your job.

Jeff went out behind the dumpster to smoke.

 

Nothing better than a behind the dumpster coffin nail 

[sweetlou]

12 hours ago, Taro T said:

Made that same comment to the wifey.  Wtf?

Johnny hockey effect

[Stoner]

11 minutes ago, inkman said:

Nothing better than a behind the dumpster coffin nail 

Well there is something better back there... Other than finding a recently deposited half eaten burrito.

[sweetlou]

29 minutes ago, MBD said:

Can anyone confirm is this is true? 

The tie breaker is regulation wins.   Buffalo finished with 30.  NYI and Florida had 36 each and Pittsburg had 31.  

[dudacek]

13 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

The OP claimed Jeff was getting eight minutes a game. Not true. Haven't been able to find the number of times he was scratched those two seasons, but it couldn't have been many.

Nothing was stopping Skinner from scoring goals. He had his supporters here and his detractors. Any of the detractors care to step forward?

And everyone loved Ralph during the winning streak.

I'm over it. Who cares. Onward and upward.

But let's be accurate and honest.

I have no interest in re-litigating the whys of the Jeff Skinner situation, but anyone who suggests he was banished to the 4th line and kept there despite good play needs to rewatch the tape.

He was objectively terrible for all but the first month or so of Krueger’s tenure.

[JohnC]

24 minutes ago, PASabreFan said:

The OP claimed Jeff was getting eight minutes a game. Not true. Haven't been able to find the number of times he was scratched those two seasons, but it couldn't have been many.

Nothing was stopping Skinner from scoring goals. He had his supporters here and his detractors. Any of the detractors care to step forward?

And everyone loved Ralph during the winning streak.

I'm over it. Who cares. Onward and upward.

But let's be accurate and honest.

Of course, Ralph was going to be loved during an winning streak, just like any coach would be. However, his body of work is deemed a failure because it is a failure. There is no other way to evaluate his tenure. The Krueger era and post Krueger era are stark contrasts. It's not too difficult to come to a judgment about his stint as a coach here. 

[JohnC]

2 minutes ago, dudacek said:

I have no interest in re-litigating the whys of the Jeff Skinner situation, but anyone who suggests he was banished to the 4th line and kept there despite good play needs to rewatch the tape.

He was objectively terrible for all but the first month or so of Krueger’s tenure.

There's no disputing the fact that Skinner was terrible playing for Krueger. He was like a fish out of water. His play dramatically changed after the coaching change, as it did for Dahlin and others. Skinner was never going to succeed in a Krueger system, just as Dahlin was never going to reach his potential under that same rigid system. A coach has to work with the players he has on hand, dealing with their strengths and weaknesses. Krueger wanted to force the players to adapt to his system instead of adapting to the specific talents of the players. That ability to adapt is what distinguishes Granato from Krueger. 

[MBD]

51 minutes ago, sweetlou said:

The tie breaker is regulation wins.   Buffalo finished with 30.  NYI and Florida had 36 each and Pittsburg had 31.  

Seems dumb.  Wins are wins.  If you have the same number of points but more wins no matter when it happened, you should have the tie-breaker. 

[matter2003]

3 hours ago, PASabreFan said:

Ralph wouldn't let Jeff score. Got it.

This board loves to revise history.

Ralph punished him because he wasn't a defensive player...he literally was trying to win games 1-0 at times, the team was so boring and defensive it was sickening.

Skinner couldn't fit his "vision" so he quickly found himself in the doghouse which progressively got worse and worse.

8 minutes ago, MBD said:

Seems dumb.  Wins are wins.  If you have the same number of points but more wins no matter when it happened, you should have the tie-breaker. 

I think they want to reward actual hockey and not pond hockey.

[MBD]

9 minutes ago, matter2003 said:

I think they want to reward actual hockey and not pond hockey.

Then don't make it pond hockey.

[Taro T]

16 hours ago, MBD said:

Wouldn't one point from an OT loss to a regulation win (like the Wash game) have given them 43 wins and the tie-breaker over FLA?

No.  The 1st tiebreaker is Regulation Wins.  Not total wins.  The 2nd tiebreaker is ROW.  Again, not total wins.  Total wins is the 3rd tiebreaker.  Then head to head (based on an even # of games played between the 2 teams, otherwise the 1st game in the city they played an extra game gets dropped).