Do the players care?

[Norcal]

With the season over a third of the way through and expectations having been high to start I have a serious question about the team.

Do the players care? 

Can we identify who does and doesn't care by taking their whole situation into account?

Now, players personal lives are not really any of our business but they are plastered all over the interwebs to see so therefore open to interpretation. 

This particular iteration of Sabres is at the age where they are going through life changes. 

Some are getting married, some are having babies or both. 

Some are navigating their first year in the NHL and finding housing, grocery stores, paying bills etc.

Some are achieving milestones in their career and heading off into retirement soon.

The thing is, all players have alot going on off the ice and for some, they are very big changes.

Is it affecting their overall performance or does it not matter? 

Can a player just block out all destractions and just play or does it inevitably affect their play on the ice? 

I suppose it depends on the player. 

What say you?

 

 

 

 

[Sabres Fan in NS]

Of course they do.  No question in my mind.  No matter what else is going on in their lives.

[LTS]

100%.

They don't like this any more than the fans do. People like to tell themselves that, but it's not true. The difference? They have to play and answer the questions where the angry fans get to just yell from the sidelines.

[Ctaeth]

19 minutes ago, Norcal said:

With the season over a third of the way through and expectations having been high to start I have a serious question about the team.

Do the players care? 

Can we identify who does and doesn't care by taking their whole situation into account?

Now, players personal lives are not really any of our business but they are plastered all over the interwebs to see so therefore open to interpretation. 

This particular iteration of Sabres is at the age where they are going through life changes. 

Some are getting married, some are having babies or both. 

Some are navigating their first year in the NHL and finding housing, grocery stores, paying bills etc.

Some are achieving milestones in their career and heading off into retirement soon.

The thing is, all players have alot going on off the ice and for some, they are very big changes.

Is it affecting their overall performance or does it not matter? 

Can a player just block out all destractions and just play or does it inevitably affect their play on the ice? 

I suppose it depends on the player. 

What say you?

 

 

 

 

I think they all care, tbh.  But how much do they care varies from player to player. 

The second part of this is how you define caring.  Is caring devoting all of their time towards hockey related things?  Then all of the new fathers probably wouldn't be defined as caring about hockey.  Do you define caring as putting in the work in game to be competitive and not just float around the periphery?  Then I feel like half or more of the team, under this definition, would be defined as not caring.  Do you define not caring as not having any preference between winning or losing?  Then I suspect the whole team would be defined as caring (once again to varying to degrees).  

I think the whole team cares about winning vs. losing.  But the team, as a whole, doesn't care enough to consistently put forth full effort in-game.  I.e. they aren't fighting for pucks as hard as they ought to be all the time, they aren't getting back on d as quickly as they should be all the time, they aren't locking in on their own role within the defense all the time.  I would guess that some of this in game "not caring" is derived from Donnie probably not motivating the players right.  The other part of it is that it is not natively in most of their DNA (aside from a few).  They were all first round picks that have been able to skate around the opposition and score goals at will for most of their careers.  The other parts of the game just don't come naturally.

[hockey]

I think they get tired of this area when they see other players not giving a crap but playing in warm sunny places.

[hockey]

(and I lived in Los Angeles for 23 years - cloudless blue skies are absolutely boring)

[mjd1001]

28 minutes ago, hockey said:

(and I lived in Los Angeles for 23 years - cloudless blue skies are absolutely boring)

I think its an age thing, and hockey players are in that age where it matters.

As A kid I liked living in a colder climate..and an adult in my late 40's, I like living in a colder climate with all 4 seasons....BUT, when I was in my early 20's, I wanted to get someplace south/warmer with things to do year round, the beach, nightlife, etc.  I lived in Florida (twice) for a few years, but by the time I got in my late 20's, I was like...why am I here?  I actually WANTED a cloudy day in the spring or summer, a cooler day.  Not all of us, but many of us get to the point where we had enough of it by the time we are close to 30....but the draw of it exists from your late teens to your late 20's....the same age that a lot of these players are (and ones that have a lot of disposable cash).  Its why I think you find a lot of players LOVING the warm weather cities during their playing career, but many 'settle back down' in northern areas later in their career and often retire up north.

Again, there are exceptions to this, but I really think it matters for guys/players in their early to mid 20's.

Edited December 15, 2023 by mjd1001

[Believer]

2 hours ago, Norcal said:

With the season over a third of the way through and expectations having been high to start I have a serious question about the team.

Do the players care? 

Can we identify who does and doesn't care by taking their whole situation into account?

Now, players personal lives are not really any of our business but they are plastered all over the interwebs to see so therefore open to interpretation. 

This particular iteration of Sabres is at the age where they are going through life changes. 

Some are getting married, some are having babies or both. 

Some are navigating their first year in the NHL and finding housing, grocery stores, paying bills etc.

Some are achieving milestones in their career and heading off into retirement soon.

The thing is, all players have alot going on off the ice and for some, they are very big changes.

Is it affecting their overall performance or does it not matter? 

Can a player just block out all destractions and just play or does it inevitably affect their play on the ice? 

I suppose it depends on the player. 

What say you?

 

 

 

 

Great question…

One Adams might have considered more carefully after he blew up the roster he inherited… and assembled a group of too many single post adolescent boys-not-yet-men… experiencing the demands of life in the NHL for the first time… with limited life experience… and no spousal support…

Makes for depressing off ice time when they hang together during losing streaks…

Distracted??… They may be Twenty Something-Multi Millionaire professional athletes… but they are only human…

We need more gritty veterans. Period.

 

 

Edited December 15, 2023 by Believer

[hockey]

10 minutes ago, Believer said:

Great question…

One Adams might have considered more carefully after he blew up the roster he inherited… and assembled a group of too many single post adolescent boys-not-yet-men… experiencing the demands of life in the NHL for the first time… with limited life experience… and no spousal support…

Makes for depressing off ice time when they hang together during losing streaks…

Distracted??… They may be Twenty Something-Multi Millionaire professional atheists… but they are only human…

We need more gritty veterans. Period.

 

 

Atheists instead of athletes might be an all-time Freudian phone slip.

[Scottysabres]

They care......BUT......

They're playing like they already "Got That Milk Money".

They need to pull their heads out of their ***** and be confident with puck possession. STOP PANICKING!!!!

/rant

[MattPie]

29 minutes ago, hockey said:

Atheists instead of athletes might be an all-time Freudian phone slip.

Why's that?

[hockey]

I've never heard of a professional atheist - maybe Dawkins.

[Believer]

1 hour ago, hockey said:

Atheists instead of athletes might be an all-time Freudian phone slip.

Ha… Appreciate the heads up… AI took over the word choice!… Just corrected it.

Edited December 15, 2023 by Believer

[OverPowerYou]

Thomas Vanek doesn’t care 

[pastajoe]

It’s possible that too many of the younger players have been given big long-term contracts before they’ve proven they can maintain the level of play that’s expected. They may have lost that hunger to excel, combined with some veterans who are providing diminishing returns.

[Crusader1969]

I think the players care, some too much like Cozens, but there there is a cloud of doubt hovering above this team that management / ownership cares  
I think the players would expect moves to have been made to try to bolster the roster.
I'm betting, The players are probably starting to question the coaching.  They know better than us that the PP is a joke    That their is no defensive structure. They know that all but one of these coaches have never had  prior experience in their roles. 
That has to wear on you.

 BUT they also know if they don't play well that night or don't bring their A game cause they are tired or whatever, NOTHING will change.  They won't have to sit the next game, they won't lose ice time and they certainly won't be waived.   
 

this falls 100% on the GMs shoulders.  I'm guessing he knows he's not going to lose his job no matter what, so he's playing the long game.  
So I have to question if Adams cares if they win or lose 

8 minutes ago, pastajoe said:

It’s possible that too many of the younger players have been given big long-term contracts before they’ve proven they can maintain the level of play that’s expected. They may have lost that hunger to excel, combined with some veterans who are providing diminishing returns.

I don't think so at all.  The guys at the top of the list of whom I dont question their desire are:  Dahlin, Cozens and Tage 

[Marvin]

I think that they care too much and that they don't have enough veteran guidance because they overall are too young to have learnt to deal with adversity at the NHL level.

[Stoner]

Too vague a question. Unanswerable given the little data we have... Players with PR guidance saying and "showing" they care.

If we're talking about caring about the fans and community, I lean toward no. 

About winning, excelling, staying in the league, making money, lean toward yes.

The vast majority would love to be doing the latter somewhere else. That's just common sense. Because the first thing they are about unquestionably is not what the franchise is about.

[French Collection]

1 hour ago, Marvin said:

I think that they care too much and that they don't have enough veteran guidance because they overall are too young to have learnt to deal with adversity at the NHL level.

They care, they just need leadership to point them in the right direction and to make them accountable for not doing the things that lead to winning.

Edited December 15, 2023 by French Collection

[Getpucksdeep]

I think they care at the same rate we and our coworkers care at our jobs.  For me, hell yes I want this business to grow and so we need to win new deals/contracts/clients, etc.  But man some days it rough, and family life, and burn out, or we lose a deal to competitor, or the boss favors someone else, etc.  This is where leadership comes in.  This is where I point to Granato and his staff and Okposo, especially given the inexperience of the group.  

[Crusader1969]

27 minutes ago, French Collection said:

They care, they just need leadership to point them in the right direction and to make them accountable for not doing the right things that lead to winning.

I think the roster is flawed  This team needs foot soldiers    Hopefully getting Robinson was a step in the right direction.

Hopefully with Quinn returning there will be some competition within the forwards that forces guys to up their compete.

AND as ive said before , Adams needs to show them that anything  less than 100% compete will not be tolerated...so far he's sat on his hands and done very little.

 

[French Collection]

24 minutes ago, Crusader1969 said:

Hopefully with Quinn returning there will be some competition within the forwards that forces guys to up their compete.

Interesting take. Some (myself included) think Quinn should just assume his role on L2. He has the defensive ability to play on L4 and could generate enough offense to get moved up.

I think this is where putting Rosen and Kulich on L4 is not setting them up for success. They aren’t ready for L1 but sticking them with Jost, Girgs and KO means there won’t be any puck touches because all they do is dump and chase.

[Carmel Corn]

IMHO - yes, they care, BUT I think they also feel outmatched in terms of having enough hard-nosed, physical players to compliment their "finesse" style of play.  Such players can instill a greater sense of "security" in their minds to play with more freedom.  I also question if they have enough confidence in their coaching staff and management to make the changes necessary.  

[Goldseatsaud]

Care not as much when your making a ton of money for a 21 year old

[msw2112]

While there are many professional athletes and NHL players who don't care (and are content to be a millionaire playing a game for a living), I think this current Sabres team does care.  I think they care about winning, the franchise, the fans, and the community.  The team has sought out those types of players and people.  Most of they guys on the roster are competitive guys (Tuch, Dahlin, Cozens, Skinner, Thompson, Krebs, Okposo, and many others).  They are guys that like being in Buffalo and want to be there.  It's a criterion set forth by Adams - "we only want guys that want to be here" - and they stick to it.

I believe that this team simply doesn't know how to manage the rigors of an NHL game and an NHL season and play more consistently.  It's been stated elsewhere that it's an 80% league during the regular season (I could have the percentage wrong, but hopefully, you get the idea).  As much as we the fans would love to see 100% effort every shift, every game, it's not possible.  If the players did that, they'd be exhausted, burn out, and have more injuries.  There are just too many games, and the game is too fast and physical.  They'd be out of gas by mid-season.  Veteran players know how to manage the game and the season - how to play just hard enough (80%) to stay in the game, and then to give full effort in other situations when it is required - third period of close games, etc.  They also know how to manage their energy/effort levels from game to game, such as "4 point games" and playoff games.

This team does not know how to do this.  They go gangbusters one night and look great, beating some of the top teams the league like Boston and the NY Rangers, then fall flat on their faces, coming out flat against other teams.  Or, as they did the other night in Colorado, they come out flat and fall way behind, before finding their game and taking over.  The problem with the later is that if you face a hot goalie, or have bad puck luck (hitting posts, etc.) it's too little too late.

I don't know if it's the inexperience of the players, the inexperience of the coaching staff, or something else, but they need to figure it out.  Maybe, as has been suggested here, they need more veteran players who know how to regulate and to teach the younger guys how to do it.

 

Edited December 15, 2023 by msw2112