Greenway article in BN

[xzy89c1]

This article makes it sound like he is multiple all star. He plays way too much on perimeter. This idea that he is tough is silly.

"Los Angeles Kings center Quinton Byfield tried to intimidate one of the Sabres’ defensemen last week, only to be shoved so hard by Greenway that Byfield moved several feet toward the Kings’ bench. When rookie winger Zach Benson was hit from behind Wednesday night in Montreal, Greenway delivered a viscous cross-check to put the Canadiens on notice."

Evidence he is tough is shoving a guy and a cross check. That does not make you tough. When we play tough teams like Islanders and Carolina, where is he? Where is he when teams target Dahlin? 

If one produces at his level, in order to be tough one must fight more than 8 times in a career. 

He is not tough, intimidates no one, does not produce and does not fight.

He is a good penalty killer?

He has 9 goals on the year. 9 goals on a bad team.

 

[Porous Five Hole]

What I like about Greenway is he’s a pro.  He’s a fully grown adult.
He kills penalties well and he’s never intimidated. I don’t need him to fight or score. I need him to be a pro. I’m glad he’s on the team. 

[Hawerchuk]

Well, you're not wrong.

Forget all that for a moment though. Greenway needs to park his big frame in front of the goalie and wreak havoc and score the dirty garbage goals like good ol friend, Dave Andreychuk. IMO.

[inkman]

Jordan Greenway is fine, it’s just sad that he’s our “toughest” player.  

[Stoner]

We all know how Sabres media works. Sabres media relations in concert with the hockey department determines what the story of the day is going to be. DG brings something up in the presser, and the player to be highlighted is made available. The lazy media eats it up because it's easier than doing any critical thinking. There's virtually no difference between what the writer employed by the Sabres and what the beat guys put out. Mike is the outlier and you all hate him for it.

If you go back through GoBillsinDallas' collection of Sabres news stories this year and throw out the games, you'd get the impression the team was leading the Eastern Conference.

So yeah Greenway is awesome. Big whoop.

[pi2000]

Your complaint is misdirected. 

[Buffalonill]

Greenway has grown on me He's not like some super star or some elite player But hes still a solid piece going forward

[Weave]

18 minutes ago, pi2000 said:

Your complaint is misdirected. 

This.

As Inky states, he shouldn’t be our toughest player.  But he’s certainly not a “problem”.  He’s just not enough.

This team has multiple single points of failure.  Goalie, we have 1. Big, tough guy, we have 1.  Powerplay QB, we have 1. Bonafide scoring centers, we have 2 maybe, but they seem to take turns making it 1 at any given game.

[mjd1001]

52 minutes ago, xzy89c1 said:

 

If one produces at his level, in order to be tough one must fight more than 8 times in a career. 

He is not tough, intimidates no one, does not produce and does not fight.

He is a good penalty killer?

He has 9 goals on the year. 9 goals on a bad team.

 

For the system the team SEEMS to want to run, and the one this year it is effective in, yes.

Earlier in the year the PK looked very good for a few stretches. The guys on the PK?  Tage, Greenway, Samuelsson and Johnson.  What do they have in common? The tallest guys on the team with the biggest reach.  

Why is that important?  The Sabres PK is really REALLY bad when they start chasing. When they establish the 4 man box in their own zone, the opposing team passes teh puck around but hardly gets a good shot.  The ONLY times they get a good shot is when someone on the Sabres decides to chase or pressure the puck and they get out of position, opening up great chance for the other team.

IF you are going to tell your guys to stay discipline and hold their positions to maintain that PK box integrity, the best way to do iit is with big guys out there that can cover a lot of territory with their reach and stick.  The current verision of the Sabres PK actually does that well and Greenway is a big part of it.

[mjd1001]

46 minutes ago, Hawerchuk said:

Well, you're not wrong.

Forget all that for a moment though. Greenway needs to park his big frame in front of the goalie and wreak havoc and score the dirty garbage goals like good ol friend, Dave Andreychuk. IMO.

Andreychuk had very good control of the puck with his stick and was a lot quicker with it than Greenway. Not saying Greenway shouldn't do that, but he doesn't have the puck control/stick skills Andreychuk had.

Skinner is really the one player on the team that excels in that.  He can get a loose puck in front of the net, get off a backhander really quick or be one of the quicker guys to get the puck to his forehand and let off an accurate shot. The problem is, he does't have the size/body to park himself in front of the net.  If you could give Skinner Greenways size....or give Greenway Skinner's hands...you'd have an all star, top 5 goal scorer in the league...but alas, that can't be done.

[Doohicksie]

1 hour ago, xzy89c1 said:

This article makes it sound like he is multiple all star. He plays way too much on perimeter. This idea that he is tough is silly.

"Los Angeles Kings center Quinton Byfield tried to intimidate one of the Sabres’ defensemen last week, only to be shoved so hard by Greenway that Byfield moved several feet toward the Kings’ bench. When rookie winger Zach Benson was hit from behind Wednesday night in Montreal, Greenway delivered a viscous cross-check to put the Canadiens on notice."

Evidence he is tough is shoving a guy and a cross check. That does not make you tough. When we play tough teams like Islanders and Carolina, where is he? Where is he when teams target Dahlin? 

If one produces at his level, in order to be tough one must fight more than 8 times in a career. 

He is not tough, intimidates no one, does not produce and does not fight.

He is a good penalty killer?

He has 9 goals on the year. 9 goals on a bad team.

 

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, xzy89c1 said:

Evidence he is tough is shoving a guy and a cross check. That does not make you tough. When we play tough teams like Islanders and Carolina, where is he? Where is he when teams target Dahlin?

You're not wrong (in a way), and I raised an eyebrow reading the article as it tried to make him sound like an enforcer but that's because it's all relative and the Buffalo media are sycophants.

Like @Buffalonill Greenway has grown on me and I consider him more useful to this team than some of our hotshot big name forwards but, like them, he's inconsistent and has a tendency to float at times. When he turns it on he's pretty good, trouble is it's not "on" all the time. That might be why Minnesota ditched him. You can't rely on him to be there all the time. 

Now on the toughness thing specifically, Greenway is much tougher than many on the team but imo he's third tier tough and he's not the guy you want to be relying on for first tier tough. To explain what I mean think of it this way. Ray, Barnaby, May. 1st, 2nd and 3rd tier. You need them all. May was a good power forward and he'd handle himself at times against bigger guys but you don't want him having to fight the biggest guys. That's Greenway. Not as good as May, not saying that, but he is "tough" at that level, not at the toughest level, and if you expect him to step up on the ttoughest and meanest it won't go well. You'll just get that pushy shovey and maybe a cross check but nothing of value and if he drops them it could go bad like it did against Wilson. 

As a contemporary example for the youngsters who don't remember Ray, Barnaby, May, look at Philly. DesLauriers is tier 1, Hathaway is tier 2, and that allows Konecny and others to play like tier 3. You allow Greenway to exist as tier 3 he will be just fine.

 

[Weave]

PF, you mischaracterized May pretty badly there.  Go back and check his hockeyfights record.  Barnaby was the 3rd tier.  He was maybe the 6th best pugilist on that team.

And the smallest I think too.

Edited February 23 by Weave

[tom webster]

1 hour ago, PASabreFan said:

We all know how Sabres media works. Sabres media relations in concert with the hockey department determines what the story of the day is going to be. DG brings something up in the presser, and the player to be highlighted is made available. The lazy media eats it up because it's easier than doing any critical thinking. There's virtually no difference between what the writer employed by the Sabres and what the beat guys put out. Mike is the outlier and you all hate him for it.

If you go back through GoBillsinDallas' collection of Sabres news stories this year and throw out the games, you'd get the impression the team was leading the Eastern Conference.

So yeah Greenway is awesome. Big whoop.

It’s not Sabres media, it is how all sports team and their media relations work in 2024. There may be scattered exceptions but they all right the same stories.

[Getpucksdeep]

2 hours ago, Buffalonill said:

Greenway has grown on me He's not like some super star or some elite player But hes still a solid piece going forward

Same here. Which is why I expect he'll be traded in the next couple of weeks. It's almost like he's begging for it with his recent effort.  And he's the perfect add for the Leafs, Bruins, Edmonton...actually every playoff team.

[Pimlach]

3 hours ago, xzy89c1 said:

This article makes it sound like he is multiple all star. He plays way too much on perimeter. This idea that he is tough is silly.

"Los Angeles Kings center Quinton Byfield tried to intimidate one of the Sabres’ defensemen last week, only to be shoved so hard by Greenway that Byfield moved several feet toward the Kings’ bench. When rookie winger Zach Benson was hit from behind Wednesday night in Montreal, Greenway delivered a viscous cross-check to put the Canadiens on notice."

Evidence he is tough is shoving a guy and a cross check. That does not make you tough. When we play tough teams like Islanders and Carolina, where is he? Where is he when teams target Dahlin? 

If one produces at his level, in order to be tough one must fight more than 8 times in a career. 

He is not tough, intimidates no one, does not produce and does not fight.

He is a good penalty killer?

He has 9 goals on the year. 9 goals on a bad team.

 

With all the softies on this team you pick Greenway as an example of being not tough? 

He is not a designated hockey fighter, never has been.   I have seen him fight once, against Wilson.  Greenway does not really know how to hockey fight, Wilson sure does.  That fight was even enough for me,  he answered a late hit on another player, which is what we need.  

Greenway is hockey tough (not fighting tough) and is a bear to play against.   But not a true hockey fighter.  He sure can intimidate a lot of people, he can and does get traffic in front, and he is willing to police things when he is out there.    We need him.   

He is a capable defensive forward of which we desperately need.  Yes, he is a very good penalty killer.  He should be used more on the PP, for purpose of screening the goalie and tying up a defenseman while doing it - but Matty has not thought of that yet.  

He is on pace to surpass his career best 10 goals this season, and I think he is capable of a 20 goal season if playing on the right line.  

Edited February 23 by Pimlach

[Night Train]

No one is making him out to be a star. He's just solid in his role. 

[mjd1001]

In an effort to make things look as GOOD as possible (because that is what we do here, honestly, we pick and choose stats that make the case we want to make on this forum), you can say its really the last 15 games that he has turned around his game....all around play AND production....

Since the San Jose game Jan 15 for Greenway, which was the first time he scored in almost 3 weeks:

13 games played, 6 goals, 3 assists, +7 (projected over 82 games, 38g, 19a, +44 'pace')

Of course that is cherry-picking stats in his last 13 games, but it does show just how productive he has been over that stretch.  Lets see if he can keep up production even CLOSE to that for the near future.  He's not a Star player. But what makes for 'good' players are guys who can have stetches as good as that....and not have them followed up by stretches of being a liability or totally disapparing.

For the season as a whole he is 7th in es goals per 60 (just behind Zemgus and just ahead of Mitts) and 3rd on the entire team in +/- (only Mitts is better among the forwards)

Edited February 23 by mjd1001

[inkman]

2 hours ago, Weave said:

PF, you mischaracterized May pretty badly there.  Go back and check his hockeyfights record.  Barnaby was the 3rd tier.  He was maybe the 6th best pugilist on that team.

And the smallest I think too.

May didn’t fight all takers like Ray but he was vicious…and dirty.  I’ll always remember when he sucker punched Derek Plante in front of the net when he played for the Nucks.  It was filthy.  Both in dirtiness and viciousness.  Brad was massive, his hand looked like meaty tennis rackets.  I wish the Sabres had someone with 1/10th of Brad’s Chutzpah.  

Edited February 23 by inkman

[PickaPecaPickles]

I’m trying to picture what a “viscous hit” looks like?

[Weave]

6 minutes ago, PickaPecaPickles said:

I’m trying to picture what a “viscous hit” looks like?

Think heavy sucker punch right on the kisser.l

edit- nevermind.  Viscous.  Lol

Edited February 23 by Weave

[inkman]

10 minutes ago, PickaPecaPickles said:

I’m trying to picture what a “viscous hit” looks like?

Autocorrect making me look slightly dumber than I am 

[Rip Titwide]

17 minutes ago, Weave said:

Think heavy sucker punch right on the kisser.l

edit- nevermind.  Viscous.  Lol

He broke Derek's nose

[Weave]

8 minutes ago, Rip Titwide said:

He broke Derek's nose

It was viscous!

[GoPuckYourself]

5 hours ago, xzy89c1 said:

This article makes it sound like he is multiple all star. He plays way too much on perimeter. This idea that he is tough is silly.

"Los Angeles Kings center Quinton Byfield tried to intimidate one of the Sabres’ defensemen last week, only to be shoved so hard by Greenway that Byfield moved several feet toward the Kings’ bench. When rookie winger Zach Benson was hit from behind Wednesday night in Montreal, Greenway delivered a viscous cross-check to put the Canadiens on notice."

Evidence he is tough is shoving a guy and a cross check. That does not make you tough. When we play tough teams like Islanders and Carolina, where is he? Where is he when teams target Dahlin? 

If one produces at his level, in order to be tough one must fight more than 8 times in a career. 

He is not tough, intimidates no one, does not produce and does not fight.

He is a good penalty killer?

He has 9 goals on the year. 9 goals on a bad team.

 

 

The dude plays with heart, how many Sabres right now can you say this about? Not many.

He isn't the most skilled nor the best skater but right now he's one of our best all around players, this take that he isnt tough is just silly... He is willing to block shots, stands up for teammates, stands in front of the net getting destroyed in the back by defenders, doesn't always throw his body around but hit ecverything in site in the Canadian game, goes into the boards with disregard for himself to make a play, that to me is playing "hockey tough" , thats what I like to call it. Greenway is playing the way I envisioned him when he was first traded here.