AHL PLAYOFF GDT - Amerks @ Crunch - Friday, May 10, 2024 - 7:05 PM (EDT) AHL TV, 950/95.7 WROC

[pastajoe]

Cleveland won their series. I thought the Amerks would match up well against them. 😩

[Andrew Amerk]

Very, very lame crowd tonight. Especially for a sold out deciding game 5.

Refs were terrible, and the Amerks were equally as bad. Pushed around all game, not moving their feet, just seemed disinterested all around. 

[Claude Balls]

55 minutes ago, Andrew Amerk said:

Very, very lame crowd tonight. Especially for a sold out deciding game 5.

Refs were terrible, and the Amerks were equally as bad. Pushed around all game, not moving their feet, just seemed disinterested all around. 

The crowd was hardly lame. Not sure what you were listening too. They were on the refs constantly and were chanting Levi after his great saves. The Amerks gave them nothing to get jacked up about. But to say the crowd was lame, is well.....lame. The crowd was great.

Att - 10,758. So lame. 

Edited May 11 by Claude Balls

[Andrew Amerk]

2 hours ago, Claude Balls said:

The crowd was hardly lame. Not sure what you were listening too. They were on the refs constantly and were chanting Levi after his great saves. The Amerks gave them nothing to get jacked up about. But to say the crowd was lame, is well.....lame. The crowd was great.

Att - 10,758. So lame. 

Were you really at the game, or just watching on TV?

There were almost nobody with signs. Any time anyone tried to get a “Let’s Go Amerks” chant going, it went nowhere. They handed out those “bamba sticks” and almost nobody even used them. I’ve been going to Amerks playoffs games since the 80’s, and this was the lamest crowd I’ve ever seen for an important playoff game.

The most animated the crowd got was “Refs You Suck,” which was warranted. The boys were not on their game tonight, and possibly a better crowd could have inspired them. 

Edited May 11 by Andrew Amerk

[Claude Balls]

3 minutes ago, Andrew Amerk said:

Were you really at the game, or just watching on TV?

There were almost nobody with signs. Any time anyone tried to get a “Let’s Go Amerks” chant going, it went nowhere. They handed out those “bamba sticks” and almost nobody even used them. I’ve been going to Amerks playoffs games since the 80’s, and this was the lamest crowd I’ve ever seen for an important playoff game.

The most animated the crowd got was “Refs You Suck,” which was warranted. The boys were not on their game tonight, and possibly a better crowd could have inspired them. 

I think maybe you drank too much. They handed out those air sticks last on Sunday April 28th. Last night they handed out the red Pesky towels. 

I've been going to games since the 70's if you wanna play the age game. And I'm pretty sure I was there seeing how I have season tickets. The crowd was just fine. The team gave them nothing to cheer about. They came out flat. That's not the crowd's fault. Almost 11,000 fans and you come out and play like that??? That's not the fans. Seth Appert is another softy that will never get it done. Not to mention, Syracuse is built like a playoff team. The Amerks are not. Just like the Sabres. 

[Claude Balls]

One thing I forgot to mention. Lindy was the first of all the management team to leave tonight. He was gone with more than 10 mins left in the 3rd. The other 5 guys were still there for maybe 5 more mins. I hope Lindy was walking away shaking his head. This organization needs a major wakeup kick in the ass call. 

[French Collection]

5 hours ago, Claude Balls said:

One thing I forgot to mention. Lindy was the first of all the management team to leave tonight. He was gone with more than 10 mins left in the 3rd. The other 5 guys were still there for maybe 5 more mins. I hope Lindy was walking away shaking his head. This organization needs a major wakeup kick in the ass call. 

He wants to trade Kulich, Rosen and Östlund for Ryan Reaves.

[inkman]

3 hours ago, French Collection said:

He wants to trade Kulich, Rosen and Östlund for Ryan Reaves.

Lindy isn’t Teds Nolans. 

[PromoTheRobot]

9 hours ago, Claude Balls said:

One thing I forgot to mention. Lindy was the first of all the management team to leave tonight. He was gone with more than 10 mins left in the 3rd. The other 5 guys were still there for maybe 5 more mins. I hope Lindy was walking away shaking his head. This organization needs a major wakeup kick in the ass call. 

Just for some perspective, the Amerks ended the regular season .611, tied for 7th overall in the AHL. They played at a .731 (17-5-2-2) pace since March 1. Losing a Game 5 isn't a reason to blow it all up.

Edited May 11 by PromoTheRobot

[thewookie1]

13 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Which is only an issue if you don't build your AHL team with grinders and some failed NHLers. 

Rochester is a complete mirror of the Sabres and has the very same roster construction issues. It's not really that surprising. 

But the AHL is supposed to be the development league for the NHL primarily. If the Amerks are made up of developmental pieces primarily is that not technically supposed to be how all the teams should be? It just feels kind of two faced for the league to be all about development but their more successful set ups aren't anything close to that.

[French Collection]

33 minutes ago, inkman said:

Lindy isn’t Teds Nolans. 

Those Latvian goons are something else.

I stretched the parameters quite a bit. We don’t need Reaves, just some 2-3 gritty guys that can play hockey. Besides, the Leafs would probably take Kisakov for Reaves.

[K-9]

10 hours ago, Andrew Amerk said:

Were you really at the game, or just watching on TV?

There were almost nobody with signs. Any time anyone tried to get a “Let’s Go Amerks” chant going, it went nowhere. They handed out those “bamba sticks” and almost nobody even used them. I’ve been going to Amerks playoffs games since the 80’s, and this was the lamest crowd I’ve ever seen for an important playoff game.

The most animated the crowd got was “Refs You Suck,” which was warranted. The boys were not on their game tonight, and possibly a better crowd could have inspired them. 

The onus is on the players to inspire the crowd, not the other way around. The crowd was pumped for this game from the jump and how did the boys serve that enthusiasm? By promptly going down 2 zip.

If a team needs a crowd to inspire them, then I have to question their resolve. 

[JohnC]

2 minutes ago, French Collection said:

Those Latvian goons are something else.

I stretched the parameters quite a bit. We don’t need Reaves, just some 2-3 gritty guys that can play hockey. Besides, the Leafs would probably take Kisakov for Reaves.

If the GM could add a couple of Greenway type players, I would be happy. Greenway is a big player who plays a heavy and strong style of game. He doesn't get bumped off the puck or pushed out of position, and he gives us strong net presence when in the offensive zone. There is nothing flashy about his game. But he is the type of player that we need more of. I'm not overemphasizing size as I'm emphasizing style of play. Benson is far from being one of our biggest players but without question he is one of our grittier players. We need more of them. 

[French Collection]

18 minutes ago, JohnC said:

If the GM could add a couple of Greenway type players, I would be happy. Greenway is a big player who plays a heavy and strong style of game. He doesn't get bumped off the puck or pushed out of position, and he gives us strong net presence when in the offensive zone. There is nothing flashy about his game. But he is the type of player that we need more of. I'm not overemphasizing size as I'm emphasizing style of play. Benson is far from being one of our biggest players but without question he is one of our grittier players. We need more of them. 

UFAs.
Gritty 4th line wingers that won’t break the bank:

Martinook, Clutterbuck, Carrier, Blais and of course the other Cousins.

On RHD there is Tanev, Pesce, Roy, DeMelo, Hakanpaa and MacDermid( mainly for muscle).

Zadorov is also a physical presence, although LHD.

Vladar could be traded for cheaply as a backup goalie who could be pushed down by Levi. Calgary probably wants Wolf full time, nothing more he can do in the AHL.

[PerreaultForever]

1 hour ago, thewookie1 said:

But the AHL is supposed to be the development league for the NHL primarily. If the Amerks are made up of developmental pieces primarily is that not technically supposed to be how all the teams should be? It just feels kind of two faced for the league to be all about development but their more successful set ups aren't anything close to that.

It's supposed to be both though. It's a development league and also a storage facility for your depth players. The Sabres don't seem to value that part very much. 

Ideally what you get from that as well is a mix of good character veterans that help teach these kids and they "develop" just being around and watching pros work. The culture you want starts there. If we are creating a culture of "not blocking" these kids are just putting in their time knowing they will get the call after they put in the days. It's stupid. 

[dudacek]

If failure can teach as much as success, we can hope Kulich and Rosen and Novikov will have learned something.

Johnson and Levi might help the Sabres next year. Didn’t see that that from anyone else.

One positive from that is that if Adams was considering leaving multiple spot open for rookies, their performance in this series may have convinced him that’s not a good idea.

[dudacek]

9 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

It's supposed to be both though. It's a development league and also a storage facility for your depth players. The Sabres don't seem to value that part very much. 

Ideally what you get from that as well is a mix of good character veterans that help teach these kids and they "develop" just being around and watching pros work. The culture you want starts there. If we are creating a culture of "not blocking" these kids are just putting in their time knowing they will get the call after they put in the days. It's stupid. 

Great story.

Pretty sure I’ve heard Kevyn Adams and Seth Appert say exactly the same thing.

Pretty sure Murray and Biro and Mersch and Prow and Davies and Clague and Jost and Tokarski and Cecconi are those players.

Pretty sure Neuchev and Östlund and others were in the press box in the playoffs getting blocked by some of the guys above.

Sabres suck at a lot of stuff, the way they’ve handled the Amerks under Karmanos hasn’t been one of them. They’ve been competitive and they’ve developed players.

You don’t need to make things up to complain about.

[thewookie1]

19 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

It's supposed to be both though. It's a development league and also a storage facility for your depth players. The Sabres don't seem to value that part very much. 

That in of itself is sort of a catch-22; when your team is good the AHL team will naturally become storage for extra players. When your team is building up or tearing down you'll have an influx of youth needing a spot to play and Top 6 AHLers won't sign because they feel they should play on your NHL squad.

 

19 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

Ideally what you get from that as well is a mix of good character veterans that help teach these kids and they "develop" just being around and watching pros work. The culture you want starts there. If we are creating a culture of "not blocking" these kids are just putting in their time knowing they will get the call after they put in the days. It's stupid. 

I agree with this part; but also feel there's a limit on how much a player can gain from playing in lesser leagues and due to our prospect numbers it creates a bit of a crunch.

[thewookie1]

8 minutes ago, dudacek said:

Great story.

Pretty sure I’ve heard Kevyn Adams and Seth Appert say exactly the same thing.

Pretty sure Murray and Biro and Mersch and Prow and Davies and Clague and Jost and Tokarski and Cecconi are those players.

Pretty sure Neuchev and Östlund and others were in the press box in the playoffs getting blocked by some of the guys above.

Sabres suck at a lot of stuff, the way they’ve handled the Amerks under Karmanos hasn’t been one of them. They’ve been competitive and they’ve developed players.

You don’t need to make things up to complain about.

I wish Clague and Jost were on the roster. Would of better matched the far more seasoned Crunch team. Plus what has happened to Prow, is he just old now?

[Thorner]

2 hours ago, thewookie1 said:

But the AHL is supposed to be the development league for the NHL primarily. If the Amerks are made up of developmental pieces primarily is that not technically supposed to be how all the teams should be? It just feels kind of two faced for the league to be all about development but their more successful set ups aren't anything close to that.

Because the league also primarily exists to sell tickets and winning gets you more games you can sell tickets to: the reality of the AHL is that it’s both. It’s a development league and a professional, entertainment based league, too. Tough balancing act for every organization.

It does provide a good cautionary tale in general: our alottment of prospects doesn’t translate to winning in an inferior league, we can’t just graduate guys and win in a better league, it just doesn’t work like that. I understand we don’t have all our prospects together at the same time there but no team ever does, NHL or not. We didn’t even have prime Eichel together with ROR.
 

A lot of team building is timing. Regardless of league 

[Stoner]

2 hours ago, Thorny said:

Because the league also primarily exists to sell tickets and winning gets you more games you can sell tickets to: the reality of the AHL is that it’s both. It’s a development league and a professional, entertainment based league, too. Tough balancing act for every organization.

It does provide a good cautionary tale in general: our alottment of prospects doesn’t translate to winning in an inferior league, we can’t just graduate guys and win in a better league, it just doesn’t work like that. I understand we don’t have all our prospects together at the same time there but no team ever does, NHL or not. We didn’t even have prime Eichel together with ROR.
 

A lot of team building is timing. Regardless of league 

If they don't bite as puppies...

RIP Chuck Dickerson

 

[PerreaultForever]

7 hours ago, dudacek said:

Great story.

Pretty sure I’ve heard Kevyn Adams and Seth Appert say exactly the same thing.

Pretty sure Murray and Biro and Mersch and Prow and Davies and Clague and Jost and Tokarski and Cecconi are those players.

Pretty sure Neuchev and Östlund and others were in the press box in the playoffs getting blocked by some of the guys above.

Sabres suck at a lot of stuff, the way they’ve handled the Amerks under Karmanos hasn’t been one of them. They’ve been competitive and they’ve developed players.

You don’t need to make things up to complain about.

Condescending bullcrap. 

That list you have given is a garbage list. How many NHL games for that sorry lot? That is NOT a group of NHL depth players. 

[PerreaultForever]

7 hours ago, thewookie1 said:

That in of itself is sort of a catch-22; when your team is good the AHL team will naturally become storage for extra players. When your team is building up or tearing down you'll have an influx of youth needing a spot to play and Top 6 AHLers won't sign because they feel they should play on your NHL squad.

 

I agree with this part; but also feel there's a limit on how much a player can gain from playing in lesser leagues and due to our prospect numbers it creates a bit of a crunch.

True, but the catch 22 comes from the NHL team constantly rebuilding. We don't incrementally improve, we keep tearing down and starting over and changing directions constantly. This is what I'm saying in the other thread. We trade Mitts and now need a 3C (or 2C). We get Byram who is a lesser version of Montour who we already had. It's a constant cycle that gets us nowhere. 

[dudacek]

3 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Condescending bullcrap. 

That list you have given is a garbage list. How many NHL games for that sorry lot? That is NOT a group of NHL depth players. 
 

What I find condescending is you bringing your automatic default of “the Sabres are doing it wrong” when you don’t seem to know what they are doing with the Amerks, or what other teams in the AHL are doing.

Show me the farm teams loaded with a group of NHL depth players. Farm team veterans are a mix of has-beens, never-we’re and tweeners. Not just Buffalo’s, all of them. If they were real NHL depth, they’d be in the NHL.

https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0000312024.html

https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0005082024.html

https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0060542024.html

https://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/leagues/seasons/teams/0039912024.html

 

[PromoTheRobot]

On 5/10/2024 at 10:20 PM, PerreaultForever said:

Which is only an issue if you don't build your AHL team with grinders and some failed NHLers. 

Rochester is a complete mirror of the Sabres and has the very same roster construction issues. It's not really that surprising. 

And it worked well for much of the season. We're not taking about a last place team here. Tied for 1st in division . 7th best record in the AHL. 17-5-2-2 since March 1.

As for Syracuse, they played the Amerks 17 times and won 9. Two teams that were dead even all season that came down to one game.