Around the NHL: 2024-2025 Season

[Brawndo]

 

[mjd1001]

Interesting that Buffalo is the 2nd best team at scoring in the first period. They have 52 first period goals, only Washington has more.

They also have scored the first goal of the game more than anyone except for Columbus, 30 times.

On the other hand, no team in the league has allowed more goals in the 2nd and 3rd combined than Buffalo.

Sabres Goal differential:  1st period: +17, 2nd period -16 , 3rd period -19

 

Edited Sunday at 12:04 AM by mjd1001

[PerreaultForever]

4 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

Interesting that Buffalo is the 2nd best team at scoring in the first period. They have 52 first period goals, only Washington has more.

They also have scored the first goal of the game more than anyone except for Columbus, 30 times.

On the other hand, no team in the league has allowed more goals in the 2nd and 3rd combined than Buffalo.

Sabres Goal differential:  1st period: +17, 2nd period -16 , 3rd period -19

 

I don't think it's that interesting. I think it's primarily because teams think they will have an easy night and come in to the game napping. Takes them falling behind to realize they will still have to play to get a win. When they bear down in the third we usually fall apart. 

[inkman]

1 hour ago, Brawndo said:

 

I loved Will Borgen so much.  More than any non lover should. 

Edited Sunday at 12:16 AM by inkman

[Broken Ankles]

14 hours ago, Brawndo said:

 

If the Sabres organization was even remotely competent, the path of Borgen would be how they treated Samuelsson. Maybe slightly elevated with the pedigree/draft order. Slower development, followed by a 2 year bridge.  Maybe Mules could have been $1.5m instead of $900k.  Then a three year extension walking him to UFA around $2.8m.  Mule would be in the first year of that today instead of his current deal where he has 5 more at a higher AAV than Borgen.  Adams autobiography- Negotiations with Fear. 

[DarthEbriate]

1 hour ago, Broken Ankles said:

If the Sabres organization was even remotely competent, the path of Borgen would be how they treated Samuelsson. Maybe slightly elevated with the pedigree/draft order. Slower development, followed by a 2 year bridge.  Maybe Mules could have been $1.5m instead of $900k.  Then a three year extension walking him to UFA around $2.8m.  Mule would be in the first year of that today instead of his current deal where he has 5 more at a higher AAV than Borgen.  Adams autobiography- Negotiations with Fear. 

Negotiating with Fear prolongs detailed and intimated conversations with Suffering.

[DarthEbriate]

Borgen was one of the logical choices to leave unprotected. (Risto and his price tag was more logical; Joker maybe in hindsight, but he was a shiny new acquisition.) But it's amazing that the current ownership really like to move on from their own serviceable defensive defensemen draftees who could be 2nd pair players (with the right partner) for many years: McNabb, McCabe, Borgen.

 

Edit: Note that this doesn't look good for the Sabres' future of Novikov or Strbak, two players that they really could use in a couple years... hehehe... you know, when they're...  competing. in Power's timeline window. I can't even say it.

Edited Sunday at 03:29 PM by DarthEbriate

[kas23]

16 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

Interesting that Buffalo is the 2nd best team at scoring in the first period. They have 52 first period goals, only Washington has more.

They also have scored the first goal of the game more than anyone except for Columbus, 30 times.

On the other hand, no team in the league has allowed more goals in the 2nd and 3rd combined than Buffalo.

Sabres Goal differential:  1st period: +17, 2nd period -16 , 3rd period -19

 

This sounds like a “heart” or coaching issue. The Sabres’ skills don’t go down as the game progresses. Either their effort goes down or the opposing coaches make changes to neutralize them. I don’t think this is a conditioning issue as these are young players. They comes out excited and feel like they’ve done enough by the 2nd or 3rd period. 

[Thorner]

2 minutes ago, kas23 said:

This sounds like a “heart” or coaching issue. The Sabres’ skills don’t go down as the game progresses. Either their effort goes down or the opposing coaches make changes to neutralize them. I don’t think this is a conditioning issue as these are young players. They comes out excited and feel like they’ve done enough by the 2nd or 3rd period. 

It’s youth and experience based 

Young players are the most prone to mental lapses and inconsistent play 

We are the youngest team in the league: I honestly do struggle to see how that’s not the issue. 

they are all young, and just happen to randomly all have heart issues, too? It’s simpler. It’s the environment - we continually field rosters exceptionally unbalanced in this fashion 

Edited Sunday at 05:08 PM by Thorner

[mjd1001]

2 minutes ago, kas23 said:

This sounds like a “heart” or coaching issue. The Sabres’ skills don’t go down as the game progresses. Either their effort goes down or the opposing coaches make changes to neutralize them. I don’t think this is a conditioning issue as these are young players. They comes out excited and feel like they’ve done enough by the 2nd or 3rd period. 

I don't go with the coaching issue. I have heard 'coaching' issue on both sides of things.

I think its a bit more on players that just don't handle pressure situations well. Not quite enough vets on the roster who have been through things.

A team does great at the beginning of games but not at the end....its a 'coaching' issue as the coaching staff cannot adjust to game conditions.

A team does poorly at the beginning but better at the end....its a 'coaching' issue as the coaching staff doesn't have the team ready.

That point has been argued on both sides, depending on how someone wants to crticize the coaching.

Edited Sunday at 05:07 PM by mjd1001

[kas23]

12 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

I don't go with the coaching issue. I have heard 'coaching' issue on both sides of things.

I think its a bit more on players that just don't handle pressure situations well. Not quite enough vets on the roster who have been through things.

A team does great at the beginning of games but not at the end....its a 'coaching' issue as the coaching staff cannot adjust to game conditions.

A team does poorly at the beginning but better at the end....its a 'coaching' issue as the coaching staff doesn't have the team ready.

That point has been argued on both sides, depending on how someone wants to crticize the coaching.

I’m fully ready to accept these kids just don’t care by the 3rd period. Ruff is a good coach. He’s definitely not incompetent, but I think he’s being handcuffed. He wasn’t allowed to hire his own assistants. But, it’s hard to completely divorce repeatedly giving up 3 goal leads from coaching. 

[mjd1001]

7 minutes ago, kas23 said:

I’m fully ready to accept these kids just don’t care by the 3rd period. Ruff is a good coach. He’s definitely not incompetent, but I think he’s being handcuffed. He wasn’t allowed to hire his own assistants. But, it’s hard to completely divorce repeatedly giving up 3 goal leads from coaching. 

Something else to consider....

Remember the Colorado game where they collapsed?  The first one?

If I remember correctly, Ruff called a time out when things were starting to unravel, I could swear the camera was on the sabres bench and you could see Ruff telling the team to "Calm down".  I think if you could read his lips he said something like "Calm down" or something very similar.

When things started to unravel, the players played differently. They made bad decisions that they didn't earlier in the game. Its almost as if something got in their head and their hearts started beating faster and they got nervous on the ice.

The only thing a coach can do there is call time out, try to calm them down, tell them to focus on what they were taught/coached/know how to play hockey. At that moment in time, if things keep going bad, thats on the players, not on Ruff or Appert.

A few shifts by lines full of guys like Zucker (or some other 28-32 year old 2nd line vets) may have helped. Guys who have beein in that situation before, guys that know their role on the team and are good enough to play hockey, but are not going to try to do 'too much' other than the fundamentals.  If anything, I don't put that on the coach...I put that on roster constructoin for not having enough guys like that the coaches can put out there.

Adams, couldn't you find anyone like that to put on this roster? Terry, wouldn't you allow Adams to spend $5+ million dollars to bring in guys like that? Is it both of you?

Edited Sunday at 05:33 PM by mjd1001

[OverPowerYou]

I will be a bandwagon caps fans this year as ovechkin chases history 

[SwampD]

On 1/25/2025 at 7:02 PM, mjd1001 said:

Interesting that Buffalo is the 2nd best team at scoring in the first period. They have 52 first period goals, only Washington has more.

They also have scored the first goal of the game more than anyone except for Columbus, 30 times.

On the other hand, no team in the league has allowed more goals in the 2nd and 3rd combined than Buffalo.

Sabres Goal differential:  1st period: +17, 2nd period -16 , 3rd period -19

 

On 1/25/2025 at 7:07 PM, PerreaultForever said:

I don't think it's that interesting. I think it's primarily because teams think they will have an easy night and come in to the game napping. Takes them falling behind to realize they will still have to play to get a win. When they bear down in the third we usually fall apart. 

11 hours ago, kas23 said:

This sounds like a “heart” or coaching issue. The Sabres’ skills don’t go down as the game progresses. Either their effort goes down or the opposing coaches make changes to neutralize them. I don’t think this is a conditioning issue as these are young players. They comes out excited and feel like they’ve done enough by the 2nd or 3rd period. 

11 hours ago, Thorner said:

It’s youth and experience based 

Young players are the most prone to mental lapses and inconsistent play 

We are the youngest team in the league: I honestly do struggle to see how that’s not the issue. 

they are all young, and just happen to randomly all have heart issues, too? It’s simpler. It’s the environment - we continually field rosters exceptionally unbalanced in this fashion 

11 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

I don't go with the coaching issue. I have heard 'coaching' issue on both sides of things.

I think its a bit more on players that just don't handle pressure situations well. Not quite enough vets on the roster who have been through things.

A team does great at the beginning of games but not at the end....its a 'coaching' issue as the coaching staff cannot adjust to game conditions.

A team does poorly at the beginning but better at the end....its a 'coaching' issue as the coaching staff doesn't have the team ready.

That point has been argued on both sides, depending on how someone wants to crticize the coaching.

Or, it’s just that the other team pulled their goalie. 😂

[Archie Lee]

18 hours ago, kas23 said:

I’m fully ready to accept these kids just don’t care by the 3rd period. Ruff is a good coach. He’s definitely not incompetent, but I think he’s being handcuffed. He wasn’t allowed to hire his own assistants. But, it’s hard to completely divorce repeatedly giving up 3 goal leads from coaching. 

It is certainly odd that Ruff didn’t bring in any assistants. Adams did say in a WGR interview, a few days after the palm tree press conference I think, that It was Ruff’s decision to take some time to get to know the coaches already in the org. Maybe Adams was lying. But, why would Ruff at his age, experience, and pedigree, choose to work under such restrictions?  If Ruff has willingly accepted this, then I would say it reflects as poorly on him as it does on Pegula and Adams. My sense is that Ruff has quickly become culpable in this mess. Like Adams, he has accepted the conditions in exchange for holding onto a position that he is no longer particularly good at (in Adams’s case, never was good at). 

[North Buffalo]

Sell, Sell, yes sell everything... Chz " he's doing it again."

[PerreaultForever]

7 hours ago, Archie Lee said:

It is certainly odd that Ruff didn’t bring in any assistants. Adams did say in a WGR interview, a few days after the palm tree press conference I think, that It was Ruff’s decision to take some time to get to know the coaches already in the org. Maybe Adams was lying. But, why would Ruff at his age, experience, and pedigree, choose to work under such restrictions?  If Ruff has willingly accepted this, then I would say it reflects as poorly on him as it does on Pegula and Adams. My sense is that Ruff has quickly become culpable in this mess. Like Adams, he has accepted the conditions in exchange for holding onto a position that he is no longer particularly good at (in Adams’s case, never was good at). 

Ruff didn't have anything better to do. He didn't want to be retired yet. He was bored. Opportunity came along and he has a house already there why wouldn't he take the job? If you were him you'd take it too. 

But he clearly didn't come in with an "I'm doing it my way" attitude like a Tortorella did in Philly. Torts is like I'm doing it this way and if you don't like it don't hire me or fire me I don't give a.........   The warning signs were here. Assistants not his choices, none of them. No boot camp. No major player moves removing any deadwood he saw. We started the season the lines were basically the same as Granato hockey. Not much was different. 

We've seen a few shifts now with players rearranged and he's got Kulich up and Thompson on a wing and there's a few ideas but it's all too little too late. Ruff changed nothing. He's just been a loyal company man so to speak. Hasn't called out anything or rocked the leaking boat at all. Honestly, he might just be padding his retirement funds. 

[Doohicksie]

On 1/25/2025 at 5:05 PM, Brawndo said:

 

Good for Will.

[Doohicksie]

On 1/26/2025 at 9:09 AM, DarthEbriate said:

McNabb, McCabe, Borgen.

At least we kept Bryson, amirite?

[Doohicksie]

On 1/27/2025 at 6:16 AM, Archie Lee said:

Maybe Adams was lying.

This needs to be posterized.

[DarthEbriate]

49 minutes ago, Doohicksie said:

At least we kept Bryson, amirite?

They needed all those quick defensemen for the Housley-style attack. 😇   

Remember some guys: Antipin. Pilut. Butcher.

Edited Tuesday at 02:54 PM by DarthEbriate

[DarthEbriate]

St. Louis has placed Brandon Saad on waivers. $4.5M with this season and next year remaining on the contract. One year removed from 26 goals. If on the 2nd PP probably could get to 15-25 goals next season.

The good: 2x Cup winner, fair size, and would be that veteran middle-6 type Zucker equivalent. He's been known to show up in the playoffs, if that matters next year.

The buyer beware: he does not throw body checks (7 hits this season, which makes Power look like a hungry rancor). Probably has lost a step and is one the decline, but folks would've said that about Zucker heading into this season.

[PerreaultForever]

47 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

St. Louis has placed Brandon Saad on waivers. $4.5M with this season and next year remaining on the contract. One year removed from 26 goals. If on the 2nd PP probably could get to 15-25 goals next season.

The good: 2x Cup winner, fair size, and would be that veteran middle-6 type Zucker equivalent. He's been known to show up in the playoffs, if that matters next year.

The buyer beware: he does not throw body checks (7 hits this season, which makes Power look like a hungry rancor). Probably has lost a step and is one the decline, but folks would've said that about Zucker heading into this season.

Pick him up, eat half his contract and add him into a Petterson deal?

[steveoath]

Saad cleared waivers and will now have contract terminated. 

[Night Train]

On 1/28/2025 at 2:38 PM, DarthEbriate said:

 

The buyer beware: he does not throw body checks 

 That makes him a perfect fit for the Sabres.