Cozens: "...it was going to be easy"

[Mango]

17 hours ago, inkman said:

Just confirming what we’ve always known about these guys. 

Just to confirm, Cozens didn’t suffer from an injury all last year. 

He got punched in the face then turtled for another 200 days. 

[Mango]

17 hours ago, JoeSchmoe said:

Being in front of reporters in a position where you have to say something, even though you're ticked off is pretty hard. Its a bunch of verbal diarrhea... And not worth thinking about.

Meh, it’s all the same coded shirt. When they play bad they’re quick to say “well we did some stuff well” has been this locker rooms go to under this group for years. 

“We thought it would be easier” is just more of the same.

I am over Adams and over the US Dev group. Send them all home today please. 

[mjd1001]

16 hours ago, Demoted said:

How does a team that has hit rock bottom more than anything should, talk about something being easy?

I guess it's easy to make millions while you lose games.

This comes across as when they win 3 in a row, they think they are great and that things will be easy just by them showing up.

To me its interesting he said this. What will be MORE interesting is how they come out next game.  If there a lot of sloppy plays and a lack of effort next game, then this quote may/will take on more scrutiny.

 

Edited November 12 by mjd1001

[LTS]

19 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Ewww

The only thing I want to say in defense of this is that Cozens does not de facto say that they thought it would be easy. He is hypothesizing that it might have been that there was a mentality with some that it was going to be easy.

It's not entirely fair to claim that he said "it was going to be easy" when he did preface the statement with the conditional maybe.

The effort was unacceptable, he's right about that.

 

Edited November 12 by LTS
fixed the duplicate responses.

[Mango]

21 minutes ago, LTS said:

The only thing I want to say in defense of this is that Cozens does not de facto say that they thought it would be easy. He is hypothesizing that it might have been that there was a mentality with some that it was going to be easy.

It's not entirely fair to claim that he said "it was going to be easy" when he did preface the statement with the conditional maybe.

The effort was unacceptable, he's right about that.

 

This group seems to struggle with effort often. Which makes the "maybe" wildly irrelevant. 

Any player who shows or says that anything remotely similar to "maybe effort was an issue" should sit in the press box for a week. Effort has been an issue for YEARS. It is insane. 

Or even better yet, make that/those guys do a bag skate pre/post game in front of the entire crowd. 

[WhenWillItEnd66]

That this is still a discussion proves the wrong players are still here. Effort should never come up to a professional paid athlete. If you are paid to do a job, and if you cannot do it you are fired/let go. Stop giving out premature contracts and get players that want to play HOCKEY!!! Backcheck, forecheck, then paycheck!!! (From the instigators! LOL) The only reason we are still in any playoff hunt is that there is a ton of teams in the middle this year. But that herd will thin!!!! 

Edited November 12 by WhenWillItEnd66

[inkman]

4 hours ago, Mango said:

Just to confirm, Cozens didn’t suffer from an injury all last year. 

He got punched in the face then turtled for another 200 days. 

Yeah who is saying that?

[Getpucksdeep]

1 hour ago, WhenWillItEnd66 said:

That this is still a discussion proves the wrong players are still here. Effort should never come up to a professional paid athlete. If you are paid to do a job, and if you cannot do it you are fired/let go. Stop giving out premature contracts and get players that want to play HOCKEY!!! Backcheck, forecheck, then paycheck!!! (From the instigators! LOL) The only reason we are still in any playoff hunt is that there is a ton of teams in the middle this year. But that herd will thin!!!! 

How does this reconcile with "it's an 80% league"?  

[Kristian]

20 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

I don't actually hate what Cozens said. It's a bit nonchalant but he does acknowledge that they had a bad effort. I've heard worse from players in past years. In fairness he did say "unacceptable". and it was. 

I don’t hate the words. I hate the fact that they could’ve just as easily been uttered by Jason Pominville in 2013…

[Kristian]

2 hours ago, WhenWillItEnd66 said:

That this is still a discussion proves the wrong players are still here. Effort should never come up to a professional paid athlete. If you are paid to do a job, and if you cannot do it you are fired/let go. Stop giving out premature contracts and get players that want to play HOCKEY!!! Backcheck, forecheck, then paycheck!!! (From the instigators! LOL) The only reason we are still in any playoff hunt is that there is a ton of teams in the middle this year. But that herd will thin!!!! 

I just don’t get it. I see peewees and bantams play harder than these guys every week. I’m not kidding. The best players in both age groups never take a shift off or fail to backcheck. That’s why they’re the best players in their age groups.

But how do our guys make it to the pros with that mentality? I just don’t get it! Do we manage to draft every single loafer in the pool every year?? This doesn’t make sense??

[Pimlach]

4 hours ago, LTS said:

The only thing I want to say in defense of this is that Cozens does not de facto say that they thought it would be easy. He is hypothesizing that it might have been that there was a mentality with some that it was going to be easy.

It's not entirely fair to claim that he said "it was going to be easy" when he did preface the statement with the conditional maybe.

The effort was unacceptable, he's right about that.

 

The Tweet is poorly written and doesn’t use quotes, so we don’t know what he said exactly.  Even the word “maybe” could be the writers opinion.  
 

All it tells me is that the culture change has not taken hold yet, and there are more changes needed to this roster.  It’s going to take time and there will be updates and downs.  

[Getpucksdeep]

2 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

The Tweet is poorly written and doesn’t use quotes, so we don’t know what he said exactly.  Even the word “maybe” could be the writers opinion.  
 

All it tells me is that the culture change has not taken hold yet, and there are more changes needed to this roster.  It’s going to take time and there will be updates and downs.  

https://youtu.be/Yd-RHXFaijI?si=HoQ9hNTERlqKJh2H

[Believer]

9 hours ago, Cascade Youth said:

This group of players hates having to work hard.  Within games, and within seasons, they are always chasing the point at which they can finally coast.

Depends on the game, depends on the score, and depends on the shift. 

Tuch as an A leads by his inconsistent example.

And the rest of them are the same with a few exceptions.

[Pimlach]

1 minute ago, Getpucksdeep said:

https://youtu.be/Yd-RHXFaijI?si=HoQ9hNTERlqKJh2H

Thanks.  He said  “I don’t  know if we came out and thought it was going to be an easy game …”.  To me that is a rhetorical question from someone who doesn’t know the reason, but is throwing something out there.   The tweet was poorly written.  
 

The teams performance, especially for a team playing at home, was very poor.  It goes back to culture, this Core group, as was the core group before them, and the Core group before them, is known to display inconsistent effort  and to struggle against lesser teams that play a heavy game.  
 

Fixable by bringing in more mature players that know how to do things right. 

[LTS]

4 hours ago, Mango said:

This group seems to struggle with effort often. Which makes the "maybe" wildly irrelevant. 

Any player who shows or says that anything remotely similar to "maybe effort was an issue" should sit in the press box for a week. Effort has been an issue for YEARS. It is insane. 

Or even better yet, make that/those guys do a bag skate pre/post game in front of the entire crowd. 

Why would you throw a player in the press box for saying it?  He's not saying he thought it was going to be an easy game. That's the point I was trying to make. Cozens said it, but it doesn't mean he believed it. He could be making a generalization for the media to reinforce the point he might have made in the locker room. It should trigger the media to ask that of all the players, see what their responses are.

Bottom line.. we don't know.

38 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

The Tweet is poorly written and doesn’t use quotes, so we don’t know what he said exactly.  Even the word “maybe” could be the writers opinion.  
 

All it tells me is that the culture change has not taken hold yet, and there are more changes needed to this roster.  It’s going to take time and there will be updates and downs.  

That's fair, but it was what people were commenting on and even poorly written, the conditional maybe makes it a hypothetical and not a fact.  You'll hear quotes like his on Stanley Cup winning teams from time to time as well. The problem is most assuredly that this team isn't even close to being that caliber.

26 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Thanks.  He said  “I don’t  know if we came out and thought it was going to be an easy game …”.  To me that is a rhetorical question from someone who doesn’t know the reason, but is throwing something out there.   The tweet was poorly written.  
 

The teams performance, especially for a team playing at home, was very poor.  It goes back to culture, this Core group, as was the core group before them, and the Core group before them, is known to display inconsistent effort  and to struggle against lesser teams that play a heavy game.  
 

Fixable by bringing in more mature players that know how to do things right. 

Yes.. as evidenced by you watching the video (which I appreciate) and clarifying.

They tend to struggle against any team that plays a heavy game, lesser or not.  I am aligned with the overall mentality.  I want to see the leaders of this team dominate the game, constantly. I think Thompson is doing what he's supposed to do. Cozens seems to be finding his way. Samuelsson is clearly not and regardless of point totals Tuch tends to disappear when it matters.

I'm all for bringing in someone with a pedigree of accountability to drive this team.

[PerreaultForever]

3 hours ago, Kristian said:

I just don’t get it. I see peewees and bantams play harder than these guys every week. I’m not kidding. The best players in both age groups never take a shift off or fail to backcheck. That’s why they’re the best players in their age groups.

But how do our guys make it to the pros with that mentality? I just don’t get it! Do we manage to draft every single loafer in the pool every year?? This doesn’t make sense??

My own view is we do not factor that into our drafting analytics. Or it's not weighted heavily or accurately. So it doesn't take many, it just takes a few, but if a guy sees another guy not working he comes to think why should I work if he's not? It's contagious. Lack of good veteran leadership to set the standard is the problem imo. 

[Second Line Center]

Thinking about this today I now feel like this is the kind of thing you say when you know overall you aren’t good enough - but you can’t say that.  
 

But that’s the truth.  
 

They aren’t good enough.  It isn’t effort.  Great teams can coast 20 percent of the time and win easily.  And it happens all the time.  
 

We can’t do that.  That’s a talent problem and that’s why when these guys skate at that 20 percent like every other team does in October and November, if the other team plays well - they lose. 
 

 

Edited November 13 by Second Line Center

[Kristian]

9 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

My own view is we do not factor that into our drafting analytics. Or it's not weighted heavily or accurately. So it doesn't take many, it just takes a few, but if a guy sees another guy not working he comes to think why should I work if he's not? It's contagious. Lack of good veteran leadership to set the standard is the problem imo. 

It’s like we have this weird inferiority complex, for lack of a better word, regarding skill. We draft skill, skill, skill, and forget about everything else.

I get it. You need skill players. Even your role players need it. But it feels like we draft guys who have always been prolific in every team they’ve ever played with, and to me that has a tendancy to breed bad habits. It’s just me talking here, I have no idea of this is true.

You need to draft some of the guys who’ve had to scratch and claw their way here too. Some of the guys who rarely got to play on the top lines, yet they’re still around somehow. There’s a ton of players in youth hockey who never get the breaks other kids do, always have to play less minutes on inferior lines. Yet, they come back day after day, practice after practice, year after year, and some of them end up in the draft too. Find me some of those guys please.

Edited November 13 by Kristian

[That Aud Smell]

Putting clichés under a microscope and divining meaning from them.

Sabres Fever: Catch it!

[gilbert11]

On 11/11/2024 at 2:33 PM, CallawaySabres said:

Yup, this group will NEVER make the playoffs. How can a team that has sucked for so long have an OUNCE of a feeling that anyone would be an easy out?! I just can't even believe these words were voiced out loud...honestly, pathetic.

Millennials!

[gilbert11]

23 hours ago, Carmel Corn said:

Culture of losing….don’t work hard, still get paid and eventually get released or traded to a cup contender and achieve great things.

Exactly.  Right now one could say “This is the Sabres way!”

They don’t have a long standing positive reputation and way of doing things where a veteran could tell a young player that this is the way we do things here.

The Bills currently have that culture.  Despite an occasional questionable addition to the roster, they have a way of doing things, and a standard to live up to and acquire certain kinds of players/people.   Winning 4 straight divisional titles (going on 5) and playoffs in 6 out of 7 years helps that in a proven way of winning.

 

I don’t understand how these bad attitudes linger for this Sabres team despite changes to the GM, coaches and players.  Right now, the only players remaining from 5 seasons ago are Dahlin, Jokiharju and a young Tage Thompson.

Some posters here constantly bring up team ownership, but when the same people have run successful businesses and the successful Bills team, it doesn’t make sense. 

[LGR4GM]

32 minutes ago, gilbert11 said:

Exactly.  Right now one could say “This is the Sabres way!”

They don’t have a long standing positive reputation and way of doing things where a veteran could tell a young player that this is the way we do things here.

The Bills currently have that culture.  Despite an occasional questionable addition to the roster, they have a way of doing things, and a standard to live up to and acquire certain kinds of players/people.   Winning 4 straight divisional titles (going on 5) and playoffs in 6 out of 7 years helps that in a proven way of winning.

 

I don’t understand how these bad attitudes linger for this Sabres team despite changes to the GM, coaches and players.  Right now, the only players remaining from 5 seasons ago are Dahlin, Jokiharju and a young Tage Thompson.

Some posters here constantly bring up team ownership, but when the same people have run successful businesses and the successful Bills team, it doesn’t make sense. 

Yes it does, Pegula isn't allowed to interfere with the Bills and the Bills have Josh Allen. Makes perfect sense. 

We do this all the time as humans. We as a culture think being successful at a business means you're just some magical genius who will be successful at all things. Best part is time and time again we see that fail. Pegula is hockey illiterate. 

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, gilbert11 said:

Exactly.  Right now one could say “This is the Sabres way!”

They don’t have a long standing positive reputation and way of doing things where a veteran could tell a young player that this is the way we do things here.

The Bills currently have that culture.  Despite an occasional questionable addition to the roster, they have a way of doing things, and a standard to live up to and acquire certain kinds of players/people.   Winning 4 straight divisional titles (going on 5) and playoffs in 6 out of 7 years helps that in a proven way of winning.

 

I don’t understand how these bad attitudes linger for this Sabres team despite changes to the GM, coaches and players.  Right now, the only players remaining from 5 seasons ago are Dahlin, Jokiharju and a young Tage Thompson.

Some posters here constantly bring up team ownership, but when the same people have run successful businesses and the successful Bills team, it doesn’t make sense. 

When you own a business the measurement of success is your profit margin. When you own a sports franchise the measurement of success is your W/L record. It's not much of a challenge to make a judgment on Pegula's ownership of the Sabres. It's an unvarnished failure in a system designed for parity. 

[That Aud Smell]

1 hour ago, gilbert11 said:

Some posters here constantly bring up team ownership, but when the same people have run successful businesses and the successful Bills team, it doesn’t make sense. 

Pegula was a speculative oil and gas man who took huge risks and got extraordinarily lucky.

As for the Bills, blind squirrels find chestnuts too. Before he hired McDermott, Pegula got bamboozled by Russ Brandon and Rex Ryan. (And it was McDermott who hired Beane.)

Pegula has ruined the Sabres. 

[Stoner]

2 hours ago, That Aud Smell said:

Putting clichés under a microscope and divining meaning from them.

Sabres Fever: Catch it!

Celebrate... celebrate... THE tradition!

@Taro T