Is it time to consider taking away the C from Dahlin or does that do nothing and lose the player?

[JP51]

So, several months ago I posed this question... ultimately saying not now... but... if you get halfway through the season and the team is floundering and in the basement... is this something to consider.... well here we are, halfway thru the season with the team floundering and in the basement... do you think taking the C away from Dahlin is an option or will this do nothing and destroy/lose the player....  From my perspective, I always thought Tuch was the leader... but I get why Dahlin gets the C. I personally dont think moving the C does anything but lose the player... but what do you all think... I am now reading articles calling out Dahlin for being unable to lead this team... but I am not sure anyone could... 

[inkman]

Leaders lead.  Anyone can wear a letter on their sweater.  I don’t care who it is.  Although, if said player is a spineless puke that other players will resent and affect their play on the ice, maybe it should be revisited. 

[JP51]

Just now, inkman said:

Leaders lead.  Anyone can wear a letter on their sweater.  I don’t care who it is.  Although, if said player is a spineless puke that other players will resent and affect their play on the ice, maybe it should be revisited. 

Question... I dont get the sense that the players hate Dahlin, are you thinking differently? 

[bob_sauve28]

I can see Billy Martin doing something like that. Not anyone in the Sabres would put up such a darn old stink as do something like that, and really, they shouldn't

 

If they did, Dahlin should ask to be traded

[mjd1001]

I don't think so.

First of all I don't think it matters all that much, I certainly don't think it makes the team better.  If there was a campaign in the locker room for it than fine, but I don't think that is the case.

And even in terms of leadership, I don't see a problem, or at least any other players that are head and shoulder above Dahlin.

If anything, I can get behind him being the best player, and a lot of his 'mistakes' being because he is going too hard when he should be scaling back his actions on the ice a bit.

I see no probem with Dahlin as Captain. If it WAS any kind of problem, I think it would be behind 20 or so other issues with this team in terms of priority.

[LGR4GM]

Dahlin is tied for 3rd on the Sabres in points even though he has played the least amount of games. The losing streak encompasses 8 games I believe where Dahlin was out injured. Rasmus Dahlin is first on the Sabres in Cf%. He is 2nd on the Sabres in xGF%. 3rd on the Sabres in HD CF%. Dahlin is first on the Sabres defense in all these metrics, by quite a bit at times.

Sure, take the C off his chest. I hope Rasmus Dahlin immediately demands a trade so I can watch him win a cup and Norris trophy somewhere else. 

Edited 17 hours ago by LGR4GM

[JP51]

5 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:

I don't think so.

First of all I don't think it matters all that much, I certainly don't think it makes the team better.  If there was a campaign in the locker room for it than fine, but I don't think that is the case.

And even in terms of leadership, I don't see a problem, or at least any other players that are head and shoulder above Dahlin.

If anything, I can get behind him being the best player, and a lot of his 'mistakes' being because he is going too hard when he should be scaling back his actions on the ice a bit.

I see no probem with Dahlin as Captain. If it WAS any kind of problem, I think it would be behind 20 or so other issues with this team in terms of priority.

I am kinda with you... I am just not sure with this group it would make a hill of difference... but I am seeing stuff out there... and management is clearly at a loss for what buttons to push... sad we are here... but we are.

1 minute ago, LGR4GM said:

Dahlin is tied for 3rd on the Sabres in points even though he has played the least amount of games. The losing streak encompasses 8 games I believe where Dahlin was out injured. Rasmus Dahlin is first on the Sabres in Cf%. He is 2nd on the Sabres in xGF%. 3rd on the Sabres in HD CF%. Dahlin is first on the Sabres defense in all these metrics, by quite a bit at times.

Sure, take the C off his chest. I hope Rasmus Dahlin immediately demands a trade so I can watch him win a cup and Norris trophy somewhere else. 

Not gonna lie... I can totally see this 

[Thorner]

Our clear MVP? Why?

the C isn’t handcuffing him and doesn’t prevent anyone else from stepping up 

[Pimlach]

Taking his C away now is like assigning him the blame and that blame should fall on Kevyn Adams.    The C means little on a team with no winning culture and very little pride.   It’s probably more of a hinderance.   

The best player on the team is not the problem.  Wanna win?  Get some better players.  

[LTS]

Not even remotely considering this.

Dahlin has the C and he's one of the best players on the team, if not the best. He's driven.

The problems with this franchise do not lie with Rasmus Dahlin.  Revoking a C from a player is a massive event to the point that it's rarely done. I don't consider trading a C as revoking it.

 

[JP51]

8 minutes ago, LTS said:

Not even remotely considering this.

Dahlin has the C and he's one of the best players on the team, if not the best. He's driven.

The problems with this franchise do not lie with Rasmus Dahlin.  Revoking a C from a player is a massive event to the point that it's rarely done. I don't consider trading a C as revoking it.

 

When I read Hamilton say that it is becoming apparent that Dahlin couldnt lead this team I immediately thought... get him a better team then... 

[LGR4GM]

12 minutes ago, JP51 said:

When I read Hamilton say that it is becoming apparent that Dahlin couldnt lead this team I immediately thought... get him a better team then... 

Patton couldn't lead this team. 

[JP51]

7 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Patton couldn't lead this team. 

Belushi could... "was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor! " 

[Pimlach]

27 minutes ago, JP51 said:

When I read Hamilton say that it is becoming apparent that Dahlin couldnt lead this team I immediately thought... get him a better team then... 

Don't listen to Hamilton.  

[mjd1001]

8 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Don't listen to Hamilton.  

I like Hamilton for his 'reporting' quite a bit. But the deeper he gets into his 'strong opionions', the more I start to differ with him.  Not all the time, but more than usual.

[Sabres73]

There's no point in taking the C away. What are you hoping to accomplish with that? Just piss off the team and your best player?

[JP51]

46 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Don't listen to Hamilton.  

He has good insight but there is a fan boy component to him and you can tell he is good and frustrated and wearing his emotions in his reporting for sure. 

[inkman]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Dahlin is tied for 3rd on the Sabres in points even though he has played the least amount of games. The losing streak encompasses 8 games I believe where Dahlin was out injured. Rasmus Dahlin is first on the Sabres in Cf%. He is 2nd on the Sabres in xGF%. 3rd on the Sabres in HD CF%. Dahlin is first on the Sabres defense in all these metrics, by quite a bit at times.

Sure, take the C off his chest. I hope Rasmus Dahlin immediately demands a trade so I can watch him win a cup and Norris trophy somewhere else. 

Rasmus is a good player. Great offensively.  Is he the kind of guy men will get behind and go to war for?  I don’t know the behind the scene stuff but he doesn’t exactly scream born leader.  Maybe it’s everyone else.  Maybe not… 

50 minutes ago, JP51 said:

He has good insight but there is a fan boy component to him and you can tell he is good and frustrated and wearing his emotions in his reporting for sure. 

He’s never had good insight.  He usually sounds like he’s guessing or avoiding saying facts because people’s feelings will get hurt.  

1 hour ago, LGR4GM said:

Patton couldn't lead this team. 

Hence why they should blow it up.  Keep Rasmus and a few others but they hated too many passengers.  

[JP51]

24 minutes ago, inkman said:

Rasmus is a good player. Great offensively.  Is he the kind of guy men will get behind and go to war for?  I don’t know the behind the scene stuff but he doesn’t exactly scream born leader.  Maybe it’s everyone else.  Maybe not… 

He’s never had good insight.  He usually sounds like he’s guessing or avoiding saying facts because people’s feelings will get hurt.  

Hence why they should blow it up.  Keep Rasmus and a few others but they hated too many passengers.  

I like Hamiltons insight into the room... but you are right, he is a homer until he gets pissed then he loses it...  I agree, I dont see Dahlin as a natural leader but in the end to me they needed to make that decision before the C went to him and give it to Tuch at that point. At this point taking it away I think makes it worse. I think its too late for that. 

[Stoner]

3 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Dahlin is tied for 3rd on the Sabres in points even though he has played the least amount of games. The losing streak encompasses 8 games I believe where Dahlin was out injured. Rasmus Dahlin is first on the Sabres in Cf%. He is 2nd on the Sabres in xGF%. 3rd on the Sabres in HD CF%. Dahlin is first on the Sabres defense in all these metrics, by quite a bit at times.

Sure, take the C off his chest. I hope Rasmus Dahlin immediately demands a trade so I can watch him win a cup and Norris trophy somewhere else. 

You haven't made an argument for leadership tho... unless your argument is that the best player on the team should be captain.

I see Dahlin taking a bad penalty and then behaving in a way unbecoming a captain on the ENG goal.

Edited 14 hours ago by Stoner

[msw2112]

Dahlin is a great hockey player and likely the best on the team.  I personally did not see him as the best choice for captain.  While he's an aggressive player, he comes across to me as more of a quiet guy that's not too vocal with the team.  (That said, I have no idea how he is behind the scenes in the locker room, at practice, etc.)  Tuch seems to me to be more of a guy who has a captain-like personality.  In the past, I thought Cozens had captain-type vibes in his future, but with his drop-off in play the last couple of seasons, he's no longer viable.

The bottom line, however, is that they gave the "C" to Dahlin and they have to live with it.  To rip the "C" off of his chest at this point would embarrass and alienate the team's best player and would ruin whatever chemistry remains in the group.  You only remove the "C" if you intend to trade the player and the Sabres would be fools to trade their best player (unless it was a Lindros-like haul in return).  Captain or not, Dahlin is the type of player you build a team around, not one you trade away.

Edited 13 hours ago by msw2112

[JP51]

5 minutes ago, msw2112 said:

Dahlin is a great hockey player and likely the best on the team.  I personally did not see him as the best choice for captain.  While he's an aggressive player, he comes across to me as more of a quiet guy that's not too vocal with the team.  (That said, I have no idea how he is behind the scenes in the locker room, at practice, etc.)  Tuch seems to me to be more of a guy who has a captain-like personality.  In the past, I thought Cozens had captain-type vibes in his future, but with his drop-off in play the last couple of seasons, he's no longer viable.

The bottom line, however, is that they gave the "C" to Dahlin and they have to live with it.  To rip the "C" off of his chest at this point would embarrass and alienate the team's best player and would ruin whatever chemistry remains in the group.  You only remove the "C" if you intend to trade the player and the Sabres would be fools to trade their best player (unless it was a Lindros-like haul in return).  Captain or not, Dahlin is the type of player you build a team around, not one you trade away.

I could not have said it better... the time to pick a Captain other the Dahlin was before you picked Dahlin... now... taking the C away means he likely needs to be traded... and I dont think that helps us unless it involves McDavid...  and we know how likely that is to happen. 

[Night Train]

There was no need to put a C on anyone. He's not the C type. Zucker is but he's probably begging to leave. 

[LGR4GM]

53 minutes ago, Stoner said:

You haven't made an argument for leadership tho... unless your argument is that the best player on the team should be captain.

I see Dahlin taking a bad penalty and then behaving in a way unbecoming a captain on the ENG goal.

I see a poster who was wrong about a player they never wanted using any excuse to view that player negatively. 

[HILLsabre]

I think they should be thankful anyone would WANT to where the C. Would you want to represent this group and what they've accomplished and come to represent? Perhaps Dahlin should think if anyone else could do a better job and make a better impact on these mental midgets!98