Locker clean out day

[JP51]

If your players don't feel the need to be in shape then you need new players. Period they are losers. Adams constructed this. Camps, check ins ,  chaperones, whatever... if the player doesn't care enough about his team, career and profession to come to work prepared. I can't help them... this excuse is the most damning indictment of this lazy country club. 

[LGR4GM]

I don't believe the out of shape narrative. 

They have a crappy defense and bad goaltending. Being in shape isn't fixing that. 

[jad1]

2 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Which players were these?

How about everybody but Tuch, Tucker, Dahlin, Malenstyn, McLeod,  Peterka, Clifton, and Benson. Greenway, when he plays. 

I might be generous here with McLeod and Peterka.  And Clifton and Greenway aren't anything special as players.

 

 

[LGR4GM]

6 minutes ago, jad1 said:

How about everybody but Tuch, Tucker, Dahlin, Malenstyn, McLeod,  Peterka, Clifton, and Benson. Greenway, when he plays. 

I might be generous here with McLeod and Peterka.  And Clifton and Greenway aren't anything special as players.

 

 

But what players were 21 or 22 finesse players?

[Doohickie]

4 hours ago, Thorner said:

4 hours ago, North Buffalo said:

Um why dont season have offseason training in Buffalo say every 2-3 weeks just evaluate where these guys are at... give them a month off then bring them all in?

Because then it can’t be used as an excuse at season’s end 

get out of here with your iron-clad logic 

It can't be team mandated under the NHLPA contract, can it?  They can voluntarily work out on their own but the team can't mandate it?

[Taro T]

2 hours ago, shrader said:

I said it months ago and I still expect to see Peca on this coaching staff next season. The rags have to clean house at this point, right?

Would be perfectly fine with giving Peca a shot on this staff if Ruff wants him here.  He CAN'T be any worse than the bozos they've had working for Granato and Ruff the past 4 years.

Would REALLY like to see them add 3 or 4 highly rated younger coaches with them knowing that one of them will be Ruff's replacement after the season.  (And yes, know THAT won't happen; but they should be able to find at least one and likely 2 that would be significantly better than "heir apparent" Seth friggin' Appert.)

Hoping they clean house.  Believe it's possible they'll clean house.  Will believe it'll actually happen when they tell us they've actually cleaned house.  (And Adams has shown a willingness to do so in the past.  Granted, it wasn't of staff he'd had a hand in bringing in; but he's been the architect of a rather deep house cleaning already.  And personally, don't see Adams getting punted this off-season.  But what a rush it would be if that expectation isn't correct.)

[spndnchz]

Gotta say i like Zucker interview 

[Doohickie]

46 minutes ago, spndnchz said:

Gotta say i like Zucker interview 

Especially his reaction to the question about how was it to come to the "Oh Woe Is Me Buffalo Sabres" and he basically said to stop yer whinin'.

[shrader]

1 hour ago, Doohickie said:

It can't be team mandated under the NHLPA contract, can it?  They can voluntarily work out on their own but the team can't mandate it?

They pretty much can’t even suggest offseason workouts. 

[PerreaultForever]

Come back in shape? Is that an acknowledgement that they showed up this year out of shape? So isn't that on Ruff? Where was the boot camp then to get them into shape? Blame it on Europe? It just sounds like similar bs to every other year. 

Lazy, spoiled bunch of losers. 14 years worth and counting. 

[mjd1001]

15 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

I don't believe the out of shape narrative. 

They have a crappy defense and bad goaltending. Being in shape isn't fixing that. 

Of course, unless one of the 'out of shape' guys was UPL and he was really, REALLY bad with it.

And who were the players who came in 'out of shape' and it hurt the team early on?

-Tage had 10 goals in his first 15 games and was a +6. Doesn't seem like he was dragging out there.

-Dahlin was playing through an injury in the first few games, but once he worked through that, he had 13 points in 14 games in November and was a positive player also.

-Peterka had 7 goals in his first 15 games.

-Tuch had 4 goals and 12 points in his first 15.  A SLIGHTLY slow start from him, but I don't think he looked slow out there or lacking effort.

-Zucker or Greenway? Aren't those the 2 veteran guys that know better?

-Mcleod had 4 goals in his first 15 games.  He wasn't getting much ice time early in the year, was the because he was one of the guys 'out of shape'?  He just came from the team that was in the cup finals.

Through Thanksgiving the first month and a half of the season, this team had a winning record, they were in a playoff spot, They had 23 points in 21 games, a 90 point pace.  If they were out of shape, why did they start the season 'relatively' good and then fall part NOT at the beginning of the season, but 2 months into it?

I mean, you lost 5 of your first 6, but that was only 6 games and you recovered from that, things got bad much later.

I'm not saying for sure they weren't out of shape, but I'm not 100% buying it...I think its more of an excuse to throw out there.

And another thing, why the heck am I up at 4:30 in the morning posting this?

Edited Saturday at 05:51 PM by mjd1001

[LGR4GM]

2 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

Of course, unless one of the 'out of shape' guys was UPL and he was really, REALLY bad with it.

And who were the players who came in 'out of shape' and it hurt the team early on?

-Tage had 10 goals in his first 15 games and was a +6. Doesn't seem like he was dragging out there.

-Dahlin was playing through an injury in the first few games, but once he worked through that, he had 13 points in 14 games in November and was a positive player also.

-Peterka has 7 goals in his first 15 games.

-Tuch had 4 goals and 12 points in his first 15.  A SLIGHTLY slow start from him, but I don't think he looked slow out there or lacking effort.

-Zucker or Greenway? Aren't those the 2 veteran guys that know better?

-Mcleod had 4 goals in his first 15 games.  He wasn't getting much ice time early in the year, was the because he was one of the guys 'out of shape'?  He just came from the team that was in the cup finals.

Through Thanksgiving the first month and a half of the season, this team had a winning record, they were in a playoff spot, They had 23 points in 21 games, a 90 point pace.  If they were out of shape, why did they start the season 'relatively' good and then fall part NOT at the beginning of the season, but 2 months into it?

I mean, you lost 5 of your first 6, but that was only 6 games and you recovered from that, things got bad much later.

I'm not saying for sure they weren't out of shape, but I'm not 100% buying it...I think its more of an excuse to throw out there.

And another thing, why the heck am I up at 4:30 in the morning posting this?

Lindy Ruff spent 4 months giving Cozen ice time that should have gone to others. It's Ristolainen all over again. 

[Wyldnwoody44]

26 minutes ago, LGR4GM said:

Lindy Ruff spent 4 months giving Cozen ice time that should have gone to others. It's Ristolainen all over again. 

I think Ruff was a bad hire, still do and I'm not sure there's much that would change my thinking on that. 

It's what bad teams do when they don't have an answer, they go with Re-treads. 

I think he is fairly out of touch with what the game needs to be successful. 

[LGR4GM]

14 minutes ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

I think Ruff was a bad hire, still do and I'm not sure there's much that would change my thinking on that. 

It's what bad teams do when they don't have an answer, they go with Re-treads. 

I think he is fairly out of touch with what the game needs to be successful. 

The defensive metrics tend to agree. The team got worse under him, not better. 

[CallawaySabres]

27 minutes ago, Wyldnwoody44 said:

I think Ruff was a bad hire, still do and I'm not sure there's much that would change my thinking on that. 

It's what bad teams do when they don't have an answer, they go with Re-treads. 

I think he is fairly out of touch with what the game needs to be successful. 

It’s all they had, no up and comer was going to ruin the start of their career by coming to this organization.

and no coach with good pedigree would ever come close to this tire fire. It was Ruff, or someone from Rochester. 

[ska-T Palmtown]

8 hours ago, Doohickie said:

Especially his reaction to the question about how was it to come to the "Oh Woe Is Me Buffalo Sabres" and he basically said to stop yer whinin'.

It is all well and good - and I think there was a ton of sincerity in his answers, but we'll see next year. I am a Sabres fan, so I am conditioned to react this way; but if he has all this clarity the day after the season ends about what he could have done better as a "older guy", where was this clarity after game 5 or 6 or 10 of The Streak? I want to believe him, I really really do - having a player like the one he sounds like in that interview is crucial for this team, I just hope (which is a sh1tty thing) that he can put it into action next year.

[SwampD]

How many times do you think the word "obviously" was said yesterday?

[spndnchz]

2 minutes ago, SwampD said:

How many times do you think the word "obviously" was said yesterday?

Chuckle. Or “You know”. 
it’s something everyone uses like a space bar on a keyboard, to give them a few seconds to gather the next thought. You know…

[FrenchConnection44]

14 hours ago, North Buffalo said:

Um why dont season have offseason training in Buffalo say every 2-3 weeks just evaluate where these guys are at... give them a month off then bring them all in?

Because the league prohibits that through the CBA. It is how it is in every team sport. 

Team facilities are open for players to train and trainers are allowed to interact with players at the player’s request during regular hours. But they cannot even make appointments with players and no team staff are allowed to contact and work with players during the off season except for the league specified conditioning camp and training camp. 

 

[pi2000]

Quinn, Power and Cozens were the anchors... especially Cozens, who would look gassed after 20s.   Samuelsson as well.

I'd also point at UPL as someone who appeared to lacking proper conditioning.   Inability to find the net quick enough after a scramble, mental lapses, pucks bouncing out of his glove, poor rebound control.. those types of things would improve with better conditioning.

Edited Saturday at 01:00 PM by pi2000

[SwampD]

9 hours ago, spndnchz said:

Gotta say i like Zucker interview 

Absolutely. If he isn’t the poster child for this team needs more vets then I don’t know what is. I couldn’t tell if he was consciously saying this to Kevyn with the answer about his leadership this year. 

I don’t think they would have had the stupid stick tap boycott if he was on the team last year.

[spndnchz]

7 minutes ago, SwampD said:

Absolutely. If he isn’t the poster child for this team needs more vets then I don’t know what is. I couldn’t tell if he was consciously saying this to Kevyn with the answer about his leadership this year. 

I don’t think they would have had the stupid stick tap boycott if he was on the team last year.

Absolutely. I’d be pissed if he’s not here next year. 
I’d also add that if this team is all “Zuckers” it wouldn’t equate to wins. 

[DarthEbriate]

10 hours ago, Taro T said:

Would be perfectly fine with giving Peca a shot on this staff if Ruff wants him here.  He CAN'T be any worse than the bozos they've had working for Granato and Ruff the past 4 years.

Would REALLY like to see them add 3 or 4 highly rated younger coaches with them knowing that one of them will be Ruff's replacement after the season.  (And yes, know THAT won't happen; but they should be able to find at least one and likely 2 that would be significantly better than "heir apparent" Seth friggin' Appert.)

Hoping they clean house.  Believe it's possible they'll clean house.  Will believe it'll actually happen when they tell us they've actually cleaned house.  (And Adams has shown a willingness to do so in the past.  Granted, it wasn't of staff he'd had a hand in bringing in; but he's been the architect of a rather deep house cleaning already.  And personally, don't see Adams getting punted this off-season.  But what a rush it would be if that expectation isn't correct.)

I posted it in another thread. I'm not sure Peca has really done anything yet to warrant being an assistant coach, apart from being a former Sabre. He certainly didn't help the Rangers this season compared to his first year with them.

What I'm really wary of is: Ruff, Peca, McKee, James Patrick. And Appert. Just assemble them all, but it's only because of the nostalgia and not because they're proven coaches at the NHL level. And we watch the team scuffle another couple seasons waiting for Power to age up, and then Dahlin finally says enough.

Edited Saturday at 02:02 PM by DarthEbriate

[Taro T]

3 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

I posted it in another thread. I'm not sure Peca has really done anything yet to warrant being an assistant coach, apart from being a former Sabre. He certainly didn't help the Rangers this season compared to his first year with them.

What I'm really wary of is: Ruff, Peca, McKee, James Patrick. And Appert. Just assemble them all, but it's only because of the nostalgia and not because they're proven coaches at the NHL level. And we watch the team scuffle another couple seasons waiting for Power to age up, and then Dahlin finally says enough.

Heck, Ruff hadn't done anything to warrant being a HC back nearly 30 years ago other than having been a Sabre Captain with a pretty relentless drive and a short stint as an AC in the NHL.

It's possible that Peca would stink; but doubt it.  He was an undersized guy for his role as a player and was one of the best defensive players in the game in his time who could still contribute reasonable scoring in the dead puck era.  He both understands the game and is a leader.  He also wasn't afraid to stand up for what he though was right, which is why he was dealt out of Buffalo as a player way back when too.  

Given that we seem to be locked into having Ruff back as coach, and all the baggage that SEEMS to come with the 14 years in the desert, and having seen the current staff's results in action; expect they could do a lot worse than Peca if they make changes.

 

[French Collection]

1 minute ago, Taro T said:

Heck, Ruff hadn't done anything to warrant being a HC back nearly 30 years ago other than having been a Sabre Captain with a pretty relentless drive and a short stint as an AC in the NHL.

It's possible that Peca would stink; but doubt it.  He was an undersized guy for his role as a player and was one of the best defensive players in the game in his time who could still contribute reasonable scoring in the dead puck era.  He both understands the game and is a leader.  He also wasn't afraid to stand up for what he though was right, which is why he was dealt out of Buffalo as a player way back when too.  

Given that we seem to be locked into having Ruff back as coach, and all the baggage that SEEMS to come with the 14 years in the desert, and having seen the current staff's results in action; expect they could do a lot worse than Peca if they make changes.

 

I would give Peca a shot over any of the clowns that KA kept around.