Buffalo Sabres and NHL: 2019/20: Sabres season officially over. Draft lottery June 26th

[snafu]

33 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

 

There ya go @njbuff!

 

I figured last night has to be the last straw. Even the Sabres players were commenting on how it seemed like NJ just straight up stopped caring. 

 

 

They must have stopped caring (and got a bad goalie performance in the first period -- that didn't help).

I think NJ has pretty good talent on their forward lines.  They shouldn't lose so bad if they cared and put effort forth.

 

 

 

 

[njbuff]

1 hour ago, BillsFan4 said:

 

There ya go @njbuff!

 

I figured last night has to be the last straw. Even the Sabres players were commenting on how it seemed like NJ just straight up stopped caring. 

I heard the rumblings DURING last nights game.

 

Maybe they can save the season.

 

Its been embarrassing how little effort this team has put in to start this season.

 

Fans of the Devils have gotten into the face of people of the Shero (including Shero himself) administration during team functions. That’s how bad it has gotten.
 

How can it be that Sabres players were laughing at the Devils for how little they cared. 
 

Who was it on the Sabres that gave that expression after a goal on how easy it was? I forgot.

[JohnC]

The BN's Lancy Lysowski story on this game points out that Krueger's hockey philosophy of two way hockey where the defense generates the offense is starting to be instilled within the team. The writer points the difference between Housley's and Krueger's approach to the game. 

 

https://buffalonews.com/2019/12/02/buffalo-sabres-new-jersey-devils-ralph-krueger-conor-sheary-jack-eichel-johan-larsson-nhl-news-2019/?view=getnewpost

 

On WGR's Instigator Show either Andrew Peters or Craig Rivet spoke to Dan Danyko, a former Jersey Devil and current analyst for the team. before  the game. He told one of them that he would love to have one of the Sabres' excess defenseman on his team. He specifically mentioned Scandella. 

[shrader]

One away from the “I suck at names” hat trick. 

[bbb]

3 minutes ago, shrader said:

One away from the “I suck at names” hat trick. 

 

Gordie Howe 

[BillsFan4]

1 hour ago, njbuff said:

I heard the rumblings DURING last nights game.

 

Maybe they can save the season.

 

Its been embarrassing how little effort this team has put in to start this season.

 

Fans of the Devils have gotten into the face of people of the Shero (including Shero himself) administration during team functions. That’s how bad it has gotten.
 

How can it be that Sabres players were laughing at the Devils for how little they cared. 
 

Who was it on the Sabres that gave that expression after a goal on how easy it was? I forgot.

Is this what you’re talking about? 

 

 

[njbuff]

1 hour ago, BillsFan4 said:

Is this what you’re talking about? 

 

 

yep

[BillsFan4]

 

Looks like he learned a lot from that 2 game suspension...

Edited December 4, 2019 by BillsFan4

[JohnC]

The attached link is a WGR Paul Hamilton article on Jeff Skinner. He's a great teammate whose first priority is winning. https://wgr550.radio.com/articles/news/sabres-skinner-is-happy-with-his-place-in-the-lineup

 

Ralph Krueger was on WGR. He gave injury updates and his reasoning for juggling the lines and pairings. Krueger is an open-minded new age coach who is constantly adjusting to the times and situations. This is a 13 minute interview. When Krueger speaks he informs!

https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/12-04-sabres-head-coach-ralph-krueger-with-howard-and-jeremy

 

 

 

[BillsFan4]

 

I know it’s the ECHL and not the AHL, but still, everywhere this kid plays he’s winning awards. 

Edited December 4, 2019 by BillsFan4

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, BillsFan4 said:

 

I know it’s the ECHL and not the AHL, but still, everywhere this kid plays he’s winning awards. 

If Murry was our current GM he would have traded Luukkonen for a second or third line forward who was on the last year of his contract and about to be a free agent. I still get irked over his trading of a first round pick for Lehner, a goalie that Ottawa was not going to keep. That pick in a draft rich year could have been used on a player who would now be ready as a second line forward. 

 

I would love to have a player like Taylor Hall (who has had a relationship with Krueger) on our roster. But I'm not amenable to giving up significant assets for a rental player. Stay the course. Draft and develop and build for long term success. 

[BillsFan4]

 

https://buffalonews.com/2019/12/03/buffalo-sabres-edmonton-oilers-new-jersey-devils-ralph-krueger-taylor-hall-nhl-news-2019/

 

Sabres coach Ralph Krueger's message still resonates with Devils' Taylor Hall

 

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Yet Edmonton was in the middle of the playoff race until it lost nine of 10 games in April and finished with a 19-22-7 record, the second-lowest point total in the Western Conference. The Oilers' power play ranked seventh in the NHL and their young core blossomed under Krueger.

 

Hall finished the season 10th in scoring, only 10 points behind Tampa Bay's Martin St. Louis for the league lead, and seven of Edmonton's top eight scorers were under the age of 24. Krueger's departure seemed to stall their progress.

 

Quote

Hall added: "We had a lot of younger guys and when you have a younger team like that, it’s important to create an environment that guys know how to come and work hard and enjoy themselves, but also you have to compete and play hard. He brought that. … He only got 48 games and in a really tough conference. We hovered around .500 and had some players on the team do really well that year, whether it was our goalie or guys like myself. He seemed to bring the best out of guys and you’re seeing [Jack] Eichel take another step this year. Whether it’s Ralph or not, I’m sure he’s enjoyed playing for him."

 

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Entering Tuesday, the Sabres (13-10-5) were third in the Atlantic Division and had earned points in five of their last six games. Eichel ranked sixth in the NHL with 38 points – 17 goals, 21 assists – and will carry a 10-game point streak into Buffalo's game Thursday night in Calgary.

 

Additionally, Victor Olofsson is on pace to score the most goals by a Sabres' rookie since Donald Audette in 1991-92. Krueger also has addressed their porous defensive-zone coverage and has coaxed more supplementary scoring by moving Jeff Skinner off Eichel's line.

The positive message Krueger carried into training camp seems to have resonated with the Sabres and has done the same for Hall almost a decade later.

 

"If I could take anything, and this may sound weird, but if I were to coach some day, I’d want to have an attitude like he did," Hall said. "As you go through the league and you have different coaches, different assistant coaches, you think, 'If I was ever a coach or be in that position what would you want to do and how would you want to send your message.' He was a guy that not every meeting was roses, but at the end of the day, you were there to play hockey and you were there to be a great teammate. I think that’s what I’d take from him."

 

Good read. 

 

 

Edited December 5, 2019 by BillsFan4

[JohnC]

14 minutes ago, BillsFan4 said:

 

https://buffalonews.com/2019/12/03/buffalo-sabres-edmonton-oilers-new-jersey-devils-ralph-krueger-taylor-hall-nhl-news-2019/

 

Sabres coach Ralph Krueger's message still resonates with Devils' Taylor Hall

 

 

 

 

Good read. 

 

 

For the sake of a discussion if Jersey called and said they would be willing to trade Taylor Hall to us for Mitts, Joki and Scandella would you make the deal assuming that there was a tacit agreement for a contract deal for Hall? 

 

My answer would be no. Joki is turning out to be a gem. And he is only 20 yrs old. I still believe that under Kueger's tutelage that Mitts will be a good player for us. He still has a lot of potential to grow as a player. In a couple of years he is going to be a good second line player. In addition, a detracting issue for Taylor Hall is that he is 28 yrs old. If he were given a lucrative extension for six years it will put a squeeze on the team's ability to handle the second contracts for players such as Dahlin, Reinhart and Montour. 

 

Because of our good cap situation next year Buffalo is a team that is in a good position to deal for Hall. Another team that is in a good trading position is Colorado because they have a lot of high end prospects in their system to deal. For a team such as Jersey that needs to restock their team and system to accelerate the rebuilding process Colorado would be my guess where he will eventually be dealt. 

[BillsFan4]

2 hours ago, JohnC said:

For the sake of a discussion if Jersey called and said they would be willing to trade Taylor Hall to us for Mitts, Joki and Scandella would you make the deal assuming that there was a tacit agreement for a contract deal for Hall? 

 

My answer would be no. Joki is turning out to be a gem. And he is only 20 yrs old. I still believe that under Kueger's tutelage that Mitts will be a good player for us. He still has a lot of potential to grow as a player. In a couple of years he is going to be a good second line player. In addition, a detracting issue for Taylor Hall is that he is 28 yrs old. If he were given a lucrative extension for six years it will put a squeeze on the team's ability to handle the second contracts for players such as Dahlin, Reinhart and Montour. 

 

Because of our good cap situation next year Buffalo is a team that is in a good position to deal for Hall. Another team that is in a good trading position is Colorado because they have a lot of high end prospects in their system to deal. For a team such as Jersey that needs to restock their team and system to accelerate the rebuilding process Colorado would be my guess where he will eventually be dealt. 

No. Jokiharju is a non-starter for me. No way I trade him right now. Kid has been unbelievable. 

 

I’d do something around Mittelstadt and a pick, but that’s about as far as I’d go. 

We don’t have the depth to trade multiple young players and Hall will be 29 to start next season. I don’t really see Botterill giving up prime assets for Hall though.

From what I’ve read I think he will test free agency.

 

I would absolutely be interested in Hall in free agency, and maybe the Krueger connection will pay off there.... 

 

It would make things tougher down the road though, especially with already having Skinner at $9M and Eichel at $10M, because Hall is definitely getting $10M x 7 (give or take) and we will have some young guys to pay (Reinhart this offseason, Dahlin in another year, etc).

 

If Hall is legitimately interested in Buffalo in free agency, I think you have to at least inquire, right? 

 

 

 

[JohnC]

9 hours ago, BillsFan4 said:

No. Jokiharju is a non-starter for me. No way I trade him right now. Kid has been unbelievable. 

 

I’d do something around Mittelstadt and a pick, but that’s about as far as I’d go. 

We don’t have the depth to trade multiple young players and Hall will be 29 to start next season. I don’t really see Botterill giving up prime assets for Hall though.

From what I’ve read I think he will test free agency.

 

I would absolutely be interested in Hall in free agency, and maybe the Krueger connection will pay off there.... 

 

It would make things tougher down the road though, especially with already having Skinner at $9M and Eichel at $10M, because Hall is definitely getting $10M x 7 (give or take) and we will have some young guys to pay (Reinhart this offseason, Dahlin in another year, etc).

 

If Hall is legitimately interested in Buffalo in free agency, I think you have to at least inquire, right? 

 

 

 

The only disagreement I have with your post is the willingness to consider Mitts in a deal. I'm not. I just think that in another year or two he will be a good player for us on a cheaper contract. Colorado's Nate Mackinnon is one of the better players in this league. It took him around four years before he got established. What I'm not going to do is fall into the former GM's mind-set of taking short-term expedient action at the expense of long-term and higher end success. You get to the higher strata by building up to it. 

 

I, like you, am a Joki admirer. He is good now and is going to be a top tier player in the near future. As far as I am concerned he is an untouchable. The same category of player is Cozens. I don't care what is offered the answer is no. It's not that I am closed minded to any potential deal but the contract issue comes into play. These good young players on their first contracts allows for greater roster flexibility. 

 

With respect to being interested or not in Hall as a free agent the biggest issue for me is the term. If you sign him for the money he wants and length of term you are precluding a lot of future transactions because you are cap squeezed. If he were 24 instead of 28 I would be more open-minded about him. 

[shrader]

15 hours ago, JohnC said:

If Murry was our current GM he would have traded Luukkonen for a second or third line forward who was on the last year of his contract and about to be a free agent. I still get irked over his trading of a first round pick for Lehner, a goalie that Ottawa was not going to keep. That pick in a draft rich year could have been used on a player who would now be ready as a second line forward. 

 

I would love to have a player like Taylor Hall (who has had a relationship with Krueger) on our roster. But I'm not amenable to giving up significant assets for a rental player. Stay the course. Draft and develop and build for long term success. 

 

Murray loved big goalies.  Luukkonen.  There's no way he would have let him get away.

[JohnC]

8 minutes ago, shrader said:

 

Murray loved big goalies.  Luukkonen.  There's no way he would have let him get away.

The more central point I was making was that Murray was willing to overpay for immediate benefit at the expense of the long-term consequences. The first round pick he gave up for the  big tattooed goalie that the dispatching team had little interest in keeping was a bad deal. The draft pick that we dealt in a draft rich draft class could have been used for a player who would now be a second line forward. This type of deal is not the type of deal that the more cautious and strategic Botts would be inclined to make. 

 

The issue on this deal is not that he acquired him but that he gave up a first round pick for him. 

Edited December 5, 2019 by JohnC

[BillsFan4]

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/31-thoughts-code-conduct-coming-nhl/

 

This whole article is a good read. 

 

Quote

4. Okay, let’s look at some other things. On Nov. 16, Jack Eichel scored four goals in a 4–2 win over Ottawa. Watch him before a face-off with 30 seconds left and the Senators’ net empty: (click on link for video)

 

Eichel talks with linemates before scoring his 4th into empty net

Someone told me he was telling players not to focus on giving him the puck for a fourth goal, but to play smart and safe. Asked about it last week, though, he said he was actually trying to put Jimmy Vesey in position to score. The winger had no goals in 15 games to that point.

 

“Maybe an empty-netter gets him going,” the Sabres captain added. 

 

A small thing, but a big thing. His efforts in dragging the Sabres out of their struggles have not gone unnoticed.

 

Eichel is really coming into his own this season. He’s growing into the captain role and he’s also becoming a true top 10 player in the NHL. 

 

I am no longer seeing any “questionable effort” shifts from Eichel, either.

His 2 way game has really impressed me this season. He’s definitely bought into what Krueger is preaching.

[JohnC]

1 hour ago, BillsFan4 said:

https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/31-thoughts-code-conduct-coming-nhl/

 

This whole article is a good read. 

 

 

Eichel is really coming into his own this season. He’s growing into the captain role and he’s also becoming a true top 10 player in the NHL. 

 

I am no longer seeing any “questionable effort” shifts from Eichel, either.

His 2 way game has really impressed me this season. He’s definitely bought into what Krueger is preaching.

Paul Hamilton on WGR today repeated the same story of Jack telling other players on the ice in the Ottawa game to pass the puck to Vesey so that he could break the goal drought. He also told the story about Jack huddling with Dahlin in a game when he was being bypassed to hang in there because he was an integral part of the team and was needed. 

 

Paul Hamilton also said on his WGR segment that Krueger is smartly distributing the minutes with his extra defenseman. He pointed out that Risto is playing better with less ice time, and so are the other defensemen. The below link is a 14 minute segment with Paul Ham on WGR.

 

https://wgr550.radio.com/media/audio-channel/12-05-paul-hamilton-with-jeremy-and-nate

[BillsFan4]

https://buffalonews.com/2019/12/04/buffalo-sabres-jack-eichel-jeff-skinner-analytics/

Sabres' underlying numbers on offense look ominous

 

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If you looked at Buffalo’s production year to date, it seems competitive – the Sabres are 11th in 5-on-5 scoring (2.6 goals per 60 minutes) and 15th in all situations scoring (2.9 goals per 60 minutes). But the Sabres are converting on a higher number of shots than we would expect from where their offense is being generated. Their expected goal rates in the same slots are 26th in 5-on-5 minutes (2.1 goals per 60 minutes) and 27th in all situations (2.4 goals per 60 minutes).

 

Why is that the case? HockeyViz’s shot maps do a great job visualizing where offense is being generated from, and in Buffalo’s case, it’s not in the dangerous areas of the ice. Most high-powered offensive teams generate their offense from just outside the crease and from the circles, whereas Buffalo’s offense mostly comes from the perimeter.

 

Buffalo has been a perimeter team for years. I remember stories about Housley literally begging the team to get to the net. Now Krueger is trying to do the same thing, and I do think he’s getting some results at times. It just hasn’t been consistent. 

 

Quote

It is, to be sure, a volume issue. The Sabres – as they have been for a few seasons now – struggle to sustain offensive zone time and create multishot shifts. When compared to their peers around the league, the Sabres' attacking sequences just have less bite than the ordinary NHL team. And the only players who are really exceeding expectations across the board happen to be depth players, Marco Scandella and Henri Jokiharju:

 

(click link for charts)

 

But this is the sort of data that screams offensive regression – virtually every Sabres skater is seeing actual goal rates greatly exceed expected goal rates, and their percentile ranks against skaters around the league when it comes to expected goals are middling. And the word middling might be kind to a team in which only five players are in the 50th percentile or better.

 

I’m hoping as the season continues we see improvement instead of them falling off a cliff, but I’m not holding my breath.... I still have faith in Krueger though. I think he’s a good coach and deserves some time to implement his plan/vision. We have seen in spurts what his vision for this team looks like and it excites me. I love the way he wants the team to play. They just need to do it more consistently.

 

As for this season, ultimately it comes down to the players and if they’re willing to take the coaching, change their games and pay the price to go to the dirty areas of the ice. I’m not so sure that some of them are. If things go south again this season, I don’t want a coaching change. I want a new mix of players.