I guess winning 70% of the 50 faceoffs taken during the preseason, does not deserve any praise. All teams carry face off specialists, while I did not think Sobotka would be that player, he has a very good life time FO % that may have earned him an unexpected spot on team.
Scandella lead the defense with goals and shots on net and only Miller and Nelson had a better +/- among all of the defensemen, but of course why would any one in their right mind praise a player for performing better than the rest of the team.
Girgensons, on the other hand, had the best +/- among all forwards and only Nelson was better among the entire team, so let's not recognize hard work, perseverance and results.
I was actually surprised at how well all three of them played this preseason.
BTW what a terrible job JB has done. He hired one of the best GK coaches in the league, stole Jokiharju, got Miller for nearly nothing, added secondary scoring and the team now has 7 players who if given the ice time could easily get 15 to 20 goals. Yup let's go fire him.
But go ahead and give up on the team.
Let me add, nearly all NHL teams have their crash line designed to shut down the other team. Our crash line happens to be Girgensons, Larsson and Okposo. Girgensons and Larsson had the lowest OZ% of only 16% last in the entire league while achieving nearly a 50% corsi. By contrast CBJ utilize Dubinsky as their crash line center, he had an OZ% of 20% but only had a corsi of 45%. BTW Dubinsky only had 14 pts last year and earned nearly double of Girgensons and Larsson combined. I am not sure how many playoff games you watched last year, but CBJ used Dubinsky in many of the defensive zone face offs, just as Larsson was used by Housley last year.
Quoting: wojme
There's still time
Yup, and while the Atlantic is tough, and the Sabres will most likely miss the playoffs, the team is better.
Quoting: F50marco
I thought Sobotka was going to Russia? (Well I didn't actually think that, i just assumed from all the BUF AGM's stating he was)
LOL, and you believed the BUF AGM's?
Quoting: mondo
i assumed that botterhill and kruger were steering the team in the right direction - is there some stuff going down that i'm missing?
Well, your presumption is correct, and casual observer would recognize that.
Quoting: Captain_Jack
Thats cuz he was suppose to be waived... he wont play in the minors
I do not know why he is on the team, Maybe he will play on the fourth line, giving Buffalo 2 good FO men.