@RoyalBlueSabres
@Sabres923
@Sabresforlife
Yup the Sabres had a lot of bad luck last year.
If Hutton does not go blind and have a 0-8-4 stretch, they are on the heels of the Leafs for the 8th best in the east.
I think if their luck changes, and the young players (Mittelstadt, Thompson and Cousins) can perform, this team is in the hunt.
Let me add, Dahlin, Eichel, Ristolainen all improved dramatically last year, another jump ahead and maybe all three are all stars.
Two points that go against conventional wisdom on this site:
First, Krueger was not a good coach:
Sobotka on the second line?
Four players have career bad years, Vesey, Rodrigues, Skinner and Sheary.
PK and PP were terrible.
NHL players need a coach not a cheer leader. No one ever accused Bowman of being a cheerleader.
I am afraid we lost Pilut and Vesey will never think of returning because they were mishandled.
Second:
Few people on this site will agree with your line up EVER having a chance of making the playoffs.
That was Botterill's vision and we all know Botterill is a bad GM.
After all he traded away O'Reilly! I guess I am the only one who listened to O'Reilly's entire post season interview.
Botterill made several mistakes:
He should not have fired Housley.
The Scandella trade was terrible. The Frolik trade was worse.
While Johansson was a good addition, we also needed a Center (Reinhart?!) and RW (Rodrigues, Sheary, Thompson?)
While I liked his under the radar free agents (Lazar, Dea, Gilmour and Hammond) a mid 6 center or RW would have been good.
Who blinked last year, Botterill or Brisebois? JT Miller would have looked really nice on this team.
(An aside that is where luck has a lot to do with success. Brisebois wanted Ristolainen and would have paid for him, over the summer he got Shattenkirk for FREE)
He should have paid O'Reilly's bonus (oops, were his hands tied?)
As for the line up.
I think Olofsson needs Jack to get goals.
I think we should have had Sam at center last year instead of Johansson.
Casey and Tage are not busts.
I loved Girgensons and Larsson, but they have priced themselves out of the team.
Adding Miller and Jokiharju while having Montour for an entire season made this a good defense, not the coaching.
You are correct, this team is close, maybe a LHD, and 2nd line forward could be added.
I wonder if Larsson could jump up to #2 Center with Skinner. Did that work well last year?
That is my rant, I am sorry I high-jacked your post for my ravings.
GMTD liked this.
Reply
CapFriendly
CapFriendly