Skyraider112

Sabres are elite
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Forum: Armchair-GM10 hours ago
Thread: Lines
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>gretzkyghosts</b></div><div>Thanks!
IDK what will happen next year, I know the team is better with Hall, Staal, most likely Cozens and Mittelstadt or Thompson or both.
Will it be good enough to be in the playoffs, IDK.
Most prognosticators say no.
IMHO if a team with Skinner, Olofsson, Hall, Staal, Reinhart, Eichel, Cozens, Dahlin cannot make the playoffs, we never will.

I expected the Sabres to be better in '19-'20 after adding Jokiharju, Miller, Vesey and Johansson.
But they were actually worse.

To your question:'
Miller, Montour, Vesey, Okposo, Skinner, Sheary, Rodrigues, Hutton and Pilut.
I know <strong>Pilut </strong>has a short career but he went from 6 pts in 33 games to ZERO pts in 13 games, then he bolted to KHL.
One can say <strong>Hutton </strong>had vision issues, but look at the teams he was asked to play against.
NYR, NYI, TBL, CAR, TBL, TOR, VAN, PHI and VAN for example.
He allowed 5 or more goals in 7 of the 12 consecutive games he lost, some one had to know he was not right, but he was still given tough assignments.
Maybe a case can be made for having too many offensive defensemen and only one puck why <strong>Miller </strong>and <strong>Montour's </strong>production dropped like a pebble in a creek.
To me it was obvious the <strong>Vesey, Skinner, Okposo, Sheary and Rodrigues</strong> were just mis-cast.
Only Jack, Victor and Sam had more pts/60 than <strong>Okposo</strong>, yet he was relegated to the fourth line duty.
Who puts <strong>Skinner </strong>with Sobotka?
<strong>Rodrigues </strong>was coming off his best season, then under Krueger he had the LOWEST TOI/gm than any forward.
<strong>Sheary's </strong>ice was also limited, but his pts/60 were just behind Okposo's.
Sheary's TOI/gm was lower than Larsson or Girgensons.
We had one scoring line all season, maybe move Sam off of the top line.

The PK was too soft and passive.
Is that fault of the HC or the PK coach, IDK.
It was obvious to me that the killers stayed back in their box and allowed the PP team to roam freely never challenging the shooter nor puck carrier.

The PP unit stood around and watch Jack play with the puck.
There was not any movement.
Everyone was a statue hoping jack would find a passing lane.
Is that the fault of the HC or the PP coach?

I have too much to unpack and I could go on for ever.
But before I close, I was very disappointed that the team never once stood up for Skinner when he was challenged.
Some people question my evaluation, but the result is the team did poorer last year than the previous year.</div></div>

Absolutely. I agree that many players were miscast. Our depth this coming season looks a lot better than it did last year.
Forum: Armchair-GMWed at 6:12 pm
Thread: Lines
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>gretzkyghosts</b></div><div>First of all your idea is as good as any of ours as we do not get to watch the chemistry during practice.
Is it not nice to be able to discuss if Olofsson should be on the first or third line as there are many possibilities.
Or which of Mittelstadt, Cozens, Thompson, Ruotsalainen will be on the team.

While we all of great ideas, both Hall and Eichel are great playmakers with Taylor actually getting more pts from assists than Jack.
Who knows what Krueger will do.
I have said this before but up 9 players had career worse years under Krueger.

You can all shoot holes in my lines but here they are:
Skinner Eichel Thompson
Hall Staal Cozens
Olofsson Ruotsalainen Reinhart
Girgensons Eakin Okposo
Mittelstadt Lazar in the press box.
We have to put Jeff back with Jack, both will have career years if we did that.
Tage can use his big body to make space for either of them and pick up garbage goals as well
Taylor can drive his own line as he did in NJ, Cozens will be better than Sam was at the same age, I could easily see him get 60 pts.
That third line could be better than any second line the Sabres iced in the last dozen years.

Either Montour or Miller play LD with many different pairings working well.
With more offense, there will be fewer shots on net and therefor fewer GA.
Let me remind every one only 7 GK who played more than 30 games had a better 5 on 5 SV% than Ullmark.
No GK had a better SV% on shots greater than 30 feet than Ullmark.
Get a better PK coach who will force the skaters to be more aggressive instead of sitting back in the box.
Get a better PP coach who will demand more movement when the team has the extra man on the ice.

It could be a very exciting year with Hall and Staal while adding Cozens, Mittelstadt and Thompson.</div></div>

I agree with all of this but continue to believe that Kruger is not a problem. Sure some of his lineup decisions were questionable like benching Miller and playing Bogosian. I have a feeling that must have had to do with something off the ice or something done during a practice though. You say that 9 players had career low years, do you know which those 9 were?
Forum: Armchair-GMWed at 12:10 pm
Thread: Weve Got Every Canadian Teams Number So I Believe Well Get 1st
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>CD282</b></div><div>Well, I already showed you that Vancouver does NOT have better forward depth. I'll show you another way - by looking at CapFriendly's projected lines along with last year's scoring rates:

1. Pettersson - Miller - Boeser = 2.80 P/GP
2. Pearson - Horvat - Eriksson = 1.69
3. Roussel - Gaudette - Sutter = 1.27
4. Motte - Beagle - Virtanen = 0.91

<a href="https://www.capfriendly.com/depth-charts/canucks">https://www.capfriendly.com/depth-charts/canucks</a>

I'm not sure that's accurate as Edmonton's depth chart isn't, so let me know what is off and I'll adjust it. CF's Edmonton depth chart misses Kahun altogether, so I'll construct the lines as they likely will be:

1. Nugent-Hopkins - McDavid - Kassian = 3.04 P/GP
2. Kahun - Draisaitl - Yamamoto = 3.06
3. Ennis - Turris - Puljujarvi = 1.46
4. Neal - Khaira - Chiasson = 1.09

Edmonton has TWO lines that are better than Vancouver's first line, and Edmonton's 3rd and 4th lines are better than Vancouvers. Edmonton's depth is so good that a guy like Josh Archibald (12 goals in each of the past 2 seasons) could find himself in the pressbox. If not him then Alex Chiasson, who has averaged 16 goals per 82 over the past 4 seasons.</div></div>

Depth chart is not correct for Vancouver I can tell you that. Virtanen isn't a 4th line player and it doesn't have Ferland on there and he is a 35-40 point player. But as I already mentioned this is my opinion, it isn't necessarily the truth. Edmonton is the better team in the regular season but if they meet in the playoffs I think Vancouver can beat them. Jay Beagle and Tyler Motte can outwork can Edmonton forward except maybe Yamamoto. I rest my case
Forum: Armchair-GMTue at 8:46 pm
Thread: Weve Got Every Canadian Teams Number So I Believe Well Get 1st
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>CD282</b></div><div>Vancouver? Why do you think Vancouver has improved? They traded away their starter, their goaltending is competing with Ottawa's for the division basement.

Koskinen .917 + Smith .902
Demko .905 + Holtby .897
Murray .899 + Anderson .902

I'm going to guess the splits end up something like this:

Hellebuyck + Brossoit 80/20 = .917
Markstrom + Rittich 70/30 = .915
Price + Allen 70/30 = .914
Koskinen + Smith 60/40 = .911
Andersen + Campbell 70/30 = .908
Demko + Holtby 50/50 = .901
Murray + Anderson 60/40 = .900

Vancouver has good forward depth, but not better than Edmonton's. Here are their top-9 compared to Edmonton's (last year's numbers):

Vancouver: 6.05 total
Miller: 1.04 P/GP
Pettersson: 0.97
Boeser: 0.79
Horvat: 0.77
Pearson: 0.65
Gaudette: 0.56
Virtanen: 0.52
Sutter: 0.39
Ferland: 0.36

Edmonton: 7.69 total
Draisaitl: 1.55 P/GP
McDavid: 1.52
Yamamoto: 0.96
Nugent-Hopkins: 0.94
Kassian: 0.58
Neal: 0.56
Kahun: 0.55
Ennis: 0.53
Turris: 0.50</div></div>

Demko is still growing, he will get better. Cannot say the same about either Koskinen or Smith. Vancouver has better depth than Edmonton. Edmonton addressed it quite well with Kahun, Turris and Barrie but they still don't match the depth of Vancouver imo. Guys like Haas and Nygard are really only getting minutes in the NHL because Edmonton doesn't have any better options. Vancouver has 4 solid lines that can defend and put the puck in the net. Again this is all my opinion. I did have Edmonton over Vancouver in the standings so you clearly see that I think Edmonton will be the better team. Solely in terms of depth (and depth wins championships) I think Vancouver is better
Forum: Armchair-GMSun at 11:40 pm
Thread: Thoughts on these prospects
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>littlejerryseinfeld</b></div><div>If Ruotsalainen doesnt make the team, I will lose my mind.

I think Rousek has a little Olofsson to him (late round, late blooming scorer).

Laaksonen will be fun to watch in the AHL. We shall see on the others.</div></div>

Agree on Arttu, how could he not make it? Hes absolutely crushing Liiga its unbelievable. Im not sold on Rousek yet, if he can get 35-40 points in the Czech league this year then I think he has a better chance. What do you think about Johnson? He seems very disappointing to me so far.

<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>RoyalBlueSabres</b></div><div>Ruostalienen laaksonen Bryson will be only Nhl regulars.
Weissbach and Portillo have a chance.
It would take a ton of development for constantini or roused to make it</div></div>

Costantini had 20 points in 13 pre season BCHL games this year. Thats a promising start. Hes a 2021-2022 NCAA commit so thats where the real test for him begins