Sabres '20?- '21 season - Kreuger's Replacement?

[GG1]

Is this finally a playoff team?

 

Update (3/17/21) - NOPE

Edited March 17, 2021 by GG1

[Ann]

1 hour ago, GG1 said:

Is this finally a playoff team?

Only if you all pay me not to watch. If they are winning a game and I turn it on, they lose. If they start a season off well and I start to watch the games, they start losing.   



 

[snafu]

1 hour ago, GG1 said:

Is this finally a playoff team?

 

(1) If they get to the playoffs, it will be in spite of the goalies we have.

(2) Dahlin needs to live up to his promise.  He regressed last year. He's not good at keeping possession at the blue line or in the neutral zone.

 

 

[Taro T]

WtF do you mean "Krueger's redemption?"

 

Krueger didn't trade away Scandella effectively for Frolik nor did he leave them with 1 good goalie & 1 goalie that was good for 2 months 2 years in a row.

 

As said above, improve the goaltending & they SHOULD be in the dance.

 

They needed a 2C & a goalie for a shot & needed a 2W and a 2/3 LHD to be a favorite to get in.  Bringing in a TRUE 1W & Dahlin being 16 months older than when the "50th" season started should be enough to allow them to be a favorite for the last playoff spot even without the LHD provided they get the goalie.

[plenzmd1]

15 hours ago, snafu said:

 

(1) If they get to the playoffs, it will be in spite of the goalies we have.

(2) Dahlin needs to live up to his promise.  He regressed last year. He's not good at keeping possession at the blue line or in the neutral zone.

 

 

that was an early gripe of mine WRT to Kreuger..thought he shot Dahlin's confidence early by benching him for long stretches of the 3rd in the early part of the season. He become so worried about turnovers and getting benched his natural instincts and play making ability suffered.

 

Much like Housley ruined Pilot by benching him after a bad turnover...

[GG1]

8 hours ago, Taro T said:

WtF do you mean "Krueger's redemption?"

 

 

To prove that he belongs in the NHL

[Taro T]

1 hour ago, GG1 said:

 

To prove that he belongs in the NHL

 

Thanks for the clarification.

 

Pretty sure he did that last year as when he had healthy career backups in net he had them in a playoff spot and it wasn't until he was using an injured goalie & then an AHLer that the wheels fell off.

[GG1]

1 minute ago, Taro T said:

 

Thanks for the clarification.

 

Pretty sure he did that last year as when he had healthy career backups in net he had them in a playoff spot and it wasn't until he was using an injured goalie & then an AHLer that the wheels fell off.

 

I'm still in the wait and see camp, as I think his skills may be better suited for an upstairs role.  The fast early start last year was similar to tournament play, where a spunky upstart can surprise the heavies.   After 10 games, everyone caught up and the Sabres couldn't keep up.   I'll be watching if he can maintain a high caliber of play for an entire season.

[KD in CA]

I'd like to be interested in hockey again....being the Clippers of the NHL for the last decade has really taken that away.

[Taro T]

On 10/16/2020 at 11:43 AM, KD in CA said:

I'd like to be interested in hockey again....being the Clippers of the NHL for the last decade has really taken that away.

 

They still need to fix the GT, but if they do, they SHOULD be playoff bound, barring injuries.

 

For the 1st time in nearly a decade they are assembled like an actual NHL team.

[GG1]

On 10/17/2020 at 5:52 PM, Taro T said:

 

They still need to fix the GT, but if they do, they SHOULD be playoff bound, barring injuries.

 

For the 1st time in nearly a decade they are assembled like an actual NHL team.

BTW, I do appreciate your takes in the Aud Club.  I guess coming from Japan gives you a fresh perspective ... 😀

[shrader]

Who knows how the playoffs are even structured this year. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if they included everyone this year due to the shortened season. If they wind up going with four regional divisions that only ever play each other, that setup pretty well for a full playoff within each division. I’m not sure how they’d handle the odd number of teams, but they’ll figure it out. 
 

Get as many games as possible on tv and boost revenue, it’s a no brainer. 

[3rdnlng]

On 10/15/2020 at 4:24 PM, Ann said:

Only if you all pay me not to watch. If they are winning a game and I turn it on, they lose. If they start a season off well and I start to watch the games, they start losing.   



 

Ah, a real Calamity Jane Ann, eh?

[Taro T]

3 hours ago, shrader said:

Who knows how the playoffs are even structured this year. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if they included everyone this year due to the shortened season. If they wind up going with four regional divisions that only ever play each other, that setup pretty well for a full playoff within each division. I’m not sure how they’d handle the odd number of teams, but they’ll figure it out. 
 

Get as many games as possible on tv and boost revenue, it’s a no brainer. 

 

Clearly just a guess, but if there's a shortened season would expect the top 6 from each revised division to get into the playoffs (similarly to last year's format but dumping the WC's) so the Canadian teams only drop a single club & the rest have 2 miss out.

 

Really don't believe they could let everybody into the dance as that would make the RS essentially completely meaningless.  (And just 1 season before it finally knocks out a full 50% of the league's teams.  Assuming they can get a full '21-'22 schedule in.)

 

Depending just how short the RS ends up, would expect the preliminary round to be either a Best of 5 or 7.

 

Really expecting the season the start with 4 bubbles & then depending how things open up, getting back to more of a MLB or even NFL type modified schedule at the 1/4 or midpoint of the season.

 

And just as an FYI, payments for Sabres season ticket holders had been scheduled for today, but the team pushed them back indefinitely yesterday citing uncertainty w/in the NHL on how/when the season would begin.  So, the projected 1/1/21 opening likely will get pushed back to mid January or February 1.

[shrader]

I know people are frustrated about how slowly the league is figuring this out. What so many miss is that this is the one league that is international. MLB and the NBA only had to relocate one team each. A quarter of the NHL’s teams are in Canada and that’s not easy to work out. And inn top of that, they have player living all over the world. I don’t know how many MLB guys aren’t US born, but they’re the only other league with a sizable number foreign-born players. 

[Beer__League__Hockey]

3 hours ago, shrader said:

I know people are frustrated about how slowly the league is figuring this out. What so many miss is that this is the one league that is international. MLB and the NBA only had to relocate one team each. A quarter of the NHL’s teams are in Canada and that’s not easy to work out. And inn top of that, they have player living all over the world. I don’t know how many MLB guys aren’t US born, but they’re the only other league with a sizable number foreign-born players. 

I honestly think they will have to wait until the summer, and wrap it up around the same time as this year.  Hopefully by mid 2021 the borders will open up a bit more.

[shrader]

1 minute ago, BeerLeagueHockey said:

I honestly think they will have to wait until the summer, and wrap it up around the same time as this year.  Hopefully by mid 2021 the borders will open up a bit more.

the plan with an all Canada division has always made the most sense to me. Then again, I don’t know if Canada has tried to restrict travel within the country at all. 

[Joe]

On 10/15/2020 at 4:24 PM, Ann said:

Only if you all pay me not to watch. If they are winning a game and I turn it on, they lose. If they start a season off well and I start to watch the games, they start losing.   



 

I feel this.

 

Deep in the feels.

[NCBillsFan]

 

[Taro T]

5 hours ago, NCBillsFan said:

 

 

Don't have a Canadian VPN.  Can you give a cliff notes version of what he said?