Krueger, though I like him, must go now. And some of these lazy overpaid players must go

[Buffalo Rick]

On 3/1/2021 at 8:00 AM, Samifan said:

HJ don’t feel sad for them! When they first bought the franchise they seemed to want to change the culture and make the Sabres competitive again. Then the bought the Bills and all of their focus went there. It is more prestigious to own an NFL team  apparently and that’s where all there time, effort and money have gone.
 

Now that the Bills are successful and the up and coming darling of the league, they are the Pegula’s only priority. They couldn’t give a rats ass about the Sabres or Rochester Amerks any longer. 

Not sure I agree.  Pegula is a hockey guy first.  Kruegers days are numbered if they don’t make an effort.  Eichel has tanked in some games for sure.  The kid is a huge talent but not sure where his head is at.  Don’t forget Skinner and Hutton are Botterills mistakes.  

[flyercanuck]

32 minutes ago, Hockey Junkie said:

Not sure I agree.  Pegula is a hockey guy first.  Kruegers days are numbered if they don’t make an effort.  Eichel has tanked in some games for sure.  The kid is a huge talent but not sure where his head is at.  Don’t forget Skinner and Hutton are Botterills mistakes.  

 

 Pegula has owned the Sabres for a decade. They've sucked every year he's owned them. All the guys calling the shots are his hires. They're on 6 coaches and counting, 4 gms. in 10 years.  They've picked top 8 in the draft every year for the last 8. The only 2 seasons they were over .500 were the first two he owned them...which was clearly a carry over.

 

 If he's a "hockey guy" then I'm an astronaut. 

Edited March 2, 2021 by flyercanuck

[ruxpin]

40 minutes ago, Hockey Junkie said:

Don’t agree with your top two assessment.  Are you kidding?  Philly has not one star, oh maybe Couturier. Do you think they are going to beat a team like Toronto or Tampa and win the Cup unless they do some rebuilding?  And let me remind you the Leafs have not won since before Sabres existed.  

Not really relevant to his point.  Keep in mind that this was about the division (and projecting with the theoretical idea of these divisions remaining the same) and that it would be difficult to break in unless someone comes down.   It also is apparently with the theoretical idea that none of the teams will ever age.

 

But I love the question asking him if he thinks the Flyers will beat Toronto.   LOL   Wow:  "Unless they prorate, not even the 80s Oilers would beat the Leafs this year!"

 

If you're asking me, either Boston or Philly could beat Toronto.     I don't think any of those teams beat Tampa.

And btw, I also don't legitimately think Philly will even get to play either of Toronto or Tampa.   Unless something significantly changes, I don't see Philly getting past Boston.

 

I haven't seen it and haven't bothered looking.

Does anyone know what division champions play each other for the semi-finals?

I'm guessing the four teams will be Tampa, Boston, Toronto, and (no idea) Vegas or St. Louis.   If it's Boston v. Toronto, Boston goes to the finals, IMO.   The only way I see Toronto going is if it's North v. West in the semis.

[ruxpin]

1 minute ago, ruxpin said:

Not really relevant to his point.  Keep in mind that this was about the division (and projecting with the theoretical idea of these divisions remaining the same) and that it would be difficult to break in unless someone comes down.   It also is apparently with the theoretical idea that none of the teams will ever age.

 

But I love the question asking him if he thinks the Flyers will beat Toronto.   LOL   Wow:  "Unless they prorate, not even the 80s Oilers would beat the Leafs this year!"

 

If you're asking me, either Boston or Philly could beat Toronto.     I don't think any of those teams beat Tampa.

And btw, I also don't legitimately think Philly will even get to play either of Toronto or Tampa.   Unless something significantly changes, I don't see Philly getting past Boston.

 

I haven't seen it and haven't bothered looking.

Does anyone know what division champions play each other for the semi-finals?

I'm guessing the four teams will be Tampa, Boston, Toronto, and (no idea) Vegas or St. Louis.   If it's Boston v. Toronto, Boston goes to the finals, IMO.   The only way I see Toronto going is if it's North v. West in the semis.

Just looked.   The four semi-finalists are seeded by points.   That's interesting.

[pilldoc]

13 minutes ago, ruxpin said:

 

I haven't seen it and haven't bothered looking.

Does anyone know what division champions play each other for the semi-finals?

I'm guessing the four teams will be Tampa, Boston, Toronto, and (no idea) Vegas or St. Louis.   If it's Boston v. Toronto, Boston goes to the finals, IMO.   The only way I see Toronto going is if it's North v. West in the semis.

The four teams that advance to the semifinals will then be re-seeded based on their regular season point totals, and then placed into a new 1 vs. 4 and 2 vs. 3 bracket. That means the traditional Eastern Conference champion vs. Western Conference champion format is out the window for this year, and all sorts of new options are suddenly on the table.

[JR Ewing]

16 hours ago, pilldoc said:

Those quotes say a lot....

 

For the sake of context, we can compare those comments about Hall to a quote from Alex Stalock just this morning:

 

Quote

"I got real close to (Oilers forward Tyler Ennis) here in Minnesota and he tells me I’ll love it there. I can’t wait to see (Connor) McDavid up close. Enzo’s like, ‘Wait ‘til you watch this guy practice every day. He practices the way he plays,’ which is absurd. So it’ll be fun.”

 

That's what the best players in this (and every) sport do: work hard in every situation.

 

 

[J0e Th0rnton]

We had a "taylor hall is uncoachable" thread 5 or 6 years ago when he was still on the oilers and McDavid was drafted.

 

I think he had a lot more defenders back then 

[JR Ewing]

47 minutes ago, flyercanuck said:

 

 Pegula has owned the Sabres for a decade. They've sucked every year he's owned them. All the guys calling the shots are his hires. They're on 6 coaches and counting, 4 gms. in 10 years.  They've picked top 8 in the draft every year for the last 8. The only 2 seasons they were over .500 were the first two he owned them...which was clearly a carry over.

 

 If he's a "hockey guy" then I'm an astronaut. 

 

A little philosophy in life which my father taught me: if the same things keep happening, but with different people, you have to ask what the odds are that it's *always* the other guy's fault or if, since you're the common denominator, you are the problem.

 

A multitude of players, coaches and General Managers have come and gone in Pegula's time, with the same poor results. Bad ownership seems to be a problem in Buffalo.

 

[pilldoc]

20 minutes ago, J0e Th0rnton said:

We had a "taylor hall is uncoachable" thread 5 or 6 years ago when he was still on the oilers and McDavid was drafted.

 

I think he had a lot more defenders back then 

 

Found the thread you where referencing .....

 

 

[pilldoc]

From Dec. 2015 ..... Darren Dreger:

 

Darren Dreger offered this informed speculation on TSN Radio in Toronto on Monday, hours after Edmonton Oilers coach Dallas Eakins was relieved of his duties. In speaking about the Oilers’ culture, he said:

 

“It’s not one player. It’s the collection of players that make up the sagging work ethic and lack of culture. But if you had to put a face on it, or a name to it, that name would be Taylor Hall.

 

“Taylor Hall, at least from a culture standpoint, in the room not on the ice, hasn’t been what they hoped he would be. So when [GM Craig] MacTavish looks into his crystal ball and sees what’s coming his way through trades, he’s gotta be looking at the trade deadline and then beyond that looking at the draft floor.

 

“Because if you’re moving a piece like Taylor Hall, and I believe Taylor Hall will be in play, then the rate of return is always going to be the best in the summer.

 

“I think it speaks from a willingness to adapt. I’m choosing my words carefully in saying that. I’m not in the room, so we gather information from the sources that we have, and my sense is that Taylor Hall has a pretty specific vision on how he sees he needs to play and maybe how he thinks the team should play, and he really isn’t open to change, and that’s a problem.

 

“MacTavish will have to see first hand that what I said is true. If you’re moving out a franchise player like Taylor Hall, you have to be damn certain if that’s the right move for the organization.”

[Buffalo Rick]

1 hour ago, flyercanuck said:

 

 Pegula has owned the Sabres for a decade. They've sucked every year he's owned them. All the guys calling the shots are his hires. They're on 6 coaches and counting, 4 gms. in 10 years.  They've picked top 8 in the draft every year for the last 8. The only 2 seasons they were over .500 were the first two he owned them...which was clearly a carry over.

 

 If he's a "hockey guy" then I'm an astronaut. 

This is ground control to major Flyercanuck!  

[pilldoc]

Just picking quotes from the thread ...take it FWIW .....

 

"Taylor Hall is NOT a perfect player; not by any means. But it also wasn't very long ago that the Bruins just HAD to get rid of that immature, entitled locker room cancer named Tyler Seguin. How did that work out for them?"

 

"Taylor Hall was actually one of the worst players at his combine in terms of his work ethic and the work that he had put in off the ice. He had no social skills, no "gym-rat" personality and no ability to change any facet from his game. Sequin was valued more and it's one of the main reasons why various teams had Sequin higher on their boards than Hall. "

 

"I saw a kid who left everything, and I mean everything on the ice. That series was a good ol' fashioned war...and he was their best player."

 

"Hall is not the problem in Edmonton."

 

"Hall is the last guy on that roster I trade."

 

 

[flyercanuck]

26 minutes ago, Hockey Junkie said:

This is ground control to major Flyercanuck!  

 

I may be a space cadet...but I'm no astronaut! 

[J0e Th0rnton]

@pilldoc

 

Hockey may be a sport, but a job is a job. Some folks coast through their jobs but don't put in effort when it matters and try to sit around drinking coffee doing the minimum to get by while making fun of people who take it too seriously. Some are not as skilled but work their asses off.

 

 

[JR Ewing]

 

@pilldoc Time has gone on since then, and Hall has accrued some more track in the rear view mirror. I don't think that Hall is a Dick Allen-type of player, who actively hurts his team's chances despite having a ton of talent, but he sure as hell doesn't seem to make his teams any better despite all of that talent.

 

I don't want to be unfair towards him, but we now have former teammates saying some of these things, and even Hall himself admitting that he spent years ignoring coaches.

[WordsOfWisdom]

6 hours ago, Hockey Junkie said:

Don’t agree with your top two assessment.  Are you kidding?  Philly has not one star, oh maybe Couturier.

 

Philly doesn't need stars. They have their lifetime .700 winning percentage or whatever it is. They win with anybody.

 

Philly and Boston are out to prove that a team can have a winning percentage higher than 1.000.   

 

6 hours ago, Hockey Junkie said:

Do you think they are going to beat a team like Toronto or Tampa and win the Cup unless they do some rebuilding?

 

Philly or Boston could win the Stanley Cup right now this season with their current rosters. 

 

6 hours ago, Hockey Junkie said:

And let me remind you the Leafs have not won since before Sabres existed.  

 

Well, the Leafs lead the league is points... but without playing teams from the other divisions there's no way to know how they compare with the other division leaders. We won't know that until round 3 at the earliest..... IF the Leafs get that far.  The Leafs have a way of never exceeding expectations, especially in the playoffs. Wherever you think they'll finish is usually where they finish, or WORSE. Nobody ever once said "Darn, I should have picked the Leafs as my dark horse team to win it all!"

 

My gut feeling tells me this is the year Toronto finally gets past the first round of the playoffs. My gut also tells me that whoever wins the North division is going to get destroyed by the first US team they face (whoever it is) because that will make a mockery out of the North division and sh_t all over Toronto's accomplishments this season..... so obviously that's what will happen. Also, it will prevent a Canadian team from reaching the final and of course that's also what will happen. 

 

 

 

[WordsOfWisdom]

13 hours ago, ruxpin said:

Does anyone know what division champions play each other for the semi-finals?

 

I totally made a thread on this a month ago.   

(Flyers fans leave your cave more often! lol)

 

TADA:   

 

 

Edited March 3, 2021 by WordsOfWisdom

[ruxpin]

5 hours ago, WordsOfWisdom said:

 

I totally made a thread on this a month ago.   

(Flyers fans leave your cave more often! lol)

 

TADA:   

 

 

I totally never saw it.  Nor the apparently 50,000 NHL articles that led with it.

[Icechipper]

Krueger might try handing out yellow cards at practice....

[ruxpin]

5 minutes ago, Icechipper said:

Krueger might try handing out yellow cards at practice....

Or maybe ginseng

[Buffalo Rick]

21 hours ago, pilldoc said:

Just picking quotes from the thread ...take it FWIW .....

 

"Taylor Hall is NOT a perfect player; not by any means. But it also wasn't very long ago that the Bruins just HAD to get rid of that immature, entitled locker room cancer named Tyler Seguin. How did that work out for them?"

 

"Taylor Hall was actually one of the worst players at his combine in terms of his work ethic and the work that he had put in off the ice. He had no social skills, no "gym-rat" personality and no ability to change any facet from his game. Sequin was valued more and it's one of the main reasons why various teams had Sequin higher on their boards than Hall. "

 

"I saw a kid who left everything, and I mean everything on the ice. That series was a good ol' fashioned war...and he was their best player."

 

"Hall is not the problem in Edmonton."

 

"Hall is the last guy on that roster I trade."

 

 

Disgrace is what he is.  But Skinner can play.  9 shots on goal last night and robbed blind in crease on one.  Snake bitten like others except Reinhardt.  Sabres deserved to win last night but stinker let in by Hutton killed us

[WordsOfWisdom]

5 hours ago, ruxpin said:

I totally never saw it.  Nor the apparently 50,000 NHL articles that led with it.

 

Not to worry, I was only joking.   

[ruxpin]

1 hour ago, WordsOfWisdom said:

 

Not to worry, I was only joking.   

 

It's all good.  That's the way I took it.   What's amazing is that we're this far into the season and I was still asking the question.  LOL

[WordsOfWisdom]

8 hours ago, ruxpin said:

 

It's all good.  That's the way I took it.   What's amazing is that we're this far into the season and I was still asking the question.  LOL

 

I'm the same way. I never considered it earlier because it wasn't relevant. As we draw closer to the playoffs, it becomes more intriguing.  

 

Also hard to believe but we're almost at the halfway mark on the season!   

[pilldoc]

Talking about Krueger in Chat .....