Sabres Management and Coaching Thread

[SabreBlood]

uh... because NOT taking the tank approach impacts the entire season....

It means we don't make tankalicious moves like signing Meszaros and Benoit to be top 4 defensemen. It means Nic Deslauriers doesn't play 82 games with an average of 12 minutes a game. It means we don't give a placeholder thank you extension to Ted Nolan. I could go on.... but seriously

It means Murray doesn't trade away multiple goaltenders for being too good. So many reasons.

 

[jBuds]

We haven't made it to a point where we can consistently play one of our best playmakers and offensive talents, at his natural position.

Or Girgensons and Eichel. Or Reinhart and any 2 wingers.

It's amazing how far a good line connection can reverberate elsewhere. The deployment of the pieces on this team is so frustrating at times.

 

[Sabre Dance]

Irrelevant.
The narrative was, "we are paying the price for tanking"....
That's fine, and true to an extent. But the hindsight choice remains:
Tank and get Eichel, or risk not gettomg Eichel.

Its too early to say we are paying the price for tanking. Too early to even grade the rebuild. That said, we were getting Eichel no matter what. There was nothing Murray could have done to change that.

 

[SnuggaRUDE]

If Murray had no hand in hiring Bylsma and no say in his continued employment, I'd say he's an average GM.

He's made some decent trades, some bad trades. A couple good looking draft picks, a couple glaringly bad picks in 2014.

If Murray had no hand in hiring Bylsma, but believes he should still be coach, he is below average GM.

If Murray had a hand in hiring Bylsma, and still believes he should be coach, he'd be a below average CHL GM.

I'm not of the opinion that top 4 D are available around the league. And even more absurd is this notion that the team will be able to trade for a top pairing D. Someone's going to overpay for Alzner, and rue that day for years.

Murray might not be a great GM; but there's obvious low hanging front office fruit, and it ain't him.

 

[Jame]

It means Murray doesn't trade away multiple goaltenders for being too good. So many reasons.

exactly.... If you want to blame the tank for our current state (there's a kernel or two of truth to that), you have to accept the alternative... which is likely no Eichel.

 

[SabreBlood]

Those are short-term moves. Signing players like Moulson, Ennis, and Gionta and trading for Gorges were supposed to be moves that helped us win post Eichel draft. Those moves aided the tank as well and are also holding us back today.

This is absolutely right. These are miscalculations that deserve to be held against Murray. Gionta has played well for the most part, but that's only a very minor positive.

 

[Sabre Dance]

It means Murray doesn't trade away multiple goaltenders for being too good. So many reasons.

We couldnt score. It didnt matter what their sav % was.

 

[Husko]

-GMTM bungled the Bylsma hire.
-GMTM did a bad job of building a blue line, especially when considering how bad of a fit Bogosian, Kulikov, and Georges are in Bylsma's system.
-I still really like GMTM and have faith in him going forward to fix the two above issues.

Don't get why some think those three statements in anyway have to be mutually exclusive.

 

[joshjull]

It's amazing how far a good line connection can reverberate elsewhere. The deployment of the pieces on this team is so frustrating at times.

One of the most frustrating for me is the refusal to play Sam at center. I feel quite confident Sam centering one of the top 3 lines pushes the needle far more than Erod, Girgs, Larsson, etc. It also gets the most out of Sam IMO.

Then we could work towards 3 reliable lines with specific roles and usage and even blended usage depending on construction. Each taking a bit of the load of the others. Which would give ROR a break from the grind of his ice time.

 

[SabreBlood]

That's it! If only we had better lines we would have clinched a playoff spot. The talent is garbage. I don't know what magical line combos you think is going to make the Sabres skate harder, actually compete and put pucks in the net. Bylsma is a bad coach but keep trying to deflect blame away from the gutless players and the talent Murray compiled.

Better constructed lines, when they actually had a sniff at the playoffs, should have increased their chances of winning games. Bench management has been atrocious all season. How the hell does this coach still have no idea who to skate on a line with a phenom like Jack Eichel after 2 years? You really think something like that doesn't matter?

 

[Sabre Dance]

This is absolutely right. These are miscalculations that deserve to be held against Murray. Gionta has played well for the most part, but that's only a very minor positive.

Gionta is not playing $4.25 million well. Maybe they use that money on a vet D like Paul Martin who had success with Bylsma. Who knows. Does Martin help us? I dont know.

 

[OkimLom]

I agree with everything in your post except for this.. They're about .500 regardless of who's been in the line up; and when they came out of the break, they were as healthy as anyone could expect them to be, and they went about 2-8-2.

I probably should've said, "this was the first year that they were EXPECTED to be competitive". There were still holes on this team, but the way they ended last season, and how they started the preseason, and up to October 12, they were set to be a pretty competitive team. Not necessarily a playoff team, but a team that could fight for a playoff spot. Quite honestly, even with the injuries, they STILL were in a battle for a playoff spot late in the year. I'm okay with that.

 

[Jame]

If Murray had no hand in hiring Bylsma and no say in his continued employment, I'd say he's an average GM.

If coaching is out of the picture... I'd say Murray is a very good GM. Find me another GM who added more talent in such a short time frame.

He's made some decent trades, some bad trades. A couple good looking draft picks, a couple glaringly bad picks in 2014.

ROR is one of the best trades made in the NHL this decade.
Kane/Myers is a decent trade
Getting good young talent like Carrier, Fasching, Asplund, etc for mid to low tier talent is excellent roster management.
While not popular, the Lehner trade has validated itself in my eyes.

2015 and 2016 post 1st round picks are looking like one of the better hauls in the league (Asplund, Pu, Guhle, Borgen, Estephan, Fitzgerald)

yea, 2014 sucked post 1st round... it was a ****** draft.

I'm not of the opinion that top 4 D are available around the league. And even more absurd is this notion that the team will be able to trade for a top pairing D. Someone's going to overpay for Alzner, and rue that day for years.

I agree... which is why my biggest gripe with regards to Murray is Nylander over Chychrun/Sergachev...

 

[SabreBlood]

Has the totally foreign concept of trying to pair guys with past success been entertained?

Specifically with Eichel and eRod...

THANK YOU.

I've been arguing about this on Twitter with Hamilton and Harrington and they think I'm nuts. It's just about the most obvious "experiement" of the season, and Bylsma has completely ignored it.

Kane - Eichel - Rodrigues for 82 games next year, please.

 

[ek93]

Better constructed lines, when they actually had a sniff at the playoffs, should have increased their chances of winning games. Bench management has been atrocious all season. How the hell does this coach still have no idea who to skate on a line with a phenom like Jack Eichel after 2 years? You really think something like that doesn't matter?

Kinda crazy how posters on a message board can easily construct better lines than our head coach. The guy is clueless and needs to go.

 

[SabresFan26]

I think GM's should be given 4-5 years for a decision to be made.
Most organizations take 5 years to build into a contender level team and see increased success between years 3-5.

2013-2014 - Year 1 Tank
2014-2015 - Year 2 Tank
2015-2016 - Year 3 Begin to move out of the cellar
2016-2017 - Year 4 Actually took a step backwards in winning percentage despite a better roster and in this year you should be finishing fighting for a playoff spot or actually make the playoffs.
2018-2019 - Year 5 should be playoffs no matter what and being able to win some series.

After taking a step back this year, if the playoffs are not made next year and there's not substantial improvement, than GMTM should be fired. 5 Years is ample time to build a team. The problem is does GMTM keep Bylsma for another year and risk his job on Bylsma's or does he find a better fit for our team and think that coach can get him to make the playoffs and win some series immediately upon hire?

 

[SabreBlood]

We couldnt score. It didnt matter what their sav % was.

You do remember how close we were to drafting Dylan Strome, do you not?

 

[joshjull]

Has the totally foreign concept of trying to pair guys with past success been entertained?

Specifically with Eichel and eRod...

It is amazing. A simple adjustment of swapping Erod with Reinhart could potentially jump start 2 lines.

Disco says no!

 

[OkimLom]

THANK YOU.

I've been arguing about this on Twitter with Hamilton and Harrington and they think I'm nuts. It's just about the most obvious "experiement" of the season, and Bylsma has completely ignored it.

Kane - Eichel - Rodrigues for 82 games next year, please.

no thanks

CJ Smith-ROR-Girgensons
Carrier-Eichel-Okposo
Kane-Reinhart-Fasching
E-Rod-Larsson-XXX

If we can ship out Foligno, Ennis, Moulson...

 

[SabreBlood]

I probably should've said, "this was the first year that they were EXPECTED to be competitive". There were still holes on this team, but the way they ended last season, and how they started the preseason, and up to October 12, they were set to be a pretty competitive team. Not necessarily a playoff team, but a team that could fight for a playoff spot. Quite honestly, even with the injuries, they STILL were in a battle for a playoff spot late in the year. I'm okay with that.

They were left in the dust when they were the most healthy that they had been all season. That is a gigantic red flag regarding the coaching staff in my humble opinion.

 

[Aladyyn]

THANK YOU.

I've been arguing about this on Twitter with Hamilton and Harrington and they think I'm nuts. It's just about the most obvious "experiement" of the season, and Bylsma has completely ignored it.

Kane - Eichel - Rodrigues for 82 games next year, please.

If the new coach plays Kane on Eichel's wing for 82 games I'm ****ing done.

 

[Jame]

Better constructed lines, when they actually had a sniff at the playoffs, should have increased their chances of winning games. Bench management has been atrocious all season. How the hell does this coach still have no idea who to skate on a line with a phenom like Jack Eichel after 2 years? You really think something like that doesn't matter?

Exactly...

How the **** is Will Carrier only getting 9 minutes a game??? Of all the players on the roster, he probably fits Dan Bylsma's system requirements of a winger better than anyone. Bylsma can't even maximize the effectiveness of his terrible system.

 

[struckbyaparkedcar]

It is amazing. A simple adjustment of swapping Erod with Reinhart could potentially jump start 2 lines.

Disco says no!

Or just giving Reinhart the lion's share of the tandem's defensive responsibilities.

Babcock made a whole show about Matthews wanting the defensive responsibilities that come with playing center, while quietly feeding him offensive zone starts and playing an in-zone defense that rotates to let the transition key cherrypick.

 

[Sabre Dance]

I think GM's should be given 4-5 years for a decision to be made.
Most organizations take 5 years to build into a contender level team and see increased success between years 3-5.

2013-2014 - Year 1 Tank
2014-2015 - Year 2 Tank
2015-2016 - Year 3 Begin to move out of the cellar
2016-2017 - Year 4 Actually took a step backwards in winning percentage despite a better roster and in this year you should be finishing fighting for a playoff spot or actually make the playoffs.
2018-2019 - Year 5 should be playoffs no matter what and being able to win some series.

After taking a step back this year, if the playoffs are not made next year and there's not substantial improvement, than GMTM should be fired. 5 Years is ample time to build a team. The problem is does GMTM keep Bylsma for another year and risk his job on Bylsma's or does he find a better fit for our team and think that coach can get him to make the playoffs and win some series immediately upon hire?

Ive been saying next year is the key season for Murray, but most teams dont take that long. Most teams go from last place to the playoffs in 2-3 years, at least since 2000. The difference with the Sabres is they didnt try to win until 2015.

 

[SabreBlood]

no thanks

CJ Smith-ROR-Girgensons
Carrier-Eichel-Okposo
Kane-Reinhart-Fasching
E-Rod-Larsson-XXX

If we can ship out Foligno, Ennis, Moulson...

No tandem has scored more goals for this team than Eichel to Kane, and they've barely even played on the same damn line at even strength.

Kane's goals per 60 is 3.46 when skating with Eichel at even strength. That combination is a no-brainer. Put the other part of the best line in the entire NCAA on the other side, who clearly have insane chemistry, and it's completely fail-safe.