Player Discussion Tage Thompson 1

[CatsforReinhart]

Tage has all the skills to be a 20-30 goal scoring in the NHL. Its his decision making that is lacking.

He should have been in the AHL 50 games ago.

 

[toomuchsauce]

Tage has all the skills to be a 20-30 goal scoring in the NHL. Its his decision making that is lacking.

Which is to say, basically, "he is bad."

 

[joshjull]

 

[CatsforReinhart]

Which is to say, basically, "he is bad."

You words not mine...needs experience and to grow accustom to the speed of the game. Majority of players take time, especially college players.

 

[zuikan]

started out rough but wound up with a nice game. getting away from Housley and Sobotka and working on his skills without a lot of pressure will do him a lot of good.

 

[DolanPlsGoSabres]

started out rough but wound up with a nice game. getting away from Housley and Sobotka and working on his skills without a lot of pressure will do him a lot of good.

He can do that all he wants in Russia.

 

[Kyndig]

Thompson's shot is good even at an NHL level. His problem is he stops moving his feet too often and he tries to snipe corners too often resulting in missing the net way more than he should.

 

[Gabrielor]

Glad he has a successful first game. He needs that confidence back.

 

[joshjull]

 

[old kummelweck]

 

[old kummelweck]

 

[Dreakon13]

Not necessarily about Tage...

The one redeemable thing about this season IMO, is having a good farm team. For a few reasons. Obviously for developing talent and confidence. But also because the kids are going to come up from a successful Rochester team and see exactly where things are going awry with the Sabres gameplan. It's one thing where both squads (AHL and NHL) are playing shit hockey like it basically has been the last 5 years or so... but having a team playing the pro game the right way, in the organization, just one degree of separation away from the Sabres, will make things interesting. I'd love it if we could bring in 3-4-5 of the best players leading Rochester over the next season or two and make an impression on the ice, and off the ice too.

Of course, it's ridiculous that these kids may have to teach Housley and his staff how to coach a pro team... and it remains to be seen if these kids are willing to speak up (having numbers in the form of a few Rochester guys getting promoted at the same time could help) or if Phil is willing to adjust in any meaningful way in the face of honest criticism. Hopefully they can just get rid of him and bring in someone who already knows how to coach. But maybe there's a slim sliver of hope either way.

 

[old kummelweck]

Not necessarily about Tage...

The one redeemable thing about this season IMO, is having a good farm team. For a few reasons. Obviously for developing talent and confidence. But also because the kids are going to come up from a successful Rochester team and see exactly where things are going awry with the Sabres gameplan. It's one thing where both squads (AHL and NHL) are playing **** hockey like it basically has been the last 5 years or so... but having a team playing the pro game the right way, in the organization, just one degree of separation away from the Sabres, will make things interesting. I'd love it if we could bring in 3-4-5 of the best players leading Rochester over the next season or two and make an impression on the ice, and off the ice too.

Of course, it's ridiculous that these kids may have to teach Housley and his staff how to coach a pro team... and it remains to be seen if these kids are willing to speak up (having numbers in the form of a few Rochester guys getting promoted at the same time could help) or if Phil is willing to adjust in any meaningful way in the face of honest criticism. Hopefully they can just get rid of him and bring in someone who already knows how to coach. But maybe there's a slim sliver of hope either way.

This team reminds me of the Roch team that had Roy, Pominville, Miller, Vanek.

 

[Chainshot]

 

[joshjull]

 

[Orange Fanta]

Sounds like the ghost of ror haunts the locker room or maybe buffalo is just really depressing

 

[Dreakon13]

To be a fly in the Buffalo lockerroom and see just who or what is dragging things down.

Of course, I bet the environment would be a lot more positive if they were winning regardless of who was in there. Chicken or the egg.

 

[Fezzy126]

To be a fly in the Buffalo lockerroom and see just who or what is dragging things down.

Of course, I bet the environment would be a lot more positive if they were winning regardless of who was in there. Chicken or the egg.

Spend everyday doing what you love the most on earth, then imagine PHam & Harrington rumbling towards you and asking rhetorical questions about why you suck, followed by rhetorical questions about why a bunch of people before you also sucked. Every. Day.

Then take into account that the majority of you are kids, and you really haven't got a good handle on practice habits, training routines, diet, public speaking, etc, and you're just trying to find your way as a full time professional athlete. You've pretty much gotten by on talent alone up to this point in your career, so the rest of this stuff is a major culture change. Then you look around for guidance and the only veterans on the team are the ones actually dragging you down.

That's how you get a shitty locker room.

 

[Archie Lee]

To be a fly in the Buffalo lockerroom and see just who or what is dragging things down.

Of course, I bet the environment would be a lot more positive if they were winning regardless of who was in there. Chicken or the egg.

I'm certain it is the losing.

One of the disappointing things from the last 3 seasons, Bylsma 2. 0 and Housley 1.0 and 2.0, has been that the years have ended with such exhausting pessimism. Look at the bottom of the current NHL standings and you will see a lot of teams that are playing better hockey now then they have for most of the season. These teams didn't outright cave when things went south. Somehow they found a way to remain positive. Somewhere in their organizations there people, likely multiple people, who have the leadership abilities to navigate through difficult times. That has been entirely missing in Buffalo.

The Sabres have Eichel, Reinhart, Mittelstadt, DAHLEN, some very good NHL prospects, a top tier AHL team and top-8 pick coming up. I recognize that the team has been bad for a long-time, but there are reasons for optimism. Negativity should not permeate the organization and locker room the way it does with the Sabres. That's a failure of leadership. Somewhere within the hockey operations (GM, HC, on-ice leadership) you have to have a person or people who lead positively through negative periods. Who does that with the Sabres?

 

[tsujimoto74]

To be a fly in the Buffalo lockerroom and see just who or what is dragging things down.

Of course, I bet the environment would be a lot more positive if they were winning regardless of who was in there. Chicken or the egg.

Not hard to guess that it's the losing.

 

[Dirty Dog]

This is so frustrating to watch. It’s Housley and botts, not our good young players.

 

[GellMann]

Not hard to guess that it's the losing.

Yup. If we do another witch hunt this summer, I'm pulling out the rest of my hair. (The "rest" is because I pulled out half of it last summer.)

It was mega-positive in October and November. The issue is, our roster has critical, disgusting flaws, and when those flaws lead to extended struggle like we saw from December-January, the mood goes south and we get this March.

 

[debaser66]

This team reminds me of the Roch team that had Roy, Pominville, Miller, Vanek.

We would be very lucky if any of those guys turns out as good as those mentioned above.

 

[Willgamesh]

Before anybody gets too hype on the Tage train yet remember Ellie has been good for the Amerks as well.

 

[Chainshot]

Sounds like the ghost of ror haunts the locker room or maybe buffalo is just really depressing

Winning is the most important part of "culture". One day the owner and GM might figure that out.