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PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 12:48 pm 
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Frankly, it might be Miller's heroics that covered up for the fact that this team just isn't built very well. Now that he's having a bad season, they're exposed.

I actually would fire Darcy Regier at this point, but would seriously consider keeping Lindy Ruff around. You're not going to find a better coach IMO.


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PostPosted: Tue Jan 17, 2012 12:54 pm 
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This team hasn't been the same since they let go of the likes of Tallinder, Lydman, and Spacek.

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PostPosted: Wed Jan 18, 2012 2:06 pm 
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oh where are thou Brad Boyes?

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PostPosted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 12:29 am 
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:steamingpileofcrap:


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PostPosted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 12:44 am 
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Chuck wrote:
:steamingpileofcrap:

seconded

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PostPosted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 10:14 am 
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Spending like a drunken sailor in a whore house in one off season is not the best way to build a winner. They where already good and young should of spread out the spending spree and addressed true needs better.


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PostPosted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 7:18 pm 
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Just to cheer Sabre Nation up a bit, here is John-Michael Liles' Twitter feed profile pic:

Image

For a minute I thought that was Pominville because one of the numbers looks like a 29, but upon reflection, that has to be Gaustad. As little as Liles is, no WAY is Pominville that much bigger than him. :lol:


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PostPosted: Fri Jan 20, 2012 6:36 pm 
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http://blogs.buffalonews.com/sabres/201 ... ecade.html


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 12:06 am 
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We haven't yet discussed the big trade from the Buffalo perspective, or the Gaustad deal for that matter.

With Kassian and Gaustad gone, the Sabres have gone from undersized to Lollipop Guild. I suppose I don't blame Regier for flipping him if he was looking for a substantial bump from the $2.5 million he was making now as reports suggest, especially when he was already paying two centers a total of $10.5 million this season.

As far as Gragnani goes, he was never going to be more than a 6/7 guy in Buffalo, so Sulzer should fit that role just fine.

Hodgson has the potential to be the Sabres' best center...or he could be Jiri Hudler, as Sask suggested.

Now the big question: Is Regier the guy going forward? Is Ruff? I imagine both will be retained, but should they be?


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 12:07 am 
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Av-merican wrote:
We haven't yet discussed the big trade from the Buffalo perspective, or the Gaustad deal for that matter.

With Kassian and Gaustad gone, the Sabres have gone from undersized to Lollipop Guild. I suppose I don't blame Regier for flipping him if he was looking for a substantial bump from the $2.5 million he was making now as reports suggest, especially when he was already paying two centers a total of $10.5 million this season.

As far as Gragnani goes, he was never going to be more than a 6/7 guy in Buffalo, so Sulzer should fit that role just fine.

Hodgson has the potential to be the Sabres' best center...or he could be Jiri Hudler, as Sask suggested.

Now the big question: Is Regier the guy going forward? Is Ruff? I imagine both will be retained, but should they be?


Cody Hodgson > Jiri Hudler.

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PostPosted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 12:14 am 
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Bosc wrote:
Cody Hodgson > Jiri Hudler.


That much is apparent, his point was whether or not Hodgson was enjoying soft minutes on an extremely deep and talented team, much like Hudler. I suppose we'll see.


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 1:09 am 
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Av-merican wrote:
Bosc wrote:
Cody Hodgson > Jiri Hudler.


That much is apparent, his point was whether or not Hodgson was enjoying soft minutes on an extremely deep and talented team, much like Hudler. I suppose we'll see.

I don't think it's a significant difference.

30 points in 52 games for Hodgson as a 20 year old in AHL. 34 in 52 games for Hudler.
33 points in 63 games for Hodgson as a 21 year old in NHL. 97 AHL points in 76 games for Hudler, 25 NHL pts in 76 games at 22.

Hodgson may be a bit better, but generally .6 pts/game in AHL as a 20 year old is not a good indicator for a projected NHL scorer. It is almost exclusively supposed to be .75 pts/game or better as a 20 year old in AHL at least for that.

Hodgson is also playing 2:41 more per game in NHL this year than Hudler's first NHL year, 20 seconds/game of which is PP time.

We'll see. Obviously, recovering from major injury is the big difference here, may have slowed Cody a lot in his first AHL year and he's going to get exponentially better. But that's a pretty big bet... Hudler, incidentally, had 49 pts in 56 AHL games as a 19 year old, and his 20 year old drop coincided with the NHL lockout making the AHL a very strong league that year.

Anecdotally, Hodgson is 4th for Vancouver forwards in PP time, Hudler is 6th for Detroit THIS year, but has more PP TOI/game. It'd definitely be interesting to see Hudler on a different NHL team, IMO. It seems that Detroit simply brought Hudler along more cautiously than Vancouver did Hodgson.

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PostPosted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 1:51 am 
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Av-merican wrote:
Bosc wrote:
Cody Hodgson > Jiri Hudler.


That much is apparent, his point was whether or not Hodgson was enjoying soft minutes on an extremely deep and talented team, much like Hudler. I suppose we'll see.


Oh I realize that and understand the comparison. I just think that Hodson has more to his game than Hudler does and when he's out of that role, he will show it.

saskhab wrote:
Everything


Maybe Hudler has higher-end offensive abilities than Hodgson. That could be apparent in their AHL numbers, because it is easier for small, high-end offensive players who are limited by their skating to put up numbers in the A that they can't in the NHL. However, Hodgson has size over Hudler. Even after the back injury, he is probably a better skater than Hudler. That'll allow him to take better advantage of the offensive skill he does have over Hudler. He also had a defensive acumen in junior that Hudler has never displayed. He was supposed to be a guy who can handle defensive assignments and PK. Maybe we see that later. He's a center. Hudler won't/shouldn't be playing center.

Who knows, maybe I'm wrong. Hudler is UFA after this season. I'll be curious to see what kind of numbers he puts up on what team as well. I'll be very interested in seeing what Hodgson does too.

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PostPosted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 9:10 am 
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Hodgson was +1 in 16 minutes of playing time in his first game.

The knock on Hodgson is that he was getting highly protected ice time. And what time he did get, he was getting his ass handed to him in terms of puck possession. In the playoffs, this would have been a glaring vulnerability on a third line center. It will be interesting to see if this improves now that he is getting 2nd line duty.

As for the Sabres getting smaller, I heard they have a couple of big body wingers coming up in their system that allowed them to move Kassian and Gaustad.


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 11:08 am 
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the Cunning Linguist wrote:
Hodgson was +1 in 16 minutes of playing time in his first game.

The knock on Hodgson is that he was getting highly protected ice time. And what time he did get, he was getting his ass handed to him in terms of puck possession. In the playoffs, this would have been a glaring vulnerability on a third line center. It will be interesting to see if this improves now that he is getting 2nd line duty.

As for the Sabres getting smaller, I heard they have a couple of big body wingers coming up in their system that allowed them to move Kassian and Gaustad.

That puck possession thing is also a bit of a 'post hoc ergo propter hoc' I think (if I'm even using that phrase in proper context).... Hodgson could've easily had bad possession stats in his role with Vancouver because his linemates were inferior. We know Vaigneault also doesn't match lines, he plays zones, so it's quite possible he wasn't getting Hodgson out there against the competition he could properly exploit, especially on the road where the other coach had last change.

Now with the Sabres he likely has better linemates than he did in Vancouver, and they'll use him how they see best even if it's more ice time.

Hodgson in the East will be something interesting to watch for sure. I am still curious as to how he'll pan out, my gut tells me he won't be as good as the Canucks fans think but there's always the 'major injury held him back initially but he overcame it' possibility. Heck, I'm even giving him a bit of a benefit of the doubt on that by saying he'll likely be a secondary scorer.... that .75 pts/game cutoff applies to anyone with .5 pts/game or more in the NHL long term.

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Injustice? Cobain died and Eddy Fucking Vedder lived to haunt us with his shitty fucking voice, trite lyrics and his Eddy Vedderness.

:steamingpileofcrap:

- Ancient Chinese Proverb


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 12:02 pm 
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I think his skating will be what holds him back. He has great hands and a great shot but he was a bit of an adventure in his own zone even against softer competition. When he has a little space and time to get his shot off he can be very effective, but when he's in traffic, not so much. I think he'll be better in the role that the Sabres have for him (I assume 2nd line center - last night he started with Stafford and Ennis). Saturday will be very interesting.


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 01, 2012 6:29 pm 
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I guess it also depends on what happens with Derek Roy, if anything. I think this was a move to give Roy the depth he hasn't enjoyed in quite some time. The guy can play 1st line center--he had his best season in '07-08, the first year after Briere and Drury bolted, and produced up until last season when his numbers fell considerably. Guess that happens when you have fizzled vets, unproven kids, and Ville Leino behind you on the depth chart. Hodgson will likely remain as 2nd line center, so he'll have harder minutes, but more minutes, and with better linemates.

As for his speed, or lack thereof, plenty of NHLers who carved out a decent career without the benefit of size or speed. Ray Whitney, Michael Cammalleri, Darcy Tucker, Kyle Wellwood...not exactly megastars, but still good. Hell, not like Gretzky and Brett Hull were blessed with blinding speed or a big frame, though I don't expect Hodgson to be THAT good. :lol:


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