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- Communist China
- Rep: 130
Re: 2009-2010 NHL Season
We need a new thread, it isn't the off-season anymore.
Anyway - Sabres have been playing very well, Tyler Myers is an absolute beast of a 19 year old. Still wonder about the defensive depth if Miller stops playing great and becomes average, which happens some months. And offensively there's been consistent scoring but not any star performances. Vanek has 4 goals and so does MacArthur but both are streaky. Still, 6-1-1 is hard to complain about.
I'm away at college in Virginia, so I get all the Caps games on TV and none of the Sabres. That's alright though, I have always liked the Caps and I'm adopting them as a second home team. They play really well, Ovie gets all the attention but there's a lot of solid team play and depth I didn't know about. They're also off to a good start (less surprising than the Sabres' good start) and I hope they keep producing.
Toronto started their season last night, I think. At least they played their first game. I'd seen them skate around some while other people scored on them before a few times but I don't think that counts as playing.
- Communist China
- Rep: 130
Re: 2009-2010 NHL Season
John Stevens got fired in Philly. In-season changes are really getting common in the NHL for a team that wasn't even playing poorly, it's a bit of a surprise. But it seems to work a fair amount of the time.
Re: 2009-2010 NHL Season
Yeah I was going to post that. They haven't been stellar, that's for sure. With the signing of Pronger & Emery, the expectations were high. Basically to be Stanley Cup bound, and certainly playoff bound. They were terrible to start & I think it just became obvious Stevens would never lead a SC team here. That's the drawback of running a high-priced franchise I suppose, you can spend alot & sign alot of free agents, but then they have to win alot or else. Also being owned by a large corporate conglomerate doesn't help with that either.
Personally I think hockey & basketball teams fire their coaches too often.
- Communist China
- Rep: 130
Re: 2009-2010 NHL Season
Yeah I agree. Ruff has been in Buffalo for 12 years now, and there were many years where other teams would've dropped him, but he's a good coach and always gets a winning team after some time. Sabres came in last place in the division 3 years in a row back in the Biron years and basically any other city would've fired a coach for that. Then the lockout happened, and the next two years the Sabres made the conference final and won a President's Trophy. Development takes time.
I think the second longest tenured coach in the Eastern Conference was signed in 2007, which is a shockingly short period of time.
Also, to be a little more of a homer, Ryan Miller is playing phenomenally well this year. Clearly he should be Team USA's starter and right now he is capable of carrying this team to the playoffs all on his own. I haven't seen a Buffalo goalie play this well since Hasek, and that's damned impressive.
Re: 2009-2010 NHL Season
yeah like in my instance?
LEafs are terrible...yeah sure they played a good game vs the sharks last night but they still lost....again!! but at the same time i understand they are rebuilding and they are making strides at getting better so its a bit easier to swallow...redwings have finally tanked s welll, doesnt matter that they have been amazing for the better part of a decade, the fact is that they have hit their downswing which always tends to happen to pro sports franchises
montreal is a different beast though, actually close to the wings in that they have a huge salary and they arent playing up to their expectations heads gotta roll...i anticipate the wings will make a relativly big move at some point either to improve the club or to dump salary
- Communist China
- Rep: 130
Re: 2009-2010 NHL Season
Bono if that's your attitude, prepare to be perpetually disappointed. I mean, yeah it always hurts to come up short, but if you can't accept being better than most every year, then what do you even get out of the sport? If it's been 17 years of total failure, then what's the point? Why do you even watch?
When I complain about the Sabres (which is frequently), it's about recent trends or attitudes that the team has had for a long time. Losing on its own doesn't piss me off all that much, as long as it's not consistent. My complaints with the team is that they don't protect Miller well enough, play without fire, and they lack anyone who can make a play when it's really needed. But that's not out of some thought that the team should be better - just different. I get mad that Lindy Ruff doesn't push harder or get angrier, and that guys like Pominville and Stafford are allowed to call themselves goal-scorers when they might get 20 this year. But I don't tear the whole organization down for that - it's a hard business. And goal-scorers aren't in abundance, I understand that the team can't afford to make trades for big name players and that any changes have to come from the minors which takes years to develop. Yeah, a team that is the best in the world is the goal. But I can at least discern between great, good, average, bad, and awful as well as passionate, composed, and uninterested.
I just can't understand a championship or bust attitude. Maybe because my town has never won it all.
- Communist China
- Rep: 130
Re: 2009-2010 NHL Season
Really glad the Sabres got Raffi Torres at the deadline, Paetsch was good but never played, and MacArthur is just a player who scores 15-20 a year without bringing any grit or defensive skill to the team. Just not good enough.
Sabres had two rough games to start though. It is VERY frustrating to win 3 of 15, and even Miller seems sick of it, and he's the calmest athlete I've ever seen in this city. Better win Friday.
