Something Needs to Change. / By: Siclari - Sports
I'm over draft picks and prospects. After last nights game the team lost me.
Something needs to change. I go back and forth on what that change should be? Trade everyone? Fire the coach? Bring players up from Rochester? November was fun. Going to the games was an event, the arena was alive and there was hope in the city again. A city that is starving for a playoff team, and a city that deserves a playoff team.
The Sabres have the 2 pieces that are the hardest to get. An elite #1 center (Eichel) , a #1 defenseman (Dahlin). On top of that, they also have a scoring winger (Skinner), so what is the problem? This season I have tried to look at the positives of this team. I think I hit my breaking point last night with their 4-1 loss to a bad devils team. I still believe the Sabres have players on the team that can be very good, the problem I am seeing is the system in which these players are asked to run. Buffalo is towards the top of the league in "Dump & Chase" which is a style that needs to stop. With the fast and skilled players they have they need to carry to puck in. When they get possession they're very good at cycling the puck, the problem is there is no one in front of the net. Teams always want to keep everything out of the slot, well, when you play the Sabres they do that for you. Everything is on the outside. My friend Marty told me "this team needs to sit down and watch Danny Briere highlights". He is 100% correct. Briere lived in front of the net, its the reason he was so successful. I think this is a place where Reinhart can take his game to the next level. Park him in front of the net.
In November Buffalo was on top of the league standings, 2.5 months later they're sliding towards the bottom and have been one of the worst teams in the league since then. We sit here and bang our heads against the wall while the Islanders, one of the hottest teams in the league, will be in the playoffs after losing Tavaras. Carolina is climbing a year after they lost Skinner.
Let me get one thing straight. I am not saying we should trade our tops players at all. I am the complete opposite. All Buffalo sports have done this for as long as I can remember. We get talent, then we trade it away instead of signing. All that does is create a hole in a place that didn't need to be there. If you trade Skinner all you're doing is making a hole for a scoring winger, which we currently have now. I do not want draft picks, I do not want "prospects", I want players that can contribute now
We have 3 first round picks. Trade 2 of them. Get a "Hockey Player" back. Lets win now and stop "planning" for the future. What about now?
One thing I will not do is rip apart players and coaches for what they say in interviews or press conferences. In any sport I do not believe you get anything out of them. Players and coaches, even management are not going to say exactly how they feel.
Sabres wasted away the cheap years of Eichel and Reinhart, lets not waste Dahlins.
Something needs to change.
The Sabres have the 2 pieces that are the hardest to get. An elite #1 center (Eichel) , a #1 defenseman (Dahlin). On top of that, they also have a scoring winger (Skinner), so what is the problem? This season I have tried to look at the positives of this team. I think I hit my breaking point last night with their 4-1 loss to a bad devils team. I still believe the Sabres have players on the team that can be very good, the problem I am seeing is the system in which these players are asked to run. Buffalo is towards the top of the league in "Dump & Chase" which is a style that needs to stop. With the fast and skilled players they have they need to carry to puck in. When they get possession they're very good at cycling the puck, the problem is there is no one in front of the net. Teams always want to keep everything out of the slot, well, when you play the Sabres they do that for you. Everything is on the outside. My friend Marty told me "this team needs to sit down and watch Danny Briere highlights". He is 100% correct. Briere lived in front of the net, its the reason he was so successful. I think this is a place where Reinhart can take his game to the next level. Park him in front of the net.
In November Buffalo was on top of the league standings, 2.5 months later they're sliding towards the bottom and have been one of the worst teams in the league since then. We sit here and bang our heads against the wall while the Islanders, one of the hottest teams in the league, will be in the playoffs after losing Tavaras. Carolina is climbing a year after they lost Skinner.
Let me get one thing straight. I am not saying we should trade our tops players at all. I am the complete opposite. All Buffalo sports have done this for as long as I can remember. We get talent, then we trade it away instead of signing. All that does is create a hole in a place that didn't need to be there. If you trade Skinner all you're doing is making a hole for a scoring winger, which we currently have now. I do not want draft picks, I do not want "prospects", I want players that can contribute now
We have 3 first round picks. Trade 2 of them. Get a "Hockey Player" back. Lets win now and stop "planning" for the future. What about now?
One thing I will not do is rip apart players and coaches for what they say in interviews or press conferences. In any sport I do not believe you get anything out of them. Players and coaches, even management are not going to say exactly how they feel.
Sabres wasted away the cheap years of Eichel and Reinhart, lets not waste Dahlins.
Something needs to change.
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