Because you keep claiming his decision making is slow, doesn't actually make it correct, that's all. I disagree entirely with it and think it's way off base. You can condescend about me watching more hockey all you like, I'll take my eye over whatever it is you're seeing, no problem.
Buff is not the issue with the 1st PP unit, there is no issue with the 1st PP unit, it was one of the best in the league, Against the Knights they just couldn't break through, had lots of opportunities but if you want to insist it had a lot to do with Buff missing chances to tee up Laine, have at it, it's not really accurate.. The formation the Jets run on PP1 completely suits Buff's shot, teams have to respect it and they do, which many times this season opened up room for Wheeler, Laine and Scheifele. He's largely a decoy in that formation, I don't see a big issue with his puck distribution. It's an antiquated notion that people believe the point man is the QB on the PP, they simply aren't in the formation the Jets run, which is common throughout the league. Wheeler ran the PP pretty damn well this season but when that unit is struggling it's largely because of his decision making, not Buff's. He's already started to make way for Trouba in many areas, but Trouba is not a better option on the PP, sorry. He's also not a better option right now in pushing the Jets offense in the same way Buff does, but I do see that coming more and we've already seen the minutes between the two of them start to equalize more. Buff played more against Vegas because they needed to score goals, that's all. Penalties? His penalties were way down this season and while he takes some dumb ones (like Wheeler), he also gets called for a lot of bull**** if you ask me. Buff's discipline was not an issue this year at all.
The first goal in game 4 being entirely Buff's fault? Yeah, try again, it was a PP for god's sake, Buff didn't have "a guy". Both he and Wheeler over-pursued up top, although I'll give both of them credit for actually pressuring a puck on that PK the Jets run. Wheeler is on the wrong side of the ice because he is the one most out of position, he lets the pass go back door to Marchessault and then Scheifele, who was still down low, decides to come across and help Chiarot, leaving Karlsson wide open, terrible read. The whole thing was a cluster **** from the face-off but yeah, Buff's fault, so predictable.
As far as the ELL debate went, more misstated "facts". My only engagement in that conversation was to defend Little, and I still stand by it. Yes the line lacked chemistry but at the time Maurice didn't have many options to put between Laine and Ehlers that could at least have the line hold water defensively. The degree to which people were ignorantly lighting up Bryan Little was ridiculous, but hey people are entitled to their opinions. I'll still stand by what I said about Laine back then, which was not shooting bullets at him. It was basically the same as what you claim to do, call a spade a spade, his play deserved some rightful criticism in certain areas and that's what was done. See how that works?
And yes, I do think that a lot of people who criticise Buff are biased, towards the way he plays the game, not because they don't like him. You keep trying to twist this into some hate type of thing, it's misguided. People have observational biases based on their pre-conceived notions, you concluding that Buff cost the Jets game 4 because of a positional mistake, shared by two other players, which encompassed all of 10 seconds of a game he played more than 25 minutes in, is a textbook example.
Yes, his decision-making progress definitely isn't one of his strong suits and if you cannot analyze the game situations on the powerplay even when they are often presented to you later on a replay, then too bad. I'm starting to wonder if this has more to do with just defending <insert player> for whatever personal bonds as opposed to what is actually real and what has actually happened. However, you don't have to agree with this and it is by all means fine if you think he is armored with a high hockey IQ & vision, elite decision making compared to other top defenders or rather, quarterbacks in the league.
When you have Scheifele, Wheelers, Laine and (later on) Stastny in your powerplay unit, it's almost impossible for it not to work and of course it's inevitable that you get some actual real good results, no matter who the fifth player is. That doesn't mean it couldn't be better and that was my point in the begin with. Buff is the odd piece out yet nevertheless, as long as he is capable of feeding Wheelers (essentially just moving the puck along the wall) which is an easy task for any player really, you're bound to get assists and Blake is more than capable of handling the playmaking tasks in the formation. Nevertheless I think Laine's shot is so lethal that it would be better to get the cross ice pass near the blueline for that shot more often than it's actually happening. I take it that you didn't notice but Buff did actually get better at it towards the end. At first whenever he executed the pass to Laine it was oftentimes so slow that you could eat popcorn in between and not miss a beat. Still, that "thinking process" whenever receiving the puck is the problem and it still happened even at the very end.
Ha, you really think the other teams gave a damn about Buff's shot when they had Laine and Scheifele to worry about? Guess again. Yeah he has a cannon but as high as he can clock it, the shot actually is not at all that accurate. If anything, they were hoping for him to take the shot, cause if he did at least that would mean there would be less chance for Scheifele or Laine taking it. Also you do realize that it took him for near half a season just to net one single goal? Yes, 33 games and when he actually potted a goal we had already passed the New Years. The last goal before that? March 30th 2017 against the Ducks. Despite of playing in one of the best powerplay units in the league, he definitely proposed minimal offensive risk and I cannot but be baffled where you come up with this "fear factor" argument.
Now if you read again what I said, I think I stated it pretty clearly that I'd much rather have Morrisey there rather than Bufyglien or even Trouba, and yes, I'm well aware of the transition phase happening in the Jets blue line and Buff no longer is playing near the same minutes he did in 16-17, which is a very good thing. Also I never claimed that the man wasn't a good offensive defenceman because he is, but not in the way that would be beneficial for PP1. The mix of size, skating and puck protection skills build a foundation for this where he can power his way into the offensive zone. Yet when you already have two line drives perfectly capable of executing clean zone entries, that becomes less essential. No problems with discipline whatsoever? Are you frigging kidding me? Here, have a look:
https://www.foxsports.com/nhl/winnipeg-jets-team-stats?season=2017&category=PENALTIES&time=0
He's leading the Jets in penalty minutes and it's not even a competition. He has 112 penalty minutes when the next player (Wheelers) has 52. That means he has been on the bench over
twice more than the next "best" player. He accomplished this while playing 12
less games than Wheelers. Yet that's not a concern to the slightest? M'kay.
Now as for the mentioned game against the Vegas, as I said his contribution in those goals against was pretty significant. You and pretend it wasn't but I think that's just intellectual dishonesty. He was on the ice when the s*** hit the fan making terrible calls all day long. Sure, I'm not here stating that other players had great games or that they didn't share some of the blame. That's never what I argued. There's really not much else to be said there, everyone saw what happened and I doubt many have forgotten.
As for the good old ELL debate. What happened again immediately after both Laine and Ehlers were moved to play with another center? I seem to recall both of their games elevating to another level where Laine went on insane hot streak shooting his way all the way up to the Rocket Richard race and finishing 2nd. How did it go with Little? He seemed to continue to have the same on ice issues and his season never really took off no matter who he played with. So looking back now, was the odd man out Little or Laine? It's actually quite funny to think about it because all the s*** they all got, you spent a lot of time shuffling that on Laine and making excuse after another for Little. I seem to recall Little having only one line combination where he could get some consistent effective output and that's just not good when he is the man expecting to center second line for a team that is a serious playoffs contender.
I'm not twisting anything here. You clearly said that I didn't like him and that I was biased. There's no misunderstandings there as these were your own words. Yet I have nothing against Buff. I merely said that he wasn't the most perfect fit for the first PP unit and I stand behind that statement. Of course the discussion has expanded since, which it often does as you analyze players and have to go to the very detail. When you see people pointing out the same things or criticizing him for other on ice affairs, perhaps they do this because they are onto something? I really seriously doubt that any Jets fan here would try to look flaws or otherwise discredit their own players out of sheer fun. However whatever the case, you just can't go on calling everyone biased because they criticize aspects in a game of a player you happen to like and take it personal when it happens.
