⅓ of the way thru the season. Report card?

[ZZamboni]

Break it down anyway you like. By player, by groups, wherever ....

Forwards ... B+
Defence ... B
Goaltending ... A
Coaching ... B-
PP ... C
PK ... A-
Overall consistent effort every game ... B

Click to read more...

 

[dortt]

Grades are not curved based upon expectation... grades are like college grades, players are graded against the rest of the NHL

Skinner: A, Eichel :A, Reinhart B
Sheary: C, Mittlestadt: C-,Okposo: B-
Thompson: D+, Rodrigues: C, Pominville: B+
Girgensons: D, Larsson: D+, Berglund: D+
Sobtoka: C-, Elie: F

McCabe: C, Ristolainen: C+
Dahlin: B+, Bogosion: B-
Nelson: D, Scandella: C-

Beaulieu: D (no Fs on defense is a major reason why we are doing better than last year, also Dahlin being a B+ defenseman as an 18 year old is tremendous)

Hutton: B+
Ullmark: B+ (this is the major reason for improvement, last year, our goaltending was an F)

 

[OkimLom]

The whole season NOT just the winning streak or the losing streak before it. Overall on the year.

Skinner: A-
Eichel. B+
Reinhart: B
Mittelstadt: C+
Berglund: C
Erod: C+
Larsson: B-
Girgensons: B-
Sobotka: C
Okposo: C-
Pominville: C+
Elie: D
Thompson: D+
Sheary: B-

Ristolainen: C
Scandella: D
Beaulieu: C
Bogosian: B-
McCabe: C+
Dahlin: B-
Nelson: C-

Hutton: A-
Ullmark: B+

Housley: C+

 

[MackAttack26]

Well I'm breaking it down by expectation for mine (B being playing as expected).

Skinner (A+) - Eichel (A-) - Reinhart (B)
Sheary (B-) - Mittelstadt (B) - Okposo (B+)
Sobotka (C) - Rodrigues (B-) - Pominville (B+)
Berglund (C+) - Larsson (A) - Girgensons (A-)
X - Thompson (C), Elie (C-)

McCabe (A-) - Ristolainen (B-)
Dahlin (B+) - Bogosian (B+)
Scandella (D) - Nelson (B)
X - Beaulieu (B+)

Hutton (A-)
Ullmark (A-)

 

[Gabrielor]

Skinner (A+) - Eichel (B+) - Reinhart (B)
Sheary (C+) - Mittelstadt (B-) - Okposo (B-)
Sobotka (D) - Rodrigues (B-) - Pominville (B)
Berglund (C-) - Larsson (A) - Girgensons (A)
X - Thompson (C+), Elie (D)

McCabe (A) - Ristolainen (B)
Dahlin (A) - Bogosian (B)
Scandella (D) - Nelson (C+)
X - Beaulieu (C)

Hutton (A+)
Ullmark (A+)

Skinner and the Goaltending have exceeded my expectations
Scandella and Sobotka are below
Elie is fairly useless, Roch guys like Smith would've been better

Eichel has been very good, but always leaves me wanting more
Reinhart picked it up after a rough start
Sheary has been meh, but speed and finish have been welcome
Larsson and Girgs went from trade now, to keep definitely; especially Larsson
Erod brings a critical element to the bot-six, even when he isn't scoring; he's a mandatory piece right now
Dahlin has been as good as I thought, with as much potential as I thought

Bogo started strong, but he's slow down to the seawater I remember recently
McCabe Risto have shined lately, after rough starts
Mitts is holding his own; I like the trend
Thompson made a genie wish, and went from objectively worst player, to impact player.
Berglund and Pommer are good room guys, but too old for this game now
Beaulieu has had his moments, but he's still not very good
Okposo has quietly came back to a decent player; still hate the contract, but he's been productive


Going forward, the defense needs shoring up, and way better passers
The forwards need more speed, and to replace Sobotka with a real defensive center threat
Growth from Dahlin Reinhart Risto Eichel Mitts
...Thats it. Our position is a lot stronger than 6 months ago. There isn't many franchises I'd trade our organizational position for. It's gotta be top 5.

 

[debaser66]

Just grading performance not against the league

Skinner (A) - Eichel (A-) - Reinhart (B+)
Sheary (C-) - Mittelstadt (B) - Okposo (B-)
Sobotka (D-) - Rodrigues (C-) - Pominville (D+)
Berglund (C-) - Larsson (A) - Girgensons (A)
Thompson (C+), Elie (D+)

McCabe (B-) - Ristolainen (B)
Dahlin (A-) - Bogosian (C+)
Scandella (D-) - Nelson (D)
X - Beaulieu (D+)

Hutton (A)
Ullmark (B+)

Housley (C+)

 

[Tatanka]

The logic here escapes me. Skinner would have 10 maybe 12 points without Eichel, yet Skinner gets As while Jack is an A-. Lol.

 

[Gabrielor]

The logic here escapes me. Skinner would have 10 maybe 12 points without Eichel, yet Skinner gets As while Jack is an A-. Lol.

Expectations are not, and shouldn't be the same.

Skinner has 1 role, and is succeeding well past expectations at it.
Eichel is also succeeding in most areas, but is also the direct reason for a couple of losses, and has more responsibility than Skinner.

 

[jBuds]

Grades appear to be heavily based on the last four games, not necessarily the entire third

 

[Snippit]

Thompson went from playing like an F to a A-/B+

He actually looks like he deserves to stay up now.

 

[Push Dr Tracksuit]

Not going to parse through everyone to come up with what would amount to an arbitrary grade based who did or did not piss me off.

Forwards, top 6 shown improvement, scoring at es. Jeff ma f***in skinner, jack has someone to bury the puck finally, he does still feel like the guy that has another gear but doesn’t want to play at it, thankfully the gear he plays at is better than 95% of the league. B+ Skinner is playing above expectations everyone else is meeting them.

Bottom 6. Still carrying a lot of dead weight at es. Sobotka can go. C+ A lot of guys who have streaks of good play stuck into trash play. See Rod, E; Tageson, Tom.

PP. Yuck most of the time and even when they’re scoring it’s more of an occasional pressure than consistent play being rewarded. C.

PK. Dramatic improvement over the first third to the point that it’s now solidly not scary to be short handed. Larry and Gus and sometimes even Jack. B+, start of the season was bad last 15 been good or better.

D. Surprisingly steady with the best player looking like he’s just getting ready to break out. Scandella, grumble grumble. B-. Consistency and some baddies. Consistency See Ristolainen, R; Dahlin, R; Bogosian, Z; McCabe, J. Baddies See Scandella, oof; Beaulieu, N, Nelson, C.

G. Said Hutton would be surprise player of the season, check. Thought Linus would struggle earlier, better than expected, he would be the top guy if we had last years tandem still. A-. bacon savers and have given guys playing inconsistent hockey opportunities to elevate bad play with good plays late in games.

Coaching. I don’t know, if you think a coach sucks and the team is in the top 5 are you wrong or does coaching not matter anywhere near as much as people claim? I’ve never been overly impressed with the role of nhl coaches. Talent drives teams more than anything else. PP shouldn’t be as flat as it is with the players they can ice. Special teams I’ll blame on coaches all day but 1 unit is solid and the other isn’t.

Overall A-. A team can do a lot with solid goaltending but this is a shaky A based off a great stretch. I’m back in. Didn’t expect that to happen this early in the season. Kind of dreading the next 10 days though. Best apart of the winning streak was that there were a lot of wins against teams I didn’t think they could steal a point from so the record is now running with found money.

Honestly though the streak ending has me a little emotionally drained.

 

[Aladyyn]

The logic here escapes me. Skinner would have 10 maybe 12 points without Eichel, yet Skinner gets As while Jack is an A-. Lol.

Skinner is really good. He was our best performing forward even before he was on the 1st line.

 

[OkimLom]

The logic here escapes me. Skinner would have 10 maybe 12 points without Eichel, yet Skinner gets As while Jack is an A-. Lol.

There are people that look beyond the scoresheet when discussing players. From me personally, I’ve seen Skinner produce in more clutch situations far more than Jack, it’s the overall game and how well Skinner has played and not to mention Jack is held to a higher expectation/standard for me. There have been times that both men have gone silent during games, Skinner has shown a more consistent history of right place right time.

Not all players are graded with the same standards. A guy on the 1st line isn’t going to be graded and not expected to produce the same as a guy on the 4th line.

 

[ZZamboni]

There are people that look beyond the scoresheet when discussing players. From me personally, I’ve seen Skinner produce in more clutch situations far more than Jack, it’s the overall game and how well Skinner has played and not to mention Jack is held to a higher expectation/standard for me. There have been times that both men have gone silent during games, Skinner has shown a more consistent history of right place right time.

Not all players are graded with the same standards. A guy on the 1st line isn’t going to be graded and not expected to produce the same as a guy on the 4th line.

Agree. And yet we have grades like a D- for Larsson...

Obviously for that poster he expected Larsson to be a 25-30 goal scorer this season.

 

[SabresFan26]

Skinner is really good. He was our best performing forward even before he was on the 1st line.

I agree with this. He had plenty of chances and just didn’t finish a few. Honestly, I wouldn’t mind Skinner driving production with a Mittelstadt if Eichel can make one of the other depth players look competent. Try to balance scoring a little and make a team have to pick matchups more wisely.

 

[debaser66]

The logic here escapes me. Skinner would have 10 maybe 12 points without Eichel, yet Skinner gets As while Jack is an A-. Lol.

Eichel is a better player so expectations are higher.
Skinner has for himself a season for the ages so far.
Eichel can still be better.
He needs to score more goals.
He is a bit below what you would expect from a 10mil player.

 

[UnleashRasmus]

I will put it up there as a B+ for the time being. There are some things to fix and improve, but you couldn't have imagined a better start.

 

[joshjull]

Eichel is a better player so expectations are higher.
Skinner has for himself a season for the ages so far.
Eichel can still be better.
He needs to score more goals.
He is a bit below what you would expect from a 10mil player.

It would be nice if Jack could start scoring more goals for sure. But the main reason Skinner is having “a season for the ages” is Jack. So it’s a tad odd to see some separating Skinner’s achievement as if it’s happening on its own.

 

[joshjull]

I’d give the overall season to date an “A”. Never thought we would be anywhere near where we are right now.

There are things that need improvement but we knew that coming into the season. Its why none of us expected this team to be near the top of the NHL standings.

 

[sabrebuild]

It would be nice if Jack could start scoring more goals for sure. But the main reason Skinner is having “a season for the ages” is Jack. So it’s a tad odd to see some separating Skinner’s achievement as if it’s happening on its own.

Is that true? Jack is the main cause of Skinner’s season?

I wonder what the direct assist correlation and setup has been for Eichel to Skinner.

Eichel certainly gives everyone more space out there, and they have looked good together off and on, but my memory thinks of Skinner goals and I don’t remember a ton of high end setups from Eichel. Funnily enough I can think of more great setups from Eichel that Skinner didn’t finish.

 

[jd1970]

If you told me they'd be 17-7-3 after November, I would have said you're crazy.

 

[jd1970]

Is that true? Jack is the main cause of Skinner’s season?

I wonder what the direct assist correlation and setup has been for Eichel to Skinner.

Eichel certainly gives everyone more space out there, and they have looked good together off and on, but my memory thinks of Skinner goals and I don’t remember a ton of high end setups from Eichel. Funnily enough I can think of more great setups from Eichel that Skinner didn’t finish.

How was Skinner playing before he teamed with Eichel? Reinhart? How is Pomminville doing off his line?

 

[joshjull]

Is that true? Jack is the main cause of Skinner’s season?

I wonder what the direct assist correlation and setup has been for Eichel to Skinner.

Eichel certainly gives everyone more space out there, and they have looked good together off and on, but my memory thinks of Skinner goals and I don’t remember a ton of high end setups from Eichel. Funnily enough I can think of more great setups from Eichel that Skinner didn’t finish.

If you don’t believe playing wth Jack is the main reason why Skinner is having the best stretch of his career to this point. Then I’m doubtful there is anything I can post that will convince you otherwise but I will try.

There is a certain synergy with those two that makes it work. Skinner has talked about it frequently. Though I know you dismiss players comments. Part of that is Jack’s possession of the puck in the Ozone that allows Skinner to get “lost in the zone” at times and then pounce on rebounds when Jack fires it one net. Something Jack does with an understanding that Skinner will be crashing the net.

Jack is inclined to shoot from farther out than most which can lead to good rebounds. Its been frustrating to watch in the past but actually works great with Skinner (and even Pommer with his straight line game to the net). Their natural inclinations of Jack/Skinner in the Ozone is why I think they work so well together.

 

[OkimLom]

Is that true? Jack is the main cause of Skinner’s season?

I wonder what the direct assist correlation and setup has been for Eichel to Skinner.

Eichel certainly gives everyone more space out there, and they have looked good together off and on, but my memory thinks of Skinner goals and I don’t remember a ton of high end setups from Eichel. Funnily enough I can think of more great setups from Eichel that Skinner didn’t finish.

7 of the goals Skinner has with Jack having an “assist” were Jack being the primary assist guy. Jack was recorded on 13 Skinner goals. I’ll have to review those goals to see how those goals happened to determine the “impact of Jack” on the play.

 

[sabrebuild]

If you don’t believe playing wth Jack is the main reason why Skinner is having the best stretch of his career to this point. Then I’m doubtful there is anything I can post that will convince you otherwise but I will try.

There is a certain synergy with those two that makes it work. Skinner has talked about it frequently. Though I know you dismiss players comments. Part of that is Jack’s possession of the puck in the Ozone that allows Skinner to get “lost in the zone” at times and then pounce on rebounds when Jack fires it one net. Something Jack does with an understanding that Skinner will be crashing the net.

Jack is inclined to shoot from farther out than most which can lead to good rebounds. Its been frustrating to watch in the past but actually works great with Skinner (and even Pommer with his straight line game to the net). Their natural inclinations of Jack/Skinner in the Ozone is why I think they work so well together.

Ya I’m not opposed to the idea that their styles can mesh very well and create opportunities not otherwise available.

They have been man interesting pairing because they can generate great pressure and have forechecked very nicely, particularly Skinner more than I expected.

They just don’t produce the super tic tac toe plays as much as other high production tandems.

It makes me wonder whether or not they actually play really well together, or are just two excellent players with one on a tremendous hot streak.

Either way I hope Botts can get Skinner under contract for a doable number. He would take care of the lw position for 3-4 years nicely.

Skinner
Nylander
Olofsson
Girgs

Nice.