⅓ of the way thru the season. Report card?

[tsujimoto74]

Overall take (grades relative to expectations and the player's role. E.g., Larsson gets an A because he's been a fantastic 4th liner + PKer):

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

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

Hutton (A)
Ullmark (A)

Housley: B. The team has exceeded expectations early, they're putting in the effort, and they're playing like an actual team. Also credit to him for much improved player usage and finding some surprisingly effective line combos.

Powerplay: C-. These guys can do better.
Penalty Kill: B+. Larsson and Girgensons have been thriving there, Larry especially.

More detailed thoughts:

• Thompson started off as an F, but he's been fantastic lately. I hope that's a trend that continues.
• Mittelstadt similarly started off rocky, though not to same extent, and has been steadily growing all season. He's gonna be quite a player.
• Okposo, Bogosian, and McCabe have all put up respectable bounce-back seasons so far and have been positive contributors, for the most part.
• We all know Eichel has an extra gear he can reach offensively. He's been racking up the points and has shown huge improvement defensively, but I know he still has more to give.
• Ristolainen had a rough stretch at the beginning of the season, but he's been looking better and better as Dahlin has earned more minutes.
• Reinhart's on a decent point pace, but he's not playing with the confidence/authoritativeness that we saw from him in the second half of last season. I want more of that Sam.
• E-Rod on the PK has been a bit of a revelation in the past couple of games. He's had his ups and downs, though.
• The level Dahlin is playing at is nuts for an 18-year-old defenseman. Watching him grow and mature is gonna be fun.
• I'm surprised Nelson hasn't turned back into a pumpkin yet. Also surprised Beaulieu hasn't been complete trash.
  
• Our goalies have been outstanding.

 

[Swedish Gretzky]

A+ overall

 

[Paxon]

 

[threeVo]

Goalies A-

Scandella F

Coaching B-

 

[Buf fan in Nash]

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)

Man some of you guys are really tough on the individual player grades. If you were unable to see the games and didn't know the Sabres record these grades would indicate a .500 team at best.​

 

[dortt]

Man some of you guys are really tough on the individual player grades. If you were unable to see the games and didn't know the Sabres record these grades would indicate a .500 team at best.​

Remember, I grade based upon the performance relative to the NHL. not based upon low expectations. Giving someone like Larsson an A because he exceeded his very low expectations does not show how he really is. That is like giving someone an A if they get a 60 on an exam just because we expected them to get a 45

The fact that we have only a few Ds and no Fs aside from Elie is why we are in our position. We have few players on the roster now who are below average NHLers. Most are in the range of slightly below average (C-) to elite (A)

If I gave these grades after the weekend games, I'd bump Reinhart up to a B+

 

[Aladyyn]

Skinner A+
Eichel A-
Reinhart B+
Sheary B+
Okposo A
Rodrigues B
Mittelstadt C-
Larsson A
Girgensons B+
Berglund C
Sobotka F
Thompson D

Dahlin A
Ristolainen B
McCabe B
Bogosian B
Beaulieu B+
Scandella F
Nelson C

Hutton A+
Ullmark A+

 

[OkimLom]

Man some of you guys are really tough on the individual player grades. If you were unable to see the games and didn't know the Sabres record these grades would indicate a .500 team at best.​

I'm thinking some people don't remember how they looked before the streak. This team outside the 9-2 whipping on Ottawa, was a team that was playing some bad hockey, with the Eichel line being the only one that consistently provided any impact. Just like the winning streak, the Sabres relied on goaltending to keep them in games. Everything is seen through rose-colored glasses because they just came off a long winning streak.

Talks of sending down Thompson because he looked so dreadful were posted often in GDT and the earlier Roster Speculation threads. The discussion about Housley's job security came up. This team rode a wave of goaltending that kept them in games most of the time. The amount of games that they "outplayed" the opposition could be counted on one hand prior to the winning streak. This team through the year looked closer to their 7-6-2 record than their 17-7-3 record. It's not the first time a Sabres team stole games because of clutch/good goaltending, while the rest of the team played average hockey at best.