It was weird hearing Bakes and Fairburn talking about Ellis' "hockey mind" and him being better in the booth. It's like I live on a different planet.
I think it's more that Ellis was always a Sabres Org guy whereas the guys who were fired were specifically Granato guys.
Not sure what you're saying here -- are you implying it's likely that Peca would come back to Buffalo after asking for a promotion and being rejected?
Did the org do him a solid or did he put in years or work with the org and earn a promotion, doing the org a solid? I'd say it's the latter.
There is still a contingent of posters who feel he's ready for a coaching job and a realistic possibility to be the next coach -- which I was pushing back against (on both accounts) and the only reason this came up to begin with. Nothing you've said changes my opinion on that.
Which makes me wonder: why did Kevyn Adams mention yesterday that at no point during the season did he give any consideration to letting Granato go? I don't get it. Even after the infamous Columbus game? And now hearing this, I mean come on, the GM couldn't put the pieces together -- low energy from coach and ultimately players, weak starts, no accountability for bad play, struggling special teams, etc. -- to even consider the possibility that the assistant he promoted to NHL head coach was in way over his head? What's up Kevyn?
He said out loud during the presser that there's some stuff he can't and won't talk about, I would imagine having internal conversations with himself about when the right time to let Donny go would qualify. They're friends and he's not going to cut the guy's throat publicly by saying he had no confidence in him during the season. He's also not going to cut his own throat by acknowledging the same fact and opening him up to the obvious follow up "then why didn't you do something about it at that time?" question.
That was in 1999, there's no way that was 25 years ago...right?
I don't think that's much of a stretch. If you are not intrinsically motivated to give 100%, you should want a manager or coach to push the right buttons to help you get there. I have left jobs when I haven't had the proper structure in place around me, as I realized that I could not perform my best.
Thompson? I don't see a leader there but maybe I'm wrong. Let him focus on offense and getting better on draws.
He did get tougher matchups this year his deployment was more akin to 21-22 season than last year where he got 30 goals. I see a 40 goal guy at wing wh o is a cannonball on the forecheck or match-up guy that can put away 25-30
I love your optimism. I don't think Cozens is the type of guy to outshoot his xG like he did last year. I think he settles in as a 22-25 goal/55-60 point guy. I truly think the truth lies somewhere between this year and last.
Listen...if I could trade Cozens tomorrow for a smarter/higher IQ player I would. But I understand they're married to him and am trying to look at how he can be utilized. I just have a feeling a veteran coach will coax a more well-rounded game out of him. Part of that might be to make a totally different first line and give Cozens a guy like Tuch and staple them together. He's never going to be a true top 6 line driver imo.
This is wild and a bit surprising to hear the players/GM more or less throwing him under the bus. No one seems upset by his firing at all.
