Post-Game Talk: SABRES in SENSVILLE, Tues. 7:30 pm

[Sensmileletsgo]

Wow! Missed the game.

Just checked the last few pages of the thread. Positivity night! LOL.

Looks like the young Sens are going to go on a hamburglar run for some player stats

Next....

Let's hope the winning continues. It's so much nicer around here when the team is winning. You can actually talk hockey instead of what a tire fire the organization is.

 

[Six Assets]

This team reeeeeaaaallllllyyy doesn’t miss ceci.

but we have a 1st round pick next year...

 

[Sensmileletsgo]

Only caught bits and pieces from the game, but i thought Tkachuk looked like a men amongst boys in a lot of the shifts i saw. He looks bigger, stronger, and more engaging then almost all the Buffalo Sabres on the ice. He is dangling more, although often it doesnt work. If he adds that element to his game he will be lethal.

 

[DrEasy]

Wow! Missed the game.

Just checked the last few pages of the thread. Positivity night! LOL.

Looks like the young Sens are going to go on a hamburglar run for some player stats

Next....

The Hamburglar run started when two under-performing players got hurt on the same night. We've been playing without two under-performing players the last two games.

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

The Hamburglar run started when two under-performing players got hurt on the same night. We've been playing without two under-performing players the last two games.

I like those parallels

 

[SpezDispenser]

Duclair is really good.

 

[L'Aveuglette]

Biggest takeaway from this last month is that coaching on this team was quite sub-par before the change.

Crawford isn't exactly a tactical genius but he still manages to get more out of a glorified AHL lineup than his predecessor managed on most nights with multiple elite players in the lineup. In a short amount of time he's instilled a cohesive defensive structure and we don't look lost in our zone 3/4 of the time. Had we at least kept Stone I'm confident we would have climbed up a few spots in the standings.

Small sample size, but the improvements are significant.

 

[Do Make Say Think]

This team reeeeeaaaallllllyyy doesn’t miss ceci.

I mean Buffalo was awful

 

[AchtzehnBaby]

Biggest takeaway from this last month is that coaching on this team was quite sub-par before the change.

Crawford isn't exactly a tactical genius but he still manages to get more out of a glorified AHL lineup than his predecessor managed on most nights with multiple elite players in the lineup. In a short amount of time he's instilled a cohesive defensive structure and we don't look lost in our zone 3/4 of the time. Had we at least kept Stone I'm confident we would have climbed up a few spots in the standings.

Small sample size, but the improvements are significant.

Good post. It is weird that they could figure it out as. Coach and assistant coach. Maybe communication was not strong enough between the two.

 

[SpezDispenser]

I mean Buffalo was awful

They're horrific, wow.

 

[Hale The Villain]

Wolanin is a gem.

I'd say he's a potential top 4 D, but he may be one right now.

 

[BritishSen]

I love Tkachuk so much already, he plays like he's had years of experience at top level. Crawford has won me over, genuinely don't think we'll find anyone better so just sign the ting.

 

[Mr Hat]

I love Tkachuk so much already, he plays like he's had years of experience at top level. Crawford has won me over, genuinely don't think we'll find anyone better so just sign the ting.

I agree Chucky is a huge bright spot for sure. The youth has been strong as of late. But regarding Crawford, no... just no. Sens fans should have learned a lesson with Paulrus, Clouston and Boucher's short term success. Crow is likely just another flash in the pan. He has done a fine job so far as a stop gap, but he is essentially a poor mans Torterella. The players will check him out before we hit FYOUS and that is not good for a rebuild. Need a coach with a pedigree of lasting success at the NHL level. I don't think any decent coach will come here, but I think we should at least hope for a better option.

 

[Deku]

Good post. It is weird that they could figure it out as. Coach and assistant coach. Maybe communication was not strong enough between the two.

Maybe Crawford knows how to reach the kids, while Boucher was like:

 

[Sensmileletsgo]

Wolanin is a gem.

I'd say he's a potential top 4 D, but he may be one right now.

Ya he really is. He sees the ice so well and is so good with the puck on his stick. I hope he has a big off season. If he can add a bit more size and strength it will help him on the defensive side of the game.

 

[BritishSen]

I agree Chucky is a huge bright spot for sure. The youth has been strong as of late. But regarding Crawford, no... just no. Sens fans should have learned a lesson with Paulrus, Clouston and Boucher's short term success. Crow is likely just another flash in the pan. He has done a fine job so far as a stop gap, but he is essentially a poor mans Torterella. The players will check him out before we hit FYOUS and that is not good for a rebuild. Need a coach with a pedigree of lasting success at the NHL level. I don't think any decent coach will come here, but I think we should at least hope for a better option.

I'd probably agree with you, but I doubt the alternative will be better. Crawford at least has some pedigree, and has won a stanley cup albeit two decades ago. He's a bit of a dinosaur but he'll most likely be better than the alternative, I've got absolutely no faith in the organisation to make a better appointment. I'd almost put money on that if Crawford isn't appointed we'll just get some binman from the butch leagues, young players, young coach all faith in the #rebuild

 

[Sensmileletsgo]

I agree Chucky is a huge bright spot for sure. The youth has been strong as of late. But regarding Crawford, no... just no. Sens fans should have learned a lesson with Paulrus, Clouston and Boucher's short term success. Crow is likely just another flash in the pan. He has done a fine job so far as a stop gap, but he is essentially a poor mans Torterella. The players will check him out before we hit FYOUS and that is not good for a rebuild. Need a coach with a pedigree of lasting success at the NHL level. I don't think any decent coach will come here, but I think we should at least hope for a better option.

Agreed about Crawford. The team is looking good but i think it’s more of a “dead cat bounce effect.” Some of the trade deadline and contract distractions are gone. We have a young team playing loose down the stretch and have won a handful of games which is nice, but I am still expecting an equally long and painful season next year.

 

[MakeOttawaGreatAgain]

dahlin is stylistically similar to chabot

He's a poser

 

[Sens]

Why couldn’t they play with this kind of jump all year? What a waste. It looks like coaching was indeed a problem.

How many more times do we play Buffalo?

 

[affyer]

WTF we have two Latvians on HFSens?

not only 2..

 

[AndrewGaze]

WTF we have two Latvians on HFSens?

Count me in for 3 babe.

 

[JD1]

Good post. It is weird that they could figure it out as. Coach and assistant coach. Maybe communication was not strong enough between the two.

Personnel makes a big difference. Lots of guys are pretty high on Wolanin and its easy to see why. He's making a huge difference in the puck coming out of our zone. He needed to learn to play D and at times to make better choices with the puck. With him here full time we have two guys playing 45 mintues opposite one another where the puck comes out well. And we are playing quicker thru the neutral as a result. Some of the guys getting more ice are stepping up and taking advantage. What i am most impressed with is the pace at which we are playing. The 2 PMDs are driving it but guys up front are doing well

 

[BonkTastic]

 

[Micklebot]

Personnel makes a big difference. Lots of guys are pretty high on Wolanin and its easy to see why. He's making a huge difference in the puck coming out of our zone. He needed to learn to play D and at times to make better choices with the puck. With him here full time we have two guys playing 45 mintues opposite one another where the puck comes out well. And we are playing quicker thru the neutral as a result. Some of the guys getting more ice are stepping up and taking advantage. What i am most impressed with is the pace at which we are playing. The 2 PMDs are driving it but guys up front are doing well

Wolanin has been great. I really thought he should have been up from the start, but it was hard to argue with how good a start Lajoie had, and he did still have things to learn, so time in the AHL likely helped his game.

In terms of coaching being the difference; Cameron looked like an improvement over MacLean when he took over. That didn't hold up imo. I think in both cases (MacLean and Boucher) the players had tuned out the coach a bit, but one other important element is teams had scouted their systems and figured them out. New coaches coming in change things up a bit, and the opposition may have to start from scratch in figuring out how to game plan against them. Good coaches continue to adapt quickly to counteract the countermeasures the opposition puts in place. When MacLean and Boucher were fired, it appeared as though those adaptations weren't happening anymore, possibly in part because the players had tuned them out, who knows.

It's funny you mention two puck movers driving things; that's been missing pretty much since we went our separate ways from Gonchar. Sure, we had bottom pair guys in Wiercioch or Wideman, but we really haven't had a 2nd top 4 puck mover for a while, save a brief period when Chabot was starting to gain Boucher's trust and we still had Karlsson. I guess maybe Phaneuf filled that role?

 

[Krispy]

WTF we have two Latvians on HFSens?

Count me in too.