I guess i'm just looking at the talent he's been working with of which there's been very little, imo...

that Latvia team you mentioned would be akin to Hampton versus Kentucky or the 1974-74 Washington capitals versus the flying Frenchmen of that era....

*shrugs*


that's how I look at it...
- Michael Pachla

The measure of a good coach what he does to improve the play of the players on his team, regardless what their level of talent is. Name one player who is playing better today than He did on opening day - not a goalie. Their improvement is on Irbe.

Michael,honestly. Where does the great coaching come from what when get outshot 57 to 16? There goalie stood on his head,just like HASEK did for him. Latvia won one game against Switzerland. In the NHL,it doesn't matter how bad you are,you are going to win games. No team plays 82 games like it is the stanley cup. To be honest with you,there might be 3 games all year the sabres deserved to win,so that's great coaching that they were lucky
- Buffalo39

the number of Canadian men 15 years or older who play hockey is estimated at 1.1 million

the number of Latvian men ages 15 and up is just over 850k...

that being said...agree to disagree

The measure of a good coach what he does to improve the play of the players on his team, regardless what their level of talent is. Name one player who is playing better today than He did on opening day - not a goalie. Their improvement is on Irbe.
- Der Kaiser

rasmus Ristolainen, johan Larsson...Girgensons before he went down...tyler ennis...mike weber...with foligno making serious inlays as well as phil varone...

the departed brian Flynn was also playing well enough to land a draft pick as was torrey Mitchell

lets be honest, the hardest working team was peca, ward and barnaby

and the greatest goalie we will ever see


coaching had little if anything to do with it

lets be honest, the hardest working team was peca, ward and barnaby

and the greatest goalie we will ever see


coaching had little if anything to do with it
- homiedclown

It had little to do with the Sabres "run" in November/December as well. The goaltending was well above normal. Once it came down to earth, so did this team.

This team is bad. we aren't playing all that good. We play the most defensive style of hockey and block a lot of pucks because we never have the puck...

I really don't think Nolan is doing anything special. Irbe on the other hand...

McEichel.com ‏@McEicheldotCom now6 seconds ago

@PBRnSabres2 any combination of points lost by Buffalo and won by Arizona adding up to 20 clinches 1st for the Sabres.

rasmus Ristolainen, johan Larsson...Girgensons before he went down...tyler ennis...mike weber...with foligno making serious inlays as well as phil varone...

the departed brian Flynn was also playing well enough to land a draft pick as was torrey Mitchell
- Michael Pachla

Risto has looked good in the last few weeks but spent long stretches looking lost.

Larsson granted.
LionEater disagree - same as last year.
Ennis disagree good not improved.
Weber granted.
Foligno maybe
Flynn maybe

I'm not sure whether the ones who improved are attributable to Nolan or just a steady diet of Real playing time in the NHL.
Even if they are its z pretty embarrassing percentage.

This team is bad. we aren't playing all that good. We play the most defensive style of hockey and block a lot of pucks because we never have the puck...

I really don't think Nolan is doing anything special. Irbe on the other hand...
- Smittyx36

Is it Irbe though?

If anyone has the time, someone should conduct a little research into Sabres goalies and their sv% based on scoring chances. Like what has been mentioned recently, Lindback has been better when the scoring chances are not as quality. When Boston played us, yeah they had 97 shot attempts against us... but were they quality shots or perimeter? If in fact the goalies are stopping more premier scoring chances, then I'm all for buying into the Irbe-aid.

Risto has looked good in the last few weeks but spent long stretches looking lost.

Larsson granted.
LionEater disagree - same as last year.
Ennis disagree good not improved.
Weber granted.
Foligno maybe
Flynn maybe

I'm not sure whether the ones who improved are attributable to Nolan or just a steady diet of Real playing time in the NHL.
Even if they are its z pretty embarrassing percentage.
- Der Kaiser

Just for the sake of conversation. You don't believe Girgensons has improved this year? I even think Ennis has improved, but without using individual advanced stats (not corsi, +/- etc) I think he has improved as well via eye test. Weber is a no brainer, about time he stops ruining this team (at the wrong time mind you). Foligno ABSOLUTELY. He's playing much more consistently.. Flynn is no longer concern.

I believe Michael has a series of blogs based on individual stats every month that might help to spell out improvements.

McEichel.com ‏@McEicheldotCom now6 seconds ago

@PBRnSabres2 any combination of points lost by Buffalo and won by Arizona adding up to 20 clinches 1st for the Sabres.
- TheSabresTaco

Losing twice to them would be an 8 point swing towards our goal of twenty.

Losing twice to them would be an 8 point swing towards our goal of twenty.
- Carubba-Kaleta

It's more fun than rooting for the playoffs. We all knew after 2007 the Sabres were not a cup team. Rooting for the reverse cup is something we can actually get, in a year where Nail Yakupov or RNH is not the best player. Nice.

Taylor Hall - W - Oilers
Good news: Taylor Hall said he's ready to play for the Edmonton Oilers against the Philadelphia Flyers on Saturday.

So, where I am at with Nolan is that he has a system and it relies on being defensively responsible at the cost of offensive production..and we saw that in Lindy for the 1st half of his career as well...sans the post lockout years when the rules changed. That relies heavily on a defense that gives up shots but largely on the perimeter. Combine that with Irbe and you have more than mere coincidence.
so he DOES have a system.
secondly, he is a motivator and extracts more out of average players and less than average.
he also holds players accountable.

In my mind, Nolan has been very beneficial for this team...instilling a strong work ethic, high compete level, and defensive responsibility into the younger players...that is incredibly valuable for a very young team

it would be better if 1 was on the wing with a top 2 pick as the third center
- homiedclown

Agreed Homie, but if they don't get one of the top two picks this year, having your top 3 centers be Reinhart, O'Reilly, and Girgensons along with adding say Hanifin is nothing to sneeze out.

A defense of Ristolainen, Hanifin, Bogosian, Zadorov, Pysyk, McCabe, and Ruhwedel is going to be very good.

Plus you'll still have both Florentino and Martin in the pipeline.

No matter your thoughts on Nolan's methods of dealing with Grigo...if Grigo "gets it" finally that floating isn't going to be tolerated...then he will have won that debate as well.
he coddled him earlier in the season and Grigo hasn't had it sink in yet to where he is giving maximum effort..and in only 8 minutes of ice time last night he was -2. Grigo is getting what he deserves...tough love, the best way to try to save someone when all else has failed. Even Roy has been understood to have been frustrated with Grigo compete level..it was his supreme talent against 16 /17 year Olds that enabled him to succeed.
that won't work in the NHL...and Grigo needs it blasted into his head...let's hope he takes the next steps as a result. What he is offering up so far just isn't cutting it. Time for Dad to punch him in the face to startle him awake....hello, McFly???? Is this thing turned on?
C'mon Gringo wake the F up

In my mind, Nolan has been very beneficial for this team...instilling a strong work ethic, high compete level, and defensive responsibility into the younger players...that is incredibly valuable for a very young team
- IonSabres

agreed until I saw 14 players going straight to the bench from the locker room instead of skating a few laps before the period started


he lost the locker room IMO and his strong arm tactic and refusing to reward players with more ice time has made him the laughing stock in the NHL

after the next 11 games he can go back to latvia and learn that you can only catch lightning in a bottle every other decade

Agreed Homie, but if they don't get one of the top two picks this year, having your top 3 centers be Reinhart, O'Reilly, and Girgensons along with adding say Hanifin is nothing to sneeze out.

A defense of Ristolainen, Hanifin, Bogosian, Zadorov, Pysyk, McCabe, and Ruhwedel is going to be very good.

Plus you'll still have both Florentino and Martin in the pipeline.
- kingcong39

agreed but I bet one gets dealt to improve scoring in the offseason if this plays out

Just for the sake of conversation. You don't believe Girgensons has improved this year? I even think Ennis has improved, but without using individual advanced stats (not corsi, +/- etc) I think he has improved as well via eye test. Weber is a no brainer, about time he stops ruining this team (at the wrong time mind you). Foligno ABSOLUTELY. He's playing much more consistently.. Flynn is no longer concern.

I believe Michael has a series of blogs based on individual stats every month that might help to spell out improvements.
- TheSabresTaco

Girgensons is young. He would of improved just by playing and getting older anyway. He will "improve" next year when nolans not coach too


Weber has been good before also. Before his newest contract he looked like our best defenseman at the end of year.

Ennis was awesome the year foligno came up. Ennis is just a solid player no Nolan improvement.

Honestly anyone that thinks he is good doesn't know much about hockey, or at least the coaching aspect at least

agreed until I saw 14 players going straight to the bench from the locker room instead of skating a few laps before the period started


he lost the locker room IMO and his strong arm tactic and refusing to reward players with more ice time has made him the laughing stock in the NHL

after the next 11 games he can go back to latvia and learn that you can only catch lightning in a bottle every other decade
- homiedclown

They've been doing that for years. In fact, I think only your starting five and your goaltender are allowed to skate laps to warm up for periods now. It's been that way for quite a while now. Every so often you'll see a player that isn't starting skate a mini circle right by the door and then get back to the bench. It's the NHL's way of trying to speed things up.

Girgensons is young. He would of improved just by playing and getting older anyway. He will "improve" next year when nolans not coach too


Weber has been good before also. Before his newest contract he looked like our best defenseman at the end of year.

Ennis was awesome the year foligno came up. Ennis is just a solid player no Nolan improvement.

Honestly anyone that thinks he is good doesn't know much about hockey, or at least the coaching aspect at least
- Fattony1187

I was in the car but would have written the same kind of stuff re players "improvement". More importantly, though, even if we say Nolan did improve risto, Girgs, Ennis Weber and Foligno - he crushed Hodgson, and Moulson is flat as hell. With the turnstile Of young and impressionable players that the lineup has been, there should have been many more guys w far more noticeable improvement.

Risto has looked good in the last few weeks but spent long stretches looking lost.

Larsson granted.
LionEater disagree - same as last year.
Ennis disagree good not improved.
Weber granted.
Foligno maybe
Flynn maybe

I'm not sure whether the ones who improved are attributable to Nolan or just a steady diet of Real playing time in the NHL.
Even if they are its z pretty embarrassing percentage.
- Der Kaiser

Myers and Stewie can be added to that list as well
and the rest are all AHL talent

They've been doing that for years. In fact, I think only your starting five and your goaltender are allowed to skate laps to warm up for periods now. It's been that way for quite a while now. Every so often you'll see a player that isn't starting skate a mini circle right by the door and then get back to the bench. It's the NHL's way of trying to speed things up.
- buffalofan19

I was unaware of that, seems crazy they will not let the teams warm up and take a half lap or 2.

I guess season ticket holders do make better fans

(I kid)

agreed but I bet one gets dealt to improve scoring in the offseason if this plays out
- homiedclown

Can't disagree with that Homie.

The question is which one do you trade, assuming the pick is Hanifin, because if that is the pick, there is 0% chance I trade him unless it's a massive return.

Ristolainen is not going anywhere either.

That leaves Zadorov, Pysyk, & McCabe, unless somebody wants one of Florentino, Ruhwedel, or Martin, which I doubt.

My game plan as GM would be to see if there was any way humanly possible that I could get O'Reilly out of Colorado without getting rid of one of the D above while also keeping the 1st round pick in 2016.

If that works, roll with him and Girgensons as your top 2 until Reinhart is ready, and that is your top 3, with the very strong chance the team finishes in the bottom 5 next year while being much improved, and hope to get lucky in the lottery.

Myers and Stewie can be added to that list as well
and the rest are all AHL talent
- IonSabres

Added to the list how, improved players?