I was responding to the bolded. The fact that you, twice, mentioned his actual O-Zone starts without giving his much higher D-Zone starts. And you damn well know that the ratio is more important than either number on its own. And by keeping the O-Zone about equal but drastically reducing his D-zone starts makes him a better player.
- Wetbandit1

In what context? In the context of increasing his production? Absolutely not.

In terms of making him look less terrible, sure

Dahlin should be this upcoming season. There are a few months in between today and the game opener though. That’s what I was referring to. If someone overpays for Risto, then move him. If not, keep him and bring his minutes down to the 18-20 minute range and upgrade the team around him and we won’t notice his deficiencies as much.
- Pegullaville

I think we all know that he'll play more than that if he's here. Part of moving him is removing that temptation. It's very hard to play Casey Nelson over Risto, even if the numbers say it's beneficial in some situations.

I was responding to the bolded. The fact that you, twice, mentioned his actual O-Zone starts without giving his much higher D-Zone starts. And you damn well know that the ratio is more important than either number on its own. And by keeping the O-Zone about equal but drastically reducing his D-zone starts makes him a better player.
- Wetbandit1

By now we all know that Broads gets on these hate crusades where it becomes impossible for him to think of anything except how to rid the Sabres of his current nemesis. There’s no sense arguing with him. You just have to enjoy it.

By now we all know that Broads gets on these hate crusades where it becomes impossible for him to think of anything except how to rid the Sabres of his current nemesis. There’s no sense arguing with him. You just have to enjoy it.
- Der Kaiser

You have me pegged. Congrats

Must be nice to have a stud d-man in Cale Makar join the team and put up 5 points in 7 playoff games to form a stud 2nd pairing with Girard. Those darn top picks though and taking 2 years to develop, what's the point

Must be nice to have a stud d-man in Cale Makar join the team and put up 5 points in 7 playoff games to form a stud 2nd pairing with Girard. Those darn top picks though and taking 2 years to develop, what's the point
- Pegullaville

Girard was one of those useless 2nd rounders

In what context? In the context of increasing his production? Absolutely not.

In terms of making him look less terrible, sure
- sbroads24

After how wrong u were about u know who,
how can u not see that using Risto better (less defensively) will yield positive results?
It’s common sense dude

After how wrong u were about u know who,
how can u not see that using Risto better (less defensively) will yield positive results?
It’s common sense dude
- jdfitz77

I'll presume you've missed that the context of the day is using Risto on the 3rd pair, drastically cutting his minutes.

After how wrong u were about u know who,
how can u not see that using Risto better (less defensively) will yield positive results?
It’s common sense dude
- jdfitz77

You know who wasn't as effective here as he is there, it was an extremely good fit for him. The trade though was always for the future from a Buffalo perspective, here is a recent tweet from Dan Buffa a St. Louis Columnist

"While Ryan O'Reilly hasn't been useless during the playoffs (8 points, 4 during DAL series), he hasn't been his signature self. Stars have eliminated him on the faceoff dot, and he doesn't have that burst of speed #stlblues fans grew accustomed to. Blues need the stud version."

I'll presume you've missed that the context of the day is using Risto on the 3rd pair, drastically cutting his minutes.
- Lunaion

I backread a little

It just makes sense that if you use players better, you’ll see the results

If Risto is bad in his own end...
just stop playing him there so much

OR

Try giving him a LEGIT PARTNER like Dahlin for the 1st time in his career

Think about who Risto’s partners have been
It’s been mostly a variety of crappy Vets or bottom pair quality youngsters
And ppl expect him to look good with all that defensive zone time?
Plus a bunch of forwards that for the most part haven’t played well in their own end

Has he been very inconsistent?
Absolutely

But the deck has also been stacked against his success too

Risto will be a good player with a good team around him

You know who wasn't as effective here as he is there, it was an extremely good fit for him. The trade though was always for the future from a Buffalo perspective, here is a recent tweet from Dan Buffa a St. Louis Columnist

"While Ryan O'Reilly hasn't been useless during the playoffs (8 points, 4 during DAL series), he hasn't been his signature self. Stars have eliminated him on the faceoff dot, and he doesn't have that burst of speed #stlblues fans grew accustomed to. Blues need the stud version."



- Pegullaville

He wasn’t as effective here bc he was playing so much defensively on a bad team without much help out there with him

That’s the correlation i was making to how Risto has been used

Eliminate the OVERUSE in the defensive end, and things will start looking much better

We’ve been using guys incorrectly,
actually OVERusing them incorrectly,
bc of a lack of overall talent here

BUT
Build the team around our talented players, and watch those guys flourish
Just like you know who has in StL
Even if 1 columnist wants to say something dumb like “burst of speed”
Which we all know should never be expected from him

DuBois is a little poop stirrer. I love it.

DuBois is a little poop stirrer. I love it.
- Wetbandit1

Columbus got hammered pretty bad when they made that pick, but it sure looks like a smart move now.

Columbus got hammered pretty bad when they made that pick, but it sure looks like a smart move now.
- kingcong39

it was a kind of off the board pick at #3.. compared to the rest of the draft he stands at 4th in points.. but he has 1 less season than everyone above him.. looking at the draft it looks like he was picked right where he should have been and he filled a glaring need for CBJ at the time

Columbus got hammered pretty bad when they made that pick, but it sure looks like a smart move now.
- kingcong39

Fans>GMs

Anybody listen to Gronbeard this morning on GR?

edit- listening to his interview now.

He wasn’t as effective here bc he was playing so much defensively on a bad team without much help out there with him

That’s the correlation i was making to how Risto has been used

Eliminate the OVERUSE in the defensive end, and things will start looking much better

We’ve been using guys incorrectly,
actually OVERusing them incorrectly,
bc of a lack of overall talent here

BUT
Build the team around our talented players, and watch those guys flourish
Just like you know who has in StL
Even if 1 columnist wants to say something dumb like “burst of speed”
Which we all know should never be expected from him
- jdfitz77

Jesus Christ dude.

There are readily available numbers to show that O’Reilly is the exact same player and zone starts have 0 to do with anything.

Wanna know why his point totals increased?

His on ice shooting % went from 6.55% with the Sabres to 9.30% with the Blues.

That’s worth 5-10 points alone over an entire season. Couple that with him playing really well and that’s his jump.

He legit still gets all the important D zone draws, which he should.

Risto and O’Reilly are planets apart. O’Reilly is actually a really good player

If Risto's advanced stats increase with reduced TOI down to the 18 minute range, and giving him more OZS by reducing his DZS, and by playing him on the PP...I get that it would benefit him and by extension the Sabres as a whole. Great.

However, if that is the case, then
- Sabres still need a #1-RhD
- Montour is the #2-RhD
- means Risto slots in on 3rd Pair
- by giving PP time of say 2min, his EV becomes about 16 min.
- sacrifices Dahlin and Montour PP time, which presumptively negatively impacts their production
- compare value by contrast of McCabe at say $2.0m on 3rd Pair

IMO, that is quite a bit of maneuvering to have an acceptable level of production for an overpaid 3rd Pair D.

Trade him for BADLY needed goal scoring at even strength.

Anybody listen to Gronbeard this morning on GR?

edit- listening to his interview now.
- mhp

The search should now formally end.
Bring in the Swede.

Oh, and trade Risto.
Borgen can backfill as 3rd Pairing RhD

I'm still trying to understand, sincerely so, who would be a good fit for Dahlin.
I was using the tables on Evolving Hockey to try to ID a good pairing...more of a shut-down RhDman. Exceedingly difficult as most are LhD.

In the past I advocated for Stralman, but this past season was not good for him. He may be at the end of his career.

Trade all the bad players for good players.

Keep adding 3 and 4th rd picks until the team accepts.

This is easy.

https://wgr550.radio.com/...r-nborg-howard-and-jeremy

Grönbeard on the radio this morning.

Hire this guy.

So I listened to Gronborg's interview on GR, a few takes

Intelligent, smart, well spoken, educated and knows of the opportunity in Buffalo

He likes to coach to a team's strengths but advocates a free flowing, offensive minded system and get the D involved

He has not talked to Buffalo yet, he interviewed for the Rangers job last year

He sees himself more as a hybrid type of coach, develop and teach

Had good things to say about Pilut, Nylander and Asplund. He felt Pilut made some great strides this year. Watched a lot of Sabres games this year, thought Dahlin was tremendous

Analytics are important but more important how you use the data in your development and teaching, how it's interpreted.

Very impressed, has to be the #1 candidate and maybe Botts will get a chance to talk to him at the WC.

Botts might be sold on his emphasis on teaching and development and if he brought along Hakstol as an assistant, both of them will be a good fit for the young players.

So I listened to Gronborg's interview on GR, a few takes

Intelligent, smart, well spoken, educated and knows of the opportunity in Buffalo

He likes to coach to a team's strengths but advocates a free flowing, offensive minded system and get the D involved

He has not talked to Buffalo yet, he interviewed for the Rangers job last year

He sees himself more as a hybrid type of coach, develop and teach

Had good things to say about Pilut, Nylander and Asplund. He felt Pilut made some great strides this year. Watched a lot of Sabres games this year, thought Dahlin was tremendous

Analytics are important but more important how you use the data in your development and teaching, how it's interpreted.

Very impressed, has to be the #1 candidate and maybe Botts will get a chance to talk to him at the WC.

Botts might be sold on his emphasis on teaching and development and if he brought along Hakstol as an assistant, both of them will be a good fit for the young players.
- mhp

The way he worded the answer to that question was:

"You know, obviously Buffalo is looking for a coach and and I'm looking for a job, so there's gonna be a lot of speculation there. But who I'm talking to is not out there, and out of courtesy for everyone, I'm going to keep it that way"

So I think it's safe to say they're talking

The way he worded the answer to that question was:

"You know, obviously Buffalo is looking for a coach and and I'm looking for a job, so there's gonna be a lot of speculation there. But who I'm talking to is not out there, and out of courtesy for everyone, I'm going to keep it that way"

So I think it's safe to say they're talking
- jcragcrumple

Friedman says that they talked. If they did, Botts could talk to him again over at the WC. I fully expect he'll be the next Sabres coach. And since Gronborg and Hakstol are long time friends, it's a no brainer to hire him as well.