If they do, they’ll be the team to beat for years.

An Eastern conference team playing West coast hockey....?

They might win the cup.

We watched the Sabres(lose mind you) play west coast hockey. They might be on the right track.
- dadeadhead

How many west coast hockey teams play fast like the Avalanche? Sure doesn't seem like many based on what I've seen this season.

The Avalanche are the gold standard for high pace play.

If you're referring to Chicago they absolutely were. Im not sure why the Sabres can't add after moving Risto and/or McCabe.

I think physical play matters. My point was, in the definition you described it as, if a player does those things well, his on ice results are good.

Risto's aren't, which would suggest he's not actually winning these battles with any sort of consistency.

you mentioned Nichushkin as a physical player, that was an "analytics" find. Smart teams know where to find value, especially the kind that's undervalued by other teams, and snap them for cents on the dollar.
- Michael Ghofrani

How many west coast hockey teams play fast like the Avalanche? Sure doesn't seem like many based on what I've seen this season.

The Avalanche are the gold standard for high pace play.
- kingcong39

I think it's more the traditional sense of the Western Conference team that are fast and heavy.

I just cant believe botterill and probably murray turned down (probably) good offers for Risto.

The cat's out of the bag and GMs must have evolved and we're never going to get anything for him now
- robz228

Hmmm
Flashback to July.

I tend to agree
- Michael Ghofrani

Great, all they need to do is go back to 2011 and hit on all but one of their first round picks. Easy peasy. I guarantee you, if the Sabres drafted as well as the Avs have they'd be a great team right now.

The reality of the situation is we have 4 RHD men that are realistically #4/#5 d-men on a good team. Risto would be fine if sheltered him with heavy offensive zone minutes but so would the rest of them.

To me Risto is the odd man out. We can’t afford to have a $5.4M dollar PP specialist who needs heavy sheltering to be effective. Especially when he will be getting a pay day in 2 years. It just makes too much sense to move him.
- Pegullaville

Said this in July.
Wonder when the GM will realize the same.

So if Risto spends all this time on ice with Jack,
then why is it Risto’s fault he can’t get the puck out of the zone?

Or is it that Risto is staring in the def zone against MacKinnon and Jack is not?

Who are the other 4 guys in the ice with him?


This cherry picking BS needs to stop
TELL THE WHOLE STORY

Dahlin started less in the defensive zone, against lesser competition...
and you’re drawing comparisons based on shot attempts
Do u really not see how that’s clearly biased against Risto

And btw...
what are the quality of those shot attempts?
Were they from the outside?
Were they scoring chances?


Can’t you see how big a part of the picture you’re leaving out, when u make a statement like this:

“Ristolainen played 2 mins less than dahlin at 5v5 and was on the ice for nearly double the shot attempts against”

Never mind that he played much harder minutes against much tougher opponents
Good grief
- jdfitz77

Rather than constantly critique everyone else's statements and accuse them of purposely telling 1/2 the story, YOU should actually put together the whole story yourself as a counter argument.
Don't ask questions to poke holes, go do the research completely then paint the entire story with factual, data driven stztements.

Rather than constantly critique everyone else's statements and accuse them of purposely telling 1/2 the story, YOU should actually put together the whole story yourself as a counter argument.
Don't ask questions to poke holes, go do the research completely then paint the entire story with factual, data driven stztements.
- IonSabres

you're asking a whole lot here.

I agree, there's 2 sides to the risto argument.

I like his style of play. I like that he's a consistent scorer.

Why does each coach keep playing him as the #1 defenseman? Different systems and coaches, but he just keeps getting the big minutes at the big times.

McCabe doesnt help his #'s I imagine ?
- Boss34

Because the Sabres have never had a true #1 Dman, so Rusto became it by default.
Nit his fault either, but don't use that as an argument why he us good...kind of like using the fact Johansson played 2C fir awhile to say he is obviously a good 2C.

I mentioned this in one of my other posts but Im fully aware that there's a right role for him where he could flourish. Unfortunately, there are 3 guys on this team who can all fill that role for less $.
- Michael Ghofrani

Said this exact same thing in July.
Wonder why the GM hasn't figured it out yet.

It’s Risto’s fault that he is the best option we have on the roster to play the role he plays. It’s his fault that he’s paid like a #2 dman but has to play the top role. All the coaches who identified him as our best option to play his role have been wrong too.

It’s a coincidence that we are one of the better defensive teams in the league while he’s averaging the most minutes and playing the toughest assignments.

And most importantly, Risto is the problem. Our lack of success has nothing to do with our putrid scoring or the terrible goaltending or lack of playmakers. It’s because Risto has the temerity to be the best dman on a team who is ranked as one of the better defensive teams in the league. And because for one game he doesn’t compare favorable to a “generational defenseman” on his ELC.

All I can come up with to explain the Risto hate on these boards is penis envy.

It’s Risto’s fault that he is the best option we have on the roster to play the role he plays. It’s his fault that he’s paid like a #2 dman but has to play the top role. All the coaches who identified him as our best option to play his role have been wrong too.

It’s a coincidence that we are one of the better defensive teams in the league while he’s averaging the most minutes and playing the toughest assignments.

And most importantly, Risto is the problem. Our lack of success has nothing to do with our putrid scoring or the terrible goaltending or lack of playmakers. It’s because Risto has the temerity to be the best dman on a team who is ranked as one of the better defensive teams in the league. And because for one game he doesn’t compare favorable to a “generational defenseman” on his ELC.

All I can come up with to explain the Risto hate on these boards is penis envy.
- Beethoven

This is a novel theory

Daniel Briere and Justin Williams are two of the most clutch playoff performers of the last 10-15 years yet they weren’t big bruisers would you say ?

I’m not saying you can’t be devoid of physicality at all, it holds some weight and is a piece to the overall puzzle, I just think you are overhyping it that’s all.
- Pegullaville

"Soft" is more often than not blue-collar speak for "not very good". However, when you're talking about degrees of "toughness", Briere and Williams have the type you need. The guy that can make a play despite/after getting hit is 10x more valuable than the guy that can make the hit. Both were really good, arguably great, at that.

How many west coast hockey teams play fast like the Avalanche? Sure doesn't seem like many based on what I've seen this season.

The Avalanche are the gold standard for high pace play.
- kingcong39

If Darcy Regier tried to build that kind of team instead of trying to mirror Boston the day after Lucic ran Miller, he is most likely still be the General Manager of the Buffalo Sabres.

If Darcy Regier tried to build that kind of team instead of trying to mirror Boston the day after Lucic ran Miller, he most likely still be the General Manager of the Buffalo Sabres.
- buffalofan19

If they would have been able to commit to Briere and Drury, he may still be the GM.

If they would have been able to commit to Briere and Drury, he may still be the GM.
- thatsapickle

Hindsight is 20/20, but I did say in 2007 that they should have worked on Briere first. He just seemed more willing to stay here from the beginning, even after the arbitration award in 2006. Briere also would have made them more like that kind of team.

If they would have been able to commit to Briere and Drury, he may still be the GM.
- thatsapickle

There was no way Drury was staying, none.

There was no way Drury was staying, none.
- SABRES 89

So you don't subscribe to Bucky Gleason's story that both sides had a deal in place in January of 2007?

So you don't subscribe to Bucky Gleason's story that both sides had a deal in place in January of 2007?
- buffalofan19

They wanted Drury, he didn't want to be here.

They wanted Drury, he didn't want to be here.
- SABRES 89

That wasn't my question. Bucky Gleason claims both sides had a deal in place, but Larry Quinn didn't want to finalize it until after the season, which was when Drury decided he didn't want to be here anymore. Is that not true from what you know?

They wanted Drury, he didn't want to be here.
- SABRES 89

I guess that's true.

They went all in on Drury and lost Briere in the process.

It's unfortunate all around.

I guess that's true.

They went all in on Drury and lost Briere in the process.

It's unfortunate all around.
- thatsapickle

Larry Quinn: very good businessman. Terrible at personnel.

That wasn't my question. Bucky Gleason claims both sides had a deal in place, but Larry Quinn didn't want to finalize it until after the season, which was when Drury decided he didn't want to be here anymore. Is that not true from what you know?
- buffalofan19

Never hear of any deal except the " so called " deal for Briere, 5 yrs 25 mill.

This is a novel theory
- Der Kaiser

My former lawyer had a really bad fetish involving super-shiny leather.



That's right, he was a patent attorney.

Classic, after every season the final presser of Larry, Darcy and Lindy up there and listening to all Darcy and Larry's bulls$$t and Lindy looking over at the both of them and wanting beat the hell out of both of them. There were players Lindy wanted but Darcy refused to get them.