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worldwidesensei

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Sabres de Buffalo
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Forum: NHL Trades16 mars à 11 h 50
Sujet: (COL/BUF) - Byram for Mittelstadt
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>worldwidesensei</b></div><div>It is interesting the disparities around the world. </div></div>

And the old Russian approach was to use "sticks in the middle" thereby flipping everyone to their offhand side.

Everything can work in a vaccuum when there is a an opportunity to exploit advantages/disadvantages of other teams' systems. Then the competition adapt/adjusts and the advantage is lost until the next one.

There are no absolutes; at least beyond temporary advantages.

Rules of thumb are more for the general mix, not to be applied to the elite performers.

Canadian players do seem to be playing pre-dominantly as lefties (dominant right hand on the knob end of stick) and therefore it is clear that up until the higher level tiers of hockey it doesn't matter so much about handedness because a players talent compared to his competition is the bigger factor. At some point the talent gap narrows and those small advantages take on heightened importance.

The majority of American players, to this point, have not had that type of coaching from such an early age (outside of the elite academies and hockey families); or the American coaches prefer the L/R balance that they try to achieve it at an early age.

Europeans seem to be more lefty dominant but tend to prefer to come from their offhand a lot; so this must be skills that are focused on in their development; perhaps a legacy of the Russian style from the 60s thru 90s; which had such an impact on world hockey especially in places like Finland and Czechia/Slovakia.

Dahlin, Heiskanen, Shea Theodore, etc CAN play exceptionally high level on their off hand. That doesn't apply to every defenseman; and it also doesn't apply to every defensive system/assignment. Which is why the "non-injury" mix of offhanded defenseman in the NHL is 10-11 players out of 192 in the starting 6 after the trade deadline; which is 5%. Even Dallas has been trying to find an elite enough RHD to pair with Heiskanen because they feel that he is better on the left side. But 90% Heiskanen is still better than 100% of anyone else they have on the right side so he remains; and now that Harley has arrived as their best #2 (top pair) D it will probably be that way for a while; just like Dahlin in Buffalo with Byram's arrival. Bo proved that he was not that great on HIS right side; which brings us full-circle to the original point in this thread. Buffalo did NOT put him on his offhand and they have Dahlin who is a rare 5%er that prefers it; and they have Samuelsson who seems adequate at it too for their 2nd pair with Owen Power so perhaps they are going to be a rare team with a fully capable top 4 of lefties; the "unicorn team" for this argument. I'm still reserving judgement on Samuelsson being a top 4 playoff-caliber defenseman on his offhand; versus a really good 3rd pair guy on his forehand.

That still does not mean it is normal in the NHL.

For "shutdown" types it matters much less because they are less likely to be trying to keep the puck in the offensive zone and work across the point; and when they do they need to be on their dominant hand to maximize their reaction times. For elite players like Dahlin, Heiskanen, Theodore their talent can offset that "law of nature/physics" disadvantage. This would apply to guys like Nate Schmidt, Dmitry Kulikov, TJ Brodie, Alex Goligoski, Matthias Samuellson, and sometimes Brayden McNabb (since the addition of Hanifin). Guys like Travis Sanheim are kind of a mixed bag so far and we'll have to see how it goes; he does have enough puck skills/skating to try it out but he isn't in that "elite" level of company in that regard; one would think Philly will re-align pairs in the future and look for a talent balance on the RH side in their top 4 (Drysdale developing is a big factor in that outlook).

I do think that there is plenty of evidence to support that the majority of average to really good NHL defenseman perform better on their natural handed side. Rather than looking at Dahlin; this point is better applied to Jacob Chychrun/Thomas Chabot; Sam Girard/Bo Byram; Weegar in Florida with Ekblad (did OK there but has been dominant on the RH side in Calgary); and Canuck pairing with Quinn Hughes prior to Hronek (Soucy, Cole, etc).

There are many times during games I've seen that you can tell the play was impacted or not able to setup properly because a player was in the right position but playing the puck on their offhand. Elite players can position themselves accordingly in advance so that it doesn't have as much of a drop off; but the majority of NHL players cannot do it that quickly or think ahead of the game at that speed to anticipate it. The NHL game is just so ridiculously fast paced that even a near-elite level talent can struggle in that regard.
Forum: NHL Trades15 mars à 10 h 25
Sujet: (COL/BUF) - Byram for Mittelstadt
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>LuckyMoneyPuck</b></div><div><strong>you lost me at point number 1 where if you had ever picked up a hockey stick you would know your "handed" has nothing to do with your hockey "handed".</strong>
So it doesn't matter how many people are born "left" or "right" handed. It has everything to do with how you feel holding a stick. Which is what this conversation is about.
That is really all there is to be said about your comment above.
You are over here talking but have never picked up a stick in your life and it shows.</div></div>

Yes it does, you usually put your dominant hand (aka writing hand) at the top of your stick and your non dominant hand at the bottom of the stick. Now like everything there can be exceptions but generally speaking, right handed people shoot left and left handed people shoot right
Forum: NHL Trades10 mars à 10 h 0
Sujet: (COL/BUF) - Byram for Mittelstadt
Early returns for Buffalo look really good. 2 games played, 25 minutes TOI average, powerplay usage

Bo Byram is playing top pair with Rasmus Dahlin and he is injecting lots of energy and offensive spark from the back-end. Coming from the Avs system has fluorished with Sabres.

If Sabres stick with that assignment their depth chart for next year looks like:
Byram - Dahlin
Power - Samuelsson
Bryson - Clifton
R. Johnson
Jokiharju is RFA and has had an up-and-down tenure; with a healthy Samuelsson not sure where he fits as he is an offensive guy and they now have plenty of that in their top 4.

Mittelstadt has played 1 game with Avs and had about 14 minutes, with PP2 usage; being deployed with Drouin and Nichushkin. Bednar did mix up wingers throughout the game, which is normal and Lehkonen will switch out with Drouin.

His incorporation into the Avs offense will be a slower progress as he is coming into a fast-pace, highly active North-South heavy forechecking style of play.

Casey made some really smart plays and was part of a couple high-danger plays.

Fully expect that both teams will love their new player now and long-term
Forum: NHL Trades8 mars à 17 h 19
Forum: NHL Trades7 mars à 8 h 12
Sujet: (COL/BUF) - Byram for Mittelstadt
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>LuckyMoneyPuck</b></div><div>I played NCAA level.
Being on your off hand is a huge deal. You can just stop right there.
Not only is the curve of your stick on the inside which messes up your passing but it offers no advantage.

Playing your off side is not better for 1 timers, your natural hold on your natural stick is facing the wall.
You have to turn to open the blade up which puts you out of position as a defenseman., Instead of your back being toward your own net it's now toward the wall.
This is hockey 101 and why very few players play their off side and those who do are not better at it than they are on their natural side.</div></div>

I don’t want to get into a thing, maybe some players struggle on the opposite side and that’s fine no judgement but other players do and actually prefer it.

If you seen the TV interview with Don G last night he almost said verbatim what I was explaining with LH/RH D. Not saying Granato is the world’s greatest hockey expert but he has spent a lifetime playing and learning hockey and is a Professional. I think he knows what he’s talking about.
Forum: NHL Trades6 mars à 20 h 7
Sujet: (COL/BUF) - Byram for Mittelstadt
Like Mitts and will miss him. It will be interesting to see how he does on a better team. As far as Byram, haven’t seen him play but since he’s a 4th overall I’d guess he’s an upgrade for Sabres D. Concerning about his injury history however.

Looks good for Av’s at the moment but I think this deal will age well for the Sabres especially if Mitts isn’t resigned. Probably will he’s class.

For those on about the LH / RH D stuff, it’s not that big of a deal and if you can’t play both side you probably shouldn’t be playing in the NHL. Im rubbish but as a LH Defender myself I actually prefer to play in the Right. It’s better for one timers and poke checks. It’s a little harder on breakouts when you need to thread the needle on the backhand (only if there is o time and room) to your forwards. A pro should be able to manage.
Forum: Armchair-GM20 janv. à 10 h 19
Forum: Armchair-GM20 janv. à 9 h 6
Forum: Armchair-GM20 janv. à 4 h 11
Sujet: Mittelstadt goes Wild
<div class="quote"><div class="quote_t">Quoting: <b>Alex_K</b></div><div>Probably because I'm neither Wild nor Sabers fan) I just thought that Buffalo has two really good centres signed long term, so they could listen to offers, on the other hand the Wild need a good centre for Kaprizov line and they have assets.</div></div>

Sabres fan here
I agree that this is a good offer

Mitts has been our best forward this year,
and his defensive game has really come around
So I’m 99% certain we try to get a long term deal done with him- probably something similar to what Tage &amp; Cozens got

Mitts is earning himself a spot in our long term core
But again, u make an offer we’d be forced to think hard about
Rossi is a good young player, &amp; the picks on top are nice
Sabres would be very tempted imo
Especially if they have trouble working out a contract w Mitts


Minnesota fans probably won’t like this though
My guess would be that Rossi has shown them enough that they’d just wanna keep him