Casey Mittelstadt had a nice thing going prior to Tuesday night’s contest against the Kraken as he entered the game with five points in five games, but a lackadaisical shift change in Seattle undid most of the goodwill he had earned among the fan base.
Here’s the play for those who missed it:
It’s frankly an inexcusable play made worse given the ensuing possession led to what would have been Jack Quinn’s first goal of the season. It’s true that many players often coast for a couple of feet as they near the bench, but Mittelstadt started coasting from a solid 50 feet away, which again, is totally inexcusable. Incredibly, coach Don Granato opted not sit Mittelstadt down following that play, and instead, put him right back out on the ice for the powerplay.
That’s not a good look.
Granato gave his guys a pass for the bad performance during his post-game remarks.
“It’s one of those nights,” Granato said following the game. “We played a team that played with much more energy and more and intent than we did tonight. (The players) need to look inside and say ‘How can I play more efficient? Even if I didn’t feel good, even if I didn’t have the energy. How do we play a little smarter?”
Fair enough. It was the last game of a four-game road trip and the team was no doubt tired from the road travel. That still doesn’t excuse Mittelstadt’s meandering stroll to the bench. At its best, Granato’s coaching approach allows young players to make mistakes within the system with the understanding that if they are attempting high-effort, high-skill plays that backfire, they won’t get benched. That is radically different than what fans saw from Mittelstadt and it is antithetical to the repeated mantra of “accountability” that Granato has vehemently stressed during his weekly radio appearances.
Fast forward to tonight’s action against the Montreal Canadiens and it appears that Mittelstadt will also escape the possibility of being a healthy scratch. Rasmus Asplund will take his place in the press box instead. Below is an approximation of the Sabres forward lines which weren’t available on Sabres.com as of this writing:
Skinner-Thompson-Tuch
Hinostroza-Cozens-Peterka
Krebs-Mittelstadt-Olofsson
Quinn-Girgensons-Okposo
It’s hard to fathom how they arrived at the decision to scratch Rasmus Asplund rather than Mittelstadt given the staff’s stated dedication to effort and accountability. And to be clear, that one shift doesn’t mean that Mittelstadt should be tarred, feathered, and sent to the ECHL on a Greyhound bus, but neither does it mean that Mittelstadt should escape accountability (there’s that word again) for his lack of effort last game. The sensible thing to do would have been to – at a minimum – keep him off the powerplay for the rest of the night in Seattle. A subsequent benching tonight would have been totally reasonable as well if they wanted to reinsert Peyton Krebs back into the lineup.
As for Asplund, he is something of an analytics darling with many touting his defensive capabilities as indispensable to the team, and while his overall irreplaceability can be debated, it’s frankly irrational that he should be selected to sit in the press box over #37. The Sabres are walking a fine tightrope here with a fanbase that demands effort as a minimum requirement from their teams. Fans are willing to excuse mistakes and even some poor play if they feel as though the team is giving 100% on any given night.
A player can be mediocre and also a fan favorite in Buffalo (see, Fitzpatrick, Ryan) if they are enthusiastic, energetic and passionate. Conversely, talented players who do not reach their supposed potential are reviled by the fans here. At the risk of making too many Bills comparisons here, 2011 first-round pick Marcell Dareus had all the skill in the world but was mostly seen as a disappointment when his play trailed off after he landed a big contract.
The Sabres coaching staff clearly views the Seattle game as a one-off bad performance caused by extensive road travel and repeated late games, and there’s probably some truth to that. Still, Granato’s decision to keep Mittelstadt in the lineup needs to pay dividends for it to be considered anything other than a bad decision. That means the Sabres need to show up with their Ted-Nolan brand lunch pails against the Montreal Canadiens tonight, because while the Sabres have made some headway toward reconnecting with their long-suffering fan base, all of that progress could be quickly undone if the results don’t follow their talk about the process.
A win against Montreal most likely makes all of this talk disappear. At the bare minimum, though, the team needs to show a concerted effort tonight.
It’s a shame we’re still talking about the bare minimum.
Buffalo Sabres Blogger • 
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