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Forums :: Blog World :: Michael Pachla: On Larsson and Girgensons, coach Phil Housley's fourth-line anchors
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robz228
Buffalo Sabres
Location: NY
Joined: 07.07.2010

Nov 15 @ 9:24 AM ET
wow ryan callahan has 2 points in 12 games

what a fall from grace

st louis died for this
sbroads24
Buffalo Sabres
Location: We are in 30th place. It's 2017 , NY
Joined: 02.12.2012

Nov 15 @ 9:29 AM ET
wow ryan callahan has 2 points in 12 games

what a fall from grace

st louis died for this

- robz228

He has 9 goals in his last 99 games since 2016-17
robz228
Buffalo Sabres
Location: NY
Joined: 07.07.2010

Nov 15 @ 9:32 AM ET
No, but that’s not what he is doing well.

Right now they don’t want to overload CM or Eichel with D zone starts, so Larsson/Sobotka seem to be playing that role.

I seriously am not a Larsson fan but he’s been really impressive in a defensive role, and I’m sure it’s not a long term thing, but why change it right now?

- sbroads24


yea, if we want more scoring the 3rd line needs to improve. not the 4th.
jcragcrumple
Buffalo Sabres
Location: Reluctant bridge jumper; 6th round OHL draft pick, YT
Joined: 04.04.2016

Nov 15 @ 9:34 AM ET
No, but that’s not what he is doing well.

Right now they don’t want to overload CM or Eichel with D zone starts, so Larsson/Sobotka seem to be playing that role.

I seriously am not a Larsson fan but he’s been really impressive in a defensive role, and I’m sure it’s not a long term thing, but why change it right now?

- sbroads24



I don't think anyone knows what this means anymore. He's producing less than a 4th liner, while playing more. He's teetering on competent. That just doesn't impress me
robz228
Buffalo Sabres
Location: NY
Joined: 07.07.2010

Nov 15 @ 9:38 AM ET
I don't think anyone knows what this means anymore. He's producing less than a 4th liner, while playing more. He's teetering on competent. That just doesn't impress me
- jcragcrumple


2 points in 12 games with a 94 pdo (i cant find just shooting percentage)

i dont think thats teetering on competent. maybe if its 4 points in 24 games then i'll consider it
ImThatGuy
Buffalo Sabres
Location: I AM MY OWN DAMN SOURCE!, NY
Joined: 11.04.2010

Nov 15 @ 9:42 AM ET
wow ryan callahan has 2 points in 12 games

what a fall from grace

st louis died for this

- robz228


Ryan Callahan and a 1st
for
Kyle Okposo

CoHo_to_B-Lo
Buffalo Sabres
Location: East Amherst, NY
Joined: 02.29.2012

Nov 15 @ 9:43 AM ET
You forgot New York Beer Project.
- buffalofan19



I consider that Williamsville/East Amherst/Clarence. It is close enough... and that way i don't have to say i'm going to Lockport.
jcragcrumple
Buffalo Sabres
Location: Reluctant bridge jumper; 6th round OHL draft pick, YT
Joined: 04.04.2016

Nov 15 @ 9:53 AM ET
2 points in 12 games with a 94 pdo (i cant find just shooting percentage)

i dont think thats teetering on competent. maybe if its 4 points in 24 games then i'll consider it

- robz228


0.0%
Da_Cashman
Buffalo Sabres
Location: London, ON
Joined: 04.18.2011

Nov 15 @ 9:54 AM ET
I am from Buffalo, but as I got older, moved down into the Southtowns where I went to High School. I met only ONE person from Lockport my entire life, and the only thing I knew about Lockport was Reid's and it was on the way to my Uncle's house up in Newfane...

I moved here on a whim a handful of years ago because of cheap rent... But the cost of living is closer to Amherst than it should be...

Anyway, that ONE person from Lockport could never give a reason for having left, just that he hated it and wanted to get as far away as possible.

At first, it seems like any other suburb or "mini-city" in the area - 20,000+ people is a lot larger than the 5,000 population town I went to high school in... It looks quaint, it's not filthy, and that's about it.

I maddeningly asked an acquaintance while out one night "OH MY GOD WHY THE (frank) ARE YOU PEOPLE IN THIS TOWN SO (frank)ING WEIRD???" and he just shrugged and said "It's Lockport... you either accept it or you don't, we're all (frank)ing weirdos with weird issues."

There is a really disgusting job economy, endless job postings with not even so much as an e-mail response, and you would think it's nepotism but I know locals who can't even get into places their families work at... Jobs are SUPER locked down, mostly in the service sector, and since the DSS moved here, there's a welfare economy.

The cops supposedly start off around 40k per year but no one knows what they do because I NEVER see them pulling someone over, and hardly ever see any cops or vehicles. The occasional K-9 unit and near the cop-shop yeah, but it's baffling...

This town has a lot of closet homosexuals, a lot of white trash, a lot of governmental corruption for such a small town. Women are THIRSTY. There's a shortage of straight d!ck in this town, apparently.

The thing is, the locals worship it and everything in it; They never leave, and very few come here. When you do move here and you aren't from here, you get absolutely GLARED at every time you leave your house... as if they all non-verbally say to you "I DIDN'T GO TO HIGH SCHOOL WITH YOU!" and they GLARE. They just (frank)ing stare at you and have absolutely no manners.

There's an Italian restaurant, a pizza place or a church on every street corner and as for the aforementioned sweet sauce... Yeah, if you're (frank)ing from this town you know about it but if you aren't? Hope you like jam on your pizza.

The roads are in terrible shape - You think you've driven into Salamanca FFS, and my god.... Lockport has the WORST drivers on the planet. They have no concept of the left-lane being the fast lane on a 4-lane highway, so you're usually stuck behind 2 pace cars which are MONSTER pickup trucks (there's seriously more pickup trucks per person per square mile in this town than anywhere else on Earth, I swear) and at night, everyone drives with their brights on.

There's nowhere to go where you don't feel like you're going to get jumped at night, there's nowhere to have fires or walk through the woods (no, a poopty nature trail near the water treatment plant is not that), and it has the absolute worst dive bar in WNY - The Niagara Hotel. I won't even walk on that side of the street, it's such a poop-hole.

They usually find at least 1 body per year when they drain the canal, they act like the locks are the greatest engineering feat of all-time and they act like Buffalo is 2 hours away... "You're going all the way to BUFFALO tonight??? You're crazy man!"

They built a 30 million dollar double-rink ice hockey arena, only to have their junior team, the Lockport Express, relocate to NIAGARA FALLS 2 years later...

The good: The absolute best ice cream place on Earth - Lake Effect Ice Cream; The Palace Theater is gorgeous; Transit Drive-In; Um. That's about it.

Now all I need is a local to come in here telling me I 'don't get Lockport!"

- BeadyEyedDouche


Lol that was great. Sounds like Ingersoll or Woodstock in Ontario. Lol.
ImThatGuy
Buffalo Sabres
Location: I AM MY OWN DAMN SOURCE!, NY
Joined: 11.04.2010

Nov 15 @ 10:02 AM ET
Has anyone had the Dunkin Donuts coffee beer?

Picked up a 6er last night and "waiting" to get of of work to try it.


Also, winter beers are my favorite
Porters
Stouts
Christmas ales.
jcragcrumple
Buffalo Sabres
Location: Reluctant bridge jumper; 6th round OHL draft pick, YT
Joined: 04.04.2016

Nov 15 @ 10:06 AM ET
Has anyone had the Dunkin Donuts coffee beer?

Picked up a 6er last night and "waiting" to get of of work to try it.


Also, winter beers are my favorite
Porters
Stouts
Christmas ales.

- ImThatGuy


Love Great Lakes' Edmund Fitzgerald
hehateme
Buffalo Sabres
Joined: 04.11.2017

Nov 15 @ 10:08 AM ET
I am from Buffalo, but as I got older, moved down into the Southtowns where I went to High School. I met only ONE person from Lockport my entire life, and the only thing I knew about Lockport was Reid's and it was on the way to my Uncle's house up in Newfane...

I moved here on a whim a handful of years ago because of cheap rent... But the cost of living is closer to Amherst than it should be...

Anyway, that ONE person from Lockport could never give a reason for having left, just that he hated it and wanted to get as far away as possible.

At first, it seems like any other suburb or "mini-city" in the area - 20,000+ people is a lot larger than the 5,000 population town I went to high school in... It looks quaint, it's not filthy, and that's about it.



I maddeningly asked an acquaintance while out one night "OH MY GOD WHY THE (frank) ARE YOU PEOPLE IN THIS TOWN SO (frank)ING WEIRD???" and he just shrugged and said "It's Lockport... you either accept it or you don't, we're all (frank)ing weirdos with weird issues."

There is a really disgusting job economy, endless job postings with not even so much as an e-mail response, and you would think it's nepotism but I know locals who can't even get into places their families work at... Jobs are SUPER locked down, mostly in the service sector, and since the DSS moved here, there's a welfare economy.

The cops supposedly start off around 40k per year but no one knows what they do because I NEVER see them pulling someone over, and hardly ever see any cops or vehicles. The occasional K-9 unit and near the cop-shop yeah, but it's baffling...

This town has a lot of closet homosexuals, a lot of white trash, a lot of governmental corruption for such a small town. Women are THIRSTY. There's a shortage of straight d!ck in this town, apparently.

The thing is, the locals worship it and everything in it; They never leave, and very few come here. When you do move here and you aren't from here, you get absolutely GLARED at every time you leave your house... as if they all non-verbally say to you "I DIDN'T GO TO HIGH SCHOOL WITH YOU!" and they GLARE. They just (frank)ing stare at you and have absolutely no manners.

There's an Italian restaurant, a pizza place or a church on every street corner and as for the aforementioned sweet sauce... Yeah, if you're (frank)ing from this town you know about it but if you aren't? Hope you like jam on your pizza.

The roads are in terrible shape - You think you've driven into Salamanca FFS, and my god.... Lockport has the WORST drivers on the planet. They have no concept of the left-lane being the fast lane on a 4-lane highway, so you're usually stuck behind 2 pace cars which are MONSTER pickup trucks (there's seriously more pickup trucks per person per square mile in this town than anywhere else on Earth, I swear) and at night, everyone drives with their brights on.

There's nowhere to go where you don't feel like you're going to get jumped at night, there's nowhere to have fires or walk through the woods (no, a poopty nature trail near the water treatment plant is not that), and it has the absolute worst dive bar in WNY - The Niagara Hotel. I won't even walk on that side of the street, it's such a poop-hole.

They usually find at least 1 body per year when they drain the canal, they act like the locks are the greatest engineering feat of all-time and they act like Buffalo is 2 hours away... "You're going all the way to BUFFALO tonight??? You're crazy man!"

They built a 30 million dollar double-rink ice hockey arena, only to have their junior team, the Lockport Express, relocate to NIAGARA FALLS 2 years later...

The good: The absolute best ice cream place on Earth - Lake Effect Ice Cream; The Palace Theater is gorgeous; Transit Drive-In; Um. That's about it.

Now all I need is a local to come in here telling me I 'don't get Lockport!"

- BeadyEyedDouche


Bro-this was classic, but we are going to keep you to tweet rules, 280 characters or less please.


Angler
Buffalo Sabres
Location: City of No Illusions, NY
Joined: 01.10.2017

Nov 15 @ 10:09 AM ET
I am from Buffalo, but as I got older, moved down into the Southtowns where I went to High School. I met only ONE person from Lockport my entire life, and the only thing I knew about Lockport was Reid's and it was on the way to my Uncle's house up in Newfane...

I moved here on a whim a handful of years ago because of cheap rent... But the cost of living is closer to Amherst than it should be...

Anyway, that ONE person from Lockport could never give a reason for having left, just that he hated it and wanted to get as far away as possible.

At first, it seems like any other suburb or "mini-city" in the area - 20,000+ people is a lot larger than the 5,000 population town I went to high school in... It looks quaint, it's not filthy, and that's about it.

I maddeningly asked an acquaintance while out one night "OH MY GOD WHY THE (frank) ARE YOU PEOPLE IN THIS TOWN SO (frank)ING WEIRD???" and he just shrugged and said "It's Lockport... you either accept it or you don't, we're all (frank)ing weirdos with weird issues."

There is a really disgusting job economy, endless job postings with not even so much as an e-mail response, and you would think it's nepotism but I know locals who can't even get into places their families work at... Jobs are SUPER locked down, mostly in the service sector, and since the DSS moved here, there's a welfare economy.

The cops supposedly start off around 40k per year but no one knows what they do because I NEVER see them pulling someone over, and hardly ever see any cops or vehicles. The occasional K-9 unit and near the cop-shop yeah, but it's baffling...

This town has a lot of closet homosexuals, a lot of white trash, a lot of governmental corruption for such a small town. Women are THIRSTY. There's a shortage of straight d!ck in this town, apparently.

The thing is, the locals worship it and everything in it; They never leave, and very few come here. When you do move here and you aren't from here, you get absolutely GLARED at every time you leave your house... as if they all non-verbally say to you "I DIDN'T GO TO HIGH SCHOOL WITH YOU!" and they GLARE. They just (frank)ing stare at you and have absolutely no manners.

There's an Italian restaurant, a pizza place or a church on every street corner and as for the aforementioned sweet sauce... Yeah, if you're (frank)ing from this town you know about it but if you aren't? Hope you like jam on your pizza.

The roads are in terrible shape - You think you've driven into Salamanca FFS, and my god.... Lockport has the WORST drivers on the planet. They have no concept of the left-lane being the fast lane on a 4-lane highway, so you're usually stuck behind 2 pace cars which are MONSTER pickup trucks (there's seriously more pickup trucks per person per square mile in this town than anywhere else on Earth, I swear) and at night, everyone drives with their brights on.

There's nowhere to go where you don't feel like you're going to get jumped at night, there's nowhere to have fires or walk through the woods (no, a poopty nature trail near the water treatment plant is not that), and it has the absolute worst dive bar in WNY - The Niagara Hotel. I won't even walk on that side of the street, it's such a poop-hole.

They usually find at least 1 body per year when they drain the canal, they act like the locks are the greatest engineering feat of all-time and they act like Buffalo is 2 hours away... "You're going all the way to BUFFALO tonight??? You're crazy man!"

They built a 30 million dollar double-rink ice hockey arena, only to have their junior team, the Lockport Express, relocate to NIAGARA FALLS 2 years later...

The good: The absolute best ice cream place on Earth - Lake Effect Ice Cream; The Palace Theater is gorgeous; Transit Drive-In; Um. That's about it.

Now all I need is a local to come in here telling me I 'don't get Lockport!"

- BeadyEyedDouche


What kind of person moves to Lockport "on a whim" then stays there for years only to have a mental breakdown about his life decisions on hockeybuzz? Maybe move?

Rent must be free or something. Do you get internet access free as well? I can just imagine you sitting at a library computer terminal feverously typing away this manifesto.


sbroads24
Buffalo Sabres
Location: We are in 30th place. It's 2017 , NY
Joined: 02.12.2012

Nov 15 @ 10:22 AM ET
I don't think anyone knows what this means anymore. He's producing less than a 4th liner, while playing more. He's teetering on competent. That just doesn't impress me
- jcragcrumple

Your guidelines to producing are solely based on points.

That line is getting heavy D zone starts, flipping the ice and doing a good job of drawing penalties, and not taking them.

They are producing for what they are asked to do
jcragcrumple
Buffalo Sabres
Location: Reluctant bridge jumper; 6th round OHL draft pick, YT
Joined: 04.04.2016

Nov 15 @ 10:25 AM ET
Your guidelines to producing are solely based on points.

That line is getting heavy D zone starts, flipping the ice and doing a good job of drawing penalties, and not taking them.

They are producing for what they are asked to do

- sbroads24


This is what every 4th line does, but they play more than that, and produce less
Pegullaville
Buffalo Sabres
Location: Toronto
Joined: 03.16.2011

Nov 15 @ 10:25 AM ET
Is it weird that I’m excited to see Wilson back in the lineup haha ?.

Skinner-Eichel-Reinahrt
Sheary-Mitts-Okposo
Wilson/Berglund-Erod-Pominville
Wilson/Berglund-Sobotka-Girgensons

Larsson rotates in. Send Thompson down to Rochester.
HonkFortheGoose
Buffalo Sabres
Location: "___________ stinks."-Sabres89, NY
Joined: 07.26.2008

Nov 15 @ 10:30 AM ET
This is what every 4th line does, but they play more than that, and produce less
- jcragcrumple


They get to play more because they're effective in their roles. In today's watered down NHL, the 4th liners on a lot of teams are guys who probably shouldn't be in the league in the first place. You don't have to look far to understand that, as we've experienced that a lot ourselves over the past few years.

We actually have guys that are doing exactly what you want from your 4th liners and yet there are fans complaining about them.

Just give it a rest already. Sheesh.

jdfitz77
Buffalo Sabres
Location: buffalo, NY
Joined: 05.21.2007

Nov 15 @ 10:32 AM ET
I must have missed it - where is the big success? Neither one of them contribute a lick offensively and at different times they've been sitting in the stands. Larry has been a little better but there's no room for both of these guys on the team.
- Slump Buster


Where did i say “big success” though?

What i said was...
“They aren’t as bad as u guys are making them out to be”
and
“They’d be better if playing on the 4th line in their correct roles (instead of in the top9 and even top6 at times)”

They aren’t scoring
But they’re also not really getting scored on much either, and they’re getting tough defensive minutes

Idk that u can really ask for more from a 4th line
CoHo_to_B-Lo
Buffalo Sabres
Location: East Amherst, NY
Joined: 02.29.2012

Nov 15 @ 10:33 AM ET
What kind of person moves to Lockport "on a whim" then stays there for years only to have a mental breakdown about his life decisions on hockeybuzz? Maybe move?

Rent must be free or something. Do you get internet access free as well? I can just imagine you sitting at a library computer terminal feverously typing away this manifesto.

- Angler





I cannot breathe. I am laughing uncontrollably.
jcragcrumple
Buffalo Sabres
Location: Reluctant bridge jumper; 6th round OHL draft pick, YT
Joined: 04.04.2016

Nov 15 @ 10:35 AM ET
They get to play more because they're effective in their roles. In today's watered down NHL, the 4th liners on a lot of teams are guys who probably shouldn't be in the league in the first place. You don't have to look far to understand that, as we've experienced that a lot ourselves over the past few years.

We actually have guys that are doing exactly what you want from your 4th liners and yet there are fans complaining about them.

Just give it a rest already. Sheesh.

- HonkFortheGoose


This is an article about them. I have a dissenting opinion that I want to express.

I could offer a treatise on living on the west side instead, if you'd prefer
jdfitz77
Buffalo Sabres
Location: buffalo, NY
Joined: 05.21.2007

Nov 15 @ 10:35 AM ET
This is what every 4th line does, but they play more than that, and produce less
- jcragcrumple


1) You’re gonna have to back that up
-give examples with stats please

2) we haven’t had a 4th line that can do that in quite a while
Heck, we haven’t even had a 3rd line that could do that


What exactly do u expect out of the 4th line?
jdfitz77
Buffalo Sabres
Location: buffalo, NY
Joined: 05.21.2007

Nov 15 @ 10:40 AM ET
What kind of person moves to Lockport "on a whim" then stays there for years only to have a mental breakdown about his life decisions on hockeybuzz? Maybe move?

Rent must be free or something. Do you get internet access free as well? I can just imagine you sitting at a library computer terminal feverously typing away this manifesto.

- Angler


😂😂😂
Angler
Buffalo Sabres
Location: City of No Illusions, NY
Joined: 01.10.2017

Nov 15 @ 10:41 AM ET
So, not being from buffalo, what’s the deal with Lockport? I never quite follow the conversations when you guys talk about south towns or Clarence etc. mind explaining someone?

Full disclosure, I grew up in Lockport, left for college and have never wanted to move back to Lockport. I currently live in Buffalo.

I think a little history lesson is necessary here to provide a little perspective on my home town.

An important thing to understand about Lockport is that it did NOT develop as a suburb of Buffalo. Lockport grew up as a city along the Erie canal and exists for that reason. It was awesome back in the canal days and was packed with saloons and "houses of ill repute" literally on every corner, right next to the aforementioned churches on every corner.

It's really like a 30-40 minute drive from Buffalo, and it is the heart of Niagara County - which is primarily a rural county except for the cities of Niagara Falls and Lockport (and NT). As such, Lockport serves as a draw for all of the rural areas around it.

For many years, Lockport was sustained by Harrison Radiator which was a huge industrial plant making all the radiators for all of the GM vehicles. Lockport did well back then and I can remember sitting in class when a teacher asked how many students parents worked at Harrison's. More than half of the kids raised their hands. Manufacturing jobs paid well, had pensions, etc. and there were a lot of engineers working there as well. There is only one high school, and not many private schools available, so everyone that lives there went to school together and knows everyone, in all walks of life. There is no separation of the classes out there and I think it is unique in that way.

Ultimately, as we have ALL seen throughout WNY, and the rust belt generally, times have changed, the plant has closed, and Lockport has fallen on hard times. Just like Buffalo and WNY in general, the beauty of Lockport is in the old roots and depth of the families, the old homes, the old restaurants, food, bars, traditions, etc. It is what makes our region unique in this country, I believe. It is also why chain restaurants don't survive in our neck of the woods.

There are lots of problems with Lockport, don't get me wrong, but also don't forget that it is just a microcosm of the economic problems that have affected our region as a whole. Don't get so high and mighty about your superiority over Lockport folk, because that is position we all hate when Buffalo gets crapped on nationally.
hubie
Buffalo Sabres
Location: Matt Ellis is my patronus, NY
Joined: 06.28.2011

Nov 15 @ 10:43 AM ET
I consider that Williamsville/East Amherst/Clarence. It is close enough... and that way i don't have to say i'm going to Lockport.
- CoHo_to_B-Lo


Id dont really call the Drive In area lockport really....
jcragcrumple
Buffalo Sabres
Location: Reluctant bridge jumper; 6th round OHL draft pick, YT
Joined: 04.04.2016

Nov 15 @ 10:44 AM ET
1) You’re gonna have to back that up
-give examples with stats please


2) we haven’t had a 4th line that can do that in quite a while
Heck, we haven’t even had a 3rd line that could do that


What exactly do u expect out of the 4th line?

- jdfitz77




"The average point production for a fourth liner in the NHL is somewhere around 18-20 points over a 82 game season. Some will have more goals than others, but they typically end up around that mark. Some higher-end fourth liners excel beyond that, but then you could argue that they really should be a third-liner instead of toiling away on the fourth line, like a Brian Boyle."

https://www.google.com/am...ater-analysis-fourth-line

Larsson on pace for 13

Averaging 14:35 - 3rd line minutes

https://www.hockey-refere.../players/l/larssjo02.html
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