Greenway A Possibility For Tomorrow | Buffalo Sabres Head Coach Don Granato

Greenway A Possibility For Tomorrow | Buffalo Sabres Head Coach Don Granato

Still a possibility for tomorrow he is a possibility for tomorrow as an update um he is I can tell you he is day to day at this point he skated this morning um to keep that conditioning in the event uh he’s things resolved to the point he’s comfortable um and we

Comfortable uh tomorrow and if not tomorrow I would think he’s the next day uh next game would be in Detroit I think he’s be on for that one but we’re hopeful tomorrow Al he has high standards for himself and expectations how how have you seen him

He was talking about he tried to balance everything and have a baseline like how have you seen him kind of handle the highs and lows and not too much pressure on not put too much pressure on himself I guess you know I’ve seen him and I’ve

Known him since he was uh 16 years old at the national team program and um watched his career closely was with him on a World Junior Team um and obviously have had him here for the last you know couple years now um and a few years now and and he he has

Really really he was mature when he got here but he’s matured even more I think um when he arrived here he obviously saw that he was you know one of the more experienced players in our locker room he sees that now and that’s that’s new territory and um seen tremendous growth

In him um where our team needs it and he has the Poise and confidence of a of a veteran player right now and that means balancing the Downs he’s not you know there were lots of up and downs when he got here and lots of pressure when he

When he got here and he’s more even since the start of the year he he even struggled at the start of the year and now he’s just kind of found a Baseline and uh pretty stady with it and a real positive influence and a and a huge

Impact every night I think he’s playing his best hockey of his career in the last couple months he’s just at a different level you think his impact on the for check can be overlooked sometimes I mean his ability to strip a I don’t know how many guys can accomplish what he

Can one gos you know Lance I I’ll compliment you because if you’re if you’re noticing it it’s not over overlooked but but in all seriousness it’s it’s you’re noticing it and and uh and I believe that other people are I I I notice it too so you’re you’re right

He is he is doing um he does some things that you know specifically the goal he stripped somebody the other night and Peta was Point Blank wide open in front of that it might have been the Washington game but that was a power forward move that not many guys in the

League can do when I say not many probably under 10 guys in the league could have done what he did athletically and his dynamic as powerful as he he did it um and those are the qualities that he has the dynamic that he has is power

And reach and strength uh speed and he is um he’s he’s learning to use it and he’s learned to use it more efficiently uh specifically made gains in that this year even I mean he was good at it last year and the year before but now he

Knows he knows the situations and he targets when he can use his attributes and assets even more specifically now um and that’s that’s a you know that’s a better version of what he was have you seen Tage I mean really the last I’d say the last couple of months really I guess

Pick up on some of like he’s seems to be working with Alex on the four Che a lot and that’s creating opportunities for J J for their entire line um they may not be getting Rush chances like you would think they may but they’re they’re ending they’re getting Zone time and

Getting Second Chances through know yeah when T is willing to put a puck behind a defenseman it it it’s it’s scary as hell I’m sure for the other defenseman um you know he’s obviously got uh the the great reach and uh and hands um you know when

He and so when he plays one-on-one he he’s he’s a threat you know he can be a threat in in that element but when a puck goes behind and you have a six foot seven guy bearing down on you um it’s pretty intimidating and I think he’s

Using that to his Advantage more uh than automatic default you know to to uh you know playing in front of the other team he’s playing and they’re playing more behind which is forcing lots of mistakes that they can then capitalize on it and it’s easier once the team makes a

Mistake uh to to capitalize on that rather than trying to stick handle through somebody um that that you know is is the alternative and um so yeah he’s he’s uh he’s added more of that to his game and it’s it’s helped it’s helped the whole team is that an

Objective that you and know you anybody you know that’s an objective I I I certainly don’t want to take credit for as a coach that’s an objective every coach says every coach talks about the importance of getting pucks behind um obviously make the opposition turn and you’re bearing down on them and

That’s when mistakes happen and in this in this league goals goals are scored when mistakes happen so you know we have a we have a term that I think everybody in the league uses make them make mistakes and um you know when you’re when you’re doing that again and T has

That that speed and it’s a soft chip and he can get on top of the guy it’s pretty intimidating and then you have uh PK and Tuck out there ready to pick a puck off and um you know that’s we like that a lot and and again so I I think every

Coach in the league would preach it preaches the same thing in that regard now he I see in the six games you’ve had the line together he has seven assists and he said that’s not by accident because he feels with the way those two can score it’s his job to get

Find get them open areas where they can score is that the way you envision the line too working that way is that why they work so well together yeah but you’re you’re what you’re telling me his response tells me I’m gonna have to go tell him to go score too well he knows

He can score he knows that but he just feels when he’s on the with two goal scores like that his job is to get find them in open areas yeah and he does a great job of that he he really does he he’s very aware of you know what’s in front of

Alex is easy for him he’s got the reach and skill and size and strength he can just keep that guy at Bay for much longer than another player or the average player so that means Alex can now think about what’s going on 10 20 feet from him most other players are so consumed

By what’s in front of them they’re in Survival Mode they can’t see everything else on the ice uh so so I think he’s aware of those guys all the time and I think he’s complimenting those two being Thompson and pka’s ability to score and ability to get open is uh p is amazing

Amazing skill he has is is the ability to slide into pockets in position off of what’s happening and and now that he has someone like Alex with him that can extend possessions like that you’re seeing JJ slide into areas out of tremendous hockey Instinct uh that

Others don’t have and and Alex is buying that extra second for JJ to sneak in areas and obviously uh tommer is is has such a tremendous range that he has twice the area that you could possibly find him too and um so for Alex uh you

Know his skill set is is a real match for those two thought process of putting JJ onto that line because JJ’s been so good all season long and obviously those guys have I I I’ve actually been hoping to put JJ there for a long long time but

That Foundation that we talk about um you know responsibility knowing knowing how be a responsible player and you know all the time you don’t have the puck positionally in the right spot to get pucks back faster and not not have your teammates have to work for you to

Compensate because you’re not in the right area to get a puck back faster uh pressure a puck push it toward tuck push it toward Thompson not just uh skate one way and then the puck goes away from Thompson and Tuck for example just as a visual so many little details that you

You need to to bring to the table if you’re going to play with the best players because they’re going to demand it and so you know it wasn’t appropriate to put him there early I think guys would have got frustrated with with JJ potentially and it could have offset

Everything it could have bumped progress and you know I think JJ’s earned his way to that and the timing was based on him gaining much better situational awar awareness and game knowledge specifically without the pck one of the things with uh that line and the offense increasing is also the cohesiveness of

The fiveman unit with the defense working in the offensive zone what have you seen from the defensive group offensively well it is really nice to put Ding and Owen power together um now the risk you’re going to run game to game they’re always going to ride that

Edge of doing too much um but they’re their high-end potent they’re they’re a pair that you want them to ride that edge because it’s going to show them what they can and can’t do and expand their offensive boundaries if we’re talking about offense uh and and push their limits even higher

Uh but we’re able to put Owen and dolls together consistently we did it sometimes and and frequently when we were down a goal uh but we’re able to do it you know starting a game z z because the addition of B Byam has really added where we can shift him with Henry yokaro

In the second pair and the progress of Henry yokaro I mean Henry yokaro from from the start of the year and you guys have watched you know Henry since he’s been in Buffalo you know there was there was Henry before the last I’d say before January 1st of this year so before 2024

You could lump every you know hry in certain category and then everything after the New Year Henry’s at a completely different level than he’s ever been in his career he’s just he’s just risen to to probably two levels above where he’s ever been and he stayed there consistently and that’s been a

Huge huge thing for you know uh the emergence of OPI for example and that’s bit a big help there and you know better play for our team is is we’ve got a guy that that really really elevated his game um you know I don’t want to say

Finally because he’s a young guy and that’s the way it works you know you you break a threshold and it’s an aha moment and and now he’s been very consistent uh with things and that’s helped us uh on the defensive end tremendously and Bryson’s been great as well add him into the mix

Too

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