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Agreed! Honestly, Bryson is probably one of the best skaters in the NHL, I'm not kidding but as for anything else, he's USELESS!

Could you clarify? I understand the Sabres 10-game win streak scenario where fancy stats correctly predicted the team was getting bounces and wasn’t going to sustain. But does it have any predictive qualities when it comes to individual players?

I was very much in favour of trading the reality of Peterka for the concept of Kesselring and Doan. The concept of Peterka for (what might be) the reality of of Kesselring and Doan is another story.

It's why you don't use 1 fancy stat to explain a player. It however has better predictive measures than +/- so what you say there is not correct.

Absolutely. It might narrow the pool of available players but not in a crippling fashion and ownership still has a great deal of control to keep themselves off of NTC lists. Come on Kevyn, two of the best teams in the league last year were Edmonton and Winnipeg.

I haven’t read the particulars on how, but that has apparently been dealt with in the new CBA

Nor am I... Pegula and he did this to themselves... and should not use this as a crutch... its unfortunate, it does create an imbalance... but it doesnt absolve them of their utter mismanagement of the organization and massive damage to their brand.

They're handing out a lot of things to players in their deals now that hurt the trade market. The other big one is how many people are getting the maximum term. Those deals used to be reserved for the cream of the crop, but now they hand them out like candy. How on earth does Pierre Engvall get 7 years? Hopefully the new CBA limiting that by one year will help a bit.

It does create a competitive imbalance so from a parity perspective it should be limited. But the human perspective - that people should have freedom to decide where they work - I’m in favour. The fact the NHL limits it to veteran players seems to be a fair compromise to me. Semi-related, it’s not the drag on team creation some make it out to be. I’m not drinking the Kevyn Adams koolaid on that one.

xGF% is an interesting stat. It gets thrown out in some quarters as the defining characteristic of how good a player is, but it’s really just a measurement of high danger chances allowed versus created that is heavily influenced by team factors such as system, deployment and teammates. It has all the same inherent weaknesses as plus/minus when it comes to player comparisons. Or do we really believe Jordan Spence, Shayne Gostisbehere and Nate Schmidt are elite players (ranked 2, 3 and 4), while Brock Faber (169), Brandon Montour (177) and Seth Jones (209) are terrible?

I do see this as well... especially drafting at 18... its a big crap shoot in the NHL to an extent and you dont improve your team except for rarely for 2 years minimum. I do think it results in a competitive disadvantage.. especially when you are dealing with two separate countries (4 if you count NY and California LOL ) and their tax laws..

this is a fair thought... it definitely is a sticky subject...

Unlike the NFL, the draft is not the primary way to build in the NHL. Minor league development, ability to make trades, and free agency are equally as important. When players are allowed to refuse trades it hurts the bottom teams or the less glitzy destinations. NFL rosters are more than twice the size as an NHL roster. I see 260 NMCs in the NHL, and only 7 in the NFL. I think NMCs are hurting the ability of many teams to compete. And get rid of the "over the salary cap" NHL playoff teams too. Now that is really dumb.

Dahlin was 50th, 1 slot behind Kesselring, who led Utah. But Utah overall was very good at that particular stat, with 5 D in the top 79. It remains to be seen if he (and Timmins, who also is good at this stat) can elevate Byram and Power (165 and 168) at all, or if they get pulled toward the bottom in Buffalo.

I personally believe there should be a minimum per team. Say 1 forward, 1 defense, 1 goalie, and then one for one other player could be any position. That I think would keep it interesting and fair. Those positions would be full no moves and then you would have no partial or 10 team no trades. I do understand the players want no trades because they don't want to uproot there family or play for teams they don't want to play for. But that's what you signed for and as a fan, especially a fan of a team that has a hard part attracting free agents, trades are the only way to augment and add talent. Free Agency is where players can pick where they want to go. And maybe we need to make Free Agency earlier if we were to change the no-move rules.

Chicken or egg, half the D were a terrible match for the system last year. People talk a lot about how Byram’s fancy stats got inflated by Dahlin. They don’t talk about how they got deflated by the other guys. Clifton, Bryson and Samuelsson were truly awful in Lindy’s system. As in 208, 202 and 223 out of 240 D who played 300 minutes last year.

Congrats. Your son shows compassion, you and your wife did good. Yes, they have a lot of work ahead and i hope they can get the dog healthy again. Twelve years ago my son found a Pit Bull puppy that was discarded on the streets. I did not like it at the time but he took him in. He took him to the vet and got him healthy. He trained him and he had a great companion until April when the dog passed away. That dog was good for him.

NMCs seem to come up alot in discussion... just looking to see if folks are fine with it, think it should change, or some kind of hybrid... I am in between the if you dont like that people wont come to you do better... and putting some kind of age minimum in there... but just interested in peoples thoughts...

You are probably correct. I keep thinking like the 31 other teams.

But it's not, really, is it? It's Lindy's final season as a coach. He could step into the front office, I suppose, as an advisor? But he's not coaching anywhere else in the NHL and Appert is already slotted to take over. Adams could get fired if they're a trainwreck, but... he listens to the owner. Jarmo is there, but is he really a threat if he doesn't go full ingratiation mode? Would he want to do that? The Bills are still good and building a stadium and therefore command the attention. It's status quo and trades are hard and why goaltend until Levi is ready for Adams.

Is complete fantasy, but would have been good to see TP go after Pete DeBoer.

You told us what to expect on Clifton. In his interview with Jon Scott he talked about the first season in Buffalo, playing on his wrong side, and how he had trouble the adjusting to Granato's system. He did recover that first season and ended with a +12 after a horrendous start. He was accountable for his performance though and made no excuses. Everything about Clifton's game declined under Lindy which surprised me. He even had less PIMs and less fights, and he saw very limited action at the end of the season. It was time for both parties to move on. I have some big concerns about how the players reacted to Lindy. The team play declined overall, and the Athletic had that players survey (limited to 111 players) that was not complimentary to Lindy at all. Big year coming for both Adams and Lindy. Cozens - you have to admit he really struggled again. I don't understand how he got the "A" and lets face it, he was handed the 2C job years ago. Cozens (and others such as Quinn and Peterka) were allowed to play a one-way game in their first few seasons.

Specifically, the Sabres moved away from a bunch of guys with bad xgf%. Whether that's deliberate or just more dart throwing, idk. The other issue is better coached teams have better xgf% overall. So we'll see what happens. Xgf% is impacted by how teams play. Buffalo plays or played a very rush oriented attack with limited ability to cycle, so they don't get a bunch of chances. On the inverse they were mediocre shot getting pucks out so that all comes together.

Yeah, I think Muel based on his minutes is a major anchor... Gilbert was just an 8th d who was a C minus fighter that was willing... just an Adams failed nod to you need someone to respond.... here lets throw this cannon fodder out there to get beat... cause I know he will jump in when no one else will... Cozens I agree.. as unpopular as this may be I think we see Cozens mature over the years and will become a player that people will want... right now he is just too much of a spaz and head case to be an effective player and leader night in and night out... but in the right situation I think he develops into a guy that will score 25-30 for 50-60 points... and can play two way minutes... and no, I didnt say now... (especially the 2 way minute part) but if he settles down and develops I believe he can be a taller version of a poor mans Mike Peca or a higher scoring Gaustad

The crazy part is they brought back Bryson. I think the Sabres looked at some stats and decided to upgrade, I think without better gt, it won't be enough.