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And this is where Josh Norris comes in: 61.2% on PP faceoffs last year. He's also effective on the PP in general: he averaged 3 minutes a game last year and his career goals per 60 on the PP is 2.83 These are the Sabres numbers from last year in that stat: Zucker 3.16 Thompson 1.90 Benson 1.70 Peterka 1.61 Krebs 1.46 Tuch 0.95 This. Or maybe Quinn. Bumper is the most unsettled, least effective spot on the unit. it's a spot that some teams utilize to deadly effect. You need quick hands and quick reads to make sudden plays in tight, the ability to find seams and create space, and an accurate shot. Benson can read plays and pass in traffic better than any other forward, but he lacks separation and a killer shot. Quinn has the hand skills, but frequently isn't sudden enough. Still he creates separation and has a deadly wrister. I think you lean into one of those guys, hoping Benson's shot has improved, or Quinn's willingness to get to the net and make good puck decisions has returned.

Lame. We may have to bag skate you to get you into regular season form.

It all comes back to this.

Lots of good points! On the drop pass. Yes the trailers are often two far behind but at times, Dahlin the primary puck carrier did not set it up correctly. The basic Idea of the drop entry is for the carrier to skate to the attacking defender then set a screen to open a lane for the second skater to exploit a hole or a pass to through 3 remaining defenders at the blue line. Many times Dahlin being Dahlin he just would deak out the defender then drop the pass back (he was better at it later in the year). When he gets past the defender he should just keep going deep into the zone letting people chase him around. It kind of raises the question about why your doing the drop pass in the first place when you have 3 defenders who can carry the puck into the zone against just about anybody? Let Dahlin roll and create behind the net and keep a second D man on the ice to cover the point. The Sabres gave up 8 short handed goals last year and it seemed like it should have been more. They not only have to score more on the power play they have to defend better. Yes it's probably only a swing of 2 or 3 goals but they tend to be important ones when they happen. Wild slap shots that miss the net are part of the reason. 100 mph shot that misses creates a big rebound the other way. Some of the players covering the point were not very good at it. I Thought it might improve with Skinner gone but when Dahlin goes to the net someone has to be back. I am an advocate for using 2 D men on the Buffalo power play. The lack of movement and screens are obvious.

Perhaps a little reminder is in order. Nope, no smoke here: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/assault-allegations-donald-trump-recapped

That's fair. It gets me to thinking that having a billionaire owner - especially one who once signed off on a slide deck with a slide that had the word "Lifestyle" in its title and contained a picture of his yacht under construction - is a huge obstacle to being a supporter of a pro sports team.

Some of you guys should put your name in. No, seriously, it's amazing you never got beyond SabreSpace.

Terrific analysis. Everything you described was observable to the hockey unschooled (like me) because the same patten of play almost always existed. What got me the most irritated about the PP was the resistance to adjust, embodied by a stationary Tage shooting the same blasting shot from the usual location. How about some movement, how about players rotating positions, how about more quickly moving the puck? And as you point out, how about taking the puck behind the net forcing the defense to react to you instead of you reacting to the defense? It's the forcing a square peg in a round hole mentality. In this case being stubborn is being stupid. As @LGR4GM has pointed out on a number of occasions, with hockey, like most sports, there is a basic/standard strategy used in the game. It's not rocket science. However, even within its basic nature there needs to be some variation and adaptability to way the opposition is reacting. The Buffalo Sabres have set the standard for bad ownership, bad GM work and bad coaching. What's worse than being stupid is being stubbornly stupid!

I like both terms but currently do not want to be called a supporter because it sounds like I am contributing to Terry’s yacht maintenance program.

As you and others have said, zone entry success would lead to a bump in goals just from spending more time in the zone. I can’t stand watching a glacial paced Power retrieve the puck, dawdle to the red line and drop it 80 feet to kill 20 seconds of precious PP time. The drop pass (30 feet) should be one of 4-5 options to keep other teams guessing.

You don’t need to belabour it but you will. Shoutout. In my view, there are real distinctions and this is a fascinating object of discussion/debate. I think about how towns/cities/counties can turn out full force to support some third tier semipro club. What’s going on there? Those people are something other than folks who pore over advanced analytics and wear a vintage Mike Peca jersey (or whatever). Neither one is better than the other, per se, although one’s allowed to have preferences. And as always, there’s a continuum too. Okay, I need the STFU.

I have no idea about the x's and o's but a team that scores so many goals you would think would have a better PP. This is such a critical aspect of an NHL teams success or failure that it has to be addressed. What I would try, if they do not do something like this already, is team building exercises. I'd have the PP units practice at 5 on 4 soccer and 5 on 4 basketball along with other exercises. Do whatever it takes to build chemistry between them up to the point where they can't stand being around each other. Just put them in different situations where they need to work together and think together so they get to react as a unit.

Oates would be an interesting choice. Haven't seen Bob Woods get signed anywhere yet. Would love to have him back. The Bills brought back Aaron Kromer. Woods should be their PP coach.

Appert, who was hired by KA, who was hired by TP. Does getting rid of them fix some issues? Appert was a goalie, he probably knows what a good PP looks like from the net out but c’mon. I’ve mentioned this name a few years ago as an outside the box hire. Adam Oates was a PP playmaking wizard and I believe he does skills training now and has coached at the NHL level.

Yes, they need to be willing to have more than just Zucker crashing the net. (Meant to include that in the tome above.) That's why Benson is my 1st choice to play the bumper. He sees the ice well and is one of only 2-3 players that goes to the net religiously.

To the 1st bolded. You are NEVER going to score if you don't have possession in the zone. To the 2nd, no, dropping the puck from the red line back to the dots inside your own zone is NOT what other teams do. They drop the puck back 40' or 60' tops. They DON'T have the puck consistently going back nearly 1/2 the ice. To the 3rd, already gave that info. 🍺

Bump. Looking forward to a nice weekend

The lead story on the CBC website right now is "Canadians caught in crossfire as U.S. customs searches of electronic devices rise at borders".

Step 1: identify who “crafted” the power play. Step 2: get them a new job Step 3: bring in someone with a proven track record.

Entries and faceoff/possession at the start of the power play are the first two issues. Resolve those and they can get up to 18%. The second is Tage. Good shot, yes. Winning possession back on the wall. Helping with entries… Not really. He needs to begin to outwork the PK in addition to out-heighting them. Do that and a good PP is possible. And Ppwer needs to own PP2.

Lack of movement, predictability, losing puck battles, and too much perimeter play. Those are the main problems. Can you fix it? Sure, but the current personnel have to be willing to play differently. Are they? Will they? I doubt it. The last time we had a really good PP (if I remember correctly) we had ROR on the team. This was key. Now we can argue that "face offs don't matter" but winning that offensive zone draw and getting instantly set up will increase your PP percentages without a doubt. We need net front presence to actually screen the goalie. Thompson's big enough to be that guy but he won't be that guy, he'll want to be a sniper so somebody else has to do that. Benson? Willing but small. Tuch? A little, but not really all that willingly physical. idk who effectively takes that role. idk who can drive the play down the wall but maybe considering we have 3 PP D types maybe we break the current mold and use 2 D on the points. With the players we have we need speed and movement. They need to practice and practice it and play much better positionally so they can blind pass and be where the puck is going to be rather than just waiting for it. Maybe that's a confidence thing but it's also a young player thing and we just won't be better if they are still filled with Cozens type hesitation.

Maybe the lesson is don’t put talented skill players with crap 4th line players and expect them to produce.

@Taro T mentions it above, but both he and I have said it before: try Byram in the Peterka spot. The fact of the matter is that the three best passers on the team are probably Dahlin, Byram and Power. Power might be able to do it too, but he tends to slow things down and I think the Sabres PP needs to speed things up. Bo moves his feet and the puck a little faster. (Might also help with entries) Id be curious to see how many high danger shot assists the guys not named Rasmus made to Tage.

Thank you. Plumbing isn’t necessarily complicated. But I’m ready to write a check to a pro and I’m still struggling. I’ll tell you this…my 14 year old isn’t going to college just because that’s the next logical step. Either he works toward a career via college or he’s going into the trades. No reason to go into debt for 100k+ when there’s so much opportunity to do it differently.

I have no idea how to study zone time versus PP time (to understand how much of a problem zone entries were), but I’m focusing on PP zone time. They both matter, but gaining the zone with possession doesn’t help if they still cannot score. The drop back pass for a D to rush the 5 on 4 is an industry accepted practice. It’s frustrating to watch, but it is also how most teams run their PP. I’m not going to defend it. So who is the PP1 unit you want out there? Maybe Norris can be a new shoot first option that frees Tage to bomb from his office? One thing we know is Norris isn’t going to be creative with the puck. He’s a guy who shoots 100% of the time.