Samson's Flow

Starting to look like a two team race. Thanks for the update Taro.

Thanks X. It looks like the numbers seem to support observations as some of the better defensemen are towards the top, but it also shows a lot of good defensemen on weaker teams. Mix of players on good teams like Shattenkirk and Ehrhoff and some bottom feeders in Giordano/Brodie and Ekblad. I'll take a further look when I have some time to maybe find some more indicators in there.

The recent sabres losing streak has the 2014-15 chart looking like a double diamond run. Yikes.

No argument here with regards to McAdoo's talent. I just don't think he's in the discussion since the Braves were only here for such a short time.

Certainly the Sabres recent losing streak can directly correlate to the first line scoring drought noted above.

Relative to the historical talent in NLL, Tavares is the best NLL player ever. He's their Wayne Gretzky. In terms of big 4 and talent level, it's Dom, Bruce and OJ.

I've never heard the +/- stat relative to team +/-, but this sounds like a metric I can get behind much more than just traditional +/-. Usually I ignore +/- because the league leaders are all on the same forward line on the best team. This relative +/- stat might be a little more indicitive to actual play contibution. X - is there a site you are going to for finding this info or is it just a manual calc? I'd be interested in looking at this further.

Ahhh. Emphasis on the stealing the W part. There's clearly only one czech candidate with that opportunity tonight. sidenote: when was the last time the Sabres even had more shots than the opponent? We probably haven't had a game stolen from us in years.

:clapping:

I'm sure you know that both teams will be sending out a czech goalie tonight...

or 45 hops, 25 skips or 22 and a half jumps. If you're into that sort of thing. :nana:

How we aren't outshooting and dominating possession every night is beyond me... /sarcasm

For all the complaining about Dom off the ice, I think he is clearly the better model citizen when compared to OJ. Which is scary...

Again, eventually we need to transition from future asset collecting mode to actually rostering an NHL team. Myers is still young, a relatively good player and under contract for a number of years going forward. If the rebuild isn't going to take a decade, then Myers is someone you keep around to be a continuity force and play 2nd pairing minutes if/when Risto/Zad take over 1st pairing. Unless GMTM can trade Myers for a equally controlled, young NHL forward, then there won't be a deal. making that trade doesn't seem likely based on the trade market chatter. Draft picks don't do much for me in this trade because they are 2-3 years away from even seeing the NHL.

I'm sorry Liger, but I can't accept that the gif is of Emilia Clarke. It has to be someone else. She's neither blonde, nude or covered in dragons. Carry on.

and we take the "D" out of Coy Hogson lately as well. Watching the Dom play goal was probably the first real memories I had as a Sabre fan when I was young. I remember during the 99 cup run we had to attend a wedding during one of the early round playoff games. There was a tiny (I mean like 19" incher) tv set up in the back room of the church, and of course halfway through the ceremony me, my father and about 15 other guys were huddled around the tv watching Dom and Sabres win a playoff game. It was a pretty wild scene (and I'm sure the bride was none too pleased). Staying up late to watch him carry the team back then was great. There was this feeling that the other team just had no chance to score (even though looking back i'm sure our Corsi/Fenwick was atrocious) and we just needed to wait until the Sabres forwards could pot one. The flair and routinely amazing plays are one of the things that hooked me forever as a die hard Buffalo Sabres fan.

There's also Tim Hortons, which should only be a hop away, or 716, which is a hop, skip and 40 min wait in the cold away.

You could also go with the slow marinated baby and leave it overnight in a Chiavetta's marinade. Makes for a more tender baby eating experience.

Here's a site that I have been using for hockey stats related discussions. The difference here is that they track 5 on 5 seperately, eliminating the shots on goal from powerplays etc. Carolina is 11th in season corsi at +69, wheras the Sabres are a shocking -851 for DFL. Next worst corsi team is Columbus at -251. Yeah you read that right. http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/teamstats.php?disp=1&db=201415&sit=5v5&sort=CF&sortdir=DESC To address your Toronto concerns, it's important to also look at corsi relative to goals per game differential. Toronto is 20th with a -383 5v5 corsi, but thier goals for/goals against per game is almost even. They make up for thier low corsi by having a very high shooting % of 9.39 which is #1 in the whole league. The Sabres in comparison have an average 7.34 (19th) and a goals for/goals against per game of -1.04 (which is also DFL). You can't just look at Corsi in a vaccuum but it does indicate the style of play and who controls play game to game. Buffalo never has the puck and when they do, they are slightly below-average at scoring when they shoot.

Also please note that the stats I listed above were for 5 on 5 play only, which is why those numbers may differ from some of the other numbers that are thrown around. All the indicators are showing that the Canes should be better and the Sabres should be much worse. I don't think both teams will continue to be outliers to the statistical indicators for the remainder of the season

This is the game we have all been waiting for. A big CHL matchup along with the raping/pillaging rivarly makes this one a must watch. A little fun stat from this morning's water cooler talk. Carolina is 11th in season corsi at +69, wheras the Sabres are a shocking -851 for DFL. Next worst corsi team is Columbus at -251. Yeah you read that right. http://stats.hockeyanalysis.com/teamstats.php?disp=1&db=201415&sit=5v5&sort=CF&sortdir=DESC

IMO that is one of the biggest issues that Downtown Buffalo needs to resolve (and are working on fixing). Without good walkability and eliminating the riff-raff that hang out downtown at night, sustained growth and small business development will be hard to come by. Right now there are pockets of desirable areas in Buffalo but they need to be connected and accessable in order for the city to truly transform from the former rust-belt days.

If I recal correctly, that site is a compilation of a ton of simulations that the site admins run (something like 10,000+) based on prior results and expected outcomes. So for example Detroit has a 70% chance of winning against the Sabres, etc. The cells listed as "0%" have at least a few data points that resulted in that outcome, so the chance of Buffalo making the playoffs is something like 10 results out of 10,000 simulations (<1%). The ones with "NO" means that the odds are so bad that none of their simulations resulted in that outcome. So in essence, the Sabres are bad.

No argument here. Walking from the theater district to lafayette was always a bit of an adventure. Nothing like boarded up buildings to make visitors feel safe and welcome.

That area is actually in the process of being turned into a restaurant strip, with most of those buildings turning into 1st floor retaurants and 2nd/3rd floor apartments. I assume from your description you are referencing the buildings with the old 'Louies Texas Hots' signage? It is being upgraded as we speak. Linkage: http://buffalorising.com/2014/11/gastro-corridor-expands-with-planned-pizza-restaurant-at-5-7-genesee-street/