ska-T Palmtown
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Posts posted by ska-T Palmtown
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Am I doing something wrong? No video at the above link 😢
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43 minutes ago, Doohickie said:
Here's one for you: Josh Allen holds the record for the most total touchdowns (passing + rushing) in a player's first eight seasons, with 262 touchdowns through his first eight years in the NFL. Last night's game was the first game of his 8th season, and he already held the record before kickoff.
He passed Thurman Thomas for career rushing TDs last night, too!
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8 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:
There was a time and place for each but they did neither. This was the time to spend to the cap but they didn't and they didn't fill the holes and thus they are going to battle with Boston for last place in the division. woohoo!
The tear down was the time for moves like this one. They got a lot of picks and prospects but could have had more. San Jose is doing a complete do over. Now wait and watch them pass us in a few years just like Montreal has.
I would love to defend the Sabres, but there is nothing to defend. I do not understand people who try to still say they are doing anything right. They are not a serious franchise.
To the bold, that is patently false. There *was* a time when taking on a dead contract was the thing to do ... and they did it. I feel gross "defending" the front office, but it is a simple fact. The current roster is well above the cap floor, so taking on a dead contract would be even more stupid than leaving some unused space below the cap.
1 hour ago, JohnC said:Read carefully to what I wrote. I said that they are not likely and inclined to do so. I didn’t say never. And that is a fact. The SABRES can handle their contract situation any way they want. That’s not the end all or be all when evaluating them. The bottom line is their record. On that measurement they are lagging.
You too - of course they are not currently inclined to take on a dead contract to get to the cap floor that they are already well above.
In general, it seems crazy to a) be mad at San Jose for getting to the cap floor (which the Sabres have also done in the past) and b) mad (?) the Sabres are not making the same move now. What an odd argument this all was.
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8 hours ago, dudacek said:
I'm a little confused.
According to this, the Sabres starting 6 averages of 6'3.67", more than 2 inches above the NHL median for defencemen.
Just running through some quick math on the conference, the Sabres are:
- Tied with the Devils
- 3 inches taller than Boston
- 3 inches taller than Florida
- 3 inches taller than Tampa
- 6 inches taller than Toronto
- 6 inches taller than the Rangers
- 8 inches taller than Detroit
- 9 inches taller than Philadelphia
- 11 inches taller than Carolina
- 11 inches taller than Washington
- 12 inches taller than the Islanders
- 12 inches taller than Ottawa
- 13 inches taller than Montreal
- 13 inches taller than Columbus
- 16 inches taller than Pittsburgh
I don't know if it means anything, but it does seem pretty notable
Well something ain't quite right here. If the Sabres are 6'-3 5/8" average ... and Pitt is 16 inches shorter, that makes them (quick goat math) ... 4'-11 3/8"?
Honestly, nothing beyond being, say 3" taller than another team (using averages) makes much sense. That link was so ... click-baity I had trouble finding too many real stats.
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17 minutes ago, pi2000 said:
Here’s a breakdown of the regular-season point production for second-line wingers on NHL playoff teams from the 2022–2023 season:
🏒 2022–2023 NHL Playoff Teams: Second-Line Wingers' Regular Season Points
Team Player Position GP G A PTS PPG
New York Rangers Alexis Lafrenière LW 82 28 29 57 0.70
New Jersey Devils Timo Meier RW 82 40 46 86 1.05
Carolina Hurricanes Seth Jarvis RW 82 21 38 59 0.72
Toronto Maple Leafs Michael Bunting LW 82 23 26 49 0.60
Minnesota Wild Matt Boldy LW 82 31 32 63 0.77
Colorado Avalanche Artturi Lehkonen LW 82 19 29 48 0.59
Dallas Stars Mason Marchment LW 81 17 30 47 0.58
Vegas Golden Knights Jonathan Marchessault LW 82 28 36 64 0.78
Los Angeles Kings Kevin Fiala LW 82 23 28 51 0.62
Boston Bruins Jake DeBrusk LW 82 27 23 50 0.61
Tampa Bay Lightning Brandon Hagel LW 82 30 34 64 0.78
Florida Panthers Carter Verhaeghe LW 82 42 31 73 0.89
Edmonton Oilers Zach Hyman LW 82 36 34 70 0.85
Seattle Kraken Jared McCann LW 79 40 30 70 0.89
New York Islanders Anders Lee LW 82 28 23 51 0.62
Winnipeg Jets Kyle Connor LW 82 31 49 80 0
📊 Observations
Point Production Range: Second-line wingers on playoff teams typically recorded between 49 and 86 points during the 2022–2023 regular season.
Points Per Game (PPG): This translates to approximately 0.60 to 1.05 points per game, indicating a strong offensive contribution.
Top Performers: Players like Timo Meier (86 points) and Kyle Connor (80 points) were standout contributors in their respective teams' top six.
🔍 Comparison to Your 17-Year-Old WHL Example
If a 17-year-old winger in the WHL records 98 points in 68 games, that equates to approximately 1.44 points per game. Projecting this to an 82-game NHL season using a typical WHL-to-NHL translation factor of 0.30, the NHLe would be:
1.44 PPG × 0.30 × 82 games = ~35.5 points
This projection is slightly below the typical production of a second-line winger on a playoff team.
But that is only one second line winger per team, presumably the highest scoring second line wing? Add in that Meier and Conner likely outscored at least one wing on the first line of their respective teams and I find this data less than compelling. I am not say I don't agree that Benson's point production is borderline for a playoff team's second line, I just think your data is incomplete.
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On 7/31/2025 at 2:46 PM, tom webster said:
The problem with all that size is that the NHL is actually getting smaller, especially on defense. Florida was the third lightest team in the playoffs this year and only Tampa has won a cup recently with a heavy defense.
Your facts and figures and logic are not welcome here. Please peddle elsewhere!
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8 hours ago, MattPie said:
Well, if the Sabres trade Doan to the Leafs *of course* he's not going to win a cup there. Let's not be ridiculous.
And I do get your point, probably half of every SC winner's roster played somewhere else before that. Buffalo isn't unique in that regard. That doesn't make my statement (joke) any less true, he's more likely to win a cup if the Sabres are dealing him to a team looking to make a run than with the Sabres... Because if the Sabres are dealing him they're probably out of the chase anyway.
I totally understood you were just playing along with the running joke, and don't begrudge you that. Heck, all opinions are welcome, right? I normally add a "not directed you" disclaimer when I just wanna pick at a point with broader SS.
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2 minutes ago, Taro T said:
Don't believe it's so much that the guys entering their 3rd year are penned into the lineup so much as we might see a 3rd year guy and a 2nd year guy penned onto Thompson's line which will essentially be the 1st line. AND it's possible that Quinn, after as awful a start to a season as you can have and NOT get sent back to Ra-cha-cha MIGHT be on the 2nd line. And Doan could find himself in the top 6 in place of one of those other 3.
That is a LOT of youth to give significant roles to.
Now if they were spread across the 2nd - 4th lines, nobody would really bat an eyelash at them provided the guys stepping up actually get the job done.
Fair points, except for the last - you have been around long enough to know someone will always take exception to anything this franchise does 😁- and rightfully so, until they prove us wrong!
I know I would not be as frustrated with the trades of young talent (and I am only really at a 4/10 on that - with a cap of 7/10 for anything the team does. 3 point penalty for the fourteen year drought), if they were actually the young talent, not THE talent. Two more Zucker/Tuchs and trading JJP for D help looks a helluva lot cleaner on paper.
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1 hour ago, dudacek said:
How many full-time NHL players entering their 3rd years can you name whose lineup spots aren’t guaranteed?
How many NHL will enter training camps this year with more then a couple bottom-tier roster spots up for grabs?
I sense a strong contingent of SS feels that the quality of the 3 year NHL "Vets" that are penned into the line up in Buffalo are not the type that might be penned into the line up for a true playoff contender. I think there is some merit to that line of thinking.
However, the Sabres regularly get rid of "fringe players" that go on to serve very nicely in appropriate roles on playoff teams. This leads back to the same old song and dance of "if it ain't the players, it must be the team" And GM and Owner own the responsibility for what the "team" is. Sigh.
And before LGR gets mad - I love love love me some Zack Benson. I don't think it is a stretch to think he will get some serious Selke consideration at some point in his career. Would he have cracked the lineup of a strong playoff team 3 years ago? Probably not. But again - team failure.
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8 hours ago, MattPie said:
I player that'll win the cup... on another team after the Sabres trade him and the deadline in 3 years.
Aren't "we" at SS tired of this trope? I looked at the SC roster EDM and FLA ... here is the list of terrible franchises that let players go that ended up in the SC finals:
ANA, ATL/WPG, FLA (yes, two players drafted by FLA played for EDM, lol), VAN, STL, TOR, NJD, NASH, PIT, CGY, DET, DAL, BOS, CAR, ARI, BUF (oops), COL
Plus it appears that SIX undrafted FA's (5 for FLA, 1 for EDM) also played. Obviously we all know E-Rod got his start in Buffalo.
It just doesn't shake out that only Buffalo trades away talent. All those franchises were either "dumb enough" to trade them or "terrible enough of a destination" that they could not resign them. In the modern NHL, players move around A LOT.
Every team has a handful of home grown talent and a huge helping of "cast-offs" from other teams. 4 of FLA's top 5 scorers were from other teams. Including the almighty Sam Bennett.
The loaves have made the playoffs for a long time (something we, the Sabres faithful, would kill for) ... they just traded away Marner. Shrug emoji sums it up for me.
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This is nothing new ... but it is beyond pathetic
The average number of playoff appearances since 2000 (not counting the Covid year) is 12 (note there were no playoffs in 2005). A standard deviation is 4.2 - which means anything between 8 and 16 is still kinda (?) "normal". Vegas and Seattle are excused. So, on the low end only Buffalo, Phoenix/Utah, and Columbus are outside of a reasonable variation. At the high end, Sharks (?!), Broons, Pens, and Caps are more than a standard deviation above the average.
The median is 14.
Bold italic numbers are active streaks.
* means if you include the Covid year, the streaks gets one longer
+ means if you include the Covid year, the streak reduces to 5 (or 6 for the 'Nucks).
If you discount Vaygus and Seattle, the average worst streak length per team is 6 years.
Discounting the two covid years, roughly 1/3 of the teams that missed the playoffs one year make it the next. This is where that stats show it is not just "odds". By the 1/3 rule, the average streak would be roughly 3 years. Which means there are a significant number of teams who drop out of the playoffs for less than 3 years, then pop back in. And, to go with that - a bunch of teams that cannot get back in within 3 years. This peaked in 2015 and 2017 when half of the teams that missed the playoffs the previous season made it in the next year. It should also be noted that the last four years, just below 70% of teams have made the playoffs in any given 3 year period - the lowest in the 2000's, but with one more team not making it - this checks out.
Diving further ... since 2000 - an average of 77% of the league makes the playoffs within any given 3 year period.
Since 2000, every team has made the playoffs three years in a row except ... Buffalo 😞 (Seattle, too - but c'mon)
Edit: Dive Deeper? OK ... Since 2000 - an average of 84% of the league makes the playoffs in any given 4 year period. This was greater than 90% in 2010, 2015, 2019, and 2021 ... Sabres, Oilers, and Phoen-tah miss in 3 out 4 of those years.
A word about straight "odds" - over a three years stretch, based solely on 1/2 the league making it (was actually more than that most of the 2000's), it should be 87.5% of teams making it. The real data is 77% (which means about 61% chance of missing each year). Similarly, for 4 years it should be 93.8%, real data is 84% - which oddly enough equates to a 63% chance of missing the playoffs. The 4 teams who managed to miss the playoffs for a staggering 10 or more years in a row obviously skew the data away from the statistical norms.
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30 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:
I'm the same.
I have mentioned it before, but growing up I was a bigger Bills fan. From the time I was about 10 years old I had season tickets (with my father) and then when I got to my teens I started going with friends until I was in my middle-to-late 20's. Never missed a Bills game. Hardly ever missed ANY NFL game on tv. Played the video games, knew the roster, watched the draft, etc.
I'm not sure why, but right about the the time the Bills drafted Allen, my love for the Bills and the NFL started going down. No particular reason, no 'political stand' or anything like that. But I'm at the point with the NFL, and the Bills, that I just don't care anymore. Last year I hardly watched any games (maybe 2-3 full games and parts of 2-3 more games), and this year, I doubt I'll even watch any unless I am home and have absolutely zero to do.
for me - it is far more of a first-world NFL problem. I am actually nervous about the Bills living up to expectations, so watching the games is WAY more gut-wrenching.
Back in the days when the Bills were Cheatriots punching bag ... hang out with friends at a Bills bar, eat wings, drink beer, cheer/cry.
During the Kelly days - I was still in middle school / high school so I dealt with stress better, lol. I did stay home from school the day after "wide right". But I think half the school did.
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Two things: First - yeah, Salt Lake City is not exactly an upgrade on Buffalo, unless he is looking for mountains.
Second: My 5 pages of JJP hockey cards really hope he tears it up out there!
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Over on Reddit, they found the victim's social media and he is bragging he only has a black eye. FTR, he has a VERY punchable face.
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1 hour ago, PromoTheRobot said:
We need to sign him to a one-day contract and let him take the face off at the home opener. #breakthecurse
What harm could it do? I stan this decision!
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Too many folks mentioned it for me to go and find all the quotes - but I don't buy the "Sabres are losing money" bit for one single second.
I've posted it before, but many sources (CNBC, Forbes, etc) all put the 2023/24 Sabres (last year of data) as cashflow positive. One estimated a net operating profit of over $13M and another had their EBITDA (earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortization) of $15.8M. The two seem to jive given the franchise has no real debt and if the owner is responsible for maintenance of the stadium, I presume they get to depreciate that asset on the business taxes.
The talk of someone worth north of $7B scrimping on $5M for his hobby team just does not sound realistic to me. That same year the Bills had a net operating income of over $100M. Even just Pegula Sports or whatever would view the total of the teams. Sure, no one likes losing money (which he is not), but with all his proclaimed love for hockey, etc etc - it does not pass the sniff test. Could he be wary of big name free agents after some pretty spectacular swings and misses? Sure. Isn't the joke around the league that bad decisions happen on July 1?
There is also very little logic to the new Bills stadium argument. Again, this is a business, not a person. With steady operating income over $100M, there is no way T-Pegs is not financing a majority of the construction costs. Why? If you had $7B in business assets that probably give you a consistent return in excess of 10% per year - would you cash out a sizeable chunk of that money to avoid a 6% (guessing) construction loan? Heck no. I bet even with a $1B loan against the stadium, the Bills remain cash flow positive. The $1B he got from selling 20% ... he did not use that for the stadium, lol - he invested it somewhere to get more in annual returns than the cost of the loan. Also, some portion of that loan has got to be helping the bottom line on the team's taxes.
Cash poor is a total myth that we, the fanbase, have made up and internalized to ease our suffering. T-Pegs could get a low-interest $1B loan faster than most people on this board could a $30k loan to buy a car.
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7 minutes ago, thewookie1 said:
Yes, yes he does.
I can blame Adams for being an idiot for a myriad of things but I can't hold Peterka not getting signed as one if there were no negotiations.
Maybe Adams was like "how aboot 4x$4M?" ... i can see not dignifying that with a response, lol.
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1 hour ago, JohnC said:
Why would Dallas want a Byram knowing that in a year he will pursuing a long term bonanza contract? And let’s not forget that Dallas is a serious Cup contending team that will likely make the required adjustments to keep him.
I do like Zucker a lot and how he plays. But I consider him a good third line player on a rugged line on a good team. However, when you have a dearth of talent you have to adjust to that reality, at least for the time being.
I also don't think trading for Byram solves Dallas's cap problems. He wants too much. The have like $5.73 or something. (notice the there is no "M" after that number, like five bucks ... seriously)
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4 minutes ago, Night Train said:
Benching him, then extending him. Can he ever stay healthy ? He better be working on his glass body.
He has essentially played full seasons in 2 out of his 3 years in the NHL. Seems like the injury season should be looked at as the outlier, no?
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1 minute ago, JohnC said:
You didn’t accurately read my posts on the JJP trade. As a singular deal I consider it to be a good/reasonable deal for us. In a wider context with likely upcoming trade/s that deal should look even better from the vantage of ending up with a better and more balanced roster. When all is said and done it is the end product that should be the focal point when judging the transactions.
I feel like I was mostly in some sort of broad agreement with your post. I was mostly using your post as a way into the convo, tbh. That said, while we may differ on our exact feelings of the JJ trade (and admittedly, I focuses almost entirely of the effects of that one trade in the second half of my ramblings), we both feel you can't judge the trade without the context of what happens around it, ie Terry simply pocketing the $5.5M or GM Howdy Doody actually doing something useful with it. In the end for me, if the Sabres make the playoffs this year, the JJ trade is water under the bridge.
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42 minutes ago, JohnC said:
The grades mean absolutely little without giving the context of the deal/s. Are the Sabres better with this deal and another deal that most likely will be made due to the cost saving from the JJP deal after he signed his contract? For the sake of discussion, if Rust is added to the roster that came to fruition because we didn't have to sign JJP, then the combined deals seem to result in a better and mature roster.
Adding Doan, Kesselring and Rust in my opinion does improve the roster in a variety of ways even if the JJP departure is factored in. It seems that you are just being reflexively negative. If you stand back a little and take a broader view I think you will have a more positive take on the eventual tabulation. Still TBD.
I think there is some value in saying if, If, IFFFFF, the Sabres uses that $5.5M savings to get Robertson or Marner, etc - then we could look back on the series of moves having been an overall success - and that would be more meaningful, at least to me.
By itself, still not happy with this trade. I liked JJ's game. There, I said it. It seems like some people (not necessarily you, JohnnySea) seem to think that strong 2-way forwards grow on trees. I am not even sure that brand of hockey is coached at the younger levels anymore. Even looking at the list of F's that get Selke votes, many of them are "meh" overall, but the crowd is thin.
In one of the other threads, it came up that the Sabres were 3-29 when scoring 2 or fewer goals. Solve the goalie, become an acceptably mediocre team that comfortably eeks into the playoffs. Can some of that come from better D? Sure, I guess. But without JJ, they may play MORE games scoring 2 or fewer goals, thus necessitating a proportionally stronger performance from the D and G. Classic Looney Tunes where Daffy is trying to plug the holes in the dam, but runs out of fingers (? you, the kind disney ducks have)
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37 minutes ago, Thorny said:
Great post. Anecdotally I had perceived them to be front runners, seems there’s some statistical backing
I am fascinated by the Sabres going 33-17 when scoring 3 or more. I know few teams average 3 a game, but the Sabres did it FIFTY times.
50 games, 218 goals ... so for 61% of the season they averaged just over 4 goals per game.
The other 32 ... 3-29 ... WTF? 47 goals ... or a paltry 1.5 (if you round up) ... 🤮 Scoring 2 or fewer 32 times and having your goalie bail you out (checks notes ...) THRICE!?!?! We can rag on the defense all we want - but ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we need look no further than between the pipes. Nothing further your honor.
edit: tagging @stenbaro since they did the original work - I don't want to take credit!
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13 minutes ago, JohnC said:
If he's bringing you 45 pts in a top six role then in my opinion he's not a top six player. I have extolled the virtues of Benson as a player as much as most people here. However, because of his current lack of physical development I don't see him being a top two caliber of player. Will he eventually do so? I'm confident that he will. But right now, I would say no. I have never felt that he was a liability playing on the top line. But that is not to say that I felt that he was providing the team first line production.
If he comes into camp more physically developed than in his prior years, then good for him and the team. I will be open minded about where he should be slotted. But what I have seen so far that type of leap forward is a lot faster than I expect.
45 points puts you at around 150th in the league in scoring. 91 of those players are listed by ESPN as "C" or "D" (yes i know there is discrepancy between where they are listed and where they play) ... that means ~ 60 wings scored 45 or more points last year. Given that 2 wings per team play on the TOP line ... one could make an argument that 45 points as a wing is borderline TOP line production.
Not sure where the arbitrary nature of "45 points is not top 6 production" comes from. But stats don't back it up. I think there was a long discussion on McLeod in this same context. In today's watered down NHL, not every top line player is putting in 90 points ...
Edit: Dang, @dudacek typed less and beat me to it! and I was totally debating the point 🙂
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12 hours ago, Thorny said:
Keep telling yourself that so you can make yourself feel better that making the playoffs doesn’t actually matter 👍
It matters. It’s what most fans want. It’s a ridiculously low bar, it IS attainable, it is because of the FRANCHISE we don’t have it, and no matter how much you so desperately want to blame the fans, you can’t do it.
You desperately, desperately need to tell yourself that the fans interests are disingenuous - it terrifies you that what the fans want is actually attainable and that the franchise is responsible. For you, you HAVE to believe the fans can’t be happy. You NEED to believe the organization can’t satisfy.
the simple admittance most fans would be happy with playoffs torpedoes the image of the org and by dammnit Promo wont have itWhile I don't agree that "all" of Sabrespace would still be negative after a playoff berth and a quick exit - you do have to admit it is not too hard to imagine all the "blow it up, we are terrible" threads after said first round exit.
What I also so is the (fairly substantial) "Hey, we could end the drought this year" crowd morphing into the "OK, we made the playoffs, here is why I think we could build on it" crowd. After FOURTEEN freaking years, there is actually a shocking amount of optimism around this playoff-desert team, lol.
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2025 Prospects Challenge at Harborcenter 9/11-15
in The Aud Club
Posted
yay! found it