LTS

Yes, for the simple minded "you are what your record is" is true. And for that moment in time, its accurate. It does nothing to reflect what will happen in the future, even so far as 1 day further. I am sure we all live our lives thinking, "Today I am healthy. Therefore, I am healthy." naturally 5 minutes after saying that you could trip over a cat, smack your head and die.

In order to block a shot you have to be in position to do so. We've talked about the Sabres defensive zone coverage issues. Good teams usually don't have to block as many shots because they don't give up as many shots. Look at things in terms of shot block percentage and not number of shots blocked. Blocking a high number of shots would indicate that you are giving a high amount of shooting opportunities. Blocking shots is important, but there's a lot that goes into that number, including skill.

if you are building a house it's not a house until it's done.. but it doesn't mean you aren't working towards having a house. There's no snap your fingers and get there option. And that's the deeper thought.. because if I walked about the frame of a house..no one around, nothing happening. Would I know if they are building or if they quit and it was actually being left to fall apart? I would have to infer from the information around the house. That's deeper thinking, but on the surface the one thing everyone can agree on.. it's not a house yet. But, will it become a house? That's the thinking part. And yet they said it.

And he is part of a well respected hockey family, etc. The guy is about as "IN" hockey as you can be. There's a world of difference between can't and won't and even more so between can't and have not yet because that wasn't in the plan. You are imposing your plan onto their plan. It's pointless to do so. Your plan is irrelevant. You can debate whether their plan is the right one, but they absolutely are following their plan. So it's not CAN'T.. it's have not yet. The discussion of a limited payroll Where is the basis of it? If you wanted they could have paid Thompson $13M a year. Would that have made you happy? They could go potentially go overpay on free agents, how does that EVER work out for teams? Where are they supposed to spend this money? Every, single, argument that comes up with regards to this team comes down to "Get a goaltender." And every response is "Who?" and every time.. every, single, time... there isn't one that fits the argument. The UFA goalies can choose where they want to go and making a trade only works if you have a trade partner, and an option that makes sense. UFAs don't usually go to young teams that have not established they can win. Why would they? Do you think OBJ would have the Bills on his list of teams if this were 7 years ago? 100% not. It has nothing to do with the city, it has to do with having put in their time in the league and earning the right to control their destiny. And even UFAs get it wrong. People keep arguing "Do something." and then conveniently ignore three simple things: 1. In order to do something, there has to be something to do. 2. If there's something to do, it has to be a good hockey move. 3. If it's a good hockey move, it has to fit with the plan.

Yep.. the owner came in and wanted to win right away. He tried that strategy.. failed. So the turnaround time elongated. He tried another strategy and failed. He tried a third.. and failed. Each all playing into the time it takes to get to this point. Now they are trying a different strategy that relies upon a multi-year plan. The plan includes a focus on winning, but it also includes putting a team together that grows into that focus. They are not at the win at all costs stage, or even manipulate the roster to win stage. They are at the development stage. No one is going anywhere yet. At some point they will, at some point that plan will be evaluated against the results and someone will make a decision. As you say, at some point... and the key is, that point is not now. They're not even trying to hide from that and yet people want to tear them down. But, going back to football.. if you failed 3 times in football you could at least still turn things around in 1-2 seasons. Not so much with hockey.

No way in hell I would forego pads.. nope.. not with some of the wackjobs that play.

It's interesting, I think it was only a few years ago around here people clamored about having a team that would be exciting, that would add fun and entertainment, that even if they lost at least they would lose in an entertaining fashion. They claimed that would be enough to make them happy. Now that team is here and people are unhappy. That's right, they do. But not every idiosyncrasy is the same, nor the injuries. You can look at a record as point in time snapshot of a team but it won't give you an indication of whether they will trend up or down in the future. That's the point of looking deeper.

Yup.. but not for long because my gym teacher was my varsity volleyball coach and I was soon moved to a different sport during the volleyball segments of gym class because I was endangering others... 🙂 I also played club level through college. Likewise.. and my nearly 50 year old body now tells me to stop blocking shots in men's league but it's a subconscious reaction.

Hard to compare between forwards and defense. But you can't determine who the best player in the draft is yet. It's early in the career. But I can say that the Sabres need what Power brings to them far more than they need what Beniers would bring. So for the Sabres, yes.. Power is the better player.

And yet another comparison that has no place... football and hockey are completely different due to contract structures, drafting, etc.

Was debating on buying tickets for this one but an afternoon engagement got in the way. I'll be watching from home.. hooray! If I am not mistaken it's Native American Heritage Night and they are wearing the black and red.

Meh. There's now and then there's later. I am quite comfortable that Power has a much better NHL career in the end. Put Beniers on the Sabres and what is he doing right now? No way he's having the same output as he's having in Seattle. It's a very different setting. There are a lot of teams who never get the best guy and a lot of teams who miss badly. The Sabres are not the exception there. But not a chance do I think Beniers is the best player in that draft...

Oh I missed the original statement. I can't believe that narrative is still going around and even better now being embellished even more. The original take is so bad. If you are going to chime in on factual items, learn the facts. I'd say mind blown but that seems to be the way these days. "I overheard somewhere that MItts couldn't do a pull up a training camp." Man.. It depends, are the 3rd and 4th centers seasons NHL vets who can win faceoffs and shut another team down? Some teams can continue along, albeit perhaps not as good.. but the Sabres lack that depth. That's not a slam on them.. it's the nature of youth build and eventually they'll have that depth.

Not a chance... the whole board is looking for Buffalo to have improved defense and you are on here saying the Sabres blew the draft. It's just trying to get a rise out of people. Do you really think Beniers would have been the better draft pick? Like drafting Power is "blowing" the draft. Even if Beniers was slightly better, which he's not, it would not be "blowing" the draft.

Okposo and Girgensons were here during losing years I think it's a bit unfair to say they have a losing mentality. Okposo definitely does not look as good but I think that's also partially because he's not being used as he has in the past. He's firmly rooted to the line he's on and so his production will not be as good as it was in the past. He's doing what he needs to do, but he's no longer (if ever was) worth his contract. Rodrigues is a star? Is this the same player who hasn't been re-signed by the teams he's played on over the past few years? I wouldn't consider Compher or Hagel stars either. They are all 3rd/4th line players. Hagel didn't even make it with the second team he was with. The team isn't supposed to be playoff ready yet. I think they are where they thought they would be, given what the plan was.

I'll probably watch hockey because its more interesting than football. Imagine if the Sabres were playing the Bruins tonight.. now that would be interesting cross-city matchup.

Enjoy. Can't watch this one tonight.. freakin TNT and not Tage Thompson.

In pure simplicity I've often looked at goal differential as an indicator. A team high the in the standings but negative goal differential seems to either get blown out or wins a tight game, most often a tight, low scoring game. All in all it's indicative of a team that cannot score. Teams with a positive differential but low in the standings have figured out how to score but haven't figured out how to close down games. They could probably reduce the goals against but could they do it and retain their scoring? All in all its easier to find players who can clog lanes.. a no brainer. The Sabres are +2 differential. That puts them at T-13th with the Rangers, one behind Detroit and one head of Florida, the last positive team. The Sabres are 25th in the standings. The teams immediately above them? Nashville and Washington -12. Below them? Philly -21, San Jose, -17. Naturally at this point we can all tell without seeing these numbers that the Sabres are getting caved in. It's a balance between poor defense and mediocre to poor goaltending leading the way. That said, the Sabres have given their path of development. They are sticking to it. It means we are in for more games like the Lightning game. Hopefully we see a trend where the players learn from their mistakes versus bringing in someone else to cover for their mistakes. It's just going to be a plan to have the team at a point next season where some people want them today.

That's interesting because I would consider him terrible at it. He skates hard, sure. I was going to comment on his turnovers.. so I went looked up stats.. kind of surprised and not. But here's some food for thought.. GvA/60 (Giveaways) Mitts: 2.37 (4th highest) Olofsson: 1.09 (13th) Asplund: 0 (Tied for best) TkA/60 (Takeaways) Mitts: 2.20 (5th) Olofsson: 2.00 (8th) Asplund: .54 (24th) ES Goal Differential Mitts: -8 (2nd worst) (-8 overall +/-) Olofsson: -4 (4th worst) (-5 overall +/-) Asplund: -2 (6th worst) (-1 overall +/-) Mitts might be a good forechecker but it seems he'll give the puck away too. Asplund seemingly never touches the puck. Olofsson is somewhere in between. All in all, Krebs seems to fit in with that line on stats as well. I did not go through everything. But I would say there should be no resistance by the Granato for swapping ANY of those players out. At best you leave Olofsson in for his shot, if he gets to use it.

It's gotta be both of them frankly. Starting with Mitts though. To your first comment, this is youth that needs to learn more awareness. They are bad at it. To the second, if you watch the replay from the angle facing the net (not broadcast) you will see Dahlin look to his right before the shot occurs. Why? Because the 3rd Tampa player was alone on that side of the ice. Why? Because Tage Thompson was not hustling back to cover the play. My read is that Dahlin decided that if he stepped up on the shot then Stamkos would dish it off and it would be 1 on 1 with the goalie. Training being what it is, in a 2 on 1, although this was not a very obvious 2 on 1, the D takes away the pass and the goalie has the shooter. Stamkos picked a corner. Lots could be said about UPL there, but it's still a great shot. Until the Sabres control their crease they will continue to lose. Once teams establish a hard forecheck on the Sabres they struggle, especially one line in particular. They also began overcommitting on the PK leaving players open, like Point in the bumper position. It sucks to lose the game, but this team is a few players away and a year of experience away from being excellent. I don't blame UPL for most of the goals, if indeed Kucherov's shot hit Hagel in the knee and deflected, Perry's goal (that pass cannot happen), the scrum in front, Point's goal is tough even because he has to commit to the one-timer from Kucherov and you expect your PK to take away the bumper. The real key now is to improve the D one step, and build an actual 3rd line. But this year is not the year.. people don't want to hear it and will keep complaining. The plan is the plan and unless something unbelievable comes along I don't see them deviating from it.

Normally don't stop in during the game... but damn the hands by Thompson and the speed from the Cozens-Peterka-Quinn line.. love to see it. Don't love the goals against.. but we've come to expect those.. not accept however.

Imagine. I am sure that faced with this information those who leapt up to paint this in a negative light will dismiss or deflect the reality. This is the way.

I like Lindy, but a lot of credit is being thrown at Brunette who the Devils picked up from the Panthers after they chose to not sign him to be the HC even after being the top team in the regular season. The Devils were worse than the Sabres last year but they I think Wood missed most of the season, their goaltending was far worse than the Sabres and their players are older overall. Only Hughes and Mercer are between 20-22 both at 21, most of the rest of that team is 24+. Cozens, Peterka, Quinn, Power, Dahlin, Samuelsson, Krebs are al 20-22. I'm tempted, if I can sit through the game again, to watch how many times the Devils hook, interfere, and hold and did not get a call against them. Sure they play fast but they seem to cling to their opponent a little more than should be allowed in the NHL. The officiating was not good tonight. Was it Jost who got called for high sticking on what appeared, to me, the Devils player using his arm to pull him down trying to get by. The linesmen seemed to want to make the game about them as well with the puck dropping. As far as the two pucks that went in the net for the Sabres that did not go to the scoreboard. It was said earlier, the first would never count because you can't push the goalie into the net to score. That's what happened. The second was total crap though. The ref was even on the side of the loose puck. I thought by the end the Sabres were playing a bit more physical and with a bit more pace. They didn't bury the few chances they had and the Sabres defensive zone coverage & goaltending are what they are.

Börje did a lot for the European image in the NHL. I'll never be a Leafs fan but I can respect his impact on the game. The Leafs honoring him so recently was a very wonderful thing to see. It's unfortunate that we continue our world continues to be subjected to things such as ALS. Thank you good sir for your contribution to the sport I love.

It's at 8pm. I would surmise they are accommodating a Friday travel day into Buffalo versus forcing the team to travel in on Thanksgiving.. but what the hell do I know. It'll be 8pm in Buffalo when the puck drops.. it means no excuses for fans to not be there on time. 🙂 Hope the confident play continues, win or lose.