Randall Flagg

Giveaways and takeaways are useless stats, and are counted differently in different buildings, and as a result have no real correlation with anything. Especially giveaways. You can find a dozen instances in a single game for any given player that are completely ambiguous as to whether they should constitute a giveaway, a takeaway, both, or neither, and people have different interpretations of every single one of them. Pile that up over time and you get completely useless stats that predict and describe nothing with any correlation The bold is incredibly dismissive of Panthers fans. They are uniform and articulate in their disdain for the player, and it's not just "hur dur he dont score points" I'd trust their takes infinitely over a Sabres fan, who hasn't watched Trocheck, using simple G/A/PTS and GV/TA to dismiss a topic that's obviously way deeper than these things

The supposed issue with Trocheck is not his goal scoring or point totals. Florida fans view his "selfish play" and "more turnovers than I ever knew a player was capable of" as a major problem keeping their season from being more successful and want him gone for it

I think almost all of our D have taken turns of at least 3-5 games of being our best D this season. The position has more or less played out as we would have hoped in the summer. I don't think McCabe has ever been our best, but he's had some games where he's been good. A lot where he's been pretty bad though. It's okay, every team has one like him, and I like him. Scandella might have been the best overall, IMO.

To me trade requests are more business than an insult. He wasn't playing and it's a contract year.

We're gonna re-sign those guys to multi year deals and sell Larry and Zemgus

He hasn't outplayed Larsson. Larsson's defensive and possession play (and numbers) are borderline elite in very tough situational usage His faceoff skills and compete (Hi Ted) are welcome on my team, of course.

Right there with ya. If he used it on Henrique I wouldn't freak out or anything, but I think he is capable of going above and beyond In fact, if I were Terry, it would be a baseline requirement that he finds a good 2C this offseason. In a vacuum that is an unfair requirement, but we aren't in a vacuum. He gutted the position, and had the rest of that offseason, then last offseason, and then this one to fix it, so if he doesn't fix it this third time, I'm done with him, because the Sabres won't make the playoffs until they have a 2nd line that can go head to head with Malkin, Matthews, Stamkos etc. night after night and at the very least break even in play and results. No more wingers or unproven kids at that spot going into a season. I would not accept that for a third season in a row when playoffs are so critical. Normally fans hit the trade boards on hf and pump their players up, arguing for why they shoould get more than other fans would offer. Panthers fans are begging for Trocheck to be taken away. They hate him, literal hate. It's one of the most jarring things i've ever read, considering my view of Vince before reading there.

My response isn't to you having those guys there in your future plan, it was to your idea that the Sabres had success playing them where they did THIS year. And my argument isn't that Cozens WILL fail, it's that you don't build a roster assuming he will succeed in that role. I'm using Mitts and Thompson as an example of us literally doing this the last two years and failing, not as evidence that Cozens will fail, like you claim. It's an illustration of the downside of that idea. You bring Cozens, Mitts, Tage into camp, along with 11-12 other guys that you would stake your livelihood on being able to comprise a competitive, playoff caliber NHL team, and you let them battle it out in camp, and if the kids are in the best 12, you keep them, and if they aren't, you send em back. That is what I'm saying.

This is literally what we did with Mitts (3C) and Tage (3/4 RW) last season and it was a disaster for both prospects and for the Sabres themselves. They were among the worst skaters in the league and didn't develop an inch at any point during the season, and both had to be sent down the FOLLOWING season That is a ridiculous development path and hurt the big club as well

Sounds good to me, lets effin goooooooo

My main point is assuming Cozens can be an effective 3C AND Tage or Mitts a successful 3RW is literally doing everything we've done wrong to this point, twice, again, with the same players

1.) Mojo is an awful 2C. He's a good middle six winger, which is why Krueger has moved him there. He was good at 2C for about 10 games and then his line got blasted in the ensuing months 2.) Lazar is currently manning a line that has had a nice string of games, but Lazar at 2C for a full season would be another disaster for the position for the Sabres, if you want them to do anything that season 3.) I could have made this clearer, but I mean that you should never put a player who has never had any role whatsoever into a role where you require a certain level of play. This means that of course you can allow a fresh young prospect to make the team, and see where he settles in effectively after he's proven to be a top 12 forward in your organization. But you should never take a player who hasn't shown success at the NHL level and say "you're going to be #C or #LW." This is how you kill prospects and your season simultaneously, it's why Tage and Mitts have both experienced multi-year setbacks in development, and why the Sabres have a cavernous hole at center that has kept them from making the next step

Build something around the pick to get a better hockey player (not that Henrique is terrible, but you can acquire better players through trade) that can be a longer term solution than a guy whose game could fall off at any minute (he's the kind of guy that is ripe for that sort of thing, with his skating and age (I don't think I'd consider being 30 the right side of 30 haha), every time I see him he looks like as soon as his legs go he's done, and his legs look wobbly) I love your idea of using the pick in that fashion, but I'd shop for a different player and be willing to add value to the pick to get it done

Never, ever pencil in someone who hasn't successfully played a role in the NHL, for a specific NHL role That is the root of all of the worst decisions Jason has made to date, and is the root of ZERO of his successful decisions

Absolutely

No, read it again, I think that Makar, Heiskanen, and Hughes are more explosive skaters than 99.9% of NHL defensemen, which include Dahlin, who is silky smooth with beautiful edges, but for whom explosiveness and acceleration are at the top of the list of weaknesses

This could be true, but those guys definitely are without a doubt more explosive than him and 99.9% of all other NHL D

The caliber of player that would move the needle for me as far as fixing a problem of tis team would cost a 1st, and be a rental, so I won't be surprised or upset if we don't get that at the deadline. That potential anger is reserved for not fixing obvious problems when it's actually time to do so Trading for a lesser player that could still be useful is a gesture I would appreciate though. Given standings realities I wouldn't be mad if they didn't do that now either, though for the second year in a row I'd be bummed that they weren't bought into when showing high, though probably unsustainable given roster construction, levels of play

To be fair, I haven't seen much criticism of him in this vein. It's usually about giveaways or a lack of Makar/Heiskanen/Hughes-like explosiveness

They had one. And the Leafs are given fewer power plays than most NHL teams year in and year out.

Genuinely tried. Cheapest seats were half of the total amount of money in my name currently

I can seem excessively negative but I'm as ready to cling to something as any Sabre fan when Skinner gets hot next week it's on

If you dive right in and make one, you pick it up quickly. pro tip: don't do this

Definitely think the refs missed a few things in our favor tonight. We were good enough we would have won anyway. Wasn't as egregious as the Leafs forum thinks, which dedicated four full pages of GDT to a legal, unremarkable body check by a Sabre

Thank you very much. Things embed automatically on laptop, can't figure it out on old iPad.