matter2003

Great way to send off RJ...a Sabres win in oooooooooovvvvvvertime!

Ullmark was always getting hurt for multiple weeks at a time every year, so not sure it was such a bad thing that he left.

I am not buying this really. Anderson's metrics were terrible. Among the worst in the NHL. What really happened was we got Tuch and Krebs, Mittlestadt came back from injury around the same time and we got some other guys back as well. The goal scoring went from an abysmal 2.67 to over 3.2 goals per game since March 1st. Basically we started scoring a lot more which made the bad goaltending not seem as bad as it really was because we won in spite of it.

Apparently they already were on the golf course? Hopefully they have one good performance left in them tonight. Building is going to be packed for RJ's Last Call and he deserves a better send off than last night's effort. Didn't watch the game last night with the NFL draft going on but I didn't miss much it seems. Did anyone punch Brad Marchand in the face? That's always the first hope I have when they face the Bruins. I literally hate him as much as I do Laviolette

Guess it's another game they don't have it.

That article is fantastic! And even the O'Reily trade is looking pretty good with how Thompson has developed.

Haha, well what should have been GW drives if the defense got it's head out of it's rectum.

Not really. Philip Rivers will likely get in and he had less playoff success than Allen has already had. Allen has the highest all time passer rating in NFL history in the postseason, has had the only perfect offensive game ever in NFL History, playoffs or regular season, against NE in the divisional round and likely had the greatest 2 game stretch by any QB in NFL history against NE and KC with a ridiculous 149 passer rating, 9 TDs, only 14 incompletions and 2 GW drives within the final 2 minutes of the KC game. Additionally, he also has numerous accomplishments already where he is the only player in NFL history to have done it, or is on a list with 2 or 3 all time greats. If Rivers gets in having none of those things, which seems likely, Allen getting in would be a mere formality. There has never been a QB like him in league history. Elite at both running and passing, with most likely the strongest arm ever(according to Sports Science measurements it wasn't even close---Allen threw the ball so fast they thought their radar gun was broken because nobody had ever come close to throwing a ball with that velocity), and the ability to beat a defense with his mind also. The greatest defensive coach in NFL history in Bill Belichick literally has no answers for him and simply told the host of his show that "he is a real problem". He has not forced the Bills to punt in over 2 games now. Belichick was so impressed with Allen after the playoff game he came to the Bills locker room to seek him out to talk with him. Not sure how many players Belichick has ever been that impressed with to do that for but I'm guessing it is a pretty short list.

Anyone who thinks Josh Allen isn't a superstar at this point should probably be banned from ever working on TV again and most likely must be brain dead. Dude is a first ballot hall of famer if injuries don't derail his career.

Did the same with Okposo...he had his first 20 goal season with the Sabres and his most points as a Sabre and he has looked nothing like the player that was often useless under RK and Housley

What am I missing here...he has 62 points right now and has had 63 3 times, including the first season with the Sabres.

They are flying out there today...ugh!! Can't wait for October! Since beginning of March(27 games) they are scoring 4+ goals almost 50% of their games...that's pretty freaking good

It matters because this team is starting to figure it out and realizing they can actually be pretty damn good...it's like they reach a certain point where they don't expect to just to be in games, they expect to win them...and I think it's starting to happen for this team. It's a huge mindset thing, and it will pay huge dividends heading into next year when they come back with the mindset already in place and ready to build on it.

I haven't cared about baseball in maybe 20 years...it's a dying sport with the average fan in their mid 60s. I took a tour of Fenway when I was in Boston, it was really cool. Got out to the green monster and they talked about the famous jumping bean home run and why it was caught on camera, etc...then he talked about the heartbreak of the series... Of course growing up a Mets fan I had to chime in about Bill Buckner hahaha

We claim to be hockey town but are almost dead last in attendance ahead of only Ottawa?? Pretty pathetic. I know the team has not been good for much of the last decade but this team is definitely worth the ticket the last few months...hopefully fans come back once this team becomes good over the next few years. I get why they have gone away but it still is really disappointing to see Arizona out drawing us by over 2K "fans" a game. https://www.espn.com/nhl/attendance/_/sort/homePct

Yup, and they have a plethora of cap space.

Pegula is doing the "I'm trying not to show how fat I have gotten" arms cross pose

Anderson has ben brutal most of the year metrics wise, worse than Tokarski. He is not "good", he is being propped up by a good game here and there and more goal scoring the last 25 gmes when the Sabres have increased their goals scored from 2.67 a game to 3.2. In fact his metrics show he is worse than Tokarski, but regardless, other than UPL, the Sabres goalies rank between 48th and 59th out of 75 qualifying goalies in terms of goals saved above average, having allowed 20 more goals than they should have if they were average. Anderson has had a lot of games where he has turned a comfortable lead into a nailbiter or a 2-0 lead into a loss. An .897 save percentage is terrible, btw, as in out of the NHL after that type of year bad. Why would you even post about him in this nomination? It's clearly between Skinner and Okposo.

Also a good sign of progress is since March(last 25 games), this team is averaging 3.2 goals per game versus 2.67 goals per game in their previous 54. That is a very significant improvement and the fact it came against many of the top teams in the NHL over that timeframe who are fighting for playoff position is very impressive. That even includes a few shutouts and 1 goal performances in there when they were gassed after multiple games in short timeframes or the few times they just didn't have it on a given night. They have scored 4 or more goals 44% of those games in that time span versus only 29% in the other 54 games. Seems to coincide with Tuch and Krebs becoming more integrated and comfortable in the lineup and why wouldn't it? They have both been very good adds for this team. Also players returning from injury(Middlestadt and Samuelsson) along with Olafsson getting back to being fully healthy which took a while after he came back due to the type of injury it was affecting his shot. A lot to look forward to next year and what should be a pivotal year in the growth of this team from bottom feeders to playoff contenders.

Wasn't he the last helmetless player in the NHL? Always remember watching him on the Rangers the last year and wondering why he had no helmet. Actually looked it up and there were some guys without helmets into the early 90s, so I guess he was one of the last ones but not the last one.

I've posted about the goaltenders in other threads...in short, metrics wise other than UPL they have been brutal. Out of 75 goalies, none rank higher than 48th other than UPL who ranks 35 I believe, slightly below league average but with very respectable numbers. IMO, his biggest issue is rebound control where his metric is near the worst in the NHL(71st out of 75). His biggest chance for improving is to get better at that, which should happen as he matures, but the question is how much better can he becomes at that.

Hopium is not right I don't think. That means it is a false hope or hope with no reason for it, like sk many years with the Bills during the drought. There is real reason to be excited about this team moving forward with the glut of young talent they have ready to come up and the ones already here that should improve over the next few years.

This team is going to miss the playoffs again but they are definitely on the right track...they are fun to watch most nights, exciting, young, hungry, play for each other and are only going to get better. There is something to be excited about finally and I cannot wait for next season to start... Early prediction for next year? I think we are in the playoff hunt the last week of the season. Not predicting we will make it, but that would be a good next step for them.

The obvious was Eichel was a me first player who was the best player but a bad leader. He had to go for this team to have any success. He was here too long and had failed for too long to be able to be fixed. Same for Reinhart and Risto. Before getting the right people on the bus, you have to get the wrong ones off. And those three definitely needed to get off the bus or we would just keep spinning our wheels.

Tage is better for THIS team than Eichel...Eichel was not necessarily the problem but he damn sure wasn't part of the solution either.