Darryl Shannon's +/-

Dumb question, but are there advanced stats for faceoffs? As in, percentage when it actually matters?

More importantly, it's attaching value to something that likely doesn't really matter.

But, how often is a solid center traded twice? When he was traded to us it felt like we landed the next version of briere. After a few years, I wonder if he's part of the larger problem. At this point, we almost have to move on. By the time we are ready to contend, 90 will be on the downturn.

I guess I view a flawed starter who gets you to 7-9 wins as the worst case scenario. Flunking out with a 2 win starter takes away the trading up narrative. From a pure value perspective, Mccarron at 5M is way more palatable than Tyrod at 17M. Only issue is I think he's in the same boat. 6 to 9 wins. Good enough to keep you on the outside looking in. For the playoffs and the draft.

Is it really that difficult to replicate Taylor's production? While he was easy to root for, he struggled to pass for 200 yards a game. Try to aim higher, and you don't need to pay 17M per to do so.

Not sure he was here long enough to be right or wrong. Amazing how quickly he was booted from two front office jobs. And how ugly each one was.

I'd love if they move on from him. At his age, with his term on that contract he will be a problem in 3 years. As for his play, he has a knack for being invisible yet showing up on a score sheet. Great trait for a 4th or 5th wheel. But not for a cornerstone. In terms of worth, he may be the most tradeable asset we have. If you want a different dynamic, moving him is likely a good start.

Add in that his moves for a quick rebuild saddled the team with awful contracts. Going into the offseason, you knew Gorges was a 7th D at best. Moulson didn't belong in the nhl and bogo would give you 55 games max. That's 14M of the cap wasted and entirely by TM. I'm just glad we got rid of him before he panicked and made a move like signing Okposo.

Except in this case, the GM and everyone else got canned. I'm torn on this, as if I were the owner of a team I'd feel the responsibility to do the dirty work myself. Yes, the ideal is to say that you'd let the hockey ops team take care of all hockey business. But when you are the one signing each paycheck, I think a level of responsibility exists as well. Keep in mind that Bucky and Harrington have pulled the tired, "Kim is in the room while men are talking". And I think that's where a lot of this talk/speculation starts. The other thing to keep in mind. While there has been a lot of turnover for both teams over the past few years - I don't know if any of the firings could be categorized as inappropriate. Murray and his tactics to build a "heavy" team set the team back years. And they fired him before we all saw that to be true. It's funny to me how the criticism flows. Terry was beaten up for not being available to the media, now the problem is that Kim is too involved in firing incompetent staff?

O'Reilly's deal was frontloaded though. So if Ottawa is cash poor it helps the bottom line. Throw in other cost controlled assets and this isn't all that crazy.

It was time to move on from Fitz and Trent just like it is for Tyrod. While race may matter in how the refs don't call roughing the passer, as a QB he isn't the answer if you want to win it all. I wish him well, and hope he makes a lot of money holding a clipboard. It's valid for people to want a QB who tries to throw to WR's.

I miss the overuse of the 10 minute misconduct. Goals on slapshots off the rush. Seeing a clean, fair hit that doesn't result in a fight.

I'm delighted to see Bylsma go away, and happy that ownership stepped up to pay out the remainder of his deal. The arena was a morgue this year, and this game is supposed to be fun to watch in person. I understand Murray getting the gate - a lot of blood was on his hands with this mess too. I'll miss his interviews.... Two things: I wonder if the Reinhart situation was really a fight between Bylsma and Murray, and each side stood firm to try to make the other look bad. If I'm Pegula, that alone is a cry for help from the team in terms of dysfunction. Second, was Terry's quarterback tour really an excuse to meet team president candidates? Given how horrible he is alone at the podium, I wouldn't doubt him handing the microphone over to his newest employee....

No thanks. And I think Pegula is going to be shy to go with this model after LaFontaine was somehow able to get fired after like two months. Imagine how hard that has to be. If Murray keeps Bylsma, a five year old can make the choice next year. If we stumble out of the gate and are on the outside looking in by Thanksgiving, then it's scorched earth time. Me personally, I'd rather hire a GM who is competent enough to run the program without a president getting involved with the on ice product.

Agree totally with this - if he keeps Bylsma and next year starts off where this one ended, then GM/Coach combo will be on the shopping list.

I know there has been a lot of in depth analysis when it comes down to the system Bylsma uses. I'll lean on simpler things to make the point. I forget the game, but down 2 goals and on the power play with 3-4 minutes left, he didn't pull the goalie. Down 2 after Eichel scored against the Leafs off the breakaway, he put the goalie back on the ice with a little over a minute to play. And the goalie was on the ice with his arms outstretched looking for the hook when play began. The worst thing that is going to happen is you'll lose by one more goal. My favorite Bylsma moment all year was a nationally televised game where the action was going up and down the ice. It was actually entertaining. Catching up with him, the question was asked about what he thought. "We have to slow the game down....we're giving up too many opportunities". Then add in the puzzling issue w/ Samson and the general crawl to the finish line this year. Put him out of his misery.

It's a fair question, and one that divides many as I've read on this board. What is the most important thing? Is it purely W/L record or title count? Is it civic contribution? I'm of the opinion that I don't miss an owner in this region throwing veiled threats at us to give him taxpayer money. For all of Pegula's sins, not once have I heard that threat. Maybe that's a low bar, but between the last 10 years of Ralph and the rotating door of Sabres ownership, it's nice to have stability and interest in the product itself. I'd argue throwing down a 100+M anchor in an area where no public money was spent in the past 20 years is worth something. And if that means he's distracted from putting the best possible product on the ice, I'm okay with that.

Given the history of the sale of the team to Golisano, the team was for sale the second the keys were in his hands. And the management of arguably the best team we'd seen in Sabres history was squandered with his "everyone should be on a one year deal" mantra when he was dealing with a league that allowed guaranteed contracts. The missed opportunity with the Vanek offer sheet and losing Briere/Drury to FA stunted us by 5 years in my estimation. It's a fun exercise to think about what the team and area around the arena would look like if he was still owner. My opinion is that canalside itself might not have come to be, the new courtyard marriot wouldn't have been refurbished/built, and we'd still see attack ads on the 190 on Paladino's crumbling Creamery building. In my eyes it's not as simple as looking at wins and losses in judging an owner. The on ice product is another issue. Golisano transitioned to cutting scouting staff and instituting video scouting. Maybe that's genius, or maybe it depleted the pipeline in a huge way. And in the event that the team ended up nosediving in the standings, would we be hearing about a "Buffalo Salary Cap" that is 15-20% less than the real one? Count me in as happy with the current regime. I'll take walking into a game with a vibrant neighborhood coming up and an owner who is willing to spend past the bounds of the revenue stream.

Fun question, and one I could probably write about for a long time. Biggest beefs.....Harrington and Graham acting like children on twitter. They are too dim to realize that fighting in the gutter just gets them dirty. It really detracts from any of the great work (I'm speaking more about Graham here) that they do, and hurts the paper overall. Bucky is even more fun. His writing leaves so much to be desired that you almost wonder if he is pandering to a certain demographic on purpose. Continually harping on athletes making too much money and Buffalo fans somehow being better than anyone else in the world at spotting "phonies" leaves you shaking your head. I only read his articles to make fun of them, as usually he ends up either contradicting himself or falling into tired thinking like, "why is Kim Pegula allowed in the room when men are talking?". Sully has the most talent of the bunch in my opinion, narrowly edging out Graham - and is probably a victim of being here for so long and suffering through what we have. He came off way better in his live chats truthfully - showed a decent sense of humor and it was self deprecating. And Bulldog to me is one who has improved dramatically over the years. And while yes, it may be clunky - he may be the most sincere member of the local media.

He would have hated Gretzky. And McDavid this year. Hilarious that he and Bucky draw a salary for the drivel they put out there....

It would have been awesome to watch Milbury's head explode if we gave John Scott one year for 9M. Kind of wish I had a time machine to make it happen....

Agree on Gionta playing up to that (considering he was a free agent), but McCormick at anything above veteran minimum is a scary proposition to me. I understand the point of getting to the floor, but the term of some of these deals is the part that makes me question him. I would have much rather Murray handed out larger one year deals to reach the floor to keep his options open. To be as bad a team as we are at this point and also be up against the cap is a black eye for a GM.

I think McCormick is a perfect example. Great team player, yet got a 3 year 4.5M deal. At the time it happened, I think the overall thought was, "good for him", but somehow we were so far up against the cap this year we couldn't bring in some of the better young players from Rochester to help out. And what leverage could he possibly have had to be overpaid probably 2x his worth? You can argue the same for Deslauriers, who is signed for another year on a one way deal. On the face of it, may not seem like a huge deal, but this is a cutthroat game where little mistakes add up. I guess my overall point is, he seems to give out money that doesn't need to be given. Gionta at that point in his career getting 4M per is dubious. And given the disarray we currently find ourselves in, not sure we can point to his leadership. Add that to bringing on dead weight like Gorges and Bogosian, and here we are. Frustrating.

Not just that, but management of overall assets and the salary cap. He came into a situation where he had huge cap space and draft assets to spend. And that turned into Bogosian, Gorges, Lehner, Gionta, Moulson, and Cody McCormick. Love his interviews but I'm very concerned with the building of the team and sitting by Bylsma for this long.

Not for nothing, but I'd argue free agents getting a big payday don't really care about their chances of winning. The way it's structured, they have one chance to cash in and one chance only. Agree on this year being a total disappointment, and there are a lot of people to blame. Bylsma for playing a boring, passive style when the team is frontloaded with their talent. Murray for building a team with 4 dogs on the d corps. And injuries. Very curious to see how tomorrow plays out. This was basically the worst possible scenario coming out of the break, and we may see a shakeup for the sake of a shakeup.