mjd1001

1.) whatever it is you do later in the season, do it in camp. This team seems like they get ready to play toward the end of the year but aren't at the beginning of the schedule. 2.) new Powerplay. Yes, its SLIGHTLY better lately, but they don't move the puck as fast as other teams, they obviously aren't as effective as many other teams. Even if Tage is hurt and he is back to 'himself' next year, that doesn't fix the underlying problem. Get a new assistant coach? make radical changes to how you operate it, but fix it. 3.) Re-sign Zemgus, but get 2 other new guys for the 4th line. 4.) Greenway is playing well this year, Benson looks good "for a rookie"...but you need to add/find a guy who is going to net you 20-25 goals to ADD to what you have now. Quinn needs to come back too, but i'm talking about adding another scorer in addition to him. 5.) Pray for less injuries to key players. Tage NEEDS to get back at least part of the way to his form of the last 2 years (I bring him up again because he is that important). 6.) I don't think it is REQUIRED, but it would be nice to see a guy who can drop the gloves and be good at it. I don't mean someone who is going to go out there looking for it every game. Not someone who is even going to take a fighting major once per week, but someone who CAN do it well, someone WILLING when the situation arises, and someone skilled enough to be a good 4th liner and maybe sub in temporarily on a higher line. 7.) Sign UPL, expect good play from him, but don't be surprised if he regresses slightly from his current form.

My biggest complaint about Granato above all else.....usage of Dahlin. He tailed off big time at the end of last year and looked gassed every game at the end of the season. Yet, last night he played over 27 minutes, overtime game. Tough travel day...and over 26 minutes tonight? Hey, you may think you need him to win but you aren't winning by playing him that much, how about not riding him into the ground?

I disagree with everything said here.

Those forward ilnes...I'm not sure what to think...

I'm watching the Devils Blues game, and NJ just got off of a powerplay. They didn't score, not even many great chances...but I noticed they seem to do EVERYTHING on the Powerplay much faster than the Sabres...especially entering the zone. They carry the puck in with speed, and when they pass the puck around it just happens so much faster and more often...its almost like the Sabres PP in comparision is watching them on the first day of practice on the first day of training camp. Maybe its just Jack Hughes is so fast and so skilled he can carry the puck in like that and the Sabres dont' have anyone. Even when they had Eichel, he was fast but he didn't use his speed entering the zone on the PP (he would mostly carry it in and then slow down). I'm not sure if the Sabres have anyone that can play that way....maybe, MAYBE Dahlin is probably the most 'skilled' puck handler on the team...I wonder if there was every a though of letting someone else QB the PP from the blue line..and let Dahlin be one of the guys to not only carry the puck in, but actually play down low instead of up high at the blue-line?

Its the way of the board these days. The Sabres as a franchise have earned people being frustrated with them, but unless the Sabres do almost exactly what every individual fan would do, we are going to be flooding this board wth complaints. Negativity has taken over.

No, I'm saying if Sabres players dive, I'm all for them getting fines for it too.

This should happen more often. And if Sabres players do it, I'm all for it here too.

Until you are sure someone who replaces him is going to give you 25-30 goals, or you are sure Skinner's production is going to drop 40-50%, I don't get rid of him. I can agree that he isn't great in his own zone, but I still do not hardly EVER see him making mistakes that cause goals against, or him being out of postion frequently, or turning the puck over in the neutral zone leading to goals against. I get it, he's not physical, he doesn't rush to the boards to win battles. But he DOES score you about 30 goals per year and I simply do not see him causing issues that lead to major goals against. I have looked. I have watched him on the ice. I have looked at replays of goals allowed. He is not a positive without the puck, but I don't see him as a negative and he is most times literally the only player (along with Zemgus) that will go to the front of the net on the offensive zone.

My point is the entire forum seems to be not much but complaints so we can just change the topic of this thread and put all the sabres talk in here.

My complaint today is that no one has changed the title of this thread from 'complaint thursday' to 'general buffalo Sabres posts', or 'comment about anything the Sabres do', as they are becoming one and the same.

This is a weird game for me. Approaching the end of the 2nd, and I have zero feel for it. Is Buffalo playing well or not? Lots of shots but it doesn't seem like many good chances. They are shutting down Toronto buy Nylander is doing whatever he wants. Just strange. If Buffalo wins this 5-1, loses it 5-1, or it goes to a shootout, nothing would surprise me at this point.

Remember the old NHL commercial with Ovechkin...a hat trick of hat tricks (9 goals), an Ovechtrick.

True, Buffalo's new 'top 4' has career 855 games played. Florida: 2526 Vancouver: 2577 Boston: 2131 Winnipeg: 2413 Rangers: 1667 Vegas: 3014

I don't put much value in 'hits' as a stat (how accurate are they?) but I looked at Byram....3.3 hits per 60 minutes this year. How does that compare to the current Sabres this year? -Clifton, 9.3 -Erik Johnson, 8.1 -Samuelsson, 7.6 -Dahlin, 5.3 -Jokiharju, 4.0 -Bryson, 2.0 -Power, 1.6

I'm all for this trade, but something to consider, Experience on defense seems to have gotten VERY important the last few years in the NHL: Top 5 teams in the league this year right now, age of their top 4 D-mean they rely on: -Florida (29, 27, 28, 32).....ave: 29, youngest 27 -Vancouver (24, 26, 34, 35)...ave 29.75, youngest 24 -Boston (26, 30, 27, 30)....ave 28.25, youngest 26 -Winnipeg (28, 30, 28, 33)....ave 29.75, youngest 28 -NY Rangers (26, 24, 30, 28)...ave 27, youngest 24 And Vegas as the cup winner last year (34, 28, 33, 36)....ave 32.75, youngest 28 Now for Buffalo...with Byram, Dahlin, Power, and Samuelsson: (23, 21, 23, 22)....ave 22.25. OLDEST 23 Buffalo's OLDEST D-man is younger than the youngest on the top 5 teams this year, and of course the AVERAGE age of Buffalo's new top 5 is less than the single youngest guy on any of the teams above. This D-group has the potential to be Elite, one of the best the NHL has seen in years...BUT if that does happen, its likely to need a few YEARS to get to that point.

I'm not as worried about the Lefty/Righty thing with how he fits into the team, but more about the style of play. I think your top 2 d pairings, you want one super skilled, attack the other end guy....and you want one guy who is more of the guy who is responsible, will not get caught up out of position, can get loose pucks and make a good first pass out of the zone. Doesn't have to be super physical, just 'responsible' (thus I was thinking a Vet with a LOT of expereince). Your bottom pair guy is just going to be the best 2 guys you can scape up that won't hurt you while getting 5-9 less minutes of ice time than your top guys. With that said, looking forward, Dahlin is the 'attack first' guy....Bryam clearly seems to be the same style. That leave Samuelsson as the 'responsible guy', but then Power also? I'm not sure how they 'fit' when going into next year.

I'd rather have them do surgery with the scalpel instead of the sledghammer myself. But, I'm open for anything at this point. I would RATHER they resign Mitts, move Cozens to wing, and trade for a D-man in the offseason. However, I'm ok with this. What I consider different is a full coaching change, Adams out as GM, and numerous player changes (when I said surger with a scalpel, not a sledgehammer, it was in respons to those who want the major moves like I just listed in this sentence.)

Most/many of us wanted change. As fans we wanted a 'swing for the fences' type move. You aren't getting Cale Makar for Krebs and a pick and a prospect. To get a young guy with potential, you have to give up something. For now, I am 'entertained'.

Can those guys stay healthy for the most part? Can you get 170 goals out of those 2 lines? (100 from the first line, 70 from the 2nd line?) If so, AND Bryam progresses and is as good as he has showed flashed on the Blue line, it might be a playoff caliber 'roster' with that top 2 lines and your top 2 D-pairings. I hope and I'm willing to see how it goes.

Personally I think he beleives it for both next year and the future. Next year, it is going to have to be him being confident he can do more than he has in any other offseason. Maybe its just me trying to be optimistic, but I think next year's success depends more on Tage getting back to his form of the previous 2 years and Cozens being who he has been the last 2 months and not the first 3 months. Ultimately, THAT may (or may not) be what he is counting on the most.

I can't make a great case for things, but, as usual, it 'depends' on what else happens from now until next season. -Is Tage playing through a wrist, and maybe foot injury and will return to his form on the past 2 seasons (40 goal, top line center). Has Cozens 'gotten religion' in terms of play in his own end (which he SEEMS to have, at least in the last month), making him your legit 2 way center? -Maybe the Sabres, through is practice and play, see a "Mitts like" jump in Krebs play from this year to next, and you have him as your 3c. I need to see a lot more from him, I haven't liked Krebs since he got here as anything more than an 'average-at-best' player, but they might be seeing something I haven't yet. -What other trades might be made, now or in the offseason. -What other players might sign here in the offseason. I can't give names, but suppose the Sabres find/trade for a Veteran, 2-way Center that gives you 15 goals and 25-30 assists on the 3rd line...while Tage and Cozens pick their games back up. A lot of "ifs" in there, but that is the case for the potential of it helping out. What I remmeber of Byram is 2 years ago he looked great, and I mean GREAT in the Avs cup run. I didn't know much about him going into the playoffs but when I saw them play I was thinking "how did they end up with ANOTHER guy this good on the blueline" Of course, he has the injury risk. But I truly believe the potential is there for him to be a better player long term than Mitts, now its just up to the organization to fill in the gaps in the roster.

I'm guessing here, but long term, I think the goal would be for Byram and Power to get about 18-19 minutes even strenght per game. They seem to want to use Power on the PK, so Byram can take the role of 2nd unit PP Qb. They both end up with 20-22 minutes per game that way, HOPEFULLY bringing Dahlin down to the 23-24 range (he is over 25 now)

Actually, I love having Cozens at wing with Mitts, but it seems like every time they try him on Wing, he goes back to center pretty quickly. Trust me, I have been one of the biggest people on this board pushing for Cozens on wing. I just looks like, long term, they want Cozens centering Quinn and Peterka.

You are so sure going forward he would be getting more ice time than both Tage AND Cozens? Again for my other post, I don't think Mitts is a game changer....so I'm willing to look at how this plays out.