mjd1001
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Posts posted by mjd1001
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32 minutes ago, JoeSchmoe said:
0 assists in almost 40 games is not playing the right way.
If your job is to do other things then it certainly can be. If your job is to forecheck, keep the puck in other zone, then it sure can be.
If you are tying up players on the other team on the boards while linemates control he puck, then it can be.
If you are told that you are to go out there, tire out the other team, chase them around with a relentless forcheck, while your team's goal scorers are getting a breather on the bench, it can be.
I guess the only reason it is not 'playing the right way' is if that is one of the things that you want to use to support your argument.
Why would you just 'waive' a player to send a message, until you find out just what his value is on the open market anyway?
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18 minutes ago, davidkski said:
Projection and convoluted deflection are amusing ways to try and dodge an issue, but not very effective.
Why are you incapable of answering a sincere and straightforward question?
The way this franchise is run, and these players play, there are countless reasons to be angry - yet most posters here remain clear-headed enough to maintain a sense of civility in their discussions.
So what is it about the concept of people having harmless fun with a player's unusual name that makes you lose your composure and resort to schoolyard name-calling?
Has UKKo PeKKa LuKKonen somehow indicated to you that he objects to being called 6K?
Or is it just a you problem?
BINGO! and that is exactly what you are doing also by responding this way. I said a nickname was dumb, and I explained clearly I felt that way because that player already has a nickame that is widely used. It rubs you that wrong way that I said that? You are and Hank are SO thin skinned that you continue this converstation? I moved on from in a week ago, the only reason I keep on posting things like this is because of people bringining it up again after I left it behind.
Telling someone that while you are doing it yourself....CLASSIC example of what you are doing by continuing to bring it up.
And I said I don't like a nickanme for a player pushed by a poster (or a couple) when the player already has a widely used nickname. First time I saw it on here, I legit didn't know who the heck was being talked about until I opened the thread and read a bit. For you to call me out is a joke, I have had a lot more people respond to things I said and called them a LOT worse things than what I said. This is why this forum at times, and SOME posts can be a joke. I am generally more civil to other posters than they are to me many, MANY times, and the one time I express that I legit think something is there that I don't like I get called out on it? That is a joke, as is the back and forth about this topic that for some reason I am choosing to engage in.
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Just now, JoeSchmoe said:
On this crap team, only Yost and Robinson have a worse goals for % than Girgensons.
He's also 7th out of 8th in PK goals against per 60 (min 25min). Only Krebs is worse.
I'm sorry I don't evaluate how good a player is based on their statistics for a half season of play... And certainly I don't cherry pick statistics to only support my argument. That worked maybe in the 1980s when you were building your team in strat-o-matic hockey, but that's not the way player evaluation should work
If we moved on from a player every single time some of their stats go down for just a portion of one particular season... And not actually watching them play and see they are still effective at skating, at forchecking, and don't cause problems in your own zone.... Well, then you'd have a lot worse of a team than you have now.
But hey... If picking a whipping boy... And hammering away on him and hammering away at any single person who responds to you who disagrees makes you feel better, I guess have at it.
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14 minutes ago, JoeSchmoe said:
If you can get a pick for him, fine. I just don't see a team dumb enough to do it. This is a case of fans falling in love with a player and not looking objectively of what he might have to offer a team that's better than us.
I'll say it again... The only way we get rid of him is if we take back an even bigger problem.
Amongst forwards with at least 300 5 on 5 minutes played, he's 365 out of 380. What playoff team is looking for that?
Playoff teams aren't looking primarily to increase their scoring from their fourth line. Playoff teams are looking for a fourth liner that will play hard... That will kill penalties... And that will not hurt them when they're on the ice. Basically... Go out there and eat up 8 to 12 minutes a game without allowing any goals... While our top two lines can get a breather on the bench.
In a lot of cases, that is exactly what playoff teams are looking for.
I don't get how some people can look at this in such a linear way. If your roster is top heavy and you rely on your top 6 to 8 guys to score... Your bottom guys don't have to score that much. They have to be part of a fourth line unit that doesn't allow a lot of goals to be scored against you.... They can pin the other team in their own zone... While the guys you rely on to score are getting that rest on the bench. On my fourth line... I will gladly give up five goals per year that someone can score.... If they play hard and they play well in most other aspects of the game and they aren't the liability causing me to make up even more than five goals per year the other way.
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He skates hard. He's probably the second best forchecker on the team next to Tuch. And his scoring per 60 minutes... Which is the way that you evaluate someone with limited ice time... Isn't that much different than a typical fourth liner around the league. He's also probably in your top five penalty killing in terms of forwards over his career. He hasn't really lost a step in skating.
Is he worth 2.5 million per year? No, but you're not up against the cap. For the role he serves. He's perfectly fine.
I really do not understand the hate that some people have for him and the rush to get him off of the team. You're not changing this team's fortunes by changing up a fourth line Winger, certainly not one who actually doesn't cause you major problems day in and day out. Personally, as long as the team isn't up against the salary cap, I'd like him back next year if you want to still be here.
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On 2/17/2024 at 6:13 PM, Marvin said:
There goes that theory. It is the offence in general.
13 goals gets them to be a positive in goal differential.
I posted this in a previous thread, but every team that was a positive in the goal differential in the east has made the playoffs the past couple of years, and every team that has been a negative in goal differential has missed the playoffs
In the west it's not 100% but it's usually one team away from being 100%.
So yeah, we don't know where those 13 goals could be sprinkled around but... If history is any guide, being positive and goal differential put you in the playoffs or right on the edge of it so it definitely could make the difference.
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Ok, another way to look at this....with the conclusion that MOST of this team is better than last year except for Cozens and Tage.
-Last year Cozens and Tage combined accounted for 0.95 goals per game. This year .49 (.0.46 less per game)
-The REST of the team besides (Tage and Cozens) last year accounted for 2.62 goals per game. This year 2.44 (only 0.18 less). Account for Tuch, Quinn, and Skinner being some of your top goal producers and the games they missed due to injury compared to last year, and that may account for that entire difference.
Defense?
-In terms of Goals allowed per game, the team this year is allowing 3.07 vs 3.62 last year (0.55 per game)
So, besides Tage and Cozens, the team has taken a slight hit in offense, but is doing better on defense by a greater margin. OVERALL the entire team (besides those 2 guys) is doing BETTER than last year in terms of goals scored versus goals allowed.
Also The goals per game allowed are down quite a bit, but its not just goaltending. They are also allowing less shots per game than last year. UPL is allowing less behind him, but in part that is because the goalies are facing less shots. Either way, they are allowing a lot less goals than last year.
A common complaint is the team has focused on defense but at the expense of offense. True on the surface, but again, the vast majority of that offensive shortfall is just 2 players. The rest of the team as a whole has made big strides defensively without really hurting their offensive game much.
How about the Power Play?
-Cozens and Tage LAST year accounted for goals scored on 9.3% of Power plays with between just those 2. This year? 3.8% (a 5.3% drop) The team as a whole besides those two went from 14.1% to 10.8%, (a 3.3% drop). Cozens and Tage combined account for a greater drop in PP production than the rest of the team combined.
-PK. Last year 73%. The team has lost 3.3% on the power play, but has made up 6.8% on the PK. Net-net an improvement on the roster as a whole minus Tage and Cozens
In MOST metrics (including the big ones listed above) this team is performing better in many ways compared to last year besides Cozens and Tage. That doesn't mean the team doesn't have flaws, or didn't last year. But something to think about. Fix those 2 guys and you likely have a better team than that you had last year.
Maybe Granato needs to go, after all he does coach the entire team INCLUDING Tage and Cozens so he is responsible for them too. But when you look at the numbers....again, Net-Net the team is better in goals scored/goals allowed overall besides those 2 guys.
Blowing the whole team up, Firing Granato and Adams....If that is what it takes to get Tage and Cozens going again then fine. But I don't think its the best idea overall. This team needs SERIOUS surgery with a Scalpel, doesn't need the sledgehammer to the head in light of all the info above.
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2013-14 team would probably have to be the one in recent history. Yeah, the start of the tank I get it, but that team was dreadful to watch.
In a full season, your leading point producers had in the low 40s, those were your offensive STARS. You had a total of 4 players with double digit goals. 65 points out of the division lead. The team scored UNDER TWO goals per game. Looking up and down the roster, no-one I really liked. This current team isn't even close to that team for me.
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Its not that the Fan salue is a big deal, its not that its needed in anyway. BUT, once you start doing it, it becomes noticable by its absense.
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To me this isn't a huge deal, but it is an issue. Why? To me there are 2 main reasons to be a fan or enjoy being a fan of a team, 2 things that make watching a team enjoyable:
1.) They win the championship.
2.) If they don't win the championship, the at least show improvement from the previous season, giving the fans entertainment AND hope that they are on the WAY to winning the championship sometime in the near future.
I think that is 90%+ of what makes a season enjoyable.
Well, this team isn't doing any of those 2 things, So they ONLY think they have to fall back on is.....for some fans...are they "likeable". Its not much, but if you aren't doing the first 2, being 'likeable' to many fans is all they can hold onto.
Well, this team ISN'T doing the first 2, and a story like this coming out sure doesn't make them very likeable. The are hockey players, but lets be honest....they are not so much paid to pay hockey as they are to ENTERTAIN by playing hockey. The Customer who pays their salary is the fans. As an Enterainer, they players (the organization) should realize all of the above.
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3 minutes ago, OverPowerYou said:
It’s going to be hard to follow this team until Granato, Adams, Okposo, Mittelstadt and Oloffaon and Girgensons are gone. Great peoples, just wastes of space on an NHL team
See, even as fans we totally disagree on the problem. For me, the reason this team has take a step back has to do with: Tage and Cozens lack of production, injuries, Power being vastly over-rated at this point in his career, and whatever assistant is in charge of the day to day of the PP. To me all of those things I listed rank WAY above any that you have listed in terms of what is wrong/needs to change with the team.
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It comes down to...the fans can do what they want/boo when they want/chant what they want....and the players can choose to respond the way they are. Its all in each person's right to do so.
HOWEVER, what do the players expect from the fans? Some of them spending a good portion of their monthly entertainment dollar to see that effort/result, which by the way its pretty direct that the money the fans spend is what pays the players salary....and when the fans witness that effort, do the players expect the fans to cheer for them and wish they better luck next time so their feelings aren't hurt?
You would think that any chant the Fans have..."Fire Donny", "Fire Adams", "Pegula S**ks"....anything should right away be translated in the players heads to a simple "do better".
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I don't mind Bryson and Clifton THAT much as a #3 pair getting 13-14 minutes in a game. Its an issue when they are the #2 guys and getting about 20 minutes in a game.
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2 hours ago, bob_sauve28 said:
Kings beat the Bruins today in or, so maybe our 7-0 win was a good win or something
And the loss to Florida maybe doesn't look as bad as they are winning 9-1 right now half way through the 3rd against Tampa.
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I really hate games like this. I'd rather see a sloppy five to five game than a 0-0 goaltenders battle. But. .
It's not just UPL.... Since the beginning of the year, the defenseman and even the forwards in their own zone have been playing better, a lot better. Are they perfect? No, but the amount of plays where they're out of position or the blatant awful turnovers.... They are way down.
Now only if someone can score.
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1 minute ago, Sidc3000 said:
Will the Sabres pp realize that Tage is a non-factor. Every team knows that they will pass to Tage every chance they get.
It seems to me that last year they started to cover him the same way that... But he used a little skating and quickness to side step some of the players and if he didn't get off the one timer, he got off another good shot. I don't see that at all from him this year.
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Not only do Thompson's one-timers seem to have a little bit less on them this year.... He seems to be lining up and taking them from deeper in the zone.. on a little bit worse of an angle.
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4 minutes ago, mjd1001 said:
Does uniforms Minnesota is wearing with the yellow.... Definitely brings me back to my childhood watching the North Stars.
First of all, the ads on the boards they can change digitally and I'm seeing ads targeted towards Western New York.... But that key bank logo on the inside of the blue lines... Had me doing a double take as to whether this game was in Minnesota or Buffalo.
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Those uniforms Minnesota is wearing with the yellow.... Definitely brings me back to my childhood watching the North Stars.
Now if only the Quebec Nordiques could be back in the league... I hated them so much that I miss it
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Is the Powerplay bad because of Tage? or is Tage bad because of the Power play?
Is the Power play bad because Tage only has 4 PP goals this year, while last year he had 20? Is the reason the PP is awful not because its run bad...but simply he simply isn't producing on it?
OR....
Is Tage a lot worse this year because he isn't getting those PP goals, and its not his fault so much as it is the fault of the way the Power Play is run?
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11 hours ago, Marvin said:
A change in Power Play coaches is maybe all we need to make the playoffs? Try it now by hiring Bob Woods.
Buffalo is 14.38 on the PP this season. Median this year has been around 22-23% for most of the season. Last year they were at 23.42. Lets target 23%. Slightly worse than last year, maybe close to 10th-15th in the league this year. Where does that get them? That gives them 13 more goals.
With no other changes, that gives them a positive goal differential this year (I think a +4). How does that equate to the standings? In the East last year, EVERY team that was good enough to have a positive goal differential made the playoffs. Every team that had a negative missed the playoffs. The correlation was 100%. In the West EVERY team that had a negative missed also, 8 or the 9 teams with a positive made it. In the East, 2 years ago EVERY team that had a positive goal differential made the playoffs, EVERY team with a negative goal differential missed.
Its not a guarantee (the West has a couple teams every so often on the bubble that don't fit the 'rule') but for the most part, the SINGLE best metric (other than points) that determine whether you are good enough to make the playoffs or miss the playoffs is overall goal differential. Change NOTHING other than the powerplay (make them league average or close to last year) and this team has a positive goal differential. Or think of it this way...sprinkle around those 13 extra goals...and quite a few of them probably turn losses into wins and you can get your point total up that way.
3 years ago Buffalo was 12th in the league at 21%. 2 years ago they were 16th at 21.2%. Last year they were 9th in the league at 23.4%. This year they are 28th in the league at 14.3%. Did the players change? Not really. Did the head coach change? No. Did the assistants change? YES. So, where you have a huge drop off in performance in one key aspect of your game, I just don't think you 'blow things up' or make huge changes until you change what is the problem. Its like Surgery....you have an infection on your arm, you don't just cut the whole arm off, you first TRY to get rid of the infection locally.
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8 hours ago, Broken Ankles said:
No buts…Scoring is a problem. Don’t try to dilute that with anecdotal numbers for JJP or Mitts. The GF last year, same games played was 197. It’s 155 this year. That’s 42 goals. The PP rate last year was ~.75 per game. I hear how the Sabres are middle of the pack in even strength and the problem is all special teams. If the PP rate was equal to 22/23, using that ratio it would increase the GF total by 17 goals. 42-17= 25 goals difference. This year the Sabres have scored 2 or fewer goals 23 times. Last year through 53 games it was 8 less. Scoring is a problem.
The GA is down YoY by 20 because better overall goaltending and arguably improved play by the defenseman. I do not see much improvement in defensive play by the forward group. Hence the need to shake things up a bit. For me, more on the forward side than D. I’d prefer 5-6 new faces there and 2 new on the Blueline. The game against Florida confirmed it for me that the roster as currently constructed could not win a playoff series against most of the top 16 teams in the League.
I see a drastic improvement but only in the past few weeks.
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Ok. Blow the team up. Change coaches. Change GM's. They all may be valid points. But maybe its simpler than that.
What is wrong/different with this team compared to last year's team, which was 1 point away from the playoffs?
-This team is allowing less goals than last year. They are now middle-of-the-pack and actually improving the last few weeks. They have a goalie who not only has pretty good numbers, he passes the 'eye test' also.
Scoring is the problem but:
-Peterka is doing better than last year. Skinner is basically giving you close to the scoring of last year. Dahlin has less assists but is scoring more goals. Mitts is better offensively. Greenway and Okposo are better offensively.
Basically, this team is equal to, or BETTER than last years team in MOST ways other than: Thompson scoring, Cozens scoring, and Tuch Scoring (Tuch isn't as big of an issue as the other 2, and it may be related to injury with him.) VO is off also, but his play is made up for basically by Peterka, and few think/thought VO was long for this team anyway.
So yea, the results aren't what anyone wants....but its not the whole team. Much of the team is equal to last year or BETTER. The question may not be how or why to make wholesale changes, or blow everything up....but rather how/why are Thompson, Cozens, maybe Tuch and Power issues.
I don't want to blow the whole team up yet....I don't want to make major changes yet. I want to fix Tage, Cozens, and Power (mostly) as those guys are 3 of your 'core 4 or 5'.
If a coaching change or GM change 'fixes' those guys, then great. But I know when people say we have waited and endured 'too long' and just want 'something to be done', I'm not quite sure what coach...or GM...comes in here and just makes those guys better. Because, while the rest of the team is 'flawed', overall they are giving you want they did last year or in some cases are better than last year.
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8 minutes ago, Pimlach said:
I have to agree that the presence of the owner attending the working level meetings of the GM and his staff can be a problem, especially if they feeling is they have to placate him and make him the smartest guy in the room. That just kills growth, innovation and makes people want to move on.
Does Terry have the personality to be in there "making the sausage" while not stepping on the creativity, skill, and knowledge of the staff? We can only look at the results to derive an answer.
All of the following things can be true....that he has every right as the owner to be in those meetings...that other owners do similar things....and that it can be very disruptive to the management.
Years ago when Rex Ryan was the Bills coach, I remember an interview with Pegula. He was talking about how Rex and his staff were defensive geniuses, and that Pegula himself sat in on meetings with the coaching staff and he was amazed at how much they knew. He want on to say he had to ask so many questions just to understand what they were talking about. After that interview I came away thinking....If i was THAT coaching staff, I couldn't wait to have a meeting without him. Even if he wasn't throwing in his 'opinion', someone interrupting on a frequent basis (which he made it sound himself like he was doing), just isn't a good situation.
Now, add to that the fact/strong rumors that it was PEGULA who wanted Ville Leino, and he admitted he pushed for Erhoff.....and it would seem to be reasonable to think that in hockey, he makes his feelings known and does more than 'just listen'.
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I’m Sorry for Being So Negative!
in The Aud Club
Posted · Edited by mjd1001
It is a small sample size, but since the turn of the calendar to 2024, I think the forwards have gotten a LOT better in this regard. Like a night and day difference. From one of the worst teams I have ever seen, to recently playing above average in their own end. Now if only they could have Tage catch fire like he did last year scoring....
If you want to be positive, there are things there to be positive about, just you have to look through the 'fog of the results' of the season to see them. Goaltending looks really good. Overall Defensive play (D-men and forwards in their own zone) has taken a drastic turn up recently...and they are allowing less goals and shots overall compared to last year. Quinn (when he plays) looks really good. Peterka looks REALLY good. Tuch has taken a step back due to injuries, but even with those injuries he has shown/proven he is more of a 20-25 (maybe 30) goal scorer for you than a guy who will only get in the teens.
To be a playoff team/force in the league, I think this team is a single LEGIT top 4 D-man (not a guy you have to convnice you is a top 4 guy, but a legit one), a season without major injury problems, and one more player developing into a 'feared' nhl level goal scorer that isn't there yet. That along with every single game the young D-corp geting more experience is all I think this team may need. I don't think you need to 'blow up the roster', you don't need to fire Adams and the entire coaching staff...etc. MAYBE trading some prospects for a top 9 guy who is 'hard to pay against' would help too, but there is a lot here to work with.