mjd1001
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Posts posted by mjd1001
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So, I know that things can change..but...those people who, just a month ago... wanted to sign him/offer him 2-3 years at close to $2m per year....that might not be possible anymore.
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28 minutes ago, Slack_in_MA said:
Three in a row! Come from behind, Home shootout win!
Best game of the year?
Certainly this was a closer game...more edge-of-your seat....but I still think its hard to be a game where you blow out the Maple Leafs for 'the best of the year. This one was probably the best one in terms of competitiveness though.
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Oh for Kotalik right now...
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I know this comment may not go over well with some, but Dunleavy is calling the game pretty well and has a good deal of emotion to me.
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As much as we can complain about Skinner's overall game...the might be the Sabre who goes to the net and hangs around there more than anyone.
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Power isn't physical. Power makes mistakes (he is still learning the game). He is tentative. But that is a glimpse of what he can/should turn into, given enough time and patience.
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I frequently am the one to say stop complaining about bad calls, they go both ways. But that one, after seeing the replay...that was bad.
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Dahlin is going to have 30 minutes of ice time again. I know E. Johnson was hurt and they want to ease him back in, but what does he have, like 8 minutes so far?
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Not sure if this was posted yet as a reminder but....since 2016-2017 season...Buffalo Vs Carolina...
Buffalo 2 wins(46 goals scored). Carolina 16 wins (76 goals scored).
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15 hours ago, Thorny said:
I should have just said “best”. No one has ever played the game as well as him due to advancements in physical stature and training. Berth Gretzky and Mario into today’s world and I’m sure it’s a different story.
One thing I never really thought too much about with Gretzky/Lemieux and many others from that era. Might they have been ever BETTER if the nature of the NHL was closer to what it is now than it was back then....meaning Gretzky had to have someone like Dave Semenko on his line...often small star playes would have their own 'bodyguard'. I think in a lot of Gretzky's high stat seasons, he was on the ice a lot (not all the time but a lot) with Semenko or McSorely. Even strenght it was Gretzky, Kurri, and one of them. What if you moved Glenn Anderson up to Gretkzy's line in place of them...or maybe Tikkanen on a more regular basis. Would his numbers have been ever better?
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I really want this year to be the 'reset' year for the Bills regarding the cap. I don't know all the ins and outs of it, but play out the Miller deal (dont' extend or push money into the future.) If Diggs isn't long for this team, do what you need to do to minimize the Cap hit starting in 2025. Make moves for the replacements for anyone over 30 on this roster (not EVERYONE over 30 but many of them).
With Josh Allen, Cook, 2 decent-good tight ends, your entire offensive line....your offense should still be competitive-to-good at least. Your Defense? It may not look good on paper with some moves/cuts...BUT even if you load up on young guys (and Milano is back) it just might be as good, if not BETTER than what you finished with last year.
I'd even look to see if you can get some extra late round picks this year...load up on young guys...competition. With everything I said above, this team still should compete for a playoff spot, and then starting in 2025 (phase 2 of Josh Allens's career with Buffalo) you can start to compete in the 'cap wars' again.
Plus I'd honestly LIKE a season with lower expectations...but with enough talent still here where they have a chance of beating those expectations.
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Interesting a lot of the poll results currently have McDavid as #1, but yet a lot of the comments are for MacKinnon. For those who vote McDavid, what are the reasons to choose him over MacKinnon? Right now he has double the votes.
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I thought about D-men or goalies, but no one really comes to mind to even come close to the to forwards right now.
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21 hours ago, Thorny said:
Matthews or McDavid
Went with Matthews cause he’s just goal scoring at an insane clip right now. He could theoretically hit 500 career goals *2 years* from now. McDavid is probably the most talented ever but I’ll give Matthews his due for this stretch. Shame he never registers any assists
I can't totally disagree on McDavid as having the most talent ever....but as someone in my late 40's, I watched a lot of hockey as a Kid...Gretzky, Messier, Lemieux, Hasek, Brett Hull are some I saw.....I really, really have a hard time not thinking Mario Lemieux wasn't the most talented player ever. Sure, goalies were awful back then.....but more than anyone (Gretzky included), there were plays were Lemiuex simply could not be stopped. 1 on 3 and he would walk through the other team and just score. Too bad his career was cut short by his illness at such a young age.
If someone says McDavid in terms of talent though over Lemiuex...its tough to compare players a few decades apart, so I could go either way.
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10 minutes ago, Broken Ankles said:
Here is what Money puck shows in terms of actual scoring against expected goals.
@mjd1001 how do you reconcile this chart? It implies that as you suggest, Cozens is just awful. Not comparing previous years, just not converting this year. In fact the worst Sabre by a lot in terms of actual/expected. Notice that Benson is also way below expectations, which makes sense to me and also contributes to lack of scoring. The person he replaced (Olofsson) was at the opposite end of the spectrum last year, scoring way above expectations. I believe little things like this contribute to the lack of overall offense. Where is the Ire for Benson for not only scoring less than Victor but below his even lower expected goals? Why does he get slack?
The chart also this suggests Tage is fine in terms of execution. While not scoring near the same rate of last year, this means he isn’t creating quality chances, or at least to the level level of last year.Easy. Goals above expected doesn't win games. Goals win games. Tage and Cozens are scoring less goals than last year...and in terms of goals, they are accounting for the vast majority of the dropoff. Again, what the fancy stats say they SHOULD score is good and all, but the team is not making the playoff because of actual goals. More goals were scored last year. A lot more. Where is that production missing, from where? Goals above expected, just this year..might tell us something about who is playing well or not well this year, but I'm talking about production this year vs last.
And asking me about Benson, you are barking up the wrong tree there. I have said many times, even earlier in the year, that I would rather have him not on the roster (or not as a regular at least), but I am just "OK" with it without him having many options. Also in terms of ice time, and just as important, usage, ice time and usage on the PP and expections for production, I dont' consider Benson a replacement for VO. For me it is closer to Peterka is taking VO's role/PP time/expectations, and Benson is taking what Peterka had last year.
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Who is the best player in hockey right now?
-Austin Matthews. 52 goals, 24 assists, 76 points right now. On pace for over 70 goals. Led the league 2 years ago in goals, last year 'only' reached 40 playing through a wrist injury. Scoring goals is said to be the hardest thing to do in hockey, and he is the best at it over the last few years. On pace for 77 goals and 113 points this year.
-Connor McDavid. 21 goals, 66 assists, 87 points, after a very slow start. 5 time Art Ross Trophy winner, 3 time MVP, currently reigning champion in both. 27 years old and 6 times 100+ points.
-Nathan MacKinnon. 34 goals, 59 assists, 93 points. Only he and Kucherov on this list is a cup winner. 2nd in league in points, 5 out of leading. 7 years in a row being a double digit + in the plus-minus column. 2nd only to Kucherov in playoff points over the past 5 years, but 1st in playoff goals scored (33 goals in 52 playoff games, scoring goals at a 52 goal per 82 game pace in the playoffs vs playoff competition) Probably the closest we have to a modern day Mark Messier...intense, fast, clutch performer who will 'will' his way to success once he pushed his talent to the limit.
-David Pastrnak. 36 goals, 46 asissts, 82 points. Best player on the best team (overall wins) over the last couple of years. 3rd in the league in goals and 5th in points over the last 5 years. 61 goals last year. In the past decade only McDavid had a single season with more goals (64.) When I personally watch the Bruins, he rarely makes a mistake in any zone on the ice.
-Nikita Kucherov. 37 goals, 61 assists, 98 points this year through 58 games to lead the league (on pace for 52g, 86a, 138 points). Multiple time 100+ point guy...multiple time Cup winner. Leads league in playoff points over the past 5 seasons...28 more than 2nd place.
Just curious to see what everyone thinks as of right now....
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1 hour ago, etiennep99 said:
1. Our PP sucks. Olofsson is great on the PP. Why has he been on the bench all year? Dumb. If you had played him on the PP and he was scoring, then you still had the option to trade him; who wants him now?
2. Dahlin is our PP quarterback, best offensive d-man. So why is DG killing him by playing in 30 minutes a night when the playoffs are totally impossible?? Dumb.
3. Lots of good guys have been on the waiver wire. Last year, we could have had Eeli Tolvanen for free. GMKA doesn't have a clue on how to build a complete roster unless his goal is still to tacitly tank for at least one more year (it looks like the top 10 players will be quality players. And who knows, maybe we win the Celebrini drawing.)
4. You want size and scoring ability? You could have drafted a guy like Quentin Musty last year. Sure Benson has some nice attributes, but he's small and getting knocked around. Benson isn't playing his heart out like he was early in the year, because, I assume, he realized how much of a toll it took out on his body.
I could go on. GMTM actually had a much better idea of what a good team was. Even GMJBott had some good ideas: Conor Sheary is OK on other teams, as are Vesey and, of course, Brendon Montour. What GMKA has done well is locking up some key players to long term contracts. However, it looks like Mittelstadt will need to be traded as he is in the Reinhart zone.
I agree with your first 2. Dahlin is getting way too much ice time. And VO? yeah, put him out there and see how it goes. Its not like what they have is working.
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Let say they go on a 5 game winning streak from here. Making it 7 in a row. Even if they did that, they would be at .532 point percentage. Where would that get them? 13th in the conference. Where are they now? 13th in the conference. So yeah, not looking good, but we all know that already.
And those next 5 games? Carolina, Florida, Tampa, Vegas, Winnipeg. Their record so far against those teams this year? 2-6
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As of yesterday, he passed Thompson for 5th on the team in goals per 60 (by a fraction) and is only .03 goal per game behind Skinner for 4th.
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By the way, on the goal allowed last night....
R. Johnson was down low to account for to C-bus forwards at the time of the goal. He could have been more physical or made a play on the puck...sometimes you do sometimes you don't.
My question is with Jokiharju that play. I think he has played pretty well recently and actually has had a decent year. But when I look at the replay, its not a TERRIBLE mistake but the reason Johnson has to deal with 2 guys is Jokiharju floats up the ice toward the faceoff circle. Now, normally I would not think thats a bad thing...but there really is no C-bus player there to cover and Benson was already there.
The Sabres seem to be getting a lot better in their own end latey, and no team makes zero mistakes...but I'm just not sure why a D-man would skate away from his own net...toward a spot on the ice with no defender, when one of your forwards is there already...leaving only your rookie D-man to cover ANYTHING happening down low. Those are the things this team did earlier in the year that they seemed to cover up lately.....lets see if this happens more when they play some of the tougher competition coming up on the schedule.
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14 minutes ago, Pimlach said:
I am happy that Dahlin was bothered by the chant. I am not happy with how the team decided to handled it. Actually I have never heard of any team reacting like this in the NHL. But even the Oakland Seals/California Golden Seals/Cleveland Barons were less futile than the Buffalo Pegula's. At least they got to die.
I think it is detrimental to try to find out what each player thought on this issue, and then systematically get rid of everyone who agreed with snubbing the fans. Instead install new leadership and move on.
I still believe he is the best player on the team and someone likes the cut of his jib. It is a good jib, come on PA lighten up a bit.
It actually did happen in Toronto a decade ago, I think Porous Five Hole had a post about it...apparently the Leaf fans booed the team off the ice and threw some jerseys on the ice after a performance they weren't happy with..and the players took exception to it.
I don't like it, but I don't think its a major issue either. One side can say its a sign the team is spoiled, entitled, doesn't care about the fans....but the other side can say they team stands up for each other, has a tight locker room, etc. Neither side of the argument is totally correct or incorrnect to me. I think Quinn being hurt, Tage's shooting percentage dropping 40% since the last 2 years, and this team having no skilled/experienced Veteran on the blue line (who isn't WELL past his prime) are much, much bigger issues than the team saluting or not saluting the fans, and I think one does not have an impact on the other.
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1 hour ago, DarthEbriate said:
In the stretch between and including the Columbus games (12/30/23-2/23/24), the Sabres played 7 games against playoff teams and 14 games against non-playoff teams (aka the UPL hot stretch).
They're 11-10 in that time. [2-5 vs. playoff teams with both wins coming against LAK; 9-5 vs. non] This was the time to make up ground and they didn't. They played NHL .500 hockey.
In the next 20 games, the schedule flips. 13 playoff teams and 7 non-playoff teams.
We'll see a few things: 1) Does the team defense still have good shot numbers?, 2) Can UPL maintain consistently above-average play?, 3) Can they keep playing .500 hockey?
I did a quick look at their schedule and results this year....
Against the top 10 teams this year (in terms of point percentage), the Sabres are 5w-11L
Against the bottom 10 teams, they are 13w-7L
Against the remaining middle, they are 8w-13L.
The last time the Sabres WON against a team currently in the top 10 in the standings....24 games ago, in December vs Toronto. Since then they have only played 5 games out of 24 against the current top 10 teams....0 Wins, all 5 Losses, outscored 15-7 (average score 3 goals allowed, just 1.4 goals scored)
Maybe the good news is since 2024 started, they have played 3 of those teams....gone 0-3 but only allowed 5 'real' goals in those 3 games (taking out empty net/gargabe time goals) So yeah, at least they have tightened up the D against those top teams.
Not surprising, it is what you would expect. But as you and others have said, those of us who are trying to look at the 'good' side of things, these next few games/weeks will tell us a lot. They need to do better than 1 win for every 2 losses against the top 1/3 of the leauge.
Not related to the Sabres, but teams that are considered 'good'... Edmonton, has a similar record agains the top of the league as Buffalo (last time I saw someone post about Edmonton, they were 5W-10L against the top 10 teams.) Edmonton is feeding off of the bottom of the league. Dallas same thing, they were 4W and 13L vs the top 10 teams. On the other side of things...Florida already has 10 wins vs the top of the league, as does Vancouver.
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-Thompson give a month off to heal whatever injury he has. If he doesn't have one, pray he somehow returns to the form of the last 2 seasons. I don't know what else it can be. Its not he came off of one career year, he had 2 years in a row where he was great..then this year...hes getting his shots and chances, they just aren't going it. #1 way to fix the offense is find out what you need to do to get him going.
-Hire a new Assistant to do nothing but work with the Powerplay. Pay the guy double/triple what you need to, just do it.
-Wait for Quinn to come back. Last year I was thinking...hes good but its early. This year I think him and Peterka, when they are together, are legit scoring threats.
-Bring in a really, really good, veteran, 2-way D-man. I know they don't grow on trees. But someone who can both make that good first pass out of the D-zone and also someone reliable in his own end to possibly pair with Dahlin so you take some D-zone pressure off of Dahlin and let him push up the ice even more.
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7 minutes ago, Thorny said:
Not THAT much different from a team that DIDN’T make the playoffs AFTER you remove 2 key players from the equation doesn’t make a compelling argument for a coach retention in and of itself. Not when we sit in 25th place. You aren’t making a strong argument for anything, that’s what I’m saying - I get it, I just don’t think it’s a very strong argument
Maybe the problem was he wasn't a good coach last year. If you want to tell me that he was a below average coach last year, and he was only saved by a career year from Cozens and Thompson, I will listen to that argument.
I honestly never played or coached hockey at anything close to a professional level. So maybe he's just not good overall. Last year the power play was very good, but it was realistically good because of one-timers by Tage and VO.
So again, the point of my argument is I honestly think he is doing a slightly better coaching job than last year. So if people were happy with his coaching job last year, I don't see why they want him gone this year.
Again, if you think he was bad last year, wanted him gone last year... And think that he is still bad this year, that is an argument I won't go back and forth too much on. I disagree with that slightly, but I will respect that argument. My whole point is again, I'm simply comparing his coaching last year to this year. I don't see it as considerably worse than last year.
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UPL's next contract
in The Aud Club
Posted
If he goes to arbitration, I think the might get more than that, and that would only be for 1 year.
If his agent is looking for 3 or 4 years at 5 mil per year, do you say no?