mjd1001

Agreed, He has been productive the last couple of games, but I want to see more of it and for longer stretches.

Its early in the season of course, but based on how things have gone the last 3-4 years, its kinda odd to see the current order of the division standings, pretty much from top to bottom, after these 8-10 games.

Samuelsson listed as a +4. On the ice for all Buffalo goals. As of now also leading the entire team in ice time.

I'm referring to a lot of posters, referenced by the post I was responding to, which do not evaluate things that way. There are posters that do very close to exactly what I described.

Some people become part of a 'club' or 'a team of their own' and can't say anything that goes against that narrative. Its becoming a bigger and bigger part of society. Lets say you are a fan of a particular player in a sport, a member of a certain political party, a fan of a team or a driver...maybe a fan of 'the Sabres will never be good" or "fire Adams and Ruff at all cost". In order to mentally stay in good standing with that 'club' or 'team' you belong to, it is very very hard to say anything against it.

I'd want to see him play at least one or two more NHL games... Plus you have to realize the team is getting a good look at him in practice that we're not. If he plays well in another NHL game... And he looks good in practice and is fitting in... You have to seriously consider not putting him on waivers. Besides put him on waivers and what's the end game? If he doesn't get picked up? Send him to Rochester? Where he is just going to split time with Levi?

OK, Ellis was good enough. Lots of rebounds, he wasn't great. I don't think "can he be great" this year is important. Is he a guy that mentally is good enough to be a decent backup goalie though? A guy you can rely on for 20-30 starts?

Net front presense as mentioned by others...his analytics look good...Lindy is giving him a lot of ice time. Those are all good things. But if he wants $10m per year on a medium-to-long term deal, he needs to do all that AND score.

I said this in the GDT but I'll say it here in the Owen Power thread. He played a good game tonight, he wasn't that bad the last few games either. I think a lot of people are just expecting him to be bad that anytime something bad happens near him they blame him out of instinct. He took a lot of criticism in the GDT for the Detroit goal he was on the ice for, but I think of the 3 Sabres on that side of the ice, he played things the BEST among them. Yeah, he's not perfect yet, but so far I see more positive out of him this year than negative. I think right now he's outplaying Byram for sure as an example.

2 games in a row vs the leafs. Other teams win both games of a back to back right? Other teams go on a 3 game winning streak, right? If the Sabres can do it just this time...not only are they now back in the middle of the standings, but they put the Leafs in pretty big trouble.

I've liked his overall game tonight. I think this game is a good example of how (besides not hitting tons of people) he is maturing, understanding the game in his own zone.

Someone on the Sabres (Adams, the scouting staff, everyone) got obsessed with the size of goalies. They wanted everyone 6'3", 6'4" or more. Well, both Ellis and Lyons are only about 6 feet tall (MAYBE 6'1) and they are outplaying the 'big' guys on the Sabres in net so far.

Watch the replay online if you get a chane where they show it from different angles. For sure looks like a 'set play'. I don't know if thats a good thing or a bad thing. A sign of actual good coaching by the Sabres? Or a bad sign that they can't just put the guys out there because they can't figure it out with their own hockey sense/talent unless there is a play set for them (looking at Dahlin and Thompson here...this year)

On the Quinn PP goal the Sabres set that up by moving around, forcing Detroit to turn their PK "Box" into a "Diamond", giving Quinn that short window of opportunity to shoot from there. I'd have to say that looked like a set play that was actually an example of good PP coaching.

As per my post above, of the 3 Sabres closest to the puck on that last detroit goal, Power, Doan, and McLeod....I think Power played it the best among the 3.

Watching the replay on that last goal, I wouldn't be so hard on Power. If you watch Larkin coming down the near boards, McLeod is stride for stride with him. Just inside the blue line, Larkin does a little move on McLeod and gets some seperation. 2 missed stick checks later, McLeod lays off Larkin as Larkin goes into the corner. At that Point, Power goes into the corner after larkin because McLeod layed off. The goal scorer comes up the middle of the ice, Doan is with him stride for stride but just as Power shades to the corner, Doan lets up just a little bit and lets the guy get a step on him. All 3 guys, Power, Doan, and McLeod are looking around not quite sure where to go. I do not blame Power for going into the corner at all AFTER McLeod held up and let Larkin into the corner. Its just once McLeod lays up there and Power continues on Larkin, McLeod and/or Doan need to make sure they have the trailers going to the front of the net. Power seemed to be the one guy that played it better than either Doan or McLeod. If McLeod follows his guy into the corner, Power is closer to the middle to break up the pass. IF McLeod peals off like he did, that kinda forces Power to go to the corner, so someone else (McLeod himself or Doan) needs to be in the center to cover the guy crashing to the net. If you watch Power, he LOOKS at the goal scorer coming up the center of the ice and at the moment he does, he sees Doan is side by side with him, before deciding to go to the corner. It was the moment power turned to go to the corner that Doan fell a step behind him. The more times I watch the replay of the goal..the more I think Power didn't do anything wrong. He analysed the situation, read what McLeod was doing, reacted to McLeod letting Larkin go, and only left his spot AFTER checking to see if Doan had the slot covered. Only problem is Doan lost his guy. Yep, that is what I saw, he was with him and just let him get that half step on him. (see above)

Sabres kinda lucky it wasn't too many men on the ice before that goal. It looked like Quinn and Zucker had skates on the ice already when Tuck and Doan were still 20 feet from the bench.

On that red wings goal I jus watch the replay. When Ellis kicked out the reboundon the first shot, I could swear the puck was dribbing on the ice, Tage put his stick in front of it, and at the last minute it jumped right over his stick and right to the Red Wings player. I'd have to see another angle to be sure, but if that is actually what happened, some real bad luck (vis possible bad ice) there.

Peyton Krebs, the one good thing he does is makes Jack Quinn somewhat respectable. Quinn's analytics are pretty horrible the last 1-2 years. He brings everyone else down. However, When Krebs plays with him, his numbers, pretty much across the board...are respectable. Not good, but respectable. Even the ones related to offense. One example: High danger chances generated: Quinn with Krebs: 1 high danger chance for every 6.3 minutes. 'regular' scoring chance generate every 2.1 minutes. Quinn without Krebs: 1 high danger chance for every 7.9 minutes 'regular' scoring chance generated every 2.5 minutes. And both of those numbers are with a pretty decent sample size. They have played 280 minutes together, and over 600 apart.

A few days ago I brought up similar McDavid stats to the ones below, but with a few more games played, and Austin Matthews getting criticized in Toronto quite a bit right now...thought it was interesting: Austin Matthews: -2020-21 through 2023-24: 280 games, 210 goals, 364 points, +103 (61.5 goals, 106.6 points, +30.2 per 82) -Since, Last year/so far this year: 74 games, 37 goals, 84 points, +14 (41 goals, 93 points, +15.5 per 82) Connor McDavid: -2020-21 through 2023-24: 294 games, 173 goals, 513 points, +106 (48.3 goals, 143.1 points, +29.6 per 82) -Since, Last year/so far this year: 74 games, 27 goals, 108 points, +18 (29.9 goals, 119.7 points, +19.9 per 82) So...is the most recent year just a statistical anomoly? Or are these guys past their statistical peak and not likely to see the production they had in the past?

Not funny at all, a lot of us have thought about this very thing. Its not about what they have done up to this point, it is about what they are doing right now and going forward this year and beyond. Also, Sound defensive play and a physical game can make up for any extra offensive production. Doan scored 17 goals per 82 so far in his career, Peterka is at 23. Not to mention Peterka has played with higher quality linemates/offensive ability and with a lot more minutes on the PP. There is a case to be made that Doan will prevent MORE than 6 goals a year than JJP over the course of an 82 game season. I'm not saying Peterka is worse than Doan. JJP may very well be the better player. But in the very small sample size we have of Doan, it is worth the discussion (that is what message boards are for, right?)

-I could see Doan and Peterka getting close to the same productions numbers and Doan having a better all around/physical game making him the better/more impactful player. -I could also see Doan slowing his offensive pace and getting half the goals of Peterka, even with a better 2-way game his overall impact being less than Peterka. I could see it going either way. Its too early to tell.

Not keep: Quinn, Greenway, Bryson. I'd move them for very little return. Everyone else, it "depends" -UPL. I'm starting to lean toward getting rid of him. Need to see when he comes back is he closer to 2 years ago form, or last year's form. -Norris. When he comes back from this injury if I can get the majority of the rest of the year from him..Keep. If he has another moderate or worse injury, I'd like to wave a magic wand and get rid of him. -Samuelsson. Same as Norris above. -Tuch. Extend him medium term for $8 per year, love to have him. If its going to be 7-8 years at $10m or more...nope. -Bryam. I'd see what is out there for him. He's not hurting the team, but he's not worth what he's getting paid. I'd want to see what the return for him would be.

A lot of talk about Jack Quinn's game here, so I thought this was interesting... Since the start of Last season: Jack Quinn vs Ottawa: 5 games, 5 goals, 1 assist, +5 (82 game pace of 82 goals, 16 assists, +82) Quinn vs everyone else: 75 games, 12 goals, 24 assists, -24 (82 game pace, 13.5 goals, 27 assists, -27) Trade him to Ottawa and convince them its worth it so they don't have to face him anymore.

1. Not sure yet, could be ok 2. Good. 3. Not bad, leaning on the good side. 4. Not good. 5. Big (ish) names but not really helping/hurting either way. 6. Doesn't matter. 7. Not good. 8. Doesn't matter. 9. Not good. 10. Doesn't matter. 11. Not good. 12. Decent. Risto was hurting this team, needed to go. 13. Bad. 14. Doesn't matter. 15 Doesnt matter.