mjd1001

A bit off topic of what is going on in the league, but I'm watching the Rangers/Caps games, and I don't know what it is, but there is just something about the Rangers uniforms that I don't like. I know, original 6 team, classic colors/uniforms, but to me, they just look like something that a High school team would wear. The seemed 'old fashioned/from the 70's design', but not in a good nostalgic way.

The part about him looking 3-5 years down the line, being calculated with who they add, wanting players reaching their prime...etc. That will not be what a lot of people who think this team needs a shot of veteran leadership want, but I'm good with it. BUT, I'm only good with it if they do something, they can't do nothing at all this offseason. If they pass on some good veterans, then fine, but make sure you find SOMETHING of value to add to this roster next year.

I'm not looking for super talented, top pair guys for this team. I need a balance of skill AND salary expectations. The key thing is getting someone good enough that you can not have to pay $5 mil per season or more, I WANT as much money available to sign as many of the key 'stars' on this team as possible. It doesn't have to be a big name. It just has to be someone better than Clague/Bryson, etc. Give me someone with 'average' skill (a decent skater, not a tiny guy..doesn't have to be super fast or huge, just someone who isn't overmatched). What I want is just 3 things: 1.) Wins 50% or more of battles for loose pucks in his own end. 2.) positionally sound...doesn't chase pucks all over like a dog chasing a squirrel, knows when to make a hit and when it is more important to maintain his position. 3.) good at identifying who to pass the puck to in his own end and good at making that first past. I don't need a guy with a 95mph slap shot, or a guy who skates like a top-5 fastest player on my team, or a guy who is 6'4" and 230 lbs. Just someone who can get that loose puck in my own and and that as quickly as possible pass it to a forward or Dahlin/Power and that is it.

I agree with most (but not all) of the above. Not giving up on Greenway, but I have seen nothing, ZERO from him. Maybe he needs a training camp with the team? Krebs. He shows flashes of being 'pretty good', but I just still see a guy that is a 'good' hockey player but with physical deficiencies. I just think he is too small, doesn't win battles, and too slow to ever be a guy that justifies his draft status/expectations. Stillman isn't great, but I'm open to him being a good part of this team. As other have said, you don't need a star player to pair with Dahlin and Power. You need a guy who is positionally sound, can win 50% or more battles in your own end for loose pucks, and has 'decent' skill (average size/skating/first pass ability). To get all of that in a player isn't easy, but you don't need to be a star. I think Stillman can be 'close' to that ideal player. VO....I just don't think you LOOK to get rid of a player that can score 25 or more goals for you. If you have a young guy that is banging down the door to replace him fine. But you don't replace him until that young guy is actuall doing that...not someone you HOPE will do that eventually. Also, for as 'bad' as VO is without the puck, he doesn't make many glaring errors/giveways that result in goals. Is he a good forechecker? no. Does he backcheck well and take the puck away from wingers in his own zone? No. But he is not a turnover machine that causes the puck to be in his own net every game player. UNTIL one of the guys in the minors turns into a 20 goal scorer, or until Quinn AND Peterka are BOTH 20-25 goal scorers, I keep VO around unless someone else is begging for him in a trade. Johnson? Since I heard that rumor he was going to sign with the Sabres, total silence. I'm interested in what is going on there. Maybe he can be that D-man as I described above when typing about Stillman that this team needs. They don't need a high-priced Chychrun type player. They need a steady but VERY consistend D-man that knows his role (woudn't McCabe fit on this team really well if the Sabres still had him?) Girgensons I very much want to see back. He is a good 4th line player-very often that 4th line he is on has the puck deep in the oppoents zone and holds it there. He is not terrible offensively, he actually ranks in the top 6-10 on the Sabres in terms of goals-per-60 minutes year in and year out (not great but not awful for sure, in the .6-.7 GP60 range). And he is the best penalty killer on this team. When he is out there on the PK, the eye test says he is aggressive when he needs to be, makes good decisions, and is positionally sound. Statistically on the PK, the Sabres have 2 groups of players, those that are on the ice for 12+ goals per 60, and those that are on the ice for 9 or less goals per 60. For most of his career, he has been in the second (better) category.

Agreed. It's about training camp next year and the pre season. If he blows your doors off and his play demands a spot on the sabers roster, then he makes the team. If he doesn't do that it's back to Rochester. It's great hes doing well in Rochester now, but training camp will determine where he stands with this team next year

I'm not sure. I watch the sabres games on television but we have a basic VPN service, so I decided to try it just out of curiosity on my laptop in the basement....and it worked. I was able to use the VPN and the sabers game was available. Maybe it is the VPN provider....some they catch and others they dont?

I haven't watched Vegas play lately, but maybe Eichel is comitting to playing more of a team game? Anyone who watches them play that is a serious question. His production is just not there. Less than a point per game player this year. Even with the hat trick a few games ago he only has 8 points in his last 10 games. The hat trick is the only game he scored in over the last 10. BUT, the team is winning again. Again, I'm curious if he is decided to play a more 'team centric' game first and not worry about getting his points or his ice time, and maybe that is contributing to Vegas doing better? He is actually becoming a team leader and a team player like he never has been?

New D-men...better goalies...getting rid of VO and replacing him with a free agent.....its all a bunch of garbage. All they need to do is either wear the red and black jerseys all season long, or learn how to play as good in the blue and gold as they do in the red and black. They proved they are an elite team in the red and blacks, so any other changes are not needed.

It is still working for some people.

If you have Hulu/ESPN plus, some people will take the option of using a VPN and getting the Sabres games that way. For some they don't want to watch on their computer or run an HDMI cable from the computer/laptop to the TV, but for others the 2-4 minutes of doing that before games is worth it.

It just seems like they want more than I expected. Again, the NFL makes sure your local team is televised to everyone for free. How many people have Hulu plus/ESPN and will just pay a few dollars a month for a VPN instead of subscribing to their package, where if the price they are asking was a bit more reasonable they wouldn't go through the trouble?

I'm all for it, even without the success wearing them. I grew up with the Blue and Gold but ever since seeing the Black and red they have been my favorite.

When I watched Eichel in college and McDavid in junior, they physically dominated players. Old clips of Lindros had him looking like he was 25 years old playing with 12 year olds. Bedard doesn't have that. His shot and skating (the things a casual viewer will notice right away) are good compared to some junior players, but he doesn't dominate them with his speed/strength/shot power...which is what most casual viewers would notice first. I'm not saying he won't be great, but he won't 'look' the part as much as other generational talents.

I don't know why but I just never was a huge Eichel Fan even at his peak in Buffalo. With that said, glad he moved on, it has taken longer than I thought for him to 'find his spot' in Vegas, but it sounds like he has. Hindsight, it didn't seem like he was ready to be viewed as the savior/superstar in Buffalo, and the team vibes/management/roster construction was not one that was going to work with him it seems. The trade allowed him to reset his career and slide into more reasonable expectations, while Buffalo got something of pretty good value back for him.

Slightly off topic of the actual play, but wow has the NHL changed a lot in the last decade or two. For all that Marchand has done, only now is he approaching 1000 career penalty minutes. Not there yet, but the lack of fighting really has caused that number to plummet. -Only 12 current NHL players have over 1000 career penalty minutes, the active leader with 1630. -The Sabres current roster Active Penalty minute leader for their career is Okposo with just over 500 (16 year career). Skinner has just over 400 (13 year career). No one else really close. (Rob Ray had a couple years with over 350 in a SINGLE SEASON while only playing in about 60 or so games those years). -Rob Ray had over 3200 for his Career. Barnaby and Brad May both had over 2000 for their careers. -The last time the Sabres drafted a player, who for his entire NHL career had over 1000 career penalty minutes was in 1996. They drafted Corey Sarich, who had 1089 pms for his career. Again, we all know the NHL has changed and fighting is way down, I just never realized just how MUCH the numbers have gone down over the years.

Whenever the 'experts' who follow the draft class are asked to rank where he is as a prospect, I hear the same thing from most of them.....equal to or slightly better than Matthews, not as good as McDavid. (The 'slightly' better than Matthews thing I cynically think they just say because he is Canadian and Matthews is an American. In the eyes of Canadian media, every prospect who is Canadian gets their stock 'bumped up 5%' just because....they are a gold ole Canadian boy!) To me when I watch him play or see highlights of him, He is obviously good the results speak for themselves, but nothing 'scares' me if I am playing him like McDavid. He's not big. He isn't blazing fast. He doesn't have the hardest shot. He just seems like a 'good' prospect, that has that intangible factor that takes him from good to great...its just not a particular typical measurable skill.

That would be nice. I think the team and him might not make a decision until the offseason, and if this is his last year, It might be more likely to have a "Klye Okposo day" early in the season next year. Just so he can keep his options open in the offseason to possibly return to the team, or in case any other team wants to throw a good one year contract at him for his leadership/depth role (if he moves back to Minnesota, would they consider giving him a one year veteran deal that he might accept?)

Power has a long way to go to reach his potential. Apparently a lot of his analytical numbers are good, but they don't tell the whole story. He is getting over 23 minutes of ice time per game, so the coaching staff sees something in him, but I think a lot of that is more about developing him than it is just how aweseome he is game in and game out. Don't get me wrong he's not bad, he is actually really really good 'for his age', but his level of play on a contending team to me is for a 2nd pair guy with 17-19 minutes per game, not the 23 he is averaging. Again, part of that is he is good enough where he isn't killing the team and you want him exposed to all situations...and the other part of is is how bad your depth is behind him. Overall I think he is playing average-to-above average, which actually is great for his age. Playing him so much might be part of the plan to get him experience so it doesn't take him 5 years to get him to be 'elite', you are trying to move that timetable forward a bit. He might have been put into the Calder conversation because of his draft status (1st overall) and his age (look how much ice time he is getting for how young he is), but his play, while decent AND will likely continue to improve, isn't Calder level.

That kinda ties into what was the true goal of the team this year. Peterka and Quinn may have been up here because it was indeed good for their development, but overall they may not have helped the team as much as a couple of mid-priced Vets on 1 or 2 year deals would have (at least not early in the year). This year managment may have thought of as 'we WANT to make the playoffs but it still is a development year', allows for that. Next year, however, if they truly make moves in the offseason to push for the playoffs, you may see the young guys in Rochester....and had the Sabres made those moves last offseason, Quinn or Peterka (or both) may have been in Rochester.

I have thought about this a bit myself, mostly because before he was even traded to Buffalo, I heard a lot about he was an above average D-man that was young and had a lot of upside. Then he came to Buffalo.... My view, opinion, and I have not many facts to go on this but just how I feel...is he came here to a bad situation. The team was a mess, the coaching staff was a mess, and he (like a LOT of people) were not used correctly and forced to play a system they didn't like. He didn't perform well in that system, and as a result soured on the team in general. Both sides were good with him moving on. He goes to a better team and is allowed to play differently, and he is more engaged and his play gets better. In my mind, a great example of how you kinda 'ruin' a player by putting them in a bad situation/coaching situation.

My math is correct. Also, I just use percentages and different assumptions than you did.

Tom Barasso. Won rookie of the year AND the vezina as an 18/19 year old for the Sabres right out of high school.

I watched a few Vancouver games lately (the plus of having all the games on demand with hulu/Espn plus) and Elias Petterson. Most of us know he is good, but after watching him play a few games, he is even better than I thought. Almost 90 points this season, 33 goals, a plus player on a pretty bad team, and when you watch him and follow him around he passes the eye test. There are a lot of great players in the league now, but I think he can legit be in the conversationf or top 5 forwards in the league. With Vancouver being a west coast team with a lot of late starts, and as a team not getting much attention, just how good he is I think is overlooked.

The 42 percent that said near 90 points and possibly the playoffs...I used 90 points in my math (the current level needed to get the last wildcard and multiplied it by 42 percent. The 36 percent that said between 80-90...I used 85 points and multiplied that by 36 percent. The 6 percent that said 100 points and the playoffs..I multiplied 100 points by 6 percent. The final 16 percent were under 80, so I multiplied that '16' percent by 75 points. Do the math and you get about 86 points. I did it in my head previously and got 85...so the actual math as above is 86.

Here it is: -Looks like 6 percent said playoffs for sure -42 percent said 'near 90 points' and a chance for the playoffs -36 percent said between 80-90 points -14 percent said under 80 points. When re-reading the thread, I get the impression the overall/averge/median expectation was about 85 points, and a lot of "depends on how good the goaltending is". I'd say we are very close to those 'consensus' exectations.