mjd1001

I am happy of course with Cozens play so far. He is now putting up the goals/points, and his overall play is good, and Granato seems to love playing him. I still have one problem with his game that he just refuses to change, how he does not play his position in his own end. Again, I'm not saying he is bad at all, he is playing like one of the top forwards on this team, but he can be so much better if he focuses on his d-zone positioning. In breaking down some past goals the Sabres allowed, he frequently leaves his 'zone' and chases the puck, is caught out of position, and the goal against is scored by the zone he vacated. That kinda happened last night again on the first Det goal. He goes into the corner to chase the puck (2 sabres D-men already back there), leaves the wingers to cover up high, the slot is open, and the goal scorer eventually comes from there. I cannot think that is the Sabres strategy for Centers...Tage and Mitts stay in the slot in front of the net and very few goals are scored from there against the Sabres when they are out there because of it. I just wish, in his own zone, Cozens would not be so agressive to chase the puck and vacate his likely coverage area when the Sabres have D-men there already. When/If he stops doing that, he might be on his way to being one of the top 25 2-way/3 zone forwards in the league.

I guess we are going to disagree. Give me 2 teams that both miss the playoffs. One is slightly better but plays the trap and scores 2 goals per game...I'm not watching. A team with a few less points over a full season but plays up and down the ice and scores 4-5 every night...at least I'm entertained. If you aren't making the playoffs, entertain me. If you dont' do that, I have zero reason to watch.

Every year without fail his numbers have gotten worse. Its like the day he stepped on the ice for the kings was the best he ever was, and it was downhill from there. Both Save percentage and GAA.

I'm not sure where I stand on Detroit overall. They are getting better, but I think their upside is more limited than other teams (including the Sabres) -Their "D" is overall playing better than the Sabres D. But it is all their top 4. Their #5 guy in terms of overall ice time is Robert Hagg (all you need to know about their bottem 2-4). Seider is their great young hope and he is playing a lot, but making lots of mistakes. -Up front The Sabres have more talent for sure. Larkin is what he is, a very, very good (but not great) forward who is young, plays PP, PK, and OT. He is their 'do everything' guy, the star of the team, but not any better of a player than the top of the Sabres Roster. -Lucas Raymond is a good player and it is early, but I think some where hoping for more of a jump in play from him this year. He is very talened, very young, and he IS playing well, but so far this season is is not any more productive than he was last year. Detroit to me is more consistent than the Sabres, is getting better goaltending, and has less young guys making mistakes than the Sabres. But I think the Sabres are more talented overall (enough so they are pretty even teams right now) and the Sabres have more young talent in the system than Detroit. A 'moral victory' (if they exist for the Sabres) you get by outplaying and narrowly losing to a team like Boston, Tampa, Colorado.....but not Detroit. This Red Wing team is not good enough that anyone can justify a 'moral victory' against them.

Not at the expense of taking away the top scorers and seeing a more boring team in its place.

Again, Sarcasm is something on this board that is hard to detect becasue of just how serious some people can be with points that seem just, honestly absurd to me. I honestly think there are probably people on this board that WOULD take a team that still misses the playoffs but gets 9-10 points more playing a Defensive minded, low scoring game.

To be honest, it is hard to tell if something like this is a joke or not unless the sarcasm is laid on REALLY thick. There are times I read posts on here in the past and assumed they were jokes, only to engage and find out the person was really serious with their post.

I actually wouldn't. 80 Point team isn't in the playoffs either, but 'under 80 point' scoring pace would put the team leaders in points close to what Cozens, Mitts, and VO are giving you (the next guys AFTER that top 4). I'll take the Sabres current 71 point pace WITH those top 4 guys putting up the numbers they way they are....rather than take 9 more regular season points (which is about one extra win every 5 weeks), still miss the playoffs, and not have any of the excitement those guys are bringing now.

Ok, another take on this.... I looked at POINTS per game (not goals, not per 60, but points per game) I looked at some of the top players over the past 10-20 years and wanted to see where they had their peak years in terms of where they ranked. Ranking is important to me because some years have more scoring than others, so where a player ranks is more important than their raw numbers. I picked some random players that were in the top 10 in scoring often and were over 30. The result summary: Peak offensive production does appear to be between the ages of 25-27. The players I looked at: Crosby: His peak in terms of PPG ranking was between 19-27 years of age Malkin: Between 22-26 Ovi: 21-26 P. Kane 23-27 St. Louis: 23-29 Thornton: 23-27 Giroux: 22-24 Tavares: 22-23 Taylor Hall 20-21. Some players had individual peak years later (Giroux at 28, St. Louis at 31, Kane at 29) but for the most part, the numbers above hold true for Star level players. Year 26 seems to be the 'peak ranking' in terms of ppg for forwards, at least for the sample of the guys above I looked at. For many of them, their 'peak' year in PPG also is close to the same years their team was at the peak (at least in terms of fighting for the top of the standings on a regular basis) -Absolute peak year, averaging all their rankings out by age is 23 years of age for this group. -Ages 22-26 are very close to peak year. -Some Dropoff at age 27...staying level until age 29. -Larger dropoff starting at age 30 and continuing each year to get worse. -Production at age 20 is about equaly to age 29 or 30.

A different (slightly) approach to the same idea.... https://hockey-graphs.com/2017/03/23/a-new-look-at-aging-curves-for-nhl-skaters-part-1/

I'm noticing they are pushing the new Avatar movie. Interesting thing for me, I was 'kinda' into the original one. I did see it at the theater and while I didn't "LOVE" it I did enjoy it. The new one though that is coming out, I have virtually zero interested in it. Not sure why, normally when there is a sequel to a movie I liked I have some interest in the Sequel, but for the new Avatar movie...nothing.

I have actually changed my sports viewing habits because of commercials. I know people have said they would, but I have gotten to the point where I have. I dont watch much NFL anymore. Even the Bills, I watch most of the games but not all. Most sports on weekday evenings, I'll watch a show or a movie instead. We do pay the extra money for our streaming services to get the ad-free versions. Auto racing is the best example for me. For most of my life I was a Nascar fan. Still am a little. I'd watch most races through the year. But then commercials seemed to get worse and worse. I remember the Daytona 500 this past season, there were SO many commercials in the first hour of the race, I tuned out for a while and Twitter was full of people saying they never remember so many commercials. So other than a couple races, I simply don't watch Nascar anymore. I DO watch Formula one. And its not becasue of 'drive to survive'. About 10 years ago, I stumbled on a race on TV and I noticed....the races last usually under 2 hours, and ZERO commercials during the broadcast. I now watch 4-5 times more F1 than I do Nascar.

I'm fine with Jokiharju also. We all have our opinions, but I think Jokiharju, Olofsson, and Mittlestadt are better players than given credit for (more than a few posters here seem willing to personally drive them out of town to get rid of them). Jokiharju, when I see him play, I see a guy who makes some, but not a ton of mistakes, who is versatile, and who makes the team a lot better when he is on the ice vs when he isn't and the 'third pair' guys take his spot.

Like many things, it can be true at times and not true at others. It might be more of a 'middle step' than anything else. Super high end kids have the talent to function in the NHL at a young age, and while they still need to develop a lot of their game, they don't need that 'middle step' so they won't be overwhelmed while they do so. Other kids (middle first rounders and later), might be best served a year or two in the AHL, because their talent isn't 'elite' enough to be that 18 or 19 year old in the NHL without totally crushing their confidence, as well as earning the ire of their teammates for any ice time they get that turns into a disaster for the team. Kids like this (good, but not elite talent) may be best served in the AHL while their physical body catches up to the NHL level guys so they simply aren't steamrolled (physically or mentally/emotionally) when they play in the NHL. In the AHL, there is more time between games, less games, more time for coaches to work one-on-one with the kids.....less of that in the NHL as practice time is probably more devoted to team-centric goals and winning the upcoming game.

This Bills season isn't that fun for me, but I expected that coming in. Going into the season, it was 'superbowl or bust', best betting odds to win the SB, more experts picked them as the favorite than any other team. It is the curse of high expectations. ANY loss is a disaster to many people, a close, 'non-blowout' win is taken but there is more talk about what is wrong with the team after thos games...and the blowout wins are just expected, they are great to watch, but not much else. Yeah I know they are a good team and most good teams play in more close games than blowouts. But I am a casual fan, my 'fandom' is not just watching the game, but listening to talk radio, reading forum, watching the reaction 'my team' gets....the the reaction after anything other than a blowout win is just 'ehh' for me. WAY too many people have high expectations and are feeling and showing too much stress each game for me.

I think Krebs liabilities are more in the neutral zone and D-zone than they are up front, but even his production isn't great. To get a greater 'sample size' than just the first month of this season, I went back and looked at the last 41 games (half season) including this season and the end of last. Krebs (38 games) 1 goal, 10 assists (2 goal, 20 assist pace over a full season) Just for fun, some of ther other players '82 game pace' over the last 41 games for the Sabres: Thompson: 54 goal, 100 point pace Skinner: 38 goal, 86 point pace Dahlin (1 missed game): 26 goals, 78 point pace Olofsson: 38 goals, 66 point pace Cozens: 12 goals, 44 point pace Mitts: 18 goals, 50 point pace Tuch: 28 goal, 70 point pace The magic date used to get 41 games back is all games since March 18, 2022. Since that date (the last 41 games/half season), Thompson leads the NHL with 27 goals. Thompson (Dal) also has 27 but he has played 2 more games. Tage has 27, what about the rest of the league since then? Kaprizov 26, McDavid and Draisaitl both also with 26, Horvat 25 (but only 9 assists), Stamkos also 25, Matthews Pettersen and Kucherov also 24. Over that same time period (41 games), Dahlin would be 3rd in the NHL in points among D-men with 39. Only Josi (one more at 40) and Makar (2 more at 41) have more. In goals from the Blue line, he is tied for the league lead with 13 with Makar and Karlsson

I have no problem with VO. He has proven when he is healthy he is a dangerous NHL player. While when not scoring he may seem 'invisible' to some, this year he hasn't made many major mistakes to cost the team goals. Over the past couple seasons he has about 1/3 of his goals on the PP, making him a dangerous PP weapon but still pretty good even strength (more than he gets credit for). He has 10 goals in 20 games, a 40 point pace, including PP goals, Even strength goals, and a couple empty net (one to seal the game). I'm getting that for under $5mil per year, I'm good with that. As far as Krebs, he is playing awful. However they are choosing to develop him, well they obviously know a lot more than I do. What I do know is when he is on the ice, he rarely is helping this team and often is hurting it.

They need time. 90% of what they need is time. D-unit is young. Dahlin is elite now. Hes one of the top 10 D-men in the game, maybe top 5. He can control a game from back there. If Power keeps getting better, you have the possibility of having Dahlin or Power on the ice for almost 70% of the game. But Power needs time to get better. Up front, you have what looks to be a dominant Center in Tage. You have a couple of 'good wingers'. You 'need' Peterka, Cozens, Krebs, and Quinn to get better. At least 2, hopefully 3 of them to get noticably better. But again, that takes time. As said by a few other people when talking about New Jersey, Hughes and Hirschier up front are playing great, but they played really poorly and the team was bad for a few YEARS until they got to where they are now. Time.

Is a 104 point pace. Hard? Yes it is. Statistically are they likely to make the playoffs? No, they aren't. Doomed? Not yet. The next 2 weeks upcoming games may make the numbers look even worse, but I don't want to rule them out of anything unless that 'point pace' gets even higher.

If you want to find a way to get Krebs back in for a game or want to give VO a day off (like you said you want to do with most fowards) then fine, I'm good with it. But not because you think you will get more from Krebs than VO. VO has shown time and time again he is a streaky player. Most goal scorers you can say are Streak but he seems VERY much so. It usually is right about the time people are calling for him to sit that he goes on to score 4 goals in 5 games. That is who he is. Krebs on the other hand, I have not seen a forward play as bad or hurt his team as much as he has this year. I am not a guy who ever says 'send him down to Rocherster becasue he is struggling" but for the first time in years I think Krebs is a player that it applies to. VO? I have learned to live with his streaks of 'invisible' or 'bad' games because when he isn't hurt, he works himself out of it and when he does he is very, very valuable.

St. Louis is playing much better and they aren't a bad team, but their 'winning streak' they aren't exactly a juggernaut. Good one goal wins vs Vegas and Colorado, but then 2 wins over Anahiem, one over Chi, San Jose, and an overtime/shootout win vs Washington. 7 wins are 7 wins, esp 2 good ones, but they aren't Boston. With a good game at home the Sabres can win this one...and it would be a good win.

I might not watch the whole game (family coming over tonight) but I'm very much looking forward to this game just for the unis. As I mentioned before, I am old enough that as a kid I grew up with the Blue and Gold. I probably saw my first Sabres game in the late 1970's and as a kid started following the team closely in the early 80's, WELL before the red and Black. Yet I like the red and black better. Hope we see these unis pretty often and not just this year but a few games per year (at least) going forward.

I don't see it. I mean Yes, he isn't stellar defensively and overall he's not a top 4 D-man, but he isn't making mistake after mistake causing this team goals against. With the skill of a bottom pair guy at best, he isn't 'good enough' to PREVENT goals with a stellar first pass (like Dahlin) or winning a lot of battles on the boards (Samuelsson/Lyubushkin when healthy). But not a tunover machine. To me his is fine as a D-man who does get (like you said) less than 15 minutes of ice time per game. But when paired with a decent partner, I'm OK with him in that role. Just do not expect him to cover up for his D partner, or young forwards mistakes. I'm not advocating for him to have a bigger role of course, he is still a bottom pair guy, but I just think him and Jokijaru are a bit better than many on this board give them credit.

Interesting to me his first tame, only a practice (or two) and he got both PP and PK time. Esp on the PK, Only Girgs and Tuch got more PK time among forwards, and he was close. Samuelsson and Jokijaru got a lot of PK time on the back end. If they can handle the PK, great, that means Dahlin can use the time to 'rest up' so he can be out there even more on the PP and even strength. Jokijaru gets picked on a lot on this board, but this is where he is valuable. He is good skater and has some skills in the offensive zone, but when you don't notice him as much he is having a great game. He is not a liability even strength (compared to what we have seen in the bottom 2), he can fill in on the PP, and is actually pretty good PK. When Lyubushkin first came back from his injury he was playing bad and his ice time was a bit low. He is back up to the 18-19 minute range so hopefull that means he is feeling better. Asplund not only wasn't used much in the PK, but he was WAY at the bottom of ice time overall for forwards...I didn't see much of the game, did he get hurt?

Confidence in the offensive zone, but he needs some legit work on his overall game. In almost every aspect of his game he looks like a journeyman minor league guy who is totally outmached in the NHL.