mjd1001

Interesting Anderson and Pysyk will be speaking to the media, seeing how they aren't going to be under contract for next year.

I haven't come across anything yet, so did anyone know what the attendance figure was last night. Either an official number released or anyone at the game and has a good guess? Years ago it was easy to find attendance figures game by game posted, I can't find them anymore. Just curious what the attendance was last night, and honestly most of the other home games this month.

Ok, I am not disagreeing with your basic premise, but if we look at the last 2 months of the season, among those wins you know who they also beat? Toronto (3 times), Minnesota, Calgary, Pittsburgh, Nashville, and Carolina. So yes, all of their losses were to playoff teams, but they also beat 8 playoff teams in that stretch. it isn't uncommon for very good teams to have losing records during the regular season against playoff teams (I think at one point this year, Calgary, Tampa, the Rangers, Boston, Washington, and Nashville ALL had losing records vs teams that were in contention for the playoffs) So yes, I agree with you they not only lost to some of the top teams, but some of the losses were brutal...and except against Toronto their wins against playoff teams were a lot tighter. They have to get better there. But if I do look at the last 2 months, I am overall encouraged at their performance vs top teams. Early in the year, or a couple years ago, I would expect most of those games to be almost automatic losses. The fact they went almost .500 vs playoff teams the last month for me is good progress.

I'm happy for him. After all those years, it has to be hard to leave doing the game, but at the same time, it might be nice for him to step back and have someoen else do all the prep work and just be able to sit back and do what he wants with his time, and probably watch any of the games he wants, how he wants form where he wants, and just enjoy it without the hours and hours of preperation.

Ok, a lot of things could change....the team could play differently in front of a different goalie...etc. But, strictly by the basic number: -Ulmark has a save percentage this year of .914. His career is .913. Last year with Buffalo was .917. 2 years ago .915. So, it seems like he is consistent...with Buffalo, With Boston. His whole career, etc....you are getting about .915 out of him. -The Sabres as a team have a .894 save percentage this year. Lets say Ulmark here would get the majority of the games played. 60 games (yes that is high but for argument sake) -Over 75% of the games played, the strict numbers say with an .915 save percentage, the Sabres would allow about 40 goals less. Right now the Sabres are a -54 in goals scored/allowed. With 40 less goals allowed, they would be a -14. minus 14 puts them slightly worse than Winnipeg and the Islanders (both at -8) and close to Dallas. No other teams are in that area. So where does that all shake out? 'By the numbers', about a point per game, or about 80-82 points, maybe a tad more (dallas is a bit of an anomoly here) is where they would be now. By the numbers if you calculate it that way.

A little off topic here, but another thing about the NFL (honestly a lot of sports) is the fantasy and gambling aspect. It is OK for me if that is allowed...and I understand people really like their fantasy teams and gambling. But being blasted with it over and over is turning me away for sure. Sometimes I'll listen to WGR, and you have commercials during the breaks for gambling sites....then you have commercials read by the hosts DURING the show...and then on top of it you have conversation between the hosts talking not about the game, but gambling and fantasy in addition to all that. Again, if anyone likes gambling and fantasy fine, but just not being able to escape it at all gets me to turn off the sports talk/game sometime and look for something else.

The first option...it says "Mostly watching the Sabres game, only checking in on the draft occasionally or not at all." The 'not at all' part is I think what you are looking for/missing.

I'm getting close to where you are. I used to watch every game I could. Wouldn't miss a single minute of the Bills, watched 3-4 other games per week parked on the couch staring at the TV. But with me it happened gradually. Missed a few of the other games at first..then stopped watching all the Bills games. Now, I 'follow' the bills, follow the story-lines. Read and participate (somewhat) in discussions about them. But I don't think I have watched a game from start to end, seeing every play, in a few years. Part of it is not much is new to me anymore (I have seen all the comebacks I need to see, no one handed catch I can see now I haven't seen before, etc). But a bigger part of it is the commercials, the pace of the game, and just EVERYTHING being overhyped. I said it in another thread on here, but basically when I get to the point where I feel I am overloaded with a topic or sport...where I can't get away from it...where there is just so much hype and attention...it turns me away. I know their goal is to make something so big that people feel like they 'just can't miss it' but to me it does the exact opposite. I get too much 'overload' from the attention and usually look for something else to do.

I agree that I thought Boston would be not as good as they are for a while now....but personally I think Marchand and Bergeron are a bit better than the top players on Vegas as their age, AND Pastrnak is better than pretty much anyone on Vegas (my opinion). Their D-core (Boston) also has their best players being the younger ones, as opposed to Vegas. McAvoy, Lindholm, and Carlo get 20-24 minutes of ice time per game, and their average age is only about 25. The Vegas back end is where they really are having an aging problem.

I'd normally watch both, but I'm going to spend most of the time with the Sabres tonight. I have lost interest in the NFL draft over the years. I think I am the opposite of most people, but the more something is hyped up, the more attention it is given and advertised and talked about...the less I seem to care about it. In this case that applies to the NFL draft for me.

Just curious what the plans are for most of us tonight, to spend more time watching the Sabres or the First round of the NFL draft.

According to Cap friendly, basically all of them. Stone and Pietrangelo, No Movement Clauses. Pacioretti, Karlsson, Dadanov, Marchessault, Martinez, and Lehner all with at least modified No-trade clauses. Take out Eichel, and that is all of their top 5 paid forwards, their 2 highest pad D-men, and their highest paid goalie all with limited no-movement deals or more. All of them over 30 years old by next year.

You have that 100% correct I'm pretty sure. Eichel is not generational as many of us have said many times. His single best year in the league, the year some people thought he should be an MVP candidate, he finished 10th in the league in scoring. Most every other year he was farther down the league leaders than that. He would probably be better served, and more useful, if he was viewed as something close to a Phil Kessel type player. Don't give a 'C' or an 'A'. Put other players around him that you make CLEAR to Jack...those other players are the leaders, those other players speak for the locker room, the team. Those other players are the ones who take all the media sessions. Jack gets all his PP time and 1st or even 2nd line minutes. The problem is, Jack himself still seems to think he is better than that. He still thinks he deserves an 'A' or a 'C'. Jack seems to think he deserves all the ice time and that everything on the ice should go through him.

Going forward it is going to be really tough for Vegas as we all know: -They are up against the cap, they likely will have to move pieces they don't want to -This is not a young team that is still getting better and growing. Other than 'superstars', most NHL forward peak in production in their mid to late 20's. Mark Stone will be turning 30 next year. Pacioretti 34, Karlsson 30, Marchessault 30, Dadonov 34, with virtually no-one under the age of 25 coming up looking to make a big contribution. D-isnt any better, their top 2 paid guys will be 33 and 35 next year. -Not only don't they have cap space to make big moves, but those guys can still be productive but they aren't getting better at that age. What moves can they make to get better? As much as Vegas fans and their message boards want to move some of those guys to 'clear up room', who else is going to take them at that age and their contract and give Vegas a younger, more productive guy back? Not going to happen. Who knows what the Kings are going to do this offseason, they may be the team I can least figure out going forward...so...If Eichel comes back full strength, gives them 40 goals and 90+ points I can see them making the playoffs, but I can't under really any circumstance see this aging team being on of the top teams in the league anymore and making any kind of run in the playoffs for the rest of Eichel's contract there.

When players get a lot of un-related injuries in their career, I don't usually think they are 'injury prone' due to their body just being more fragile than anyone elses. However, as you mentioned, it could be related to their style of play. The parts of the ice you spend your time in...how much you engage in physical play, maybe even something as simple as how your body is positioned when battling for a puck on the boards....all that can be related to how much/how often a player gets injured. I'm not there with Eichel being 'injury prone' yet, but we are for sure on the lookout if that keeps happening. Another 1 or 2 nagging injuries that cause him to miss time in the next year or so..and you might have to think he is 'injury prone' and likely to miss time due to his style of play, if nothing else.

Same here. Days 1 and 2 was body soreness and bad headaches. Days 3-4-5 were a bad cough (2nd and 3rd nights so bad I couldn't fall asleep) Days 6 and 7 I lost my voice Better on day 8, back to normal on day 9. Now it is 2 days after that and I woke up today with a bad cough again.

Who do I want to win? Really anyone but the Rangers or Leafs (most annoying fan bases, and to me, yes, more annoying than Bruins fans). Who do I think? Take out the favorites (that is no fun), but as a dark horse I think Edmonton is playing really really well lately.

I understand where you are coming from, but how big of a topic Eichel is, how he is a spotlight player in the NHL, how he was viewed by some/many as the 'savior' of the Sabres...he IS GOING to be talked about...and I'm fine with it..that is what message boards are for. If every time one of us got tired of talking about a topic and requested everyone else to 'move on' from it, this would be a very quiet and boring place to visit.

Interesting line combos for Vegas today:

We have gotten to the point where, as others have said, the discussion has gone circular. Same points are getting repeated....and not many people are moving off of their point of view. That is fine though, that is what discussion boards are for. I'm still of the Opinion that Eichel isn't close to the generational player we wanted him to be when he was in Buffalo...and he is not as good as Vegas thought he would be when they traded Tuch, Krebs, and a first for him. It seems like many Sabres fans (when he was here) and Vegas fans now wanted/expected him to be a top 5 NHL scorer, a potential 40-50+ goal, 100+ point guy, who can carry a team on his back. What he appears to be now is a guy who is 20th or so best in terms of scoring (his best year, his CAREER year got him to #10 in the league), a guy who will get you 30-35 goals and 90 points, and doesn't have the mentality to carry a team on his back. He might crack 40 goals and 90 points in the next year or two, but that would become his 'career' year, not the norm. Oh, and that is IF he is fully healthy for an entire season, something that with him seems less likely than with most other players. If he comes back strong next year and proves me wrong...breaks the top 10 in scoring and is the primary reason Vegas makes the playoffs, then he will prove me and a lot of other people wrong. But by this point, he no longer gets the benefit of the doubt that a season like that will LIKELY happen...to me it is likely NOT to happen until he proves it. Here is the what I would really like to know: How many people here (what percentage) would like to undo the Eichel trade if he was willing to stay here for the rest of his contract? How many people here (what percentage) at this point would undo the ROR trade?

many versions of it out there, here is one: https://www.sportsnet.ca/hockey/nhl/analyzing-value-nhl-draft-picks/ Another good one: https://myslu.stlawu.edu/~msch/sports/Schuckers_NHL_Draft.pdf Bottom line...Of course you want the higher pick, but by the time you get down into the teens, there really isn't much of a difference between picks 16-17 and picks 20-21.

There is a chance Eichel has one more 'career' year in him...and for him I mean a 40 goal, 90-100 point year. There is a CHANCE we see that in the next year or two. What is more likely is that he keeps on being exactly what he always has been...a 30-35 goal scorer, 80-90 point guy who finishes 10th-20th in the league in scoring. The Troubling thing for Vegas is....UNLESS he is still suffering big time discomfort post surgery, the realization the league may be coming to is that he never was or will be what Buffalo and Vegas thought. Vegas has clearly been a worse team since he started playing for them. Buffalo is clearly a better team since he was moved and replaced with Tuch. Players that Jack spent a lot of time with in Buffalo are having bounce-back or career years after he left (Reinhart, Okposo, Skinner). These things are no longer small one-time things fans in Buffalo are looking for to take shots at him...they are now front and center and obvious. Vegas is in their most important stretch of games this season and as others have said, no goals, no points for Jack in over a week. A lot of people here accepted Jack needed to be traded but said all along "the team that gets the best player (jack) is going to win the trade". That really may not be the case here. The Sabres may end up being much better and Vegas worse with Jack and there and his cap hit taking up 1/8th of the cap room. If I'm in Vegas, I need Jack to produce the last few games in wins to get them into the playoffs, be a point-per-game guy in these playoffs with the team winning at least a round, AND follow up next year with a season taking them to the playoffs and leading at least the team in scoring. Anything less than that, and I end up thinking Vegas lost that trade by a lot.

Ok, we have to keep in mind that scoring is up in the league across the board, so it is a bit easier to get points this year than in the past. But, yes, Skinner is having or likely to have his best year producing points with Jack on one of the not-so-good teams. On the other spectrum, on a GREAT team Sam Reinhart is having his career year without Jack. Since returning to action, Jack is having his worst year in terms of points since his rookie year, and it is now clear this version of the Sabres are producing points better without him than the last version of them was with him.....and Vegas is producing points with him less than they were without him. Maybe next year after a full offseason of 'healing', he'll turn things around, but almost EVERY meaningful metric we choose to look at points to him being a good, but VERY over-rated player when it comes to team and teammate success. Skinner's success is just one sign of this. It is hard to think of a young 'superstar' player in any league (other than ones with career ending injuries or massive legal trouble) that have fallen as far as Eichel has in the past 24 months...not only in public opinion among Sabres fans but also around the league (does ANYONE close to the league even consider him a top 10 player at the moment). The only way he salvages anything is if Vegas makes the playoffs, wins at least 1 round (preferably 2) and he is a point-per-game player during that playoff run. To bring this back to the topic....it does appear Skinner did not 'need' jack in anyway, and is evolving or flourishing as a player with different teammates. As others have said, did/does Skinner need a vacuum to step into? Is he benefiting by addition by subtraction or other players he played with?

Fans will start coming back pretty quickly when the team shows they are going to be a serious playoff contender for 30-40 games. If they are in playoff position next season once the NFL season comes to an end the arena should be mostly filled on a nightly basis.

Talent vs Culture? I personally still think talent wins out. At least short term...a slightly more talented player will make your team better than one with even just a little less talent. HOWEVER, I equate a large part of 'culture' to 'wanting to be here'. It is obvious that Adams is a big believer in the 'wants to be here' thing. That is big for me also. For me there are 2 ways to enjoy a sports season: 1.) Win the championship 2.) Exceed expectations. Championships aren't all that matters...'enjoying the ride' is good for me as long as you exceed the expectations I had for you. If you aren't going to win it all, exceed expectations. And if you are going to exceed expectations, for ME, I want to feel like tall the players 'want' to be here. That is one of the biggest things for me as a fan of a team.