mjd1001

Football is much different. More complicated rosters, a lot more coaches, many more layers of management and coaches. But to answer your question directly, I think he is better. Not a great owner, but better. The football organzation has so many more people in it, he had no choice but to fully staff it up. Also, because it is a money-maker on a yearly basis (something the Sabres are likely not), he might mentally justify not cutting costs as much. Oh, and with him wanting that new stadium, for the past few years he couldn't exactly run the organization on the cheap leading up to funding for it. Finally, When the Sabres were his 'new toy' he spent money on them. He may not have known what he was doing, but he was spending money on renovating the KBC locker rooms, adding management pieces, bidding on Free agents. Now that the Bills are his 'newer' toy, and the toy he gets more attention to....he spends money there, but most of those things he spent money on with the Sabres, not so much. Everyone may not agree with this, but maybe he spends more 'time' talking to the GM about the roster and the players....as a substitute for spending money and hiring enough guys..or the right guys...to do it for him. Yet at least early in each Sabres season, we video of him at Sabres practices sitting right next to Kevin Adams talking to him during practice. Which goes back to my original point made above....it may not be HOW much attention he gives to each team, but is it the right kind of attention a good owner would give?

Lack of involvement can kinda mean the 'type' of involvement he has. If he is not doing what other successful owners in the NHL are doing, then he's not involved enough (even though he may be involved, just in a different way.) Not showing up to upper level meetings where you are constantly evaluating the people below you. (We think he doesn't do that because he simply wants people to do what he says) Not spending the time and effort to put together a well trained staff or simply hiring enough of them. (We think he doens't do that because he doesn't want to pay for that) He doesn't spend enough time with his 'hockey people', asking the right questions about the direction they are taking (We think that is becasue he set the direction and now he can sit back and let it go on autopilot, "no change" "the answers are in the room", no need to do anything) He can not be involved enough in others eyes because he is not involved in the way most owners are....putting together complete staffs, making changes when needed, and demanding they excel at their jobs. Why bother? if I critical decision needs to be made, he can just show up and ask his magic 8 ball himself.

I like those lines a lot, the only thing I'd do, if your order has purpose, is to move the McLeod line up a spot and drop the Kulich line down a spot. I'd want, on average the McLeod led line getting 1-2 more even strength minutes per game than the Kulich-Cozens one. Either that or you might have to consider having Kulich play with at least one more 'veteran' guy on his wing.

Kulich is probably best served as the #3C next year. That begs the question, is Cozens playing better recently now good enough to pencil him in as the long term solution at #2C? If Cozens is not traded, and if he isn't move to wing (2 things that the Sabres have shown no sign of doing)....will most be happy with him at 2C long term?

I also haven't been paying attention to the West, but Edmonton is fading a bit. Lost 4 in a row and 6 of the last 8....and the 2 wins in there were both in OT. They haven't won a game in regulation in 9 games. 22 goals allowed in the last 4 games. Every team has ups and downs, but they need to get some better goaltending and/or play better defensively or they are going to be in a bit of trouble come playoff time.

More importantly, he didn't rush a shot for himself and instead passed it to JJP, and he didn't make any glaring mistakes away from the puck. His offense hasn't been good the last month or so, but he IS playing somewhat better without the puck for the last 5-6 games.

Pittsburgh has some lean years ahead of them. They are really old and have really not much at all coming up in their farm system.

Washington loses tonight, but Ovechkin with the only goal for them on the PP. 30 goals for him in 42 games. Unless he hits a major wall or gets injured, he just might get the record this season. 11 more to tie, 12 to pass Gretzky with 23 games left. He needs a goal every other game.

With that win, they move out of last place in the conference in points percentage....passing Pittsburgh who lost tonight.

Well, I don't want Cozens gone because I hate him....if he is going to play better, thats enough for me.

Samuelsson might be winning back some trust from Ruff. 4 out of the last 5 games, he's over 20 minutes of ice time.

Cozens is a plus player and doesn't make any dumb plays, they keep winning. Keep it up.

They scored as I was finishing typing/sending the post. My streaming of the game seems to be 5-10 seconds behind what is actually happening.

And there is the goal.

Agree on the Dahlin penalty, but what was Greenway thinking. IF they allow a goal, its going to be on Greenway, dumb hit/penalty.

You don't want to complain about a hit but, what did Greenway expect to come of that other than a 2 minute penalty?

Forgot the Ducks had those uniforms. I just walked into the room 10 seconds into the game, and from a distance I was thinking...Calgary Flames?

I guess thats fine. Personally I'd like to see: JJP-Thompson-Tuch Zucker-Kulich-Quinn Greenway-McLeod-Cozens Mal-Krebs-Benson... But its close enough. Trusty Lindy on this one.

And as brought up in another thread, almost all of those numbers are better, some considerably when calculated per on ice time with the 22 guys not named Dylan Cozens.

I didn't think Murray was great or was going to be a star, but I also didn't think he hurt the team. I saw enough that I would like to see him in a lower line (3rd line maybe) role for a few games again.

Cozens HAS not made as many mistakes and his underlying metrics have been 'decent' (not great but decent) over the last 5-7 games and guess what? They Sabres have won 5 of the last 6. See how things work when one player doesn't drag you down? Also, I think one of those games he played with Krebs and actually did primarily play wing, but just one game. But.....The numbers show that in the past, this team is a good team, a playoff level team, when Cozens is not on the ice. When he IS on the ice, they are one of the worst teams in the league. Not through a few games, not over a small sample size, but over a sample size of YEARS. The numbers above show a simple truth. Every single critical player on this team has the puck in the opposition net more and allows the puck in their own net less when on the ice, in almost every line combination, over good years and bad years, when Dylan Cozens does not share the ice with them. He needs to move to wing. Or to be traded. Or to instantly become a better player than he ever has been. If any of those things happen, this team is right away a MUCH better team. If Cozens gets moved...or if by some crazy increase in his play on the Sabres....by the end of the year he gets his plus-minus into the single-digit negatives from where it is now...I'd wager that the Sabres would be one of the better teams (top 10 in the league) over the remainder of the season.

Some people don't like how Tage looks playing center, and he isn't perfect at the role. But he is great with the puck at center and half-way decent with his defensive coverage. That is why he may not 'look' like a prototypical playmaking center, but he does get the job done. Not Cozens. Tage may not look to pass first, he may not carry the puck into the zone and look to set up his linemates like a true playmaker, but Tage's linemates ARE better when they play with him than without him. When Tage and Tuch (and whoever else is the other winger) are on a line centerted by Tage and they are all healthy, they can dominate.

I think I posted yesterday, if moved to wing he could be "Alex Tuch lite", meaning he could give you basically what Tuch gives you on wing, minus a little tiny bit (but still good enough to be potentially a postive player there) They both are aggressive skaters, they both are good skaters, they both have a hard shot with a good release (Tuch a bit more accurate). They both have a combo of good size/speed. Tuch is much, much more effective and valuable because he those traits are better suited at wing, which is where he plays. Cozens does not. We dont' really know if Cozens skills will translate to being effective at wing though, becuase they refuse to play him there.

The bolded above....on the surface...does not seem possible. However the 'eye test' often tells us that absurdly dumb, unaware plays he makes costs the Sabres a loss several times per year. And as you posted above, some basics analytics actually backs that up.

If the Sabres did make a move for Bennet, I would not be upset. I think he would being something positive to this team. I'm just not as high on him as I would be on some other players. When I watched Florida play, I see a player that is better than Cozens, but shares some of his bad qualities. In the opener this year vs Boston and a couple other games I have seen Florida play, I remember Bennet finshing checks he should not finish. He seems like he'll take himself out of the play and cause problems in his own end just to finish a check. Again, not that I would hate him here, but I think sometimes he creates almost as many issues as he brings and if given a choice, I would rather overpay for Marner.