mjd1001

This week off is tough, we are running out of things to talk about...but with regard to what you said: -I am half way there with you on KA. I think he believes 'patience' is the right way to go. However, this D-group is just too young. They NEED a very very good veteran who can take top 4 minutes. They also could/should have got a legit guy in here who is a great 4th liner or decent 3rd liner who specializes in the Penalty Kill....NOT because the PK is awful but rather so you can put that guy and Greenway on the PK and don't let Cozens, Thompson, or Tuch to see the PK every again (Thompson and Tuch because they are getting close to that 'made of glass' in terms of injuries and I don't want their offensive skills wasted out there, and Cozens because he is just dreadfully awful at anything in his own zone.) -Granato, I'm not terribly upset with him either. I think the biggest issue with his is his assistant coaches and the development staff. He needs better people around him. Now, I have been saying for the last 1-2 years that the Forwards on this team are awful in their own end, and that might be the single biggest problem on this entire team. If, IF someone can prove to me that the style of play (and total lack of organization) the forwards display in their own end is a RESULT of a system he WANTS, then I'll be with all of you who want to get rid of him.

You listen to offers for your current players, but you don't force a move just to make one. You listen to who is out there and available, if a fit exists make a move, but again, don't overplay just to make a move. Some people want to hold onto everyone just because they over-value what they know/are used to.....others want to make moves for the sake of moves because "something needs to change" or "you need to put fear into these guys". I think both of those are extreme reactions. Every move, every non-move, every potential move, should be made on a case-by-case basis analysis.

Every player. Zero untouchables. Its all in the matter of what you get for them. Is McDavid untouchable to Edmonton? By most definitions yes, but you never say anyone is untouchable. Give Edmonton McKinnon, a futre first, and Makar, and guess what, McDavid isn't so untouchable anymore. Now is that realistic? No, but the point is, you never declare anyone untouchable, you listen to offers for every single player in your orgainzation. You can always say "no" after the offer is made, no reason to think you are not going to listen to anything.

GOAT Rarely used on any Buffalo player/team, but I was tired of it the second time I heard it.

My complaint for today....every once in a while early in the week I see/hear something that bothers me and I think, THAT is what I am going to put in the "complaint Thursday thread", but then it doesn't get unlocked that week. Then the weeks it DOES get unlocked, I often don't have much to say or got over the thing I wanted to comlplain about the week it wasnt' unlocked.

I have been trying to follow this case on social media, message boards, twitter, etc. I've already started to see too many "its not big dea" and "Its boys being boys" responses to this.

We elect a presiden in this country that is under 70 years old again.

I know the AHL has their own streaming package, but I really wish there was a way we could get the Amerks games on MSG or some other local station. It may not be 'appointment' TV for me, but there are many nights where I just want something on the TV what I can 'kinda watch' while doing other stuff around the house, on the computer, etc. Amerks games would fit the bill for that.

I agree on Power. EVERYONE can be a great skater, but on D you don't need blazing speed unless you are a special talent that goes end-to-end like Paul Coffee used to (or to a certain extent, Housley for the Sabres). The forwards though, it would be nice to have a couple guys that have the abilty to blow past defenders on a regular basis. I think Tuch and Zemgus are the only 2 that have the ability to do that, but they don't even do it that often.

So we are looking at the same data and just weighing it differently. When someone says "one of the slowest in the league", I think there are 2 metrics 2 use. Overall top speed, he is near the middle of the leage. In speed bursts, he is toward the bottom but not on the bottom. I kinda average them together...and I 'average' Bad speed burts (but not in the bottom 10%) with 'middling' top speed...and I get a combined 'below average', not 'one of the slowest in the league'. I respect your point, however.....that how OFTEN a player uses their speed might be more important that overall top speed.

So if everything goes correct and he is able to play after 8 weeks, he'll be around for maybe the last 8-10 games of the year.

I'm almost there with you on this, and I wasn't before. He had a 'decent' and 'encouraging' rookie year. That was after he played great at the end of his stint in Rochester. Got hurt, came back off of a tough injury and immediately showed progress from last year...in a very small sample size playing at about a 25 goal, 60 point pace with 3rd line minutes. That may not be enough to PROVE he is or should be a core player....but very little has been show to say he shouldn't.

I'm not saying he is going to be worth much on the open market, but one of the slowest players in the league is just not true. The NHL edge tracking site is up and there are two ways to measure him (or anyone else), I brought this up in another thread: -In terms of 'pure speed' top speed hit, he is middle-of-the-pack on the Sabres. Top speed not even close to Tuch or Zemgus (the top 2 on the team), but better/faster than Benson, Okposo, Greenway, Quinn, and most of the D-men. -In terms of how fast he PLAYS, they have a metric that measures that also, how many times/how often a player has 'speed burts' where they go over 20mph for a few seconds. Not just top speed, but how many times they use their speed. VO Isn't good, he is 'below average' on the team, but not at the bottom. So in terms of pure skating speed, he is average on this team. In terms of how often he 'skates fast', below average but not at the bottom of the leage. Put those 2 things together and you get an "OK" or "slightly below average" guy in terms of speed, but no where near one of the slowest in the league. He has some problems and holes in his game. Lack of high end speed or 'fast play' is one of them, but its no where near being close to the bottom of the team, or the league.

Agree on your main point. I am not as down on Dahlin as many are right now. I think Jokiharju is actually "OK" . Power is having a rough/bad year, but he isn't a total trainwreck. R. Johnson looks encouraging if you DON'T rush him. Samuelsson is having a down year also, but hes overall good. I think the D-group is better than most think because they often look bad because of mistakes the forwards making putting the D in no win situations. HOWEVER, they are very, very young and inexperienced. The Sabres have no one in their 'top 4' in terms of minutes that is over 24, and they average 23 years of age. I put in another thread that most of the top teams in the league have their top 4 d-men average 27, 28, even 30 years old. This D may be good, great eventually, but they simply do not have enough experience to have all of the top minutes between all of them. I'm actually happy with R. Johson getting reduced minutes, I woud LOVE for power to get 5 less minutes per game...if you can bring in a legit, experienced vet that is good enough to plug into the top 4.

Hot off the presses today: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/taylor-swift-is-worth-331-million-and-counting-to-nfl-and-the-chiefs-05e4dbf9?mod=home-page

1.) pray for no injuries 2.) if someone is injured don't rush them back, or let themslelves rush back. No matter how bad the team needs them, don't let one of your stars back in the lineup when they get 'cleared to play 'but might only be 80% Give them another week, take the heat from the fans and the media for doing it, but don't put them back until they are at least 95% back to normal. 3.) Move cozens to wing. 4.) get a GOOD 4th liner who is 6'5 or more with a large reach....so he can play on the PK and take up as much space out there as possible AND GET TAGE OFF OF THE PK! Tuch too. ANYONE that you rely on for goals even strength or on the PP, do not let them spend any time on the PK where they could get hurt or aren't getting rest. Their minutes should be focused on scoring. 5.) Bring in an experienced group of dev coahces and assistant coaches who can teach forwards how to play in their own zone, or put in a system where they need to be more responsible to do that.

To answer your question why would anyone want to be here? They want to play "close to home" (I'm pretty sure I read a couple places more NHL players are from the Metro Toronto area than any other city by far). They want their family and extended family to be able to come to games, BUT they do not want to take less money in Toronto than in Buffalo (the big 4/5 in TO took all the money) or they just don't want the trouble/aggravaton of playing in that market (some players love it, others hate it). Now, this is not saying that people WANT to come to Buffalo, but there might be players who fit that description that would want to be here.

Agree on Tage, Cozens and Power..... But Skinner? He is giving you pretty much exactly what he did last year..and the year before. He is playing minimal defense, not helping out in his own end, but NOT giving the puck away in his own zone. He is scoring at a 34 goal pace. That is pretty much what I expect from him and at this point, if Everyone else listed was doing what is expected of them...what I need from Skinner given his skillset.

When I do the numbers he is averaging 75 points per 82 games since joining the Sabres. That is not "60'ish" at all.

I'm pretty confident he was playing hurt, but is getting better, and hopefully this week-and-a-half break does some good for him. -he had multiple days during training camp where he didn't participate, and he also had some days he missed practice right at the start of the year. -Through October, he had 5 points in his first 9 games where he as missing frequent practices (45 point pace). He has been getting better since then, 29 points in 33 games since (72 point pace). The first month of the season really 'hurt' his stats' -As I mentioned in the 'Sabres are playing slow thread', Tuch is one of the fastest skaters on the team, but the site tracks how many/how often a player has a 'speed burst' in a game of over 20mph. Tuch is WAY down from last year, probably has the biggest drop on the entire team. If he was playing hurt at the beginning of the year, that would be a sign that it is the case.

Right now, a 92 point pace would get you in the way things stand. Usually you need 94-96. Sabres have 33 games left. To get to 92 points they need to play at a 109 'point pace.' To get to 95, the need to play at a 117 'point pace.' To play at a 109 point pace, that means you are playing like a top 6 (6th best) team in the league. a 117 point pace? Only Boston and Vancouver have played at the pace for the season so far, so you'd have to play at a top 2 or 3 team in the league pace. Their current spot in the standings (how many teams to pass, how many points out), doesn't mean nothing, but the goal is the point total. Right now its 92, but usually ends up being about 95.

Ok, a huge break now between games. No one get injured on vacation. Tuch, Thompson, wrap yourself in bubble wrap over the next week. Any lingering injuries/issues, come back at full strength.

I really really dislike Cozens game in every way this year. BUT, he is valuable when he puts the puck in the net. Empty net goals to me are just as good/important as regular goals. If he can get going and start putting up some goals and points, I'll feel a lot better about him. I'm beginning to get some hope.

Seems to make sense. His 'top speed' is about the same as last year, but he is pushing himself to get to top speed MUCH less than last year.

Digging through the site a bit more, some interesting things: -Tuch seems to be the one who is peforming worse/slower this year compared to last year. His 'speed bursts' per game are WAY down. -Skinner seems to farther down the list of top speed on the team and also a very low number of 'speed burts' over 20 mph. Way less than I thought. One thing Skinner is good at, he is 7th in the entire league in shots attempted over the past 3 seasons combined from the front of the net (high danger) area. He is the ONE player on this team that is willing to go to the 'dirty' areas and take some punishment for prime scoring chances. -Zemgus has one of the highest top speeds on the team, AND one of the higher number of bursts over 20mph. When you figure in his ice time, I'd guess he leads the team (both last year and this year) in speed burts over 20mph with respect to his ice time. -Tage. Last year he had 210 shots then entire year from the high danger areas (right in front of the net, and between the faceoff dots). This year he only has 84. From those prime areas, he is taking 22% LESS shots per game this year than last year. -Cozens. Everything about his numbers are similar to last year. Skating speed, Speed bursts. Shots on goal location, almost every single metric you can measure is about the same EXCEPT shooting percentage. The worrying thing is his numbers even the year before are about the same. The ONLY thing that is different over the past few years is last years shooting percentage. His game offensively and skating is the same each year. Really hope last year's shooting percentage wasn't just an anomoly. For anyone interested, the highest top speeds recoreed this year of forwards: (League leaders: Owen Tippet 24.21, Braydon Point 24.15, Nate MacKinnon 24.05, McDavid 24.05,) Sabres Forwards: Tuch 22.99 MPH Zemgus 22.88 Thompson 22.64 Peterka 22.43 Cozens 22.36 Krebs 22.36 Mitts 22.16 Skinner 22.04 Robinson 21.92 Olofsson 21.76 Greenway 21.72 Quinn 21.71 Okposo 21.53 Tyson Jost 21.08 Rosen 21.05 Kulich 20.83 Benson 20.80 Highest skating speeds recorded all year by Defensemen: (league leaders: Mackenzie Weeger 23.61, Zach Werenski 23.50, Sam Girard 23.43, Miro Heiskanen 23.36) Samuelsson 22.43 Clifton 21.96 Jokiharju 21.70 Bryson 21.52 Dahlin 21.44 Ryan Johnson 21.35 Power 21.27 Eric Johnson 21.22