mjd1001

You can make a case that the Dolphins took a step back this year. Last year, wild card team. This year Wild card time. Last year, forced to play with a backup QB and still were within a couple points of defeating the Bills on the road. This year, have their starting QB and losing soundly, almost a blowout loss, to KC on the road.

I grew up in the Depew/Lancaster area....most family lives near there (Depew, Lancaster, Cheektowaga, W. Seneca). When we moved back to the area we decided to buy a house up near Lewiston/Youngstown just north of Niagara Falls. Lots of pluses and minues of anywhere you live, but as of now we only have a dusting of snow and it was mostly cloudy today but the sun peaked out a bit earlier. A small part of me misses being part of the heavier snow..but every time we get behind the wheel of a car...not so much.

Andreychuk, Vanek, Reinhart....not 'drop the gloves' guys, but guys who are willing to stand in front of the net and take abuse to get the 'garbage/tip in goals' that fans don't give enough credit for because they aren't pretty. As a young kid growing up I even then was amazed at the junk Andreychuk took....he's so big but he doesn't hit or fight...he is so slow....trade him. All the guy did was score goals for this team and dominate on the PP, but he didn't 'look' good enough for many fans. When you have a guy like that, don't under-rate them because they don't pass the 'eye test' as being skilled enough. They are often times more valuable than the ultra-skilled perimeter guys.

I sometimes think the 'warm weather teams can't play in the cold' thing is over-rated. However, it really looks like the Dolphins are letting it get to them big time. Its not just they are tackling bad, its the WAY they are tackling...like no one wants to be the defensive player to fall to the ground making a tackle...they want to hold up the KC guy enough while they all wait for someone else to come in for the actual takedown. I generally like Cleveand and don't mind their fans...but I think this year they were getting a little TOO arrogant to quickly.

I agree with you. Cozens is more worrying. As I posted in another thread, from his rookie year until this current season, with the exception of ONE season, Cozens is a 6.5-7% shooting guy. With Tage, we have a much larger sample size...about 200 games of him being a legit nhl sniper. With Tage, is started April fools day of 2021. From that date until the end of that season, he had 7 goals in 21 games (a 27-28 goal pace) and shot about 11.5% in that time The following full season, 38 goals in 78 games (40 goal pace) with over 15% shooting. Last season, 47 goals in 78 games (about a 50 goal pace) while shooting 15.9% This year, 14 goals in 33 games (still a 35 goal per 82 pace) while shooting 12.4%. The issue is he has missed games, and I am HOPING the couple points drop in shooting percentage was due to nagging injuries he is getting over (In the last 10 games, he is back up to shooting in the upper teens in terms of percentage the last 10 games). He needs to get healthy, stay healthy and be healthy. They get 9 days off for the All star break..that should do him good.

I need to see more from him still, but I'm at least at the point where I am OPEN to seeing more from him and if I do...I'll be thinking he can be/is a competant NHL goalie.

Regulars on this board keep repeating the same things over and over, but they are true and remain true to this day: -This team is now getting better goaltending than last year. They are allowing less goals. The MAIN things that are worse this year than last year are simply Cozens production and Thompson's production. Cozens is even getting about the same number of shots and opportunities. This team top to bottom is slightly BETTER last year except for Cozens and Thompson's production. That doesn't mean they can't get better in other areas, but Thompson and Cozens are mainly it to this date. I would have liked to have seen a legit VETERAN top 4 D-man added in the offseason....and maybe a very good, BIG 4th liner who can hit/defend/play the PK (to get Thompson off of it). Those are the things I wish Adams would have added in the offseason.

I'm not saying it wouldn't help, but they had a couple good looks. The biggest difference I see this year from last year? Thompson was filling the net a LOT more last year with those one timers last year than he is this year. Last year at this time Thompson had 13 PP goals, this year he has 3. He is getting the looks, his one timers are getting through, they just aren't going in for him....that isn't coaching (unless your point is they relied on his one timers too much last year and should have had a better scheme last year). The Sabres are at 13.9% this year on the PP. Do nothing other than have Thompson make up those 10 goals difference he had last year to this year and you are at 22.1%....close to a top 10 pp in the league.

Cozens shooting percentages..... Cozens rookie year...6.5% Cozens 2nd year...8.1% Cozens this year overall....6.8% Cozens SINCE Quinn came back this year and he is back with his 'linemates'....6.7% Cozens last year....14.7% Apparently he got paid $7m per year based on one season...that looks like he is not coming close to repeating. He is a guy that gets 180-200 shots per year, if, IF he turns out to be a 6.5-7% shooter, that means he is a 13-16 goal per year guy. There was some magic pixie dust sprinkled on this entire team last year...I really HOPE I am wrong, but all evidence I see is that he is much closer to that 7% shooting guy than he is teh 14% guy....and that is very worrying.

Most under-rated player on the team. Thats not saying much for a 4th liner, but he controls the puck. He is physical without fighting, He skates hard (and honestly is a pretty fast skater). 100% effort guy. Just wish he could score a bit more.

He looks a little better on his line from last year since Quinn came back. A little. However, he is SO bad in his own zone that 'looking better' isn't good enough. He needs to produce, he needs goals. If he isn't scoring 3-4 goals every 10 games, he is a liability.

I absolutely hate games where there's no scoring... Of course I hate when the Sabres lose... But for a game where they're losing and being shut out this is it actually pretty entertaining game.

It seems like they're controlling the puck on the power play but still not scoring. This is where Skinner would be valuable.

I am usually one of the people who is the hardest on hits to the head. I really don't even care for fighting and hockey and the big hits I don't need. Do I think that it was dirty... Kind of, but I'm not super fired up about it because he didn't leave his feet or didn't even spring up from a lower position on his knees to raise his upper body. Do I want to see that stuff in hockey? Nope. Do I think it may be could have deserved a 5 minute penalty? Possibly. But I've seen a lot other stuff besides that hit that never got called.

Is he just mentioned on the broadcast... When Johnson does that, he's risking a penalty or an injury himself... They really can't afford to lose another body on defense right now. Really wish another forward Would have stepped up and done the job.

Cozens was the close to sabreto it and it looked like he was watching the hit directly and didn't do anything... I wonder if they're telling him because of him getting injured in the last fight to take it easy for a while?

Something to consider as far as team defense goes: Last year Vegas wins the cup, with a very veteran D-group on the blue line. Seattle has surprised many with how good they have been since being in the league, and they did it with a very veteran D-group. This year: Winnipeg 1st in the NHL, average age of their top 4 d-men: 30 years (all of them 28 or older) Vancouver 2nd in the league, average age of their top 4 d-men: 29 years old (Hughes is the youngest at 24, everyone else a lot more experience) Boston 3rd in the league, Average age of top 4 d-men: 28 (no one under 26) Florida 4th in the league: Ave age of top 4: 27.5 (no one under 27) Now how about Buffalo? Ave age of top 4: 22.75. ALL of them 24 or under Colorado might be the only team a bit on the younger side on the blue line that is doing well, but they STILL are older than Buffalo and they have a lot of veterans up front at forward to help out. I personally think the problem with the Sabres is how bad their forwards are in their own end, but, experience on Defense can cover up for a lot of mistakes the forwards make. As good/talented as the Sabres D-men might be, and as good as they COULD be in the future, they simply do not have as much age/maturity/experience as the tops teams in the league do.

Just an observation about Toronto.... They have a MUCH better record (in general) against 'older' teams in the NHL than they do against younger teams. The Leafs weakness seems to be playing younger teams WITH high end talent that hasn't matured yet. Toronto doesn't do well and gives up a lot of goals to Buffalo, Ottawa, Montreal, Chicago, Even Columbus and fair slightly better against the older teams. And its not a "they play down to their competition all the time. San Jose is bad, but they aren't that young..and Toronto smoked them both games. So its not a good-bad thing, but it really seems an older-younger thing. They are 1-1 against the Canadians, allowing 10 goals in those 2 games. 0-2 vs the Sabres, allowing 15 goals in those 2 games. 1-2 vs Columbus, allowing 13 goals in those 3 games. 0-2 vs Chicago, allowing 8 goals in 2 games 1-2 vs Ottawa, allowing 13 goals in those 2 games. Those are 5 of the youngest teams in the league. (Buffalo and C-bus being the 2 youngest by average age coming into the season) Toronto is a combined 3-9 against them, allowing 54 goals in 12 games (4.50 gaa) Vs the rest of the league...18-9 with 71 goals allowed in 27 games (2.63 gaa)

Not sure how many people show up, but if they get down by 2-3 goals early, that place might be as empty as we have seen in years after that.

No, I don't look specifically at non-goals other than when casually watching a game. So yes, there are a lot of break downs and bad plays that happen that I don't look at frame-by-frame...I miss a lot that way. And by no means am I saying Skinner is good defensively, he is clearly not and his impact on that side of the game is below average. I guess my point is...better to do nothing and have your simple presence clog up a passing route than to be pulled out of an area and leave it wide open. I tried to explain what I was thinking in NFL terms but I might not have done a good job. Let say a QB wants to throw to a WR 20 yards downfield on the right hashmark. A guy like Skinner, if he does nothing but just happens to be in that area, gets the QB to not throw the ball there. A guy like one of the young guys (Cozens because he is the easy example for me to use) might be a better defender. More willing to engage the WR, want to make the effort to go for the INT....BUT, all the other team needs to do is run a crossing route 1 second earlier to pull him out of the zone (similar to him chasing the puck into the corner) and BINGO, the spot on the right hashmark is now WIDE open and the play they want to make is there. Again, Skinner is not a good defender. In NFL terms he isn't a physical CB, he can't cover most WR's Man to man and he isn't really willing to put the effort in. BUT if he simply does not vacate his zone in zone coverage...by him being lazy and bad he is sligthly BETTER than someone who always 'takes the bait' and is always out of position, leaving prime areas open for the opponent. Again, not an endorsement of Skinner.....just my observation that Krebs and Cozens and even Okposo are the cause of more goals scored against the Sabres by them making bad positional decisions than Skinner. Of course, as you kinda said, we really don't know what the coaches WANT guys to do. Do the Sabres run a sound defensive system and some guys just don't grasp it or don't want to? Do the coaches want the forward to engage or not? Is the sytem the coaches want the players to run actually NOT a good defensive zone system? We aren't NHL coaches so we really don't know that so all we can do is give opinions based on what we see.

Really early look at Monday 4:30pm weather....18 degrees at kickoff, wind chill at 6 degrees....still kinda windy 10-15mph, but no where near as bad as tomorrow would be. Chance of light snow (2-3 inches for the whole day in Orchard Park on Monday).

If it had to be done, it had to be done. But that is going to be a huge competitive disadvantage for the winner. The team that the Bills (or Steelers) will play next week will have 1-2 days more to prepare, to rest..etc.

Not at all, for me its about usage. Ideally he should be a 2nd/3rd line guy. And I don't mean he needs to adapt to a traditional 3rd line role, I'm talking about minutes. If he gets 1st unit PP time (3 minutes per game or more) and gets 2nd/3rd line even strength minutes (12.5-13 minutes per game), I think thats good usage. The fact they put him on the 1st line...that is a totally different problem. PLUS, I admit he is not good defensively, he doesn't take the body, and he certainly isn't diving to break up passes or block shots. So he's not GOOD defensively. BUT, he's not as bad as what people say often and here is what I mean by that: Often times forwards playing in their own zone is not about rushing to the boards to get a loose puck, taking a guy out with a hit..etc. You want your D-men to do that. Your D-men are usually in position to take guys out from the front of the net...your D-men are in the corners more often muscling guys off the puck and getting it out of the zone. Sometimes the BEST thing a forward can do is just 'hang around' their spot on the ice (top of the faceoff circles, center/slot area) to make sure NO player form the other team goes into those spots. Compare Skinner to Cozens on goals scored against the Sabres (and I have watched replays of 100+ goals allowed by this team over the past year or so breaking them down frame by frame). Cozens rushes to the corner...he tries to hit guys...ties guys up....but often to do that he leaves his 'spot' and in the 50% of time the Sabres do NOT win the puck battle, his 'zone' on the ice is now WIDE OPEN, often a prime scoring spot, for a defender to step into and take a shot that leads often to goals. Skinner on the other hand, rarely engages in loose puck battles, won't go to hit someone in the D-zone, but he hangs around in that spot on his side in the high circle (usually) and 1 of 2 things happen: 1. The Sabres get the loose puck and he is in position to transition it out of the zone. 2) he is just hanging around the top of the circle on his side and when the OTHER team gets the puck they can't simply pass it to a D-man or winger who is WIDE OPEN in that area...because while Skinner may not be engaging anyone, he prevents that pass from being made to someone in a prime scoring spot. Again, I'm not saying Skinner is good defensively, he isn't 'good'. As I mentioned in a previous post, there are times where he won't even enter the d-zone, its like there is an anti-Skinner force field preventing him from crossing his own blue line. BUT, if he is the teams leading goal scorer, over the past 3 years in the top 3 every year, and he isn't THAT bad at playing zone defense in your own zone, I don't have a problem with him. Cozens, Mitts, Peterka, sometimes Tuch, Benson, Okposo....all of those guys 'chase' the puck or defenders in the D-zone more than Skinner (showing more effort, yes) but in the replays I have watched more often than not that becomes more of a liability leading to more goals scored against than Skinner causes because they leave wide open areas for opponents to step into. When playing D in your own zone, you can compare it to the NFL. i want my D-men to play press coverage looking for the Int, muscling the other teams WR's at the line. But my Forwards? I want them to play more like a Safetey....occupying a zone to simply prevent the ball from being thrown there. Skinner, in NFL terms, would be a TERRIBLE cornerback playing man to man, bump and run coverage. But as a safety, to simply let him occupy that deep zone to prevent a WR from going into it...he's "OK" (most of the time) As I have said, I have watched the replays of hundreds of goals allowed by the Sabres (and often posted on here my opinion of what I saw). RARELY are goals allowed a direct result of Skinner making a bad play or a bad decision. He may not make a flashy defensive play to break up something, but he is hardly ever one of the main reasons for a goal being scored against (as opposed to Power or Cozens and others)

Not to start this topic up again, but when I watch football, I want to watch the game. I want to see the players perform at their absolute best. I want to see the fast guys run fast, I want to see the great QB's make great passes...stuff like that. The bad weather games? They might be fun to look at for a minute, but to me seeing high paid athletes fall all over, trudge through snow, slide on a frozen or muddy field? Not for me. When people say the bad weather games are "real football" um..no....see my above few lines to see how I feel about that. With that said...where would you rather play as a player? Where would you rather attend as a fan? Clear sky night game but temps below zero and wind chills -20 or worse OR..... Afternoon game...Temps in the mid 20's but wind gust 40-50 (MPH) and the possibility for moderate to heavy snow before and during the game?

I'm good with Skinner. Is he physical? Not laying out hits on the ice, no. Does he play well in his own end? He doesn't play POORLY in his own end....but that may be because he tries to spend as little time there as possible. I have watched replays of goals allowed where he actually STOPS at the blue line and doesn't even enter the defensive zone. But...he is a consistent goal scorer. Don't expect him to carry the team, don't expect him to be a guy that wills the team to victory though his overall game, and I'm good with him for his offensive production.