mjd1001

I agree that Girgensons is younger, bigger, faster, etc....But when I actually watch both of them play, and focus on them individually, i almost always think Larsson plays better. I wouldn't be so quick to choose Girgensons over him.

As of this moment, this seasons basic stats projected over a full 82 games: Matthews, 37 goals, 29 assists over 82 games... Eichel, 33 goals, 46 assists... McDavid, 28 goals, 65 assists, Laine, 42 goals, 35 assists

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't Horseheads and Big Flats like 5-10 miles from Elmira...like 10 minutes on the highway? I'm asking this seriously, why wouldn't the entire area (within 20 miles of Elmira) support that team...just because its in Elmira?

-Hockey doesn't need fighting. I know, I know...when there is a fight in a game I watch it....but I have seen a lot of games where there were no fights and I thoroughly enjoyed the games.

I too wonder how they stay in business. I looked up the Jackals attendance...from 2007 - about 2012, they were averaging close to 3500 people per game. From 2012-2016, that dropped to about 2500-2600 per game, and this year they are down to about 2200 per game. It isn't just the attendance, as the tickets sold drops and revenue from that goes down...so does concession and advertising revenue. Can that cover the cost of the Arena (workers, insurance, maintenance, ice prep and maintenance, etc.) It doesn't seem like it. Of couse, the NHL could subsidize these operations as part of the cost of needing a minor league...but it would seem they would do that for the AHL teams, a lower level minor league team might not be needed as much. Remember, it wasn't too long ago (maybe 10 years or so?) that the Sabres didn't even have a full AHL team..but shared the Amerks roster with Florida.

For me its very simple. If you can resign him to a long term extension for what he is worth (I'm not saying low-ball him, but pay him honestly what other players his age and ability are), then keep him. If you can't sign him though, or if he wants to 'set the market' by asking to be the highest paid player of his ability...then I'd hope he gets traded in the offseason. I want to keep him and I DON'T need a bargain...I just CAN'T have him overpaid.

Just for fun, as of today I was looking at the points per game of those top players. Basically, 'project' out to a full 82 game season based on where we are today and this is what you get: Matthews, 40 goals, 31 assists 71 points Eichel, 29 goals, 48 assists 77 points McDavis 27 goals, 65 assists 92 points Laine 45 goals, 36 assists 81 points Laine impresses me the most...I know he is a winger, but I value goals more than assists (I always thought the NHL should publish a points 'system' where you get 3 points for a goal, 2 points for a primary assist, and one point for a secondary assist....so the ammount of 'points' given out on a scoring play isn't twice as many for assists as it is for a goal) Would Eichel be any better if the team played differnetly? Or without the injury earlier in the year...would his numbers be even better on a points-per-game basis due to lingering effects?

I'm pretty sure Peters started off the show today with an apology..and stated that there is no place for fighting in Youth Hockey....but yet he claims 100% there is a place for it in the NHL.....what level (where is the line) where it goes from not having a place to having one?

I don't understand the how complex the systems are in the NHL, so I have no idea how that can have an impact on a particular players scoring race. So how would Eichel be doing if he were in Matthews place on the Leafs? or in Edmonton? I'm not sure. I do think it is interesting to look at the last 3 NHL drafts (since the Sabres full 'tank' started). They of course finished last in 2 of those 3 years. Look at the Top 2 players taken in those last 3 drafts: Ekblad, Reinhart, McDavid, Eichel, Matthews, Laine. Some may make an argument that if you ranked those 6 players in terms of how good they are/how much they have accomplished so far...that the Sabres got the #5 and #6 players of the group. I'm still glad they have them, but I hope Eichel stops being a very good player and becomes a top-5 superstar soon.

I was talking to my wife about this story this morning...and she said the same thing about the name of the WGR show. She isn't really a hockey fan, only watches a few minutes a year of games and goes to one with me every few years....but she wanted to know why they chose that name for the show for the reason you mentioned.

As far as owners meddling..... I love what the Pegulas are doing for the city and area. They seem to be putting a lot of money into the teams and Buffalo. Regardless of how the Bills/Sabres do, it would seem the area is better to live in because of what they are building/doing with downtown. HOWEVER, as of right now I do not think they are good owners. I don't know 95% of what is going on with the teams, what is being said in meetings, the exact long term plan, etc (as is the same for most fans), but from what can see, it just seem as if they don't have everything together as far as being successful/winning pro sports owners.

If what he is saying is true (and I have just as much reason to think that it is true rather than it isn't), then I'd like to know who the biggest offenders are. If getting out of the D-Zone is a big issue, that may fall on the D-men as much as the forwards. Would that be someone not following the system? or just a lack of talent? All of this may just be that this team isn't good enough yet. Maybe a larger purge of the roster is due in the offseason than we think. Here is the funny thing...this team seems to play a LOT better vs the top teams in the league than against everyone else. My numbers might be wrong (I just took 3-5 minutes and added it up in my head) but this is what I came up with: Vs Top teams with winning records: 11 wins in 20 games (Minny, Washington, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Rangers, Sharks Black Hawks, Sens, Canadians, Oilers) Vs Everyone else 12 wins, 24 losses

Many of us on here get excited after a big win and start thinking of what they have to do to make the playoffs, and when they lose most of us are looking at how close to last place this team is. Bottom line is this team is what its record is. For the season they are a below average/non playoff team. Not the worst, but not good. Even bad teams have good days, and this appears to be about an 80-85 point team.

I think approaching him and asking what he wants is the first step. If he wants to go to another team for a shot in the playoffs, try to make that happen, but don't give him away. If you can pull a decent prospect for him...or maybe trade him and a 4th and get a 2nd back then go for it. As for his future: He is playing well now, but when players get older you just don't know when they will hit that way. I'd be fine with having him back next year...but ONLY on a 1 year deal. If he wants to keep playing and he is still playing well, from this point on he is a year-to-year contract guy. If someone else wants to give him 2 to 3 years...then let them do it. If he IS back, I'm fine with him being captain. If O'Reilly eventually is the captain, I don't think waiting one more year will hurt his feelings. As for Eichel...1, 2, or maybe 3 more years before he gets the C won't hurt him either.

And outshot 70 to 32 in the last 5 periods.

I'm not sure the lack of #1 overall picks is the problem. I think they need(ed) another 1 or 2 additional top 5 picks in the last 2-3 years.

I saw Rogue one last week. I thought it was a very good movie, by far better than last years effort "the Force Awakens" The force Awakens felt fake to me, felt like they were shoving Jedi Powers down my throat, and had too much stuff that just 'didn't make sense'. While Rogue one (as a science fiction movie) has a lot of the plot that isn't feasible in the real world, I felt drawn into it a lot more than the Force Awakens.

Since he has been with the Sabres, Lehner has been in 5 shootouts in just over a year and a third. He is 0-5. He has faced 12 skaters and allowed 10 goals. You would hope your goalie could win half of them. With Lehner not winning any of them, he is costing you 3, maybe 4 points over the course of a year. Does his overall play make up for that? BTW, the league average save % in shootouts over the last 2 years is close to 70%. Lehner is at 17% Over the last couple of years, Anders Lindback is at 78%. Of course if the Sabres make the playoffs, you don't have to worry about this. You just hope Lehner doesn't cost them enough points to have them fail to make the playoffs. Maybe it is some kind of mental block for Lenher since coming to the Sabres. Before his Sabre career, he wasn't that bad. He stopped 34 of 54 for a .630 save percentage. For comparisons sake, over the last 5 years (4 1/3 seasons) the best in the League in shootouts include: Martin Jones .861, Jhonas Enroth .844, Scott Darling .833, Andrei Vasilesky .833. Ryan Miller isn't too far away at .755.

I'm happy with how Gionta is playing this year, but I don't think I want him back next year. MAYBE If one of the Sabres top 9 guys gets an injury this year that will take it into next year...AND you can get Gionta on a 1 year deal for under $2 million, then MAYBE. But, as well as he is playing, he is NOT going to be a better player next year and he is likely to be losing a little bit as each month goes by. I'd like to revisit this thread in March or April and see how he is playing then.

I really don't know where to go with Reinhart. He looks very limited on the ice. He isn't fast, doesn't play with great size....while OK with the puck he isn't a wizard stickhandling...and isn't steller defensively also. Basically, for a #2 overall pick I don't see him being anywhere close to dominant or ever being able to take over a game on any level. Does that mean he is bad? Of course not, it just looks like the Sabres drafted Reinhart at #2 in a year...when in most other years he might be a #5-#10 guy...and his lack of speed makes it worse with the way the NHL is going. The on the other hand...are we expecting too much production too soon? Taylor Hall has never scored 30. Ryan Johansen took 3 years to be productive. Huberdea has topped out in his career at 20 goals. Galchenyuk looks great the last 2 seaons, but it took him 4 years to hit 30. So I'm not sure how I feel about Reinhart yet. Are we expecting too much of him? Or is he just a guy that is not going to be able to ever take over any kind of game against anyone?

I will agree that this team is boring. I'm not a huge fight guy, and I'm OK with less fighting as long as we get goals and end to end action. But this team doesn't give us any of that. Not an excess of on-ice toughness. Not a really fast, end-to-end team, and of course, very few goals..even goals around the net. I'm not sure how much of a problem Bylsma is though. I don't think you are going to do much better...and I'm almost not looking for a 'better' coach, but rather a 'more exciting' coach. The thing is, I'm just not sure how good this team is. I think this team is below average now, and at best in the next 1-2 years will be slightly above average. -Goaltending is OK, not great, but OK. The save % numbers look good but that is actually a product of Bylsma having a pretty good D system, giving up shots but not a huge amount of quality ones. -D is OK also, but not great. Risto is a very good D-man, but I don't see him as a Norris trophy guy at all, just a top 15 to 20 guy (which is fine). Bogo I think is underrated by many on this forum, but he is overpayed for what he is (a good #2 or #3 guy who is not realiable/always injured). McCabe looks to be a good 2nd paring guy eventually. The best hope for this D-Core is that Guhle keeps getting better and he eventually becomes a near equal of Risto. -Forwards? All over the place here and I'm not sure how a coach (Any coach, Bylsma or anyone) can get this unit to mesh together. O'Reilly is a great system guy and works well in Bylsmas system. Eichel is great (but not maybe as great as we hope, right now he isn't a 'quarter step' behind McDavid, he is maybe 1-2 steps behind.) Girgensons and Ennis look 100% out of place in Bylsmas system. Okposo looks good in his system. Kane? I have no idea how to play him. The issue with the forward group is...half of them look to be great fits for Bylsmas system...half are awful at it. If you change coaches....you may get the second half on board with a different system, but will lose part of the first half. The talent isn't an issue with the forwards, its just a lot of them don't mesh well together. Oh, and it looks like Reinhart would be a top 20-30 forward in the NHL of 2010-2015...but as the game is speeding up...maybe now he is only a top 100.

I agree with you. I don't know WHY the captain is more important in hockey than it is in other sports....but it seesm that is the case with the players even. Its probably related to the tradition of the sport. To me the mark of a good team with 'leadership' is the one that DOESN'T have a true captain...but one where the players in the room do what is needed and say what is needed...despite who has a letter on their jersey.

21 games played so far....12 of them (over 57%) they have scored 0 or 1 goals. I think percentage would be some kid of record. For the ENTIRE SEASON so far...there is almost a 60% chance that a game we watch will see 0 or 1 goals by the Sabres.

I agree. With the injuries, and this being a young team as it is, I would be really really shocked if anything happens to him. While injuries are part of the game and every team has them, I also would want to evaluate him at the job for at least a 40 game period where most of they key players are suited up. Having 2 of your top 4 d-men hurts more than most on these forums seem to be saying. Also, the talent on this team isn't quite as good as many think. Over the past 6-7 years, how many players other than first round picks are making a meaningful contribution to this team? McCabe is the only one I can think of. This team has virtually ZERO contributing depth that is home grown. That is partly on Murray, and partly on the previous management. Since Bylsma took over the team last year, the Sabres have the LOWEST shooting percentage in the league. 7.8% over the last year and a quarter....The league average is close to 9 and the top teams are right at (or over 10). The thing is, I don't blame him for not getting the players in the right scoring positions. When I look at the shot charts of games the Sabres play, the Sabres often have less shots than the opponent, but a greater percentage of their shots come from closer to the net or in front of the net. That is not coaching...that is players not being able to put the puck in the net.

How about looking at it another way...Lets even count last season (2015-2016) when the team wasn't last in the league in goals...throw that in there: -Over that 3.25 year span: -Dallas leads the league, credited with 808 goals -Tampa is next with 780 -Calgary is right in the middle with 718. -New Jersey is 29th with 599 -The biggest gap between positions is the gap between 1st and 2nd...the 28 goals between Dallas and Tampa. From Tampa (2nd) to New Jersey (2nd last) the average drop in the number of goals between teams is right about 10. Till you get to the Sabres. The NHL credits them with 540 goals...a full 59 behind the 2nd last place team. That is a monumental lack of offense over a 3+ year period...with the last full year and a 1/4 being a time when they WERE NOT trying to be bad.