mjd1001

It might have been the most 'middle' movie I've ever seen. It was about 20 years ago..but from what I remember, I watched it. I saw the whole thing from start to end. I was entertained. I neither thought I wasted 2 hours watching it, nor did I really ever think of it much again or have a desire to watch it a 2nd time.

Since we are talking about faceoffs, an update on the Sabres. Of the Centers that have taken over 100 faceoffs for them this year, the winning percentage: Krebs: 56.4% McLeod: 53.4% Cozens: 47.2% Thompson: 42.7% I wonder if there is some benefit to taking faceoffs and being shorter. The leverage of being shorter is much more important than the longer reach? The Sabres success this year is a reverse correlation to how tall they are (Cozens and Mcleod being the same actually). When I looked back just now over the best faceoff guys in the league (over 50%, some near 60%) over the last 5 years, you come up with Crosby (5'11"), Horvat (6'1"), Draisaitl (6'1"), O'Reilly (6'1") and Lindholm (6'1"), John Tavares (6'1"), Claude Giroux (5'11"), and the best of all of them, Bergeron (6'1 or 6'0" depending on where you look). Only Kopitar and Jordan Staal are close to the top that are 'taller' 6'3"/6'4. Some of the worst guys (well under 50%) who have taken a lot of faceoffs recently: Erikson Ek (6'3"), Scheifle (6'3), Cozens (6'3"), Luc Dubois (6'4) and of course Thompson. Now there are some guys who are bad who are 'shorter' too....but it seems like, in general, being 6'1" or less helps with faceoffs, and being tall (6'4" or more) is mostly a bad thing. Maybe its nothing groundbreaking, but I never thought of it before.

I'd rather have him fully healed of course. But I'd also have him back sooner than later, just because it seems like whenever he has a stretch of games where he doesn't see NHL game action for a little bit, it takes him a while to get it fired back up again. -Last year to start the season, after not playing all summer, he started out with 1 goal in his first 6 games. He then scored 5 in his next 6 after "getting going". -Last year when he missed time to injury, after he came back, he only scored 1 goal in his first 7 games back. -Last year even when having time off from the all star weekend (8 days), he only had 2 goals in his first 9 games back after those 8 days off. (after that he played in 23 games over the next 47 days (almost a game every other day) and had 13 goals in those 23 games. -2 years ago, his big year, at the start of the season without playing any meaningful games in months, he had 1 goal and 1 assist in his first 7 games. He then had 10 goals in his next 8 games. This year he scored in the 2nd game of the year, but almost every year of his career after the offseason it takes him a while to get going. And after injuries or breaks (all star breaks where he gets time off), it takes him a while to get going. He seems like the type of guy who needs to 'get in a groove', or 'shake the rust off' after time off more than most players. So the sooner he gets back, the quicker that can happen.

Reimer played a really good game. He made a lot of big saves at key times.

How does it contradict the fact that I said it shows that Cozens has to start producing??

It puts him on a pace for about 12 goals and 25 points. Good for a 4th liner. Acceptable but not great production for a 3rd liner.

With that goal, for the moment, Krebs ties Cozens in goals and points. He does it in one less game. He does it in 35% less ice time. He does it shooting almost 4 TIMES the shooting percentage of Cozens. He does it making 80% less of a cap hit. He does it with 'lesser talented' line-mates He does it with a better Plus minus. He does it as the best on the team in faceoffs. Its not to say he should take Cozens place on a higher line. Its to say Cozens really needs to start contributing (captain obvious, I know)

Couple of random things I thought were interesting that I didn't know where to put them: So far this year: Fasted recorded speed by a skater in the league? 24.2 mph. By 34 year old Steven Stamkos. Top shot speed recorded in a game? 104.69 mph. By Tage Thompson.

Well that is my point. I think it is dumb to not trade in your division. If a trade makes you better, do it. If you can be .001% better by trading with Boston instead of Vegas, then trade with Boston. Sure you might be making Boston better, but the goal is to win the cup, you have to beat EVERYONE to do that. I don't care if its Boston, Toronto....doesn't matter, you make the trade that makes your team best, division or not.

I agree. I think doing that is one of the dumbest things in sports (not trading within division or to your rivals), but I agree it does happen that way often.

I'm thinking/hoping they go with UPL again. He only faced 24 shots last night, there wasn't any travel between the games with L.A. and Anaheim. After tonight they won't play for another 4 nights. Maybe not, but I think even Lindy might think "a slightly fatigued UPL is going to be better than Reimer"

Need to start with a shot on net. They made it half way through the 2nd without one single shot.

Ottawa says no. I'm not saying its not a package that has potential upside. If Cozens gets hot and Quiin turns into what most on this forum that he would be just 2 months ago, it would be a good deal for Ottawa. So why does Ottawa say no? They are likely to get a much better package (with a guy/guys who are ACTUALLY producing now and aren't 'projects') from someone else. I'm not sure there is a new rumor that he 'wants out'. As far as a trade wanting him, I think that rumor came form last season, and I'm pretty sure that was a lot more 'smoke' and not as much 'fire' anyway.

Rossi and Cozens seem to be opposite type players in many ways: Cozens is 6'3" and 210. Rossi is 5'9" and 180. Cozens is fast (usually in the top 20-25 percentile in terms of top speed), Rossi is not (metrics have him in the bottom 50% of skating speed) Cozens is, frankly a bad shooter. (Career 10% and dropping, hasn't shot in double digits since 2022-23) Rossi is a pretty good shooter (14% this year, 12.6% last year) Cozens likes to take his shots a bit farther out (he works a lot more than average from the dots to the top of the circle). Rossi works from the dots in to the goal crease for a greater percentage of his shots. Cozens is VERY hot and cold. (between this year and last year he has had 5 different streaks of 8 games or more without a goal) Rossi is more consistent scoring (Between this year and last year, he only had 1 streak of 8 games or more without a goal) In terms of size, style, and consistency, they are really really different.

capwages doesn't update right away all the time when there is movement. They are pretty quick, but I noticed sometimes up to a half day. With that said, their format is SOOO close to what capfriendly was.....I just use capwages all time. I didn't know about thestanleycap.com, so I'll check that one out

If the Bills or the Sabres left Buffalo, would I watch less of the NHL and NFL? Probably less, but not a lot less. But that might not be a bad thing for me. Instead of watching what is often times a 'bad' team out of obligation because they are from the area that I am from...instead I might just pick and choose to watch the better teams play. The higher scoring teams play. The players I find exciting play. So I do not want them to move, but if they did move, as a 'sports' fan there might be almost as many 'pluses' as 'minuses' for me personally.

Interesting article here: https://www.hockeypatrol.com/nhl-team/toronto-maple-leafs/are-the-maple-leafs-actually-better-without-auston-matthews-the-shocking-reasons-behind-the-debate Again, very small sample size, but they author puts up some videos and makes some points to support his point of view. Some items of note: Watching Mitch Marner play without Matthews has been a revelation, to say the least. He's controlling the offense more, he's playing incredible defense (proving those critics wrong) and has been riding an 8-game point streak and leads the team with 20. Marner seems to have a bit more patience without Matthews and doesn't look like he's trying to force an extra pass or not taking shots in favor of letting Matthews score. For example, his goal against Montreal on Saturday: (embedded video) Marner took the puck into the zone and passed it to David Kampf, who patiently waited for Marner to reposition himself for the easy goal. If Matthews were in Kampf's position, Marner would have more than likely passed it, cycled around, and waited to make more passes. Letting Matthews pass a bit more isn't a bad thing, and getting both McMann and Robertson on a hot streak can only lead to benefits, and could pay off huge come playoff time.

There you go, gave you one immediately above in case you were missing it.

Yeah, 'sales' can be your friend. When I shop, I rarely buy stuff that isn't on sale, especially when those items go on sale on a regular basis and there is a big difference in price. When you shop every week, you start to understand the trends. When something we use is on sale, I stock up on a bunch of them and it gets stored in the pantry, basement, or back of the freezer. I can't imagine shopping for groceries any other way. Yet, our daughter and her boyfriend....they just buy whatever they want regardless of the price. If they had a bag or doritos every week, they simply buy one per week. The week they are on sale, do they buy more? Nope, its like they don't even look at prices at all, they look at what they want and in the cart it goes.

I agree. A win for your team is what you want, but a hard fought Defensive game with low scoring....for me that isn't entertaining. I'll have fun analyzing defensive positioning or how a goalie handles angles with relation to his D-men on a rush against when watching replays or after the game. When I'm just watching, I want scoring.

Statistics aren't always giving you 100% of the story, but they can paint a pretty good picture. As far as playoff production goes: Draisaitl: 23% MORE points per game in the playoffs than in the regular season. McDavid: 4% MORE points per game in the playoffs than in the regular season (and that regular season total is very high to start with) McKinnon: 12% MORE points per game in the playoffs than in the regular season Kucherov: 6% LESS points per game in the playoffs than in the regular season. Matthews: 24% LESS points per game in the playoffs than in the regular season. And its not just points. Goals scored is down 35% in the playoffs vs the regular season. Add to that the fact that his team, over 60+ games, has a better record (point percentage) when he doesn't play vs when he does play...and you have yourself a VERY talented, very good player that has something major missing.

Not that Matthews is a bad player at all, but its not just this year....Through his entire career, the team has actaully played better in games that he has missed than in games that he has played. The last numbers I saw is that the team plays at a nearly 110 point pace when he doesn't play, and that is with over 60 games of a sample size. I'm not sure if that included this years numbers or not..but if it didn't then those point totals would be even higher. Some if it is luck. Some of it is 'small sample size'. But over his career that sample size is growing and it keeps going the same way. It could simply be without him in the lineup, maybe other guys who are 'damned good players' step up and take more of a leadership role in the room (which HE steps into when he is in the room) or other guys feel 'more free' on the ice to 'play their game' vs when Matthews is there and a lot of things are deferred to him or have to run through him? Again, I'd much rather have him than not, but maybe his impact on the team in a posisitve way is a tad bit less in reality than his stats would make you belelive.

Which is why many of us think 'culture' is over-rated. Yes, if you have a TOXIC culture its bad and that is possible. But if you don't have that, then a lot of times a 'good' culture is there simply because you are winning. I know if I'm playing on a team that is winning, or working for a company that is doing really, REALLY well, that will cover up for a lot of 'bad' things going on. When you are losing, or your company is failing, the little things that can add up to a 'bad culture' no longer are getting swept under the rug.

Supervisors/bosses at work who lie and HR depts that cover up for them. I have this constant battle with my boss at work. The bottom line is this: Give me my schedule BEFORE the morning I have to travel to a location, Be on time when you say you are going to meet me, and when YOU are running late, do not tell me to 'clock out' while I wait for you (because the company cannot afford to pay me to do no work), go 'grab a coffee or something' and wait for her. So this has been going on the better part of 2 years. I have text messages and call logs (not recordings but proof we have talked). But whenever HR gets involved I tell them what is going on and their response is usally "We already talked to your supervisor and that is not what she said" to which I follow up with "I have proof, text messages that I can forward to you" and they respond "No, thats not necessary" I used to be in a similar supervisor position years ago. I stepped down, because I didn't think the money was worth the aggravation. Now the current supervisor cannot be on time to save her life (our scheduled conference calls have us waiting usually anywhere form 2-10 minutes for her to show up) and when she does something wrong and you call her out on it, she just accuses you of lying.

People who want Adams gone can best make their argument that its the GM's fault for the organizations woes currently. Lots of stuff out there about Pegula being involed in on-ice decisions, quotes and stories about him wanting to fire Botts because "the pegulas" weren't having their input taken into consideration enough by the hockey department. Pegula meddles, its likely every decision has to be run by him and he has major input in the bigger ones, and even suggests stuff. But yeah, if you want to blame Adams, it doesn't really support your case to look at the history of what Pegula has done to this franchise.