mjd1001

I'm not a huge music fan. I can count the number or concerts I have gone to in the last decade on one hand. Listen to talk radio as much, or more than music in the car. Most of the time I a show on the TV for background noise over playing music in the house. I say all that to say I probably am one of the last people to comment on the quality of the music. But the rest of what you posted. Trolling. "Destroying Drake" wearing something as another troll job. Taking someone to task...calling an artist Garbage. That is all the stuff I really really dislike....the fact that it happens and the fact that it is mentioned and talked about. I'm not singling the comment made by you out directly, just the overall hype that the pregame shows, the halftime shows, the talk around them get in larger circles, by society in general. For those who like that drama, fine, its entertainment. I think it is a large part, a VERY large part of why I fell out of love the the NFL. It used to be my #1 league. Used to watch every bills game, knew the entire rosters...etc, etc. But the hype, the side shows, the commentators, it just pushed me away. As bad as the Sabres are, I enjoy them, and the NHL as a whole a LOT more than the NFL, and its not even close. It used to be the other way around. Again, that stuff draws more people in and publicity, its making the NFL money. Just for me, the reason I follow this Sabres team, and like the NHL more than I ever have before, is there is just a lot less of that on the broadcasts.

That still doesn't change the fact that he is one of the worst players on this team, especially when it comes to what he is getting paid and the role he has on the team. If you are going to move anyone off this team now, Cozens is the one ahead of the other 'young' players, especially forwards. Kulich (in a small sample size), Peterka, Dahlin...I would even say when you look at the entire body of work Power and Byram, are doing better than Cozens. My post was not to debate whether the way the organization is run is good or not. It isn't, there isn't an argument there. My point is of the bunch, Cozen is the most over-rated of the young guys, the one that has had the most chance to change his game (and he hasn't) and the one that if moved, stands to get a return back....with the fact he his subtracted from the team....that is most likely to move this team forward. As bad as this organization is, I have seen Dahlin get better over the last few years. Krebs is still not a very good player, but his play without the puck is light years better this season than it was in the past. Thompson has gotten better. Peterka has turned into an 'overall' good player with some growing pains. Kulich has a small sample size, but his play is greatly better now than it was his first 10-15 games. Benson has known no pro organization other than the Sabres and he has some very good games. Cozens? His play away from the puck has not grown, not evolved, not gotten one bit better from game one until game 330. He still makes the exact same mistakes game after game, month after month, season after season.

I'm not looking at the Cozens situation in isolation. I am looking at him compared to all the other players he has played with. If the organization is run so poorly, as you even said it impacts other players here like Eichel and Reinhart. The issue with Cozens, of all the players here, he is so much worse than most of the other forwards that are on this team under the same coaching and organization. If he is dealt he likely will do better on another team than he does here. That doesn't excuse the fact that for most of his career he has been one of the worst players on this team, in a way where he causes more harm than almost any of his other linemates/teammates. The team is simply better on the ice when players like Thompson, and Tuch, and McLeod, and Peterka, and others are on the ice and Cozens is on the bench.

4 powerplay goals by Cozens over the last 133 games despite being on pretty much every single powerplay. 1 goal every 33-34 games, whats not to like? Over his career he has 746 minutes of PP ice time and 12 power play goals since he broke into the league. 106 other forwards in the leage have had over 700 minutes of power play ice time since Cozens came into the league. Where does Cozens rank in Powerplay goals amont those 106 players? He's 105th out of 106 (only Dylan Strome has less, and he only has 1 less, but makes up for it with 15 more pp assists than Cozens). By most measures, he is the least productive forward in the league on the PowerPlay that still continues to get regular minutes. Not exactly a history of tearing it up.

I can't see Rodgers catching on with anyone else at this point. He seems to bring a 'distraction' of some level with him wherever he goes. Up to this point, he expects you to reshape the roster to bring in the guys he is comfortable with. And to be honest, he hasn't played all that well in the past few years, and he is now one year older. I read an opinion article a month or so ago saying he doesn't want to retire, will see what is out there, and if he can't find a good team willing to give him the starting role, he'll then say he will 'retire' and make it look like it was his decision all along (I'm sure he wouldn't be the first aging QB to do that).

Most of the flaws were there. In his 31 goal season: -Despite his goals scored, he was on the ice for a lot Of goals against. He was a -3. Other top players on the same team that got similar usage and were used in similar situations? Thompson +4, Skinner +15, Tuch +14, Dahlin +11. -If you are into advance stats, his Corsi% was negative. His Fenwick % was negative. Shots for vs allowed % was negative. Despite his 31 goals, his GF% was negative. Expected goals was right at 50% (neutral). High danger chance % was negative, and high danger goal % was negative. -When you compare Cozens in all of those areas compared to the rest of the team, its not just he was negative, he was negative compared to the rest of the team. The Teams Corsi was 2.2 points higher when he was off the ice compared to when he was on the ice. Fenwick% 2.3 higher with him off the ice compared to on. Shots for% .6 points higher without him. Goals for% .8 points higher with him on the bench. Scoring chance, high danger chances and high danger goals percentages all about a full point higher with him off the ice compared to on the ice. -That year the team allowed a goal every 20.27 minutes even strength when Cozens wasn't on the ice. When he was, it was a lot worse, allowing a goal every 17.6 minutes. For reference, that is a 'pace' like a team allowing 242 goals over a season when he's not on the ice, while allowing a pace of 280 goals when he is on the ice (projected for a full season, playing all minutes) -He was on just about every single powerplay, averaging almost 3 minutes of PP ice time per game, helping his raw stats. -He had one of the higher offensive zone start percentages on the team, which in theory should help both his offensive and defensive numbers, yet, he was still a negative player. He had 26% more offensive zone starts than defensive zone starts. -As a team, they were credited with 34 game winning goals across the roster. He had one. Tuch had 9, Tage had 7, Even Olofsson had 5. Cozens just with 1. He didn't exactly produce in close games when needed in a season where they missed the playoffs by a single point. Even with his 31 goals, the team was worse when he was on the ice then vs when he was on the bench by almost every stat, advanced and basic. Finally, when you look at that season, his 31 goal season, it wasn't a great season. He he one single great stretch of about 20 games. -From the middle of January that year until early March, he had a single 19 game stretch where he had 11 goals in 19 games and shot 21.5%. That 19 game stretch is what many are defining his career one. Yes, he did it, yes it counts, but it hasn't been repeated since. -When you 'back out' that single stretch, even the rest of his season that year was not great, much closer to his career averages. 62 games. 20 goals. 12.5% shooting. -9 on plus/minus. For whatever reasons, luck, playing a string of backup goalies, competition, random chance, He was a very good stretch of 19 games in one year...19 games out of a career of 335 games. And even then he was well below average defensively. To me personally, it seems that fans who are holding out hope that he will be a useful, 30 goal scorer are basing that by totally ignoring his defensive play over his entire career, and holding onto his production that happend over a period in one season, 19 games, 6.5 weeks of a single season.

Why with the extra skater is Tage playing at the blue line. I want him a lot closer to the net.

They don't have the confidence, or the ability, to pass or carry the puck forward. Drop pass, let the next guy take the 'hot potato'.

I think that should be a way to improve the rule. You can review goals for offside.....but if they determine the defensive team had control of the puck after the missed offside, than anything that happens after counts. You score a goal directly after the offisdes, it can be overturned, but not after the opposing team has control of it.

Ok, I don't want goals to count that are offside, but there has to be some way better to do this than to have fans see goals and have them taken away.

When Dahlin is healthy, he is elite. Not 'perfect', but he can excel at any part of the game.

Sabres have not scored a goal with a 5 on 3 advantage all season. 0 for 4.

He hurts the team way more than he helps it. "Just another guy" that you could plug in for him might bring very little positive to the team, but if that guy doesn't bring the negatives that Cozens does, this team would be better.

2nd period so far a lot less exciting than the 1st.

2nd game in a row (at least through the first tonight) that McLeod is way out in front in minutes/ice time. Through the first, he has almost 8 minutes (7:49). (he had over 22 minutes last game). Krebs is 2nd at 6:22. Cozens with 5:45 so far tonight. The last 2 games he is getting 3rd line minutes/ice time.

Its different teams so its hard to used advanced stats to compared players between teams...but... Jeff Skinner this year has better goals per 60, better goals per game, better shooting percentage, better plus-minus, Better Corsi%, better Fenwick%, better shots for-vs-shots against%, better goals expected%, better scoring chance %, better high danger chance %, better high danger shot percentage, has drawn more penalties and taken less penalties....than Dylan Cozens. Oh, and he is doing that with the vast majority of his time being on a 3rd or 4th line, not playing with McDavid or Draisaitl. He's not getting much power play time (about 1/3 what Cozens gets), he's playing mostly with their bottom-of-the roster guys. I wouldn't want him back, but the team got rid of Skinner and its probably better without him...now lets move on from a few other guys.

No word from the Sabres yet? Maybe he's not out for the year, but Kyrpreos just wrote that he was because, well, its only a matter of time.

You might be correct that it can't work anymore. I guess my thought is....make it affordable. Make SOME money off of it, but don't try to maximize revenue. Think of it as a small way to increase revenue, but more so as part of your advertising budget. I don't know the numbers, but my impression is the leagues, and owners, don't view these regional networks that way and set them up 'to fail' because instead of using them that way...they set up bloated businesses that aren't efficient but viewed fees and costs going up each year as a way to not maintain profits, but high profit margins. Again, I don't know the numbers, but start with an affordable streaming option for people on their phones and tablets and computers. Work to get an spot on the local cable network. Don't think you have to make $milliions and $millions off of it. Streaming you can have tons of other videos and interviews on demand. On a network on television...fill up the time with replays of your games and programming of other local sports. Maybe it can't work. I just think how those networks are run is more of a fuction of "lets do this because this is how its always been done" instead of injecting some creative thinking.

Raw talent: -1 stretch of 17 game in a 330+ game career where he scored 10 goals which helped make him a '30 goal scorer' = Raw talent -Drafted in the top 10. Even though probably less than 50% of top 10 picks become stars, he was a top 10 pick. = Raw talent -6'3 and is willing to face wash a guy occasionaly. He may never be over 200 lbs and able to stay on his feet after he even throws hits but that height. = Raw talent -His shot looks good. More likely to hit the boards or the center of the goalie's chest than pick a corner, but his motion looks good! = Raw talent -You can see his top speed is above average. Not a burner, he can't stick handle at top speed, and he trips over his own skates, but that speed! = Raw talent Not just with Cozens....but with most players, us as fans tend to look at the absolute Ceiling and imagine that is the norm. Score 30 goals once? You can and should be a 30 goal scorer all the time. Make a great pass one time? Its not luck, it proves you have it in you! Its what we do with a lot of players. When a player has 'first round pedigree', we tend to hold onto those things even longer.

I'm not sure how you are ruining my day. It was not only discussed on this forum but some of the 'so called' insiders on talk radio out of Toronto discussed a trade with Risto (maybe it was this one or a different one) that at the last minute other team pulled out of the trade due to 'changing their mind' on wanting him.

I do not follow the Bills nearly as much as I did in the past, so maybe what I am going to say is because of that but.... A player on my team getting an award, even MVP? Its good for them personally, but it doesn't really mean much to me as a fan. I would give up every single individual award players on my team win, even multiple MVP's, if that meant they won just one more game in the playoffs in any given year (even if that didn't guarantee a title)

I will throw something out there as a possibility... I remember when the Sabres were trying to move on from Ristolainen. Rumor (strong rumor from multiple sources) said the Sabres had a trade worked out for him (maybe it was Winnipeg??), maybe more than 1 with more than one team, where a trade was 'close' to happening, and then as it got closer and closer, the analytics dept. of those other teams got involved and said "No Way!". I know it was discussed on this forum. Basically, the traditional scouts and hockey guys wanted him, they saw the size, the skill, the raw ability, but as the trade got closer, the deeper dive into his game came up with the 'mental flaws' in his game. Maybe the same things is happening with Cozens? A lot of teams are interested on the surface. They GM's and traditional 'hockey guys" scout him and see the raw ability. Its only when the trade gets closer, they do a deep dive into his film, his tendencies, his analytics, they cool down on him. And that is why there are so many rumors but so little movement with him?

Rasmus Dahlin I'm guessing.

We did watch So help me Todd. I liked it, my wife loved it. She was sad for 2 days when she heard it was canceled.

Maybe, but I can't see it happening. It makes the organization look a lot more dysfunctional, unless they have been 'stripped' of them simply because their is a trade imminent. Even then, why strip them when they 'automatically' are gone if they are moved.