mjd1001

No its not enough. Columbus in the last spot in terms of point percentage at .545. IF the Sabres win the next 10 in a row, they check in at .546. So win 10 in a row and you are 'right there'. Funny how for the last few weeks, even now after winning 6 of the last 10, the numbers always point toward a 9-12 game winning streak being required to get them into that last playoff spot.

I'm not going to say he is doing great, because doing great would mean he is taking these players and turning them into something a lot better than the have been. But with the team being 'not good' again, I can't say he's doing bad either, as no one seems to be able to take this organization and coach them up to even a playoff team. You've promoted coaches from within, brought in former coaches of the team, brought in former cup winners, brought in guys who are 'almost' total outsiders, up-and-coming assistants from other teams. Many of them with apparently different styles. NONE of that has even gotten you to the playoffs. To me that means there is something else VERY rotten in the organization, and firing the coach and replacing him, without making major other changes, will likely do nothing. Sure, you COULD move on from Lindy AND Make those other changes, but if it is the other changes that are important, I'd rather keep Lindy and just make the other required changes at the same time.

I only watched a little bit of the game, I missed the ending. Looking at time on ice..... Thompson with 15 minutes exactly, about 3.5 minutes below his average (I know he is playing hurt) Cozens with only 13:38. Almost 4 minutes less than his average for the season. Malenstyn, Zucker, Tuch, and McLeod all with more ice time than either Thompson or Cozens. On Defense, Power led with just over 23 minutes....more than both Dahlin and Byrum who both were in the 21 minute range. For sure some changes in how he gave out ice time. I can see with a lead for most of the game and Thompson playing hurt again to cut down on his ice time, but the Cozens, Dahlin and Byrum are interesting.

For me, he has the same impact as Don Cherry had: Fun for a little while, then after a while becoming 'tolerable' , now just annoying.

Thanks. At times I think the Advanced stats go too deep and we try to make too much of them, but the link you gave was interesting. I looked at this year, along with the last 2 years combined, and then over their entire careers. I also used the comparison with Cozens and Dahlin (instead of Thompson), and did that over different points in their career. It also looks like the PP with Dahlin is actually more effective without Cozens than with him in terms of goal production per minute.

I guess it could be similar to when Granato was an assistant under Ralph Kruger... But when he took over he seemed to be a totally different coach than Krueger was. I just go back to my initial feeling though, even if somebody is different than Adams, how much are they going to be allowed to do if they have to follow the 'Pegula plan' If everything has to get run by Terry... Terry acts like a fan and he has his favorite players that he doesn't want to move and he still wants input on decisions.... Just how much can anyone do unless the owner steps back?

We don't know just how many teams are interested in him, and if they are, what is his value to them? You may have a lot of teams interested in him for a 2nd round pick or a mid level prospect. What I believe is teams are not falling over themselves to give up a legit NHL play or a top draft pick for someone who's production isn't all that good/reliable and makes costly mistake after costly mental mistake on the ice. Fans may see the scoresheet and want a guy like that...but when front office people watch the game film, I think they are going to say "no thanks" or "we'll take a flyer on him and see if we can coach him up", but for a pretty low return.

I don't think you are going to get a good return for him. Twitter post I saw today by someone who is pretty reliable with Leafs info said the Leafs have no interest in all in Cozens. I think that opinion may be true with many other teams around the league when you look at his underlying metrics and the scouts see with their own eyes the multiple hockey-dumb plays he makes, almost on a nightly basis. I'd be happy with him just moving on. He can be 'part' of a package. Or get a middle-six guy, I don't care give me anything of value. What I think will happen is what you are eluding to.....the Sabres might move him for REAL fair value (which won't be all that much, and certainly a LOT less than what some people expect)....and that might be a good move for the Sabres, it might be the BEST deal out there from any team....yet there will be complaint after complaint that the sabres got 'fleeced' when that really isn't the case based on what Cozens true value actually is around the league..

And be replaced with someone just like him, and Pegula will likely only hire someone who will do his bidding and not disagree with him.

And if that happens, the team will be run pretty much the same. Especially since Karmanos and Forton are already in on the decision making/player evaluation right now, and the roster composition has some of their fingerprints on it.

As much as I personally think Cozens brings down this team more than any other player, I think there is a path to keeping him here (its just no coach, GM or the owner seems interested in implementing it): -He becomes a winger, on the 3rd line or MAYBE the 2nd. I don't care if he has more 'raw talent' than whoever his center is, he is a winger....And if its not working right away...stick with it. Give him time to get used to his new center and more importantly, give his center time to get used to Cozens. -He does not step foot on the ice on the PP. If you have 2 or 3 injuries, then MAYBE he goes out on the 2nd unit, but no PP time for him anymore. -You DO put him out there on the PK, but with specific instructions to not chase the puck in his own zone. Hes on my first PK unit, but you have to get through his head that his position, not leaving an open spot on the ice by chasing the puck, is of paramount importance. You draw a diagram on the ice into 4 quadrants....and if he DOES chase the puck he never, ever leaves his quadrant and goes into another one that one of his teammates is already occupying.

The more I think about it, the more I want Pettersson here if it can be done. Yeah the drop in production, whatever it is going on with Miller, and the contract are all issues to think about. But if those things weren't there, there is no chance he would be on the market. I always perceived him as a player I liked. I know its only one game, but I watched in vs the Leafs on Saturday and he played really hard, he hustled, he got in the way of shots, he made some really good defensive plays. He does not look at all like a perimeter player and he does hustle on plays. That alleviates most of my concerns.

I never thought he was a bust. I DID think his ceiling was 35 goals. He would be good on the PP, but not someone I would want out there short handed due to...what I percieved as lack of being a good skater. So yeah, not a bust, but I WAY underestimated the ceiling on his production.

I think TNT At the point might be related to his injury. He can't take faceoffs, and I think they are moving him off the wing due to that also. Not only is his one timer great on the side, but even if the other team covers it up, to do that they open up the ice for the other 4 guys out there on the PP. I too would rather see him back on the wing. Back to Cozens....The other stat I never looked up until now...PP goals for per 60 on ice (not PP goals per 60, that is individual, the goals FOR is about when you are on the ice). Meaning, how many goals does your team score on the PP when you are on the ice, whether you score it , you have an assist, or are just on the ice creating havoc in front of the net. Now the key thing with this stat is, since you are sharing the ice with the same teamates a lot of time the numbers should be close with other players on your team. But that is good for evaluation. Even a SLIGHT increase or decrease in your numbers will say that the few times you are out there with 'other guys' you are potentially helping, or hurting them more than other players on the team. For his career heas at 7.55. Behind Tuch, Thompson, Skinner, and Mitts. If when they share the ice their numbers are the same, that means in games where Cozens is out (injury) or where the are on different units, those guys perform better with him NOT on the ice with him. (I am only looking at forwads here, BTW Tuch's numbers on the PP have droped SIGNIFICANTLY in the past 1.5 years, something to watch.) Now, him, and some of those guys were different players if you go back 4-5 years ago, so how about recently? This year he is at 6.17. Thompson is 8.79, Zucker 9.12, Peterka 10.14, Quinn 7.63... only Tuch has fallen behind him this year. My math may be a bit 'wonky'...but let say him and Thompson are on the PP together 50% of the time. Their numbers would be the same for that time on that ice. That means the other 50% of the time, the differnece between the 2 would double. I don't know the exact time they share on the PP together, but whatver the numbers are, those guys perform better statistically with him not on the ice with him as they do when he is out there with him. So yeah, I get I'm the president of the "Cozens needs to go" fanclub. But how can a guy score 1 goal every 29 games on the PP.....have his numbers be worse than most other forwards in terms of Total goals for per 60 ont he PP (meaning he brings down the other guys when he is on the ice, both this year and for his career?) How can he still be getting PP minutes? Oh, and the thing I posted about his games missed last year after he got hurt against philly. Small sample size, but in the 3 games before he got hurt with him on every PP, sabres didn't score a single PP goal. 2 games he missed they scored a PP goal in both games. 3 or 4 games after he got back with him on the PP, they team didn't score a single PP goal again. Here is one other stat...Over the time he has been in the NHL, he is one of 103 forwards that have recorded more than 700 minutes of ice time on the Powerplay. He is last of those 103 players in PP goals scored. 103 guys, he is 103rd in goals. In points, he is 101st out of 103, but the two guys behind him have less assists but a lot more goals.

They made a mistake. He had 18 Power play POINTS that year, but only 5 power play goals. For his career, he has 11 power play goals. Whoever wrote that article must have looked at the stats for that year and mistaked PP points for goals. Part of my not being a fan of Cozens is being perplexed why he is on the PP. He has been on virtually every single powerplay over the past 3-4 years, being 2nd or 3rd in PP minutes among forwards (at one point a few weeks ago he was first this year). The Stats don't support it. If he plays just about every single PP, why does he have 1 Powerplay goal every 29-30 games.....those are his stats. Now watch him on the PP. He doesn't have the ability to get the puck and look around and make a great pass. When he gets the puck in a 'high danger' area its almost always a shot.....even if that shot needs to go through 2 defenders forming a wall in front the goalie or the goalie is perfectly set for the shot. I like to say he's a "black hole"...the puck goes in to him but it hardly ever comes back out....He'll take the shot and get credit for that 'high danger chance' that analytic guys so much like even if in reality he's rushing a shot and a teamate is open for a better chance. He lacks the ability to think, or react other than just that, a reaction. Its why not only is he not good at scoring on the PP, but he doesn't often set up other guys and help his teammates perform better on the PP.

Thats sure part of it. Tuch would be a very good 2nd line winger. He's OK as a first line winger. Thompson is perpetually playing through injuries. Benson, Peterka, and Quinn are up and down young guys, sometimes more 'down' than up. Krebs is finding his spot in the NHL, but only good enough as a 3rd/4th liner. Your entire 2nd line (Cozens, Quinn, and whoever else) are barely playing good enough to be an average 3rd line, let alone a 2nd. Cozens is way over his head as a 2C, he should be at most a 3rd line winger. On Defense, Byram is skilled but has a limited game. Power looks to be a couple years away from being a steady reliable guy. UPL has flashes of being great, but he really only has been an average NHL goalie. Even 'average' guys stand on their head every once in a while, while having bad games mixed in. That is exactly what he has been the last 2 seasons.

Flyers look to be getting brand new Arena. Their current Arena is the same age as the Key Bank Center, although it did go through a $265m renovation about 5 years ago. New Arena scheduled to cost about $1.3 Billion: Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment and Comcast Spectacor Announce Joint Venture to Build World-Class Arena in South Philadelphia as Well as Revitalize Market East Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE) and Comcast today announced that HBSE and Comcast Spectacor have entered into a binding agreement to form a 50-50 joint venture to build a world-class, state-of-the-art arena in the South Philadelphia Sports Complex that will be the new home of the Philadelphia 76ers and Philadelphia Flyers. Full article here: https://www.nhl.com/flyers/news/harris-blitzer-sports-entertainment-and-comcast-spectacor-announce-joint-venture-to-build-world-class-arena-in-south-philadelphia-as-well-as-revitalize-market-east

Maybe he's not been traded or maybe you can't get much for him from Detroit because he simply doesn't have as much value as many think. -The rumors about teams calling for him could have been a GM calling the Sabres and saying something like "you are shopping Cozens? Call us back before you make a move so we can have a chance to match it, but right now for a reclamation project that plays bad defense and is getting paid $7 per year, we aren't giving you more than a mid level prospect and maybe a 2nd. You can thank us later for taking that contract off your hands" I think there is real chance if you want to criticize Adams for not making a Cozens trade, its not that he can't make a fair trade for him....but rather a large portion of the fanbase 'overvalues' Cozens...and if Adams DOES get a 'fair' return for him, he'll get shots taken at him for getting less than what the FANS think he is worth. -There is also a chance that a deal (or other deals involving Cozens) has been worked out, but before you can pull the trigger of course you have to run it by Pegula. Pegula, liking Cozens, is reluctant to trade him at all, but for sure he might be vetoing the trades if Pegula over-values Cozens and thinks he is worth more than what they are getting offered. There is a debate as to just how much Pegula meddles, but I'm pretty sure any trade that gets worked out needs his final stamp of approval, and I can see him saying 'no' if his personal opinion is one of the players on the Sabres getting traded aren't getting enough return. There is the theory that many GM's overvalue "their own" guys/picks. That can also hold true for an owner, who gets final say in the trades.

I like Hamilton for his 'reporting' quite a bit. But the deeper he gets into his 'strong opionions', the more I start to differ with him. Not all the time, but more than usual.

So, in many regards sounds LIKE Benson and the OPPOSITE of Cozens....doesn't sound all that bad to me from that perspective.

I don't think so. First of all I don't think it matters all that much, I certainly don't think it makes the team better. If there was a campaign in the locker room for it than fine, but I don't think that is the case. And even in terms of leadership, I don't see a problem, or at least any other players that are head and shoulder above Dahlin. If anything, I can get behind him being the best player, and a lot of his 'mistakes' being because he is going too hard when he should be scaling back his actions on the ice a bit. I see no probem with Dahlin as Captain. If it WAS any kind of problem, I think it would be behind 20 or so other issues with this team in terms of priority.

I agree with the premise of not doing a full tear-down. I don't want to burn it all down. I'd start with moving Cozens up front because, he quite frankly is just bad (I literally think how much he hurts the team is greater than anything positive he brings)...and if you can get a real asset back for a bad player you do it. Then on Defense, I didn't want this before... but I'm open to choosing Power or Byram and moving one of them. (hopefully part of the return you get is a quality D-man that can slot into your top 4). If they could do those 2 moves in the next couple of weeks, I'd be happy. It would literally reset my entire expectations and view of the team for a while. Do JUST that, evaluate the changes and then have a plan to make more changes if needed.

I get your point. But Cozens out and Kulich, McLeod, Krebs as your #2, #3, and #4 centers (In any order you want), I'm not so sure that is even worse than any 2 of those guys with Cozens here. Of course, the question is, is there a better deal out that that gives you better help right now?

I was a little kid in the early 80s with my father got season tickets for the Bills. I THINK our sideline seats were something like $12.50 per game, but in those years I remember games where there were only 15,000 - 20,000 people in the seats for some games. By contrast, it is perplexing that the Sabres actually draw as much as they do at times.

The bad thing is if they DID win the next 10 games in a row, that puts them at .537 point percentage....so 10 in a row would BARELY put them in the 8th spot. But that still would only be an 88 point pace. At the moment the middle of the conference is kinda weak, but odds are it would still take more than that to make the final spot in the east by the end of the year. Of course, 10 in a row is moot point with this team (wins that is, I'm sure they COULD do 10 losses in a row again)