mjd1001

Yeah, I can see that one not being a penalty but I can see it being called either. Stuff like that has been let go, but I can't complain too much.

The thing I noticed there is he was on the ice for a while, I get it, guys get caught out there, but he was 'running out of gas' and for the 2nd or 3rd time he carried it in all by himself, and ended up losing possession. I have seen him do that a few times. Its one of Cozens main problem....situational awareness might be something he has the least of on the entire team.

If they can stay in it that long, approaching the trade deadline would be a good time to add someone like that. I think the Sabres have a bit over $7m in cap space, while 14 teams have less than $2m....meaning the Sabres have a lot of room to fit someone in that another team wants to dump....plus the Sabres have every single one of their draft picks for the next 2 years, and extra 4ths and 7ths this year so they have the draft assets and cap space to pick up rentals.

Ok question on this stat...does it take into account shooting percentage? From what I understand its about the chances you have and how good those chances are. But some players, you can give them great chance after great chance and if they aren't good shooters, it doesn't matter. If I'm understanding this correctly, someone like Cozens who is a very bad/lower percentage shooter might be over-rated by this stat. He is getting chances, but if he (or his teamates) don't put them in, it doesn't matter much? For the Forwards at least, I would think this state might be more valuable if there was a version of it that incorporated shooting percentage into it. Like maybe take this state, and multiply it by the expected shooting percentage of a player or line (use their lifetime numbers) and that may be a more an indication of how they are playing? Benson can be near the top of the list and Cozens in the middle, but if they are naturally guys who shoot 50% lower than someone like Tage or Peterka, than wouldn't it be better to evaluate the overall play with Tage and Peterka being even 50% higher than they are (relative to Benson and Cozens)? I'm asking because, I'm not sure exactly how this stat is generated..but if my guess is correct I would think it over-values guys like Krebs and Cozens offensive performance.

Now that we are more than 15% of the way through the season, I was looking at some of the more obscure stats (at least ones not brought up everyday) to see what stands out with this team so far: -5 players have taken over 50 faceoffs so far, they rank: 1.) Krebs 58.9% 2.)McLeod 51.7% 3.) Tuch 46.2% 4.) Tage 43.2% 5.) Cozens 40.8% -Hits per 60 minutes...the best: Gilbert 20.9, Malenstyn 18.5, Clifton 10.2, Aube Kubel 9.4, Lafferty 9.2 -Hits per 60...the lowest: Peterka 1.2, Thompson 1.4, Power 1.5, Bryson 1.8, Benson 1.9 -Most penalties drawn on the opposition: Dahlin 7, Greenway 7, Krebs 5, Benson 5, Peterka 4 -Worst +/- Penalties taken vs drawn: Cozens -4, Lafferty -3, Zucker -2, Clifton -2, Kubel -2 -Best Penalty Killers (power play goals allowed per 60 among players with PK time): Lafferty 0.0. Malenstyn 0.0, McLeod 5.1, Jokiharju 6.3, Clifton 6.4 -Worst success PK (goals allowed per 60 on the PK): Dahlin 16.6, Power 15.0, Cozens 14.4, Samuelsson 11.9 Again, its so early to say those player are good or not good at what they do, but at least its showing who currently is good or not good at those particular items so far this season. Thought it was interesting.

Because his lack of production is a major impact on the team. The money yeah, but that isn't a big issue (yet). But the bigger issue is that he IS not just slotted on what many think is the 2nd line, but he is getting 2nd line minutes. He is getting top Powerplay minutes. When you are trying to win badly, and you are giving him 18 minute of ice time per game (only about 1:20 less than your top center), and he has the MOST powerplay time on ice on the team as far as forwards...it is a cause for "hand wringing" simply because you are trying to win. Now in the last 2 weeks I have convinced myself he is going to come out of this 'slump'. so I'll have more patience. But this is more than a slump now. Last game he dipped below 8% shooting (7.98%) when you consider this season and ALL last season. He is leading your forward in PowerPlay time on ice, yet he has a total of 3 (THREE) powerplay goals combined so far this year and all of last year. So yeah, I think he will 'come around' but the issue is, come around how far. There is no way he should be leading your forward in Power play time with that above record, and he is hurting you by taking up so much ice time without performing. I get he is young, but he is now in his 5th season and he is turning 24 in a couple months. I think a lot of us want McLeod to get the extra 2.5 minutes of ice timer per game, and drop Cozens down to that '3rd line' ice time by getting 2.5 minutes less and take him off the first unit powerplay. He can still 'work out of it' with 3rd line ice time. But right now, McLeod is producing more, he is more responsible without the puck, and even if you add in last years stats, he is scoring almost double the goals per 60 as Cozens. So the hand wringing about Cozens is all of that, but with me personally, again, get him off the PP first unit, and drop him down to 3rd line minutes for the time being, until he gets out of his shooting slump, that will help the team on the ice.

Ovechkin with 8 goals in 12 games this year. At the beginning of last year I had along talk with my cousin about him and said...he really has got to be close to hitting the wall, once he does he's not going to be able to score at all...and I was pretty sure he wasn't going to catch Gretzky. My thinking it would get to the point where he might be playing 80 games, hurting his team and maybe putting in 5-8 goals over that season. Well, I was wrong (at least so far). I think he is now only 32 or 33 behind Gretzky. It sill might be tough for him to do it this year (does he have a 40+ goal season in him at this age), but its looking more likely than not now. For reference, at age 39, Ovechkin has the same number of goals as Tage has, but Ovi has done it in one less game so far.

I had a somewhat similar experience a few years ago. I was in Syracuse for work, and was in a parking lot of a plaza. I drove down the lane in the parking lot, and when I came to a the end of the lane, someone was coming from the right, making a left turn into the lane I was in. Basically, she cut the turn short, didn't see me around the corner, and almost drove into me head on. She 'corrected' at the last minute and swerved onto her side of the road. What was signficant about that? I was stopped at the 'intersection' in the parking lot, she made the turn too short, and all I did was stay stopped and looked at her, as she drove by she was yelling something at me like it was my fault, and then there was a woman in the back seat who gave me the finger. The most surprising part? They were all probably in their 40's or 50's. It seems we are more and more getting to the point that as a society, we cannot admit when we are wrong. Its blame the other person first, yell at someone else first before admitting guilt.

They are near the top of my list but mostly due to NY city fans overall. I grew up with the Yankees as my favorite baseball team. At times in my childhood I liked the Jets. My wife is from NY city, when we met I want to quite a few Mets games (she lived less than 3 miles from Shea and/or Citi field. I really didn't hate any NY team for a while.... Then as I got older, I traveled a lot and lived in some different areas. Got to know Toronto fans, Boston fans (for all the sports, I lived near Boston for years) Spent some time in South Florida. Met some guys from Philly, Dallas...etc. As a whole, when you take into account the entire city, my PERSONAL experiences have me disliking NY city teams in general because of the fans. Yeah, Red Sox and Patriots fans can be annoying. Dallas Cowboy fans sure. But overall, I'd say of the 20 biggest "Jerks" I have ever come across in all of sports, for me 15 of them were fans of some NY city team. Of course that is my personal experience. Everyone is different. But to me its so bad that the Yankees at one point where they were my favorite non-Buffalo sports team in ANY sport, and now, I'm totally done with them. Mostly because of interactions with some of their 'bad' fans. To your larger point about the Rangers..yeah. The only team I can even tolerate the Rangers beating is the Leafs right now.

Every game that goes by Cozens is just a wealth of new conversation for this forum.... I'm 90% there to accepting who he is, and that is someone that isn't going to change much anymore. He is not a good 2 way player, makes serious lapses in decision making in the neutral and defensive zone. He is someone I think would be better on wing but the Sabres are insistent he is a center. But he is also a skilled skater who is capable of generating his own shots in the offensive zone. That is the key, and the frustrating part. Other than Tage, he is probably the BEST player on the team at getting to prime scoring areas and getting shots off from there. He's not going to be a guy who shoots 20% like Draisaitl, Reinhart or Scheifle....hes not even going to be a 15% shooter like Petterson or Marner or Bo Horvat or even Tage. He might have 12-14% in him one or two more years in his career, but he is, basically, an 8% shooter. When you have an 8% shooter, you have some stretches of a couple months, or even seasons where you can do 12%+, but you also have stretches (months maybe) of 2-4%. So, for $7m per year (which, as the cap goes up in the next few years, might not look so bad), can we accept this from Cozens without feeling the need to scapegoat him? -Can we accept that he will have months where he scores 6 goals in a month or 10 goals in 20 game where everyone says "He's back!" but then he follows that up with no goals in 7 or 8 in a row? -Can we accept that he may have a 25-30+ goal season in him again, but then, for no apparent reason, he follows that up with a full 82 game season where he is your 2nd line center (with Power play minutes) and scores only 10-15 goals and 45 points? I am very close to thinking that is who he is. That he is going to break out of his shooting slump soon and put in 4 or 5 goals in a month, but then disappear again shortly after. Sorry for the length of this post but here is one example of the best case scenario. Patrice Bergeron. Now I'm not even remotely saying he can be as good as Bergeron...Bergeron was one of the best defensive forwards in modern history...but best case scenario could be his offensive game and how it COULD evolve. -Bergeron's first year in the NHL he scored 16. He followed that up with 31 goals in a full season as a 21 year old. Then down to 22. Then he got hurt and only scored 3 in an shortened season, but came back the next (mostly) full year with only 8 goals, and followed that up with 19, 22, 22 and then 10 in a shortened season. So with a very early season of 31 goals as a 20 year old, Boston fans thought they had and up and coming offensive superstar. But it took him 8 FULL SEASONS until he hit 30 again. Bergeron for his career only shot 10.7%. Like Cozens he was good at getting to the good scoring areas and took a lot of shots. He had full seasons only shooting 7% or 8% over the entire season, but as he got OLDER his shooting went up. Cozens is likely never going to be even close to the shut-down specialist Bergeron was. But, he can still evolve his offensive game, and even lacking accuracy in his shot, hopefull that can improve. If you don't like that comparison, look at Drew Stafford. WILD swings in shooting percentage, wild swings in scoring, from season to season. He may just be like that. It may take years. Not weeks, not months, but YEARS.

He is playing like what you EXPECT a vet in his early 30's should be playing like when you sign him a 1 year, $5m deal. He's good. he's usable, He is contributing, but he's not a revelation carrying the team to the promised land. We've had so few good veteran free agent signings around here most of us forget what they are supposed to look like. I think us as fans have walking trough a desert of non-contributing 'veterans' for so long, we have guys like Okposo, Gionta, Marcus Johanson, Pominville version 2.0, Jimmy Vesey that we have been convinced could fill that role.......or we simply accepted vets who were 2 steps below that level in both talent and pay that we were 'supposed' to think would fill the same role (Cody Eakin, Benoit Pouliot, Sabotka, Riley Sheahan, etc) Zucker has been playing well lately, so far he is a good signing, the kind we should expect a bit more often.

Right now I don't think the Sabres are looking to move him at all. Despite this thread and some people here who don't like that, Ruff must really trust/like him because he is getting the 2nd most ice time on the team, only behind Dahlin.

No one seems to know what is up with him. At least he is getting more shots?? He had a total of 6 shots on goal in his first 7 games. He has 11 shots in his last 5. Maybe its a start? But yeah, you don't even notice him out there, and none of his shots are from high danger areas either. With all the coaches the Sabres have, the video coaches, the guys who work with the players on the ice...They have to have SOME idea what is different about him this year and the reason for it, don't they?

I think its part 'playing this hard' and half 'just how good are you'? If you aren't good enough, you can push all you want and sometimes you just won't be 'good enough' to get to that spot quick enough, to be able to hold your ground in front of the opposing net, or to make that breakout pass from your own end where the difference in skill of having the puck go 1 inch from where you want it is the difference between you setting up a 2-on-1 for your team, or the pass getting intercepted and coming back the other way for a goal. On the other hand, yes, some of it IS effort. Some of it is willing to DO things you don't want to..or do things you aren't used to doing but the coach is trying to drill through your head to do. Oh, and then of course, as PTR stated above is the other team having a good game or an 'off' game, because you are competing against them. Yeah, according to Lindy there are players not playing as well as he wants, but even then, is it "effort"? Or is it "they aren't listening/being where they are supposed to be"? San Jose was one of the worst teams in recent memory last year...yet almost 1 out of every 4 games they beat a 'better' team? was that they tried in 1 out of 4 games? Was it the other team didn't try in those games? Its really a sliding scale every game, its a bunch of things combined. Its a bit of all of the above.

I know its an older discussion, but a lot of Thompson's maturing as a scorer coincided with him moving to center and getting more ice time/opportunities. Thompson seems to thrive when he isn't working on the boards, whether its where he takes shots from, or having both is left and right having free ice, that helps him a lot. If Eichel was still here, would he have had an opportunity at Center? and would he have been giving the ice time/opportunity to take things over and have the offense run though him? Possibly, but I would guess no.

No problem

Not meant to be a rough analogy. I said "Vibes" meaning their style of play and their production. No one knows why Cozens and Quinn aren't scoring. not sure why you went there, I wasn't thinking that at all. Again, 'vibes' mean how their level of play is progressing, nothing more.

As per my above post, it is early. Quinn is lost I don't know what to think about him, but I THINK Cozen is going to 'kinda' snap out of his shooting slump soon (I'm almost convinced he will not be a regular 30 goal scorer, but I still DO think you are going to get some years of 25 goals out of him, and some years of 15 out of him) But as far as Benson. If you think Benson is going to be a legit top 6 player on this team going forward and has the potential to put up decent goal numbers, at some point do you want to get him away from Cozens and Quinn? There is the school of thought they have worked well together or their games may mesh, but a young guy, is there anything to him losing confidence in his offense production if he is dragged down by being part of a line like that? Might he be better suited on a line with McLeod? I'd Consider Benson with McLeod and Greenway. Move Zucker with Quinn and Cozens.

Quinn and Cozens...I'm not going 100% here yet because it still is a bit early...but I'm starting to have some Cody Hodgson/Matt Moulson vibes with them. 2 guys with promise what, all of a sudden, just lost it. Maybe injury related, maybe something mentally. Again, I'm not there yet but yesterday for the first time the thought of those 2 other guys popped in my head when watching Quinn and Cozens. As for the rest of the game, the offense gave you a very good game, they have done that a couple times this year. The difference was you had your goalie who FINALLY played an excellent game behind them.

I believe Boston University

Time on ice through 2.... Zucker, He's already up to 10:29 (4th among forwards) Benson with only 6:06, and only 11 shifts (both last on the team) Byram, Power, and Dahlin all close in minutes at the top of D...15 and a half to just over 16 minutes. Greenway credited with 4 hits, Malenstyn with 5.

I've gotten to the point of...if the team wins on a particular night I feel good. If they lose I 90% move on to other things and forget about the game. Sometime if they are down by 2 goals or even one, I'll keep the small TV on in my office, walk out to the living room and watch a show with my wife. I'll 'take a peak' at the game and see if they made a comeback or not. If they are down by 2 late, or 3 early, the TV goes off. If they tighten things back to 1 goal or take the lead, I'm back in. I try to mostly be positive, because for me its not about winning the cup or even making the playoffs. I don't really 'invest' that way in the teams I like (at least not anymore). Its more about entertainment night-to-night. If they win and/or play exciting on a given night, I'm happy! If they don't, oh well, maybe next time. That is why I don't get all up in arms about who needs to be benched, who needs to be fired, who I want to call various negative names, etc. Sure I have my "Cozens" moments where I have to vent about him and wonder why he is still getting ice time, but I think I'm getting better. Its just about as fun for me to look at a game, try to figure out what they did correctly, what they did wrong, find stats or video to support that, and discuss with others, RATIONALLY, what are possibilities to fix it. The name calling, the swearing, the demanding people get fired....I guess it works for some but it doesn't work for me as a fan anymore. If the Powerplay is bad, I really am fatigued by the threads of "whoever is in charge of the powerplay needs to be fired". For me I'd rather watch the PP, look at videos of it, look at what other teams are doing to score PP goals and discuss what the sabres should actually be doing to make it better. Some people want an outlet for their frustration.....but me, I like to hear other posters ideas of what can be different 'on the ice'. That just what I'm doing now. The Caps made the playoffs last year with 40 wins. The Sabres had 39. The difference for most? Obviously making the playoffs or not and that was huge. The difference for me? Nothing more than 1 extra win. I had one less win to enjoy over 6-7 months than if they made the playoffs like Washington did. That doesn't mean I DON'T want them to make the playoffs, of course I do, but again, for me its entertainment for the night. Maybe I have gotten that way BECAUSE that is the only way to enjoy the team without losing my mind. OR---maybe its because that is how I enjoyed the games when i was a kid...and that was the time I had the MOST fun watching sports. There was very little 'stress' then, very little negativity. It was just fun to watch the game and cheer if they won, and if they lost, well on to the next thing. I have gotten a bit more like that recently and I am not 'hating' the team as much, and am having more nights of just 'enjoying' the game. I have fallen 'out of love' with the NFL recently, and I figured out why. I LOVED the NFL when I watched the games on Sunday and that is it. The more exposure I got to it though, the more ESPN shows I watched where it was non-stop discussion of "who is the greatest ever" or "who needs to be fired" or just any over-analyzing by the talking heads...that takes away from the game for me. When its about just watching a single game, I love the sport. When its overhyped, not really. This is longer than I thought, but the best way I can say it is...when you watch a movie or a show..and each show is just one small part of a long story...I don't like it as much. But when you find a movie that has an ending that doesn't just 'set up the next movie...or a show where each episode is pretty much independent of the previous episode and the next one, I like that better. I can ENJOY the show without having to worry about 'investing' in it much deeper. That is where I have gotten with pro sports, with the Sabres, and overall I am happier for it.

Yep....not saying it was the reason to not give it to Tuch....but I agree that Pegula hides from bad press. Dahlin, signed long term, was the 'easier' choice.

I think he had a hand in those things yes. I don't think Cozens gets a 7 year deal at that number unless Pegula wants it (I think its possible he even pushed for it.) Remember the outdoor Toronto game where Cozens got thrown out but stayed to watch the rest of the game? Who was the one who stood there and talked to him? Terry Pegula. I can't find the exact quote, but right after that season ended (before his contract), Pegula spoke GLOWINGLY about Cozens. Fire? no, but for sure some smoke there. Cozens is "his boy". As far as the 'young inexperienced players', yeah, that was part Pegula also. Remember the whole thing about the "pegula family lifestyle"? That wasn't too far away from the point where the Sabres stopped spending money on higher priced guys and really went down in cap. You do that by 'going young'. Reinhart I think wanted out, nothing was really going to keep him here. As far as Eichel, Elliotte Freidman was on 590 out of Toronto when the whole thing was going down and he said/reported that he had sources that say that yes, Pegula had 'soured' on how Eichel handled the whole thing. John Vogl also had a story that pegula specifically wanted Eichel in the western conference, so of course he had knowledge, and even input into that trade. Greg Wyshynski had a piece that he said Adams has the full support of how he is handling the Eichel situation...to me that translates to "Pegula wants him gone too but is hiding behind his GM in case of any backlash" How about this one...why was Botts really let go? He wasn't willing to do Pegula's bidding for him with regard to running the team. Here you go: https://www.wivb.com/sports/in-three-weeks-pegulas-find-too-many-differences-in-opinion-with-jason-botterill-that-led-to-his-firing/ “At that time we had just found out that the regular season had ended and then in the next three weeks especially with the announcement of the draft being really pushed back to sometime this fall it gave us a little bit more time to start digging in and say what does the future look like? Let’s start looking and planning for the future and I think that’s what changed in those three weeks,” Kim Pegula said on a zoom call with reporters. Three weeks ago Kim Pegula told the AP Jason Botterill would stay as #Sabres GM and now they've fired him and hired Kevyn Adams. So what changed? With the draft being pushed back it gave them more time to think and there were too many "differences in opinion." @news4buffalo pic.twitter.com/rFm0NlvltE — Heather Prusak (@haprusak) June 16, 2020 So, not 'on the same page' as Botts, that statement comes directly from Kim Pegula. Difference in opinion between the "hockey guy" and "the Pegulas" The Pegulas wanted the ON ICE franchise to go in a different direction than the Hockey guy they hired...so, fire him and replace him with someone who will 'do their bidding' instead. By doing that “digging in” and “looking at the future”, they found they weren’t as much on the same page with Botterill as they originally thought. -Not enough, here is another one, where the hockey department apparently wasn't doing exactly the owners wanted, so it was replaced because the Pegulas felt like "they weren't being heard".... https://www.thestar.com/sports/hockey/five-alarm-fire-in-buffalo-sabres-axe-gm-jason-botterill-and-his-assistants-for-starters/article_74de5e12-9a3b-535b-b451-725f62c72c2a.html Botterill’s dismissal represents a major reversal after a vote of confidence in May. “We felt like we weren’t being heard,” co-owner Terry Pegula said. BUFFALO, N.Y.—Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula reversed course by firing general manager Jason Botterill on Tuesday as part of a drastic cost-cutting purge of front-office staff and scouts There is SO much smoke (and in some cases you can even see the fire) that Pegula is telling Adams (or any other GM) things he wants and then expecting them to happen. Everything you hear (if you are listening), almost everything you read (if you take the time to look for it) Points to Pegula having his hand in hockey decisions, wanting that, and getting rid of people/firing people who push back on that. He replaced Botts with Adams not because Adams was better as a GM, not because Adams could be worse (of course), but simply because Adams would DO what Pegula wanted, even with the on-ice product. I just gave you a few examples above, if you look, there are a LOT more out there of this over the last decade+. Adams isn't terrible. He's trying to keep his job as one of 32 NHL GMs, and in Buffalo with the Sabres under Pegula, you keep your job by letting the boss make decisions and carrying them out. He got his opportunity by seeing firsthand what happened to the guy before him when that guy had a 'difference of opinion' with Pegs.

I actually agree with you that age should not be an issue anymore, just pointing out Washington is doing it being 'older' than normal. Only issue I have is there seems to be a growing narrative that this on all on Adams. Everytime I hear that I am going to push back, I think this is as much Pegula meddling as it is Adams, probably more.