mjd1001

I'd like to see where the issues are statistically. Its kinda hard for me to find stats about how many shots as a team they are taking on the PP, are those 'quality chances', how those compare to what they have done in the past and compare to league averages. The only thing I could find is their 'zone time'. When on the PP, they get the puck out of their zone quickly (low zone time compared to league average). But they don't control it in the opposing zone as much as most teams. They seem to spend a LOT of time in the Neutral zone with the puck on the PP. (league average is 14% of time on the PP in the neutral zone, Sabres are just over 16% in the neutral zone...it may not seem like much but that puts them near the top of the league with the puck being between the blue lines of all PPs.)

I think that is it actually. It'll work eventually, but it will be at a seemingly random moment.

I am rapidly coming around to this point....and I think I'm feeling slightly better about Cozens because of it. I see no flaws in his offensive game except putting the actual puck in the net...he is skating, going to the tough areas....doing everything positive he has done before. So..its not some crazy thing missing in his game. its shooting. For the last week or so....I have been just upset at how bad he is shooting. I think I, we, may just have to accept that he is going to go on runs when the team 'needs' him, where he will not score a goal for a couple weeks. Then there will be times he scores 3-5 a month (or more). Many of us are spending a lot of time trying to figure out what is wrong with his game? what is different? What is the shooting percentage we can expect from him. Here is what I am coming to think now: Nothing is wrong with his game (that can be fixed). Nothing is different..hes playing the same way he did last year and the year before. What shooting percentage can we expect from him? 10% is a good OVERALL number, but he might have another SEASON at 15%, and a season at 8%, a Month at 18%, and the next at 2% THAT is who Cozens is. I don't think who his wingers are change his production. I think his production is close to 100% him, and that is going to be wildly fluctuating month to month. I think HE might be able to help out certain wingers (if he stays at center) but no winger on this team will change how well or poorly he shoots. Personally, I think that is who he is. When I accept him as a 30 goal scorer some years, a 15 goal scorer others...I accept some month he will take 40 shots and score on none of them, others he will score 4 goals on 25 shots...I'll be much more accepting of his play and it won't bother me as much watching him game to game.

McLeod is fast. He might be in the top 5 fastest guys in the NHL. Last year he was measured at skating 23.82mph during a game. For comparison, in all the games, ice time, and Minutes McDavid played, he topped out at 22.72mph. Last year Eichel's best was 23.51. So yeah, with the pads on skating in the game....McLeod is fast. But, his hands I think are under-rated. Now, he doesn't have a hard shot. I don't think he is going to be putting one-timers in the net from the faceoff circle on the PP, and he's not beating many goalies with a slap shot from 30 feet out. But we have seen, he is very dangerous right in front of the net. More than many players we think are 'better'. So the question is, can he keep putting himself in positon to be coming in on the goalie at speed and get off shots there? If he can get 50+ shots off like that over the course of a season, he may very well end up being a 20-25 goal scorer.

I think likely best case scenario is he competes as a bottom 6 center, and/or is the 13th forward who ends up playing 60+ games a year for he because he fills in for injuries or is the 'first guy in' when someone needs rest or to be benched. I think there is a slight chance he could develop into something more (a #2/#3 center) but to be a quality player at that level, the chances are there but at this point very small.

May God help with how you communicate, as well with how easily you get triggered.

Nagging wins in 'quotes', single quotes, not double quotes. So, use context, the way I wrote that and with context around it, it was a characterization of me not saying others are LITERALLY saying it, but its the characterization of an exact word to describe how the person I am referring to would view them. Ruff needs to go. yep, you are wrong saying I am wrong. Again there, context. its the opposite of what is listed above. I didn't "quote" anyone saying those exact words, I am saying the negative posts about him, there are a LOT of them, instead of me looking them up and quoting them individually I am putting those thoughts into one single thought of my own I am posting. If you don't understand the 3rd thing I said, that is on you, not on me. it is apparent you don't understand a large part of my post, so yeah, I'll just let that one slide. I get it, you get triggered by things. As another post above about a cousin I have, he's the same way. Sometimes a person can say things in general that have truth to them and others THINK it is about them and they take offense and attack back. Its OK, it happens. lol See, here is the OVERALL thing. There are some of us that are positive MOST of the time. You know what happens when we post positive things? we get attacked by the people who are negative. I don't mean disagreed with, I mean gone after, I mean posts directed at us with a lot of emotional ***** in there so the person responding to us really REALLY lets us know what they think of our posts. But for some of us, this is entertainment. We want to see the team win, but if they don't, we don't need to see people get fired. My original post, the one that set you off apparently, is a post saying that some of us think the negative people "get tiring", just like you said my post stating that was tiring, or something like that. To me the most interesting thing is...how some people react, how some seemingly get triggered when post is made and someone needs to react in such a harsh, negative way. Oh yeah, and sometimes my posts may have grammar mistakes, spelling mistakes, even some words may not come out exactly the way I intend but I would expect most members (most do) to use context to figure out what I am saying, as I do with other posts I read. You know why? sometimes I post on my phone, and things like talk to text, autocorrect, they don't always work well. So, if you want to take apart my posts 'word for word', go head, there will be mistakes there on occasion. My original post, the one that triggered you, I was speaking in general thruths that apparently a lot of other pepole "got" when they responded to me in a positive way or agreed with my posts.

A saying is that a lot of goal scorers are 'streaky'. Maybe he just is even 'streakier' than most. It doesn't make sense to me in a logical way why that would be true, but hopefully its something like that: -The first part of the 21-22 season, (Oct - Jan) he had 11 goals on 76 shots (14.5% shooting over almost 4 months) -The last 2nd half of 21-22 , (Feb, Mar, and April of 2022) he had 2 goals on 84 shots (2.4% shooting over 3 months) -The entire season of 22-23, he shot 14.7% (Entire season) -October of last season, 23-24, he had 3 goals on 19 shots (15.7% shooting over the first month of the season) -In November and December of last year he had 3 goals on 76 shots (3.9% shooting over 2 months) -The remainder of last year he shot 19% in January, 7.3% in Feb-Mar, 18.8% in April. -This year so far he is shooting 0% (no goals on 27 shots) in October. Again, scorers are streaky, but when you look at the above numbers, COZENS is really REALLY streaky. When you look at someone like Tage for example, he never really had even a 2 months period under 10%. With Cozens for his entire career, the shots and quality of shots are somewhat consistent but his accuracy is way, WAY streaky. Hopefully he starts scoring, but maybe Cozens is just a player that is 'about' a 20 goal scorer on average, but there will be some years he only gets 10, some years he gets 30. Some months he will put in 6 or 7 in a month, other months he will have nothing. Just way more extreme ups and downs than most other players. I have been saying on here a lot recently...just get Cozens to 10% shooting and stay there for the season. It very well might be that he just isn't that type of player, He might have high peaks and low valleys of shooting. We can only hope if/when this team makes the playoffs, his 'shooting' is at a peak, not a valley at that moment.

A lot of what you are saying is just not true. -I have seen alot of posts in the GDT's when the Sabres are down where people are negative about Ruff...he doesn't have it anymore..it was a bad hire (not the hiring process was bad, but it was a bad hire, etc. So yeah, you are wrong there. -The team needing to be broken down/rebuilt? You are wrong again. Look back through the gameday threads, just as above, they get down by a goal or two and there certainly ARE people calling for that in posts. -You say that is not outlandish to say the team shouldn't be run differently? I never said it is outlandish. All I said is it is an example to support the point that some of us where making and guess what, IT DOES. It may not be outlandish, but it still supports the main point. -You don't get context at all. I never said last night was a 'nagging win'. My point is to the people I am describing, when they want change, and YES, there are people that want change at all costs, 'wins' get in the way of that. Context, I am using the word 'nagging' to refer to them being in the way of what some people want. And again, read through all the GDT's, anytime they are losing there are posts, after posts, after posts supporting this, no matter how much you may want to ignroe them, they are there. So BS LOL, your post is laughable. Its not "nonesense" it happens. Maybe you took offense to the post because it hits home too hard with you? By your response it sure seems like it. I guess when people DO call out something you disagree with, it must sure get so old. Too bad, as I said, look through the posts, look through the gameday threads, ITS THERE.

I'm not going to totally disagree with you, but I'll disagree with the above a bit. I can't see how different linemates will solve his scoring issues. He IS getting a ton of shots (most on the team). If you look at where he is getting shots from, they are from prime scoring areas. He is getting them from the slot often and he has time. He's just missing. Maybe his overall game (more assists) would improve with different linemates, but his shooting/scoring? He has the most shots on the team and arguably the BEST scoring chances on the team (if not the best, close to the best). Other linemates aren't going to make that even better, at least not by much. His accuracy shooting was always a bit of an issue with him, but it has just vanished. Totally.

I have a cousin who is a really good friend who is/was like that. I don't think he is on this forum, so I can say this without him knowing about it....For years, when we were little kids everything was negative: "The Bills will NEVER be a top team" "Kelly is OK but hes no where close to Elway/Marino". "The Sabres got LaFontaine and Mogilny but they aren't going to last here" IT was non stop, all the time. And the teams he DID like was whoever was good. He liked the Cowboys when they were on the superbowl run. The Yankees became his favorite team in the late 90's and early 2000's. He was a USC football fan in the days of Leinhart/Bush, but then in the last decade all of a sudden he "always liked Alabama". But when it came to Buffalo sports...he always 'bet the under' always was negative. I think what you are saying, its kinda like the way my cousin is. The good thing is, after all these years he is less and less like that. Now when he watches the Bills and Sabes, its less about 'mentally protecting himself from they losing' and more about just having fun watching the game, win or lose.

There are some people that...how can I say this....I do not want to say root for losses, but they aren't all that happy with wins because the team isn't doing it the way THEY want it to be done. Some people have made up their mind that Kevin Adams is awful and needs to be gone and so does Ruff...and if they win, that won't happen. Same goes with players like Tage (not a top center, its a mirage), Dahlin (WAY overrated), Power (needs to be traded now). Either the team turns into a cup contender right now for those fan,s or it needs to be broken down. Again, I do not want to say some fans, some board members even, are openly rooting for this team to lose. But we have seen where sometimes we get a narrative in our own head that we want the team run differently, and these 'nagging wins' are causing the changes we want to be made to not be made soon enough. If there are people like that, you'll see....they won't say much during a win, but even after a winning streak the team will have that first bad game and they'll be back here to say "everything is awful" "**** is a bum" and "I told you so"

The team has been so fun to watch since they have been scoring goals...now i'm kinda bummed out we have to wait 4 more days until the next game. They didn't really 'miss' Benson...maybe another game off to try to get whatever his injury is truly to 100%?

Lots of games tonight, lots of surprises so far: Buffalo over Dallas....Bruins getting shut out by the Preds...Sens being outshot 23 to 10 but being up 4-0....Lightning with 8 more goals...Panthers blown out 5-1 to Minnesota....Columbus wiping the floor with Toronto 6-2 with almost 40 shots... How about Washington winning 4 of their first 5 games. I have no idea how they do it with that roster. At least you can't say the NHL is too predictable in the early season.

Quinn with a total of 6 shots on net through 7 games played for him. Something has got to be wrong with him that we don't know about, injury? Hes not even getting shots off or in position to do so. Cozens. no goals on 27 shots (leads the team). I'm guessing this isn't a stat that can be easily looked up, but I wonder what the record is for most shots to start a season without a goal for someone who is in your top 3 highest paid Fowards? Krebs. He now has a goal, he is the best faceoff guy on the team this season, looks like he's playing with a high motor and no major positioning mistakes to cost them recently. Still only 10 minutes of ice time. Has he earned a little more than that going forward?

Just like I said before the game, I'm pretty good with Power's overall game. Hes not going to be physical, I get that. But, interesting stat on Hits: Power on the season: 3 hits while averaging over 22 minutes of ice time Clifton on the season: 22 hits while averaging 14:57 minutes of ice time. In terms of 'hits per 60 minutes', Clifton is outhitting Power 11-to-1.

So Saturday is the next game vs Detroit...do you go with UPL in net again? He will have another 3 days off...but then Levi hasn't played in over a week (by Saturday), do you keep him out of another game?

Greenway led all forwards in ice time at 19:27. McLeod 2nd at 18:35. Defense all getting ice time. Dahlin led at 23:41, Clifton lowest but still nearly 16m (15:42) Everyone else right at or near 19 minutes or more. Clifon had 5 blocked shots (tied with Greenway for the most) and 4 hits (the most on the team) and 4 takeaways (most on team) for the game.

They only had one single powerplay tonight where they didn't score. If you look at it that way, its progress...right? RIGHT??? (Lindy's post game press conference, said he liked the PP tonight and was pretty sure they would get one by the end of the year....at least he has a sense of humor about it)

Cozens got 3 assists tonight? did I miss something? My post was talking about Cozens.

I'm "OK" with his effort in the offensive zone. Also, he hasn't made a dumb play in the defensive zone that I noticed for the last 2 games, so that is good. He NEEDS to score though. He isn't a rookie that is working hard who just made the team where we can give him a thumbs up for effort. He's in his 5th season and is making $7m per year. 10% shooting percentage. I don't need him to shoot 15-16%, I don't even need him to be near 14% like he was 2 years ago. Just get to, and maintain, 10% shooting percentage. That is what a lot of 3rd liners do for you.

Its half way between. He has been getting shots and chances all year. He can't really play 'better' in the offensive zone other than putting the puck in, hes in the right areas and is taking the shots. The question is as it has been...Is he a 14% shooter like he was 2 years ago? Or is he an 8% shooter like he has been just about the rest of his career. He shoots 14% hes scoring 30. He shoots 8% (or less) he's going to struggle to be a 15 goal scorer.

I'd say we have seen enough, McLeod should be getting 2nd line minutes over Cozens...BUT.....its working well right now so just keep things the way they are.

Puck movement, getting to the scoring areas, getting the shots off...he's been decent at that all year. For $7m though, he NEEDS to start converting.

I think some say Dallas plays a 'heavy' game, but to me they are more a blend of skill and size (not much speed). They have a lot of guys who work well together. Hintz is really the only forward the is a great skater (Dadanov maybe, but he doesn't play many minutes), but they have other guys with great hands, other guys who are good along the boards...and it seems on each line they have each player do the thing they are good at. My opinion of them is, not a great transition team, won't outskate you, but when they do get in the offensive zone they are good at keeping the puck there, don't make a lot of mistakes in the neutral zone, and have very good goaltending. The exact type of team that it SEEMS gives Buffalo problems. They wear you down, not with speed or always with size, but they just play a good solid game and when you get frustrated and make a mistake, they pounce on you. Now, I don't know if any advanced stats back that up, but that is my impression of them.