mjd1001

what about a rehab stint?

He was/is injured, so how about the ole "injury rehab stint" in the minors, is that still a thing?

Good question, I'd hope not but he might be too young for Rochester.

For whatever reason, there are some players that I do "like" more than others. Even when they were with the team, and there appears to be no rhyme or reason for it. In the drought era: -Eichel. If COURSE I WANTED him to be a generational level player for the Sabres, but from the time he got here, something about him I didn't 'like' as much as many did. -Reinhart. He, on the other hand, I "Liked" more than Eichel. Guys I 'liked' more: Foligno, Zemgus, Dahlin, Thompson, McCabe, Olofsson, Tuch, Pysyk, Lehner Guys I didn't 'hate' but wasn't as big of a fan of as many others were: O'Rielly, Steve Ott, Cozens, Eichel even Ryan Miller (kinda 'liked' him but thought he wasn't quite as good as made out to be) Again, no really reason I can think of for the list above...just the way it kinda happens with being a fan.

Maybe in some way playing in Rochester might do Benson some good: -Confidence? I'm not a huge believer in it, but in Rochester he is likely to produce more points, thus get his confidence up a bit. -Working on parts of his game. Up in Buffalo, he NEEDS to fit into a system, He is placed not where he is best, but where it is best for the team he is. Now, as good as he might be/is, I'm sure there are parts of his game that can be better. In Rochester he can be placed in situations where he can work on those parts of his game, not be forced into the spot that is best for the team. Not saying they will do it, and my suspicion is they won't, but if Benson was sent down to Rochester, he might come back a somewhat better player for it.

As per above, personally I am fine with Power at the moment (for the reasons listed above). Krebs has improved his play slightly to me from last year...but that slight improvement with the drop in play/production from Cozens make Krebs look more-than-marginally better. Cozens has been my whipping boy for the last 1.5 years, and there are a few others that I think agree with that. Its just the 'whip' is 'cracking' a bit louder now...for me at least until he gets his shooting percentage up to 10% to make up for his bad play without the puck. Dahlin I think is playing poorly, but eventually Lindy may have to give him the 'Benson treatment' and sit him for a game or two to try to let heal on him what is hurting.

Just because you don't want to hear it doesn't make it untrue. I'm not as upset about his play as I would be from a forward his pay/pedigree. I think most of the time D-men mature slower (not all the time, but most of the time). Has he made mistakes? Yep. Is he Physical, No, not at all, he might be the least physical guy on the team. But I'm fine with 'overpaying' him this year when you had cap room that you didn't spend on anyone else. As far as his defensive lapses and not picking up someone in front of the net, I will repeat what I have said in the past and I still believe it (with regard to Power and other D-men): When you watch a replay of a goal scored against, the D-men look like they are standing there, or spinning around like tops and not doing anything. However, watch other angles of the goal, and you will often (not all the time but often) see a different picture. It appears many times the D-men are staying with their guy down low, but the forwards are off in La-La-land with their coverage, often times letting wingers (or even point d-men) rush the Sabres net and not covering them at all. The Sabres D-men have to then either leave THEIR guy/zone wide open to cover for the forward, Let the rushing opposing player be wide open in the slot, or play things 'half way'. Often times they play things 'half way' which means positionally they are sound (playing the 'zone defense') but it looks like they aren't doing anything and are confused. Again, this doesn't happen all the time, but I have seen, and posted on this forum about goals where most people blamed Power, Clifton, and Samuelsson for doing this, and on the replay it APPEARS that is what happened. But go to NHL.com and watch the replay where they show you other angles, and you will see they are caught in that 'middle ground' due to the forwards just hanging out up high. This does happen with Power. Of course he needs to improve his game. He is an NHL D-man that is 21 years old. But overall, I'm not upset with his play. On the list of issues this team has, his current play and his level of Development is down the list form some other things. I think Samuelsson is more of an issue on defense with current play, and if you count forwards, Quinn and Cozens level or production and mistakes are way more of an issue than Power.

I was more referring to the comment that the team may be valuing production over 'potential production' showed by the Goals expected analytics. If the team is valuing ACTUAL production, there really proof of that by how much Cozens is getting out there.

Quinn is mind boggling for me. There has been no mention of an injury with him that I recall. Yes, he had a big injury last year, but he played AFTER it and then had the whole offseason. -With Cozens, he is getting the same ice time, he is getting the same chances. More shots. He looks pretty much the same player as the last couple years but with Cozens, he simply isn't converting any chances. -Quinn is different. He is only getting off 1 shot per game (or less). His skating speed is down. According to NHL edge his 'speed bursts per game' are down. basically, he is skating a LOT worse than last year. Unlike Cozens he isn't getting into good scoring areas. He isn't taking or getting off shots. They have a metric called "Skating distance" and I don't know what it is but he is way higher than last year. Quinn isn't just missing 1 or 2 parts of his game, he really is a totally different player in almost every way and I have zero idea why.

Then how do you explain Cozens leading the team in shots but with no goals and 2 assists (one I think on an empty netter) having the 3rd most ice time among all forwards on the team and being a fixture even strength and on the Power play? If that is the case, sit him for 2-3 games if needed. He's young. The team isn't relying on his production. Better he sit for a few games and get to 100% than to keep playing at 80-90% (or whatever he is)

Ok, thanks. I watched the Star Wars movies but I'm not that deep into them other than just a quick watch.

I'm not up with all of the slang on here... WTH is "Sheevyn" supposed to me?

I was listening to 590 out of Toronto this morning sometime between 6-7am, and they brought up the Sabres. I'm paraphrasing here, but the conversatation between hosts went something like this: -Look at the top of the Atlantic standings, its Florida, Boston, Tampa, Toronto...so much for the changing of the guard -The Sabres are just awful. Sabres fans laugh at Toronto for bringing in old Vets, but look at how the youth are doing there. -its like Lord of the Flies with the Sabres, they left the team to the young guys and you have Dahlin fighting with teammates in practice. Something very close to that. Needless to say, the media, and the fans in Toronto have close to zero respect for Buffalo and don't consider then any kind of threat at all.

So, it helps, in the offensive end, explain who gets better chances or who helps generate better chances. However, for someone like Cozens, it doesn't. We know he is still getting good chances, just over the long run, he is under a 10% shooter. So you kinda have to combine this with how good a shooter is (or how good of shooters their linemates are) to get an accurate picture, at least in the offensive zone how good they are, or will be.

I still don't totally understand how being named a captain should have a major impact on how well someone plays. I think its a bigger thing with the fans than it is with the players. I'm guessing in any locker room in the NHL, the leaders are the leaders, the followers and the followers, the quiet guys are quiet and the outspoken guys are outspoken, no matter who 'officially' has the 'c'. If you were traded to the Maple leafs last year mid season and walked into that room, Tavares had the "C" but it was pretty much Matthew's locker room and his team. I think its always been like that. There are former players who talk about the Oilers in the 80's and say "Gretzky may have worn the 'C', but it was Messier's team and his locker room.' I'm sure it matters to some players, others don't give a ****. But even to the players that it matters, I think its much more of a 'ceremonial' honor they can 'put on their resume' and brag about jokingly to teammates in the offseason. It shouldn't, and I don't think, changes much in practice or on the ice. If Lindy Ruff came in as a new coach an Dahlin was the highest paid and best player on the team and was NOT the captain, I don't think that new coach treats you any differently or gives your more or less responsibility if you did have the "C".

Evidence? What evidence though? I will agree 100% that he is not playing well compared to what he expect from him. But if one watched the game with a blind eye to the jersey numbers and names on the back, I don't think the 'eye test' would show him to be any worse than those other guys. Yeah, he is SUPPOSED to be a lot BETTER and he's not, but I can't point out anything he does in the same situations as the other guys where he is consistently and obviously worse. If it was an injury I'd be all for sitting him for a few games, a few weeks even, rather than dealing with this version of him for the next few months. But if he is hurting the team, I think it is because he isn't 'himself', not because he is worse than anyone and everyone else.

If he has an injury, it may be BECAUSE this is a 'playoffs or bust' season that they keep playing him those minutes: 1.) They may think Dahlin at 85% is still better than most other guys who are playing at 95%-100% 2.) The injury he has may not heal any better with less minutes, maybe its one of those things that the only way to get him back to 100% is to not play him at all. He would need to rest for 2-3 weeks (no play, no practice) to not re-aggravate what he has (as many of us know with many strains and pulls, that is how it works) 3.) if #2 above IS true, then it takes you back to #1.

I haven't watched his style of skating, but I still think its injury related: 1.) He got an injury in camp. That happened. Those thing can get 'better' but 'linger' for some time. 2.) He simply isn't moving that well. And I don't mean...he had a bad game he must not be moving that well. I mean when you watch him, he LITERALLY is not moving side to side as much, he's not shifting his stick as much when he is carrying the puck. All of that is true compared to last year. I don't think that just happens when you are named Captain and can't handle the stress. Stats back this up. 2 His 'hardest shot' (which would be impacted by a back or abdominal or groin injury for sure), 2 years ago it was 98.2mph. Last year it was 100.7. This year only 85.2. that is a big difference.

On the other hand, Quinn, Benson, and Cozens are near the bottom of that list, making it look even worse for them.

Krebs with only about 10 minutes of ice time. I think he deserved more. He had a couple hits, mixed things up...didn't have any bad giveaways or bad positioning without the puck, and I even think he won a few faceoffs...and an assist. Dahlin led the team with just under 24 minutes of ice time. I GUESS he is still their best overall D-man.....but at his best he is so smooth with the puck and controls the game. I haven't seen that yet all year. First line is clicking now. Thompson looks almost as dangerous as he was 2 years ago. No need to add anything about Peterka, and Tuch is just doing everything well (I still think he is the best forchecker on the team, he is killing penalties well and just always doing something in a good way in the offensive zone) McLeod is scoring. Still don't know much about his game but his production is good recently. You really could use Mitts on this team now, but Bryum is playing well. Some games he is your best D-man, and he never is your worst. UPL should have made the save on the first shot, but other than that very 'solid'. That was last year's UPL we saw tonight.

4th line winger even better. Let him just fight along the boards, that is what he loves to do.

we know McLeod has the speed, I think he has 'enough' skill to fill in at #2 Center for a few games. Krebs isn't steller, but he's putting the effort in enough to get #3 center minutes.

UPL not playing his best game ever, but seems to really be 'seeing' the puck well in scrums and is tracking it well (facing the shooters). This is the definition of a game by a goalie where he plays good enough to get you the win.

face off in the Buffalo zone with just over 2 min remaining, surprised Chicago didn't have the goalie pulled there.

Ottawa is 8 for 21 on the PP. Colorado has 7 goals in 17 chances Winnipeg has 7 goals on only 14 chances. Can you imagine having a PP that good?