mjd1001

So I guess you had it ready to go, the average quality of your posts must be...lol wow.

Way to step up and bring something productive to the conversations. How long were you waiting to try to find a spot to use that? lol

I know this might be better put under "complaint Thursday" but it does relate directly to college football. I'm watching more college football games today than any other Saturday this year, and what is up with the broadcast. it seems on some of the games, 1 out of every 5 or 6 plays between plays they cut to shots of fans yelling and screeming or waving their fingers in the air. I can see coming in and out of a commercial, but why do so many broadcasts do that mid drive. There were even a couple times where they did the shot of the fans and only came back to the play less than a second before the snap. Its kinda like in auto racing, ABC was known for this. A few times there would be a big race (Indy 500 a few years ago comes to mind) where there is a fight for the lead in the last 5 laps...and they INSISTED on going split screen with the action on the track on one side (which was hard to see on less than half the screen) and on the other side a constant feed of one of the drivers wife or girlfriend and her facial reactions. Do they people who do these broadcasts actually think people want to see that?

The other side of that is, who comes out for him? Krebs only had 13 minutes last night (and averages under 12). Maybe Quinn, as he had 16 (but usually averages about 12.5), Peterka had 14 (and typical averages about 13). You would think the young guys who are in their early 20's are the ones who could go back to back, especially when they have been getting limited ice time.

I went through the goals allowed last night like usual to see if there is any place for specific improvement: -1st Car goal. Quinn giveaway. Nothing else really mattered here, that was the main reason the chance was allowed. -2nd Car goal. PP goal great shot by Aho. Again not much to do there, Carolina was moving the puck well and the Sabres were chasing a bit, but no one really had a breakdown. Goals like that are going to happen. -3rd Car goal. Peterka whiffed on a clearing attempt, puck back into Buffalo zone. Fitzgerald took his time getting it out of the corner (maybe help was late coming back due to a line change at a bad time because of the Peterka whiff?) Quinn came back late and kinda did the old 'ole!' move on the guy 10 feet from the net (bad effort). Krebs comes in too low (right to the goal mouth) and doesn't do anything, leaving Olofsson to stay more toward the center of the ice to cover the slot (vacated by Krebs) and the goal scorer was pretty much uncovered on the other side of the ice. Pilut played this one well just was tied up in front of the net. No GLARING mistakes here, but little mistakes made or people who were not aware of where teammates were so they got out of position. Quinn, Krebs, Peterka all had a hand on this one. -4th Car goal. I can't tell who is on the right wing but it looks like Quinn. Whoever that was, the major issue was with him. Faceoff was pretty much a draw but the CAR guy on that side skated right by Quinn (I think) to pick the puck up BEHIND the sabres center, skated a circle around the Sabres D and fed the puck into the front of the net before the goal. Sabres D was again Fitz and Pilut. They didn't look to do anything wrong, but their lack of reaction time/speed may have hurt here. But the player (Again, I THINK Quinn but can't tell) not only let his guy behind the Sabres center, after letting that happen he takes off toward the blue line, causualy skates himselt out of the play while the action is happening in front of the net that led to the goal. Whoever that was, it was on them 90%. Krebs had been playing better lately after many of us (me included) criticized him the first few games, but Krebs, Peterka, and Quinn (Espeically Quinn) made a lot of mistakes that led to Carolina chances/goals. Pilut and Fitz were on the ice for a few of the goals against, but honestly they were simply victims of the foward play in front of them and MAYBE a slight lack of physical talent. This team might have an even better record of Sheahan and Hinestroza were on the ice every game instead of Krebs and Quinn..but I totally understand you NEED those 2 guys on the ice for development and it woudn't be better for the team long term.

Here is my 'impression' of Matthews and the Leafs. I could be wrong, but this is from a lot of direct and subtle observations on my part, reading a about the leafs, and hours and hours and hours of listening to Toronto sports talk: -many players in 'todays age' don't veiw themselves as players of a sport who happen to get paid, but rather view themselves as a 'business' that, all aspects of it must be taken care of like a busines and it exist to make money and enhance their lifestyle out of the sport. That isn't everyone, but there are more people like that now than in the past. Well, with the Leafs, Matthews is that way for sure. The top 5 things in his hockey career are: 1.) Austin Matthews. 2.) Austin Matthews. 3.) Austin Matthews. 4.) Austin Matthews 5.) The team he plays for and his current teammates, whether that is the Leafs today or whatever team pays him more in the future. Just my impression. I get that from Matthews. I got that from Eichel. I DON'T get that as much from McDavid, Ovi, Crosby (even though he was a crybaby early in his career) or other current guys like Pastrnak, Draisatl, or McKinnon (even though he can be a jerk in other ways.) I'm almost hesitant to say this, but I'll do it anyway. Eichel and Matthews are Americans who grew up from the time they were teenagers to be told they were 'generational'. I wonder if our 'american culter' (love it or hate it) took over things for them and for the last 10-15 years of their life, from the time they were kids, they were told to value the 'business' of their game more than the game itself. Again, it can and probably does happen with most stars, but with these 2 it seems more apparent than with others form my casual observation.

Does that make our opiinion invalid? Because it is being discussed here on this board does it mean it isn't happening? The answer to both is no. The fact it is being discussed by sabres fans has zero impact on whether it may or may not be an issue for him and the Leafs.

First, I have seen a few Toronto games and he is engaging a lot less than in the past. Not sure if it is his own decision, or he was asked/told to stay away. But in the past 2 years, he got hit, he woudn't drop the gloves but would yap back or slash back, do a little shoving. This year there have been numerous times where his teammates came to his defense and he skated away. not even staying behind a referee and yelling back but literally moving 10+ feet away from ANYONE on the ice in some occasions. At the very least that is not a good look. Of course you don't want him hurt and you want him to not be involved in any of this. But if he always skates away and his teamates/linemates get in shoving matches to defend him, I don't see anything changing. If he decided to give some major/big time slashes back on more than on occasion, and after he did that for him to engage a little more...then maybe, just MAYBE the abuse he takes during the game would go down a little bit. In an ideal world for the Leafs and Matthews, he would take some of that abuse, not just skate away but yell back at the other team something like "thanks for the Power Play, now I'm going to go out and score" and then do so. But even to do that, he can't skate 20 feet away from everyone and just ignore the scrum. Honestly, in this clip he did engage a bit, but I have seen other games this year where he did just skate away. Maybe the way you look at this is how it impacts his teammates. Is he the star? Sure. But former playes will say that Chemistry is a thing, and we have an example here in Buffalo that it may be better for the team if you don't have cliques in the locker room and for the most part people get along. Beleive that matters or not, in Toronto you really do seem to have a 'big 4' that everything revolves around, and just about everyone else is almost an afterthought. I'm in Niagara County so I listen to 590 out of Toronto a lot, and a few times over the past year or two it is brought up as a possibility that the locker room up there isn't exactly 'all inclusive'. It was brought up the other day something like "the only time the superstars on this team put in 100% effort is when it comes to negotiating and maximizing their contracts'. If chemisty does matter, i'm not sure how it feels for the 12-15 players on the 'bottom' of the roster to have to feel like they are only there to defend/make room for Austin and Mitch.

I think the game against Eichel and his new team was a huge draw last year, his first game back. Now that is out of the way, I think it will still be a draw, but only slightly more so than his first game back here.

FYI over his last 41 games (picked 41 because the math is easy, it includes all of this year and last year after he returned/got better from his injury) -21 goals, 8 of them on the PP, 4 empty net. -Over 82 games that comes to a pace of 42 goals, 16 on the PP, 8 empty net. (that leaves 26 even strength, 18 even strength not empty net). That pretty much makes him 2nd or 3rd on the team in even strength goals (depending on how you calculate it and over what term). He also leads the team in game winning goals. He may not hit, he may have games where he isn't noticable (even stretches of games), but so far this year and since his wrist got better last year, he has proven himself to be a very valuable member of this team. Leads in game winning goals. BETTER then most people think scoring even strength. AND, when this team has a stretch of bad play on the PP, everyone says they need to fix that, but the 'fix' usuall involved getting Olofsson the puck and having him put it in the net for PP goals. Olofsson if healthy, and that is a big 'IF', should be a guy you rely on for close to 30 goals, with a chance in any given year to approach 40. He also is a 'quick fix' for a broken or struggling PP. What is that worth? They have Quinn and Peterka and others in the system, but Olofsson already IS what he is, you are just hoping Quinn and Peterka can become that. The Solution likely is within 1-2 years, you are going to have to move one of them. If Quinn/Peterka do NOT turn into their potential, maybe they are moved, if they both become 30 goal scorers (or are on their way to becoming that), you have to decide between the 3, probably based on contract value/length. At the moment, I am not looking forward to moving Olofsson nor am I thinking of a team in 2-3 years from now that is better becuase he isn't here and someone else is.

For me Vegas falls into the category of things I have been more wrong about than anything else. i have said to many friends/coworkers and even on this forum, the thing about this NHL season I was MOST sure about is that Vegas and Boston would both struggle to make the playoffs this year. As of now of course they are the #1 and #2 teams in the league. Oops. I have watched a couple of Vegas games and while odds say that I was just very wrong, i still think they may be overacheiving a bit and could fall 'back to earth' so to speak. Why? They may have found 2 young goalie "diamonds in the rough", but their team save percentage is just under .940. EVEN if they get very good years goaltending from their guys, that is not likely to continue. League average/slightly above league average goaltending would have them allowing 8-9 more goals this year than they have already. That still makes them a good team, but probably a 14-15 point team, not a 20 point team. Still, I am 'looking' for something here, trying to find a reason that they will not be as good as they are,not sure if it will unfold that way. The other thing to look at for those of us who don't like Vegas or are 'hoping' they are not as good as we think is their schedule so far. They have played 3 teams so far we thought were elite coming into this year... Colorado, Calgary, and Toronto. They lost to 2 of the 3 (Toronto being the worst of that group is the one they beat.) Their wins? L.A., Chicago, Seattle, Winnipeg (twice), Anaheim, San Jose, Wash, and Ottawa. They don't hit their really really tough stretch of games until the first 3 weeks of January.

I'd be OK with this. If he really thinks he is ready to go, I'm also OK with playing him but the first game no PK time. just give him 3rd pairing minutes for a game or two. The last couple games the Sabres have had some D-men that have gotten 10 and 12-13 minutes. Lyubushkin, when he is healthy and plays the whole game, usually gets 16-20 minutes. Bring him back and commit to giving him 12 or 13 minutes for the first game, see how it goes.

91 points. That is where I am now.

You make a good point, but size is only valuable how you use it: -Tage is big but not physical at all in the 'traditional' sense. But his reach is used for production. -Ryan Reeves is often considered one fo the tougher and better fighters in the league now. He is a total of 6'2 and 225. Not even close to 'big' comared to dozens and dozens of other players in the league. Give me 2 players with the EXACT same skills, but one is 2 inches and 25 lbs heavier and I'll take the bigger one. But size for the sake of size isn't really all that useful. Boston has more than a couple players that are average (or below average) in size but I feel are much more likely to come out of the corner with a puck than guys who are much bigger. Look at big hits. No one would say Mike Peca was even close to 'big' yet he was one of the most feared hitters in the league. Lyubushkin plays physical and he certainly lays out some big league hits, yet he is listed at only 200 lbs.

I'm not there yet. Hopeful, but not there yet. I still can't get there because of their past history. About 4 years ago (give or take a year) weren't they first in the entire league around January 1? And for most of the last 3-4 years, they had similar starts. Are things different now? probably. Is Dahlin a legit superstar on the back end that they did not have before? Yes. But in those previous years, many people (including myself) tried to belelive that it was 'different' that time and it wasn't. Besides, I'll enjoy not being 100% on board yet..because each win that isn't expected is more enjoyable. Once I beleive this time 'its real', expectations are higher and each loss then hurts more.

I kinda agree with you. I mean, if people like looking at stats like this and there is some meaning to them than fine, but this is an one example of analytics that I personally thinks goes to far. Meaning, even if you do identify it, and if it IS real and not random (which I question) but what do you do to change it. Again, I dig deep into stats for fun that may not mean much to anyone else and post about them sometimes, so I am not going to say this isn't something interesting or fun to look into or maybe paints a picture that stats support, just for me personally it doesn't mean much.

100% agree. There is another variation of it too: -You have the cruise control on, you are gaining on someone in front of you. Your cruise setting is about 5mph faster than what they are doing. You approach them, change lanes, but as you are passing them, they speed up. You have to speed up more and more as they do so, finally going 10 or more MPH faster than your original speed to compete the pass. You clear them and pull back to the right lane. After ALL that, they seem to go back to their original speed and you start to pull away from then again as they fade into the distance behind you. I think 50% of the time it is just people being total jerks. But part of me wonders if the other 50% of the time, there is something in a driver's head that when they see someone pass them, it is an instinct, not a thought but just a reaction that makes them speed up? Not sure, all I know is it is annoying and can be dangerous in certian situations.

I think I bring this one up pretty often, but it keeps getting worse and worse. Gambling promotion and talk on sports radio. I get it. it is going to be there. People like talking about gambling and fantasy and SOME people (no idea who) like hearing about other peoples wins and losses on their personal bets and fantasy. Its here, but can we PLEASE cut down on it a bit? I had to run to the office this morning so I was in the car for maybe 30 minutes total: here is the sequence: -about 9:40-9:45am turned on WGR. They were talking about making a bet of what celebtrity will be shown on Thursday night football. -Stuck with it for a few minutes, but they kept on going about this -turned to 590 out of Toronto (I'm in Niagara county so I get it clearly). They USUALLY stick to sports, but not now. Talked about prop bets on football. -Back to WGR about 9:45-9:50, still talking about placing a bet on Randy Quaid. Back to 590, still on the prop bets. -Go to Satelite radio, first thing I hear there is a commercial for fan duel or some other betting site. Turn the radio off in disgust, go into the office. -Come back to the car right about 10:00-10:02, turn on WGR, figure with Sal on a new show they would start with talking about the Sabres game. Not really, first 10 minute of the show were dominated by Sal talking about a bet he made on the Sabres game. Not how good the team played, not Tage's play, Dahlin's ice time....but about how he placed a bet on the game because he thought they could come back. I think I stuck with it until 10:11 or 10:12 and when they were still talk about gambilng, I turned off the radio totally for the rest of my ride home. This is getting out of hand. There are periods of time you can listen to sports radio and have zero chance of getting way from gambling talk WHILE gambling talk totally dominates talk of the games.

Unis would have been many times better with 2 simple, small changes. A BIT more color on the Jersey (5% more blue than is there) and don't go with white pants. Those two things and they would have gone from a pretty bad look to maybe actually good.

Something else interesting: -From late november until the end of February last year. (when Olofsson got hurt) He went 30 straight games played without a goal, and was goal-less in 35 of 36 games. -Since then (March 1st) he has played 38 games and scored 21 goals. 35 games in a row without a goal, then followed up by 21 goals in 38 games (45+ goal pace)

Dahline with almost 30 minutes. Krebs at the bottom with just a tad over 10 minutes.

The thing that stood out to me about the Pens, even when they were ahead if anything happened to them, a penalty,scoring chance allowed....it was visible they were losing their cool about it very often.

To be honest, even in the lowest of times, Girgesons has pretty much always given 100%.

Broadcast said Girgensons traced skating at the fast speed anyone on either team all night. For those who don't acknowledge he is a good/very fast skater, there you go.

Outshooting the Pens, 2:36 left, up by a goal, but this doesn't have a good feel from me. hope im wrong.