mjd1001

Another thread about coaching management, but with some other points made. My opinion is still the same, both should be back for the start of next year, and then you keep evaluating from then on.

Just the eye test (my opinion, Quinn and Peterka were a bit more dangerous) and the stat sheet. Not saying Benson isn't playing well away from the puck, just when he is on the ice, I don't always think of him as a threat to score yet. With Quinn and Peterka their rookie years, I did. Just an opinion.

I think Tuch would get a lot. There are those on this forum that don't like the year he is having, don't like one or two things he said...but the 'thinking he is from the area', and him being visible as a Bills fan, I think that goes a lot way with fans liking him, especially the more 'casual' fans that either don't post here, or aren't the hardcore Sabres fans that post a lot.

I agree. The key is is he healthy? If he passes the physical, he can skate for a week or so without an setbacks, then sure play him. Going into camp next year, I think having played in a handful of games at the end of this season would be a LOT better for him than going months and months and months without playing. Even just getting in a game or two, if healthy, is a good thing.

I'm not sure how I feel about how badly the Sabres are currently developing players, at least this current regime. Could they do better? Could/should the have more/better/more experienced assistant coaches and dev coaches? Sure, but I don't think that makes them bad. Sabres drafted Dahlin. Generational talent (supposedly). Got ice time from his rookie year, didn't look good the first 2 years but had a great year last year (maybe a top 10 D-man in the league) and he had a rocky start to this year, but in the last 2 months looks to be every bit as good now as he was last year. Maybe you expect him to be great, but I don't think the Sabres 'messed him up'. Samuelsson in the 2nd round that year....he can't stay healthy but when he does play, he certainly is probably as good as anyone drafted in the 2nd round or later. -2019 Cozens. I was really hard on him late last year and early this year, I thought he may have been the worst player in the NHL regarding coverage in is own zone. But, over the last 2 months he's turned the corner, not only has he been playing better there, but his scoring is coming back. And from a strong draft class, the only 2 players drafted after him that are out-producing him are Caufield and Boldy (and only by a handful of goals) and he is doing BETTER than Turcotte, Dach, and Kakko, all drafted before him. -Ryan Johnson. He just got to the Sabes this year, but he has been at all their dev camps and worked with their coaches. I think most poeple on here think he is playing better than they expected he would. -2020 Quinn. He has been injured so its hard to rate him, but he had a very good rookie year last year, that was after being a GREAT player in the AHL for his year there, and in his short stint this year, he looked really really good. He has played 94 career games, some of them after coming back from a bad injury, but he is 7th in points per game of anyone drafted that year. -Peterka. 2nd rounder. Top 10 in scoring for anyone from that draft class overall, 3rd this year in goals scored (and only 3 away from the top spot) from that draft class. Both Peterka and Quinn are at least average in terms of defensive zone play..I think you can make a case that for their age they are actually pretty good too. 2021. Owen Power. Top guy in a supposedly 'below average' draft class. But, he played as a rookie, he is playing a ton of minutes now. He has his ups and downs, but again, recently he is playing a lot better. Many may not like his style (he is big but hits vitrually no-one) but I don't think you can see he isn't starting to be an asset on the blue line. Since then, Benson is a surprise and playing well in the NHL for how young he is. Savoi, Östlund, Kulich....nothing from them yet but all of them have showed flashes in their current leagues of being legit NHL players at some point. As far as the older guys, Thompson looked like a Bust until Granato came along, and even with a 'down' year this year, hes on pace for about 30 goals, the last 3 years is close to a 40 goal guy overall. Tuch, he is getting more chances in Buffalo but his production is way up here compared to Vegas. It took a while but Mitts developed into a really good NHL forward with this team. UPL certainly, he has 'developed' into one of the better goalies in the league. So yeah, they could do better, but I look at this roster and I see a lot more 'development' successes than I see failures, especially since the current regime took over. Roster construction (not having a GOOD veteran D-man here) and player mix might be an issue for this team's current lack of success. But I think player development? A case can be made for them doing a good job...at least not doing a bad job.

I probably agree with you, but I wouldn't go as far as saying 'no way'. He was on pace for almost 40 goals in his last year here (shortened season). Tage almost had 50 here last year. Also, Reinhart scores a lot of his goals from in close...a position no one else on this team (except Skinner) really goes to, so he'd have that opportunity here. If Reinhart scored at almost a 40 goal pace here his last year (shortened season), and he's 3 years older/more experienced, AND he had a career year...I don't think 50 would have been out of the question here. Would I have bet on it? No..but again, it wouldn't have surprised me.

I agree with you. It might be easy to say Skinner because he doesn't play much defense (although he HAS been doing more work on the boards recently and actually IS winning some puck battles). Or Cozens or Tage because of the drop off in production. But, as far as being 'disliked', I can't really say anyone. If any single player on this team was traded, i would WANT them to do well on the other team. I could not say that for a lot of people in the past that played here.

I agree. Kickoffs have gotten boring. At least with the new rule, it gives us something more like a running play. Doesn't bother me and I'd rather see this compared to what we have been getting the last few years.

Benson is having an interesting year.....maybe tied to Jack Quinn more than I thought. I think Benson's year this year is behind what both Quinn and Peterka did last year overall, but again, he is younger than they were so its to be expected (at least expected by me). From the end of December through the beginning of February, he went though a horrible stretch, just when the team was staring to play better around him (Dec 27 - Feb 10, he played 15 games, 0 goals, 1 assist, -6, not a single game where he was a 'plus', but he was still getting 14 minutes of ice time per game. Since then, hes played 22 games, 5 goals and 4 assists, is a +3, and is getting about the same ice time. Yeah, its easy to pick and choose stretches were players do well and others were they don't do well, but as a Rookie, I think the last 22 games he has shown an improvement. Not only in the stats, but to me I notice him more in a positive way the last month. Going back to his 15 game stretch were he basically did zero offensively.....that is the EXACT time that Quinn came back. In the 15 games where Benson had only 1 assist, Quinn had 3 goals and 7 assists in 14 games. Now, Benson got the same ice time (a bit over 14 minutes) as usual when Quinn was in the lineup or out of the lineup, but once Quinn played, did Benson play with different linemates then entire time, or was his usage drastically different? So I looked into all the games Quinn played, and this is Benson's production: In games Jack Quinn played, Benson: 16 games, 0 goals, 4 assists, -3, 14:46 minutes per game In games Quinn hasn't played, Benson: 55 games, 9 goals, 10 assists, +2, 14:34 minutes per game. So, maybe its usage, but he got about the same ice time, yet he scored at a 13-14 goal pace with no Quinn in the lineup...and didn't score a goal in 16 straight games with him in the lineup. One more interesting thing about Benson...From the beginning of the Season UNTIL Quinn came back he was getting about 1.5 minutes per game on the Power Play. When Quinn came back, Benson got MORE power play time (almost 2 minutes per game, but had zero goals in that time.) Since Quinn got hurt again, the last 23 games Benson has been taken off the power play totally (8 seconds on average per game played.)

I would not want to be a Pittsburgh fan right now: -Didn't make the playoffs last year. Not making it this year, and this year they are sliding worse than last year. -Your best players all getting really old. By the start of next season (or during it), Crosby turns 37, Malkin 38, Karlsson 34, Letang 37, Smith 33. They have one guy on their roster under 30 who has double digit goals Drew O'Connor, an undrafted 25 year old with 10 goals this year and a total for 18 in his entire career. -Their pipeline is empty. From what I can tell then have 2 middle-first round picks and one goalie, thats about it...and their top prospect is no better than any of the top 6-7 the Sabres have. Oh, and they have no first round pick this year either. ALL of their top guys are signed for multi year deals. Like really bad looking deals for how old they are. Yet, they are probably just good enough to keep the Penguins out of the cellar next year and away from a top lotter pick.

I never had a problem with discussing former Sabres. I actually like the discussion. Whenever a trade occurs (and most of us LIKE trades as a talking point), it certainly is fun to talk about 'what could have been' if that guy was still here, or to evaluate what you got for that player. Also, we talk about a lot of other players around the league some...and guys who used to be here, well, most of us know more about them than most other players..so yeah....easy to talk about them.

Reinhart scoring 50 (maybe 55 by the time the season is done) is a mild surprise to me, but not shocking. As you said, he is 27, right in his prime. His last season in Buffalo he was on a nearly 40 goal pace here. The mark of a career year is often times a one-time shooting percentage that is WAY higher than the career number. His career number is about 15. He never was over 20, this year he is at almost 26. So, combine him being pretty much at his 'statistical prime' for a forward, the fact that for the last 4 years he pretty much has been a 30-40 goal guy (pace), and him having a possibly a career year by shooting percentage...its not that shocking. He's a PP specialist (54% of his goals on the PP is INCREDIBLY high, hes at nearly 43% for his career on the PP which is also incredibly high)....he can sustain high goal totals for the next 2-4 years of his career...but I would doubt he repeats 55 goal seasons in the future like he is having this year. He's a very good goal scorer, in large part because he DOES hang around the net and has the hands to be effective in that area.

Yes, I think they make it next year. UPL should get re-signed. I think Levi is the backup here next year with the team looking for a UPL 55 game, Levi 30 game split. I think Adams will TRY to make an addition to the forward ranks that is meaningful (not an elite guy, but someone who is a better forward than Clifton is a D-man) Tage will have a bounce-back season (40-50 goals). Unless this team is hit by injuries next year harder than they were hit this year, of this is a major unexpected subtraction...I'm thinking they are in the playoffs next year.

That is something that a lot of people forget/don't know. Yes, the border is the border. People who live in Fort Erie, Niagara Falls (Ontario), St. Catherines...etc...yes, they are in Canada. They shop in Canadian supermarkets/stores. But, to a certain extent, many act like part of the Buffalo Metropolitan area (They often fly out of the Buffalo/Niagara Airport, they are Bills and Sabres fans (many of them), they go to shows at Sheas in dowtown Buffalo, etc.) The fact is once you cross that border, there are probably 500,000 people shop, live, act at least partially like they are a suburb of Buffalo, but because of the border, they aren't counted/don't exist when it comes to TV ratings or metro area populations. Also, Rochester/Batavia. When it comes to the Bills and Sabres, many/most people in Rochester are Bills fans and Sabres fans. Yet, they don't get counted in most measures of the Buffalo metro population. Batavia doesn't even get counted (it gets added to Rochester, not Buffalo). Olean (75 miles from Buffalo) gets counted in Buffalo's area. Another example...yes, Miami/south Florida IS a major metro area...but West Palm beach is 70-80 miles from downtown Miami..and that gets counted in the Miami metro population. Rochester is about the exact same distance from Buffalo (with Traffic its a lot closer of a drive) yet is population is classified as a different area. If you add a city like West palm beach to Miami's total....you could combine Buffalo and Rochester....and how about adding just a SMALL portion of Canada (not even Hamilton, but just half way to Hamilton) and instead of Buffalo being the 50th largest metro in the country, it would be approaching the top 20. Again, numbers, statistics...its all how someone chooses to measure things.

From the beginning of the season through the end of January, it looked like Ovechkin hit that wall and there was no coming back. Gretzky's record looked out of reach. I think he had 8 goals through the first 43 or 44 games of the season. (on pace for about 15) But in the past 2 months, he has 18 goals in the last 24 games. (including 4 multi-goal games and a 6 game goal scoring streak) He'd be leading the Sabres in goals at this time, and is ties for 4th in the league in goals scored in that time period (3 behind Hyman and one less than Matthews and Point). Over that time frame (when the Caps along with the Sabres were desperate for points to stay in the playoff race), Ovi has those 18 goals, the MOST anyone on the Sabres has is 7 (Thompson, Peterka and Skinner tied). The Caps have 14 points in their last 10 games. The Sabres have 9.

Saw it yesterday. It was decent but it could have been better I thought with a few changes. I thought they crammed too many characters into the movie, so most of them (even though the audience knew them already) had very little character development. It was like, the 'bones' were there for a good story, but they never really developed it that much because every 5 minutes it was 'time' for another star to get some screentime. I was still entertained though.

I understand that. In December, I was lighting up this board (well maybe not THAT bad) with frustrations of how they were playing in their own zone. I was ready to 'buy the train ticket' myself to ship Cozens out of town. But then for me, a few things happened. I read a couple posts of other people on the forum saying how when they see kids, or take their kids to the game...a lot of time the kids don't really are if they win or lose, they just like being there, or watching the game. I then thought about when I had the most fun watching the team, and a lot of it was when I was a kid/teenager in the 1980's and 1990's....and they didn't win then, but I still liked the game...because it was a GAME. Add to that that the team started playing better....and finally, I realized I enjoyed watching the game, I enjoyed watching OTHER NHL games besides the Sabres, when my main only concern wasn't if the Sabres make the playoffs this year..and rather started to think of each game as nightly entertainment. And with the team playing better, I'm able to find more things about the team that I like. So I'm certainly not 'excited', and yes, we have been burned before by thinking good play at the end of one season will carry over to the next, but i'm not letting that get in the way of enjoying certain things I see now.

Maybe I need to stop complaining? Maybe YOU need to comprehend a point of view other than your own? I guess that is too big of a problem for you though. It has zero to do with having the right to be angry about the team missing the playoffs again...Again, you just dont get it, do you even read anything I post. I'm complaning about people taking shots at posts that I (and others) have simply becuase we say something good about the team. We get 'eyeroll' emojis and smart comments made to us because we aren't on the 'everything is bad, blow everything up' train. The "book" I wrote was intened exactly for people like you, the ones who haven't read many of our other posts or simply do not have the ability to 'read between the lines' so I thought I would spell it out. Guess that doesn't even work. Yes, I am talking about other people's posts right now...but I want to know, why do SO many other people take offense to a postive post about this team? Until someone makes a smart comment back to me, I hardly ever, maybe NEVER disagree with someone who is negative in any way (initial response/post) other than saying something like "I disagree with you and here is why" or something like that. Why are the negtative people on this forum just so eager to take it as a challenge, or a persona afront that they must address with what they think is a 'smart' or 'clever' respons, if not outright anger? I might be doing that not because of how this converstation is going, but that is not how I operate on this forum when discussing topics....until the time (and it almost always happens) that someone responds to one of my posts that way because me (or some others) DARED to say we are happy with aspects of this team. You don't want me to 'write a book' or you want to tell me to stop complaining...well, too bad. Those are the types of comments that people make to me that will give me all the more reason to do it. Want to have a rational discussion of where we disagree, fine, but come across as dismissive or make comments like that, and I'm going to respond back (providing I'm not busy with something else in life, which happens)

Goaltending maybe. I think the guys they have for options in net are a couple steps behind the other teams. All you need is to have a goaltender who is not at the top of his game mis-handle one or two shots, and that can be enough. There is no Patrick Roy, Marin Broduer, Roberto Luongo, Marc Andrey Fleury, Carey Price back there. Canada usually had the best 'roster' but they also usually had one of those guys between the pipes....not this time. Don't get me wrong, I think they are the favorite, just its an issue they usually don't have.

I don't want this team to lose, but I agree with most of what you said. There are just so many people on this board that want to complain. If one of us chooses to be positive, chooses to look at things in a positive matter, its like we become the enemy, like we are stading in the way somehow of heads starting to roll and that just can't happen so shout us down! Those of us who are postive on the direction of the team right now...maybe we are wrong about it and this team will have a change and get better because of it. But then again maybe not. But to all the negative people out there who have made up their minds and are just going to complain about everything...well, we all KNOW they have never been wrong about anything on this forum, right? That must be why they get so offended they feel the need to respond to so many posts some of us make that are positive and not challenging anyone else other than saying things we like about being fans of this team. Look, I THOUGHT this team was going to challenge for a playoff spot and probably get one this season when we were talking about it, but I did not think it was guaranteed at all. They started out bad, but for the last few months (since January 1) I have LIKED watching this team. I think the team Defense has gotten a LOT better. They have a winning record since then. They have hardly had a game they haven't been in late in the game. They have a lot of big wins. So No, I am not happy with the beginning of the season, but I think 3+ months of them playing MUCH better is not a small sample size. I LIKE that direction since then, I think it might be sustainable, and I'm looking forward to the team, in the offseason, supplementing what they have had for the last 3 months. Like the Vancouver game. They lost. They didn't play well. But they were on the road. West coast. 2nd night of a back-to-back. They were within one goa the entire game. Against one of the best teams in the league. After playing a great game the day before. They lost, but guess what, in the big picture, I'm not all that upset about it. Why? To me as a fan its not the end of the world if a team loses a game like that. But the amount of venom, hate, vitriol on this forum during and after that game...thats just not me. My life doesn't revolve around the success of this team, they are entertainment. If I watch a game and they win, I like that. And since the beginning of this calendar year, they have won more than they lost so I like that. I also think with most of this current team, and the current GM/coach, that is likely to continue into next year, and I like the thought of that possibility. If that is offensive to so many people, then too bad, I don't care I'm going to keep posting about it unless/until they get a LOT worse over a long stretch again.

Nope, not at all. It is laughable how much you "don't get it" that it is almost funny that you make a post back to me that way. It is amazing to me that some of us have a differnent opinion and state it, and how many comments back those of us who are optimisitic about this team get like the one you posted...do all of you negative people have such a fragile ego that you need a mental victory lap that bad that you need to make smart comments back instead of actually debating the topic? I guess so. So you are another one just making a point because you want to without regard to reading or understanding my posts. Lots of that going on around here lately. Adams wasn't here for the last 13 years, Neither was Granato, not the players either. RIGHT NOW I am happy with the franchise's direction. What happened 13 years ago has basically zero to do with how they are performing now/their direction now. For an emotional, irrantional fan, I guess it could be. But the decisions being made now don't have much carryover from what happened 13 years ago.

The Hockey 4-nation tournament is now less than a year away. Canada. Sweden. USA. Finland. As with most international tournaments, it appears Canada will be favorites to win. I was just thinking, what are the likely lineups, and who has the best chance of beating Canada? From what I can think of myself and read around the news, it looks like the teams will be mostly: Canada: Forwards: McDavid, MacKinnon, Crosby, Marner, Bedard, Point, Marchand, Barzal, Stone, Reinhart, Thomas, Marchand, Stamkos. Defense: Makar, Morrissey, Toews, Dobson, Bouchard, Dunn Goal: Skinner, Hill. USA: Forwards: Matthews, Tkachuk, Tkachuk, Eichel, J Hughes, Larkin, Tage, Connor, Robertson, JT Miller, Keller, Debrincat, Boeser. Defense: Huges, McAvoy, Fox, Werenski, Trouba, Slavin Goal: Hellebuyck, Demko or Swayman Sweden: Forwards: Backlund, Pettersson, Lindholm, Forsberg, Carlsson, Nylander, Backlund, Bratt, Eriksson Ek, Landeskog, Kempe, Zibanejad, L. Raymond Defense: Hedman, Dahlin, Karlsson, Eckholm, Anderson, Lindholm Goal: Ulmark, Gustavson Finland: Forwards: S Aho, Barkov, Rantanen, Granlund, Hintz, Teravainen, Haula, Tolvanen, Lundell, Kotkaneimi, Lehkonen, Luostarinen Defense: Heiskanen, Lindell, Risto, Jokijarju, Mikkola, Hakanpaa Goal: Saros, Raanta, or UPL Would anyone think any changes would be made from the above? Also, I would rank them Canada #1, USA #2, Sweden #3, Finland #4. What are the odds that anyone knocks off Canada though?

So you are the judge on objectivity? I think this D-unit is highly talented but the youngest in the league by far and I feel they will get better with more expereience. I think Tage is going to bounce back next year, he hurt his wrist, and Matthews had a similar injury and has his production drop about 30% the year he played through it. Since the beginning of the year, it is obvious to me the team is playing a different style in their own zone, in over 30 games they have a winning record and even in their losses, 90% of them have been close. So you may not agree with me, but to say that I dont' have any objectivity at all? That is YOU not being objective. Seeing the team is playing better over the course of almost a half season is being objective. Understanding that a Defensive group who's top 4 is by far the youngest and most inexpereienced in the league and realizing that is being objective. Saying "enough is enough" and just being negative and wanting coahes and GM's fired because you ran out of patience? Not objective, that is more of an "Agenda". I refuse at this point to be that way. Next December, if they are still floundering out of the playoffs, sure I will likely be there then, but not now. I'm choosing to be 'objective' in that I realize the only way to improve is not changing who the players and coaches are, but to understand your existing players and coaches can improve.

I guess I should not have said "literally guarantees" and instead said 'mostly guarantees' as the vast majority of D-men and D-units are better when they are older than what the Sabres unit is. MOST guys have their best years, MOST teams have the best D-unit play when their age/average age isn't under 23 years of age. Still doesn't change my opinion of the team. I LIKE Adams playing the long game. I do not want to do anything too risky to upset that (yeah, I would be open to trading some prospects for a vet, but not just any vet and certainly not many of the names being floated around here). I also am oveall happy with Granato at coach. If there are those around here that just want to be negative about the team, the coach, and the GM I guess that is going to happen. I'm not there.

Yeah, I know that is the prevailing opinion around here, I just don't agree. I don't care if no other team would agree with it, if I think things are going in the correct direction I don't give a you-know-what about what other teams would do. As far as staying the course being acceptance of failure? Yeah, sounds good, but guess what, with the youngest team, staying the course almost LITERALLY means the team is getting better with age and experience.