mjd1001

I won't go into the details because I dont' know them, but I saw someone posted VO's analytics and it was brought up by many people that only shows part of the picture. The truth still remains....Cozens has made SOME mistakes, again as I cited, that Cost the sabres at least one goal and a few opportunities. VO hasn't. As far as your analytics in the offensive zone...they don't mean a thing when his 6 goals trump Cozens 2 (to this point). The analytics you site MAY have an impact on future production, but as of this moment, current production AND mistakes causing goals...VO is WAY ahead of Coznes. Truth. you may not like it, but to this point it is simply true.

Please, cite me the multiple poor plays by VO so far this year that cost the Sabres....I'll be waiting. I CAN cite you a few plays by Cozens where it cost the Sabres at least one goal and a few great scoring chances. Just because you WANT to beleive that Cozens is playing better, and he might have the POTENTIAL to be a better 2 way player....it doesn't make it true so far this year.

I disagree. Cozens is good and he can turn into a very great player. But there are games where he simply is not great all the time. Don't confuse 'full speed effort' with a good game. I posted a couple games ago that a goal allowed by the Sabres was primarily because of Cozens chasing the puck too hard instead of playing his position. Another play I brought up was a Risto-style play where he actually went to make a hit that wasn't needed and took himself out of the play leading to a great breakout. Do I think he is a bad player? No not at all, but there are certainly games where Mitts and VO are more valuable on a game by game basis than Cozens is. VO doesn't give the full speed ahead/physical style of play and at times you don't notice him. But he has 6 goals in 8 games. 2 PP goals (when the Sabres PP was struggling), 2 even strength, 2 empty net (one of which is important to seal the win) and an over time winner. MORE IMPORTANTLY, I have watched replays of just about every single goal the Sabres allowed (with the exception of one last night) and he was not out of position or even partially responsible for any of them. Basically, he isn't hurting them in his own zone. Lead the team in goals, have some game winners, drive the PP production, and dont' hurt your team in your own zone...and I'd say at this point in the season he is one of your most valuable players so far.

As per my previous post, I agree with almost everything you say. There is so much they can do pretty easily. -How about opening the doors to the Arena earlier...keeping that entire atrium open for fans to mingle at. 2 hours before the game, maybe have a band playing. Bing in the games for the kids (shooting the puck, other stuff). sell food and drink ad a REDUCED (but still profitible rate)..Maybe bring in open vendors and before the game have them sell their food there instead of standard concessions. EVERY game have an alumni or maybe even a current player make an appearance/sign autographs. Put up a big projection screen there and show your 'beyond blue and gold', 'sabres embedded' or highlights of the season so far on it. Have Marty Biron, Duff, and/or Rob Ray mingle before the pre-game show its the air. Sure, that won't make the 'in game' experience better, but give peopel MORE Of a reason to show up at the game, to show up early with something to do. Maybe some of those are bad idea, but do something like that, something bigger than what you do now.

I agree that those charts only tell so much of the story. As far as scoring, with Olofsson you have to just take he is going to be one of the streakiest scorers you have ever seen. His skillset and history point to that. As far as their gameplay, Olofsson has been invisible defensively from what I have seen, and to me for HIM that is a good thing. Mitts has been on the ice for some goals against, but when I looked at the replay of those goals, he has NOT been the one out of position, it is often been his linemates making the mistake, not him. Scoring and points are one side of the equation for sure with both of them. But in terms of effort and forechecking and D-zone positioning, both of them are a fraction of the problem that Krebs has been all year, and to a lesser extent Cozens (due to being overly agressive), Peterka (losing battles on the boards) and even KO and Tuch (out of position) have been.

I don't know if it is still true or not, but a couple years ago there was an article about concession prices and it had Buffalo listed in the top 5 most expensive. I also think that is a bigger issue than most think. In terms of total numbers, the cost of 2 beers, or a soft drink and a pretzel and a hot dog....that isn't anywhere near as much as the ticket prices. BUT, mentally its a big thing. You pay for parking, you pay for the tickets, then when you go to the concession stand and pay $20 for something that would cost you $5 at home....that give fans that "What am I doing here paying this much for this" moment. Seriously correct me if I'm wrong on this: I remember Terry Pegula saying the Sabres didn't really want to raise ticket prices, they understood the Buffalo market, but they had to because in order to get revenue sharing, that was part of the deal with the NHL. HOWEVER, concessions are not part of that. Having concession prices SO high is a totally different issue that I don't think needs to exist.

Winning consistently is the easiest way, I agree with that. But.... I think some of this has to be on the Arena, and the experience there. I'll try to pre-empt some responses by saying I know the game is the biggest thing, among hard core hockey fans is likely the only thing, and year sand years ago the experience at buildings like the Aud or boston garden or MLG was a lot worse and less comfortable than it is at the current arena, I get that but.... The Arena and the experience there matters today. You don't get 20,000 hard core hockey fans at games that only care about the games anymore. A winning product helps, sure. But today, people want nice things to look at, they want to go to new buildings, they want to see different things in their environment. Like it or not, new arenas typically get sold out for years regardless of how the team is. One of those new, fancy movie theaters opens up where they serve you food at your seat and give you blankets and pillows and they are popular for a while regardless of the movies. Not only does Buffalo not have a 'new' arena, but they don't seem to care about the game-day experience and the arena is in pretty bad shape. I have been to a bunch of arenas over the past 6-8 years (whether for a hockey game, and event or whatever reason) and even among the ones built the at the same time as the Key Bank Center, the KBC is a lot behind them. Chicago, Toronto, Boston, Philly, Montreal, Nashville....all were built about the same time (or are older), most have already undergone MAJOR renovations....and I have been to most of them (or at least walked by all of them) and they all blow away the key bank center. Forget about bringing up the brand new places like in Detroit, they are so nice you can go there just for the arena and have a good time walkign around regardless of the game. So I get it. The team needs to be better for long. If this team becomes a 100 point team and makes playoff runs, I think the Key Bank Center will be sold or (or very close to it) for most games. That is the easiest way to fix attendance. But if anyone hasn't been out of town to one of the new arenas around the league, or even to a game at one of the older ones that has been renovated, try it a couple times. There is a huge, massive gap in the gameday experience compared to what you get in Buffalo.

I'm not sure this team needs to spend much to aquire another D-man for now, other than for depth. Have the guys on the back end played perfectly? of course not. Do you want your 3rd pair guys (Bryson, Fitz) to be better at getting the puck out of the zone? Sure. And you want depth because if you have one more injury back there then you are in real trouble. But, watching every game this year and going back and looking at all the goals allowed, none of the D-men, even the guys at the back end of the rotation, have really played that poorly in ways that have cost this team goals. Bad luck/bounces, forwards being out of position, young guys (Krebs and Peterka) losing battles on the boards and giveaways by them...those are the things that have led to most of the goals against. I'd say Forward play and positioning in the D-zone is a much, MUCH larger issue in terms of the goals allowed compared to what the D-men have caused. You want to play the young guys up front, you are going to have to put up with them making mistakes until they learn positioning better or learn how to battle on the boards better in their own zone. Getting another Depth D-man will not fix that. I've said it in other threads, but Dahlin has hardly ever been out of position. Power is a bit slow to react sometimes but he isn't awful. Lyubuskin has been an absolute rock in terms of his positioning. And the young guys haven't made terrible positioning mistakes. The back end is holding up pretty well compared to the Forwards.

Again I watched the game and didn't get a chance to look at all the goals until this morning, some thoughts on the goals allowed: 1st MTL goal: Bad luck, off of Power's skate, can't see a direct breakdown. If you are looking for something that went wrong there, It would be 80% Peterka and 20% Cozens. Puck went to the boards, and Peterka couldn't control it or clear it (the lack of a play he made was similar to the battle Krebs lost that caused the first goal of the season). Cozens was skating toward that battle, but he turned away at the last minute. Peterka is playing great so far this year, but him and Krebs are losing battles on the boards that are causing goals against/scoring opportunities against. There are always small breakdown on every play, you can point to 5 or more things that cause a goal against if you go back far enough, but the young wingers losing battles on the boards (again, mostly Krebs and Peterka) are becoming a bigger issue. 2nd MTL goal: This looks to possibly be on positioning Tuch, MAYBE a little on Power. 1 MTL player in front of the net and he was covered by both Sabres D-men. Dahline collapsed to the middle of the ice when the puck went to the left (Power's side) so maybe Power could have came out from the net quicker than he did. The bigger issue was one of the Forwards needs to come out to cover that D-man on the shot and it looked to be on Tuch's side. Even though the front of the net was covered by both D...all 3 of the forwards were drifting lower in the zone, AND they were all covering the center of the ice. I have no idea why the wingers were bunched up so close to the center, all 3 forwards at times were touching each other and running into each other. Those wingers have to spread out to the wings more, so this one appears to be on Tuch. (BTW, if you look at the entire replay, it looks like Tage is playing the Defensive zone right side, with Mitts as the center, and Tuch on the left. So while the goal happened on Tuch's side, Tage drifted to the center of the ice when he probably should have been a bit more to the right. Mitts looked to be the only forward in the correct position at the time of the goal.) This is really a complex goal. In Tuch's defense, he needed to shadow Savard to not allow him a wide open shot. So that might be why he stayed in the center, taking away an open shot...So maybe Tuch had to make a decision, to cover the puck or cover his side. That would normally be Mitts guy, but Mitts was tied up with another forward crashing toward the center of the net. I still want Tuch a little farther to the outside. That is where you would maybe HOPE when Dahlin came to the front of the net to cover that area, Power could have gone out farther to at least pressure the shot by Guhle. All in all, it was good puck movement by Montreal, the best way to prevent that goal was if the Sabres got the puck out of the zone quicker. 3rd MTL goal: This one again might be Tuch. I don't know how long that line was on the ice, but it was the Tuch-Tage line again that was too far down low (almost like the forwards don't trust the defense and are going to deep in the zone to support the defense). Skinner actually plays his side well. When the puck goes back to the MTL D-man on his side, he skates out there very quickly to put pressure on the guy. But when he flips the puck over to the other side (Tuch's side), Tuch is very deep in the zone and he never even gets close to the shooter. I'm not quite sure why, but Tuch always goes back deep into the D-zone, but the bigger issue is when the opposing team gains control, he wants to defend in the middle of the ice (not his side) and he tends to collapse toward the net, and not get out to his wing to challenge the shooter. I haven't seen that from him where it caused a problem in any game before tonight, but it was a primary factor in 2 of the Montreal goals last night.

Everyone is so down on the Canucks. If they don't decide to blow it up, I think they can still turn this around. They have lost a lot of close games to a lot of good teams on a lot of bad bounces/breaks. It would not surprise me that this team, if they don't blow things up, I can see them turning things around and making a run toward the playoffs.

4 games against each division opponent (as long as you are keeping the hybrid division playoff format) 2 games (one home, one away) vs every other team, regardless of conference. 76 games per season.

One of the top things I want in Buffalo sports is for the Arena to be a lot more filled up for home Sabres games. I, however, rarely go to a game myself so I can't complain that loudly about it.

Its not always the cashier, it is the customer. Not to go out of my way to pick on 'older people' (I'm in the middle but closer to being eligible for AARP than I am the age of a typical college student), but when I do use regular chekouts and am behind someone 65 or older....I see that those customers typically take the cashier saying 'have a nice day' as an invitation to a much longer converstation.

I was in Home Depot earlier this week. Line of people waiting to checkout, 4 self checkouts open, ZERO regular checkouts. I'm one that normally uses the self checkout so it wasn't an issue for me using it, but when the line got long and there were no other cashiers able to open the wait time got long. Add to that this isn't a grocery store, some people were buying huge sheets of plywood and someone else a lot of piping and they didn't know where to scan things. At one point all 4 registers that were open had customers who got stuck and needed help from the employee, so at that poing ZERO was going on until help arrived. And yes, I did look at the pro checkout at the end of the store, but there was someone making a huge purchase there. Self checkouts are great for a lot of people, but if you are going to have zero regular checkouts open, you need more than 4 self checkouts in your entire store. On a related note, how about other store (tops, wegmans, walmart) have 1 or 2 self checkouts dedicated to express only orders. It can be frustrating to have 1 or 2 things to purchase, have one of those stores have 10 or more self checkouts, and have ALL of them filled with people with full orders.

I'm fine with him. It is early. he went 3 games without a goal, then had one, and now has gone 2 games. Streaky scorer, it happens. Last season, he had 2(two) 4 game goal-less streaks, 2 6(six) game goal-less streaks, and a TEN game goal less streak. After about 15 games if he has a total of less than 4-5 goals I'll be concerned then. I will slightly disagree with you on one thing...it was every game where he looked good even if he didn't score. He did have periods of a couple games even last yer where he was totally invisible...but most of us let it slide because by then he already had some goals under his belt for the year. What I DO see form him is he is lost in his own end. Its like he still hasn't figured out where he needs to be or what he shoudl be doing in the D-zone.....BUT...that is the same thing I saw last year. He has to get better in the D-zone by a LOT but thats the same as last season also. With his extension though, it is something to keep an eye on. I'm not worried, but I COULD be in a month or so.

Cozens will get better, but sometimes he needs to know/learn when to go all out and when to coast. I want the quality in a player who gives full effort, but at the moment he occasionally gets out of positin because of it. A good example was the first goal against last night. He was the deepest in the Offensive zone so he was the last one coming back into the D-zone right before the goal was scored. He was in the center of the ice, and both D-men and wingers were down low in the Buffalo D-zone right before the goal was scored. He had full visibility of where all of his teammates were, decided to skate down low into the play himself, leaving the center of the ice wide open where the goal was scored from. Again, he WANTS to be in the play and that is great, but if he just held up a bit and filled the center of the ice (which I assume is where he should have been), he very well might have broken up or prevented the goal from being scored. Cozens, Krebs, and Peterka all should be very good players. Peterka needs experience playing with his teammate and knowing where to be. Krebs is slower and doesn't win many battles on the boards so he has to learn how to cover for those physical deficiencies. Cozens? he knows the positioning of the game by now..he has good speed and wins battles, he just needs to learn to sometimes 'let up a bit' and not go 100% all the time.

I honestly didn't think the D played THAT awful last night. I posted a lot of this in another thread, but Seattle had 2 goals that the D-had nothing to do with (one great pass and one lucky boune off of a stick). A third was the deflection of Hinostrozas pass right to the front of the net. A 4th goal was more a result of the wingers pinching in 2 deep, and then Cozens going in deep leaving NO ONE to cover the shooter (D-played positionally well there, it was the wingers and Cozens out of position mostly Cozens) Power was out of position a lot, but I dont' think those were mistakes but rather he needs a little more experience with the NHL game. Pilut, Fitzgerald, and Bryson need to win more battles and be less sloppy with the puck, but they didn't really make any mistakes the caused goals against.

I watched most of the game last night, but didn't get a chance to re-watch the goals again until this morning: 1st Seattle goal. The whole team was a mess here. Pilut I don't think made a bad play, he came out to challenge the shooter but didn't make it there in time but instead of blaming him, I think he made the best play. When the Shooter comes in from the Blue line, I don't want my D-men to have to challenge then, that is where the forwards should be. Peterka didn't seem like he knew where to be. Cozens may have been the most out of position here. Cozens was the last player back into the D-zone, and when he arrived the Sabres already had 4 players deep near the goal line (both D-mean and both wingers) but Cozens kept going toward the goal leaving the whole center of the ice open. 2nd Seattle goal. Girgensons made a valiant efford to get back, but this is on the D-men. Both Power and Bryson were in the offensive zone when Seattle got the puck and neither was able to get back in time. It was a great pass from Seattle, but the Sabres had the 4th line out there. That Okposo-Girgs line forchecks deep and hard, the D-men have to know when they are out there, they can't both get caught flat-footed in the offensive zone. 3rd Seattle goal. Just some bad luck here. Hinostroza exiting the zone and throws the puck toward the middle, goes off a skate and right onto the stick of the Seattle player in front of the net. Maybe you hope Hinostroza doesn't just throw the puck to the center like he did, but honestly a dozen other players make that exact same play every game without this happening. 4th Seattle goal. Good pass and great shot. However, this one is on Thompson, him and Girgensons were basically occupying he center of the ice in the D-zone, Girgs was working the center-to-right side of the ice, but Thompson was a fixutre just in the center. While Girgs had the Center-right covered, Thompson looked like he should have been on the Center-left, which would have taken away that great pass. Instead as the passes went from one side of the ice to the other, he was just spinning like a top in the middle. 5th Seattle goal. I thought the Sabres played it pretty well, Just good puck movement by Seattle and a good/lucky bounce of of Piluts stick and into the net. Overall, I think Pilut played a better game that people are giving him credit for. He needs to be a bit quicker and less sloppy with getting the puck out of the zone. Lyubushkin: Through most of the games, he is good, really good. Skilled? No, but on all the replays of the goals that he has been on the ice for, he is rarely, if ever, out of position. He isn't making an great offensive plays, but he is solid as a rock in the D-zone. Power, Thompson, and Cozens. Their talent is obvious, but they need more awareness in the D-zone. Thompson just does't seem like he knows where to be in the D-zone. Cozens sometimes 'tries' too hard and wants to be involed in the play where he gets himself out of position. Power, he just needs more time....positioning and who to play will come to him with more experience.

I know Jokiharju isn't always the favorite of people on this board, but I think last night was a good indication of why he is missed. He makes mistakes, he CAN be frustrating at times...but he is skilled (skating, passing) and most of the time he uses that skill to get the puck out of the zone better than the 5-6-7 D-men we are seeing now.

To be fair, the season is a long one, and 'we' got all super-positive over what was about one good week. Take the good with the good, the bad with the bad.

Talented enough at some point to be a 2nd round pick a few year ago, some limited NHL experience, he's been an AHL all star in the past. Obviously not an NHL solution, but should be good enought to not single handedly bring down the team.

They don't matter to you but you are discussing this with a lot of people who do take things from last year...and in my personal opinion rightly so. Are teams different? coaches different? other things different? of course they are. But a lot of things are the same, if a team is 75% the same as the previous year and you can project their play as a team (and as individual players) that it does matter at least some. Its a little closed minded to discuss things with other people on a forum, and your answer to anything they say is something like.....'the point you bring up doesn't matter to ME even though it does matter to you so I'm just going to keep telling you that over and over and over'. Of course you can keep doing that if you want, this is a forum.

I was really, really surprised that the team president hinted at rebuilding Vancouver after the game last night. That situation can easily be turned around. They have been leading, or 'in' every game late. Yes they haven't gotten 'bounces' and that matters, but with one 'bounce' going the right way for them they would likely have a winning record. They looked bad at times against the Sabres last night, but they were in the game, and played without their best D-man, who should be back shortly. They are 4 points, a 2 game winning streak (that can happen in less than a week) out of a tie for 2nd place in their division. Yes, they blew some big leads, but give it a little time before you blow it up. How about giving it a month or so (get to the 1/4 point of the season) and try to FIX the problems you have, give your coaching staff and players a chance to work through it, before you put in everyone's heads you are going to blow everything up.

2 goals the other night, 2 assists last night. He's up to over a point per game this year now. I personally hope this thread keeps going, I think its fun to follow players the Sabres traded away (at least for a couple years) and of course with Eichel's pedigree it makes it even more fun. However, it going to be really easy for those who (still) like him to point to how good he as after 2 goals and 2 assists in 2 games....just as it will be for those who don't like him to point out any multi-game pointless streaks. Its fun though, I get it. In the end, how he will be/should be judged will be on his production over 40 game stretches, maybe full season stretches....and on how he contributes to wins/losses/how far they go in the playoffs. They are still limiting him to a total of about 16-17 minute of ice time per game though, and just a bit over 12.5 minutes even strenght ice time per game. For a player of his talent/stature, that just seems really really low.