mjd1001

I don't consider the entire last season a small sample size. Plus as I said, a lot of the goals allowed last year were a DIRECT result of Cozens chasing. Its not like you look at a goal allowed and say "2 guys could have done something different". Its been more like "Wow, what the heck is Cozens doing". Again, it wasn't one or two times last year. I posted PK threads (some with pictures) probably 5-10 times or more last season with Cozens doing things that obvious. And the numbers you posted are different than mine. First, the eye test shows (with video to back it up) what I am saying. 2nd, actually goals allowed per 60, Cozens is not the 2nd best among forwards. Depending on how far back you go, he's the 2nd worst or the worst (if you want to talk about Sample size, his numbers for PP goals against allowed per 60 is almost 10. More than Tuch, and 30-50% more than Greenway and Tage.

sloppy point play so far on the pp Power and Byram look like the 2 best Sabres on the ice so far.

Didn't miss much so far...possibly the worst 20 minutes of hockey to watch that had 2 goals scored in it. Sloppy, nothing creative, no great saves, not much hitting when you take out the Columbus-on-Benson hits.

1st period, the Forwards look dis-interested. Not much hitting, no playmaking. Byram and Power both look more comfortable handling the puck than they did last year though. Its only on a couple of shots, but Levi giving up some rebounds.

And Benson hammered again. Teams are targeting him intentionally, or he needs to avoid contact better. He has been hammered by C-bus players 3 times so far just in the 1st period, going down to the ice on 2 of them. He's like 5'9 and 155-160 right? Its great he wants to play the physical game, but he is taking a beating. Get hit too often and knocked to the ice by the 6'1-6'2, , 210+ lb guys and its going to eventually be a problem.

Benson hit pretty hard 2 times in about 30 seconds and went down to the ice. Its great he doesn't shy away from contact, but with his size he needs to learn how to avoid some of those hits when they are directed at him.

For 2 goals being scored and the first period isn't even over, this is a pretty boring and uneventful game so far, on both sides.

I'm trying to see if the Power play is a lot different than last year, but I'm only 1/2 watching because I have other things going on with my computer besides the game, I can't really tell yet.

Maybe its just going to come at right at puck drop for the play-by-play? If its a techinical issue....c'mon, its 2024, not 2014. The team should be able to get a live stream done the correct way. And there it goes, I have sound now finally.

I think Benson might be good there. He plays the game without many mistakes. He seems to be very coachable. He'll play physical when needed, but he's not a huge guy to bang on the boards all the time. I think he'd learn where he needs to be and would be there. I'm not saying he would be great there, but as you said I'd like to see him with a chance at center.

I've got the game feed from Sabres.com, they just showed the intro video but I had no sound. I have sound on other sites, I checked and the sound on the page wasn't muted and was turned up. Anyone else with the same issue so far?

I'm not sure what kind of impression he wants to make. As per my other analogy, that is like a CB in football being told the a certain play is a zone Defense, and he decides to just ignore that, the rest of the team continues to play zone and he just chases the ball around the field leaving his zone wide open? I mean, that is exactly what he did. Unless he really wants Lindy to think negatively of him I cannot imagine what kind of impression he is trying to make (if you haven't yet, watch the replay of the goal and focus on Cozens, it really is that bad) My whole point is it isn't an over-reaction when he did this pretty much all last year. Maybe he got a bit better at the end of last season, but the clips of him way out of position I posted, that happened many times with him last year. Preseason game one could be an over-reaction. But when a player has a problem with a certain aspect of their game that is a major problem, and the very first chance they have they show it again in a big way, its worth taking note of.

I thought Thompson did pretty good on the PK. When he was paired with Greenway out there, I thought they were excellent as the 2 forwards. But, as you said, he's your #1 scorer, don't put him out there where he can/will be taking shots into himself.

I agree 100%, and I know a few of you are sick of me saying it. Cozens wants to go to the corners, he wants to bang along the walls, he wants to chase the puck. Cozens does not want to to be in the defensive zone and 'hang out in the slot' to make sure someone from the other team doesn't 'step into' that area. To equate it to football, Cozens is not good at, nor does he want to play zone defense. He wants to get in the WR's face and play a very physical bump and run coverage. I need that player at wing. I do not need, nor want, that player at center.

Yes, it is, but in the first period of the first preseason game under the new coach, I would hope we wouldn't have somebody do something egregious as that, especially when the other three players seem to be holding their position. The main reason I brought this up is that last year, I posted many threads similar to this with the exact same thing. The sabres gave up a power play goal or they gave up a goal where the opposition was cycling the puck in their own end and everyone did what they were supposed to do except Cozens He was all over the ice... And Cozens left his spot wide open and a goal was scored from there. If it happens once or twice, okay mistakes are made. But it happens so often. 10 to 15 times per season. And it's always him. And it never changes. I guess for the team's sake, just don't play him in those situations and you'll be fine. But the thing that's troubling for me, is why is he not changing his game? It's something that someone in Peewee hockey should learn... Stay in your position. When you get out of position, opportunities are given up and goals are scored against us. Just stay in your position like all of your teammates are doing every shift. It's not a little error, it's not being out of position by 1 to 2 ft... It's basically everyone being where they're supposed to be and Cozens going 100% rogue like he's playing NHL 25 with his friends on PS5 or Xbox.

Peterka just looks too good putting the puck in the net to say he won't have the best season. He isn't a liability on defense, he almost scored 30 last year, and in his first appearance this year he scored 3. Its just hard to say either of the other 2 guys will be better than that.

Hopefully. Last year Cozens got the 2nd most minutes penalty killing under Granato, and he was on the first pk unit at the start of the game yesterday under Ruff. Maybe once the full lineup is playing, those guys will be on the ice instead. Last year, the top 6 guys in terms of Short handed time on ice per game played among forwards were Greenway, Tuch, Cozens, Quinn, Zemgus and Tage. Of those 6, Cozens was on the ice for the most goals allowed per 60 minutes (9.06). The 2nd worst was Greenway at 6.48. The 'eye test' watching him way out of position leads one to think he is the worst on the team at penalty killing. The stats back up that he is the worst on the team at penalty killing (by quite a bit). As you said, I hope those other guys are on the PK, but seeing Cozens out there right away in preseason game one, and seeing just how bad he did is something that was noticeable and I didn't like.

I have a hard time evaluating Benson. He has played better than I thought he would and obviously his coaches like him a lot. I DO see he is rarely out of position which is good, but I do not see speed or a big shot (or even accurate one), so I have a tendency to still think he is a 'high floor' but 'lower ceiling' guy. Hopefully I'll be proved wrong. The simple fact he made the team last year at 18 and was praised by both Granato and Ruff is a good sign.

If you watched the replay, even equating what Quinn does to what Cozens did is just WAY off base. Quinn is staying in close to his position. Please show me where Quinn chased a guy up high and totally opened up a wide area of the ice that the opposing team took advantage of. I'd like to think Lindy didn't give Cozens free authority to go all the way across the ice, all the way to the blue line, then crosses both Quinn and the D-man down low, gets stuck in the corner across the ice from where he is supposed to be, and then the shot leading to the goal being scored is taken from the spot on the ice that is now 100% vacated by him. I don't have a problem with Cozens pressuring a guy up high if its the right time. I do have a problem with him chasing the puck all around the ice, while his teammates stay in position, attempting to cover for him until its just too much to do. Quinn did nothing even close to being out of position as Cozens, are you even watching the same goal? There is a difference between chasing a defender up high..and what Cozens did. Cozens chases the defender a LOT higher, goes all they way across the ice, then goes all the way into the corner. What Cozens did wrong isn't even close to what Quinn did.

Finally 1 second before the goal was scored. Quinn is up high but trying to defend 2 people up high. The D-man down low has to kinda play half way between both guys on the near side. Cozens has been out of position for the last few seconds, the D-man has to make a choice, drop down low to cover the guy near the crease, leaving the shooter WIDE open and can basically sit there with all the time in the world analyzing the situation.....OR...he can take cozens spot and challenge the shooter, leaving the guy down low wide open. Cozens leaves the D-man in a no-win situation, and the area he vacated was where the goal came from. If Cozens was where he was supposed to be, the guy taking the shot wouldn't have so much space and so much time AND the guy who tips the puck in could be covered better by the D-man on that side. He did this ALL last year, he was a disaster on the PK. He got slightly better, but this happens with him time and time again. How can the coaches not see this and not correct it? and if he refuses to learn why is he out there? I get it, but my bigger issue is why Cozens doesn't learn. He is used out there pretty frequently, last year and the year before, and he does this all the time. How can he not figure out that he is the single biggest detriment to the Sabres PK and he keeps on doing it? BTW, he also does this even strength. When the Sabres get pinned in their own zone, he will start chasing the puck all over the ice like a dog chasing a squirrel. Often times goals are scored because of his lack of discipline that way. Now the 2nd half of last year he got better, but its just a little discouraging to see him so blatantly go back to bad habits less than 5 minutes into the first preseason game.

about 2 seconds before the goal was scored: Now Cozens is way out of the play, he tries to get back over to his slot but he has zero chance.

I watched the replays of the goals, and the same thing I don't like about Cozens happened again, he just doesn't learn. Last year we talked about, and I posted some pictures/videos that showed the Sabres PK was actually really good WHEN guys held position in the traditional PK box. It caused the other team to pass the puck around the perimeter, but they basically didn't allow many good scoring chances. When the Sabres got in trouble on the PK last year, it was mostly when they lost discipline. When they started chasing the puck. And the #1 offender of doing that and allowing goals was Cozens. Some things just don't change. Look at the replay of the first goal allowed last night and watch Cozens. About 4 seconds before the goal was scored, Cozens takes himself out of position, on the wrong side of the ice near the blue line. You can already see the #41 on the penguins wide open, as Cozens 'chased'. That was the guy that took the wide open shot that was deflected in as a goal. about 3 seconds before the goal was scored: -Cozens went from being out of position up high, to chasing the puck into the corner WAY down low, had zero chance of getting it and totally took himself out of the play. You can see #41 is wide open, waiting for the clear pass that he turns into the shot that eventually went in

Tage I truly believe was hampered by his injury last year. He didn't have just 'one' career year shooting at 15%, he did it both years since he was made a center, only last year with his injury was he lower. And guess what? As the year went on and he got further away from that injury (healed later in the year) he finished up the last 2 months shooting at almost 17%. 2 years at over 15%, an injury bringing it down (that is what I'm going with) and toward the end of the injured year back above 16%. I'm betting without a major injury, Tage is at least at 15%, with close to 300 shots give you a 40-50 goal scorer. Cozens, This year we will see, I guess, if he is a 16-22 goal guy, or a 30-35 goal guy like he played as 2 years ago. Quinn, if he plays a full season, can he be a 30 goal guy? Peterka we already think of as 'almost' a 30 goal guy' (he ad 28 in his 2nd year). ANY improvement gets him over 30. Tuch, he was almost a 40 goal guy 2 years ago (36 goals with a handful of missed games). I personally thin of all the players above, THAT was his career year and will be hard to repeat, but with him and Tage healthy, maybe? Every one of those players has a realistic potential to be 30-40 goal guys, Tage closer to 50. Will they all do it? Well, if they don't this team is struggling to make the playoffs. If more of them do than don't, this IS a playoff team.

Its possible, but his drop-off in goals last year doesn't seem to him playing a 'different style'. When you look at basic-to-mid metrics, he played pretty much the same game (in the offensive zone) as the year before, by the numbers. To me it looks like the only thing different is he simply did not convert on his chances last year: -2.6 shots per game the year before, 2.54 shots per game last year. Nearly identical in terms of how many shots he took. -Even more telling is if you look at where he took those shots from, the chart is very, very close for each year. (Shot chart attached below). He took a small number of shots less from directly in front of the net and a bit more from farther out, but not enough to make a huge difference). -I didn't attach the shooting percentage charts, but if you look at them, again, its not so much where he took the shots from but his rate of converting. From the 'high danger' chances in front of the net between the circles and up to the circles 2 years ago he had 68 shots and 13 goals (over 19% shooting percentage from that area). Last year he had 5 goals on 54 shots (9.3% shooting percentage, less than half the previous year) from the high danger areas. Close to the same shots/opportunities from the same spots on the ice, he just didn't convert for some reason. -On NHL edge, his top skating speed is almost identical. The average length he carried the puck is very close. Even his metrics that are different aren't VERY different. I haven't looked deep into the super-mega advance stats, but from his 'regular' stats, to some of the mid level ones, he played the same game, with close to the same opportunities over the past 2 seasons. The only thing that changes in a big way was his shooting percentage. Basically, the reason for his drop-off in production was primarily he how well he finished when taking the shot. The opportunities and positions were almost the same.

I really would like Kulich to play so well in camp he forces himself on the team, so we can actually get a better answer to this.