mjd1001

I'll watch the conference finals, and there have been some good games this year, but the playoffs haven't been as exciting as I thought. When they started I was thinking...I'm going to LOVE this, there were so many good matchups. And there were/are, just I haven't gotten into the playoffs as deeply as I though. And as far as Vancouver goes, Pettersson was a letdown. I really thought going into this year he was going to take another step and clearly become a top-10 player in the year, but he faded big time down the stretch and, as others have said, didn't help much in the playoffs. Something happened to him in mid February..an injury? Hit 'the wall'. I'm not sure but... Pettersson: -through Feb 15: 28 goals, 44 assists in 55 games (42g, 66a, 108 point pace/82) -Since Feb 16 (including playoffs): 7 goals, 16 assists in 40 games (14g, 33a, 47 point pace/82) That is a major, MAJOR drop in production.

I know people can't stand Marchand and Boston....but to think as fan how great it must have been to watch a team with Bergeron and Marchand on it, through their prime, for the greater part of a decade (lets not forget Chara through some of that time) Only 1 cup for them, but aren't those the type of players that almost EVERY fanbase says they want but never really get?

Carolilna is just a somewhat better version or Toronto...if you are a fan of that organization you have to be frustrated and wonder what else you can do -3rd most wins in the league since Brindamour took over -3 seasons in a row with 110+ points (would have been 4 if you project out the previous shortened season). Their last 4 years were better statistically (in some cases much better) than even the 2005-06-07 Sabres teams. Sure, a lot more fun and Sabres fans would trade their success for ours recently, but you have to wonder...the Hurricanes are still young but what else can they do to get to the cup? The 3rd most successful team in the league (2nd in the conference to Boston, Had Boston's regular seasons stats not been so inflated by last season, Carolina would be above them).

Landscaping people/companies. We live in a community where a landscaping crew comes in and cuts the lawns and trims. When they trim they often scalp so low they kill the grass, and when they cut the lawn they drive so fast that when they make a turn, they dig the grass right out of the lawn and leave marks or entire bare spots. The good news is our community isn't that strict, a few of us have 'opted out' of the service, and we cut my own lawns now. (we have close to 1/2 an acre, so not enough for a riding mower but by hand it takes close to an hour..but I have time, I don't mind it). The Landscaping company is also fine with it, they said simply submit a list of homes for them not to touch and they will abide by it. My complaint is this: -I submitted officially to the community to have me taken off the list of lawns to be cut and it was confirmed. -When they started cutting the lawns a few weeks ago the guy who owns/runs the company showed up and I reminded him. -When the workers that trim came by, they saw me and asked if I was getting the lawn cut, and I told them, no, our house is on the list to be skipped. -I cut the lawn 2 days ago so it is OBVIOUS our lawn is shorter than both of our neighbors already. Yet 20 minutes after confirming to that guy on site AGAIN that we are to be skipped...., the guy on the mower is not only driving through the backyard cutting it, but there is another guy trimming and making a mess of everything he touches. It should not be this hard to get a company and its employees to actually do the most basic, simple things in their job.

To me its done by hopefully the top guys staying healthier and a better Power Play. -A healthy Tage (and him on a slightly better PP) gets you close to 50 (maybe more if everything goes right, 20 more) -Tuch COULD give you anywhere from 5-10 more than this past year. -Cozens hopefully can get back to 25 (5-10 more) -Peterka has a chance or progressing and giving you a handful more (another 2-5 more) -You get 10 more (give or take) more from a healthy Quinn. -5 more from Benson -The D-corp gives you 5-10 more than this past year. Of course if all that did happen it needs to offset (in my opinion) -5, maybe 10 less from Skinner. (I think he is about to hit that 'over 30 year old' wall, hope I'm wrong) -No Mitts (assuming his replacement is less productive) -Dahlin might give you more points, but less goals.

With Okposo, I 'liked' him as a person and 'kinda' as a player, but he was drastically overpayed. As far as leadership, He's respected as a person, he knows how to treat teammates well, but that is about it. In 2021-22 and 22-23, his play was better (on the ice) than many on here were saying (although still not worth his contract), but the last year it fell of dramatically (I'm not talking about just production, I'm talking ability to win battles, ability to keep up with the play, etc.) But the biggest issue with is game, that I never really thought of until this past year, is that he was given credit for being a leader, a 'vet' who knows how to play the game especially in a defensive responsible way, but I don't think that is true. Zemgus I think is a good 4th liner, he skates hard, hes fast, he battles hard on the boards and wins those battles, he plays positionally well.... but Okposo never really was any of that. Many said he was a good 4th liner simply because he was 'experienced' and could put in a few goals from there. but he didn't fit the role at all. In his own end, knowing how to pick up the right guy, playing positionally, I think he was actually bad. We tend to think as a 'veteran' he knows how to do that, but I don't think he ever learned that part of the game. When he was with the Islanders, they weren't the 'lock down' Islanders they are now, he didn't learn or play that game when he was younger there. And of course, I don't think he picked up on much of it under any coach with the Sabres.

I do think that Pegula gives orders from on high and a big push for 'promoting from within' or 'what he is comfortable with' is one of the biggest long term problems with this organization. So many other things that are problem stem from it. With that said, Appert as one of the assistants? I'm OK with it. We'll see how it goes obviously, but I am not going to hate on a move and say it simply is a bad decision because of 'how' it is perceived to have been done.

Too much, because you have to take dollars/cap into consideration. In Thompson you get a guy that over the last 2 years scores goals at a 41 goal pace per 82. He is signed long term for $7.1m per year In Matthews you get a guy who over the last 2 years scores 57 goals per 82. He is signed long term for $13.2m per year (close to double tage) Matthews is clearly the better/more productive player, there isn't much doubt to that. But in a cap league where when you start to compete you are close to that cap, I'm not sure I'd even want that trade with even a little beyond just Tage when you consider the money, and what that extra $6+ million can do for you when you get to that point. I personally think Tage was playing injured this year and next year I think he is back to being a 50 goal scorer, or very close to it. I also think Matthews is getting 60 or more again. I CERTAINLY would not want to make that trade and throw in Cozens. And the 11th pick this year. And 2 additional good prospects. Not even close. (Also keep in mind Matthews does not elevate his play in the playoffs, he is actually LESS productive in the playoffs than the regular season, and there is 8 years of sample size showing that)

Apple's website. Its been like this for years, but if I go there to look at a product and use the mouse wheel to scroll down, that means I saw what I wanted to see and want to, you know, SCROLL DOWN. Yet half the time when you try to scroll down their product page, you actually do scroll down..the other half the time it takes their pictures/animations and, well, animated them, and you have to scroll and scroll and spin that mouse wheel 5 times as much as you should have to just to get to the next part of the page lower.

When looking at his 'relative' underperformance compared to other stars in the league (hes not BAD in the playoffs, he just doesn't elevate), and seeing this over 8 years now.....what you said seems to be the most likely answer.

Matthews is a better player than Marner, but I'd rather have Marner 'for less' than Matthews for more money and more of a return. Matthews makes this Sabres team better for sure, even with a big haul going back to TO. A problem I have with him is he doesn't seem like he is a 'likeable' superstar. I get the sense even from Toronto fans...he's a league MVP, multiple time goal scoring leader, former first overall pick, has made the playoffs just about every year he has been in the league, he's nominated for best defensive forward.....you would think he would be the most popular and most liked player in Toronto sports by a factor of 5....yet for as many people that like him in TO, I get the sense there are a lot that don't. He just doesn't have a connection to the fanbase. I put that more on him and less on the fanbase in Toronto.

Here is a thought for why you DON'T trade the pick. You trade one or two of your other former first round picks and keep this one...why? The age of the pipeline. The guy you draft this year is going to what, 17 or 18? You have Östlund, Kulich, Rosen, and Savoie that are all 20-21 years old...why trade the pick for a guy of that 'talent level' who is 17 but keep all your 20-21 year olds? If it is a choice between the 2, I'd rather move one of the 20-21 year olds...and keep 1 or 2....and also keep the 17 year old...rather than move the 17-18 year old and keep all the 21 year olds. Space things out. You have an excess of prospects that are 20-21...I'd rather move one (or two) of them and keep the 17 year old so if or whenever this team gets good, I have him just about ready to move up to the roster when the core of my team is starting to age. Again, I know you can trade this pick AND a prospect...but I'm saying if you are moving 1 or 2 pieces and that is it, I'd rather move the 20-21 year olds (because you have 3-4 of them)

Its going to be hard to say they should or shouldn't trade the pick because we don't know (and maybe never will) know what the offer is for it. There might be a great offer, there might be garbage. Its hard to say "trade the pick because they need help now, not in a few years" when you don't know the return. This is where you need trust in your GM. Yeah, a lot of people don't, but he is going to be the one that knows what offers you can get for it, and he is the one that will make the decision. If you are shopping it and getting 'subpar' offers in your opinion, then you keep it, you make the pick, you develop the player, and then there is nothing saying you can't trade that 'prospect' (or any other first round pick) anytime after. The thing those who want the pick traded might have going for them is Lindy Ruff, and the hope he has roster input. I'm pretty sure he would rather have a player that can help him NOW than invest in one that MIGHT help in 3-4 years from now.

Could be looking at one in the NHL and the NBA at about the same time.

We live in northern Niagara county, right near Lake Ontario. You can see downtown Toronto clearly across the lake, and even coming down the hill Toward Lewiston it is clearly visible. Crystal clear high def hockey night in canada broadcasts with an antenna, no problem getting 590 sports talk out of Toronto...etc. Now I'm not saying Toronto is a worse city than Buffalo..it is many times Bigger, tons of money, etc. But we took a trip to Toronto last weekend, and wow, my wife said she had enough and doesn't want to go back for a long time. Getting around is a nightmare. Downtown is a disaster, on the weekend (not weekday rush hour) we sat and sat and inched up on Lakeshore Blvd just trying to get anywhere near downtown. A bit farther outside the city...you can deal with some traffic on 407 if you want to pay something like $40+ in tolls for a trip across the city. The 401? Mid day (not rush hour), no accidents, yet it was stop and go for MILES, and when you were going it was 20mph (worse than any memories I had of driving on the Cross Bronx expressway). And go to their 'fast' growing areas like Markham and Vaughan (we spent most of our time near in Vaughan or downtown) and you get terrible surface road traffic, and its just strip plaza after strip plaza..then a few big gray warehouses to break up the strip plazas, and then a lot of parking lots and 'floor tile' warehouse/showrooms. Again, I'm not trying to bash Toronto, but my wife grew up in NY city and still visits friends/relatives there, and this trip to Toronto (and the outer parts of the city)...lets just say she doesn't have a high regard to her former home in NY city anymore, but what we saw of 'day to day' living in the GTA I think is even a bit lower.

UPL, from Jan 1 through the end of the year, was: 20w and 16L, a .919 save percentage and 2.31 GAA. That alone would not impact how much I pay him. UPL, from the start of the season through Jan 1 was: 7w 10L, an .892 save percentage and 3.13 GAA. That alone would not impact how much I pay him. His entire season, he was 27w, 26L, .910 save perentage and 2.31 gaa. THOSE are the numbers I would use to evaluate him because it includes EVERYTHING he did. (If anything, I MIGHT slightly skew toward the end of the season, as if there was any 'development' that is when it would show...but still, don't cherry pick. He is who he was the entire season) His entire season, the good, and the bad, should impact negotiations. That was .910 and 2.31...for a single (most recent) season in his career.

I think it has a lot to do with how fanbases treat each other. All you need is ONE guy (and we all know there is usually more than one guy) to act like a jerk for no reason, to start trolling on another fanbase or city (Why would he sign there, no-one wants to LIVE in a dump like Buffalo!). That stuff causes a few people from the target city/team to shoot back at the original...then more come to their defense...it escalates....and presto! You end up WANTING the original jerk's team (and those who joined in his side of the trolling) to be miserable and never win.

Matthews is a great player, but he just doesn't show up and carry his team in the playoffs. This year he was injured or sick, but he now has over 50 playoff games and years of it being the same. When you are going to be the highest paid player in the league, an MVP, a multiple time goal scoring champ, you need to pick things up in the playoffs. Since they have been in the league: McDavid: +6% more in the playoffs Draisaitl: +36% more in the playoffs McKinnon: +16.6% more in the playoffs Matthews: -24% LESS points per game in the playoffs Sample size over 50 games now for everyone...over 80 for McKinnon There have been too many playoff games where just ONE goal would have given the Leafs a win and maybe/probably a series win. One of these years he's going to have to elevate in the playoffs.

We were in Toronto last weekend for the first time in years. I was surprised how much things have changed. We live in northern Niagara county, so every time you drive down 'the hill' on 18f toward Lewiston, you can see Downtown Toronto across the lake on any clear day, and we used to go almost ever year. But its' been 5 years....until last weekend. Not sure if we are going to go back anytime soon. As far as Toronto being the 'attention center' of Canada....I mean I get that, it is the largest city and the largest metro area by far. I just don't get it as the 'center of the hockey universe' as they like to say. I get much of the NHL media is there and the HOF and headquarters.....but as far as a 'team' and a 'rabid fanbase' and 'heritage and history', all my life growing up I put Montreal way ahead of Toronto.

I'm rooting for the Bruins for 2 reasons...first...I truly believe Leaf fans are overall more intolerable than Bruins fans. The leafs fans are sure they 1.) Live in the best city ever! 2.) Everyone wants to play for the Leafs simply because, well, its the Leafs. 3.) The refs are against us, everyone hates us and they are just jealous because we are from Toronto but every game we need to play the other team AND the refs (yes, I know there are people in every fanbase that think this, but I clearly see/her it more from the leaf fans. 4.) When the Sabres 'tanked' for Eichel/McDavid...they said Buffalo deserves to be cursed, it was just wrong, that is not how hockey is meant to be played...but when the Leafs did basically the same thing the following year...it was a 'genius move' and the Leafs were 'playing chess when the rest of the league was playing checkers." The other reason I want the Bruins to live is just to witness the meltdown in Toronto tomorrow if they lose. Not that I WANT people to feel bad, but the discussion, the arguments...its going to be some of the best theater to witness. If Boston loses, there will be a bit there, but it will be a fraction of what you get in Toronto.

Or, if Pegula likes both of them and thinks of them as a buffer between them and him when things aren't going well (probably Adams more than Ruff in this role), I think its also a possibility in 2 years they can both still be in the organization with a 'shuffling of roles'. President/vice president of hockey operations, GM, or make up any 'executive' level name you want. I know some disagree, but I still think Pegula has his hands on a lot of these moves...not with the intent of making the BEST move, but with the intent of making moves that make him comfortable. It might be hard to find a 'legit' coach or GM who will put up with him being involved more than they want and then him stepping away and having the new guys 'take the bullet' for decisions that terry pushed for.

Again, as with our conversation a couple of weeks ago, my response was not 'targeted' at you. It was meant to just join in the conversation, to let anyone interested in this conversation know just how far he has fallen from expectations (I know a couple of semi-casual baseball fans that remember 2021 and still are thinking he is producing at a top 10 player level). When I listen to 590 out of Toronto, there are still some callers, and even some 'hosts' who are waiting for him to return to 2021 form any day now and think that will turn the whole team around. I don't follow baseball that much anymore, but I went to my first Jays game in exhibition stadium as a kid, and have followed them since, so I have a soft spot for the Jays...and I myself fell into the 'trap' (if that is what it is/was) that he would be a mvp level player year after year after year. I just responded to your post as it was a way to 'join in' the conversation with some continuity to the topic, not to dispute anything you said. A lot of my posts are not to drive home a point...but rather I see a topic, I think to myself "he has dropped off in production, I wonder if its as bad as I think", then I do the research myself and If I find the results interesting, I simply post them to see if anyone else finds them as interesting as I do. (just as I do often when looking up stats about a Sabres player and posting them. Often its not to 'convince' someone else of something or to prove my point..but often to just put something out there in a statistical way that others may not have realized, just as I didn't realize until I did the research.)

In 2021, Vlad Guerrero Jr. was 22 years old, hit .311, 48 home runs, 123 runs, 111 rbi's, .400+ on base, .600+ slugging. Most thought he was only going to get better. Since then his average went from .311 to .274, then .264, and so far .228 this year. His slugging .601 to .480, then .461 and now .351 this year. He is 'on pace' for 16 home runs, 59 rbi's this year. The Jays have made the playoffs 3 times with him, not losing every single time (6 total losses) without a single win. Vlad Jr. is 3 for 21 in those playoff games (batting .136) with no home runs, 1 total RBI. The team is not perfect. But Vlad Guerrero, his production dropping every year since 2021 and falling off a cliff this year is a large part of where they are vs where they EXPECTED to be.

Up until now, the Bruins are playing like a typical Sabres team/game.

Maybe, but I still don't see it. At least if you do get rid of Adams, he will be replaced with someone who is just like him, why? Pegula. Pegula wants a 'yes man'. He wants someone that will let Terry be involved. Make Terry feel like he is being heard and has influence on the roster (he very well may have a LOT of influence). He wants someone to shield him from tough questions from the fans and media. He wants someone to take the blame. Pegula will convince himself he can eventually make it work with Adams (or a 'clone' of him) rather than bringing in a guy that won't do all of the above for him.