JoeSchmoe

The dead air was bad... And I agree it seemed like he was put in there on short notice without any prep time or support from colleagues. The worst part though was the interviews were barely audible, even with my earbuds on full.

Anyone listen to the postgame? I'm not sure how it came across live, but I just listened to the postgame podcast while working out and it was the worst chunk of radio I've ever heard. Half of it was too quiet to even hear and Derek Kramer had many repeated moments of extended dead air. Anyone notice the same?

Watch the video. Other than the PP half wall stuff, you can't plan for the types of things Tage was doing last year last year.

How are you on the breakout?

Does anyone care right now?

This might be the case with the team as a whole, but this ain't it with Thompson. He cannot do the things he did all year last season, as evidenced in the video. The plausible explanations I'll listen to for his utter decline are: 1. A nagging injury going back to last season. He hasn't done anything out of the gates so no injury sustained this year is the cause of him falling off a cliff. 2. Zero offseason training and which has continued into this season. 3. Mental health / fatigue / checked out. I get that being a new dad can be lots of work, but as all of us dads know, we still have to show up to work and perform. In Tage's case, he's in some part responsible for the many empty seats in the arena. If I were his employer, I'd be asking questions. 4. Change in his supplement game. 😉 Sorry fan boys, but with the night and day difference between this year and last, I'm personally not ruling it out as a possibility. If we never see last year's Tage again, this suspicion will only grow stronger. Again, I most likely think it's number 1 and maybe a touch of number 3. I'd really like to see him shut down and get whatever care he needs to come out of the gates next year looking like the Tage of last year. If he returns to form, I think the drought is over in 24-25.

Watch the video I posted. Ask yourself how many times you've seen that Tage this year. It's Tage.

HE WAS SO GOOD!

Here's an update on Thompson's projected points for this season. This is a historic regression. He has mere glimpses of looking interested since the season started. Put him on in ice for the season if he's hurt. Bench him if he's not.

Up here in Canada, you can't find trades... Contractors are naming their prices. I dropped $800 in labour to a gas tech last summer for 3 hours. The only other guy that came out quoted the job at 8 hours, 2 guys, and over 3 times that.

My son is 16. I'd like for him to get into a trade and use the money I'd use for college to get him set up to work for himself. Unfortunately, the stigma of trades vs white collar has him wanting to go to university.

The frustration with Power is he plays like he wants to be a Makar / Hughes style defenseman but he doesn't have the skill set. He does however have the god given gift of size- which if he CHOOSES to use it, could make him the #1 OA we drafted him to be. The problem is, as easy as it may seem to be able to flip a switch and be a 6'5" 220lb body moving D-man, he instead ends up hugging JT Miller's leg in one of the most disgraceful fight any Sabres has ever had.

Man, I love being wrong about players. As one of his biggest detractors, I wanted Adams to waive UPL. Total wrong call. Rosen is my other pet peeve player in this org. Hated the pick given his only claim to fame was a hot U18 championship. He's been better than what I predicted, but not by much. Here's hoping I can wear the egg on my face for him too.

Fully agree with the bold in last paragraph. Can't agree with the rest. Both of these guys got paid oodles of $$$ to underperform on their contracts and / or expectations. They are direct contributors to this drought. I don't know these guys personally and what they do once they're gone means little to me. In fact, I'd be happier if they go somewhere else and help their new team suck.

21yo Power has 27 hits in his 2nd full year 51 games in. 20yo Power, had 27 in his full rookie season. For context, 18yo Dahlin had 97 hits in his rookie year.

The only evidence in favour of OP being an eventual Norris candidate is his draft position. I know this is going to hurt the feelings of the usual suspects, but he's just as close to Eric Johnson trajectory than Norris candidate. I've said before that I don't agree with Rivet on a lot of things, but his negative comments towards Power's game are spot on. Off the top of my head I can't remember a Dman on this team with a worse size:grit ratio.

I've been noticing a nice decline of an unnamed know-it-all poster as of late. The team sucks, but Sabrespace is firing!

Prove it

I'm open to burning the first year of an entry level deal, because it gives the player less time to prove their worth for their 2nd contract. Theoretically, you should be able to lock them up for less as their stats and body of work would be more team friendly. The problem is, OP's performance in his first full season didn't warrant the contract he got. IMO, nothing he did last year projected out at much more than $8.5M per, even if he improved year to year. If he was tougher... maybe. The 1st OA is what we payed for, even though it was a weak draft year.

Moneypuck has a completely different ranking. While it shows Johnson gives up more shots, Clifton gives up significantly more high danger shots, leading to more expected goals against. Also, going by minutes played, you'd infer Johnson and Samuelson would be playing PK1 whereas Power and Clifton would be PK2 so strength of opposition would be at play. No idea if this is actually correct.

It doesn't account for it at all... at least according to Moneypuck. Questions like that are where the work and the analysis comes in. That said, I don't see Greenway being our best guy. Again, the analysis could be he always plays against PP1. My eye test pretty much matches the PK stats below though.

I agree whom they play with can be a factor for expected goal %, especially if you don't do much mixing and matching. However, Clifton was similarly bad on Boston last year. Numbers wise he's our worst PK D by a significant margin. And he consistently does not make plays 5 on 5. He can hit though, and maybe that's what you like about him. Personally, I feel like we're closer to a wildcard if Clifton is Mr Press Box, and Ryan Johnson is on our bottom pair.

The PP has been the main problem this year. The rest of the league figured it out halfway through last season, and it doesn't look like it's changed at all since. Maybe a new assistant coach with fresh ideas can help. 5 on 5 they are 110/105 GF/GA which theoretically would be wildcard level.

Note I said transaction, not trade. Clifton is last on the team in relative expected goal %. We'd be far better with him out of the lineup and R Johnson in.

Great... another Bjork or Clifton incoming. I hate deals for guys that actually hurt us, rather than help us and Adams last two transactions with the Bruins have yielded exactly that.