GASabresIUFAN

https://www.flohockey.tv/articles/8042640-nhl-college-free-agents-jake-livingstone-leads-list-of-top-available-ufas

I'm sorry but the Athletic's model is garbage. It is overly weighed in prior seasons. While that is somewhat useful at the start of the season for veteran-laden teams, for young and improving teams it's garbage. The other models, like HR, Moneypuck and 538 do a much better job of predicting based on what's happening now. The Athletic's playing cards are interesting, but also have some flaws in their methodology which seem to way undervalue players like Samuelsson.

I think you are taking my Cozens post much too seriously. I was merely showing how much Dylan has progressed in such a short time period following up on @Doohickie's posts about things to excited about the Sabres.

@Thorny what in this post do you disagree with? Do you disagree that Cozens is hitting production milestones at a younger age than Thompson? Do you disagee the Mogilny was aided by playing with a HOF center? Do you disagree that Dylan isn’t playing with star player except on the PP?

@Thorny Are you giving me the thumbs down or the playoff projections. If it’s the projection, don’t shot the messenger.

Any video?

How many do points do we think they’ll need? 92? 95? More? With 21 games left, I think points is the goal. That means at least 12-13 more win plus some loser points. If we can beat the non-playoff teams plus the other teams fighting for a Wild Card on the schedule, that would be 13 wins. The remaining 8 games are top 3 divisional teams, 3 of which are near the season’s end. Hopefully they’ll be resting some players for the players increasing the Sabres chances in those games. I noted earlier that the Sabres picked up 5 pts on TB in the last 10 games. With 21 games left, if both teams play at their recent paces, that divisional spot could be up for grabs the last couple of games.

Do you know about the growth of youth hockey here? I know you lived in Athens, but Atlanta and hockey are completely different then 10 years ago. The Gladiators draw 5000 a night for ECHL and their fan base is primarily NW Atlanta. There are at least 4 good junior programs, UGA hockey is the most popular club team on campus and is working toward becoming an NCAA program. Also how many people attend college football from Atlanta each week 200K? 300K? That leaves about 6.5 million people to attend hockey, baseball, basketball etc… To succeed, the area really just needs about 50K who wish to attend on a regular basis. That shouldn’t be a problem if the product is good. It’s not like returning cities don’t succeed. Winnipeg is working. Minn and the Bay area are succeeding with their 2nd teams as well. This is also Denver’s 2nd team. So while a 3rd team would be unique, the NHL has a better chance of succeeding now then ever before. Will it happen? I’m not optimistic, but I know Anson Carter has been trying to build an expansion group for at least a year. Also the argument that Atlanta doesn’t deserve a team doesn’t really matter. It’s about TV markets and a rich investor. Would other markets be more natural for hockey? Probably. Portland would seem like a natural and a great place to move the Yotes to. It is strange, but two of the NHL’s top players were raised in Phoenix/Scottsdale in Auston Matthews and Tage Thompson.

True

Similar trajectory for sure, but Cozens is 4 years younger and hit .88 at 21 to Tage's 24. Mogilny is a different era, but was awesome. Patty certainly helped. Who is driving Cozens' improvement but Dylan himself? He isn't playing with star players, except the PP, and most of his production is at EV.

Do you think Fla is more likely to come out of the Atlantic vs the Sabres and hard-charging Ott? Remember Buffalo has 3 games in hand on the Panthers. Fla is 31-33. Buffalo is 32-29 when you combine L's and OTL's. Right now Ott scares me more than Fla. I think the Panthers will play themselves out of this. The NYI have the goaltending to contend until the end. Pitt has Crosby and tons of experience. Ott and Buffalo are the young up-and-comers. Fla, Imho, has lost its identity.

Their model has gone off the deep end. The numbers were updated yesterday. According to the Athletic, the Sabres' playoff chances are down to 14% (tied with Ott). Florida is at 41%, the NYI 47%, Wash 9% and Pit 77%. 538 - Pit 69, NYI 41, Fla & Buf 30, Ott 17, Wash 15 Moneypuck - Pitt 88, NYI 41.6, Ott 28.7, Buf 21.5, F 17.7, Wash 10.9 Hockey-reference - Pit 62.6, NYI 44.9, B 38.5, Ott 24.1, Wash 16.6, F 15.5

Tonight is one of our games in hand on some teams (except for Ottawa & Washington). Fla, Pit, and the NYI are all off tonight. On Tuesday we play the NYI, Pit takes on CBJ and Fla hosts Jack and the Knights. Ott & Wash are off. We currently have one game in hand on Ott and Pit, 3 on Fla and Wash, and 4 on the NYI Buf, Ott, Wash, and Fla all have 68 pts. Pit has 71 and NYI 72. Based on pts % Pit and Buf are the two top teams. TB is 11 points ahead of the Sabres for the last automatic spot in the Atlantic, but we have closed 5 pts in the last 10 games.

Can anyone play? Has there ever been a Sabres to develop as quickly as Cozens? .31 p/gp year 1, .48 p/gp year 2, .88 p/gp year 3

By the way former NHLer Anson Carter is a part owner of the Atlanta Gladiators.

So what! It’s garbage, not funny and this is no place for that BS. Want me to list every stupid comment from a NY politician from both parties? We’d be here for the next 10 years.

@Doohickie 5 minutes between posts. Nice.

My daughter lives in knoxville and we like to visit except football weekends. There are good restaurants and a growing local brewing culture. The public schools aren’t great. The main downtown area is fun. It’s also still pretty easy to get around. Do what my daughter did, live and work in Knoxville and proudly put UGA memorabilia all over your office 🙂 The Ice Bears and Tenn Ice Vols often play double headers.

Oh it’s going to the wire, but the more wins we bank now, the more pressure we can put on the teams behind us. Det has already folded. Wash is on the verge. Ott has played their way back into it. It seems like a 4 team race, but Fla can also play their way back in.

I think you’d be surprised how hockey is played here and the quality of the adult leagues. I’ve attended games for 3 local colleges, GA, GA Tech and Kennesaw St and they are fun to watch. The Gladiators average about 5000 a game for an ECHL team. Atlanta has everything including many smaller communities that are surprisingly close to the city. Traffic can be terrible, but it’s not 24/7 bad. The Waze is very helpful. There are also great college cities like Athens GA or Knoxville, TN that are worth checking out if you want a smaller but vibrant community. You will have to adopt a college football however. Ask @LGR4GM what a college football weekend in Athens is like.

Alpharetta is a city in the North central part of Metro Atlanta. The ECHL Gladiator’s arena is not far from Alpharetta in Duluth GA. Duluth is NE Atlanta. I live NW. It would be a great place for a stadium. There is a major N/S highway (GA 400) that runs next to Alpharetta and connects to the rest of the metroplex.

Two huge games coming up the next two nights. Tomorrow is our game in hand over Pittsburgh and then on Tuesday we play a rested NYI team while Pitt plays CBJ. Two wins by the Sabres, puts the Sabres into one of the wild card spots. 2 wins coupled with a Pitt loss puts us into the 1st WC spot.

My kids asked about moving the Yotes to the ATL. The Gladiator’s arena hold a max of 13k. It would certainly be a better capacity than the ASU arena.

Do the Amerks have to sit a vet or two to stay within the player development rules?