sabresparaavida

Really wish we would have signed Tatar to a 1 year deal, could have given him 2 mil instead of the PTO he got, and we wouldn’t be relying on a prospect that isn’t Benson or playing VO.

The only thing that came to mind for me re: the butler is The butler serves up a goal on that dish to Mittelstadt. But overall I’m not a huge fan of the nickname. I think it captures his playmaking ability as a passer, but doesn’t represent the relentless forecheck side to his game.

Expected goals is a figure that is calculated based on past shots from different areas of the ice and how likely they are expected to be a goal. There are many different models outs there that predict xGs, with different formulas (such as adding weight to shots off a rebound differently, or factoring in passing data). xGF% is the percentage of total xGs while a player is on the ice. So with Benson’s 67%, he has been playing at a level that when the Sabres on the ice, the Sabres are expected to get 2/3 of the goals scored. Oloffson however, is an atrocious 29% xGF, showing how bad the Sabres have been with him on the ice.

Yeah, that wasn’t great. And Thursday was worse with Fox grabbing Benson’s stick and Benson getting called for hooking.

With the opponent being the Islanders, #1 might be the least likely.

Orlov is a bad example because he was only going to a contender, or back to Washington. He wants to win a cup and is known to have limited his possible options based on that.

Getting mad or disappointed is fine. It’s just annoying seeing people act like the entire season is over, how we have absolutely no chance at the playoffs because we didn’t win last night. Getting mad or disappointed is fine. It’s just annoying seeing people act like the entire season is over, how we have absolutely no chance at the playoffs because we didn’t win last night.

Everybody needs to relax, it was one game. I see many people complaining about the top line being out of sinc… they started last year poorly and Tage only had 1 goal in his six or seven games. People were freaking out about his contract early on but he ended up fine. While each game is important, one game says very little about teams or individual players. Last year we had some nights like tonight, and then we’d follow it up with a run of 5+ goal games. It takes about 10 games to get a glimpse at a team and 20 before you have an idea if they are legitimate or not. Though a loss after so long without hockey is disappointing, it does not impact my view on the quality of this hockey team. My biggest takeaways were the seeming emphasis on physicality even from early on, and JJP looked very good (although again, it was only one game).

Everybody blaming Joki on that first goal, but Power also is at least equally to blame, gave a weak poke check and allowed a guy to collect his own rebound and get the assist.

Cozens signed part way through last season, and before last season his play was not indicative of the contract that he got. We had less than a season of high level play from Cozens before he got that contract. Power may not have been quite as impressive, but Granato trusted him enough to the point where Power was top 5 in the league in even strength minutes.

If I could have the Winnipeg Hellebuyck, it makes it closer, but especially with that term the Sabres Hellebuyck is unlikely to be worth it. Hellebuyck’s biggest weaknesses when compared to other NHL goaltenders are on breakaways and cross ice passes down low. These two biggest weaknesses just so happen to be the Sabres biggest problems on defense, which makes it unlikely for Hellebuyck to be as good, and when he’s being paid as a top 3 goalie, he needs to be elite. Paying him that much till he is 38 would be a bad move for Buffalo.

Man, I really wish we would have brought in Toffoli. We could have put him in for Oloffson, and our forward group is set for the regular season. Then we wouldn’t be relying on Quinn being back to 100%/progressing until the playoffs.

Well 2 years ago he matched his career point totals and last year sent a new high, so this is a reasonable belief to have.

Doubt it. He hasn’t really improved his production in the last 3 years in the AHL, I don’t think he’s shown that he is worth a roster spot over other potential waiver options.

If the Sabres make a run this season, what makes you say it’s the Blues model? The Sabres are highly unlikely to peak this year, so if they are successful this season, it would make sense for them to be an established contender for some time after.

I assume they will be backups as the starters will already be getting action.

Comrie has been looking quite impressive all game. The one goal so far was a rocket one timer that was tough to stop.

No, that would be silly. But this “reflection on how they got here” isn’t really going to change much. When Tampa built their team, they knew they were sacrificing some of their future for short term success. The short term success worked out as they won 2 cups and appeared in another.

Were Tage and Casey under Granato/Adams in their first years here? Krebs wasn’t a Sabre during camp in his first year on the Sabres.

His audition was at the end of last season.

Intrigued about the section where more term and money was being offered elsewhere.

I’ve seen a few posts to this effect in this thread, but I don’t really see it. I think he ends up being a solid 20-25 point defenseman that is very good in his own end and reliable in transition as someone who makes the simple play to keep possession. 30 points would have put him in a 3 way tie for 62nd among defenseman in the league , which is a pretty high bar (low end top pair production). Most defenseman that hit 30 points are getting PP time, which Samuelson is unlikely to get.

While that’s true, I think this line may put too much pressure on Krebs to drive all of the offense. If he improves a lot it might work, but Oloffson is a pretty pure sniper, he doesn’t drive his own offense, and Greenway is a physical player that can be a good netfront presence, but also doesn’t drive a ton of offense himself. Maybe Granato unlocks more from Greenway, but as it stands right now, I think the line would struggle with too much reliance on Krebs to be the driver of play.

It’s also possible that this could be a move to allow for a minority stake in the Sabres to be sold.

I wouldn’t count on it, the Ducks were one of the teams with worse defensive play than the Sabres last year