[GDT: Bruins @ Sabres - Nov 14, 2023 - 7:00pm, MSG/ESPN+📺WGR📻]

4 minutes ago, Thorny said:

So I was repelling down mount vesuvius and suddenly I start to fall, “AHHHHHHH! AHHHHHH!” 

… and then I think, haven’t I been smoking peyote for 8 straight days? Couldn’t some of this be in my mind?”

And? 

[Around the NHL 2023-24 Season]

18 minutes ago, PerreaultForever said:

That's the problem though right. Half the cap on 5 guys is Toronto's problem. Their bottom end is garbage. We'd end up the same only in our case 2 D and 3 forwards rather than 4 forwards and 1 D. Same problem though. Unless you cap cheat like Tampa and Vegas did it's a formula that doesn't work. 

The window provided by the ELCs will be short and unsustainable when we need it the most. I can see us having cap trouble right around the same time we might become a legit cup contender and that could derail the whole thing. Again, I'm thinking ahead. 

Toronto didn’t have the prospect pool that the Sabres have. they have enough talent coming up to have three skilled scoring lines in the future. If one of the young players (Quinn or Peterka) breaks out to where you can’t afford him, do a Kevin Fiala style trade to reload the prospect pool and keep depth. And we may not even need to move one of them, with Skinner coming off the books shortly after they need their next contracts.
 

This would also be locking them up early with a rising cap. At the time of the Tavares signing, Matthews and Tavares accounted for 27% of the cap. With projections for next year, Mitts at 7 mil, Thompson and Cozens would be ~24% of the cap at the time of signing  for 3 players which is significantly better. 

[Around the NHL 2023-24 Season]

1 hour ago, PerreaultForever said:

Now you're back to the original point. I simply think it is going to be difficult, if not impossible to have 3 top level centers and be cap compliant down the road. I'm thinking ahead. Mitts has elevated his play and may now want Cozens type money. If we give it to him, that's a lot of money for whichever player ends up being the 3C. 

Shutdown works, and in a cap era, it's necessary. Partly yes, because it's cheaper. 

It is difficult to have 3 top level centers, easier if you have 2 for 14 mil. If you can lock up Mitts at 7 mil, you do it IMO. It’s not as if any of them will be a typical 3C, they’re all going to be getting top 6 minutes, and it gives us a chance of having 3 effective scoring lines. We have plenty of young talented wingers in the system that won’t be breaking the bank for the next handful of years (Quinn, Peterka, Savoie, Rosen, Kulich, Benson). And all 3 of Thompson, Cozens and Mitts can play wing. 
Toronto has had Matthews and Tavares together at a more expensive rate than Thompson, Cozens and Mitts would be (if he signed the Cozens contract). 

[Theoretically, What does a McDavid trade look like?]

2 hours ago, Sabres Fan in NS said:

Good point about contract and body limits.

If the Sabres decide to trade for McDavid in a non 'hockey trade' they are admitting that yet another rebuild has failed.  It's most likely that the trade would be made by the next GM and not KA.

No, a non ‘hockey trade’ would mean the Sabres are trying to go for a cup, not rebuild. It would be moving futures for the best player in the league, instead of moving Dahlin and Tage for McDavid and Kane (which would be closer to the hockey trade)

[The Elephant In the Sabres' Room: Fixing the Power Play]

1 hour ago, bunomatic said:

STP

In my opinion, that’s not the main issue with the powerplay. The zone entries need a lot of work, they have been having a lot of trouble establishing possession in the Ozone. When we have gotten established, we often get good chances. Get better at entries at the shots will come.

[Ryan Johnson called up; Mattias Samuelsson placed on IR]

4 hours ago, Pimlach said:

Hockey players and coaches like to use nick names.  Simple things like adding “ie” or “sie”  or “s” or “y” to a part of their name.  It a hockey cultural thing starting in youth hockey   

Tuch - Tuchie

Cozens - Cuzzy 

Dahlin - Dahls 

Mittelstadt - Mittsie 

 

Er is also a somewhat common addition

 

[GDT: Sabres @ Maple Leafs: November4, 2023 @ 7:00PM, NHL Network, MSG-B, and NBCS-PH]

6 minutes ago, Broken Ankles said:

Disclaimer - Not here to pi$$ in everyone’s Cheerios.  (That’s somebody else’s job).  Happy with a win, and the effort.  But I need to see wins against opponents not playing their backup goaltender.   Five of six wins have some at the hands of a backup.  

Tonight’s victory hardly counts as facing a backup. Toronto has pretty evenly split their net. Samsonov has played 6 to Woll’s 5, but the stats are in Woll’s favor by a great margin (low sample size I know).

Samsonov: 3.56 GAA .871 sv%
Woll: 1.89 GAA .942 sv %

[GDT: Flyers @ Sabres - November 3, 2023 - 7:00PM, NHLN/MSG-B📺WGR📻]

Gonna be at the game tonight, hoping for better play than last game, but a similar result. 

[The 6K discussion thread: Can he lead us to the playoffs? Keeping the crease warm for Levi?]

He’s UP now. 
(He’s been giving other teams the Ls)

[GDT - Montréal @ Buffalo - Monday, October 23, 2023 - 7:00 PM (EDT) - MSG (?) & WGR - RMNH (SportsNet TV - CANADA) & SportsNet+ (pirate satellite)]

Tage with a 100.8 mph shot right there.

[OT: Best Gołąbki in WNY]

1 hour ago, MattPie said:

Not sure I'd recognize it from the spelling; phonetically we always called it "gwum-kee".

Haha thanks for this. My Mom’s side is Polish, so I’ve had it quite a bit, was going to look it up to see if it was “Gwum-Kee” as I’ve never seen it spelled out.

[Around the NHL 2023-24 Season]

17 hours ago, PerreaultForever said:

Different era, different rules, different styles of play, every old record falls in the modern era. It means nothing. 

I was not in any way trying to make an argument that Makar > Orr. I was just saying that Makar IS a superstar. Makar is currently 3rd on the all time Defenseman Career points per game list, whereas McDavid is 4th. 
And the “every record falls in the modern era” is not close to the truth in Hockey. Last year, McDavid had the highest point total in the last 25 years, and still was 60 points away from the single season record. 

[Around the NHL 2023-24 Season]

On 10/20/2023 at 5:27 PM, PerreaultForever said:

Hasek was a superstar. No question. 

Perreault was arguably a superstar, but I could see an argument against that too. 

That's it for Sabres. 

Right now the league has one superstar in McDavid. Two fading old superstars in Crosby and Ovechkin and one possible future superstar in Bedard. 

There's another tier of players that you can make an argument for and they are all stars, but clear cut superstars? Highly subjective and I'd say no as my criteria for the term is extremely high. Others would lower that bar and include them. Pettersson might be in that group.

Question, were the Sedins superstars? Is Matthews a superstar? For you. 

I didn't mean win it all with that. But dominate games or change the course of them yes. 

Makar is undoubtedly a superstar, just beat Bobby Ore’s record for being the fastest defenseman in NHL history to 250 points. 

[Is Alex Tuch Injured?]

He did miss a few games in the preseason due to “soreness”

[GDT: Flames @ Sabres, Oct. 19, 2023 - 7pm EDT, MSG 📺 WGR 📻]

One thing that really impressed me last night was Mitts’ backchecking. I know that line got caught on the ice too long a couple times last night, but Mitts made some good plays hounding the puck in our own zone. 

[GDT: Flames @ Sabres, Oct. 19, 2023 - 7pm EDT, MSG 📺 WGR 📻]

That was some good puck movement by a lot of the lineup leading up to that.

[GDT - 10/18/23 Rochester @ Laval 7pm AHLTV]

8 hours ago, ... said:

If it's a delayed penalty did the goal stand?

Goal stood, it was put in by an amerk so the play didn’t stop. 

[NHL Teams Vote to decentralize the Draft]

12 minutes ago, Marvin said:

They are aware that decentralising the draft is what led to Taro Tsujimito's draft, right?

Technology has come a long way since then, won’t have to individually call each team to update them on the picks which will make the process reasonable instead of grueling.

[Way Too Early Time On Ice Observations]

2 hours ago, bob_sauve28 said:

Tuch? 

 

AWOL? 

Skinner leads the Sabres forwards in TOI/G and Tuch is third, behind Mitts.

[Would you replace Olofsson with Savoie?]

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. 

[Practice Lines 10/16]

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.

[Zach Benson's NHL tryout, 2023]

7 hours ago, mjd1001 said:

Can someone explain to me in detail, but simply, what xGf% is supposed to mean, AND how it is calcuated?

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. 

[GDT: Sabres @ Islanders - October 14, 2023 - 7:30PM, MSG-B/MSGSN/ESPN+📺WGR📻]

1 minute ago, JujuFish said:

I hate complaining about refs. It's poor sportsmanship and good teams should be able to overcome lopsided calls.

 

That said, screw these refs.

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

[GDT: Sabres @ Islanders - October 14, 2023 - 7:30PM, MSG-B/MSGSN/ESPN+📺WGR📻]

16 minutes ago, JujuFish said:

#1 request: give us an entertaining game

#2 request: win

#3 request: shutout?!

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

[GDT: Rangers @ Sabres - October 12, 2023 - 7:00PM, MSG-B📺WGR📻]

1 hour ago, Mango said:

To an extent the revolving door for youth should allow some calculated aggression in free agency. Maybe not the greatest example, but take Orlov at 2 years $7.75 AAV. Not the greatest value for the Sabres, but we have the space, and who does it cost us in 24-25 ?Jost and Krebs? OK those are JAGs.

The billion forwards in the pipeline should allow us to not resign some, and over spend elsewhere if needed to improve the team.

To an extent it feels like all the money saving efforts now are so we can keep the exact same 23 players for eternity. 

EDIT: I will say I like the job Adams and DG have done. I am rooting for this one to work. But at the same time the preseason and this last game unlocked some of the last 12 years of baggage. 

 

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.